Redeveloping Windsor: Think Globally; Act Locally

Guest Blogger: Steve Biro

I read with great interest the other day an article in the NY Times about how the increasing need for oil is creating a huge demand for bio fuels and its effect on food and cooking oil prices worldwide.

This article discusses how poorer nations of the world are spending the bulk of their income on food and cooking oil and are rationing even smaller potions for families that are already hungry. Articles similar to this one discuss rioting and protests about unaffordable food prices resulting from our insatiable need for cheap fuel in Mexico and other parts of the world.

Lately, it seems that administrators and city councillors have been making decisions that require Windsorites to drive more and therefore use more fuel; such as approving the big box development on Matchette road at the fringes of the city. The large stores that open up there will closely duplicate stores that are already scattered throughout more built up, walkable neighbourhoods like the Dougall Wal-Mart. There will be tens of thousands of vehicle trips to such a development on a daily basis just as there are to the Costco big box area. Now Home Depot will be moving out there as well, so that's a few extra kilometres of driving for customers in the city.

All this extra driving in our city adds up millions of gallons of gasoline every year. It not only contributes heavily to local pollution, but helps to make food more scarce and difficult to afford all over the world because all oil needs add up to greater bio fuels demand. Even areas of the city that score well on walkability (like the older parts of South Windsor) do little to actually promote walking or bicycling more. For example, many businesses along Dougall Ave. do not shovel their sidewalks after snowfall and this forces people to walk on the street. The picture above is of the sidewalk in front of Harveys on Dougall after the last big snowfall. Not only was it not shoveled, but the snow removal trucks for the parking lot felt it was necessary to pile nearly 5 feet of snow onto part of the walk. I called 311 to file a complaint with the city about this matter and the snow remained for another 5 days until it naturally melted due to the warm following weekend.

This little sidebar was included to show the complete lack of concern for those that do not drive in our city. The population of our city has only increased by roughly 10% in the last 25 years or so but the amount of driving has doubled in that same span. This is obviously not a chance happening but rather a direct result of city planning. Our city oficialsf throw around terms like "smart growth" but for some reason don't seem see the big picture. You would think that there would be some connection between the need for human scale development and the phrase "smart growth"; but the evidence says otherwise. As a saving grace though, there are some projects in the city that are being discussed or are already in the works that will help improve conditions for everyone and be considered to be "smart". The talks of transforming the Armouries Building, the addition of a St. Clair College satellite campus complementing an Urban Village downtown and there have been small improvements to bicycle networks in our city. In order for there to be big improvements though, the city needs to vigorously pursue these projects; and also develop a network of walking and bicycle paths throughout the city into places like South Windsor and the Central area near the Chrysler plant. Improvements made to the public transit system; for example earlier starts, more routes and more frequent runs. Regional transit would also reduce our ecological footprint.

Whenever there is talk of improving rail the city should embrace these concepts as a way to reduce truck traffic and overall fuel consumption. When we met with Eddie Francis early in his first term he showed us a study that was done in the early nineties that showed the answer to Windsor's border issues was a double stacked rail tunnel to the states and he seemed excited about such a project happening. Hopefully he and the rest of council will invest in such projects that will not only make our city a much cleaner and better place to live but will help to feed hungry populations elsewhere in the world.

Steve Biro has been active on the Windsor scene for numerous years, including time spent with the Windsor Bicycling Committee and the Rotary Club. Despite his auto-sector employment, he still lobbys heavily in favour of alternative transportation and walkable communities. Way to go, Steve!