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How to make downtown Windsor great · Kvetch & Release

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  Good morning ten o eight. Hope you're all doing well. If you're just
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  tuning in. Thank you so much for turning on the radio and listening to
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  AM eight hundred ckl W. John Lydkey. Here, we are going to
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  carry over a conversation that we were having on the round table, shifting our
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  focus to Halifax, where they've got a plan to revitalize their downtown core and
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  it has seventeen recommendations from improving accessibility to the harbor, which sounds kind of
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  familiar. Quite frankly, they're focusing on their biggest asset. They also are
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  going to be focused on neighborhoods, entertainment, and transportation. Their report has
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  no plans to expand parking, but what it does look towards doing is developing
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  a bus rapid transit system for downtown routes, pedestrian first designs for streets,
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  and establishing a complete network of protected bike lanes. I like this idea.
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  It's called Vision twenty thirty, and it's recognizing that people want to be able
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  to live in a downtown core, get to a downtown core, work,
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  eat, play, live, thrive and survive and all of those great things.
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  And it doesn't sound all that different, although conceptually a little bit here
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  or there. Then our strengthen the core plan, which built on our Windsor
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  Works plan, and the focus that, of course our council has on how
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  to get our downtown back to a better place than it's at right now.
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  Our downtown has a lot of great opportunities, there's no doubt about that,
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  but it needs a bit of that TLC that tender love and care joining me
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  right now to discuss what he thinks downtown should look like and this plan from
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  Halifax, and if we could maybe r and d ripoff and duplicate some of
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  those elements and bring it over is ward one counselor Fred Francis, thanks for
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  sticking around front. Yeah, thank you. Apparently I'm on the radio too
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  much based on that text you just read to me, so I don't know,
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  maybe you should have got someone else. Well, listen, we had
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  a room full of three people and you were the only one who said yes.
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  Now, what do you think about this when you look toward Halifax.
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  I can't stop thinking about the similarities between Halifax and Windsor. They have a
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  downtown core that it wasn't in the best place neighborhoods that were far off and
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  arteries that connected them that people just drove down, very similar to what we
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  deal with. Yeah, and I mean obviously waterfront, but they haven't a
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  marina down there, right, so they have it's very harbor esque and it's
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  very beautiful downtown Halifax, and they have all the shops, the decks,
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  the patios that kind of oversee all that. That'd be great if we had
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  a marina downtown, even a smaller one that we could incorporate with the one
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  on the east end, just to allow for more diversity of traffic. And
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  you spoke about that with respective transit, anything that's not just vehicle based,
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  So yeah, sure, I mean i'd also point to Montreal and what they
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  do with bikes and bike lanes and their bike active transportation network. So I
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  think every downtown to a certain degree is different. You know, we have
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  our strengths, we have our weaknesses that might be similar or different than other
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  communities. But when we look at all these downtown plans, you have to
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  be able to take what works and what doesn't work. And it doesn't matter
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  if it's a big city or a small city. You kind of course correct
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  for scope and scale. But a good idea is a good idea and it
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  could work anywhere. So if we're able to take good ideas from other municipalities,
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  be it Halifax or anywhere else, we should Calgary pedestrian walkways, streets
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  are closed for bastrian traffic. I'll throw it out to our sister city in
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  Manheim, Germany. They essentially have a transit network. It's more of a
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  trolley network that you know, runs like a transit system, like a bus
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  system, and you just hop on the trolley and you get to two blocks
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  away, and these things are running constantly and you just hop on and you
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  get off at will, so you know, and that's a sister city.
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  So there's things we can do obviously, I mean, and there's things we
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  have done with active transportation. You see the bird scooters and the bird bikes,
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  you know, So we'll continue to build on it. But I think
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  when it comes to our down town, the number one issue is and we've
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  shown that a few weeks ago with Strengthen, the core plan is crime and
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  prevention and making things more safe and secure. And once we're able to do
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  that, then I think you're going to see a more foot traffic, more
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  investment, and hopefully more people coming down there and living down there in the
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  downtown core. Yeah. I mean we did see that once the Strength and
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  the Core plan was announced and there was the big concert that happened on Olett
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  Avenue a couple of weeks ago, and we saw more uniformed officers walking on
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  the streets. It was a very different environment than it is without them there.
