A real plan to save Windsor in one part
People tout what the “plan” is to save Windsor on a regular basis. I can show you an actual studied and proven plan but I can’t take credit for it. It was written by much more educated and intelligent people than you will find blogging. No offence to my fellow bloggers but we are all just spouting opinions when the proven answers by proven experts are out there for anyone who wants them. Sure the border issues need to be resolved by reasonable people sitting down and working through the problems. To think that solving the border problem will miraculously solve all of Windsor’s problems is infantile. It would be a good start, if only to prevent the border issue from distracting us from the real work which begins by following the recommendations in this report How about this Presentation found on the Brookings institute website. If you’re like me, you might want to skip the first slides that define and explain what and who Weak Market Cities are and go right to the solutions.
Go right to Slide 48 for the answers. There’s a lot of juicy Gems. I especially like slid 58 which starts off with
Goal: Undertake one or two major physical projects that transform the urban landscape in order to catalyze new development and stimulate growth
ACTION STEPS
- Reinvent Downtown
- Tear Down opbsolete freeways
- revitalize/transform the waterfront
Oh, but why not skip ahead to slide 54 which says
Goal: create neighborhoods that serve families with a broad range of incomes
Action Steps
- Support mixed-income housing
- Grow inner city markets
- Transform neighborhood schools
All Windsorites have to do is read this report and demand that our politicians and administration only vote for and against items that work towards these recommendations. The report is meant for weak market cities like Windsor so no one can use the excuse of our poor economy for inaction.
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I’m having problem editing, the page numbers I refer to are 48 and 54
HEY MARK!
I couldn’t Agree More! ‘
Remember, that studies only help create the ideas needed to support these initiatives we must undertake!
So bring them on….
We must state a Vision.. And GOAL.. and point where we want to be…
Then Step by Step we can clime!
Even if it’s a small one, every inch matters when we are in a whole like Windsor is.
I hope people choose politicians that are ready to listen …and finally deliver.
Yes, and you should read slide 43 as well.
Especially priority points one and two.
Build on economic strengths (number 1) and fix the basics (number 2).
Infrastructure and economic diversification will pave the way for the other goals.
And the way I read this - that needs to be the interim focus to enable the rest.
Conversely, to think that urban planning will solve all of Windsor’s problems is equally shortsighted.
Fair comment, its far more than urban planning and border fixes but their both very good places to start and they are both critical factors of success
Well not according to Windsor. They have their own “made in Windsor” solution.
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/story.html?id=8a8c9c1a-b5f6-4836-9ae0-6282e642f60d&k=11111
Yep! Windsor once again helps to create more sprawl and ignores the interior of the city. Windsor has shown once again that it can ignore every study it has created for itself (and spend taxpayer money on) and it can ignore every study other cities have done and do what they think is best.
What I find ridiculous about this is that the city just got done stating they can’t afford the roads and water infrastructure they currently have yet they bulid more?
We all know the definition of insanity and I am beginning to think it starts in Windsor.
How about that urban village?
Excerpt from Chris Shnurr’s website
Chris - “I also wonder how the downtown BIA feels lately. First, the city’s failure to offer a concrete proposal to the university. Then the after-hours club bylaw failure. Then the streetscaping funding cut.
It seems pretty clear that downtown is not a priority for our city council, or they’re pinning all their hopes on the new convention centre for revitalization. Though, I don’t see any spin-off developments as of yet to greet it’s springtime opening, unlike the east-end arena.
Where is the urgency for development on these downtown lands? The east-side is booming. Sandwich Towne is undergoing a “transformation” with promises of cash from unknown developers and visions of Soho, according to Councillor Jones.”
my response
The Downtown BIA feels frustrated especially since it is only asking for the implementation of recommendations of experts brought in by council such as the IDA panel (partnership with planning department), Bellmio Report, Richard Florida, Glenn Murray etc.. Etc.. Etc…
And especially since it only wants to see the recommendations implmemented that are contained by our own local experts that are contained in the various Community Improvement Plans and the Healthy Places, Healthy People, Smart Choices for the Windsor Essex Region.
Local experts, experts within the entire region, and experts from outside the region all agree on a plan. Its the disconnect between having a plan and a will to implement it that we lack
There is one major flaw in that 38 million development, everyone still has to drive a car to and from it, there won’t be much alcoholic drinking going on! Plus the conjestion of everyone racing there afterwards!
It is a development that no one at this moment can walk to, except the future tenants of the lofts. When there is nothing going on in the new arena, it will sit empty not open to the public and the empty parking lots will absorb heat and polluted rain run off will flood the streets.
Arenas and stadiums do not and can not create a community, unless Brister is planning on having a lbrary branch in the new arena, there is no reason for people to be at the arena is nothing is happening..just another big box store in disguise!
