Scaledown means Windsor can only go UP!

Sorry James, couldn't let that pic stand as our cover page

Scale Down Our Economy

Here at scaledown.ca we are asking that our city promote development of walkable neighbourhoods and encourage everyone to participate in the cultural and social fabric of the community.

I want to believe everyone has our best interests at heart when they make plans and decisions that will affect us. After hearing the Windsor Essex Development Commission presentation Wednesday evening I got to wondering if some organizations are not as interested in being progressive and proactive. Perhaps they need the status quo just to be relevant. What if the future is radically different from the present? What if events take hold of the world that could undo everything that we take for granted? Below I have outlined three scenarios. Each could have devastating effects on the world economy and the Windsor-Essex regional economy; since it is biased toward export markets we would definitely be affected.

1. Presently there is real concern in the world financial markets. The financial wizards invented investment vehicles out of worthless mortgages, collected huge commissions and got rich. Now we find out that these financial vehicles are nearly worthless. Billions of dollars of investments have disappeared already and more invented wealth is soon to follow. Add to this turmoil a U.S. Federal Government $9 trillion in the hole and their dollar losing value and you have the makings of a severe financial crisis.
   


2. The evidence is mounting that world oil production is not going to meet global demand within a short period of time. Competition for oil and petroleum products will continue to put upward pressure on costs for transportation and industrial and agricultural chemicals. This competition may lead to resource wars but certainly will significantly impact global trade. Currently there is no alternative energy technology/infrastructure to replace gasoline and distillates on the required scale to maintain business-as-usual.
   


3. The U.S. government has been taking increasingly aggressive positions around the world, moving its armies and navies into provocative postures and more or less causing a great deal of international tension. At some point it may very well happen that the world will find itself at war. Not just a regional conflict like Iraq or Afghanistan but a real war between two major armies and their allies shooting it out over oil, religion or politics.
   Economic recession/depression, peak oil or war, either of these will wreak havoc on an economy based on exports/global trade.

The Windsor Essex region is 70% - 85% reliant on exports of manufactured and agri-business products. What if instead our economy was more balanced between exports and domestic consumption? A more evenly balanced local economy would allow us to absorb the shocks of lower consumption of our products in export markets weakened by any of the scenarios I outlined above.

How can we develop a regional economy? In the event of one of the above problems we will eventually sort ourselves out. To do it proactively the only way to overcome the large corporations that have taken control of our economies is to lobby the Provincial and Federal governments to create trade rules that would enable this to happen. There is a precedent for this type of Federal law, CanCon. CanCon of course forced media outlets to provide Canadian programming and artists the opportunity to be heard and seen. What if retailers had to provide space for a percentage of regional agricultural products and consumer goods? Free trade agreements would prevent us from eliminating products from other jurisdictions but a CanCon law would not stop retailers from selling any product, it would merely offer us the choice to buy something from closer to home and put our money back into our own pockets.

Think of all the consumer goods that we use. In a previous era we had local economies and produced goods much closer to home. The companies were locally owned and the profits came back to benefit our communities. Somewhere along the way we were told globalization was better and more profitable. Somewhere along the way we lost the ability to provide for ourselves and less and less wealth was kept close to home. The effects are all around us. Sprawl, urban decay, apathy and disinterest in local life and culture.

I’d rather not wait for one of these scenarios to play out for things to change. I’d like to see local businesses and our Windsor Essex Development Commission, Windsor Chamber of Commerce and other interested groups and our politicians work together to develop a local economy that can sustain itself in a future fraught with challenges.

Even if none of these problems arise, would it be so bad to have a vibrant and diverse local economy?

Correction

Unfortunately I did not have the proper facts in the post "of Mice and Men" regarding the suppot that the development commission gives to small business

The small business center has fielded 3,497 general inquiries via telephone calls, walk ins and email through the two offices in Windsor and Kingsville. Between these 2 locations, they have also held 612 one-on-one client consultations and conducted 51 seminars, workshops, presentations and networking events with a total attendance of 1,876 people. The economic impact of this office were 53 businesses started and 46 jobs created.

However I still maintain that I stand by my assertion that a simple public statement supporting restarting the Community Improvement Plans and opposing what I call the `Costco Badlands` type of development would do exponentially more to help small business in Windsor than anything stated above.

Another London Article

Since London got their new celebrity Planner, they seem to get a lot more attention paid to planning issues. Here's another article

Their new planner, Sean Galloway, debunked the top ten myths of urban design, and his responses are so good that we wanted to reprint them here just in case the London Free Press decided to take this article off its website. So here goes...

Here then, are Galloway's 10 myths, debunked;

10. It's all about front porches. Indeed, building more houses with front porches is important, but it's really about making friendly buildings and attractive street-scapes.

9. It wants to eliminate the back yard. Back yards are important for privacy, but urban design reminds us not to forget the front yard as a place of activity and usefulness.

