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!

Big Box articles

Had to do a quick post about two Windsor Star articles

"Rising fuel costs means communities have to be designed in ways that encourage people to get out of their automobiles, Hillman said. ...

Mayor Gary McNamara agreed there have to be options to “big box” commercial developments largely accessible only to consumers with vehicles.
“There’s no question we need to change how we define and build our communities,” the mayor said."

To me it seems like Windsor and Tecumseh politicians are racing to build as many big box unwalkable developments as they can before their respective planning departments issue the reports we know will conclude the building of these are poor planning.

Lets hope that the Windsor Planning Department report does not get delayed or hidden in an attempt to slide a few more Big Box Developments under the wire.

There definitely needs to be some follow up posts on this topic

WE MADE THE CUT! Now, for round two of the Canadian Blog Awards "Best New Blog of 2007"

Well, folks, I want to thank each and every one of you for logging on and voting for ...Scale Down, Windsor as your choice for best new blog of 2007 in Canada.

It is truly humbling!

Now it's time to start all over again, but in all honesty I didn't think we'd make it this far. ...Scale Down was only up and running for the last half of 2007 and we were up against 39 other more established blogs across Canada. Even if this is as far as we make it, your votes have shown that we are doing a pretty decent job at our first-ever blog. Trust me, ...Scale Down is only going to be getting better over the course of the next month!

So now we must ask you to vote for us again, only this time as a finalist! We would love to be able to advertise that ...Scale Down is a national award winning blog, and with your continued support we will be able to do just that.

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR US AS FINALISTS!

Over the course of the next week, you will be able to register your vote in Round 2. Be sure to click the link above to take you directly to the polling screen. Round 2 voting closes on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 11:59 PM PST, so be sure to get your vote in and encourage all your friends and family to do the same.

I also wanted to offer our congratulations to all the other local Windsor Bloggers who made the cut. Be sure to register your vote and support them as well - that is unless they are running in the "New Blog" category against ...Scale Down (Sorry, Windsor Eats FoodBlog :)

International Metropolis and the Windsor Eats FoodBlog both made the cut (as well as the Shawn's wonderful Spacing blog out of Toronto) for "Best Local Blog", and Michael's English Usage wound up in the top five finalists for the "Best Educational Blog". Congrats to all of our local bloggers for all the hard work they do, whether they are recognised by the CBA's or not!

Windsor, Ontario - Bike Capital of Canada?

I am sure that by now, ...Scale Down readers are familiar with our regular Guest Blogger, James Coulter. James has been blogging on his own and for SD for a while now. His articles are insightful and always show me a slightly different way of looking at issues around us. Maybe that is why I enjoy reading him so much.

Maybe that is also why Josh, Mark and myself are now welcoming James as the latest ...Scale Down contributor! So, this will be the last time that you will see James' words posted by me as a guest blogger. From the mouth of Mr. Coulter...

I am really humbled (seriously, after meeting Chris and Mark and learning what it is they want for Windsor) to have been invited to join ...Scale Down, Windsor as a regular contributor.

So who is James Coulter? I guess that I’m one of you. I’m someone that wants to see Windsor move in a better direction. Where do I get my ideas? Well I have the opportunity through my work at St. Clair College to review a large amount of texts and articles on architecture and civil engineering works. I also read blogs and newsgroups that deal in Peak Oil and Globalization because I think these are big picture issues that will drive change in this city. Big and small, bad and good, there are plenty of ideas and issues out there and SDW gives us a forum to discuss and explore all ideas that could benefit our community. I look forward to bringing you my thoughts and working with SDW to affect change for the benefit of us all.

Could Windsor go from auto capital to bike capital of Canada?

Why not? It won’t happen overnight but it is possible. Reading this article I got to thinking there is a strong cycling community in Windsor and if we could make the bicycle industry a driver forthe local economy people would getbehind locally made products and events and well…

Windsor Ontario, Bike Capital of Canada.

Production of bicycles runs the gamut from the lone craftsman to the factory churning out hundreds of units each day. Any number of machine shops that are slow on business could start to turn out custom and production bicycles or components. Could you image the bumper stickers “Buy the BIKES your neighbour helped to WELD”. Then there are anynumber of opportunities for small businesses to start up producing clothing and otherspecialty products.

Windsor and Essex County tourism could get a boost if the region was more bike-friendly. Our flat terrain and extensive network of county roads provide plenty of opportunities for cyclo-tourists of all abilities to get around from historic sites like Fort Malden or the John R. Park Homestead to the many local wineries. Small hotels and bed and breakfasts could make themselves bike friendly by providing special “bike rooms” with facilities to wash off road grime or perform repairs. Highway 18 makes an excellent bike tour route as there are towns evenly spaced along the entire distance from downtown Windsor all the way around to Wheatley.

In addition to cyclo-tourists, the region has always had an active bicycle racing community. These racers go to races and host races. Windsor is home to the oldest annual bicycle race in Canada (theLabour Day races on Erie Street) and the area has hosted many other road and off-road events. Our location near the U.S.border has always allowed race hosts to attract quality fields of racers. If we learn from the auto makers and NASCAR, if you sell racing you can sell the products.

