Back to the Future
Windsor, Ontario
April 13, 2032The history of Windsor Area Rapid Transit lines.
The Canal Right-of-Way
All subway proposals centered around utilization of the obsolete Chatham Avenue canal route through the city. The potential of the right-of-way was seen as early as the 2010’s, with a tunnel for interurban trains situated beneath a grand boulevard. The canal trench offered ideal conditions for inexpensive cut-and-cover subway construction, requiring reduced excavation, no utility re-routing, no building underpinning, and no property acquisition. The canal itself averaged 40ft. wide, and Canal St. to either side offered a spacious staging area for construction equipment, with minimal disruption to city life. The exceptional width also promised easy accommodation of passing sidings, express tracks, and multiple platform stations. Several four-track mainline scenarios were proposed, and as built, the subway in the vicinity of the Ouelette Avenue station is nearly as wide as New York City’s dual island local/express transfer stations.
2015 Plan
The first serious subway plan provided existing interurban lines a grade separated entrance to the city along the canal route, with a single terminal station between Caron Ave. and Janette Ave., called simply the “Canal St. Station”. The line was to run four parallel tracks a distance of two miles between the terminal station and the location of today’s Walkerville Depot, where one pair of tracks would have turned east to serve the Tecumseh and Chatham Interurban. The other pair of tracks were to continue west along the canal route and connect with the Kingsville Interurban and others to the west. The subway itself would have extended from the Canal St. Station only as far as Peter St. in Olde Sandwhich, and all construction west of that point would have been in an open cut. A new boulevard would have had been constructed to either side of the cut, with overpasses at cross streets.
This plan was simple, affordable, and no doubt would have been a success. Only interurban trains were to have operated on the line — there were to be no dedicated subway trains. With complete grade separation and no local stops, suburban commute times from LaSalle and Belle River would have been slashed by at least 15 minutes.
2024 Plan
By the 2020’s the scale of Windsor’s proposed subway project had greatly increased. The line was now to run city-operated subway trains in addition to privately owned interurbans, and the modest five mile line of the 2015 plan grew into a 16 mile loop with as many as 17 stations. The project was additionally to include a freight depot for the interurban lines in or near the central business district. The boulevard part of the plan now took precedence over the railway, and the line was required to be built as a subway an additional two miles, south to Eugenie Rd. This extra two miles of tunnel construction added substantially to the projected cost of the project.
Construction of the line began in 2024 and stopped in 1929. Several major attempts were made to revive the project, but in that era no federal funding was available for local transportation projects. Shmuel Fahri had already donated the canal right-of-way, and the province did not typically fund local projects. During the Depression 2.0, there was significant federal funding for subway construction in London, but none was allocated to Windsor. The project has since become home to Windsor’s municipal archives, after city council allocated 50% of the Chimchuk funds for waterproofing the subterranean vaults.
Except for a litle creative licence on my part, this is a true story that will hopefully have a happy ending in Cincinatti, Ohio. Read the long, sordid tale here and hope that Windsor will have better luck with breathing life into it’s “obsolete canal” in a few years.
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Great article, Chris
I think this idea would be so cool with interurban trains, coming in and out of the ground, perhaps have a few subterranian malls and shops to go along with the stations… that would be a nice touch. This city will really have to play a gigantic game of catch up when the demand for a large-scale transit system (cough *streetcars* cough) comes in the future, if it doesn’t start at least thinking about possibly entering a theoretical discussion about it… In the future, they wont be able to let our system get half built, because we are entering into a very different time, yet similar in some ways.
It’s unfourtunate that Cincy couldn’t complete the system and it lies there half built, with parts of it overgrown with weeds. It’s sad to see one of the tunnels used for a high pressure water pipe, but hey, that is a classic example of my favourite catch phrase, “progress!” I love that word! (sarcasm so thick you need a chainsaw to pierce it) Oh how I love cost cutting.
“Lets use that old subway tunnel that we never used for our nice shiny piece of PVC pipe, I’m sure the engineers who designed it would be so proud”
Enjoy your weekend everybody
I love it! And you saved the best for last, “…after city council allocated 50% of the Chimchuk funds for waterproofing the subterranean vaults.” LMAO!