8. It's all about density, density, density. It's about providing variety and diversity, allowing people to grow up in a single-family home, move to an apartment, then a townhouse, then back into a single- family home, then back into an apartment as their life progresses -- all in the same neighbourhood.

7. It expects everyone to walk everywhere. It's about providing friendly streets and sidewalks and public transit and other infrastructure to entice people to walk more. Nobody expects the car to be eliminated.

6. It is just about the rear laneway. London is fearful of the rear laneway (for reasons nobody is sure of, considering they are all over Old North and Old South, for example). Some can be unpleasant, but there are examples of attractive back alleys in new urbanist developments across North America. Not everyone wants a big house with a big back yard.

5. It will not fit into a "normal" person's lifestyle. What is normal? People may want to drive to the supermarket for the big shop, but do they want to get in the car and face traffic just to pick up a loaf of bread or litre of milk? People want options. They want variety in the kinds of buildings they interact with, variety that makes the experience of living in a community richer.

4. It is just It's not about replicating Victorian architecture; it's about eliminating repetitive architecture that saps identity from a neighbourhood. about creating pre-war housing architecture.

3. It is all about new urbanism or placemaking. New urbanism a catchphrase, but it's about old-fashioned, grid-style developments with a diversity of home types and architecture. Placemaking involves integrating all industrial, commercial, residential and retail areas.

2. It is just about what the buildings look like. No, it's about how we deliver our walking spaces, our driving spaces, our open spaces. It's more than just architecture and landscaping.

1. It is not economically viable. New urbanist communities are thriving across North America. New ones are being built every day. They're sought after by home buyers.

So Londons new urban planner did some debunking of his own - and we really like his conclusions!

Of Mice and Men

If I ever was remembered for being a blogger, this would be the post I would want to be remembered for...

A couple of days ago, I attended a seminar delivered by Matt Fischer, CEO of the Windsor-Essex County Development Commission. I came away with the understanding that the Development Commission’s primary focus was that of identifying and supporting the 3% of businesses, described as Gazelles, that account for 54% of the job growth in our community.

Mr. Fischer also elaborated on one of the Development Commission’s secondary (and substantially less funded) goals of supporting businesses that he referred to as Mice. Mice were described as new independent local small businesses which presently and in the future will account for 44% of new job growth. The Development Commission acknowledged that while there focus is on the Gazelles, they will attempt to offer support to the “Mice”.

I wholeheartedly support the Development Commission’s business strategy of focusing scarce and limited resources on what it has identified as its primary objective - that of identifying and supporting Gazelles. However, there appears to be a discord between the Development Commission’s acknowledgment of the significance of Mice and the actions of our City leaders.

In 1995, I co-founded Bedroom Depot, a furniture retailer that had overcome the challenges that realize the failure of 70% of Mice within the first three years. The greatest obstacle that I encountered was the inability to locate in suburban neighbourhoods due to the fact that the Big Box Power Center Developments refused to accept my lease offers until I demonstrated the success of two retail stores with a financial history in excess of two consecutive years.

If we want to encourage Mice we need to provide them with locations that are in close proximity to their customer base. Herein lays the disconnect. Matt Fischers’ response was that “Main Street” provided this location, or what you would call an atmosphere of “Incubation” to Mice.

When I invested in Chanoso's restaurant, I realized the only way to ensure a long term investment was downtown. I always hold true to the fact that I am not a downtown promoter due to the location of my business; I located my business downtown as that is where I felt the future of Windsor lies.

My question to our city leaders is: “Since we know that the population of these “Main Streets” or BIA’s has declined by 10%, how do we expect to foster Mice when we do not create an environment in which they can successfully operate?”

How do we approve unattractive, unwalkable, anti-Mice developments while at the same time putting the Community Improvement Plans on hold? Implementing Community Improvement Plans is the best way in which to reverse the decline of the “Main Street” environments.

Mr. Fischer’s response was that these were valid concerns that should be addressed in the City’s Official Plan. I’ve called 311 to express these concerns. What I ask is whether Matt Fischer has provided his input into our official plan? If the Development Commission cannot find the funds to support Mice, can it at least take a stand and place a call to 311 to express its support of the City’s Official Plan policies that would provide an environment in which Mice could thrive.

I also call on the members of the Windsor & District Chamber of Commerce to call 311 to express their support of policies that would help the Mice in our community. It would be in all of our interests and most prudent, if the City’s Community Improvement Plans were taken off the shelf and put into action.

As a post script, I want to note that it was at the Development Commission’s Challenges of Change Summit that Richard Florida said that the attractiveness of a city was the number one determinant to attracting and retaining the creative class.
It is Chris Leinberger from the Brookings Institute who has substantiated proof of the real estate value and the economic development benefits of walkable neighbourhoods.

