I know from personal experience that the Windsor Star and Gord Henderson are not normally representative of the general public's attitudes, but they've got that attitude nailed this time.Now - I have yet to complete any empirical studies or thorough surveys a la Ipsos Reid, but I do tend to talk to a lot of people around this city. And the vast majority of people I talk to admit incorporating a downtown university campus is a seeming no-brainer.
According to Henderson's column today (and I saw Gord taking feverish notes during Haldenby's speaking engagement, and the subsequent nauseous look on his face a few times) "The contrast between Cambridge, where people rolled up their sleeves, wrote cheques and got it done in short order, and Windsor, where the university seemingly doesn't understand the role it could and should play in this community, and where the public remains largely indifferent, is stark and painful." I must tell you that I share the same thoughts as Gord here. When I listened to Haldenby describe how enormous the impact was to the City of Cambridge (my mother is from Sheffield - very close by so I know it well) my heart began to ache.
"On Sept. 13, 2004, nine months from the start of construction, this riverfront showplace welcomed its first students. The payback, for Cambridge and the school, has been remarkable. It includes 800 new or refurbished housing units in the once-derelict core. An area where you couldn't get a cappuccino now boasts six such establishments. There's always something interesting happening downtown, courtesy of 350 creative, fun-loving minds. The boost in tax revenues exceeds the city's phased contributions. And the school, which has made headlines around the world, now attracts the nation's best talent, with applications soaring from 600 to 2,000 for 72 first-year openings. I listened to Haldenby and it made me sick with envy that our university, unlike the can-do folks at St. Clair College, can only come with lame excuses for not becoming a community partner in the revival of our dying downtown.", Henderson has every right to be concerned for Windsor.
What the University is proposing in it's new Centre For Engineering Innovation is about four times the size of the school of architecture in Cambridge. Four Times! Now take the numbers from the spin off developments credited to their downtown move, multiply it by four, and lay it over our downtown. Now you can see why the editorial board of the Star is rabidly behind this concept.
To put things in perspective, the University has stated that it is still $20 million short of the $110 million campus (U of Waterloo's architecture campus cost a total of $27 million). Whoever provides that final $20 million would have a lot of say in where the campus was located. Remember a year ago when the Star reported that "Council approves $48M arena plan: Move won't raise taxes, Postma tells voters", yet today the arena numbers have ballooned to a hefty $65.9 million.
Yup, that extra (nearly) $20 million recently tacked onto the sprawling east-end arena's budget would have done a lot of rejuvenating in our downtown.
Henderson paraphrases Haldenby by stating that "(w)ith its textile industry dead and its core area battered by floods in 1974 and ravaged by subsequent flood-control measures, Cambridge's movers and shakers spent years looking for a miracle. They kicked around proposals, ranging from an Imax theatre to a textile museum, that would have been chronic drains on the public purse."
Do we really feel that we've seen the last of the budgetary manipulations with regards to the arena? Do we really feel that we won't be propping up their annual budgets on a yearly basis resulting in "chronic drains on the public purse"? Cambridge understood the economic ramifications of all those different proposals, and obviously Windsor doesn't.
(ED: we will be posting the complete video and audio files from Professor Rick Haldenby's forum on this site very soon, so keep checking back to see if my google-fu has produced a final edit yet.)
8 comments:
what about the students? esbecuially most of them being first year students..where will they sleep, eat and study?
residence will have to be built, cafeteria and what library? you think these students should be seperated from their fellow students like this? why dont you think about the students? you're being selfish and greedy. If a residence is built if a cafeteria is built it will cost more money. What about the students that have to take science courses or business or math or arts? you want them to commute? remember theyre 1st year students most from out of town...you think this is reasonable? shame on you. think about the students first instead of how much money your precious downtown can make by exploiting them.
Once upon a time my family owned and operated a business in downtown Windsor. My grandfather opened a general store on Pitt Street in the 1920’s. That business evolved into a camera and stereo shop on Oullette near Wyandotte. That business was lost to the bank in the early 1980’s. I spent a lot of time downtown as a kid. Wandering around at the Kresgees, the Woolworths. Christmas shopping at Birks. Back-to-school shopping at Agnew shoes, Union Men and Boys. Picking up groceries at the Dominion store going to movies at the Capitol, Vanity and the Palace. Downtown was a fantastic place. There were always so many people. On Saturdays the sidewalks were packed, Friday Midnight Madness sales people all over. Now it’s all gone. Why? Because we spread the city too thin. Somebody allowed that to happen, the same people made it happen because at the time it was the thing to do.
Please, can everyone stop for a moment, and really think about this whole U of W Engineering Campus in downtown Windsor. I don’t want to be all negative. I don’t want to be accused of not having any vision. I want everyone to really think this through. Remember all the positive energy a riverfront marina was going to create. It was going to allow all the transient boaters to stop off in Windsor and this would be a big boost to downtown foot traffic. How about the big aquarium? We’d have all kinds of tourists and a family “destination”. How great has it been to have a casino downtown? That has done so much for downtown hasn’t it? Weren’t we supposed to build an arena to do all these things? How about a major department store? Stienberg’s was a real city builder wasn’t it?
