Small Business task force relegated to shelved report syndrome
Yep, another report shelved. Now, although I suspected this when it was created, I don’t think its that big of a loss. I figured the group had a predetermined conclusion with its desire to eliminate red tape. Which, while, a very noble cause only addresses symptoms and not root cause of the problem
Nothing in that task forces conclusions did anything to protect main streets and inner city businesses from a declining population in the core (all BIA’s) as well as protecting it from poor land use policies that created the Costco Badlands. (The Jail gives that description a whole new relevance)
Unless you do something to protect main streets, local independent businesses are not sustainable
The planning report called for this even though the planner denied it, read the report if you don’t believe me. At 12% commercial vacancy rate in the core, new sprawling big box development is the last thing we need.
(Again as a disclaimer, this would not ban big box as they can still use abandoned infill commercial sites such as the Home Depot by the Mall and Wallmart on Tecumseh and Lauzon. They can also redevelop existing commercial sites by either demolishing or renovating existing commercial sites within the city
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Mark, your last paragraph says it all. however do you really think that this city has the backbone to implement such ideas?
For years Windsor has had this complex that if we don’t allow someone to do whatever it is they want they will do it elsewhere. That is just not the case. In fact it seems quite the opposite.
The Mikhail brothers (rightly or wrongly) tried to bring new business and lure others to downtown but would not even be given the time of day. Yet any developer that wants to build on the fringes of the city (are you hearing me Mr. Hatfield) can do so without impedence. Mr. Hatfield talks a good game but I would rather see action instead of mere words.
Without even looking into what some people want to bring downtown the city seems to know “what is best” for downtown. If that was the case our downtown would be booming. Instead, we find ourselves stuck due to a hodge-podge of failed policies at the city level. Why not listen to the BIA’s and the residents that surround them andomve forward? What harm could it do? It certainly couldn’t make these areas any worse than they have become.
So what is new for this city! Stduy, plan, study, plan, study, plan and then shelve it! This city is the greatest make work program for bureaucrats in Canada, were they measure themselves in time wasted and reports generated that they don’t implement or believe in. Planning, is just that and nothing else in this city!
Tomorrow! Tomorrow! The plan will come out tomorrow …
“Take this plan and shove it!
Don’t ya just hate a musical memory!
Maybe if there were more persons of the opposite gender that wore panties rather than big boxers on council and in the city administration, we would have a totally different city. The cities we have now were are all designed by men for men.
Would a city be different if women designed it?
Did we read the same report? The purpose of the report was to evaluate how we serve our small businesses in Windsor:
“That the City of Windsor Small Business Task Force BE ESTABLISHED to address issues related to Small Business in the City of Windsor and ensure our community is considering the needs of the Small Business environment; ”
As well:
“The creation of the Small Business Task Force was an acknowledgement by Council that small businesses are important to Windsor’s economy and that it was willing to reflect on the services demanded and used by small business owners, and consider what service improvement are necessary to make Windsor more business-friendly.”
Mark writes:
Nothing in that task forces conclusions did anything to protect main streets and inner city businesses from a declining population in the core (all BIA’s) as well as protecting it from poor land use policies that created the Costco Badlands.
That was not the scope of the study.
The issues you raise have more to do with economic development and city planning than the scope of this report.
Chris
“That the City of Windsor Small Business Task Force BE ESTABLISHED to address issues related to Small Business in the City of Windsor and ensure our community is considering the needs of the Small Business environment; ”
So are you sayg ing that a declining customer base caused by a declining population is not an issue related to small business. That New unfair competition from Big Box is also not an issue related to small business
P.S. By unfair competition I mean taxpayer subsidized landuse creating all but free parking in addition to poor if any design guidelines placed on big box preventing it from being pedestrian friendly, integrated into our community which is basically a taxpayer subsidy as Mainstreet businesses meet all those criteria
I guess if you limit the parameters of a study to say that the amount of customers doesn’t affect business you can tailor anything to anything
Customer base is of course related to our discussion here Chris!!, we are talking about residents who are the direct link to the problem of
a blighted retail. Well that and the fact that a healthy mixed uses of retail need retailers to be popular and pleasant businesses. In order for good tenants overall, positive retail is needed to make it work which we all
know are hindered by Windsors love of bars and massage parlours.
The residential customer base factor may be an obvious recommendation for a successful downtown. However, the importance of people can not be overemphasized. People provide the perception of safety and twenty four hour activity which Jane Jacobs described as ‘eyes on the street’. Economically, people provide the chance for retail to establish itself with markets to serve. Retail follows people downtown and survives off the traffic created in front of the storefronts. Without retail, mixed uses often lose the synergy and become blighted. Often, areas of downtown with no retail are perceived as dead zones due to the sparse pedestrian activity. People living downtown offer the chance for larger retailers to locate within them and act as anchors for smaller retailers. The national chain retailers can provide the critical mass needed for downtowns. Anchors traditionally have been department stores but can also be well known grocers and restaurants or even cultural and civic investments. Perceptions of a healthy downtown are characterized with lots of people. Cool downtowns are fueled by the density and diversity of people. Downtowns create a brand image based on the variety of people that walk the sidewalks. The brand image of a downtown can have a longstanding socio-economic impact on a community. If not managed properly as in Windsors case, downtowns can be susceptible to adverse conditions. Done correctly, the critical mass achieved can support any level of density a community wishes to accept. Urban transit systems, infill development and smaller scale national retail concepts, and allowing mixed uses can alleviate any negative perceptions some may have with increased density in the downtown. But without more density and the movement of national retailers back downtown, you never will reach the critical mass needed to become a healthy downtown again. We need to learn from the malls to beat the malls.