When will the Chamber of Commerce and Development Commission begin echoing scaledown.ca’s call for attractive, walkable mixed use developments that foster the local independent small businesses which they everyone acknowledges will be responsible for the creation of 44% of all new job growth in Windsor.

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.

In Your Face Art

CBC Radio's Jian Ghomeshi, host of 'Q', interviewed an acapella group from NYC this week. Naturally 7 has become a sensation in Europe while remaining virtually uknown here in North America. What does that say about that status of the arts, and our acceptance of public displays of art, in North America? Check out the YouTube video of their performance on a subway car. [ED: There is some question about where this video was shot, though the most popular opinion online is that it was in France, not NYC as I had previously stated.] (I'd recommend really turning this one up!)

Ultimate Musicians Workshop

The connection has been made between the strength of a cities music scene and its economic growth. Besides the fact that quality arts and cultural offerings just make my city more fun to be a part of, it will be the engine for the creative drive we need to see us to better times.

Which is why we will pass along all the information we can that strengthens our "scene":

Join 96.7 CHYR FM, the ROCK 95.1/100.7 FM, 94.3 CKSY and FACTOR for the “Ultimate Musicians workshop”. Featuring info sessions on FACTOR, which provides funding for Canadian musicians to produce music, tour, and more. The Songwriters Association of Canada will be there with an info session on songwriting. Bring in your Demo and the experts will critique it and give out tips. This seminar is a must for any songwriter. SOCAN will have a seminar on royalties, and the Ontario Media Development Corporation will speak on licensing your music to film, tv, and other media. There will also be a Songwriters Circle and an open mic to finish off the night.

The “Musicians Workshop” will take place February 23rd at The Walkerville Theatre in Windsor and runs from 9-9. You can find the itinerary below with a link to the pre-register form. All music genres are welcome…there’s no admission, and it’s all ages.

We’ll see you February 23rd at the Walkerville Theatre in Windsor for the “Musicians Workshop.”

Walkerville Theatre
1564 Wyandotte St E.
Windsor, ON

9:15am–11:00am – FACTOR info session – how to get funding for tours, production, and more
11:00am-12:00pm – OMDC – Ontario Media Development Corporation – getting your music licensed on film, tv, internet, and other media
12:00pm-1:00pm – LUNCH – sandwiches will be provided
1:00pm-2:30 – SOCAN – will talk on disbursing royalties and how to become a member of SOCAN
2:30pm-4:30pm – SAC (Songwriters Association of Canada) – Date with a Demo. Bring your demo on cd and have it critiqued by the members of SAC
4:30pm-6:00pm – Songwriters Circle – a round table with other songwriters on crafting the next big hit
7:00pm-9:00pm – Open Mic for artists – bring along your guitar, bass, and/or keyboard for an acoustic showcase of your music"

Are you ready to register yet? Click here.

Scale Down Predicted to win CBA "Best New Blog" 2007

OK, I admit, when a friend of mine sent me the link to this article (thanks, Paul!), the first thing in my mind was that it was CBC's predictions about the Canadian Blog Awards. I started reading - and then I started dancing.....

I just stopped about 5 minutes ago.

"The deadline for voting on the second round of the 2007-8 Canadian Blog Awards sort of snuck up on me. This might be the drawback of only voting once rather than once a day — a difference that may focus the mind, but then keeps the awards out of sight and out of mind for most of the days of voting.

But whatever the case, if you haven’t yet voted for this year’s finalists, I encourage you to do so. You have until the end of tomorrow (Thursday, January 30) [ED - this should read today - WEDNESDAY, January 30] to get your votes in. This year’s first round voting has produced an ecclectic set of finalists and a diverse collection of blogs to peruse.

So, without further ado, here’s my quick take on the contestants."

It is a fairly long article, and it is obvious from author James Bow's in depth critiques, he has spent a fair amount of time visiting all of the blog finalist. Now, without further ado - I am going to jump straight to the money-shot...

"Best New Blog
Contenders: The Dinosty, WindsorEats FoodBlog, …Scale Down, Windsor, Uncorrected Proofs, Danielle Takacs: Galloping Around the Golden Horseshoe.

The pace of the expanding blogosphere may have slowed (they’re no longer talking about ten blogs being created every second, or some such), but there are so many new blogs hitting the skids these days, it’s always amazing to see those rare few rise to the surface. The Dinosty is a Canadian basketball fan with an attractive looking blog about his passion. Windsor Eats shows that there are good things to eat in Windsor, whereas Scale Down, Windsor tackles the political issues surrounding this border town (since when did Windsor develop such a happening blog community?). NDP Blogger Uncorrected Proofs has been making waves in the Canadian political blogosphere, and Liblogger Danielle Takacs takes up the Liberal cause from her vantage point in the GTA.

