Windsor’s Geography of Hope
We left the Caboto parking lot and headed north on Parent Avenue. It was a typical damp, cold, winter night in Windsor a light snow was blowing in the street lights but I was warmed by the hope, really, hope for the future of my hometown. I was leaving the scaledown.ca launch and was totally jazzed after the presentation by Chris Turner. I was driving Chris downtown to have drinks and I got to talk to him more about his experiences and how he thought scaledown.ca could promote the kind of changes in Windsor that he had experienced.Since then I’ve been seeing Windsor very differently. I am no longer seeing empty storefronts or vacant lots. I don’t see rundown blocks and neighbourhoods left half-empty. Instead I see enormous potential. An empty storefront is an opportunity for a new business to start-up. Vacant lots could be infill houses or community gardens or a space for kids to run around or play soccer. Half-empty neighbourhoods are really just the opposite, hey it’s cheesy, but really they are half-full and just waiting for new families to move in and create new energy and activity.
Chris said it and it is true; Windsor has enormous potential, we just need to let the message sink in and see the good instead of the bad. The original main-streets of Windsor are still there waiting to be reborn. Going north on Parent you cross Tecumseh Road first. I grew up in South Walkerville and Tecumseh Road had everything a person needed. Packer’s Market, Schwab’s meat, banks, drug store, clothing stores, restaraunts, a bike shop and doctor’s offices. Many of those businesses are gone but the important thing is most of the buildings are still there. The buildings are mostly two stories with apartments over the shops. Further on Parent crosses Ottawa Street, Erie Street and Wyandotte Street. All those are business districts in semi-dormant states, just waiting for the spring sunshine to burst forth and become vibrant town centres again.
All across Windsor and Essex County there are business districts, mostly left intact as the newest developments have been sprawl on the outskirts of our city and county towns. I can’t stress how important it is that we will not have to rebuild our main streets. Instead our mayors and councils can concentrate on their responsibilities’ of providing adequate services and infrastructure and they do not need to be involved as land owners or developers as they have in the past.
We are heading into a future under the weight of climate change and energy shortages but, as Chris Turner pointed out to all of us - the solutions are out there, in action. We just need to help those that fear change to let go and embrace smaller, better communities. In his podcast this week James Kunstler observed that the way we are living now promotes discomfort, distress, depression, violence and other anti-social behaviours. But, when we are compelled we will find ourselves coming together to build something better, something worth caring about.
Is Windsor now at the point where we should feel compelled to change?
Are we beyond the point of saying “wouldn’t it be nice if…”? Or, do we still have the luxury of time?
Tags: adaptive reuse, community building, community garden, local business, local economic development, relocalization, revitalization, scaledown, urban sprawl, walkerville
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You touched upon an important fact, James. Windsor’s core areas are pretty much intact. I am sure Andrew at IM would disagree
but structurally there’s not much that needs to be redeveloped to encourage the kind of social renewal that our core areas need.
So, the roadblock isn’t $$$ to redevelop, it is a mental one and one of priorities and vision. These are factors that don’t take a lot of money to alter, it just takes the political will and a leaders courage to row against the status quo. This can be either a top-down process (needing visionary leadership) or grass-roots (needing an educated electorate). Which of these can scaledown affect the most?
Like you and Chris Turner, I see nothing but potential in this little city of ours. However, changing a culture is a lot harder than changing a street pattern. We need to get busy!
Scaledown.ca has to help educate our community. We want everyone to see what we do, a collection of people with skills and desire to create a new city. A city driven by community action, local businesses, local social-networks. Our educators and leaders must step up to reassure our neighbours that the time has come to start the change.
Local food networks to distribute locally grown produce and meat-products. Local artisans and trades people networking to provide services and products at the local level. City driven inititives for solar power/heat and wind power.
Everyone that comes to this site should join the conversation - even if you disagree. We must all join the dialogue to work through the fear of change and demonstrate the potential of a local community/economy.
Talk it up. To spread the message, its time to scaledown.
Well, three councilors showed up, including the one who most consistently shows an interest in keeping his finger on the pulse of the community he serves. That’s a good start. Someone brought up the failing economy in Windsor as an obstacle in the Q&A period. To me that is actually one of the BEST reasons for re-inventing our city core. Either we ’scaledown’ and rebuild our neighbourhoods or they will degenerate into ghettos - something we’ve seen start already in some areas.