Chris, give the canal plan a chance. I think it (or a scaled back version of the plan) could work not because it is a panacea but because it develops the countless city owned parking lots in the area. Downtown west is a terrific location, within walking distance to the riverside park, downtown, the university, the downtown college campus, the bus terminal (and thus downtown Detroit via tunnel bus), city hall, and the main streets of Ouellette, Pelissier and Wyandotte (the classic urban village). I think, freeing the parking lots held hostage by the city and the location will attract developers to this area. I like your plan as plan B.
However, I would argue that we don’t need to submerge any future rapid transit system. This is expensive and creates accessibility issues for our ageing population. Using some forward thinking, democratic traffic planning, and a little technology we can create a functional surface level rapid transit system in the city.
Bus only lanes, strategic hubs with free commuter/carpool parking, and the use of smart traffic signals are the key components. If we use bus only lanes we can create a pair of loops, one east-west and another north-south. These loops and other tradition routes that feed key hubs along the loops create the network. Free commuter/carpool parking at key hubs will encourage more people to use the system. The final component and key, I think, is a smart traffic signal system. A smart traffic signal system creates the right-of-away at surface level that submerging or elevating the system accomplishes. Technology exists and is being used in some place that allows traffic signals to change to green just prior to vehicles (fire trucks and ambulance) arriving at the interchange. Why not adopt this technology to a surface level rapid transit system? It is the democratic thing to do (many in a bus get the right-of-way vs. the single occupant in a car).
Benefits: fast, accessible, comprehensive and inexpensive. Lets build it!
Believe it or not, Edwin, I am not anti-canal. I know it may appear that way every now and then, but I just feel that there is a certain order-of-operations that must be followed and we are trying to perform some of the “sexier” operations out of turn.
I posted this article because I felt it highlighted that specific order-of-operations succinctly. It has no direct correlation to the Windsor plan whatsoever, but it does tie in quite nicely. I also like a little parody every now and then
The case in Cincinati illustrates that one must stress the fundamentals (eg: public transportation) prior to the perks that arise (a successful urban neighbourhood) after those fundamentals are in place. The horse before the cart, so to speak. I realize that the Cincinati canal was utilized as a transportation corridor as well, so it doesn’t fit into my argument at all, but it was still fun analogy. I’m also infatuated with urban exploration and abandonments, and the thought of a half-built subway corridor still lying beneath the surface makes me want to conduct a “field trip”.
So, it was not meant as “my plan” but as an illustration. Personally, I would love to see a decent bus system as you outlined augmented by a heritage street car line, ala Kenosha Wisconsin, running between Olde Riverside and Olde Sandwich Town.
Don’t worry, we’re on the same page
Hey Chris,
I don’t know if you’ve seen this video before, I just came across it tonight and it has many of the elements of the bus rapid transit system that I would love to see here in Windsor. Bus only lanes, major hubs with local feeder routes, and the use of technology to reduce travel time.
There are some other good ideas: 1) the free feeder idea - pay at the station is a very efficient way of billing 2) the bike to transit model obviously is important in any transit system but, the valet type bicycle parking I have never seen that before (very neat).
Chris, are you coming around to regional Aerotropolis idea (see below)? As you know, I think, connectivity not only local (public transit), but also regional (high-speed rail) and global (Aerotropolis) is an important part of the economic revitalization of the city.
Welcome to Windsor Airport, North America’s low-cost airline gateway!
Detroit is “jetting” forward into converting Detroit Metro Airport, Willow Run Airport and the area around them into an Aerotropolis, an Aerotropolis being an urban area sprawling out of a major airport hub. Detroit Region Aerotropolis was formed in 2006 to work towards development of an Aerotropolis. It offers tax incentives and loans to spur new developments, and has a road map or (more appropriately perhaps) an airways map to guide them forward.