Who Should Win:

I’m voting for Scale Down, Windsor, because I like an underdog, and because I like what they’re doing. All of the blogs listed here are worthy of winning. I like Danielle’s analysis, but I’d strongly recommend darkening up that red column, and giving your site a black background, for ease on the eye."

So you can see why I'm pretty happy right now. I just peeled myself off the ceiling. And speaking of peeling somebody off the ceiling, can someone get ahold of Andrew over at International Metrolopolis for me? I think he's in the same state that I am right now.

"Best Local Blog
Contenders: International Metropolis, blogTO, Miss604, Spacing Toronto, WindsorEats FoodBlog

Local blogs really represent cities as bloggers; they can be as diverse and eclectic as individual bloggers, and that’s the case here. Compare Spacing Toronto with its urban planning tilt and activist ethic with the wider ranging blogTO and you’ll see what I mean. It’s good to see Vancouver represented with Miss 604, and WindsorEats strikes me as the little local blog that could. International Metropolis mines the relationship between Windsor and its cross-river cousin Detroit.

Who Should Win:

International Metropolis. I nominated Spacing Wire, and they have an excellent blog and an excellent magazine, but I was blown away by this Windsor-Detroit blog. It’s an unusual subject, well written, and excellently designed. It deserves your attention."

Whomever wins deserves all the praise they attract. There are some excellent blogs out there and I thank James Bow for highlight the CBA finalists for us. Here in Windsor, we have obviously shown the world that we have an active blogging community ('happening" as the author calls it) and we have made our mark profoundly. I am very proud to be a part of the local scene with all my Windsor brethen. Congratulations to all of your hard work.

Where have all the leaders gone?

The 60s were magical. It was an era of raucous music and social rebellion that culminated in a revolution of peace and prosperity with politicians and rabble-rousers united in a fight against foreign wars, racism and disparaging wealth distribution. JFK, Martin Luther King and Che Guevara, among others, fought the status quo, challenged the oligarchy and, in the end, were martyred for the transgression of free throught and positve action. In spite of the sacrifice made by these leaders, and countless others on the local and national level, the past quarter century has nearly erased the effects of their profound leadership. Their message of hope for positive change raised a generation of free-thinkers who, on the death of their mentors, were summarily homogenized by the collective gluttony of consumerism, leaving the current generation asking "Where have all the leaders gone?"

As consumerism is down-graded from a national past time to simple survival by a stumbling economy, generations are looking for someone to lead them to the promised land; a proverbial Moses. Our distributed and digital jungle has, for the past decade, prevented us from seeing the changes that were transforming the world around us. Lost in an all-consuming world of web-links, iPods and digital television, finding leaders, and helping them find themselves, requires a unique blend of entrepreneurship and mountain-top guru with a dash of Indiana Jones.

Dr. Karen Stephenson, who was interviewed recently on Smart City Radio, is the founder of Netform.com. A corporate anthropologist, she specializes in helping companies discover and strengthen hidden leaders while advocating for the need to identify and capitalize on the knowledge of the human network. In October 2006 LEADERSHIP Philadelphia released a list of 101 leaders as analyzed and identified by Dr. Stephenson and her team. Over 4800 candidates were identified as possible leaders within the community and, through an online survey, were analyzed to determine their focus on the common good and their ability to be connectors.

Through this process of leadership identification and intensification, strengthening of civic connections, and developing symbiotic relationships, Philadelphia realized that it had the citizen strength to build a better city. (ED: Philly’s idea of ‘better’ and ScaleDown’s idea of better may differ, but the process for leadership identification is still the same.) Chris Satullo, a Philadelphia Inquirer columnist, refered to Philadelphia’s leadership, pre-Stephenson identification, as embattled or indicted in an Oct 15, 2006 article. Any casual observer of Windsor city council will agree with the embattled leadership title, which begs the question – Does Windsor have 101 hidden leaders and can we harness these community leaders to create a more livable, sustainable, attractive city? (Hint: Here is the list of connector qualifications)

While we don’t have the sophisticated software or technical expertise of Dr. Stephenson, we, at ScaleDown.ca, want to know who are the hidden leaders in our city. Post a comment and let us know who you are nominating and why. While you are at it, drop your nominee a note and let them know that we’re looking for them, we want them and we need them as we work together to build a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable Windsor.

Official Plan Review - Public Information Sessions

As you know, during the process of Windsor's Official Plan Review, the city is holding five public information sessions. This is all for the "Moving Forward" portion of the exercise.

I sincerely appologise for the eleventh-hour notice for these. The College Avenue session is going on as I type this.