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  And there's obviously lots of work that's being done with the H four hub
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  and everything to try to deal with these situations on our streets. But I
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  recognize that it has to be the safety angle first and then the rest can
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  flow from that. It seems to me, though, like when we're talking
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  about our streets specifically, that there is a built in, inherent aversion to
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  thinking of doing anything maybe per that doesn't put the car at the forefront of
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  the discussion. And look, I get it, we're windsor we're automotive town
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  through and through, it's our backbone. People hear conversations about limiting car access
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  and they get very upset, and the texting platform will show it. Is
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  that what it's like, I mean, around the council table, it seems
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  like getting protected bike lanes. We don't have an inch of them in our
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  city. I mean, why is it that it seems so difficult to get
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  somewhere? I mean, we have a story that we're gonna be talking about
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  just later on today about protected bike lanes on Windott Street and why our own
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  staff recommended to council to you not to proceed with it. What's up with
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  this? Oh? I think it's probably and I could be wrong on this,
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  but I think it comes out to cost. You know, they're expensive,
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  would cost a lot. Yeah, and you know, I think this
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  is something I've moved on in my ten years on council. And listen,
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  nice thing about being on council for a long time. You grow, or
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  at least you hope you do, and you learn, and I'm not ashamed
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  to admit I'll look back and say, you know what my position on this
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  issue is change or you know, knowing what I know now, I probably
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  would vote differently now than I would eight years ago. And a lot of
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  that I have to kind of give credit to, you know, my former
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  counselor colleagues, Chris Salt and Renal Bordland, you know, not having them
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  on Council. Now you kind of appreciate the ideas and perspectives they brought on
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  council in the past eight years, and a lot of what a lot of
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  that what we're talking about now, and some of the things that we saw
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  in strengthen the Core Plan came from a lot of things that they were pushing
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  for in the eight years they were on council. So you know, sometimes
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  it just takes time. And even some of the things they were pushing for
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  I see differently today than I did back then. So you know, as
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  a politician, you have to admit that, and you have to go Okay,
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  maybe in some cases I was wrong and they were right, but you
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  have to be able to grow. You have to be able to acknowledge that.
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  But I really don't have a problem with protected bike lanes. I see,
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  I see how they work in Montreal, and if we can make them
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  work in windsor if we could do it in a way that is not going
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  to break the bank, but it's going to increase safety and increase investment,
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  then I don't know why we wouldn't look at that. And and and this
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  goes to what I've been saying for a few years now with respect to how
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  we spend our money at City Hall. You know, we're on Monday,
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  we're talking about the ice rink project. It's six million dollars over budget.
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  It's fifteen million dollar project for an ice rink essentially, right, And is
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  that a priority or can we take that fifteen million dollars and spend it on
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  protected bike lanes or whatever else, or a marina or whatever. When you
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  add that to the Beacon trolley project, which was ten million, that's essentially
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  twenty five million dollars that was spent for capital and infrastructure projects in the downtown,
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  which is fine. That's council's prerogative to decide how that money is spent.
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  But I'm of the opinion that that money for both those projects could have
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  been spent on more priority based projects, be it protected bike lanes, be
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  it safety and security measures, be it on homelessness initiative, whatever. Right,
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  So it's a matter of we have the money, how do we spend
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  it, and how do we prioritize what we spend it on. And that's
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  kind of what I'm sounding the alarm on right now, have been for the
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  past several years, is how are we spending our money, and if we
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  spend our money properly on things that are basics and infrastructure investments that add to
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  it in a real, real day situation, then perhaps we don't have to,
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  you know, increase taxes to pay for the things like that. You
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  know, if I had to choose between the esplanade project in front of City
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  Hall, which to me is quite frankly just more of a city Hall beautification
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  project. Quite frankly, I mean, we did not have many days that
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  an ice rink would have even worked this past winter. I don't know if
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  spending money on an ice rink is the smartest thing for the you know,
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  southernmost city in Canada that we doing. I'd rather see that money go going
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  towards shutting down some streets. As you were discussing having pedestrian only walkways in
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  our core, I think that is probably one of the ways that you could
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  most revitalize things. You look towards the downtown market and I don't know if
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  Polisha would be a streak that you could shut down. I think it could.