And an elitist one at that, the 38m development and the new arena, there will be no public transportation arriving at their doors..only the rich with cars need apply!
But what is blaringly obvious, is that developers also appear that they don’t want to deal with the city and share in the mayor’s vision for the core. First the university, now a developer, is someone trying to tell Mayor Putin, that there is something wrong!
Eddie wants everyone else to build something but he doesn’t have a business plan, nor the guts! Eddie wants all the photo-ops hanging on the coattails of other peoples iniatives but doesn’t want the city to do it. Because he knows that he can’t ask the citizens for mo money when he is already gouging them on fancy and very artistic creative bookeeping for WantUrCash and Endwind and his beloved police and firepersons!
Maybe someone should give Mayor McNamarra and the developer the article in March’s issue of The Atlantic magazine: The Next Slum?
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/subprime
Failure to implement any type of plan that has been presented by Glen Murray, Richard Florida and others is what constantly puts us in la la limbo land. Since 1992 I have seen the downtown deteriorate to the point where as a downtown resident, there is little reason for me to walk downtown. Between the panhandlers and the lack of services besides restaurants, bars and massage parlours, my money is going to other retailers. While I know the downtown as we used to know is long gone, there is an opportunity with St. Clair and the new Casino expansion to groom ourselves into a creative culture with bookshops, bistros, boutique specialty shops and more. One needs to look at Queen St. W. in Toronto and its growth in the last 20 years to see how seedy can became trendy.
The arts deliver a punch for revitalization as they actually have economic output; a product that is not commercially made. The baby boomers are looking for an experience and an adventure. We are curious by nature. If things begin to change- we will come. The question is ” who will be the first to invest in the bleakness that we are currently experiencing. I have always found it strange that we applaud our waterfront but do not provide bus service from the bridge, to the Festival site and Casino and then, to the train station for tourists or for locals. A direct drive would be convenient for visitors to our city and would further highlight the magnificene of our waterfront.
We can read studies and quote studies until our asses fall asleep.
Until this city and region and our business leaders figure out that an economy that produces nothing of real value, an economy that does not invest in itself but, instead sees profits taken away to another jurisdiction cannot and will not sustain itself.
We have had all our small manufacturers taken away from us and we have not replaced them with anything similar. We are trapped importing into our city/region/country consumer goods and parts that we once made and sold for profit. This is an unsustainable situation.
I am particularly annoyed by the Banwell Road development. This is something that should naturally exist downtown and if the city had accepted the bid for a private company to build the main arena downtown so many years ago…
Just to show how bad our downtown is, I tried to buy a pack of CD’s and coulnd’t find a store that sold them. Well, other than a dollar store I coulnd’t even find a pack of decent cd’s. Instead I had to trek out to the Roundhouse centre to buy them. How pathetically sad is that?
As I stated, the next election cannot come soon enough!
By the way, has anyone noticed that our illustrious Ward 2 councillors are not to be seen (other than demonstrating against a privately owned business) on the new urban village. Useless, just utterly useless!
Dave, next time check Ray and Kim’s Variety, they have a selection of office suppllies including blank cd’s
dave: Did you check at Ray and Kim’s or at Shoppers? Or how about the other convenience stores along Wyandotte Street? Or you could have ordered them from Staples. Order more than $50 worth and shipping is free and is usually the next day.
urbanrat: The Banwell Road commercial development does have pedestrian access to the residential development to the west. That Marriot has been in the pipeline for at least a year. The east-side needs a decent hotel. As to the rest of the development on Banwell, I’ll believe it when I see it.
Also the new arena is more than an arena. It include three ice pads, a community centre and a seniors centre, so yes, it will attract all sorts of people. Unfortunately people are going to have to walk through a parking lot to get there.
Yes I’m sure if Dave searched far and wide he might have found a variety store or a Dollar Star with CDs (although probably not good brand-name ones), but I think his point still stands - the absence of stores like Radio Shack downtown is sorely missed. There really is no retailer downtown with a comprehensive line of home electronics type stuff. Would be great to see that back again - among a hundred other things, of course.
Several months ago, Canadian Tire stated in the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business, that they are going to build 60 to 70 new stores in Canada starting in 2008. I wrote them to consider rebuilding downtown, and sent them a ton of information on why they should, demographics etc. I got a nice thank you for writing reply. But it was worth a shot.
Shoppers also sells blank CDs as does the Bargain Store.
If you want retailers then you need to show them that there is going to be population growth in the core, not the present 10% population decline.
The only way to do that is to attract more residents. According to the experts, the only way to do that is to implement recommendations in the City Center West Community Improvement Plan and the Sustainable Downtown Plan
Mark, we know those plans were shelved along with a million others.
Thaks for the tip onwho has blank cd’s. I checked Shopper’s but they didn’t have anyting over a pack of 10. As for the dollar stores I don’t shop there.