 |
| Timothy St off Main St. Newmarket, Ontario, Canada |
 |
| Fairy Lake Falls by Main |
Main St has become a pawn of the candidates of the local elections, containing such sensitive balancing acts as shopping, housing, construction and historic sites - to events to parking - the latter always being a sore point with any concerned it seems.
Even the
Town Clock Tower,
once declared a great example of how we could use historic buildings and maintain their integrity whilst usefully using them was deemed semi-expendable for a time. Little did we know the ultimate goal was to develop condos there
and move seniors from their homes!
And not just residents, with the same Markham based development group having
bought the town clock block of 4 buildings, forcing all store owners and residents out, save one, ironically called
"The Last Video Store" which was given until
Oct 15 2014 to also be out! They plan to stay beyond that date, with no where to go, and a development staging company ready, willing, and apparently able, to board up those stores and leave them boarded until the town agrees to their development conditions, while meantime displaced business owners and turfed residents are left in their wake.
I know
Matt the video store owner has felt alone though this process, and I'm sure not too thrilled when, at the same time he's being told to leave, up the street, the Mayor meantime was posing for pics with a Magna CEO and pushing " Life Is Good T-shirts - reading " Life is Good Newmarket". Not for this business owner it isn't. Still another Main St business is suing the town for allowing "illegal construction" and obstructing their businesses access while doing said work. Oh boy.
 |
| Another lawsuit against town, owner, & conservation authorities |
Of course, these are things that are not really in control of Councillors - Mayors perhaps more so, but when they run into landlord and tenant issues law for example, or the push for development, these businesses need some protections. And I don't mean by adding another layer of power to " bylaws" departments. I mean both the Heritage Act and the Planning Act need amending.
And how much development would be deemed too much? Everyone it seems has an opinion, but one thing remains - no real growth plan for Main St. And where's the B.I.A. in this?
Right now, as we sit, I feel
Newmarket actually already has the most picturesque, yet functional, Main St. in
York Region - outdistancing
Unionville by far in my opinion, with the additional outing option of nearby Fairy Lake Park / Trails, and sometimes events at
Riverwalk Commons Square as well - such as the weekly
Farmer's Market.
She is a thing of picturesque beauty Main St., Newmarket, Ontario is, yet she has some holes that need filling.
Most observers will agree that
Main St, at least the main vein of her, which would be the stretch from
Roadhouse & Rose Funeral Home, south to Water St., has had some interesting new stores, services and shops open up in the past few years but where some turnover has also occurred - sometimes not having the right mix - like too many coffee shops!
 |
| Riverwalk Commons & Stadium opened during current council |
Restaurants in the area have really taken on a life in the past few years with the success of
Cachet, and later
Made in Mexico spurring that growth on.
Rawlicious, Brewhops Pub, Suchi, and The
Goulash House joined the existing fast food Pizzeria and Chinese Food restaurants and soon to come fish & chip shop and Italian restaurant as well as 2 new locations featuring baked goods, round out the "in the near future" bill. Toss in some "lunch only" locations, upscale coffee, baked goods and tea-houses, and Main has hospitality pretty well covered!
 |
| Replaced old arena |
This being said, there are
some holes to fill, and you don't fill them by opening similar businesses to compete against each other unless there's a demand for that, via having a bad existing similar product / service, which I don't see. What we could use are
offices filled with people, or
doctor's offices,
health services etc. such as in the same building the food bank is now located, and also the unit that was formerly a
children's day care, now sitting empty. I believe
Anne Martin, running for council in the ward, owned the business once called
Teddy Bear's Picnic. An elect her sign now sits in the window instead.
A challenger,
John Heckbert thinks he has the answers and has studied other top downtown communities to bring that to his vision. He's new and brings new ideas but would they do justice to her history?
 |
| Vs Wildlife behind Main |
Of course also running in the ward is the incumbent
Joe Sponga who's in hung tough through a pretty tough job to juggle town construction woes vs plans for Main, along with business and tenant concerns, in a part time job.
Joe has a big heart and means well, and is living proof why Newmarket Councilors' jobs should be full time. This town is getting too large and indeed it's downtown and heritage too important, for us to have councilors concerned with it all only part time. Joe has his fans and share of detractors, but, like any incumbent, will be tough to beat I think regardless.
But that doesn't mean side bars such as a disgruntled Main St store owner suing for having their property access tampered with - illegally as far as they are concerned - can't come out to play. We'll have to wait for this one to come out though...after the election! Stay Tuned for...(insert cheesy soap opera theme music here)..
The Edge.. of Newmarket!
 |
| Building Owner slash Candidate |
At any rate, Main Street needs a plan of attack for sustained growth, and to that end, I would suggest
a plan to target
types of businesses Main St
wants, not gets. Take stock of what is there now, and actively pursue businesses from a wish list created, and offer a rebate incentive to give them a shot at survival. Beats having units empty.
WISH LIST
The General Store - A hardware store / printers / souvenirs store - Perhaps these days a full out hardware store cannot be feasible on Main, but a good old fashioned " General Store", modernized, would be cool - complete with
old coke machine for drinks. As well, no more Printers for photo-copying seem to exist on Main St so they could also offer that service from a copier machine.. and souvenirs are a given with all the movies now shot here, as well as Canada stuff!
 |
| Really? They should create one for them here behind Main! |
A New Market - Whatever happened to selling fresh fruit and vegetables? Add some garden plants and flowers to the mix. With the farmer's market connection this should be a given. Add groceries too with competitive prices and you have a workable grocer's type business.
Butcher Shop - Classic Main St staple - emphasizing fresh, offer organic options
Record Stores - They have the cool factor. Vinyl records are at a
40 year high in sales and with Newmarket's boomer population new & used records would fly, and attract people to Main St! Recently
CanadaT.com, which is Main's last manufacturer, featured some in-house promo of records and print art, and sales were very good!
 |
| Thriving Main St business being forced out by developers |
Printing Shop - Hard copy printing specialist could survive - approach an existing one!
Thrift Shop - Trade-in used goods, furniture, clothing, and books - always a draw
Arts - Visual - A number of art galleries would add balance and create ambiance
Antiques - Always an attraction
High Tech Internet Cafe - I'm surprised there's not one already. Big screen gaming too.
Rental Housing: The Town Clock is already set up for housing since seniors were housed there recently...just saying...
 |
| Nooks & Crannies |
 |
| Preservation work |
 |
| One of the new Restaurants at Newmarket's Main St |
 |
| Still In Style after all these years! Long time success story on Main St...Oh, and did I mention it's for sale?! |
 |
| Coming Soon | |
|
|
The Walk & Roll idea was inspired by Dan Philion, PACC's Vice-Chair and community volunteer award winner, who himself is confined to a wheelchair and has increasingly limited use of his hands. Tired of living in constant worry of having enough food without begging and having to live in isolation without being able to afford to go out, Dan asked was there not something we can do?
