Hope in Hades
Sometimes it’s hard to keep an optimistic outlook on things in this city when everyone (and I mean inclusively from those still employed at good jobs and are worried about keeping them, to those who have long-ago lost their means of income and are wondering whether there’s any future for Windsor) is down in the dumps about our future. Even those people who have lived through times like these before and retired with a good pension are worried about their children and grandchildren. It’s not a very good time to be a Windsorite.
Yesterday, I was interviewed by a reporter from the Toronto Star who, like most of the national media before him, was covering the train wreck that is our local economy. It seems to make some pretty good ink these days. This reporter knew my back story. You know the one; fourth generation, single-father laid-off autoworker, yada yada yada. He knew what he was looking for and I hope I didn’t disappoint him. You see, I am still optimistic as hell about our future.
Huh?
Yes, I overflow optimism. Believe it or not, this sometimes pisses people off. Some folks seem to enjoy being down-in-the-dumps about our future and sit around trying to lay blame on someone. Seems to be a good pastime in these parts - finding someone to shoulder the blame. When they don’t find a willing participant in me, yup - you guessed it. They start to blame ME for some of our problems. I wish I had that kind of power, trust me.
Since I try and keep my optimistic outlook, I tend to shy away from the downers around me. What good is stewing in your own juices, anyways? I seek out and surround myself with optimistic do’ers instead of pessimistic whiners. That’s a tough task to set out for yourself. but luckily it’s not impossible.
I meet with a group of people once a week to discuss ways in which we can participate in the rejuvination of Windsor. “Big Table” (BT) was assembled by Tom Lucier (co-proprietor of Phog lounge in beautiful downtown Windsor) because - I believe - he was searching out the same thing that I was. People who actually accomplish things in the face of pessimism and adversity. It’s no surprise that most of the people sitting around this big table (it’s actually a couple smaller tables pushed together - but it has doughnuts on it so nobody complains!) are of the artistic kind. Artists have been marginalized and pushed to the fringe for so long, and have had to subsist on the leftover societal crumbs that fall their way, that they are incredibly good at bringing their ideas to light in spite of a society that doesn’t help out in the least. They’re do’ers and we need them to succeed for all of our sakes.
It’s a relatively new group, and I came onboard while they were putting the finishing touches on the “Big Walk”. The walk started as an idea that Tom Lucier had, which he brought to “The Table” and those of us with some of the needed resources and time helped him pull it off. That’s the goal of the BT participants; to bring resources to the group that will help other members “pull off” a grand and important plan, knowing full-well that each and every one of us will benefit from the effort. Soon, we will be publishing a guide to Windsor’s independant retail/commercial gems that we need to support for the benefit of a relocalized community, as well as the quality of life of Windsor residents. I know that my pitch is in the works and the other “Big Members” are ready to jump on board with the Independant Media Centre.
It didn’t surprise me, then, to hear that others were doing sort of the same thing. Over at the University of Windsor’s Lebel building, another bunch of creative, artistic-types have been meeting together under the banner Broken City Lab. Justin Langlois from BCL joined our last BT meeting to bring us up to speed on what they’ve been up to. I learned a week or so ago about a mapping exercise BCL had embarked upon which got me really excited. You see SD, BT and BCL are all talking about creating an asset-mapping project of our own. The fact that most of us hate redundancy means that we will probably be establishing a partnership to make this a great project. From asset-mapping, to partnering with Transit Windsor, to holding forums asking questions such as; What’s wrong/right with Windsor? How can we improve this city? How can we creatively highligh the positive aspects of the city? How can we creatively and legally critizue the negative aspects, you’ve got to get the feeling that there are others living here that are actively working towards a better community.
Then, there is the ScaleDown community itself. Never have I seen a more dedicated group of cyber-strangers. The knowledge and expertise that the readers/commentors/participants bring to each and every discussion elicits hope in me like I’ve never known before. These “arm-chair” planners and politicians take what we’re discussing into their homes and workplaces and perpetuate the ideas fostered on these pages. They research and write letters to the editor, further spreading the seeds of community revolution. The dialogue goes above and beyond what the SD writers could ever do on our own proving that the value of SD is more than the sum of its parts.
We’re building community. All of us.
It is groups like these that give me this hope, which many of my friends and family would call unwarranted, about the future of our city. There are actually people out there who don’t let the bad news get them down, or distract them from work that needs to get done. Is there a way to coordinate the activities of all these different people without stifling the creative process that allowed them to reach the goals they already have? What others out there in this city have the energy and resources to make positive change, and how do we reach them?
