Welland Councilor's comments re- downtown core

Another earlier article dated November 16, 2007
I wonder if councilor Belcastro would care to elaborate his statement" Things have progressed nicely as it is 150% better than it was 10 years ago" applying to the downtown core of Welland. Would the councilor care to provide a list to support this statement?
Would the councilor care to give to the public the number of businesses that started up and closed over the past 10 years to justify saying"People are quite happy in the core?" For example councilor how many businesses have opened and closed at the corner across from the Tribune over the past 10 years or even across from Brown's jewelery store? Those people were not quite happy. The locations certainly don't signify any noticeable improvement.
A few years ago another Welland councilor made a similar statement to that of councilor Belcastro only that councilor went as far to say more than 30 businesses had started up in the core He has yet to come foreword to support those figures.