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  You could probably make a case for it. Thousands of people come out
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  every Saturday when we open streets happen, we see the same thing. There
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  is such an appetite for that, But again, I don't know if the
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  appetite around the council table could occur. Yeah, And you know, it's
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  not a matter And I always say this, like we could disagree without being
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  disagreeable. We could have It's not a matter of someone being right or wrong.
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  It's just a different difference of opinion. And you know, listen,
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  I'm gonna I'll get attacked for what I just said. I'll get calls from
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  my political from my council colleagues, my political colleagues, and saying, well,
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  why do you say that? Or Fred's wrong or whatever. Right,
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  But again, it's just my opinion. And all I'm saying is I'm not
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  saying that it's a bad idea. I'm just saying, is that a priority
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  for today or should we look at it five years from now, ten years
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  from now? Because we have to put together a list of our priorities.
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  But we have to measure that list of priorities with the resources we have,
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  the money we have to invest, and we also have to factor in affordability.
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  We can't just raise taxes year after year to pay for everything. We
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  have to pay for the needs and the wants, it's not and people can't
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  afford to do that. So, based on the limited resources we have,
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  which are ample, we have significant amount of resources. Based on the money
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  we have coming in, how are we spending that money properly? And how
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  are we spending that money where it's making a bang for your buck. Be
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  it pedestrian walkways, be it more lighting, be it more cameras, be
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  it more police, be it whatever. If the strength, if the strength,
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  and the core planned told us our priority for downtown is safety and security,
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  then our priority should be safety and security initiatives in the downtown core and
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  across the city. Then why are we spending money on anything other than that?
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  Amenities are nice, like you've said this before, like these would all
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  be lovely things to have. I've heard you give a couple interviews about this.
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  But again, it comes down to just is it a need right now?
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  And I think a lot of people when they look around at the state
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  of things, whether it be housing affordability, or the state of our downtown
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  more broadly, at people who are in need of mental health help and addictions
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  support, or people will look at I think I can't speak for them,
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  but you know, there are a lot of things that need to be done,
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  and the old adages, you know, show me your budget and I'll
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  throw show you your priorities. And I think it reflects that it would be
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  nice to have the esplanade, but I think some more concrete measures, like
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  what Halifax is looking to do, could probably be the most impactful. Yeah,
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  I agree, and I think there's a lot of people in the city
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  that agree with you on Matt and me as well. And you know,
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  the easy thing to say, the easy thing, and the political expedient thing
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  to do as well. Fred just wants to, you know, not raise
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  taxes, and he just wants to put all the money to roads, roads
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  and sewers. And that's not city building. I mean, that's not what
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  I'm saying at all. I'm saying, let's talk with the people what our
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  priorities are, and let's ensure that we're spending the money in an appropriate way
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  to build our city, to make it safer, to make it more secure,
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  to make it more attractive. You know, I had a conversation this
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  week with Parks and Rec about the welcome to windsor signs we see entering into
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  the city. A lot of them, or at least the ones on Malden,
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  the one on match It. They should have been replaced four or five
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  years ago. They're great. They started off white. Like, why are
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  we not spending money to replace the signs that say welcome to windsor that have
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  updated population numbers on them. This is the first thing people see when they
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  enter our city, right, Why? Like that's a priority. Right,
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  we should make those signs attractive. We should make our gateways attractive. I
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  brought up the Doogal about right outside here, the ramp above Doogal where Jackson
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  Park is. We did that whole stretch of roadway, and the median is
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  a patchwork of concrete. It doesn't even match. It doesn't look nice.
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  So can we focus on our gateways? Can we focus on our projects?
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  Can we focus on the basics. Can we have the attention to detail that
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  we require to make sure the city looks great? Can we ensure the grass
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  is cut? Can we ensure the parks are clean?