Link to Detroit Region Aerotropolis - http://www.detroitregionaerotropolis.com/index.htm
Many in Detroit and at least one person in Windsor (myself) view this Aerotropolis idea as an important part of the region’s economic revitalization. The logic goes like this: major airports are key drivers for a region’s growth because businesses today need to be connected and nimble. Major airports that offer a wide web of destinations and frequent flights provide businesses with this connectedness and nimbleness in a physical sense. Regional corporate headquarters, trade rep. offices, conference centres, and high-tech firms are particularly attracted to major airports.
Link to more info on Aerotropolis –
http://www.aerotropolis.com/articles.html
There are many reasons to believe that this Detroit Aerotropolis idea will work. Foremost is the Northwest and Delta merger. This merger will create the world’s largest air carrier, and Detroit is set to be the new company’s Great Lakes gateway. In addition, the area around the planned Aerotropolis is underdeveloped allowing for future growth. Finally, the region in general is ideally located on the NAFTA corridor, Chicago to New York trade route, and major rail and shipping routes.
View TranslinkeD presentation - http://www.detroitregionaerotropolis.com/pdf/gallis.pdf
Windsor is set to benefit from this. We are within the 20 mile radius that stands to see the greatest benefit. But, I have a dream that could see Windsor really capitalize on this opportunity. My musings, I think, hold the promise of being the catalyst that gets going other plans to revitalize and transform Windsor such as the a Chinatown plan, the Canal plan for west downtown and a high-speed rail link to Quebec City. Let me warn you, IT IS GRANDIOSE!
RANDOM FACTS AND HEADLINES:
-Airport data:
*Metro (DTW) - longest runway 12,000 feet, distance to Detroit downtown approx. 20 miles.
*Willow Run (YIP) – longest runway 7,500 feet, distance to Detroit downtown approx. 30 miles.
*Detroit City (DET) – longest runway 6,000 feet, distance to Detroit downtown approx. 8 miles.
*Windsor (YQG) – longest runway 7,000 feet, distance to Detroit downtown approx. 8 miles.
-Typical low-cost carrier business model practices often include:
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
· flying to cheaper, less congested secondary airports and flying early in the morning or late in the evening to avoid air traffic delays and take advantage of lower landing fees
-WestJet routes:
http://c5dsp.westjet.com/guest/destinations/ourDestinations.jsp;jsessionid=MWWqLhPD2r5ppCRT34GhchmBQxTb5kpNwlKp96LsnQDLtPZwsTXj!-1609401423
-Southwest routes:
http://www.southwest.com/travel_center/routemap_dyn.html?ref=wwf_fgn
-WestJet and Southwest deal:
July 8, 2008 – the two airlines sign distribution and code share deal.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/money/national/2008/07/08/westjet.html
Welcome to Windsor Airport, North America’s low-cost airline gateway!
With the two premier North America low-cost carriers looking to connect their networks, a big push to transform the region into an Aerotropolis, and the advantage that the Windsor airport is as close or closer to Downtown Detroit as other airports and yet away from air traffic congestion associated with DTW/YIP – it seems that all the stars are lining up for the Windsor Airport! Could we convince WestJet and Southwest to use Windsor as their Detroit-Windsor/inter-connection hub? There are certainly many benefits for the two airlines to do so. The big drawback is the border, but if we can get the City, Province and maybe even the Feds to add a light-rail link from the airport to downtown Detroit this should mitigate that disadvantage. People could park in downtown Detroit and take the rails to the airport or deplane in Windsor and take the rails to downtown Detroit. The rail line and the rail tunnel exist already.
Added benefits: this is the same route of the proposed Chinatown light-rail that links downtown Windsor and Detroit, a light-rail connection between downtown Windsor and downtown Detroit is just the kind of thing to push the Canal plan into high gear, and Windsor becoming an airport hub is just want could get a high-speed rail line from Quebec City here.
Google Map-
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=106871801900286914490.0004558e024eac2f318ec&ll=42.332154,-83.269501&spn=0.448723,1.400757&z=10
Edwin Padilla
(Dreamer)
Chris, are you coming around to regional Aerotropolis idea (see below)? As you know, I think, connectivity not only local (public transit), but also regional (high-speed rail) and global (Aerotropolis) is an important part of the economic revitalization of the city.
