We want to hear from you!
In an effort to continuously improve Downtown London’s communication efforts, we would like to hear from you! Please complete the below survey by April 15th, 2022. The survey will take no longer than 5 minutes. There is an optional field at the end of the survey to include your email address to be entered into a draw to win $50 Downtown Dollars for your participation.
City of London: East London Link Update
Over the last two weeks, crews have been installing temporary traffic signals in preparation for construction work in the King Street and Wellington Street intersection, as part of the East London Link Project.
Starting the week of April 11, Wellington Street will be reduced to one lane only (both north-and-south-bound) in the area of the Wellington Street and King Street intersection. This is to prepare for upcoming construction, which is planned to begin the week of April 18.
City of London: Downtown Loop Phase 2 Construction Begins
Starting Monday, March 28, Downtown Loop Phase 2 construction begins on Queens Avenue and Ridout Street North, which will require traffic restrictions and road closures, as well as temporary traffic diversions on Dundas Place. The City will be sharing more information today and throughout construction, so don’t forget to sign up for email updates if you haven’t yet.
Upcoming traffic restrictions:
- Ridout Street North between Fullarton Street and Queens Avenue will be closed to all road users;
- Both Queens Avenue from Talbot Street to Ridout Street, and Ridout Street North between Queens Avenue and King Street will experience temporary lane restrictions; and
- Temporary traffic diversions will be implemented for Dundas Place.
These road closures and restrictions are expected to be in place for approximately four months. Crews will be in the area starting on Monday, March 28, setting up traffic control, mobilizing equipment, and completing advance work.
Visitors can continue to access nearby parking lots and downtown destinations, and they can take advantage of two hours of complimentary parking at municipal lots and on-street locations by using the Honk app and entering promo code ‘CORE’. “Park and pick-up locations” are also available downtown for quick food and parcel pickups.
Adelaide Underpass Project
On April 12, 2022, construction crews would begin work on Central Avenue between William Street and Adelaide Street North as early as the week of April 18, 2022. The City of London is hosting a virtual public meeting on Wednesday, April 20, 2022, to share an update on planned construction of the Adelaide Street North Underpass
project. Pending Council approval, construction is scheduled to begin the week of April 18, 2022, and finish in fall 2024, with some planned carry-over work in summer 2025. To learn more about the Adelaide Underpass Project, check out the document below.
Downtown Loop Pre-Construction Webinar
A recording is now available for the informative webinar regarding the Downtown Loop Phase 2 (Queens Avenue and Ridout Street). Some highlights include:
- Project timelines
- Traffic management during construction
- Special accommodations for businesses and residents
- Site safety, cleanliness and accessibility
- Communications and tips to stay informed
- Question and answer session
City of London: Continued Deferral of City of London Loan Payments
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to help mitigate impacts on local businesses, City Council approved further deferring of all Community Improvement Plan (CIP) loan repayments on an interest-free basis until December 2022, with repayment to begin in January 2023. A response by email is required if you wish to receive this deferral. Please email gbailey@london.ca by Wednesday April 6, 2022. For customers who are making their loan payments or would like to restart their loan payments, you can now enroll in the pre-authorized payment plan. Please email AccountsReceivable@london.ca or call 519-661-5706 to enroll. This payment option replaces the requirement to provide post-dated cheques.
Welcome to the RAISE Service and Grant Program
Racialized and Indigenous Supports for Entrepreneurs (RAISE) is a service and grant program developed and administered by the Ontario Business Improvement Area Association (OBIAA), the Toronto Association of Business Improvement Areas (TABIA), and in partnership with the Parkdale Centre for Innovation (PCI), to support Indigenous, Black and other racialized entrepreneurs in Ontario to start and scale their business.
Funded by the Government of Ontario, the RAISE Grant program provides access to business development training, culturally responsive support services, and grant funding.
