Windsor in Walrus magazine
Just wanted to pass this article along, as it is chock filled with goodies that could help out this city of ours. It was written by Chris Turner, whom a lot of you met when ScaleDown brought him to town for our launch party nearly a year ago, kicking off the southern leg of his Geography of Hope tour (Chris recently wrote about us in his regular column in the Globe and Mail as well). Has it really been that long?
There’s also a little narcissistic pleasure that he remembered our plight down south in Windsor and mentioned us specifically at the end of the article…
“As I counted crumbling gdr guard towers on the train ride from Bitterfeld to Leipzig the evening after my tour of Solar Valley, my thoughts turned from Christian Puschmann’s boyish enthusiasm to the desperate edge I’d encountered during a recent visit to Windsor, Ontario. My host was a laid-off autoworker, a guy named Chris Holt. He was just a little older than Puschmann, I’d guess. He had two kids and a cozy house in the funky old part of town. Holt was one of only a few of his co-workers, he told me, who weren’t simply biding their time until the fix came in from enough levels of government to buy back some faded remnant of the city’s manufacturing glory. He was trying to build a green-minded grassroots revitalization movement in Windsor, but it had been slow going.”
Read the whole article here, and continue to question why we are “stuck in an outmoded american car on the freeway” and not moving forward with all this evidence in front of us
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Because Windsor is or was or is about not to be the automotive capitol of Canada, does that make us a Walrus, who can only live in one environment?
Catherine,
I may not be speaking for others, but, please act like an adult and refrain from discussing your private concerns in a public forum. This is not the place for it.
If you have any issues, be an adult and discuss it with the individual in private.
During our Christmas road-trip from PEI to Windsor we drove through some of the largest cities in Canada. Once we hit Montreal, then Toronto, the same thought kept recurring to me — How in the world do these cities sustain themselves? From the high-intensity lighting at the auto dealerships to the neverending ribbons of crumbling roads, I couldn’t see a way to sustain these cities.
It reassured me Charlottetown was well positioned to make some changes toward sustainability, but scared the hell out of me when it comes to other metro areas.
I wonder the same thing as Josh.
How will Windosr sustain itself? Toronto is no better BTW - it too is a crumbling decaying vision of what once was and much uglier than Windsor.
The manufacturing sector is gone. It will never come back. There are people in Korea and China who can operate the monkey machines just as well as the Windsor union people can with some startling differences such as; they do not complain, they are gratefull to feed themselves and families. Not only can they do grunt work but they have a real desire to learn more and get more. Unlike 90% in Windsor who beleive they “deserve” better even though they’ve been paid way better than the average doctor for many years. To top it off these union folks shop at Walmart thus giving their union money to the offshore companies that are closing them down.
Its all about attitude. Industires die. All accross Ontario this is felt and is on visual display. Windsor unfortunately has little else to its name but auto. Sure there is other stuff but seriously - not really. Not enough to sustain an economy. As for culture - ZERO. Hamilton - wow … you do not get dirtier than Hamilton. Toronto aslo is no longer the hub it once was. Even the mighty financial services Toronto once ruled for Canada have gone. Vancouver took much of it and Edmonton, Calagary … they had zero need for Torontos middle men and have all but abolished them.
Its getting ugly in Ontario. But then what do the “gimme” generation expect? All they have is their houses and how long can those values last? Ask Windosr - the havent had any appreciation in real estate while other cities saw triples. No one is moving to Ontario. No one in their right mind wants to live in Ontario. Moving to Ontario is like moving to Newfoundland in the late 80’s. You’d be the only car driving in - all the traffic is on the other side.
Of course you can always retire in Windsor. Sell your house in Toronto, buy one for half in Windsor and enjoy your old age shopping in Detroit … until you get stabbed that is.
Why is Windsor real estate cheap? Why else - supply and demand. No secrets.