Welcome to Windsor Airport, North America’s low-cost airline gateway!
Detroit is “jetting” forward into converting Detroit Metro Airport, Willow Run Airport and the area around them into an Aerotropolis, an Aerotropolis being an urban area sprawling out of a major airport hub. Detroit Region Aerotropolis was formed in 2006 to work towards development of an Aerotropolis. It offers tax incentives and loans to spur new developments, and has a road map or (more appropriately perhaps) an airways map to guide them forward.
Many in Detroit and at least one person in Windsor (myself) view this Aerotropolis idea as an important part of the region’s economic revitalization. The logic goes like this: major airports are key drivers for a region’s growth because businesses today need to be connected and nimble. Major airports that offer a wide web of destinations and frequent flights provide businesses with this connectedness and nimbleness in a physical sense. Regional corporate headquarters, trade rep. offices, conference centres, and high-tech firms are particularly attracted to major airports.
There are many reasons to believe that this Detroit Aerotropolis idea will work. Foremost is the Northwest and Delta merger. This merger will create the world’s largest air carrier, and Detroit is set to be the new company’s Great Lakes gateway. In addition, the area around the planned Aerotropolis is underdeveloped allowing for future growth. Finally, the region in general is ideally located on the NAFTA corridor, Chicago to New York trade route, and major rail and shipping routes.
Windsor is set to benefit from this. We are within the 20 mile radius that stands to see the greatest benefit. But, I have a dream that could see Windsor really capitalize on this opportunity. My musings, I think, hold the promise of being the catalyst that gets going other plans to revitalize and transform Windsor such as the a Chinatown plan, the Canal plan for west downtown and a high-speed rail link to Quebec City. Let me warn you, IT IS GRANDIOSE!
RANDOM FACTS AND HEADLINES:
-Airport data:
*Metro (DTW) - longest runway 12,000 feet, distance to Detroit downtown approx. 20 miles.
*Willow Run (YIP) – longest runway 7,500 feet, distance to Detroit downtown approx. 30 miles.
*Detroit City (DET) – longest runway 6,000 feet, distance to Detroit downtown approx. 8 miles.
*Windsor (YQG) – longest runway 7,000 feet, distance to Detroit downtown approx. 8 miles.
-Typical low-cost carrier business model practices often include:
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
·flying to cheaper, less congested secondary airports and flying early in the morning or late in the evening to avoid air traffic delays and take advantage of lower landing fees
-WestJet and Southwest deal:
July 8, 2008 – WestJet and Southwest sign distribution and code share deal.
Welcome to Windsor Airport, North America’s low-cost airline gateway!
With the two premier North America low-cost carriers looking to connect their networks, a big push to transform the region into an Aerotropolis, and the advantage that the Windsor airport is as close or closer to Downtown Detroit as other airports and yet away from air traffic congestion associated with DTW/YIP – it seems that all the stars are lining up for the Windsor Airport! Could we convince WestJet and Southwest to use Windsor as their Detroit-Windsor/inter-connection hub? For Southwest it would involve switching from DTW to the Windsor Airport, and for WestJet it would involve re-introducing service to Windsor Airport. There are certainly many benefits for the two airlines to do so (closer to Detroit, faster turn-arounds, inter-connection of networks, for WestJet a move away from Toronto and Air Canada as connection to the US). The big drawback is the border, but if we can get the City, Province and maybe even the Feds to add a light-rail link from the airport to downtown Detroit this should mitigate that disadvantage. People could park in downtown Detroit and take the rails to the airport or deplane in Windsor and take the rails to downtown Detroit. The rail line and the rail tunnel exist already.
Added benefits: this is the same route of the proposed Chinatown light-rail that links downtown Windsor and Detroit, a light-rail connection between downtown Windsor and downtown Detroit is just the kind of thing to push the Canal plan into high gear, and Windsor becoming an airport hub is just want could get a high-speed rail line from Quebec City here.
Edwin Padilla
(Dreamer)
Edwin, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you’ve left out the biggest problem in all of this. US Customs.
