Could Downtown shooting please lead to a do-over?
It would be so callous, cynical and easy to throw out an I told you so. However, this blog, this post is not supposed to be about fingerpointing, its supposed to be about solutions. Its what makes Scaledown different from those who would throw in a towel and move to a beach. We persist, we roll up our sleaves and we continue to work towards a better Windsor rather than simply pontificate and threaten to leave.
Shooting 3:15 am at Pelissier and Wyandottte. Victim is uncooperative. After literally hundreds of hours spent on this issue I want to look first at where I went wrong. If finger pointing is to happen, the first finger should be pointed at the mirror
When this issue first reared its ugly head I was sitting in florida vacationing with the family. Browsing by the pool, I found the report on after hours bars was coming before council. The fact that there was no notice, no opportunity for input by the DWBIA, infuriated me and made me rush into action. Here are the mistakes I made:
First and foremost, I did not request an audience with the Police. I felt that because my solution was so obvious to me and those who surrounded me, that it was a no brainer obvious solution to all. I don’t know if it was arrogance, ignorance or simply a well rounded combination. I simple felt “damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead”
One great quote I should remember was by George Bernard Shaw “The problem with communication is the illusion that it occured”
Had I discussed this with the police I would have found out that they had serious and legitimate concerns with banning after hours bars. Since I never really sat down with them, I really don’t fully understand the extent of these concerns other than the fear that closure of the Box office would simply move and spread the large problem to several locations throughout the city. I simply beleived that if you were going to revitalize downtown, it was paramount the problem be eliminated from downtown, even if it meant the problem simply moved out rather than was solved.
Can we have a do over? one which would see that conversation, debate or whatever you want to call it occur.
A second question I thought I had answered was the police concern that this Belmio recommendation could and would never be a solution if applied in isolation. For me that was simple. Don’t implement it in isolation, implement it in conjunction with all the other recommendations.
How naive to think that a council and mayor that would spend tens of thousands to bring Peter Belmio down would increase the budget to implement his recommendations above $6,000. (Half of that was spent sending myself and Peter Berry to Philadelphia) this council has an appetite for studies but gets faint of heart during the budgeting of implementing the recommendations (See CIP’s))
How dare the council consider an $60,000 University area study while Glengarry Marentette, Sustainable Downtown await DOLLAR 1 of implementation funds.
Council is so afraid of a legal appeal. I’d like to see someone sit down with the mayor and ask him why one fight warrants an all out legal battle at any cost but another doesn’t. Tell me we’re wrong, tell belmeo he’s wrong.
The council weaseled its way out of having to make a decision by putting the onus on the BIA to come up with a streetcleening schedule.
Look, its this simple, pelissier and Wyandotte is a high risk area. You know it, I know it, the residents and business owners know it. Do we move forward to solve it or do we continue this circus of statistics that show that this incident was statistically insignificant. This concernt that a great club such as the Boom Boom room will suffer (they won’t if my proposed solution of exemptions were applied.)
Hopefully the new HRP coordinator will read this and figure out a way to come up with a solution.
Secondly, What was council and the Mayor thinking when they adopted then rejected this Belmio recommendation. They’re embarrasing display of accepting then rejecting the after hours closing based on how many shooting victim family members were in the council chambers was too much to bear. I respect the police as much if not more than anyone in this community, but when will the community stand up to them and demand a solution.
I want a do over. Will the do over be done properly or will it quicly degrade into a finger pointing match where the city says the BIA didn’t start cleaning and the BIA blames the city’s continuing lack of will to deal with downtown issues.
Incidentally the day this fight began in Florida, I looked at my wife and said this was my “waterloo”. How right I was, my greatest battle and my greatest defeat in our downtown.
How can a canal plan work if you don’t prepare the surrounding area to leverage it?
Post Feedback
I guess one of the biggest things to consider is your own decision making process. You’re a very successful downtown business owner. What led you to start your newest venture in Tecumseh instead of expanding in the downtown of Windsor? In the risk versus reward evaluation, is the reward portion declining so much to not make it worth the risk in the downtown?