Windsor/Essex has a reasonable climate for cycling too. Although the last few days have been a little cold, you can comfortably ride a bike most of the year here. As well the size of the city is pretty reasonable for getting around unlike a lot of big cities. One can ride across Windsor in about an hour. There are so many people that spend that amount of time in their cars trying to get around our town, silly really.

So to summarize: let’s make Windsor not just bike friendly but a bike city. Let’s have industries based on an affordable, eco-friendly mode of transportation. Let’s create economic opportunities for new businesses large and small. Let’s encourage cyclo-tourism and the promotion of bike festivals and races to promote our new local industries and businesses and let’s enjoy a healthier and cleaner way of getting around town.

ED: Welcome to the Team, James!

Accepting the Challenge to make Downtown Safer

Last Monday night, Mayor Eddie Francis and I both clearly stated that the banning of after-hours bars alone would not ensure a safer downtown environment. However, I found it curious that the Mayor issued the challenge to help the City in its efforts to continue implementing practices and policies that would make the downtown core safer.

As a member of CCSERT; a member of the City Center West Community Improvement Plan committee (my request to be on the Sustainable Downtown Community Improvement plan committee was denied); the Past Chair of the DWBIA; the current Chair of the DWBIA panhandling committee and the Chair and Founding Board Member of the Windsor International Film Festival (events are a Bellmio recommendation), I am all too familiar with the issues of safety as they pertain to our downtown.

Let’s examine the solutions recommended in the Bellmio Report and the DWBIA’s track record versus that of the City’s:

1. Short Term Objective
City Council identified the formulation of a Downtown Development Task Force that had its own budget; clear and concise mission; committee with explicitly defined operation rules; and a coherent plan for implementing changes that improve the downtown landscape.

Results: No such task force was formed but the City did assemble another committee - that of the City Centre West Community Improvement Plan RFP Committee which is currently on hold pending the University’s decision on where to locate its new Engineering Building. The City’s “Sustainable Downtown Plan” has also been put on hold until at least 2010.

I have invested hundreds of hours as a result of our participation and membership on these committees. We have long lobbied the Windsor Economic Development Commission to become more involved in our downtown but it is not one of the Development Commission’s stated strategies nor is it one of their priorities. The Chamber of Commerce? You tell me?

I supported the DWBIA initiating its own Economic Development Plan which included:

i Offering new and existing businesses a façade grant of up to $15,000 as a development incentive;
ii Funding a merchandising study;
iii Implementing the merchandising study’s first recommendation to identify downtown “districts”.

Next, I hope to support exploring the implementation of Leasehold Improvement Grants, however going it alone will only amount to limited accomplishment.

2. Bellmio - Recommendations & StatusThe City of Windsor’s municipal government should demonstrate credibility of new downtown initiatives by looking for “low hanging fruit”:

a. Revise zoning categories for late night, high volume bars so that conversion of other businesses to bars would require rezoning and hearings that would allow for community input.
Result: This has been accomplished by the City of Windsor.

b. Improving the integration of work conducted by City Departments with new and existing businesses.
Result: Simplicity. The City has fared well on this and other initiatives.

c. Moving and/or removing outdated streetscape items including planters, benches and wall that result in sidewalk bottlenecks and loitering.
Result: Sensational streetscaping from Ouellette to Riverside to Park completed in 2007. 2008 streetscaping on hold. The replacement of burnt-out street-lights on Pelissier put on hold for years.

d. Parking enforcement.
Result: Lack of Parking enforcement has never been a cause for concern.

e. Take steps to close licensed premises once they no longer have the ability to sell alcohol. Some businesses stay open after-hours and adhere to liquor laws. The cause for concern with this trend is that it increases the timeframe in which patrons spill out onto downtown streets and reduces the amount of time the City has in order to clean up the city centre in preparation for daytime business.
Result: Hopefully, Councillors who adopted the Bellmio Report will recall that this has taken over five years to accomplish.

f. The development of a more aggressive Street Cleaning Program. With the assistance of businesses and the re-allocation of current City staff time, efforts should be made to improve the cleanliness of the downtown that would be noticeable to visitors. Ideally, these changes should reflect efforts that are sustainable over time and that cannot be undone at some point in the future.
Result: The DWBIA embarked upon a Street Cleaning Program with a budget of $72,000 (excluding supervisor/manager).

g. Planning and hosting more events downtown.
Result: Numerous new festivals supported by the DWBIA and the City of Windsor. Examples of positive partnerships include the Windsor International Film Festival launched in 2004; the Elvis Festival in 2005; the Chalk & Chocolate Festival in 2006; and the 10-day Fringe Festival to be launched in 2008.

3. Other DWBIA attempts to deal with issues noted in the Bellmio Report

a. Massage Parlours
The Bellmio Report noted a proliferation of massage parlours. For years, the DWBIA has requested City Hall to place the issue of massage parlour zoning on the Council Agenda. Windsor Police Services have closed down many of the massage parlours but until such time as the issues of zoning are addressed, the threat of new businesses of this nature opening will continue to be of concern.

b. Panhandling
The Bellmio Report noted a panhandling problem. The DWBIA formed a Task Force that studied the Safe Streets Act. The Task Force made recommendations to the City identifying the shortcomings of the City’s regulation of where and when panhandlers were permitted to operate. These recommendations were derived from other Canadian cities who had successfully dealt with these issues. The DWBIA received a letter from the City’s CAO rejecting these recommendations and has tried for some time, unsuccessfully, to have this issue discussed at City Council.

c. Public Urination
I submitted a retractable public urinal that has been used successfully in Victoria, British Columbia www.urilift.com . I requested that the retractable public urinal be added to the City’s streetscape elements and will seek a partnership with the City to have a couple of units installed during next phase of downtown streetscape construction.

