SPEAKingston presentation to City Council re: downtown conference centre
Your Worship Mayor Paterson and honorable members of council.
My name is Wanda Williams, and I am the Co-chair of SPEAKingston. The purpose of my presentation this evening is to, on behalf of SPEAKingston and its members, fully support the development of a downtown Kingston Conference Centre.
This topic has been discussed for many years, in fact over a decade- but no decision has ever been made by past Councils to advance it.
Now is the time!
The studies have been done - the experts consulted - the financial benefits to the local economy are clear. Now, it’s time to grow “business tourism” ... and, we believe a conference centre will do just that!
Many of us have had the opportunity to attend conference centres in London, Victoria, Halifax and Charlottetown. They are all located in their respective downtowns and contribute to the vibrancy and commerce of each city.
Conferences and events bring new visitors to our city; people who will return to enjoy Kingston’s many tourism treasures. For example, the Briar curling championship held in 2020 brought enormous financial benefit to Kingston’s downtown core and put us on the map as a city that knows how to run large-scale events.
A conference centre adds to existing capacity that is often stretched during our busy tourist season. We’ve also become a hotspot as a filming location, which requires added resources, and, with three academic institutions, a conference centre offers the opportunity to attract larger, prestigious academic conferences to benefit faculty members, students and local organizations.
I would like to highlight a couple key points that we think are critical to consider in favour of locating the city’s first Conference Centre across from the Leon’s Centre.
As we all know, lots of things we took for granted have been turned upside down since the start of the pandemic. One of the biggest impacts that it has had, is on people being able to work remotely. Many companies and governments are struggling with the “new normal,” however it’s clear that we are not going back to the way things were pre-pandemic.
For downtown Kingston, this has meant significantly fewer people working downtown, whether they be employees at companies like Empire Life, who are selling their building and moving to a new location; the Ontario Ministry of Health which has a significant percentage of their staff now working remotely; or other businesses located in buildings like the Royal Block at Princess and King Streets. All of this adds up to less foot traffic during the day, which means less business for restaurants and retailers who have all enjoyed serving these workers for decades.
We must continue to develop opportunities to attract people to the downtown core.
On a more positive note, our city has been able to witness the significant impact the Leon’s Centre has had on foot traffic downtown, particularly in the evenings and on weekends. The increased activity in our restaurant and bars have helped to revitalize downtown and our nightlife and has supported our retail industry. This venue continues to draw new and repeat consumers to our city.
Think of the possibilities for investment when a downtown conference centre draws new business leaders and decision makers into our city. They will be able to see firsthand a vibrant and strong economic community in a busy, safe and walkable downtown.
SPEAKingston’s main goal is to support smart growth and a new conference centre hits all the marks –Not only does it meet with our organization’s strategic tenets, but it accomplishes the City’s Integrated Destination Strategy and the City of Kingston and Economic Developments Integrated Strategic Plan. – all approved by our city leaders.
We urge council not to allow this opportunity to pass by yet again, and to instead begin the process towards creating this important community resource that will strengthen our city.
This concludes my comments Your Worship - Thank you for the opportunity to present this evening.