Nah, bought the tecumseh bldg as a passive investment 3 years ago. I wanted simply to become a landlord or flip the thing. After several failed attempts to either sell or lease it, I rolled up my sleaves and did it myself.
My heart is downtown as should all Windsorites. I will never understand the ridiculous notion of people saying they don’t go downtown any more and wear it like a badge of honour. As downtown fails, so fails the entire region.
Its all about getting people to live downtown, Its all about people looking to circumvent the process of 100 efforts to improve with 1 megaproject.
Canals, arena’s, convention centers and college/university campuses all will succeed if the area is prepared to leverage them, all will fail if the area continues to be ignored.
Preparing the area means zoning out massage parlors, creating separate design guidelines and signage restrictions for downtown. It means managing hospitality responsibly and then promoting that industry rather than continually punishing it.
It means offering the same incentives to new residential and commercial construction as London has been for over a decade. It means fostering the downtown residents association and helping it to attract more residents..
Mark, I agree with you 100%.
when will council stop the mayor and his penchant for glossy pictures and studies and start to put the money where their mouths are? If the mayor can spend $10,000 for silly canal visions (and then want to spend more money to produce a few mor. I do wonder if maybe this is a former HS buddy like Nazzani from the airport?) and still not put $1 towards any CIP then why isn’t coucnil calling him out?
Maybe I am wrong but didn’t Eddie use “investments in neighbourhoods” as one of his pillars in his State of the City address? But then again he also spoke of open and transparent gov’t….hardly an endorsement for CIPs.
I still don’t understand why our officers do not make downtown a “zero tolerance” area? The officers can still be very courteous and polite but if peole are screaming profanities, a disturbing the peace ticket ensues. If people are fighting, they go to jail right away. If people are throwing up in flower beds and pissing in alleyways, the again, drunken disorderly coduct tickets are handed out.
I also believe that the police need to put more offices downtown. They have the budget and I would not hear any complaints from any citizen if thepolice decided to spend more on officers than purchasing new SUVs to replace their current Crown Vic’s.
Since you didn’t say it I will. “I TOLD YOU THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN AGAIN!” (why always near this bar??)…let the finger pointing begin.
I don’t support a zero tolerance policy, I think it is a quick and easy replacement for the true answer of responsible management of a hospitality zone.
Preventing police from congregating and dispersing them throughout the downtown would work better. Having police engage visitors early on in the evenings has also been known to work as a preventative measure. Its these types of preventative measures that should be implemented first. These measures are listed in the Belmio report (one of them being to close after hours bars)
This area/bar is a high risk area. There are several factors that contribute to high risk areas according to the U.S. justice department COPS report (Community oriented Policing Solutions). No one thing should shoulder all the blame.
Does every bar owner have a police officer on their speed dial. Do they know the name of the Police in charge of the hospitality zone. Do the residents have that same information. Thats why I believe in the HRP, it brings residents, city officials, police and bar owers together to work on these issues one by one.
Now everything will become a kneejerk reaction to a shooting. What a shame
i am downtown every weekend night till very late. there is no lack of officers. that is outright wrong. sometimes i see more police than people at certain hours. the police response time is also fine. throwing more money at policing is utterly a waste of money. diversifying and spreading the initiatives as Mark said is what needs to be done. in fact spending more money on policing has just created a force that is one of the highest paid forces in Canada and for what real threat, they essentially are babysitting downtown and have no desire to hand out tickets etc for things such as public urination etc. that would just create more paperwork for them. we need to look at downtown revitalization as a forward moving concept instead of constantly pointing the finger at the hospitality sector that has shown great success in the area. the reason that people think there are so many bars downtown is not because there are too many, they have hit their saturation point, its because the ratio of bars to other businesses is so high. instead of punishing the success of that sector why not focus on landing new and diverse businesses to the area. thats just more work than blaming.