I have long accepted the challenge to increase safety downtown by implementing all of the Bellmio recommendations. The improvement of our downtown is of primary concern.

Build it, and they will come...

An interesting line item on tonights council agenda is Item 17 from the desk of the General Manager of Corporate Services.

It seems that the province is doling out some highly anticipated cash to the municipalities through its $300 million Municipal Infrastructure Investment Initiative (MIII) program.. The catch to claiming this one-time funding is that each municipality is only allowed to fund one construction-ready (completed all required studies and approval processes), municipally owned infrastructure project that would contribute to a "strong and resilient economy and higher quality of life."

Some examples of what other municipalities are going to use the money for are:

Water,
Wastewater,
Roads,
Bridges,
Solid waste management,
Long-term care facilities,
Social housing,
Culture (including libraries)
Tourism
Recreation
Community energy

This is a pretty exciting opportunity for this community to knock a few high-profile projects off our "Honey-Do" list. Just think of all our options. Well, administration did think of our options and do you know what they came up with to spend all this cash on?

Yeah - roads!

From the Top-Ten list they compiled for council to choose from tonight, roads and bridges leading out to the suburbs occupied the top 7 spots! The final three were storm and sanitary sewers and downtown streetscaping.

Can you tell the priorities of this administration?

Well, like they said in "Field Of Dreams", build it and they will come. They're building a bigger, better suburban road network and guess what's going to come? Yup, you guessed it - a "strong and resilient economy and higher quality of life" for those out in the surrounding bedroom communities and the county.

P.S. Councillors? Just in case you were wondering what SD would do tonight if the choice was ours - choose the City Centre Streetscape Improvements (#10) or the Prince Road storm sewer relief (#8).

Also on tonights agenda...

...is the issue of the Nighttime Truck Ban on Wyandotte. Even though every BIA impacted by the trucks on Wyandotte (including the Walkerville Distillery District?!?) supported the night time ban and even went so far as supporting a day time ban as well, administration is recommending "that noaction be taken with respect to restricting night time trucks on Wyandotte Street"!

Sort of makes you wonder who, exactly, this administration is working for, doesn't it?

All in all, from disposing of neighbourhood rec centres to further road extensions, tonights council meeting is filled with items hostle to rejuvenating the core in favour of strengthening the suburbs. A sad night, indeed.

Windsor's OPR - A real opportunity

On Thursday, we published our first introduction to the city of Windsors five year review of our Official Plan (OPR). This is such an opportunity for the residents of this city to help establish our collective vision of our community that it needs to be looked at in depth and given much more attention than our "traditional" media outlets are willing to devote to it. Today, we will look at the work that has been completed to date and the recommendations this work has put forward.

To begin with, let's look at exactly what the Official Plan is and what makes it such a powerful document. By the cities own words, the "Official Plan tells how land will be used in the City. An Official Plan is extremely important because it:

- Outlines the future vision of the city
- Establishes policies that help to achieve orderly growth and development
- Shows where sewers, water mains, parks, roads, sidewalks and other services will go in the City
- Gives a framework for other policies and regulations, such as zoning by-laws
- Helps people know what they can do with their property"

This pretty much describes everything that makes a city, doesn't it? The defining phrase of this entire excercise is the future vision of the city. Who is responsible for defining this vision? In a true representative democracy, it is you and I, Windsor's citizens, who should have the final say in the kind of city we want to live in and the route we need to take to get there.

So, this is why ...Scale Down making such a big fuss over the OPR.

The OPR has been broken down into three phases. "Looking Back" was presented to council in February of 2007 and was comprised of research and analysis that identified, described and discussed the existing conditions, trends and known challenges that face Windsor. This work culminated in the Looking Back Synthesis Report, which summarized the following summary reports: Legislation, Social Conditions, Economic Conditions, Natural Environment, Infrastructure, Transportation and Built Form.

Like so many planning documents before it, this document contains a tremendous amount of progressive policy recommendations and insight. Everything from intensifying our built form to mitigating our impacts on fish habitat. This document addresses 124 shortcomings identified throughout the "Looking Back" process, including;

- Additional information requirements for development applications,
- New definition of community improvement,
- Defining more clearly what is meant by "healthy communities",
- Setting targets for Official Plan as per PPS (Provincial Policy Statement) for affordable housing,
- Proactive support for social and income integration,
- Strengthening the Environmental Evaluation Report process,
- "No negative impact" and setbacks for development,
- Agricultural permissions in natural heritage areas,
- Green space in areas of intensification,
- City must be the focus of growth

I think one of the more exciting things I read in the synthesis report (in response to the provinces Bill 51, the Planning and Conservation Land Statue Law Amendment Act) is the ability to investigate the establishment of a Local Appeal Body, which would deal with minor variances and consent appeals in place of the Ontario Municipal Board. I find this exciting because it puts more power in the hands of the people who live in the community in question, as opposed to the OMB which is so far removed from local issues that they cannot help but impose status quo solutions to problems they cannot possibly understand to the degree that the local residents do. In addition, Bill 51 requires the need for the Official Plan to justify settlement area expansion by establishing policies addressing land supply, natural environment, community service facilities, parks, infrastructure, fiscal impact, etc., as criteria for evaluating settlement area expansions. Once again, the need to establish the communities vision for their community will determine exactly how these policies translate into real-world development.

