Editorial: A Call to Reclaim the DIA’s Independence & Revive Downtown Owen Sound
Maryann Thomas, owner of Ginger Press and publisher of the Owen Sound Current, outlines her concerns with the DIA and offers a path forward.
EDITORIAL OPINION
Maryann Thomas here — publisher of the Owen Sound Current and owner/proprietor at Ginger Press Book Shop & Cafe in downtown Owen Sound.
As our Editor, Miranda Miller, has previously reported, the River District originated in 1973 as the Owen Sound Downtown Improvement Area (DIA) and was officially rebranded as the River District in 2022. But the governance structure of the improvement area shifted significantly years prior to that.
In 2018, the City restructured the DIA's governance. Meetings now take place in Council Chambers at City Hall and are “supported” by the City’s senior administration.
Further restructuring, including a new Constitution implemented during COVID, has — in my opinion — taken the DIA even further from its purpose as an independent, self-governing body representative of those who fund the levy.
In November, I presented a brief to the City of Owen Sound’s River District Board, the body responsible for managing the DIA levy. The levy is the additional charge assessed to property owners within the River District boundaries.
In 2026, the organization expects to collect $273,907.21 from property owners within the DIA mandate area like myself, purportedly for the beautification and promotion of our downtown.
Given how those funds are being allocated, I have several questions and suggestions for those tasked with the fiscal management of that fund — and a call to action for the DIA and its members.
Deputation from Maryann Thomas Re: River District Concerns
Please jump to 7 minutes and 30 seconds into the meeting video to view the presentation and discussion.
I have not received any response to the questions posed in my presentation since that meeting on November 26, 2025, beyond the few comments you’ll see from the DIA Board Chair, one board member, and a senior City official, between 18:00 and 23:00 in the video recording.
I’ve included my notes for your consideration, and am happy to answer any questions readers may have.
Two Proposals to Revive the DIA & Better Support Our Downtown
“When I emailed Viveka last September asking to be put on the agenda for the next DIA meeting, I had no idea the process would take two months and that I would luck out and be given the opportunity to speak to the 2026 budget (which has already happened, so I’m not sure if I’m doing the right protocol or not).
I’ve gone over my notes from the last several presentations I have made here. I’m thinking you must be getting bored with me. Because yes, much of what I have to say I have said before. But hope springs eternal, and I’m hoping that this time my message will actually cause some discussion and action.
My topic is indeed “downtown concerns.”
My intention is to make two proposals, followed by a brief background, followed by a series of observations and questions about the downtown and this organization.
Then I will repeat my two proposals. I have chosen this order in case my mic gets turned off before I finish. If that happens, at the very least, my proposals will remain on record.
Proposal #1
In 2019, the City of Owen Sound and the DIA Board of Management agreed to redefine their relationship.
It was intended that:
“the City would provide staffing for administration, street maintenance, events, and beautification...
and the DIA Board of Management would remain in control of their own budget, make decisions on the mandate of the OSDIA and provide direction to the City on events and other initiatives which take place in the downtown as well as be responsible for the direction of Marketing and Promotion of Downtown Owen Sound.”
According to Wayne Ritchie, City Manager at the time, the strategic initiative of the new partnership was to “retain and grow existing local businesses and business opportunities.”
Those quotes are from City documents.
Since that time, the DIA has been assimilated into the City, to the point where it is now referred to as a City committee on the City website.
As we all know, the DIA is not a City committee. The DIA is an independent, self-funded organization; its total budget comes from a special levy paid by property owners within the mandate area, and it does not come from any City taxpayer dollars.
My first proposal is that the DIA disentangle itself from the City immediately and re-establish itself as the independent, self-funded organization it is mandated to be.
The DIA should represent the downtown. It should have its own location, staff, and a Board of Management made up of and working for its members.
Proposal #2
In 2019, “business-sponsored parking” was initiated, in which the DIA would pay the City for “lost parking revenue” in exchange for “free parking” downtown.
Since then, over $1,000,000 of the additional levy imposed on downtown property owners, which is meant for beautification and promotion, has been paid by the DIA to the City for “free” parking.
I suggest we acknowledge that this “free” parking has not achieved the desired goal of vitality in the downtown. It is time to discontinue this arrangement with the City so DIA funds can be directed to more immediate challenges in the downtown.
As it stands, nearly half the DIA budget goes to the City for the “free” parking. We need to accept that the experiment initiated in 2018 has not worked, and we need to move on.
My second proposal is that the DIA discontinues paying the City for “free” parking.
Background
The OSDIA was established in 1973 by local business owners who wanted to make a difference downtown. We were the sixth member of the Ontario Business Improvement Area organization, which now represents over 100,000 businesses.
But we didn’t choose to incorporate as a BIA. We chose to become a DIA and, as such, we included businesses, property owners, and residents in our downtown mandate. What a remarkably inclusive decision, made by the downtown movers and shakers almost 50 years ago!
All revenue for the DIA comes from a special levy to commercial property owners within the DIA mandate area: 7th St to 11th St East, and 4th Ave East to the river. The 2026 Budget indicates this will total $273,907.21 next year. Wow. That’s a lot of money.
Questions
That being said, I now have some observations and questions:
First: Somehow, in 2022, in the middle of the COVID crisis when most downtown businesses were struggling to stay afloat, a brand new DIA constitution was adopted.
This totally escaped my radar, but it’s not surprising since I, along with all the other business owners downtown, was up to my ears in sanitation protocols, facemasks, loss of revenue, and bill payments.
I certainly was not reaping the benefits of any “free” parking my DIA continued to pay for.
