Downtown

The causes are the Region's file. The impact is the City's. I'll be precise about the first and relentless about the second.

Last updated: September 3, 2026

The problem

Ask a downtown business owner what's hardest right now and you'll hear about the street: people in crisis in doorways, public substance use, vandalism, staff who came to work in retail or hospitality and are spending their shifts acting as front-line social workers. You'll hear that safety perceptions drive foot traffic, and foot traffic drives whether the doors stay open.

I want to answer this carefully, because it's where candidates most often promise what they can't deliver. Homelessness services — shelters, outreach, social services, public health — are Niagara Region's responsibility, not the City's. Policing is regional too. I won't tell you a city councillor can fix homelessness; anyone who does is overpromising.

But the impact of the crisis doesn't land on the Region's property. It lands on ours: City sidewalks, City parks, City by-laws, buildings the City has the power to inspect and enforce against. Managing the impact on the community is squarely the City's responsibility, and the City has more tools for it than it's using. That's the part of this file a councillor owns, and I'll treat it that way.

The other half of downtown's problem is quieter. Storefronts sit empty not because nobody wants them, but because taking one over can mean inheriting years of unknown compliance problems. That's a City process problem with a City solution, and it has its own page: business permitting.

What the City actually controls

The City's side

Parks, sidewalks, lighting, public washrooms, and how fast maintenance responds
By-law enforcement and property standards — including on vacant and unsecured buildings that concentrate the problems businesses describe
A dedicated downtown by-law presence, distinct from police
How City-owned public space is managed, consistently and lawfully
Whether the City is a reliable partner on downtown outreach programs
Special-event parking rules and how they're communicated
The terms of the patio program
Housing approvals — the City's biggest structural contribution

Not the City's side

Shelters, outreach services, social services, and public health — Niagara Region
Mental health and addictions treatment capacity — the Region and the Province
Policing — the Niagara Regional Police Service and its regional board
Consumption and treatment services decisions — the Province

What I'll do

Housing supply. The City's biggest structural contribution is saying yes to homes, including affordable ones. When professional staff recommend approving a housing project, my default is yes — and if I ever vote otherwise, I'll owe residents a specific, planning-based reason.
Public space. Parks, by-law, and fire services are City files. Managing public spaces humanely and consistently — so they work for everyone, including people in crisis — is City work, and I'll treat it as such. That means a downtown by-law presence that businesses can actually reach, lighting and maintenance standards that are met, and a protocol for City-owned space that is clear, lawful, and applied the same way every time.
Enforce on the buildings that make it worse. Vacant, unsecured, and derelict buildings concentrate exactly the activity downtown operators describe. The City has had a Vacant Building Registry By-law since 2022. I'll push for it to be enforced consistently, and for property standards orders on unsecured buildings downtown to be issued on the same timeline the City would use anywhere else.
One number to call. Downtown businesses shouldn't have to guess which department handles a non-emergency street problem. I'll push for a single reporting channel for downtown operators, with a tracked response, so a call gets an answer instead of a transfer.
Be a reliable partner on outreach. The Region runs the services, but the City decides whether it's a dependable partner on the programs that respond when a downtown business calls for help. I'll support the City being exactly that — and I'll label it for what it is: partnership on impact, not delivery of the Region's services.
Fix the small things that read as disrespect. Special-event parking rates that appear without notice. Patio terms that a small restaurant can't meet. These are process decisions the City makes, and they should be made with the people affected in the room. I'll push for advance-notice standards on parking changes and a review of the patio program's terms.
Advocacy, labelled as advocacy. A councillor has a voice with the Region and the Province and should use it — for supportive housing and treatment capacity. But I'll always label advocacy as advocacy, not dress it up as delivery.

What a councillor can't do

A city councillor cannot fund, run, or fix the shelter and treatment system; that's the Region and the Province, and pretending otherwise is how this file got where it is. A councillor can't direct the police. And a councillor can't clear people out of public space by decree — Ontario courts have set limits on what municipalities can do where shelter alternatives don't exist, and any protocol the City adopts has to be lawful or it won't survive. What a councillor can do is make sure the City's own half of this file — enforcement, maintenance, public space, partnership — is done consistently, funded, and reported on. That's the honest version of "dynamic," and it's the one I'm offering.

Downtown needs residents, open storefronts, and streets that work for everyone. The City controls more of that than it's using.

St. Catharines has more tools than it uses. I'm running to make it use them.

This address reaches me, not a staffer: grant@granthigginson.ca

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Sources

Everything on this page comes from public documents. If you want to check any of it:

Last updated: September 3, 2026