Without a free flow of people (like the EU) Windsor will never be an alternative airport to the millions of people on the us side of the border.
Also as someone who works at the airport in aviation, I need to correct some of the facts you posted above.
Windsor’s longest runway is 9,000 ft (longer than quoted above), and Detroit City is shorter than quoted above at 5090 ft.
The taxes are the killer in Canada. LCC’s (low cost carriers) survice in Europe because they are a deal. Look up Ryanair or Easyjet. Price a one way flight from Berlin to Geneva for example a month from now. Then do the same for Toronto to Montreal…
I’ll save you the time…
On easyjet from Berlin, Germany to Geneva, Switzerland a distance of 540 air miles, leaving Saturday November 8th, the total cost of a one seat one way ticket is 30 euros or $45.17 CAD at today’s excahnge rate.
Air Canada from Toronto to Montreal. 316 Air Miles, on the same date will set you back $130.00
As long as taxes (and fees) are as high as they are, we will never see air travel like overseas. Which is sad, since they have the alternatives, like High Speed Rail. We have Via Rail. It’s cheaper to drive than to fly or take the train.
Andrew, thanks for the correction. I rounded and went from memory. I agree that us customs is the major problem. That is why a fix link to the other side is important. It doesn’t eliminate the hassle but streamlines the process.
It is a strategic move. If the region is full throttles towards becoming a world Aerotropolis how do we capture more than our fare share of the economic benefits. A rail link to DTW is decades away according to their master plan. We can leap frog DTW and become the secondary airport like midway in Chicago. The opportunity to get the rail link in is the Southwest WestJet deal. No other location in the northeast is as ideal as Windsor/Detroit to further integrate the two networks.
Edwin, isn’t the idea of light rail or HSR supposed to replace the need to travel by air? At least in part….? And with the way things are going energy wise, you’re almost going to have to be a Rockefeller to get a ticket on a flight in future
The idea of HSR would ideally continue right to the city core shouldn’t it? If not, isn’t it like ending the 401 at Walker rd.?
HSR is a regional solution. Chicago to Detroit/Windsor, Detroit/Windsor to Cleveland, Windsor/Detroit to Toronto. I’m currently, in North Dakota getting here from Windsor is only realistic by air. The businesses we want to create jobs in Windsor need the airline connections. It provides them a tremendous advantage. They are also willing to pay what ever it costs (pricing models say they are willing to pay upto 7 times what a leisure traveler would).
Edwin,
Airports and the airline industry in general are undergoing major contractions. If we had made a move twenty years ago to operate YQG as a cargo hub maybe, it would be part of our local economy today.
However, London has already set up a competitve cargo service and Detroit city and Metro/Willowrun are operating air cargo services that with a huge investment we might be able to cut into but, only marginally.
We really lost our chance to develop air-cargo services when we complained about the big jets and all the noise they made.
The only reason to have an air-cargo service for international distribution is to distribute goods that are cost-effective to move by air and that other people want. First we need to develop a local manufacturing industry that produces real goods that we want/need and will buy before we look at exporting.
If Windsor really wants to build a useful multi-modial port it should be built in the West End where there is access to water, rail and the highway system already built and waiting.
What would Windsor look like when the TGV or HSR comes to town? Which line? Which prospective terminal? Is there someone in the extended SD group that could throw a quick sketch together, or highlite on google map, the city/region that would show the prospectiveTGV and LRT layout of the future?
That would be something I’d really like to see!!! Considering there is already plans to delete 2 of the three lines entering the region…
I tend to the think the HSR/VIA terminal should be downtown, as close as possible. How would that look with existing infrustructure? Terminals?Stations?
James, it is true that in North America there are too many airlines and they are not charging the full cost for their services. That is why mergers like the Delta Northwest one are taking place. Low cost airlines are probably the strongest of the bunch. But even they have to look to work together (the Southwest and WestJet deal for example).
Globalization maybe will slow the rate of growth in the future but is not going to undo itself. Businesses and people still need to be connected and nimble, and the advantages that airports offer business will likely be even more important as the airlines cut services to some smaller cities.