All these projects were going to benefit downtown. Some never got built for whatever reason and the one’s that have been built have not done what all their boosters said they would to improve downtown. So now we have one more scheme. The Windsor Star is being very mean spirited in their attitude towards the University in the editorial columns and Henderson columns and I think this must stop. There has to be a reasonable, sensible discussion about downtown and why and how it is in the state it’s in today.
Downtown Windsor is in its current state because over time social, economic and political forces have caused its importance to the average citizen to diminish. To really bring downtown Windsor back someone needs to spend some time and examine the history of Windsor. Why did downtown develop where it did? How did the type of businesses located in the core area evolve? What social/historical factors existed as the downtown started to destabilize? Ultimately I think that what we will find is that as the automobile became more common and the city started to spread out we began to lose our downtown. Finally at some point the city had spread itself out so evenly that downtown became just another business zone. It wasn’t a complete community anymore.
In my opinion we can jump on the bandwagon every time a developer comes to town with a miracle cure and it won’t change anything. Until such a time as there is a major social shift, an historic event that will compel us to reinvent our city, downtown will continue to languish. For downtown to thrive it needs to be a complete community where people of all social groups can live and work and shop.
So, Cambridge was a success. I want everyone to understand the differences between the University of Waterloo’s Architecture School in Cambridge and the U of W’s Engineering School in Windsor. First Cambridge is far enough from the main campus that students need to find housing in Cambridge, and the Architecture school is self contained it does not need to rely on the main campus in Waterloo. Second, the Waterloo School of Architecture is exclusive. They receive more than 2000 applications for 72 first year openings. These students come from all over and need to find housing, and shopping and entertainment near their school. Where do the majority of U of W Engineering students come from? Windsor and Essex County? Will they stop shopping at Devonshire Mall, or move to downtown Windsor from mom and dad’s in Forest Glade? Next, and I know a number of Engineers and when I mentioned this point they grudgingly agreed. Engineering students study. They go to class and they do homework. They do not go out to coffee bars and hangout and act bohemian. (This may not be true of all engineer’s but…) Engineering students also don’t really need to leave a classroom for inspiration. English students, arts students, humanities students in general and architecture students for sure need to be out in the living, human world. 2000 Engineering students at the Engineering School in downtown Windsor will be 2000 students mostly in the school. Not providing more customers to downtown businesses.
Before we all get mad at the U of W for not supporting Windsor businesses lets look at the story the Star published today. Mr. Giglio makes a point. There are 17, 000 students at the U of W and where are all the trendy shops and commercial development all around that area? You see, a large mass of students does not create a thriving business zone.
To the first. Anonymous
Give me a break. Are you seriously complaining about having to walk or use public transportation at University. Most major universities have several campus locations and buildings spread farther that the Windsor downtown core to the University of Windsor. There is plenty of housing around between the core and University. Heaven forbid you endure a little hardship and a 10min walk. God why don't we just hand you a degree now and you won't even have to show up for classes.If this is the type of student we can expect downtown. I say leave them in their own little University of Windsor world.
Maybe I have a disability and its difficult for me to commute whether it be public transportation or not...It has nothing to do with my intelligence level. I need to be close to the main campus so I can use all the services offered like the disablility and special needs office.
I write tests there and Im there regularily to pick up notes. Stop being so narrow minded and open your eyes. think about other people. Handing me a degree???? calling me a bad student because I have a disability and am unable or unwilling to have to commute just so that downtown can make a few extra bucks??? How smart do you sound now? may god bless your soul
Yes your right we should abandon all hope of trying to resurrect our downtown because you have a disability. Forget about the jobs forget about the masses and focus on YOU.
I am only one example...I also represent the view of students on campus when we say WE DO NOT WANT TO MOVE DOWNTOWN...
Maybe you should read this article about students not wanting to move downtown http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/story.html?id=d4f245b6-eeaf-40a3-852d-b31521230e04&k=64678
you wont be able to make money by exploiting students...the university will not allow it...find something else
Hey Anonymous, you keep on ranting on and on about "making money", well, this maybe your prime motivating factor, but it is definitely not ours.
This is about survival. Yes, economic survival, but also cultural survival as well.
Since you're a student, you're probably not adverse to doing a little research before you write silly posts. Read about how downtowns are dying across the continent and the parallel problems each city is also experiencing. This is about the ramifications of "Big Box Retail", this is about creating walkable communities so not everyone is relegated to automobile ownership (as someone with a disability, this should hit home for you) This is about creating an economic climate that doesn't rely on Chinese sweatshop labour that moves our entire manufacturing base offshore.
This all starts with healthy downtowns and local economic development. It's time you started thinking a little beyond the confines of your personal existence.
If it was just about money, we would continue doing things the way we are now, just like you are advocating. So, who is "all about the money" now?
Exploiting Students ??? Give it a rest. These are the same students who will graduate and then want a job handed to them. It sound to me like this is just ONE pig headed writter. Most students I've spoken with would like to be downtown. Heck they are there Friday and Saturday nights why not the rest of the week.
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