As far as planning documents go, there's very little fault to be found in this one. It offers up enough progressive policies to keep the community activists happy and enough language that perpetuates the status quo to keep the suburbanites from worrying about the future of their neighbourhoods. Mind you, I am still in the process of disseminating everything that I have read, the most bothersome aspect of the OPR process so far is the lack of identifiable vision for our community. Granted, the "Looking Back" segment of the process has been identifying weaknesses, I feel that it should all build towards a mutually agreed upon goal for the type of city that we all want to inhabit.

Perhaps when we begin to examine the next phase, "Moving Forward" (in our next installment of the OPR overview) we will begin to see a roadmap to a progressive vision for Windsor developing.

Stop the presses! News you won't hear anywhere else in Windsor.

Wow. Talk about one news headline that I never expected, realistically, to see in my lifetime, let alone from an auto executive at the 2008 Detroit International Auto Show.

From Fortune magazine...

Nissan exec: Car culture is fading Worldwide, people are losing interest in automobiles, one executive says.
By Alex Taylor, Fortune senior editor
2008 Detroit auto show
January 14 2008:

DETROIT (Fortune) -- If you are looking for some insight into what the automobile of the future will look like you could do worse than talk with Tom Lane. An American, he runs all of Nissan's Product Strategy anad Product Planning from his office in Tokyo.

Unlike most executives, he welcomes the imposition of new U.S. fuel regulations that mandate 35 miles per gallon by 2020.

"It is not an issue" for Nissan (NSANY) he says.

He expects the new regs to drive more small cars, improved technoloy, and a broader variety of shapes and sizes, as designers try to get more variety out of similarly-sized vehicles.

But he points to some discouraging global trends that don't bode well for the industry.

He notes that consumers in Japan are losing their mojo when it comes to cars. The population is aging, and younger drivers would rather spend their money on new cellphones and Internet access.

"Japan is increasingly not interested in new cars," he says.

The population in Europe is aging too, and Lane sees similar ennui spreading there. As car ownership becomes more expensive and cities increasingly impose congestion pricing on car usage in center cities, he sees car owners switching to mass transit for their daily commute, and then renting cars for longer trips.

"The U.S. is headed that way," he says. "The challenge for us, going forward, is a more interesting offer. Doing a better Sentra or an Altima isn't going to do it."

The image in the fortune teller's crystal ball is getting clearer with each passing day. Windsor cannot continue to put all of its eggs in the basket of the automotive industry.

City street as social space. Hans Monderman 1945 - 2008

Hans Monderman was a Dutch road traffic engineer and innovator. He was recognized for radically challenging the criteria by which engineering solutions for street design are evaluated. His work compelled transportation planners and highway engineers to look afresh at the way people and technology relate to each other. Functional models of his designs are changing the way people view the street in northern Holland, and tried also in Spain, Denmark, Austria, Sweden and Britain.

Hans Monderman died of prostate cancer on January 7, 2008, at the age of 62

For your weekend reading pleasure, I thought I would pass along this reprint from an old New York Times article documenting Sarah Lyalls time spent with this iconic traffic engineer

Road design? He calls it a revolution

by Sarah Lyall
The New York Times
Saturday, January 22, 2005

DRACHTEN, Netherlands "I want to take you on a walk," said Hans Monderman, abruptly stopping his car and striding - hatless, and nearly hairless - into the freezing rain.

Like a naturalist conducting a tour of the jungle, he led the way to a busy intersection in the center of town, where several odd things immediately became clear. Not only was it virtually naked, stripped of all lights, signs and road markings, but there was no division between road and sidewalk. It was, basically, a bare brick square.

But in spite of the apparently anarchical layout, the traffic, a steady stream of trucks, cars, buses, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians, moved along fluidly and easily, as if directed by an invisible conductor. When Monderman, a traffic engineer and the intersection's proud designer, deliberately failed to check for oncoming traffic before crossing the street, the drivers slowed for him. No one honked or shouted rude words out the window.

"Who has the right of way?" he asked rhetorically. "I don't care. People here have to find their own way, negotiate for themselves, use their own brains."

Used by some 20,000 drivers a day, the intersection is part of a road-design revolution pioneered by the 59-year-old Monderman. His work in Friesland, the district in northern Holland that takes in Drachten, is increasingly seen as the way of the future in Europe.

Variations on the shared-space theme are being tried in Spain, Denmark, Austria, Sweden and Britain. The European Union has appointed a committee of experts, including Monderman, for a Europe-wide study.

His philosophy is simple, if counterintuitive. To make communities safer and more appealing, Monderman argues, you should first remove the traditional paraphernalia of their roads.

