Downtown Yonge BIA’s domination plans continue apace

Downtown Yonge BIA’s domination plans continue apace

(Image: Carsten Keßler)

The Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area, the group that helped boost the not-quite-NYC-no-matter-how-hard-it-tries Yonge-Dundas Square, is looking to expand its territory as far south as Adelaide and as far north as Charles. The proposal is opposed by some local business owners who would prefer not to face the annual fee of 14.5 cents per square foot and who are worried that expansion would spell corporate gentrification for the area. “If we get too big and too slick, we turn into a Gap,” John Anderson, the long-time owner of Morningstar at Yonge and Isabella, told the National Post. “We turn into Queen Street between Beverley and Spadina, where there isn’t a Canadian operation on the street.”

We assume he means with the exception of Steve’s Music Store, Lululemon, Black Market, Silver Snail, Active Surplus, The Rivoli, Black Bull, Ultra, Show Room, The Horseshoe, Peter Pan, CIBC, BQM, Le Château, David’s Tea, Fashion Crimes, Bell, Fido, Your Good Health, C Squared, Roots, Little Burgundy, Due West and Lettieri.

Yonge businesses to BIA: Get lost [National Post]