A screening of The Wizard of Oz early this month drew a crowd of 250 and raised $1,400 for the Bank Street Village Initiative.
So far the project is nearly halfway to its $10,000 goal for street signs, banners and rainbow flags for a gay district on a six-block stretch of Bank Street between Nepean and James.
Glenn Crawford, chair of the initiative, says the event was organized out of the gay community’s frustration with what they see as the Bank Street Promenade Business Improvement Area’s (BIA) withdrawal from their cause.
The screening was relocated to Gilmour Street after the BIA denied a permit to close off a portion of Bank Street. “We’re trying to work together, not draw a line in the sand,” says Crawford.
In May, the BIA commissioned two surveys of its members, which yielded polarized results. The first found 75 per cent of businesses opposed designating the area as a gay village, while the second found 73 per cent in favour.
“If we wanted to discourage the idea, we would have left it at the first survey, but we wanted to verify,” says Gerry LePage, executive director of the BIA.
The BIA then formulated an official branding policy, putting the onus on a group to make “a self-directed effort” for branding.
The policy goes on to state that “the branding of a specific geographic area will naturally occur following the adoption of a specific theme by a growing number of individual businesses.” The BIA thus took the position that no action on its part was required.
Crawford views the BIA’s stance as a stumbling block to progress, but LePage contends that assigning an identity is not part of his association’s mandate.
“The power rests solely on the group themselves.” he says. Whether the Village Initiative secures official recognition is entirely up to them, according to LePage. “We’re not standing in the way.”
Crawford says he has asked for meetings with the BIA but says his calls have gone unreturned.
At this point, LePage says he is not keen on holding meetings with a group that he views as lacking formal organization.