That means the traffic lights and speed signs; the signs exhorting drivers to stop, slow down and merge; the center lines separating lanes from each other; even the speed bumps, speed-limit signs, bicycle lanes and pedestrian crossings. In his view, it is only when the road is made more dangerous, when drivers stop looking at signs and start looking at other people, that driving becomes safer.

"All those signs are saying to cars, 'This is your space, and we have organized your behavior so that as long as you behave this way, nothing can happen to you,"' said Monderman. "That is the wrong story."

The Drachten intersection is an example of the concept of "shared space," a street where cars and pedestrians are equal, and the design tells the driver what to do."

It's a moving away from regulated, legislated traffic toward space which, by the way it's designed and configured, makes it clear what sort of behavior is anticipated," said Ben Hamilton-Baillie, a British specialist in urban design and movement, and a proponent of many of the same concepts.

Highways - where the car is naturally king - are part of the "traffic world" and another matter altogether. In Monderman's view, shared-space plans thrive only in conjunction with well-organized, well-regulated highway systems.

Monderman is a man on a mission. On a daylong automotive tour of Friesland, he pointed out places he had improved, including a town where he ripped out the sidewalks, signs and crossings and put in brick paving on the central shopping street. An elderly woman crossed slowly in front of him."

This is social space, so when Grandma is coming, you stop, because that's what normal, courteous human beings do," he said.

Planners and curious journalists are increasingly making pilgrimages to meet Monderman, considered one of the field's great innovators, although until a few years ago he was virtually unknown outside of Holland. Hamilton-Baillie, whose writings have helped bring Monderman's work to wider attention, remembers with fondness his own first visit.

Monderman drove him to a small country road with cows in every direction. Their presence was unnecessarily reinforced by a large, standard-issue European traffic sign with a picture of a cow on it.

"He said, 'What do you expect to find here? Wallabees?"' Hamilton-Baillie recalled. "'They're treating you like you're a complete idiot, and if people treat you like a complete idiot, you'll act like one.'

"Here was someone who had rethought a lot of issues from complete scratch," Hamilton-Baillie said.

"Essentially, what it means is a transfer of power and responsibility from the state to the individual and the community."

Dressed in a beige jacket and patterned shirt, with scruffy facial hair and a stocky build, Monderman has the appearance of a soccer hooligan but the temperament of an engineer, which indeed he trained to be.

His father was the headmaster of the primary school in their small village; Hans liked to fiddle with machines. "I was always the guy who repaired the TV sets in our village," he said.

He was working as a civil engineer building highways in the 1970s when the Dutch government, alarmed at a sharp increase in traffic accidents, set up a network of traffic-safety offices. Monderman was appointed Friesland's traffic safety officer.

In residential communities, Monderman began narrowing the roads and putting in design features like trees and flowers, red brick paving stones and even fountains to discourage people from speeding, following the principle now known as pyschological traffic calming, where behavior follows design.

He made his first nervous foray into shared space in a small village whose residents were upset at its being used as a daily thoroughfare for 6,000 speeding cars. When he took away the signs, lights and sidewalks, people drove more carefully. Within two weeks, speeds on the road had dropped by more than half.

In fact, he said, there has never been a fatal accident on any of his roads. Several early studies bear out his contention that shared spaces are safer. In England, the district of Wiltshire found that removing the center line from a stretch of road reduced drivers' speed without any increase in accidents.

While something of a libertarian, Monderman concedes that road design can do only so much. It doesn't change the behavior, for instance, of the 15 percent of drivers who will behave badly no matter what the rules are.

Nor are shared-space designs appropriate everywhere, like in major urban centers, but only in neighborhoods that meet particular criteria. Recently, a group of well-to-do parents asked him to widen the two-lane road leading to their children's school, saying it was too small to accommodate what he derisively calls "their huge cars."

He refused, saying that the fault lay not with the road, but with the cars. "They can't wait for each other to pass?" he asked. "I wouldn't interfere with the right of people to buy the car they want, but nor should the government have to solve the problems they make with their choices."

Monderman's obsessions can cause friction at home. His wife hates talking about road design. But work is his passion and his focus for as many as 70 hours a week, despite quixotic promises to curtail his projects and stay home on Fridays.

The current plan, instigated by Mrs. Monderman, is for him to retire in a few years. But it is unclear what a man who begins climbing the walls after three days at the beach ("If you want to go to a place without any cultural aspect, go to the Grand Canaries," he grumbled) will do with all that free time.

"The most important thing is being master of my own time, and then doing things that we both enjoy," he said. "What are they? I don't know."

The CocoBox Battle, Round 2

Two appeals to the Ontario Municipal Board were launched against the proposed west-end Big Box development. Lynne Meloche of LaSalle is taking on these retail giants, as well as the Town of LaSalle. Both parties object to the location of the proposed mega-discount shopping utopia at the border of their town as well as within the area of the fragile Ojibway Complex. I hope that ...Scale Down can offer both parties any help we can so they maximize their chances of success in their cases.

From today's Windsor Star...

LaSalle fights big box plan

Town asks OMB to block west-end retail plaza

The Town of LaSalle and several residents hope to stop a major big box development recently approved by the city for land next to Windsor Raceway.

