Homelessness is high in Orillia; more than half the numbers that neighbouring Barrie has but Orillia has only a fifth of the population.  Services are also nothing like Barrie with no year-round emergency overnight shelter and nowhere for people to go during the day.  This obviously has an impact on our downtown residents, merchants and our library.

Tied in with this was a substantial increase to parking rates that has also impacted business for downtown merchants.  We are hurting in a post-pandemic economy that has customers continuing to shop online and now, since 2023, are more likely to prefer shopping at big-box stores and malls that can offer free parking.  

Neighbouring cities that are similar to our "heritage/small-town vibe" all offer some form of free parking on-street and at city lots.  We could do same but with a huge ask of an increase in parking revenue, small businesses are struggling.  It can be seen with more empty storefronts than ever before.  

The final nail in the coffin for small business is the news about what this big increase in revenue was used for; $167,132 was spent on the construction and preparation of a temporary parking lot, a parking lot only available for part of the year, dropped after 2 years of a 3-year lease and with revenue to be shared with the owner.   We can't get that money back but we are "paying for it" with the huge negative impact that parking rate increases have incurred.  An idea to generate alternative revenue by renting out tiny homes on parking lots or city property (this parking lot also did not earn any revenue and operated at a loss for 2 years because it was hardly used) was shot down by city council. https://www.orilliamatters.com/local-news/terrible-idea-smith-rails-against-pitch-for-tiny-homes-car-living-9837897

Orillia politicians; please prioritize downtown; its homeless, its residents, its merchants!  Stop the useless spending; focus on the homeless and support small business by reigning in city spending.  Prioritize housing and human rights over the whims of a few bureaucrats.  We can't afford the unnecessary expenditures and can't afford not to prioritize people who are homeless and hurting.