The comment to the failing economy was to elicit a piece of data that I already knew — investing in sustainability is always a win-win situation. We’ve spent 40 years heading away from sustainable prosperity, scaling down can guarantee that we are able to build a community out of Windsor before it’s too late. Most important to each and every one of us is the ability to feed ourselves and our families, including the collective family that is Windsor-Essex County. Sustainable initiatives are not only necessary, but they are economic stimulants providing long term revitalization to transitioning economies.
I really love the idea of turning all the skill trades in Windsor toward clean energy production. Imagine the superior Windsor skill set building windmills and solar panels — we have the excess talent, knowledge and manufacturing capacity. It’s not rebuilding, it’s re-inventing.
There has never been a shortage of enthusiasm, wishful thinking, or dare we say hope that Windsor’s downtown will grab hold and finally start to track. These sentiments have been the same since the sixties. The lack of appropriate action or planning has soured each and every generation’s expectations to the point that cynicism is now the first order.
The same problem exists today as has existed since the downtown started to decay four decades ago. Ownership. The Mall and “supermarts” didn’t help but they certainly are not the root cause. Ownership is the problem. We’re not talking about business ownership but real estate ownership. Instead of renewing or refreshing itself over the years property ownership was content to sit it out and wait for the “Big One” to come. The “Big One” being the developer with plans for the new department store or condominium or bank or what have you. As long as this aging and tired ownership sits it out the downtown will continue in free fall.
What tools are available to encourage land speculators to use their properties? I have heard of tax policies based on the ownership of the actual land. So that wheather or not the land is used or the existing building is occupied the land owner is paying property taxes. The incentive to the owner is to build a worthwhile and profitable building to offset the taxes. Under this type of property tax system buildings like the Royal Bank downtown wouldn’t be left empty and rotting waiting for the big real estate deal. The owner would either develop it, occupy it or find a buyer who would, otherwise they are just paying property taxes on nothing.
The Georgists believe in a tax that charges landholders a portion of the unimproved value of a site or parcel of land. (Land Valuation Tax, or LVT)
LVT is a special form of property tax. There are three species of property: land, improvements to land (immovable man-made things) and personal property (movable things).
LVT is an ad valorem tax where only the value of land is taxed, ignoring improvements to the land (e.g., houses, factories, …) and personal property (e.g., cars, furnishings, …). This is different from other property taxes which generally tend to fall on real estate–the combination of land and improvements to land.
LVT promotes the efficient use of land
The necessity to pay the tax encourages landowners to develop vacant and under-used land properly or to make way for others who will. Because LVT deters speculative land holding, dilapidated inner-city areas are returned to productive use, reducing the pressure to build on green-field sites and so reducing urban sprawl. LVT is a Green tax since it discourages the waste of locations, which are finite natural resource.
Your character cap is going to hurt your feedback. You might want to turn that limit off.
Windsor is the largest city in North America that does not use Tax Incentive Financing and other incentives to redevelop core areas.
We all want to look for someone to blame, councillors, developers etc…
if Windsorites want to find the real culprit, simply look in the mirror.
There is no demand by the general public. We have a world class waterfront that no one wants to live next to. Areas like Walkerville, Ottawa street, Erie Street are more attractive and affordable than suburbia, yet the public at large will choose a radiant city over them.
Yes real estate values are depressed all over but respectively, I can’t think of a city of Windsor’s size that has the same real estate price gap between their downtown and suburbia.
Read the comments followng a blog or Windsor star web article about downtown and you see that they show that a large group of Windsorites dont’ even realize that their survival is linked to the downtown. They actually think of it as a special interest
We look at Detroit’s decay and rebirth which is thrust in the face of Windsorites everyday but we dont’ see an relation.
We saw detroit let their core die resulting in the death of the city. Now we see them focusing on their downtown as a strategy and we see some limited success but most don’t think we should be followng the same basic strategy. A strategy that is accepted by the citizens of every other city in North America.
