Peter Hume, a former Ottawa city councillor and planning committee chair, has been picked to oversee the revitalization of the the ByWard and Parkdale markets.
Hume represented the ward of Alta Vista at the council table for 23 years, and chaired the powerful planning committee from 2003 until his resignation from city politics in 2014.
Now he's been named the chair of the board of the new municipal corporation that will oversee the management of the outdoor vending operations at both markets, along with 25 indoor tenancies at 55 ByWard Market Sq. and seven more inside the parking garage at 70 Clarence St.
Council voted in mid-April to hand over the management of the markets to a new, non-profit corporation. The deadline to apply for the board fell just two weeks later.
Mayor Jim Watson and councillors Mathieu Fleury and Jeff Leiper were authorized to name a three-member executive committee for the board. In addition to Hume, that executive committee will include Dennis Jackson as vice-chair and Chantal Gingras as treasurer.
Another six members of the volunteer board have been identified, but will need to be approved by the finance and economic development committee next Tuesday. Ian Fraser, Suneeta Millington and Lauren Kennedy are being recommended for two-year terms, while Catherine Frechette, Greg Skotnicki and Kathleen Macmillan will each serve one year if approved.
The board is responsible for hiring an executive director for the new corporation, which is expected to be completed by next month.
Hume Knows File, Mayor Says
Watson said he's an "admirer" of Hume's work. The two politicians go back decades, having served together on Ottawa's pre-amalgamation city council.
"He did a very good job of chairing planning, he understands the ByWard Market, he's been in and around that file for a long time," the mayor told reporters after Wednesday's council meeting.
Asked why the selection panel didn't go with someone outside the city's political establishment, Watson said that all the other board members provide a "set of fresh eyes" and will approach the job with a "clean slate."
However experience counts too, Watson added.
"You also need a mix, you need some people who do understand how city halls works and how to get things through."
After leaving municipal politics, Hume hired himself out as an "urban strategist" with the firm HP Urban in 2015.
At the time, a website for Hume's new firm said he had formed a "strategic partnership" with Minto's former VP of development, Jack Stirling, to "pursue development projects and to advise both the private and public sector on how to build a better and more prosperous city."
Strong Interest in Future of Market
The city takes back the keys to the ByWard Market building on Dec. 31, when a 20-year public-private partnership comes to an end. Rideau-Vaniier Councillor Mathieu Fleury, who represents the Byward Market area, said the city wants the market ready for that transition.
"I know there's a strong interest in the future of the market, in turning it around, and seeing it pick up," he said.
When approached on the streets of ByWard Market and asked what she would change, Ottawa resident Gwen Neelin suggested the new managers should focus on local businesses and vendors who could attract more residents to the historic core.
Neelin said she personally thinks of the entire ByWard Market area as a place for bars and touristy restaurants, so she finds "funky" Wellington West and Hintonburg shops and restaurants more her style.
The new managers could set up a system of pop-up markets with local artisans, Neelin suggested.
She also said the ByWard Market should close streets around the market building so they can be used by pedestrians, cafés and festivals.
"I think it could be really amazing. I've done a fair amount of travelling around England and Europe and a lot of them have pedestrian city centres that are just shops and cafés," she said.
Creative people who run workshops and maker spaces in the city might have something to contribute to the new board, she added.
"I hear all the time from residents that love and are passionate about the ByWard Market," Fleury said. "Everyone has different ideas."
With files from Kate Porter, CBC News
Note from Heritage Ottawa:
The ByWard Market area is one of eighteen Heritage Conservation Districts in Ottawa.