The Chair of the Downtown Windsor BIA is fed up.
Larry Horwitz says the city has driven up licensing fees and policing costs to the point where downtown business owners can no longer afford to host summer events.
The comments come after several street festivals in August were cancelled.
Horwitz says over the past several years, fewer and fewer businesses have been paying for outdoor patios.
"One of the ways downtown has become and will become successful and compete with other downtowns around the world is to have street festivals, street events, entertainment and enjoyment, having people come down and having a meeting space, but that has become economically prohibitive," says Horwitz.
Windsor's 'Open Streets' event (Photo courtesy of CTV Windsor)
Horwitz says the city's Open Streets events have been a big success, but they're paid for by the taxpayer.
"Now the city are the only ones that can afford to do it. It's paid for by the taxpayer. We could download some of those costs to the merchants and they would be happy to do it for a reasonable fee, but we've made it such an impossibility that only government organizations can afford to spend tens of thousands of dollars to close the streets."
Horwitz adds, many businesses have to pay more than $1,500 a day to host an event downtown.