According to this new constitution, a Board member can remain so for subsequent terms, presumably forever?
Amendments to this DIA constitution must be approved by City Council; the City sets the rate at which the levy is charged; election to the Board is subject to Council approval; the DIA auditor is appointed by the City; and so on...
This new Constitution makes the DIA even less independent and more reliant on the City.
Second: The budget indicates the DIA revenue comes from a Levy to Members.
Since all DIA money comes from downtown commercial property owners, does that make them the voting members of this organization? How many actual DIA members who pay the levy are on the board right now, making the decisions about how this money is spent?
I think I only see one levy-paying board member.
Third: Recently, I took a walk downtown along 2nd Ave from 8th Street to 10th Street, both sides. I counted 81 commercial storefronts and 25 of these were vacant. This is a vacancy rate of 31%.
We do not have a viable downtown by any stretch of the imagination. Our businesses are being actively recruited away from the downtown. They are closing; they are relocating.
Free parking hasn’t helped. What is the DIA doing about this?
Fourth: About six months ago, a kiosk showcasing downtown events was removed from the 800 block. The DIA approved a budget of up to $15,000 to replace it.
This has not happened, which means that details of the many events downtown were not accessible to those summertime visiting and resident pedestrians looking to find out what’s happening.
Not everyone is on social media; many are choosing to step away from it. What is the DIA doing about this?
Fifth: Banners on the main street this summer were a shade of brown with a couple of leaves and the letters R and D. I’m sure anyone who noticed them wondered what the R and the D stood for. In the past, banners showcased Owen Sounders such as Agnes Macphail and Billy Bishop, who made significant contributions here and abroad. The banners celebrated our heritage in a positive and informed way.
What is the DIA doing about this?
Sixth: The City recently sent out a notice advising business owners it would no longer be picking up recyclables from the downtown. Their email listed the names of companies who might be willing to do this, at a cost to the business owners. This is precisely the sort of challenge which the DIA had the tools to work with in the past.
Today, with so much of our budget tied up in parking, we have no resources or inclination to work together to solve this. What is the DIA doing about this?
Seventh: Public washrooms remain a concern in the downtown. In 2017, City Council decided that downtown businesses could step in and make their facilities available. It would be good for business, they suggested.
There was no consultation with the DIA community about how this would work, and nothing has been done since then about the lack of public washrooms.
What is the DIA doing about this?
Eighth: At around three in the morning last weekend, I was awakened by a worker with a small leafblower. They were blowing dry leaves onto the street, off the sidewalk. A few months ago, the DIA offered businesses free brooms so they could clean up the sidewalks themselves.
I’m pretty sure we invested in a sidewalk vacuum cleaner, which I haven’t seen at all this year.
The downtown needs more than leafblowers and brooms. It is dirty and unattractive. What is the DIA doing about this?
I could go on. The challenges downtown are real and they are growing. We need to change what we’re doing and how we’re doing it with the money we, the downtowners, are investing in our community.
And we need to do it now.
The DIA has the resources — over a quarter of a million dollars per year. Let’s work together to achieve the future we have invested our time and our money in.
And, since my mic hasn’t been turned off yet, I will repeat the two proposals I started with:
First, that the DIA disentangle itself from the City and reestablish itself as the independent, self-funded organization it is, with a budget of over a quarter of a million dollars annually.
Those funds could go a long way to moving the downtown towards becoming a fresh, new, vibrant, and viable heart of this city.
Second, that the “free parking” experiment between the DIA and the City be discontinued. Since 2019, over one million DIA dollars has been spent on “free parking” and it’s now time to consider other options for that investment.”
In conclusion, the DIA has the money to reinvent itself as the independent, self-funded organization we really need. We know what the challenges are. We know what resources we have, and we know what needs to be done.
So let’s do it.
In the meeting video, you’ll see Dave Parsons, River District Board Chair, turn and laugh at someone off-screen as I took my seat.
When I questioned whether the Chair was laughing at me and my presentation, he said he wasn’t laughing at all and didn’t find my comments funny.
That’s a very good thing. As a longtime business owner and investor in our downtown, I’m not laughing, either.
Parsons’ response to my delegation, as Chair of the Board, was this:
“I will say that in fact it was a collaboration years ago that we had undertaken, and I feel that it’s working quite successfully to date. And if anyone wants to challenge that, they might.
Viveka has done a great job for us, and I do believe that working with the city has been in our favour.
And as for complimentary parking, it’s not free. We never did say it was. The balance of that fund has changed, and I do believe that if we were to hear real statistics on how many businesses there are in the downtown, it is better now than it has been even a year ago.
So sorry about your comments.”
You can watch the rest of the discussion — primarily City staff defending the decisions made on behalf of what was once an independent organization governed by the people who fund it — in the meeting video.
And again, I would be thrilled to provide any information requested or continue this discussion with community members. Especially those who, like myself, continue to fund the DIA in excess of a quarter of a million dollars each year and would like to see our interests better represented in how that money is invested in our shared future.
You can reach me at maryann@gingerpress.com — or even better, outside of the screen at my shop in downtown Owen Sound.
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This is an important post. Most Canadians like to think of themselves as collaborative people holding onto the values of Peace, Order and Good Government. In that context, it's puzzling to see how much friction has been generated about the admittedly poor state of our Owen Sound downtown. Elected municipal representatives are not Kings; no one has all the answers to this difficult problem, and representatives should strive to work with all citizens, including business owners, to canvas the possible solutions, and come to some consensus. Good will, humility and flexibility is called for to navigate these times.
Such important comments. Thank you Maryann.