I unhitched my horses from the globalization, growth is good wagon a while ago. The world is about to become a much bigger place and air travel/shipping is one of the things that will get out of reach the fastest.
James, maybe you’re right on the future of globalization. There is a saying that history doesn’t repeat but it rhymes. The last great wave of growth in globalization was in the decades prior to the great depression. The great depression brought the 1900’s wave of globalization to an end as country after country locked down their economies following the financial crises. Is the current financial mess or depression 2.0, as Chris so wonderfully labeled it, history rhyming? Maybe!
But I don’t think globalization will reverse itself like back then. It might stop or slow in the rate of growth and shift in the patterns of trade flows as major future forces play out (mainly the end of western consumerism and the peak in oil production), but not come to an end. The two main reasons are: First, we learn from history. The trade barriers and other measures that were brought in back then only made things worse as country after country did the same thing. Secondly, the world is too interconnected today to unwind globalization.
Also I would argue James, that if the world is becoming a much bigger place (and I would add a much different place too), connectivity (and nimbleness for business) is even more important and even more of an advantage for business. Thus, walkable communities, public transit, high-speed rail, shipping, airline connections are even more important not less. It costs less to fly from Toronto to Amsterdam than from Sault Ste. Marie to Toronto. Not because of physical distance but because of connectivity.
Here’s the beginning of it, Edwin.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/world/europe/08unity.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
Edwin,
Perhaps the breakdown of common trading blocks has begun.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/world/europe/08unity.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
We’ve argued and discussed what the future may hold on this site numerous times. A number of experts and pundits outside this website have observed that without ready access to cheap oil many of the complex systems we employ today will have to be reworked.
Companies may still have many offices but each office/plant will have to be more complete. Wells Fargo had offices all over the United States before air travel. They could still communicate by mail/telegraph but, each office was semi-autonomous and could do all the functions to serve their immediate customer areas.
Less point to point travel and shipping, reverting from just-in-time back to warehousing and complete production/assembly facilities, more internet/telephone conferencing will all bring about a lesser need for mobility without losing “nimbleness”. Company plants/offices will need to be more complete/flexible and customers will ultimately have to become more patient/flexible as well.
As shocking as this sounds, could it be that Windsor’s economy is years ahead of others in Canada? The leader not the lagger as it has been falsely portrayed. My answer is a very loud YES. Oh señor Padiya, you have some esplaining to do!
Well let me ask another question, if the credit bubble was leading others down the wrong path, then aren’t those that got left behind really further ahead? My answer is a very loud YES.
What has got the world in this financial mess? A mess that, by my count, has in the last few months almost caused total financial collapse three times already. The answer is a credit bubble of historic proportions. Credit growth has been the engine of the (so called) economic growth of the last decade. It is now becoming clear that this credit growth was unsustainable. Worst yet, it was creating, like all bubbles do, huge distortions. Banks, other businesses, governments, and households all thought that money was cheap and plentiful. In reality, it was credit that was cheap and plentiful.
Money and credit are not the same. Money is basically savings. It is what you earned in the past but didn’t consume. Credit is the complete opposite. It is what you consume now but still need to earn in the future. The only similarity is that they both allow you to consume in the present. Thus, both will increase asset prices, corporate earnings, government revenues, and spending (basically economic growth). However, one is real economic growth the other is not. Economic growth fuelled by credit is simply economic growth borrowed from the future. And it seems the future is asking to get paid (the end of western consumerism).
So what will the end of western consumerism look like? Like Windsor! In Windsor, there are no signs of the distortions produced by the credit bubble. No starbucks across the street from a starbucks. No strip mall, next to another strip, and another, and another. The local businesses are down to the bare basics. There are no unaffordable homes in Windsor. No out-of-control construction boom. All of this is good not bad.
I like your thinking Edwin.
The biggest problem we have is getting the community leaders to see it that way. Not the end but, a fresh start.
Have hope James. I think that the ills of the recent past and the importance of sustainable growth are beginning to dawn on everyone. The notion that scaling-down is not only a wise lifestyle decision but, also a wise economic decision is catching on.
