Downtown London will hire consultant council refused to help fund. By Patrick Maloney, The London Free Press

“An 8-7 March vote rejected the request from the group, Downtown London, for $540,000 from taxpayers to hire the firm Live Work Learn Play (LWLP) to help attract unique storefront tenants to the core, including Dundas Street and Richmond Row. The main catalyst for core merchants is the looming creation of Dundas Place, a four-block downtown stretch of Dundas Street that’ll be turned into a vehicle-optional public space.

“We can’t wait until it’s built. We have to start now,” said Janette MacDonald, the Downtown London general manager. “We have to make sure we have the best retail, storefront tenants possible. “We need to create that experience downtown that isn’t anywhere else in the city.” MacDonald bristles at the word consultant — “they’re not writing a report” — and instead calls Toronto-based LWLP a “practitioner” that will work with her group to attract unique street-level tenants.”