Official Plan Review - Moving Forward Phase Public Information Centres

College Avenue Community Centre - 3325 College - Tuesday January 29, 2008 4pm-8pm

Optomist Community Centre - 1075 Ypres - Wednesday January 30, 2008 4pm-8pm

Gino A. Marcus Community Complex - 1168 Drouillard - Thursday January 31, 2008 4pm-8pm

South Windsor Recreation Complex - 2555 Pulford - Tuesday Feburary 5, 2008 4pm-8pm

Forest Glade Community Centre - 3215 Forest Glade - Wednesday February 6, 2008 4pm-8pm

Here are the Moving Forward reports for you to prepare yourself with prior to attending the session closest to you

25-Year Population and Housing Projections (PDF, 504 KB)
20-Year Employment Projections and Employment Land Needs Analysis (PDF, 265 KB)

It is imperative that every citizen attends these information sessions. They are the time for you to have input into building the city you want to live in. Put on your thinking caps, get out your wish list, and be sure to tell those running the seesions everything you want. Remember, they work for you.

The Urban Village Saga Continues...

For those of you who don't read Chris Schnurr's blog (I know there's one or two of you out there) I wanted to point you in that direction today.

Chris is keeping tabs on Windsor's city council and their plans for the City Centre West lands. Luckily, there is one city councillor who is also keeping the pressure on the Mayor and our previous committments to develop an Urban Village on those valuable parcels of downtown real estate. Check out Chris' continuing committment to the medium of video podcasting to see how Councillor Halberstadt is continuing to keep the issue of our Urban Village plans in the public realm and reminding people that we have already dedicated significant resources to this redevelopment model.

We need to join together as a community and make our voices heard as to our feelings regarding furthering the development of the Urban Village and how important it is to revitalizing our downtown core. Be sure to make plans to attend Bleak or Blessed, a forum featuring keynote speaker Matt Fischer, CEO of the Windsor Essex County Economic Development Commission, to give your comments and suggestions as to what you think Windsor should do to survive and flourish in the economic crisis we are currently experiencing - and be sure to include your thoughts on the Urban Village. The organizers plan to record ideas generated from the forum and compile them in a report, which will be presented to all three levels of government -- the city, the province and the feds. The forum, which is free of charge, will take place Wednesday at All Saints', 330 City Hall Square, from 7 to 9 p.m. For more information, call 519-253-8001.

(this plug has nothing to do with the fact that Chris Schnurr helped me to access the audio of my interview with AM 800 yesterday or plugged Scaledown on his blog today :)

Get the Lead out

Way back on December 15, the Mayor of Monmouth told everyone to get their lead levels checked for FREE if your house was built before 1948. Hopefully, you listened.

It seems that Enwin is only going to do exactly what is provincially mandated for them to do, and therefore is not going to notify any neighbours of the participating households who tested high for lead content in their municipal water. According to todays Windsor Star...

"Sylvia de Vries, the spokeswoman for Enwin Utilities and the Windsor Utilities Commission, said only the homeowners who volunteered for the provincially mandated testing will receive the results."

I just got my water checked out yesterday (it took about a week after calling for an appointment) so I don't have any results to pass along to my fellow Walkerville residents, but I highly recommend that you take advantage of this opportunity. Obviously, if the province didn't overwhelmingly believe there was a problem, do you honestly think they would be doing this for free?

"Lead exposure has been linked to delays in physical and mental development. Excessive exposure can seriously injure the brain, nervous system, red blood cell development and kidneys. It can potentially cause mental retardation, seizures, comas and even death, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health."

Ms. de Vries is offering different dates that the Mayor of Monmouth stated in his blog, so to be safe, please take the earlier ones to be sure you are able to get your water tested.

"She said 110 Windsor homes will be tested in this current round, which runs from Jan. 7 to Feb. 9. Another 110 will be tested in July or August. The cycle will then be repeated at six-month intervals for two years."

So heed the advice of your M.O.M.: To make an appointment, please call the W.U.C. telephone Center. The trick is to call now because free testing is only going to take place between December 15, 2007 and April 15, 2008. To ensure participation you have to call this number now. (519) 255-2727. Please select option 3

Raise the Hammer

In my post on Saturday I misrepresented Ryan McGreal and raisethehammer.org. It is not Ryan McGreal's personal blog. They are a group, very similar to ours, from Hamilton. They have been working on the same type of issues since 2004.

Ryan says, that he will write a blog about scaledown.ca in the near future. I would encourage everyone to visit raisethehammer.org and see how another group in another city is getting on.

Editorial Staff
Editor: Ryan McGreal
Associate Editor: Adrian Duyzer
Graphic Design: Trevor Shaw
Contributing Editors
Accidental Activist: Ben Bull
Photo Essay: Mark Fenton
Downtown Bureau: Jason Leach
Ideas: Ted Mitchell
Suburban Bureau: Trevor Shaw
Entertainment: Kevin Somers

Molasses in January

"you know I work so hard

to keep it alive
now all I hear from you

is nothin' but jive

lately it's been so hard now

to make ends meet

and honey, your head's

a one way street"

-Aerosmith

Recently, Scale Down writers and readers engaged in some lively online discussions about downtown traffic patterns and our obsession with one-way streets. I just wanted to give everyone some welcome news that Andrew from International Metropolis forwarded to me. It seems as though those one-way streets were just an experiment and will be going away shortly.

