Offering up a superior product

Thankfully, there has been quite the media focus on revitalizing our downtown core lately. Blogs, Letters to the editor, op-eds and even the Star's editorial staff are seeing to it that the health of our downtown is vital to the overall health of our community. This is a very good thing.

The big box debate has been correctly linked to our deteriorating local economy. Arnie Blaine, of the Ottawa Street BIA spoke eloquently to our city council about the need to curtail fringe development because it hollows out our core. These are all interconnected issues, and they need to be kept in the spotlight. The question was posed to me the other day as to why Jenny Coco, who owns the old, dilapidated Royal Bank building on Ouellette, as to why we can't force her to do something with that building. The answer is easy. As long as it is profitable and painless to continue sprawl development, there is no incentive for her to invest in the core. Revitalizing that building on Ouellette would require creativity beyond the pattern-thinking that has brought her the riches to which she is accustomed to. The carrot-and-stick approach must come into play if we want to enact meaningful change.

Yesterday's Star editorial echoes many of SDW's previous posts about the impact a downtown university campus can have on the downtown. Criticisms have been made that it is not the University's responsibility to rejuvenate down-and-out areas of the city. While that criticism may partly be true, it ignores the bigger picture. The University of Windsor would see it's new marketing campaign and rankings in MacLean's magazine skyrocket if it were located in a livable, creative community with more to offer than just cross-border shopping. It is in its best interest to help in any way possible the revitalization of Windsor. That being said, the University is also funded through our tax dollars, and both the municipal and provincial level. Some accountability must be linked to the expenditures the University makes that impacts huge numbers of citizens. We have a symbiotic relationship that must be nurtured if all parties are to reach their true potential. I have no doubt that a truly unique development can occur downtown if we make this our combined goal.

This is the way to combat the relentless assault on our built environment – by offering up a superior product to the soulless sprawl and cookie-cutter development that is so easy and profitable. Keeping the focus on our downtown is the right thing to do at this point. Educating people that a healthy downtown will bring them a healthy overall city is necessary. Giving people a reason to live in our core by offering a diverse living experience and level of quality unsurpassed by the suburbs is another necessary component in the revitalization.

For now, just support those making the daunting effort of breathing life into downtown Windsor. Go to the Windsor International Film Festival. Support the arts. Spend your money there. It's for your own good as residents in this city, no matter which neighbourhood you call home.

P.S. To those readers who attended the Borderline Case symposium at the Art Gallery in September and have been checking in to see the footage that I shot from the morning session with, among others, Dr. Gloria House and Dr. Veronika Mogyrody – please be patient with me. Technical difficulties have postponed the work, and my neo-Luddite gene pool is forcing me to seek outside help. I am still working on it.