Municipal letdown or neighbourhood opportunity?

Everyone knows that it takes more than just a bunch of houses to make a successful neighbourhood. Location, location, location is the mantra repeated often by our realty professionals - and that is often said with an eye towards close neighbourhood amenities that raise both your property values and your quality of life.

So what is a neighbourhood to do when its municipality decides to close those nearby amenities that make your neighbourhood a good one?

Three Windsor neighbourhoods are facing that very fact this Monday when city council makes the decision official to eliminate three recreation/community centre complexes.

With their commitment to the new WFCU centre in the east end, they have concluded that they cannot sustain these three smaller, more community-oriented facilities (let alone the old Barn when its replacement is built). This trend in current municipal decisions, just like in the various school boards, to amalgamate neighbourhood-scaled institutions into large, regionally-focused ones leaves a lot to be desired and really must be re-evaluated. Not only does it strip a livable neighbourhood of yet another reason to actually build a life there, but it encourages the "Mom's Taxi" syndrome with children and the elderly stranded at home unless they have an able-bodied motorist handy to give them a lift to find some activity. Just looking around at the obesity rates associated with sedentary lifestyles, this syndrome is alive-and-well in Windsor/Essex county.

However, let's look at this from a different angle. These older recreation complexes might have not been serving their communities well as they stood. I am not from any of these neighbourhoods so I can't speak to them specifically. But maybe they had outlived their usefullness. So now, the city will have their shiny-new multi-pad areana a short drive away (hopefully it will be well serviced by public transit) and have these older buildings in their inventory, looking for new uses. I realise that the city is looking at selling them, but come on - do you really think old arenas are a hot commodity in this real estate market?

Certainly some use could be found for them to help their respective neighbourhoods develop into a more pedestrian-scaled walkable community. What amenities are lacking in the neighbourhoods and how could these abandoned buildings fill those voids. More mixed-use retail within walking distance to peoples homes? Perhaps an artist live/work loft space with galleries on the main level to help transform the neighbourhood into a lively, creative one. How about an elder-care campus', interspersed with supporting retail that is woven into our regular day-to-day lives, which would accomodate a growing demographic of our comunity while keeping them close at hand instead of feeling alienated out in the suburbs.

We should be looking at these buildings with an eye to strengthening our neighbourhoods. Yes, I lament the fact that our neighbourhood children have less to do with these facilities vacated, but we may be able to make up for their loss with an adaptive reuse that augments our lives instead of just giving up on them and letting them rot. These are our communities and we must take responsibility for them.

This goes before council on Monday, and if you want to speak as a delegate you must call the council services department at (519) 255-6432 by 12:00 noon tomorrow.