My next post will be about the brookings institute study about how to revitalize a depressed economy. The WEDC has been called to action by publicly endorsing policies that they cannot dispute but they remain silent. The Chamber of Commerce has been asked to publicly endorse policies they cannot dispute but they also remain silent
Its not the city councillors or the developers we need to blame, its the average joe
Wait a sec - are you saying that land owners of vacant downtown properties like the old royal bank or CIBC at the corner of wyandotte and ouellette don’t pay taxes??? how the heck can that happen?
It’s not that they don’t pay property taxes - they do. It’s just that they don’t pay property tax that reflects the prime downtown value of their land because they’ve allowed their property to decline dramatically (property tax is linked to the value of the building sitting on the property) while they’ve been waiting for neighbouring parcels of land to revitalize and increase their property values for them.
They are land speculators and they are inhibiting the progress of our downtown revitalization.
Relax, taxes are paid on all properties in the city. Typically property taxes are based on the market “value” of the property/building. So, if an owner lets the building stay vacant and it deteriorates and loses value they will pay lower taxes than if the building was well maintained and desireable. That’s how speculators work, they acquire property not necessarily to improve a location but, rather to wait on an opportunity to sell the parcel to someone else at a profit. Now, I’m not against people making money but this type of wheeling and dealing leaves holes in neighbourhoods and business districts.
Property taxes based on the land’s location and value to the city and its desired use as described in official plan documents can by used to encourage land owners to make their properties profitable by developments that generate revenue for the property owner.
…continued
Example, a city wants to intensify devlopment along existing public transit routes and in existing business districts but doesn’t want big box sprawl. The property taxes based on lot size and location can be used to achieve the desired outcome. Taxes are kept low on undeveloped lands but as soon as a green field development is built they are raised. Whereas in the districts targeted for intensification the property taxes are higher based on the lands’ value to the community. These lands should logically be developed to get the greatest return to cover the costs of the property taxes and make a better return on the investment.
According to Larry Horowitz, out of town companies buying up derelict buildings in our core cheap only to hang on to them until the value rises is a good thing.
He must like the look of those buildings and want them around in our core for years to come.
sent that before i finished….
Mr. Horowitz is one of the people who has put his money where his mouth is and supports our downtown through thick and thin. I commend him for that and encourage him to continue doing it for years to come. However, while i understand the need for him to be optimistic, there is also a need to be realistic. These out of town investors are just preying on the weak and do not care about the health of our core and our city. To them it is all about the dollar and holding onto an empty, ugly, decrepit building until the Windsor economy turns around is how they will maximize profit.
I agree, Adriano. I would love to hear Horwitiz’s conclusion reasoned out because it sure doesn’t add up for me!
Aha I see, so it all comes down to whoever makes the property tax rules in the city. Jack up taxes, speculation ends.
If you want change in the city of windsor then you go straight to the source. Who exactly makes up the property tax rules? I mean exactly - who is the person’s name and where do they live (probably not downtown or even in windsor for that matter)? I have a feeling nobody knows who this person is.
You’re right, sbw. That would be the provincial governing body called MPAC, and as any property owner will know, dealing with them is a pain in the derrier. And I’m pretty sure they don’t give a damn about revitalizing Windsor’s downtown or who’s sitting on what particular properties
As far as a municipalites ability to implement LVT or a variation that places some kind of control on land speculation, I am hoping there are some readers more in tune with The Municipal Act who can advise. Folks?
Here’s a webpage with links that explains LVT and how it helps to encourage development while at the same time reducing overall taxes.
LVT’s are good but why not have tax incentives to refurbish existing buildings?
It too would get rid of the land speculators (I saw the same Star article and thought thy too will just keep the price of real estate low while waiting to cash in on the next big thing). The city should also entice those who want to refurbish buildings and houses by offering a list of reputable contractors and how to get in touch with them.
As for Mr. Horwitz why does he always want to change the look of the old YMCA building? It is a heritage building! As is his Park Place building which is badly in need of paint and a rebuild of the cornice.
Mark, you are correct that we need only look in the mirror but the issue is that there are plenty of people who want to refurbish old homes the problem is that they are scattered throughout the city. We need cohesion in order for a community to have a rebirth. But the city would rather, by their actions, have apartment houses (houses turned into apartments) which have been rudely altered than to have people restore their homes. Where are the incentives?
Oops!
http://www.marylandlandtax.org/