Southport—or uptown, or Port Alberni’s old downtown—has found a champion in Gayle Stephen-Player.
Stephen-Player has owned and operated Gayle’s Fashions and Fitness in Southport since 1983; her first two years on Argyle Street between First and Second avenues, and the rest of the time on Fourth Avenue. She loves the mix of residential, commercial and industrial buildings, and has always seen the area’s potential.
She believes in Southport, and now leads a group of 20 like-minded merchants wanting change. They have already taken a few steps: labelling themselves Historic Southport and creating a website; and meeting with the RCMP and city officials to address social issues like public drunkenness, drugs and prostitution in the area.
“What we want to do is make it more attractive for new businesses to start up; make it welcoming,” Stephen-Player said. “Our main focus is to bring a positive buzz to the area.”
That is already starting, she said, with projects like the Little Bavaria centre and new businesses opening.
The group will assemble a round table in the summer with stakeholders such as merchants, the police, city, Vancouver Island Health Authority and other agencies to come up with workable solutions to make uptown a better place to live and do business, she said.
“We can go and put up some pretty flowers and put up some pretty lights and pipe in some music, but until we get the social issue part rolling we can’t really move too quickly on anything else,” she said.
The group is also researching business initiative areas, or BIAs, which is something Mayor John Douglas suggested. A BIA would give merchants more leverage for funding improvement projects, Stephen-Player explained, and it’s not just about collecting taxes from business or landowners.
The vision is there, and the political will is coming. What Southport really needs now are more champions, Stephen-Player said.
“More people coming on board with positive attitudes towards the area.”
editor@albernivalleynews.com