They're appealing the city approval to the Ontario Municipal Board.

Coco Development Group plans to create a 420,000-square-foot commercial plaza at the intersection of Sprucewood Avenue and Matchette Road, right beside the LaSalle border. It would be anchored by four unnamed major big box retail outlets.

City council gave approval to the project at the end of October despite objections from LaSalle's council, people concerned about the impact on neighbouring natural areas, and residents who live near the location.

Councillors supported the project because of the number of jobs it would create, during construction and once the stores are open.

The site hugs the city's border with LaSalle and is across the street from the provincially protected Ojibway tallgrass prairie.

In LaSalle's appeal, it suggests the big box development will have a detrimental effect on neighbouring lands and roads.

Matchette and Sprucewood are two-lane access roads -- the only connection to the site -- and cannot handle the huge volume of traffic the big box centre is expected to generate, said LaSalle town planner Larry Silani.

"We are concerned because this is not an appropriate location," he said. "The kinds of traffic volume this generates, it should be on a highway interchange or roads designed to carry large volumes of traffic.

TRAFFIC VOLUME

"Matchette and Sprucewood are not meant to carry that much traffic."
The town is also concerned its nearby town centre on Malden Road, developed over several years, will quickly be destroyed by a big box outlet just a few blocks away.

The City of Windsor's legal department has received notification of the OMB appeal, but has not had time to study the information, said Wira Vendrasco, lawyer for the city.

An OMB hearing -- should it reach that point -- is not expected to be scheduled for at least a few months.
A pre-hearing conference is the next expected step.

LaSalle has had no further discussion with the city or developer since council approved the project in the fall, Silani said.

"We are not opposed to commercial development, we just believe it's the wrong location," he said. "The Town of LaSalle is always open to dialogue, but there is a fundamental difference of opinion. It's not just fill in a ditch and everybody here will be happy.

"It's the wrong location. Hopefully OMB will listen and we'll go from there."

Whereas SD agrees with the plaintiffs that the location is a terrible one for this development, we went further in our argument to Windsor's city council that more big-box development is not only unnecessary for Windsor, but will also be detrimental to our economic health.

We asked council to defer the rezoning of the proposed development until a comprehensive Economic Impact Study could be conducted. Councillor Halberstadt asked administration for the study and acting city planner Thom Hunt told him that there was an economic study on Windsor's retail market already underway.

We are looking forward to the release of this report and hearing whether the city's own staff believe that Windsor is over-retailed.

Look Boss, the Plan! the Plan!

The best thing I learned when in the automotove industry when my company became the first in Windsor to be certified for ISO/QS 9000 was "Say what you do, do what you say". (Zalev got credit in the paper for being the first in Windsor but my former company Rustshield was certified 2 weeks earlier according to the auditor)

The story that deserves front page coverage and should be every news lead story is the city of Windsor’s official review of the five year plan (Offical Plan Review - OPR). It was always my hopes that scaledown could contribute to the debate about the official plan.

Maybe it’s the idealist in me that says that if the real power in municipal politics is the actual five year plan. Hopefully its not simply naivete to think that politicians should remain beholden to this official plan above and beyond any special interest. The fulfilment of the 5 year plan should be the main indicator of how our politicians and administration have performed for our city. Every council vote be viewed as to whether it serves to progress or impede the official plan.

It was my hope that in the next municipal election the candidates platforms address how they can better implement the official plan ahead of their competitor. According to the city’s planning site “The PPS (Provincial Policy Statement) requires that municipalities set targets for intensification and redevelopment within built-up areas.” Our Downtown has seen a 10% decrease in population with no new residential developments planned in the near future. Currently the developer of a 40 unit residential bldg is fighting an uphill battle against many councillors to try to eliminate the after hour club obstacle to developing sellable residential units. Where is the official plan’s goals on their minds during this debate.

Many other areas in the core face the same fate. When was the last time you heard a municipal candidate state how he plan to accomplish that requirement. When the current council chose to freeze community improvement plans, where was their explanation as to how they could contradict this stated goal.

Its time that every resident of Windsor own and hold up a copy of the city’s official 5 year plan at every council meeting. That municipal councillors duty is to implement policies that follow the plan they adopt.

If those goals require development incentives, reallocation of resources, creating two tier development rates for intensification than that is what they should be doing.

It is Scaledown’s vision to connect every resident of Windsor to their own walkable neighbourhood filled with independent local businesses and artists that together create a vibrant economy. We think that this should be the vision of the official plan of the city of Windsor. Call 311 and tell them if you agree with us.

Please enter the debate by discussing what you would contribute to Windsor’s official plan at scaledown.ca so readers can call 311 or visit the cities official OPR website.

The time is now to "Sex Up" the Planning profession

"There are two sayings that are familiar in every news room across the country: 1) sex sells; 2) if it bleeds it leads."

- Armstrong Williams

The people in the news industry are in the business to sell lots and lots of newspapers. If they don't know what sells, nobody does.

There seems to be a disconnect in the general public's understanding of just how important the profession of Planning is to building a healthy municipality. The message has yet to get through to Joe Public; and we haven't done a very good job of selling it to them. When you finally realize exactly what it is we're selling, and what it is that's on the line, you have to wonder why we still have a job in this industry!

