Geezer-Mart
Big-box senior storage. This is what we’ve come to. I’m not going to get into the details of the ramifications of our societiys decision to remove our elders from the community at large. We’ve made so many bone-headed decisions in the name of efficiency and progress, it’s going to take generations before we realize the outcome of removing the wisdom embodied by our elders that we’ve removed from our daily life.
I’m lucky in that my parents, in their 70’s now, are in great health and still functioning members of our community. I’m also lucky in the fact that they choose to live in the city. You see, my kids have regular access and exposure to their grandparents. Just two blocks from my home is where they pick up the Crosstown 2 bus, which plops them down right smack-dab in front of where their grandparents live. Without needing to defer to my schedule, they have the option of visiting them at their leisure, the power of which they exercised dozens of times this summer alone. All three generations are better off for this ability.
Which is why Schlegel VIllages Inc’s recent decision to move the senior care facility from the former Grace Hospital site to neighboring LaSalle is sad. Not just for the neighbours of the Grace site, who have been dealing with an attrocious mess of inaction and political subterfuge. But also for the future residents of this facility destined to be warehoused together, removed from their communities and accessability to area hospitals, virtually cut off from their former lives by the inaccessibility of their new homes. Sure, Schlegel says (as interviewed on CBC radio) that the facility is accessible to all of Windsor, presumably because he could drive there from the city in 15 minutes. He should have clarified by adding “by automobile” to his statement. There is no transit service in LaSalle, a civic choice made, presumably, to keep property taxes low. The rest of their natural lives they will be governed by the generosity of others and their access to a car and their willingness to be a taxi service.
We’ve frequently written about the difference between “Active Aging” and our current obsession with the mere storage of our aged. This is a poor planning decision and a poor social decision we will be living with for generations.
I won’t even get into the hypocracy of a provincial government who touts “Smart Growth” and then funds this kind of auto-centric sprawl.
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Well-put, Chris. Of course the one advantage of this location is that the more mobile residents will be able to use the Vollmer Centre, but like you, I’m also wondering if they will easily be able to get anywhere else.
There is a Zehrs not too far away, but they will need a car or a shuttle service to get there.
Where we live right now we can walk to most of the amenities we need, and we also have a Crosstown 2 bus stop just 2 blocks away. I’m still far from needing to think seriously about senior care options, but in a couple of decades I hope to be able to remain in this neighbourhood rather than being packed away in a faraway geezer storage facility.
Well argued Chris. I was very disappointed to learn about the decision on CBC radio this morning. This is just as frustrating and indefensible as the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation office’s 2009 move from downtown Windsor to Tecumseh. The Grace site saga has been very difficult to watch and this is a lousy outcome. Although, Windsor’s west end getting the short end of the stick is usually a safe bet.
..Whats the matter..!? I see in the view that there’s a town square! That’s sumthin! Right? ..just kidding
All we need to do is wait until the the generation of decision makers of today get shelved into such places.. Then we can go ahead with reasonable planning…
—Have a nice nap all you boomers and zoomers…we’ll try not to disturb you, much…
If you put a high wall around the above drawing it would look like the new penitentiaries that Harper wants to build.
This is not a solution but a quick fix, how many more are to be built to warehouse the bulge of zoomers that is coming?
And if one spouse has to be interred and the other is still living in their home but can’t drive or doesn’t have family left in the city to drive them, how do they get there - by Skype? And how many hours of work are going to be lost when relatives or kin have to start taking time off work to drive out there to see to the needs of family members or take them to doctors etc. (if they don’t like the quality of care being given in the big box), which is also happening now in the so called “sandwich generation.”
And the above is going to be built faster than we can come to an agreement and implementing a regional transportation system, so that just maybe, maybe, those that can’t drive might be able to take a bus out there to visit. Here it is ten years into a new century and we are still thinking that cars and big box greenfield developments are the solutions.
Living downtown, I’m slowly coming to the gut feeling that the city’s master plan is to gut not just West Windsor but all of old Windsor waiting for Farhi to rush in and buy the Grace-lands, which if developed into condos or townhouses, are walkable to the new aquatic centre and library.
There should have been more pressure on the province to build it in Windsor and that makes wonder why it wasn’t
Good post Chris with a lot concerns but no answers.
From Chris’s column to every one of the follow up posts. You are all correct. So why is it we know this is a horrible decision but the powers that be don’t?
I guess we will only learn the have-nots (most of us now) can’t afford to even eat much less visit our learned elders. (Oh the mistakes that will be made in the near future as we warehouse the elderly).
I tend to agree with James Howard Kunstler that climate change and peak oil will force us to live a lot differently in the 21st century. We’ll have a lot less oil and gas available to operate all the homes, factories, businesses, schools and hospitals and that means a lot of what we’ve built over the past 50 years, including the giant big box and fast food outlets, will have to close or be forced out of business. Agriculture will become the fastest growing part of our economy as giant agribusiness begins to downsize and farming becomes localized and more labour-intensive. There’s going to be a lot less mobility as the costs of all forms of transportation skyrocket and gas becomes scarcer and more expensive.
It’s hard to dispute JHK, George. Unfortunately, all too many of his predictions are likely to come true!
Great article in the Windsor Star yesterday about the seniors residence on Erie St. Now why can’t we have more of those in our core areas instead of in suburbia or big box land?
I guess our core areas are only good for grandiose schemes like scaled-down water parks that stick out like a sore thumb. Why build neighbourhoods?
What I wrote on FB after reading about that Erie Street dev’t:
Wow. The seniors’ complex on Erie Street sounds pretty amazing. I might just go down there and put my name on the waiting list. I could wake up in the morning, walk down to Italia Bakery, grab an espresso next door…
I am all for having care close to home. However, make sure you are comparing apples and apples. The Erie street complex is a private retirement home which is only supportive of seniors who can live independently. The former Grace and now LaSalle complex is Long Term Care which is for seniors and others who need assistance with most or all of their activities of daily living - in other words it is primary healthcare.
That doesn’t necessarily mean it should be in the sticks with no access to transit, etc. However, it is kind of like expecting Hotel Dieu to convert to tiny boutique hospitals in every neighbourhood.
Why must all our newer buildings be limited to one function? Why can’t we build higher density structures that can serve several uses instead of one giant building that does nothing but warehouse seniors in isolation from the rest of society? If you look at Windsor’s history closely you’ll find that prior to the 1950’s most buildings were designed to serve a number of purposes. Apartment buildings had banks and grocery stores on the bottom floor and large mansions were often converted to hospitals or schools once the original owner died and his family moved on. What do you think will happen to all the big box outlets and fast food joints once they reach the end of their usefull life, which can happen in as little as ten years? They’ll end up being torn down for bigger big box outlets and fancier fast food joints because they will have no value. Windsor’s first city hall was originally built as a grade school but it looked more like a city hall than the current city hall.
This is just one more sad example of what happens when our representatives leave crucial planning for our communities in the hands of those that only seek profit. The provincial government’s insistence on the P3 model as a way to divest itself from financial obligations leaves us vulnerable to exactly this type of decision making, and failure of the planning process to promote and execute solid social systems that benefit both the users and the broader community.
Additionally, the West End in particular is pock-marked with examples of inept representation at all levels of government. I am saddened to see the part of this city that I grew up in being treated as a repository for bad ideas and poor planning.