The objectives of the RAISE Grant program are to:
- Increase economic inclusion by supporting Indigenous, Black and other racialized small business owners with one-to-one culturally responsive services
- Transfer knowledge through relevant online training and business plan mentorship
- Provide funding to facilitate innovation and growth within the Indigenous, Black and racialized small business community ($10,000 Grant)
- Determine Main Street Readiness through the applicant assessment phase
Tourism Relief Fund Opportunity
The Tourism Relief Fund in partnership with Regional Tourism Organizations is available to the tourism sector in southern Ontario for applications up to $100,000. This fund will help facilitate the recovery and long-term growth of the tourism economy within the province, supporting tourism stakeholder investment into experience development, experience enhancement and destination development programs. The fund is open to incorporated businesses, not-for-profit incorporated organizations, municipalities, and Indigenous, First Nation, Metis and Inuit owned businesses, communities, and organizations.
Intake opens April 12th, closing May 15th, 2022.
Restaurants Canada – #DineInDoOver
This April, Canada’s leading voice for the foodservice industry, Restaurants Canada is asking businesses and consumers to participate in a #DineInDoOver. Serving as an industry revival effort, the campaign encourages consumers and businesses across Canada to come together at their favourite local restaurant, and ‘redo’ the moments, milestones and special events they’ve missed over the last two years.
#DineInDoOver is a nationwide movement that not only addresses the need to redo, or even do for the first time, the moments missed due to pandemic, but also supports the foodservice industry on its road to revival. By dining in to celebrate missed birthdays, team building events, promotions, engagements, anniversaries, holidays and more, Canadians can get back to benefiting from in-person communication and connection, while supporting the revival of an industry that has been devastated.
Free Food Tourism Certificate Training Program
The Culinary Tourism Alliance (CTA) has created a brand-new, free blended suite of online and instructor-led training programs for hospitality businesses to better leverage the power of food tourism in Ontario. Learn how local sourcing, storytelling and partnership can help grow your business and attract more people to Ontario.
Learn how local sourcing, storytelling and partnership can help grow your business and attract more people to Ontario!
Exclusive Offer for Business Insider Subscribers
Alieska Robles, the author of the Forest City Cookbook, has created a new cookbook titled Live Well Collection. She is currently offering 20% off the purchase of these cookbooks to all Downtown London members. To get this awesome deal, you have to be a subscriber of our Business Insider newsletter.
London Clean and Green 2022
London Clean & Green is a community and business partnership campaign that has been promoting litter prevention, encouraging successful community clean-ups, and helping to organize other environmental projects in London for over 25 years!
Check out the City of London’s Get Involved Page for more information
on how you can get involved this year!
Seasonal Outdoor Patios
Despite the snow on the ground, patio season is right around the corner! This is a friendly reminder that Seasonal Outdoor Patios are permitted starting March 15th. If you have any questions regarding patios this year, please take a look at the information provided below.
FAQs: Patios on Private Property
- Can a patio continue to extend in parking spaces on private property?
Any patio expansion on private property must comply with
Section 4.18 of the Zoning By-law.
- What is the process for patio approvals? Patios located on private property can email businesshub@london.ca
- Are there fees associated with patios on private property?
No fees for private property patios. However, if a Building permit is required for any patio structure the permit fee is applicable.
New patio proposal enquiries can be emailed to businesshub@london.ca or B2B@london.ca
Patios on City Property in the Core Area
The Core Area Boulevard Café Grant Program associated with the Core Area Community Improvement Plan is funded through 2023. Sidewalk Café’s within the catchment area will not pay applications fees, or the fee associated with the actual license agreement in 2022. A team member(s) will be reaching out to participants to renew agreements where they are at the end of term.
New patios proposals located on City Property will need to contact Realty Services at realtyservices@london.ca.
Take your Red Tape Concerns Straight to Government
Dealing with red tape means dealing with rules that are ridiculous, time-consuming and take you away from growing your business. Help reduce the burden: share your real-life horror story directly with the government. Find your province in the drop-down menu below and use the online portal, e-mail address, or phone number provided to let your government know what red tape hurdles need fixing!
