‘We have a great city:’ Regina organizations look to bring people downtown

Regina is looking at attracting people to its downtown core.

That idea was front and centre during a City Building Speaker luncheon, which is a part of series by the Regina & District Chamber of Commerce, Regina’s Warehouse Business Improvement District and the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District (RDBID).

The groups are advocating for the City of Regina to locate a new multi-purpose events centre and a library branch in the city’s downtown.

Tim Tompkins, the former chair of the International Downtown Association, spoke to members of Regina’s business community at the Hotel Saskatchewan.

Tompkins helped revitalize Times Square in New York City, a movement that has been underway for the past 20 years.

During the presentation, he said thriving art, culture and economy is what will attract people to the downtown.

He said while fundamentally Regina does have some great things about downtown, there are also some things to work on.

Tompkins said Regina needs some destination drivers such as the library and the events centre.

“Those can be things that first of all draw in people from the surrounding areas outside of Regina, but they can also draw in people from across the province and across the country,” he said.

“It provides people with a reason to come and then there becomes a great synergy between a growing residential population.”

He also explained how Regina’s downtown can draw people in.

“Half of it is simply celebrating what you’ve got. This is a place that has great bones, great history and an enthusiastic set of people and entrepreneurs and creators that want to make things happen,” Tompkins said.

He explained the other part of it is continuing to build cultural programming and celebrating assets.

Tompkins also explained what people can do when challenges such as littering and graffiti happen within the city.

For things like graffiti, he said the key is to respond to it right away.

“If you leave it alone there will be more graffiti, more graffiti and more graffiti. If you get rid of it the next day and you do that 10 times in a row, the person with the spray can is going to go, ‘This isn’t working for me,’ ” Tompkins said.

RDBID officials said during the luncheon they would like to see reinvestment in the downtown and in the community.

According to executive director Judith Veresuk, seeing similar things happen in other cities like Moncton and Halifax for the world junior hockey championship can bring momentum because of those arenas.

“Those are things that we can definitely replicate — that excitement, that enthusiasm, that vibrancy in the downtowns that we all saw in those images,” she said.

Veresuk added the city has to work together to help make people want to be downtown.

Meanwhile, Tony Playter — the CEO of the Regina & District Chamber of Commerce — said a way to bring people downtown is to enhance what is already available.

“The city, the Downtown District and the Warehouse District are doing a really good job of creating opportunities and events to attract people downtown,” he said.

“We can continue to grow the downtown with small projects while we get ready to create those bigger projects.”

He also said there was one key thing that he learned during the presentation.

“We have a great city and sometimes I think we forget that, all of the fantastic things that we have all around, not only downtown but the entire city,” Playter said.

He also explained why now is a good time to focus on the city’s downtown.

“It’s time to showcase Regina. We’re a great city with a lot to offer to people on many levels and it’s time to start right now,” he said.