8/2/2019 2012 Mar 28 - BIA_ACAPOresponse

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March 28, 2012

To ACAPO,

It is with sincere regret that we receive your email, indicating that the street festival will

not happen this year.

Our two BIAs have spent innumerable hours canvassing our members, holding planning

sessions, and budgeting funds to initiate what we thought was a partnership to benefit

all in the LIttle Portugal and Dundas West area. Your email comes as a surprise to all on

our board of directors, as we were led to believe that you were unable to hold your

festival in the park and that it was in all of our best interests to host the street festival

and parade in our area. We were completely unaware that you had not discussed this

event with your membership in 2011 when you approached us to find a home for your

event.

We attempted many times to glean information from you, discuss details, and arrange

an agreement to make this a profitable experience for all involved. The option todiscuss terms never occurred and the reasoning for you to not pursue the street festival

is still unexplained to the BIAs. Your lack of transparency has left us in a position of

embarrassment as we now have to explain to our 300+ members that we were not fully

informed and misled of the intentions of ACAPO. Our members have lost an opportunity

which they require to maintain a healthy neighbourhood and grow the profile of all the

diverse communities that now occupy your proposed parade route. The Parade has

been a major event in our area since it's inception, and we are utterly disappointed that

ACAPO was unwilling to discuss options to include the businesses that line your route.

Our members were fully on board to make it a fantastic weekend of events.

With our mandate to engage our businesses in the well-being and promotion of thearea we seek some clarification from ACAPO to help enable us to move forward and

would like to pose a question to your organization. We feel that this question requires a

time sensitive answer and would therefore request a response by April 15, 2012 on your

intentions.

Is there intent on behalf of ACAPO to work with the BIA's in future years to develop a

street festival along the Dundas West corridor?

Please consider the well being and commitment of the businesses along Dundas West,

and sincerely focus on the positive outcomes such a partnership could develop.

If we fail to hear a response by ACAPO on April 15th, we will assume that ACAPO has nointerest in engaging the BIAs with it's Portugal Week festivities. All future projects are

subject to the approval of the respective BIA memberships.

Sincerely,

The Little Portugal BIA

Dundas West BIA