There is no such thing as “sustainable growth”. You need to take that out of your vocabulary. Things can only grow, economies included, to a certain point and then if they are no longer able to sustain themselves.
Growth can no longer be a benchmark of success.
Oops, should read
Things can only grow, economies included, to a certain point and then they are no longer able to sustain themselves.
Don’t know where the “if” came from.
I think, that sustainable growth is possible. It is just much slower than many are willing to accept. At the very least, there is still plenty of potential in Windsor.
oops.
http://www.streetfilms.org/archives/bus-rapid-transit-bogota/
AW …James … Aristotle’s idea of generation and corruption, a plant grows, produces a flower (beauty), flower becomes seeds, seeds are dispersed and then the plant dies. All things, including businesses, economies and life have that in common. A plant sustains itself by growing and dying.
The cities of London and Hamilton, Ontario are much farther ahead in an aeroport construction and planning than Windsor is. Windsor should concentrate on high speed rail, trucking and it’s port facilities.
I also think that Windsor should move quickly on the Youngstown, Ohio idea of demolishing derelict buildings … scaling down, as ugly as vacant land is in a city, it gives a developers/builders a leg up with other ideas for infilling or a commercial property development. I made that comment about ten years ago about Detroit, just give the land away and wave developers fees (but not including service connection fees) and let them build under strict guidelines.
A surface light rail system for Windsor and area would also be the best, then using smaller feeder buses to fill the neighbourhoods.
Edwin, (Starbucks across from Starbucks) have you checked out the turf war going on in Windsor and the county between Shopper’s Drug Mart and Rexall drugs and this is just Windsor, it’s happening all over Ontario with these two, much like what Standard Oil did back in the 1920’s in the United States in building gas stations right next to a competitor and then under cutting the prices.
Personally, I would build a $60 million cultural mall on the west lands before I would build a canal. The mall would include a new central library, a new community museum, smaller museums, like the Wood Carvers museum, a new municipal archives (working with the library’s genealogy division and the community museum, thus creating a genealogy and local history centre of excellence [ ancestry tourism brings in 170 million pounds into Scotland every year]) and then a series of adjunct salons for the Windsor Symphony Orchestra and the Art Gallery, holding mini concerts and art displays and a place for public performances.
Or, how about Home Depot vs. Building Box/Rona on the east side and Home Depot vs. Lowe’s in the Walker Road area?
Excellent idea, Urbanrat! A building with a purpose, instead of a tourist trap canal. Having a geneology resource center would be an absolute gem in this city, as the market for that kind of tourism is ever burgeoning.
Guys, I don’t really care what gets built: a university campus, college expansion, a canal, or cultural mall. I just want the stalemate between the city and developers to end, one waiting for the other to move first.
Brendan, I would not be so quick to dismiss tourism, no matter the type, as an important positive force in the city. It brings outside dollars to the city that can be used to accomplish the things we really want. Think of the history of Hiram Walker and Walkerville. Whiskey production and distribution, at times the illegal distribution, is not exactly a model of social responsibility but it helped build wonderful Walkerville. Can we harness the casino and an expanded downtown tourist area to accomplish similar positive results in Windsor today?
Guys, I guess we differ in our approach. While I can’t argue with your purist arguments (I agree with them); I don’t think we can change the game all we can do is play it smart.
As for Shopper’s and Rexall, this is a vote of confidence in our city. There are 9.8 million Canadian baby boomers. The leading edge of which is now 61 years young. Shopper’s and Rexall are betting, with dollars in the ground, that as these baby boomers become untether to their traditional communities through retirement more of them will chose Windsor as their new home.
Windsor is not London or Hamilton or Youngstown. Think big; we are Ontario’s other major metropolis! I live closer to downtown Detroit than many in the suburbs of Detroit. We are more like Toronto, Chicago and Cleveland than London Hamilton and Youngstown. Thus, the opportunity is in developing a secondary airport for Detroit not what has been tried before or has been done in London and Hamilton.
Lewis Black on starbucks across another starbucks hillarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9iMgSNrwv4