ByWard Market’s Christmas is bustling despite unrest in BIA
While visitors to the ByWard Market have been keeping warm with complimentary cups of hot cocoa and wagon rides, tempers are icy among members of the Business Improvement Area (BIA).
Tuesday night’s annual general meeting of the BIA was met with a faction of disgruntled members stressing issues of image and accessibility plaguing the market, even calling for re-election of the board.
“There are too many hands in the cookie jar,” said Deek Labelle, referring to what she called a “static” board of directors standing in the way of the Market’s progress.
Labelle, general manager of Le Château Lafayette, led the charge alongside Inaas Kiryakos and a few others who are calling themselves the ByWard Market Business Owners (BMBO). The group addressed the board directly before the BIA Christmas party, set to take place following the general meeting.
Kiryakos, who owns a small clothing boutique on William Street, said the Christmas party might not have been the ideal time to bring up something “negative” but that the group’s attitude toward the board “needed to be heard.
“At the end of the day, it’s our reputation on the line,” Kiryakos said, stressing the importance of the BIA’s ability to let visitors to Ottawa know there’s “more to the Market than just BeaverTails and stabbings.”
The site of two homicides this year, the ByWard Market is also a maze of yellow caution tape and neon orange mesh as construction of the Rideau Street LRT station and construction at the George Street plaza have overtaken the area.
“It’s been a very, very difficult year,” executive director Jasna Jennings said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
However, Jennings said she was thankful the traffic congestion, coupled with the unrest among some of the business owners, has not disrupted the holiday festivities.
Tourists and locals alike have been flocking to the Market this month, attracted by carollers, decorative lights, and craft fairs, all part of the Christmas in the ByWard Market initiative, which comes to a close this weekend.
The Market is home to a variety of souvenir shops, upscale restaurants, and traditional pubs, some of which — like The Fish Market at the corner of William Street and York Street — have been there for more than 37 years.
Fish Market owner Barbara Mireault and chief financial officer Chris Hovey said they don’t share the BMBO’s sentiments but understand some members’ need to get their frustrations “off their chest.”
“We don’t know what the BIA is doing,” said Hovey, placing an emphasis on what is more a communication than a marketing issue.
The general manager of another Market restaurant said the outburst of the “rogue faction” was inappropriate and aggressive, and gave Jennings credit for how she handled their concerns.
“It was an opportunity for people to vent their frustrations,” said Jennings.
With Christmas tree sales doing well and a promising New Year’s Eve lineup of events, Jennings said she is confident the BIA will be able to work together in the coming year.
“There’s a lot of really good things to look forward to in 2017.”
It’s been a very, very difficult year. It was an opportunity for people to vent their frustrations.