All people have to do is witness the power and optimism that individuals and groups such as these (and more, I’m sure) have, and we can shake others out of the funk that is holding us captive.
Post Feedback
Without knowing it (or maybe knowing, but never really labelling it) Windsor has started to emerge, ever so slightly, from the blight of the past quarter century and become a transition town. One of the advantages of being the first to fall (or among the first) is that you are also poised to be among the first to recover. Does that make it easy? Hell no. Does that make Chris’ optimism justified? Hell yeah!
Check out these links for some excellent reading on the Transition Towns projects. Windsor, under the auspices of ScaleDown, Big Table and Broken City Lab, should get itself listed. Currently only Peterborough is listed for all of Canada. Time for Windsor to get ahead of the curve!
http://www.transitiontowns.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_Towns
(This idea of transition towns is receiving some pretty intense attention out here in PEI among certain circles. After the Boyd 2008 conference this past weekend (boyd2008.ning.com) there is been lots of discussion about building a new future for our community and our Island.)
I’m on it, Josh! Even thousands of kilometers away, you’re still working at fixing Windsor. You rock!
I unfortunately missed Big Table today, but it was good to get a brief introduction last week. It’s really great to be able to connect to other people wanting to make changes, make this city a better place, even if incrementally for the moment.
I have yet another mapping idea, hope to bring it up at the next edition of BT. The idea is to start offering accessible and real opportunities for community members to map the city.
Keep up the great work Chris (and everyone at ScaleDown)… it’s inspiring.
Can I ask when the BT group meets? I am not an artist by any means but I have a lot of passion for this city and I know that Windsor can be one of the best cities to live in.
We just need the political will (by that I mean support from city hall in helping achieve the goals we set. Whether it means by-laws, information or assistance from various departments like Planning. Mr. Yanchula has offered many times to help where ever he can and since we finally have a head of planning Mr. Hunt should be involved as well) and a gathering of like-minded individuals to do it.
I may sound like a naysayer many times but the reason I am vocal about the negatives is that I believe we need to view our city the way others view it. We need to see what the city truly is, warts and all, before anything can be changed for the betterment of the citizens.
One question that has never been answered by anyone even at city hall is what kind of city do we want to be? Basically what are we? Before we spend more $$$ on more ad campaigns we need to answer this one very basic but difficult question.
Windsor has the potential to be a great city. Our residents are some of the friendliest that people have ever met (this coming from many visitors I have spoken with). The city may not look nice but Windsorites put smiles on our visitors faces and that is one of the hardest things to do. Beauty have be changed relativly easily so we are already ahead of many other cities (such as Oakville, Mississauga, Toronto…where a person means nothing).
We also have outstanding generosity that is second to none even in hard times Windsorites will come to the aid of others.
We have great ideas, minds, abilities…we just need to channel them, to get people to come together and make Windsor the city that WE want and not what people tell us should be.
Sometimes this city does get me down. Sometimes I am left scratching my head at some of the policies instituted but these can all be changed. We just have to all get on the same page or close to it and work together for our common goal. The goal to me is to make Windsor the best place to live, work and play. Once we do that for the residents, people and business from other cities will want come here to reap those benefits. Who wouldn’t?
we have great opportunities here in spite of the downturn of the auto industry. We can become a green zone for the world, utilizing our trained and excellent work force to build windmills for world-wide distribution.
We could dig down and put geo thermal access to the residents to get off the grid. The excess power could go back to Enwin to sell. We could make all new buildings install solar panels.
We could be the coolest retirement area with all our sparkling amenities. wineries, golf, boating, weather, proximity to US for sports and culture, generous Windsorites. We are a well kept secret.
If we can mobilize doctors, and more health facilities- retirement area tag is a doable one. Without health, it will be a no-go.
Sue, you hit on an important element of attracting retirees and others to this area, changing the perception of Windsor as a polluted city. Unfortunately this perception dilutes our massage that Windsor is a wonderful place to live. A green sustainable Windsor must be an integral part of any strategy to attract new residents to our city.
We must take some dramatic steps to change this perception. Adding the word green to projects is not going to do. We need big bold radical moves to change this perception. We must shock long held beliefs about our city in order to succeed.
My city rocks! There are few other areas that are surrounded by farm country AND water AND have access to the US AND has a short, mild winter (despite what happens tonight :D).
For Big Table, is in an invite-only thing? I’m willing to do some stuff but have a commitment to the Special Olympics until July so my free time’s going there right now.