Visit the Ontario online portal to submit your red tape irritants and suggest possible solutions.
Cannabis Wiki Conference & Expo
The CannabisWiki Conference & Expo is coming to London, ON on June 15th and 16th. They are anticipating 5000 – 10,000 attendees, and they’d love to showcase the city of London, and more specifically Downtown London. Many of the sponsors will be looking to host events at local venues during those 2 days, and they’d love to create a shortlist of venues who are interested in being considered for hosting these events. The sponsors will then use the shortlist to select a venue for their events.
If your venue would like to be placed on this shortlist please let them know, and provide a few details (size, capacity, types of events venue is best suited for/interested in; brunch/luncheon/cocktail party/after party etc.). The sponsors have budgets for these, and will work directly with venues that they select to organize the event. Interested? Contact Janelle Powell at janelle@cannabis.wiki.
City of London Spotlight Program
The spotlight program is a new City initiative that supports safety and security in the Core Area and deters criminal activity. Through the program businesses in the Core register to receive a Spotlight program sticker to display in their storefront window. This sticker identifies that there are cameras actively monitoring the storefront area. Learn more about the Spotlight program at london.ca/spotlight.
Find it in London Campaign
You’re invited to join the Find it in London campaign! This city-wide effort is in collaboration with Tourism London, Argyle BIA, Old East Village BIA, Hamilton Road BIA, Hyde Park BIA, and Downtown London BIA. This campaign is to create a sense of community while also stimulating economic growth across the city for our businesses. There is no cost to your business to be involved … and there are other opportunities as well! Your business will be listed in the online business directory on the campaign’s website www.finditinlondon.ca . You have the opportunity to be included in future activations that will bring customers to you!
FREE Parking has been extended!
Citi Plaza offers 1 hour FREE parking Monday through Friday and 2 hours on the weekend. The City of London has extended the free parking program in Downtown London for the time being.
On the HonkMobile app, Londoners can use the promo code ‘CORE’ to receive two hours of free parking. This is only valid for on-street and municipal parking and excludes privately managed spots.
Drivers are still able to park for free up to one hour along Dundas Place with no code required. Anyone not able to use the HonkMobile app can also phone Parking Services at 519-661-4537 to arrange the discount.
STEPS TO THE DOWNTOWN DOLLAR SYSTEM UPDATE
As a Downtown London business, you have the opportunity to accept Downtown Dollars and Construction dollars as a form of payment. These dollars can only be spent in the Downtown Core and Old East Village, encouraging local spending and bringing people to our boundary!
Do you already accept Downtown Dollars?
We are moving to a gift card system. There are a few steps you need to complete to ensure you will be ready to assist customers shopping with the new gift cards. We are planning to release these this summer.
- Process a transaction with the details provided in this link as you would a regular credit transaction. (You can type in these numbers on your debit/credit machine)
- This is a test account, so the transaction will come up as DECLINED. This is a good thing!
- Enter your information on the form in the same link that will ask for the business’s name, location, phone number, and your signature. Submit this form once it is completed. It will ask for your email after you have clicked submit.
- This will send an email to your account from “Adobe Sign” confirming that your virtual signature was your own. You need to click CONFIRM YOUR EMAIL in this message for your sign up to be complete.
*If you would like downtown dollar gift cards to be used as a transaction method on your online platform/e-commerce site, simply attempt a purchase with the same numbers as step #1. It will also decline and successfully set up your system.
More Information:
Payment is automatically deposited into your account when a customer makes a purchase using the gift card, much like a debit or credit transaction. You no longer will have to hold on to paper bills to bring to the office for redemption. Paper bills will still be in circulation and can be accepted as we continue to phase them out.
Should you have any questions or concerns, or would like to join this program, please contact either Colleen (colleen@downtownlondon.ca) or Vicki (vicki@downtownlondon.ca).
Financial Assistance
Click here for information grants and loans available to small businesses.