We need to sell the importance of Urban Planning.

A municipal entities decision "to plan" is a community commitment to consciously head in a certain direction. The path should lead to an increase in the public good, and that is what the taxpayers assume is being done. But what is the public good? The following types of benefits demonstrate what is meant by the public good, and how planning helps to increase it. (click here for the expanded rationale)

- Planning helps define the future character of communities by creating and maintaining a sense of place,
- Planning protects natural and agricultural resources,
- Planning provides predictability regarding future development,
- Planning saves money,
- Planning promotes economic development,
- Planning can promote sustainable development,
- Planning helps protect private property rights.

Planning is a science, and politics should not get in the way of that science being practised. Good urban planning can have a positive impact on Windsor's economic, ecological and social/cultural environments, just as much as bad or incomplete planning advocates the opposite. With such power in the hands of a select municipal department, one would feel that they would command the power and respect that accompanies their heavy responsibilities.

Yet, it is apparent that our planning professionals and the work they perform are underappreciated in our City Hall; and are therefore relegated to the role of mere administrators performing the will of our elected officials. These are not the jobs they were hired to do. They were hired for their ability to, through the examples of other municipalities and the "best practices" established by them, promote a vision of a better working Windsor and lay out the road map how to get there.

So what attributes would the city be looking for when it hires its new City Planner, as it is planning to do soon? Let me be the person who hires for this important position. I would employ the candidate who advocates for necessary planning reform in a manner that our non-planning elected officials (his/her bosses) understand and appreciate; all while leading their team to employ the knowledge they have accrued in actually making a city work.

Unfortunately, this is not likely to happen anytime soon. Our elected officials either do not understand just how much the planning departments role affects almost every aspect of city life, or they are putting "politics" over substance and not doing the job that they were hired to do.

So, we need to go over the politician's heads and make Windsor's electorate intimately aware of this important municipal department and how empowering them would put out many of the fires that are constantly erupting in our city before they even ignite. We need to "Sex It Up" and make it interesting to them, especially now with the planning department undergoing their 5 year Official Plan Review and the average resident holding the bulk of the power at this stage in shaping the vision they hold and the destiny that is possible in the city of Windsor.

Cut You Car-Use Tip - Auto Insurance By The Mile!

I have always thought that there must be some carrots out there that would encourage people to just drive a little less. You know what I mean; walk to the store to get milk or start your kids walking to school instead of being chauffeured. As it stands now, the only thing we would save is a little bit of gas. Until I came across this article by Springwise...

Auto Insurance By The Mile!

Back in 2005, we covered Norwich Union's Pay-as-You-Drive program in the UK to charge consumers for auto insurance based on how often, when and where they use their vehicles. Starting in Texas, the United States will soon see a similar service for the first time thanks to MileMeter's "auto insurance buy the mile."

Like Norwich Union's offering, MileMeter will use consumers' usage levels to determine how much they must pay for auto insurance. Unlike Norwich Union's, however, MileMeter will not use any kind of vehicle tracking device to record that usage. Rather, consumers will buy coverage in advance in increments of as few as 1,000 miles; when their odometer reaches the end of that increment, the coverage expires. The cost per mile varies with the geographic area and the age of the driver, but a reasonable ball park for a 30-year-old driver and minimum coverage in a midrange urban ZIP code in Texas might be 4 cents per mile, MileMeter CEO Chris Gay says. Multiple drivers in a household can also be covered for a single vehicle.

Dallas-based MileMeter will launch in Texas this summer, with plans to roll out quickly to other states, Gay says. In the meantime, it's attracted a fair bit of attention, not least because it was one of only seven finalists in the most recent Amazon Web Services Startup Challenge. Because it doesn't use gender as a basis for determining rates, MileMeter has been ardently supported by the National Organization for Women (NOW). And by rewarding drivers who use their cars less, it has the potential to make an environmental impact as well.

Sounds like a win-win all around—time for more entrepreneurs to start thinking in increments!

I don't know about the legalities of this type of insurance in Canada, but this is something that we should really have access to. I know that my vehicle spends most of its time just hanging out in the driveway collecting dust, and I would be very interested in reduced auto insurance. The more reasons for people to opt out of using their cars, the better the health of our communities.

Gentrification: Dr. Jekyl or Mr. Hyde?

Over the past 20 years suburbia has drawn the tired masses from the urban centres of cities, large and small, with promises of owning a piece of the American dream. Marketed as a haven for low price, high opportunity housing, surburbia blossomed like a toxic plume, leeching residents, retail and real estate investment from the heart of the city. One-time mixed income neighbourhoods were bought up by real estate speculators and absentee landlords driven by profit margins and profit taking. Vibrant neighbourhoods were decimated by a largely disinterested population, exacerbated by tragic civic planning, who were lulled into believing that they were somehow 'less' than the McMansion Monarchy.

Geo-political events of the 21st century have begun to coax some of the suburban masses out of their gated (whether physical or economic) developments into the urban cores. Of great importance are the Gen Xers, give or take a decade, who, upon leaving their parents suburban homes, are opting to buck that elitist trend and exploring home ownership in the rehabilitated cores. Cities are seeing a renaissance of revitalization. Young, educated and often well-funded residents are taking up the cause of restoring the allure of urban living. What starts with one or two 'urban pioneers' quickly becomes a full blown 'urban village' attracting progressive investment, including those elusive real estate dollars, as urban blight is gentrified.

