What a horrific way to win an arguement regarding after hours clubs. The blame here should not fall on council and/or Mayor. They can only make decisions based on the reports that administration and Police give them. When a special interest group like the DWBIA conflicts with those reports, confusion results. This was not an unforeseen incident, this incident was foreseen. Someone needs to focus on why Police and administration reports claimed that there wasn't a problem at this location even though there was as many shootings in the past as there was years go by. Even though video footage exists that shows a problem existed at this location.
The only way I know how to honour this latest victim is take measures to ensure we don't need a 3rd plaque to commemorate the next victim.
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BTW, councillors who sat on the licencing commission who refused to allow Larry Horwitz and I into the room when the report came before them should answer for that.
Other councillors and the mayor's office were informed that there was an issue regarding lack of input through the following email.
Good Morning Councillors:
I have reviewed the Council Report 13049 regarding After Hours Clubs. As this is a “Note and File” recommendation, we were informed by the City Clerk’s Office that delegations will not be heard on the issue.
As such, the DWBIA requests that Council direct Administration to work closely with the DWBIA in researching this issue and that the DWBIA be included in the discussion from the beginning through to the end of the study.
As an FYI – the Licensing Commission met on October 9th, 2007. I was informed by a person in the Licensing Department that this meeting was open to the public, however when two of my Board Members tried to enter the meeting, they were told to leave. I was assured by Licensing that we would be involved in this process, yet this Council Report has come forward without consultation with the DWBIA.
Judith C. Veresuk
Executive Director
Downtown Windsor Business Improvement
One view Windsorites seem to share in common is that we need to take downtown back from the criminal element. If this nonesense took place somewhere closer to home for certain people, say on Cabana road in south Windsor, it would have been dealt with a long time ago.
But there is a fiefdom syndrome at city council. Council doesn't want to run Windsor for Windsorites and would rather cater to their own personal vision and legacy. The sad thing is, their legacy - especially King Eddie's - will be a shameful one unless they sit up and start to listen to the electorate. This is OUR city, not theirs.
Most of all, I am disappointed to see the DBA actually trying to do something positive for downtown and the good of all and it's being ignored. Mark is right, this was a sad way to win an argument. Let's not let this be 'forgotten' after the holidays pass!
Can someone fill a guy in on what happened downtown? The only news I get is from you bloggers any longer.
It seems as though council is so innundated by crisis after crisis, that they are in overload mode. They officially have their heads in the sand as they just can't handle any more bad news. Unfortunately, reality doesn't wait for people to "catch up" and marches on whether we're ready for it or not.
Way to go Mark, for keeping this on the front burner. This is obviously a problem and whether council identifies it or not, it will still ba problem when they wake up tomorrow morning as well.
Happy Holidays, SDW crew. Thanks for a good '07
they have to start policing, gaming and liquor control and cleanup 24 hours a day, downtown only. You can't close at 3:00am... that is the problem...
The bars let the kids drink till the last minute, than they boot them to the street at closing, and you have a mass exodus of drunkin teenagers... There was another murder the other night in the same spot as the last one... gunshot...
4:30 am. no one is on the streets at that time. everyone went back to regular duties(police, gaming, cleanup etc...)But the troublemaker drunks with guns are out still, It appears... 24 hours is the only way now... Lets face it, some one made Ouelette Ave into a 24 hr. entertainment venue/strip... and there's no changing now...
There is changing, there are answers to this problems. The only thing that is stopping us from solving these problems is the lack of political will
There is an entire organization that deals with late night entertainment problems
Its called the Responsible Hospitality Institute. Another thorough resource can be found at Community oriented Policing which was founded by the U.S. Justice Department. They have a summary of every possible solution tried in every city in North America and the pro's and cons of that solution
Websites to both of the above resources can be found at
http://www.rhiweb.org/
http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/files/ric/CDROMs/CampusSafety/pubs/AssaultsinandAroundBars.pdf
It starts by setting up a Hospitality Resource Panel made up of Residents, Bar Owners, city officials and the Police.
No one has ever sat down with the owners of this or other problem bars to tell them what our community wants.
Hospitality Resource Panels also link residents, bar owners, police and administrators to their counterparts in other cities so they know whats possible.
I could go on for pages of information of possible solutions. They are legion, whats missing is the political will to change things
While my condolences go out to the family of the victim, I still do not believe in mandating a closing time. It is obvious that the main problem with the after hours bars in the core stems from this one particular club, The Box Office. Enforcing a mandatory closing time further enhances the image that Windsor is not a business friendly city. Responsible owners take action to prevent problems. Things need to be done to rid the city of irresponsible business owners and encourage and help the ones actually doing the right thing. No need to punish all for the recklessness of one.
Actually we're both right. The problem is that there is too many issues confused together
1. After hours bars should be restricted from residential areas. Pelissier is one of those areas. If you have them, you cannot recruit other businesses or residents to that street. Ouellette is a different story
2. There are ways to exempt certain events just like we do with the noise bylaw. This is how the good operators can keep operating. This would allow places like the Boom Boom room to keep bringing world class entertainment. There are other solutions as well if this is not acceptable
3. We need a mechanism to manage operators as well. A HOspitality Resource panel is a solution
4. After hours bars are very different from other bars. In fact many nightclubs signed letters of support for some controls, especially at this location. Nightclubs do have issues but they are of a rowdyism nature as downtown before 3am is safe, ask the police if you don't beleive me.
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