The problem with Belleville is a lack of vision and poor management by local government. There’s the total mess with developments, from the failed Century Village, to the much delayed Pinnacle, to Marketplace, to the failed Twin Towers development by TaskForce Engineering, which has resulted in an unnecessary move for the Legion branch and the demolition of the building for nothing. Add the crime downtown and our mayor saying “don’t come downtown”. How would a struggling downtown business owner like to hear that? Add the failure of City Council and the Mayor to even consider the development proposal I made about renovating the upper floors of commercial buildings for affordable housing. People who want to move to Belleville already complain that there is no affordable housing here.

Council and the Chamber also ignored a detailed proposal that I spent months on for the 2024 Belleville Waterfront Festival, which was a total disaster in 2023 with huge decreases in attendance and the worst entertainment schedule in history. Without dramatic changes, especially to the entertainment, although most major entertainers are already booked up, the 2024 festival will be the last. I had contacted the top name entertainers who had appeared before, plus our many great local groups, and all of them had expressed an interest in appearing this year, but the Chamber did nothing.

One side of the downtown core is already empty. Compare that to the thriving downtown core in Kingston without a single empty store. Add yet another disaster with the upcoming changes to Belleville Transit, already the worst transit system anywhere. No buses to the casino, to Bay View Mall, and to the new Legion location. Ridership is already down dramatically so the Mayor needs to pay attention to the hundreds of complaints about this because Belleville Transit refuses to answer emails and calls. Fire the current useless managers and hire an experienced transit manager, who will listen to all the complaints and do something.

High time for major changes or Belleville will just be a memory.