The Port Elgin Business Improvement Area (BIA) is back in business.
At a meeting held Tuesday — over 25 businesspeople and merchants showed up expressing an interest in the committee’s work.
Jeff Carver — the owner of the Wismer House — was elected president of the group while Brad Smith, owner of Lucid Graphics was named vice-president.
Carver says the BIA will have a lot of work ahead of it but he feels the time has come to make giant strides in improving the downtown area to the customers.
He says the municipality is creating a vision for itself and the BIA will be part of that.
Carver says he wants the downtown to continue to bring business to the area and then keep it in the area.
Carver says he was blown away with the attendance at Tuesday’s meeting.
He says it shows a real interest in the community where they can start building, expanding and enjoying what’s being offered.
As president of the BIA, Carver says he doesn’t have an agenda in mind as to what is the most important issue right now.
He says he has to talk to all the businesspeople in the area and ask questions before it’s decided what comes first.
However in the past, issues such as parking spaces, sidewalk spaces, bike racks and amenities have been items that have been discussed.