WINDSOR DAILY STAR - WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1955

ONE WAY STREETS
SIX MONTH TEST PERIOD GIVEN OKAY
Council Approves Truck Route Plan, New Parking Site

A limited one-way street plan to relieve downtown congestion was approved by council last night. It will go into effect for a six months’ trial period.

Under the scheme, Victoria becomes a southbound artery and Pelissier northbound, between Chatham and Erie streets. Trucks over three tons gross weight are prohibited.

Ald. Albert H. Weeks said he opposed the limited plan which would create Victoria southbound when Dougall, the next street west is also southbound.

Ald. Maurice Belanger, chairman of the traffic committee said, “We have advertised this proposed change several times. There has been no opposition at all. Ald. Weeks, you are the only one to oppose the move so far.”

Controller Lawrence A. Deziel said, “I think it is goofy to have Victoria southbound one-way alongside Dougall which is already southbound one-way. Dougall should be changed to a two-way artery.”

Ald. Belanger said, “Let this go through tonight and let’s consider Dougall later on.”

The one-way pattern, proposed by the committee, was approved as was Traffic Co-ordinator Eric Wiley’s truck route proposal.

The truck route plan calls for construction work at the southwest corner of Wellington and Wyandotte and the northeast corner of Wellington and Tecumseh, for easier turning.

Use of Tecumseh, Wellington and either College or Wyandotte would keep heavy transports out of the downtown area.

Both projects will now go to the desk of City Solicitor James Watson, for inclusion in the next bylaw to amend the traffic law.

Third reading was given to a bylaw expropriating a Victoria Avenue site for an off street parking lot.

The lot, first in a series of properties to be expropriated for off-street parking stretches along the west side of Victoria from Park to the Guaranty Trust Building. It now contains three houses and an automobile storage yard.

Council adopted a recommendation from the board of control that City Treasurer E.J. Langlois be authorized to negotiate a short-term loan to cover the cost of the
property.

Under provisions of the Ontario Municipal Act, the city may either negotiate with the owners of the property, or take the setting price to arbitration.

Er, well, maybe not that shortly. Luckily, Windsor's recently adopted Downtown Windsor Master Transportation Plan is readdressing the one-way fiasco (albeit 53 years later than expected) and will, hopefully, see the light in ending this "experiment"

Hundreds of cities and towns across the North America are converting their 1950s-era one-ways back into two-ways to reduce speeding, help local business and keep pedestrians -- especially children -- safer. They are doing so because a growing body of research shows that one-way street grids create a number of signficant problems for pedestrians and the city as a whole:

One-way street grids force motorists to drive more to get to their destination.
Rather than simply making one turn and driving half a block, on a one-way street grid drivers often must circle an entire block to get to where they want to go. Not only does this additional driving waste time and gasoline and produce more traffic congestion and carbon emissions, "the increase in the number of turning movements and total miles of travel" makes the street more dangerous for pedestrians too. "There are simply more (typically 30-40 percent) vehicle/pedestrian conflicts within a one-way street network than in a comparable two-way system," according to a 1999 study presented to the Federal Transportation Research Board and a 2004 article in the Journal of the Institute of Engineers.

One-way streets tend to encourage faster speeds.
The federal report, "A Review of Pedestrian Safety Research in the United States and Abroad," states, "vehicle speeds may increase after conversion from two-way to one-way." But residents of this New York street don't need a study to tell them that. The vehicles careening down one-way Eighth Avenue and Prospect Park West at 40+ mph are the most "logical presentation" anyone needs.

One-way streets are more dangerous for pedestrians, especially for children.
A 2003 study published in the American Journal of Public Health notes, "Higher vehicle speeds are strongly associated with a greater likelihood of crashes involving pedestrians as well as more serious pedestrian injuries." And who gets hurt most on these higher-speed streets? "Children ages 5 to 9 have the highest population-based injury rate in pedestrian-motor vehicle accidents."According to this 2000 study in the Canadian Journal of Public Health, "Children's injury rate was 2.5 times higher on one-way streets than on two-way streets"

So it seems that when council finally changes our tourist-confounding one-way streets back to the two-ways they were intended to be, we may just have a safer, more environmentally friendly downtown.

I think this experiment is finished.

The 905 view on Strip Clubs and Sprawl

"The more we build traditional, mixed-use neighbourhoods which bring a variety of family activities closer together, the harder it is for undesirable activities to spring up among us, and the safer our streets become for everyone."