The word gentrification has a polarizing voice eliciting visions of restored real estate, trendy shops and entertainment venues mixed with a diverse social network, albeit built on the monotony of economic prosperity. The opposing voice sees the same physical composition of gentrified neighbourhoods but, instead of celebrating the economic restoration, declares gentrification as a well-heeled battle against the urban poor, lobotomizing true social diversity with Starbucks branded comradare.

The topic of gentrification, both its' benefits and risks, has come up among the ScaleDown staff as we discover our place in the future of Windsor. After contemplating the ideas and visions we are advocating for as part of the process of 'scaling down' we realized that gentrification is product of monstrously misaligned 'supply and demand'-based market. It is not the product itself that causes the gentrification, but a supply void of a product that is so heavily in demand that consumers will pay almost anything to be a part of this urban revolution. Instead of fearing gentrification we intend to harness the effects of this social stigma for the benefit of the entire community. By pushing for strict development standards, advocating for, and designing, socio-economic diversity and engaging urban citizens in acts of advocacy, on both a civic and human scale, the process of gentrification can be tamed to draw investment dollars without impeding the new social fabric. With wide-scale reinvestment into core communities the economic tragedy most often associated with gentrification can be mitigated, if not avoided. Success in establishing 21st neighbourhoods as replicas of the early-20th century communities will prepare us for the challenge of rehabilitating the suburban wastelands that are sure to be the bane of the next generation.

PS: If you want to read more about gentrification, both the pros and cons, Google gentrification and read the diversity of information from both sides of the arguement.

After hours council wrap up

To close this after hours club debate I wanted to make the following random observations and questions.

1. If the original motion would have not been split, council would have rejected last night's proposed solution 6-4. Alan Halberstadt gave us a masterful display of politics, He played the other councillors against each other making them look foolish. It shouldn't have came to that.

2. For the life of me, I cannot understand why a motion that was supported by the vast majority of residents, businesses backed up by the city's own hired Expert Peter Bellmio wouldn't pass unanimously. Why defending the rights of 3-5 after hours clubs was more important to some than the demands of the entire community. Fulvio need to be the self appointed defender of 3 businesses over the demands of the entire community disappointed me the most.

3. I don't understand why Diane Sibley misrepresented the amount of businesses that would be affected, implying that there were 60 (later corrected to 50) affected businesses when her own report stated that there were only 3 clubs that operated after hours in the downtown

4. Why councillor Joanne Gignac feels the need to endorse only "All or nothing" solutions. Would she also be against exemption applications to the noise bylaw that sees events such as film festival outdoor screenings?

5. The simple answer to the mystery of "why Adult Entertainment clubs are not high risk facilities while certain after hours clubs are?"

Answer: because the nature of the customers of each type of business is completely different. The customers of adult entertainment clubs go out of their way to avoid drawing attention to themselves when leaving our downtown.

The customers of certain after hours clubs, go out of their way to draw attention to themselves.

One doesn't affect public safety or detract from the silent buffer needed between day and night while the other does.

6. Why the mayor felt the need to criticize the DWBIA, implying they weren't doing enough. The DWBIA has initiated a facade grant program, camera's, lobbied for the creation of an HRP. All the while fighting the foot dragging of city administration to accomplish many of these initiatives (Camera's took 2years to install, HRp took 1 year to get city endorsement) However, I can tell you that the BIA will happily accept his challenge to continue implementing solutions.

This is not over yet. Administration must have their feet held to the fire to ensure they properly follow the instructions of council to the letter and in the spirit. After that we must ensure that the body overseeing exemption applications remains neutral and is enstructed that although their foremost priority is safety, their mandate is to encourage businesses that manage their establishments responsibly.

The real victory here is that this issue united past and present members of the DWBIA, who spoke in unison. Kudo's to Paul Twigg and Michael Plunkett, former leaders of the BIA for joining our current leadership in their struggle. It also united the vast majority of business owners with the residents of downtown who need to fight arm in arm to better downtown as often as they can.

***Shameless Plug Alert!***

OK, I know we espouse an altruistic attitude here and all, but it's time for me to throw all that out the window for a moment.

VOTE FOR US!!!

We feel honoured to be put in the ring, vying for the title of "Best New Blog" in the Canadian Blog Awards 2007 competition. Thank you to everyone who has supported us, contributed to the site and made us into the quality blog that we have become.

Yes, the nomination period is over and it's time to vote for the best blogs of 2007. You can vote only once per category, per round. (...Scale Down is located about 3/4 of the way down the list) The results of Round One voting will be revealed a day or two after voting closes January 21st, 2008 11:59 PM PST. Final Round voting will start on Wednesday January 23rd. The second round of voting will narrow the list of nominees in each category down to the top 5 from the first round of voting.

So, help us survive the first round of voting by visiting the site and casting your vote for "...Scale Down, Windsor". There are a ton of competitors for this award, so we'll definitely need your help. Enlist your family and friends too. We're not shy!