Diodati touts Ryerson, Brock partnership
Niagara Falls mayor delivers state of the city address
A three-way partnership between the city and Ryerson and Brock universities could help transform downtown Niagara Falls into the leading edge of growth for young people looking to secure jobs of the future, says Mayor Jim Diodati.
Diodati often talks about the municipality’s long-standing efforts to partner with Ryerson to bring its nationally and globally recognized digital media zone to downtown Niagara Falls.
But during Thursday’s state of the city address, he said the plan is to also include Brock in the process.
“Technology is changing and we’re looking at an innovative partnership with Ryerson — we’re just awaiting our federal funding,” said Diodati.
“But I’d like to talk about Brock for a second. President Gervan Fearon, the new president at Brock — what a leader. He’s not threatened by Ryerson, he’s excited by Ryerson coming here.”
Ryerson has submitted a second application for federal development grant funding to establish a digital media zone in downtown Niagara Falls.
The university’s first FedDev application for Niagara Falls was turned down in 2016.
Ryerson’s digital media zone, which helps incubate businesses and commercialize economic opportunities, is recognized as the best in Canada and No. 3 in the world, said Diodati.
“We’re going to partner and come together with Brock and Ryerson and we’re going to create such an opportunity in our downtown that people are going to look back on what happened and realize how important it was,” he said.
Diodati said by 2020, 50 per cent of the Canadian labour force will be millennials.
He said as there was once the Industrial Revolution, “right now we’re having the internet, big data and artificial intelligence” revolution.
Diodati said that’s why having a Ryerson-led innovation zone in Niagara Falls is so important, as it would support entrepreneurs in building their business by making their concepts customer and investor ready.
Diodati delivered his 40-minute address to a sold-out crowd of 600 people Thursday afternoon at the Americana Conference Resort Spa and Waterpark on Lundy’s Lane.
Each year, the mayor’s address highlights events and initiatives that took place in the city the year before, as well as plans for the year ahead.
The annual luncheon is hosted by Niagara Falls Chamber of Commerce.
Diodati talked about how the municipality is fixing more than 150 potholes a day, and using an innovative new product that works better in cold weather and lasts at least a year.
He highlighted: how Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Welland are working on a new intermunicipal transit system; the groundbreaking of a $140-million, 5,000seat entertainment centre; and that specific planning stages and provincial funding have been approved for a new $1-billion hospital.
Diodati also touched on how the city is investing millions of dollars to offset property taxes and into economic development, parks, trails and infrastructure through its more than $20-million-a-year casino-hosting reserve fund, all the while reducing the municipality’s debt by more than $14 million during the past four years.
Diodati said Niagara’s positive economic growth also made headlines this year.
“It was recently revealed that Niagara has the lowest unemployment in southern Ontario, and the second hottest economy in Canada, next to Hamilton, according to the National Bank,” he said.
“I’d say a rising tide will lift all ships.”
Diodati said Niagara Falls saw “unprecedented” growth in 2017 when it comes to building permits.
“Niagara Falls had the most number of building permits issued in the entire Niagara region.”
According to the city’s business development department, Niagara Falls is leading the region in housing development, with 537 housing starts in 2017 Broken down, that equates to 325 single/semis and 212 townhouses.