That's how Toronto Sun columnist Marianne Meed Ward ended her article in Saturday's issue titled Stripping away urban planning concepts which argued that "(i)mplementing mixed-use zoning is the antidote (to single-use zoned "pods" for working, living and playing). Mixed-use planning is essentially traditional town planning, where homes, shops, employment, and recreational and cultural centres are integrated, sometimes beside each other, sometimes stacked, but always in close proximity."

So read through her article (thanks for the link, Paul!), and to make it a little more Windsor-relevant, substitute "Massage Parlours" for strip clubs and you can see how this applies to our downtown's revitalization. You'll see that the solutions are out there, we just need the political will to implement them...

ED: click here to read a Florida economist's view on sprawl and its lasting legacy.

The Professional Planners of Windsor and Essex County Want to Scale Down

You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.
- Abraham Lincoln

Yesterday, Mark let the cat out of the bag. The Professional Planners in Windsor and Essex County want the region to ...Scale Down.

The first Annual Report of the Inter-municipal Planning Consultation Committee says it all. I was stunned after reading this document. They want smaller, walkable, compact, energy-efficient communities. They acknowledge that fossil fuels will continue to become more expensive and less readily available and that these factors will impact not only our ability to get around but also our local economic activities.

Their position with respect to fossil fuel price and availability was reinforced on January 18, 2008 when an economic outlook paper was published by CIBC economists Jeff Rubin and Peter Buchanan. The CIBC report was featured in The Windsor Star (including reader comments) so our local officials must be aware that in the near-term we will likely begin to see tangible affects including ever higher fuel prices and lower sales of large, less fuel-efficient vehicles.

Energy efficiency, fossil fuel scarcity and climate change were also featured in the consultant’s report to the City of Hamilton. Richard Gilbert, research director at the Centre for Sustainable Transportation, was hired by Hamilton City Council in June of 2005 to assess that city’s plans for public transit, city fleet, goods movement and their plans to develop lands around the Hamilton International Airport as an economic hub.

In his report “Hamilton: The Electric City” Gilbert stresses that energy use, conservation and production should be the primary factors driving all new development in the region. In a post on Hamilton civic affairs blog raisethehammer.org Ryan McGreal reported on a presentation by Gilbert at Environment Hamilton’s Annual General Meeting (Mar. 30/06). In his speech Gilbert told his audience that in 25 years shortfalls in supply would drive fuel costs to six times the current rate. Ryan went on to present Gilbert’s principles of land use for an energy constrained world:

1. Make energy use and production the principle determinant of land-use decisions.


2. Give ‘greenfield’ development low priority.


3. No abandonment of existing low-density areas. (Target them for intensification)


4. Plan for a mixing of uses.


5. Aggressively pursue ‘brownfield’ development.


6. Foster vibrant centres.
   
7. Arrange that development supports low-energy transport.

Further reading of Ryan’s blog and this other, demonstrates that Windsor is not unique when it comes to ignoring good advice.

There are other cities out there that are considering a fossil fuel deprived future. In May 2006 the City of Portland Peak Oil Task Force was formed. By council resolution, 12 citizens of various backgrounds began examining potential social and economic consequences of “Peak Oil” on Portland. On January 18, 2007 they released a report for public comment. Their findings “illustrate the central role that oil and natural gas play in our daily lives” and they exposed “profound economic and social vulnerabilities that could result as fuel supplies cease to be abundant and inexpensive”. Their recommendations were:

1. Reduce fossil fuel consumption by 50% over the next 25 years.


2. Educate citizens about peak oil and foster community and community-based solutions.


3. Engage business, government and community leaders to initiate planning and policy change.


4. Support land use patterns that reduce transportation needs, promote walkability, and provide easy access to services and transportation options.


5. Design infrastructure to promote transportation options, facilitate efficient movement of freight and prevent stranded investments.


6. Encourage energy-efficient and renewable transportation choices.


7. Expand building energy-efficiency programs and incentives.


8. Preserve farmland and expand local food production and processing.


9. Identify and promote sustainable business opportunities.


10. Redesign the safety net and protect vulnerable and marginalized populations.


11. Prepare emergency plans for sudden and severe shortages.

The final report was presented to Portland City Council on March 7, 2007. At that meeting the council adopted a resolution based on the number one recommendation. Portland’s goal is to reduce fossil fuel use by half. City bureaus were directed to incorporate this goal into internal operations as well as making it part of planning guidelines, building energy use and transportation. In a press release from the Portland Office of Sustainable Development director Susan Anderson said of the report and the city resolution “The Peak Oil Task Force report underscores the need to accelerate our efforts. All of the recommended actions also help the City meet other established community goals such as clean air and water, livability, carbon dioxide reductions and economic growth.”

So here we are, Professional Planners around North America are working to prepare cities for a future with less available fossil fuels. They are advocating walkable communities. They want priorities to shift toward compact and complete communities to allow people access to services and businesses without having to rely on cars. Cities are being exhorted to stop sprawling out and to intensify already developed areas.

