Somerset Ward Coun. Diane Holmes is sending out a residential survey to gather feedback on a plan to install six street signs marking Ottawa’s gay village.
“We’ll see how many answers we get back [from this survey] and that will tell us how many people are indifferent . . . We’ll know by about mid-October and if the consensus is positive, then the signs will go up,” said Holmes.
She says about 1,000 surveys were sent to residents on either side of Bank Street from Nepean to James Streets.
“I’d like a consensus in the community that this is something they’d like to see,” she says.
Holmes says she personally asked businesses along Bank Street for their opinion on the signs and the results were mostly indifferent.
“What are six signs on six telephone poles . . . It was pretty much a non-event,” she said, speaking of the businesses' perspectives.
While they may not affect businesses, these signs are important to Ottawa’s queer community, who have been asking for a village designation for years, says Holmes.
“There is a large GLBT community in the city,” she said. “So I have agreed if there’s going to be a village designation, it’s a matter of six signs.”
The signs, one of which was installed as a trial in September 2010 for 10 days, will read “The/Le Village” and have a rainbow embellishment.
Local businesses were asked about their thoughts on the signs in another survey last September.