The 37th Annual General Meeting of the Owen Sound Downtown Improvement Area Board of Management was held last night at Nathaniel’s Restuarant in Downtown Owen Sound.  The following is the Address from the Board Chair:

“Good evening. I would like to welcome everyone to the 2010 Annual General Meeting of the Downtown Improvement Area and thank you for joining us this evening.  I am Sue Carleton – Chair of the Downtown Improvement Area Board of Management and co-owner of E! Embroidery on 10th Street East.

I would like to draw everyone’s attention to the 2009 Annual Report which has been prepared by Irwin Seidman our manager, copies are available for everyone and it will also be published on our website.

This report is full of information about our DIA, such as what is a DIA, and what is the Owen Sound DIA, and the many ways to contact us. I encourage everyone to utilize one of these communication options, we value your input and it is the input of our members that helps ensure we continue to operate in the best interests of our membership. This report also includes our Vision and Mission statements, the treasurer’s report managers report, audited financial statements and 2010 proposed budget. I would like to thank Irwin for putting this together; it is very well done and very clearly represents our current DIA, what we do now and what we hope to do in the future.

Tonight, I would like to focus my report on our Vision Statement and what it means to me. The vision of the Owen Sound DIA is to make a “valuable, beneficial, and ongoing contribution to the DIA membership by effectively supporting initiatives that help to improve, beautify and promote the DIA community.”

I feel that this statement very clearly states what our board and committee members do for our downtown. They make a valuable, beneficial, and ongoing contribution to the DIA membership through the time they commit to the DIA. Without the time commitment that is made by all of these people we would not have the active vibrant downtown that we do.

Everyone brings a different idea or viewpoint to every meeting and together we create the events and projects that encourage customers and friends to come downtown so that they can enjoy our beautiful streetscape year round, and to take part in events such as the Taste of the Sound where retail store customers were encouraged to visit all of our downtown eating establishments. The Hottest Yard Sale Under the Sun takes a phenomenal amount of work to bring together, both by our office staff and by the volunteers who keep things running smoothly on the day of the sale.

Our streetscape committee puts considerable thought into what types of plants will look best in our downtown at the most reasonable cost, and the flower plantings are only a small part of what that committee has planned for the downtown. They are currently working on a plan to use the matching funds received from a the RED (Rural Economic Development) government grant to enhance the downtown. This is a three year program so it is a huge commitment of their time and energy. These are the people that make our “vision” a reality.

Our Mission Statement states that we are committed to “providing effective leadership in the ongoing development of the membership area as a vibrant and sustainable business, cultural, and residential community. We will achieve this goal by supporting initiatives aimed at improving, beautifying and promoting the membership area on behalf of all of its members.” The word I will focus on here is “community”.

Our downtown is a place where customers, business owners and the residents who live and or work here, also play here.

It is a place where they meet with friends for shopping or dining out, where they look after their personal or business financial needs at our local banks, insurance offices and investment companies, visit their doctor or dentist, work out at a fitness centre, go for coffee, get ideas for painting, papering or carpeting their home or office and then purchase new furniture to enjoy in that home or office.

These are just a few of the things to be done in our downtown.

Our downtown maintains that feeling of community where you greet friends and neighbours as you walk down the street or along the harbour or river. It is a place to enjoy the changing seasons, stroll around the Festival of Northern Lights displays at Christmas, watch the fishermen try their luck in summer and brave the ice in winter, enjoy the Farmers’ Market on Saturday morning at any time of the year, watch the flower bulbs unfold in the planters along the streets in the spring, and take part in the Hottest Yard Sale or events such as Buskerfest during the summer and check out the window displays during the Halloween decorating contest.

These are the things that make our downtown a community. Downtown is a place we proudly invite others from our extended community to join us to enjoy all that we have to offer. I feel very privileged to be part of this community.

To anyone who is interested in joining one of our committees or the board of management, we would love to have your input, new members come with new ideas and thoughts and those are always needed. Volunteers are also needed to help with delivering newsletters or at events as well, so if anyone has some time to spare to help out in those ways it would be much appreciated as well.

And finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of those who work with me on the board of management, all of the committee members, our office staff and maintenance crew. It is a pleasure to work with everyone. By always keeping in mind that everything we do must be in the best interest of the downtown we make a difference. Thank you.

Again, thank you for joining us and I hope you enjoy the rest of the evening visiting with old friends and making new ones.”

---

Sue Carleton is the Chair of the Owen Sound Downtown Improvement Area Board of Management and is the proprietor of E! Embroidery in Downtown Owen Sound. Sue can be reached at boardchari@downtownowensound.ca.

---

Click here to download full 2009 OSDIA Annual Report (PDF 3.5mb)