The Professional Planners of the Windsor/Essex Region see the need to prepare for the same challenges. I hope that the IMPCC will continue to work together and make good plans for our future. I believe in this group and their abilities. It seems the big challenge is to make our elected officials understand that this is the future we need to prepare for. For our region to be successful we need to…well, scale down.

If there was one city that I would like Windsor to emulate it is Portland, Oregon. We could do worse.

Scale Down, UNVEILED

These are exciting and incredibly busy times for us here at the Scale Down World Headquarters. We have been hinting at big things on the horizon, and we are finally at the stage when we can begin letting some of our plans out of the bag.

Scale Down, UNVEILED will be our grand coming out party. The launch of a new interactive website that will include the popular blog, as well as video podcasts and internet radio. Our look is being updated and navigation of the site is being improved immensely. We are building our team more and more every day and these talented writers and producers are only going to ensure that Scale Down remains fresh, vibrant and relevant. Scale Down has been getting so much support in the community, coupled with our finalist standing in the race for Canada's Best New Blog of 2007, that these dreams seem to have taken a life of their own and are now nearing the end of their gestation period. We want you to come and be a part of our evening.

Which is why we couldn't have just any old launch party. We've decided to keep our message of hope and possibilities by bring in someone who knows these terms intimately and has discovered that they are not only possible but EXIST!

Ask yourself? Do we want clean air and water, Limitless pollution-free energy, good nutritious food, Liveable communities worth investing in, a deliberate and fulfilling life?

Is this a world worth building, a future worth dreaming of, a place of hope?

We have a chance to be a part of possibly the greatest project in the history of civilization, to be at the forefront of the generation that confronted the worst conflagration the world has ever seen - and sorted it out.

THE WORLD WE NEED EXISTS AND IT ONLY TOOK
CHRIS TURNER A YEAR TO FIND IT.
THE GEOGRAPHY
OF HOPE
A Tour of the World We Need

THE GEOGRAPHY OF HOPE is a scrapbook of a year spent living optimistically. In this globetrotting adventure, Chris Turner meets sustainability’s remarkable pioneers and showcases dozens of exciting innovations and extraordinary projects that provide inspiration and working models for a sustainable society.

With a mix of front-line reporting, analysis and passionate argument, Chris Turner pieces together the glimmers of optimism and the solutions already at work around the world, from Canada’s largest wind farm to Asia’s greenest building and Europe’s most eco-friendly communities. But THE GEOGRAPHY OF HOPE goes far beyond mere technology. Turner seeks out the next generation of political, economic, social and spiritual institutions that could provide the global foundations for a sustainable future – from the green hills of northern Thailand to the parliament houses of Scandinavia, from the villages of southern India, where microcredit finance has remade the social fabric, to America’s most forward-thinking think tanks. In this compelling first-person exploration, punctuated by the wonder and angst of a writer discovering the world’s beacons of possibility, Chris Turner presents a dazzling map of the disparate landmarks in a geography of hope.

And this is just what our community needs to hear and believe is possible. The people of Windsor are hearing nothing but bad news these days, and more of the same on the horizon. By bringing Chris Turner to Windsor to join the optimistic outlook that Scale Down writers and contributors have for our community, we are sure we are going to make a difference in this city. And we want you to join us...

SCALE DOWN UNVEILED
FEBRUARY 20TH • 7 PM
2175 PARENT AVENUE WINDSOR
Giovanni Caboto Club

So mark that date on your calendar, and the whole Scale Down team looks forward to meeting you and working with you at fixing what ails Windsor.

Dr. Phil: House of regional Planning

One of Dr. Phil’s main lessons on relationships is that every action you take has only two possible consequences. You are either contributing to your relationship or contaminating it. There is no third option.

Windsorites need to look at every Decision or action our city Leaders make and view it in these terms. Either this decision is contributing to the official plan of the city of Windsor, or it is contaminating the official plan.

The document I read by planning departments of the city and the county is proof positive that the problem does not lie with our respective planning departments. Smart Choices for the Windsor-Essex Region is a perfect document that everyone should read. If anyone ever questioned the integrity or qualifications of the planners in our region, this document should vindicate them once and for all. I can unequivocally state that my confidence in our city, our planning department and the goals of scaledown.ca have been reaffirmed yet again.

There is a lot of talk about vision, this document states our vision and it is one that we can be darn proud of. I know I am not alone when I tell you that there are many people that feel there is a disconnect between our vision and our actions. A disconnect between what we want to do and doing what we said we were going to do.

My goals with scaledown is to subject the actions our city takes to Dr. Phil’s simple philosophy. I would like to see more people and groups subject every decision made by Council, every action taken by every other city department and committee to that simple question:

Are the actions you take or the decision you are making contributing to our official plan or contaminating it.

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!