Really…
Are we really suprised that a consulting firm put us at the bottom, Maclean’s magazine put us at the bottom and now the Economist takes a swipe at us. Based on the metrics these studies use Windsor scores poorly overall. So what?
I don’t care if some snot-nosed, shit in T.O. or Minnesota or England thinks Windsor is a pit. Good, he doesn’t have to come here and, if he did, it would probably be with a whole lot of attitude anyway. I don’t need that noise.
Oh, but we need people to come and invest and bring jobs and blah, blah, blah. What we really need; really, really need is for the people that live here that hate it so much that all they want to do is piss and moan about everything to leave. Go on, I’ll wait a minute while you pack your bags and careful, don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
I don’t suspect too many of our regulars need to be reminded of how great this city actually is. It is so easy it is to find someplace interesting to go, or find good food, enjoy a concert or see some awesome art in this town.
Next time someone says "this town sucks, there’s nothing to do." Tell them to grab their shoes and go to Pillette and Wyandotte or Walkerville or Riverside or whatever and demonstrate to them that we have talented, smart, creative people that do interesting things and that there is a level of sophistication here that goes un-noticed because the average Windsorite is programmed by our culture to ignore anything that may require effort, appreciation or some thought. It will require effort to convince some folks that there are real people in this city with more talent in their toes than whoever is the favourite on American Idol this week. It will require effort to convince your friends and family that riding a bike on a wine tour in Essex County can be as fulfilling as flying to another country to do the same thing.
Next time you read something like that just ask yourself "is this really what Windsor is? Really?"
End of rant.
…going to my happy place now.
Last weekend my lovely wife and I went out on a mission. Get real food for dinner. By real, of course, I mean fresh, never been inside an air plane, factory, freezer you get the idea. We had the best, the absolute best steak I have ever had. Shout out to the folks at Wagner’s - fresh rib-eyes, fresh (still warm) strawberry-rhubarb pie and fruit wine for dessert. Amazing!
Earlier this summer my lovely wife (she really is the loveliest) and I had a day to ourselves to do anything we wanted. Had lunch at Mazzar. I had never been before but she works downtown and everyone at her office thinks its super so I agreed to go. Can’t wait to go back. Food, service, atmosphere crazy good. Afterwards went to Pillette Village (sidewalk sale or something that day) browsed retro stuff and local art - can’t do that at Wal-Mart.
First Notice - Sunday, September 6. Erie Street. Be there or be square. It’s the 51st year for the bicycle races and it’s always a good time. This year there will be an "Enthusiast’s Race". If you’ve never raced but reckon you’d like to try then go for it. Not up for a race but want to be part of a local institution then volunteer with the organizing committee and help out on race day. However you want to do it come out and enjoy. Lots of food and drink and gelato and bike racing too.
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Tour di via Italia rocks!
You’re kind of right James, if it weren’t for bad news, would anybody really care about Windsor, For a hundred years we were the forgotten city in Ontario, as long as the good and very large tax dollars flowed to Queens Park and Parliament Hill. You would think with all this bad ink, that there might be a hue and cry from the rest of the province and Canada to come to our aid, sadly that doesn’t seem to be the case. Our big tax bill dollars no long flow outward to build the province and the nation, so who cares!
Personally I haven’t been across the river in two years and have no compunction whatsoever to do so. I’m not into sports, I don’t shop over there, anywhere you might really want to go is an hours drive in any direction.
Since I haven’t been over there, I’ve turned back to my city and have found it far more fun and accesible, there is a lot to do here and in the county and I refuse to deal with the thickening border and the goons on the other side.
You now need reservations on Saturday night at Mazaar’s, which is good for an up and coming dinner hot spot…love the food, love the restaurant.
Maybe the people of Scaledown should post all of the good things there are to do in Windsor. I am originally from Windsor but live in Toronto. I recently lived in Windsor for 8 months but had to return to Toronto because there was no work there for me. I have to admit that while I was there, I was often bored because of the lack of things to do. Don’t get me wrong, I love Windsor and it will always be my hometown, but there really isn’t THAT much to do. One can only walk around Walkerville so many times before running out of things to see and do; the downtown is not a downtown by the furthest stretch of the imagination (yes there is a new seasonal weekend market, which is great); a casino if you’re a gambler, etc.
I am not looking to start a fight; I’m looking for things to do… Sure I can hop on the bus to Devonshire Mall for some very generic shopping at stores one can find in any city in N. America, but is that something to get excited about? Where are the streets with offbeat, independent business? Where are the shops which are unique to the city? Yes, you can do a wine tour, which is a wonderful experience and should be done by everyone at least once… but is that something you would do every weekend? Windsor does have a great, but very boring waterfront… Where are the restaurants along the waterfront to sit and dine in, or the coffee shops along the water to drink a latte and have great conversation or read the paper?
I am not a naysayer or someone who has a bad attitude, but I must be someone who doesn’t immediately think of all of the great local attractions that you all seem to know of. So I ask that everyone post all of the great things to do in Windsor so that when I return there for a visit next week, I don’t tell myself how lucky I am to be back in Toronto.
Did it ever occur to you that you’re part of the problem. You love to call people names when they don’t “join” your little club of self-anointed holier than thou “people who are going to fix Windsor”…..You all profess to knowing so much while the rest of us know so little…
Still, study after study comes in, with Windsor at the bottom, so I guess all your bitching and name calling isn’t really accomplishing anything.
You never want to talk to people……….you only talk at them..from the people on Riverside Drive who you love to hate, to the “snot-nosed shit in T.O.” who has just been added to your list…..you all are way too self-righteous for the rest of us……..you’re right…..we should pack up and leave - everything will be so much better with you in charge
I’m sorry, truly, to pile-on here, but I completely agree with the last two commenters. I’m a born-and-raised Windsorite who - for the 2nd time - has been forced to leave the “City of Roses” due to a lack of (reasonable) employment. And frankly, the absence of a vibrant downtown.
I concur that are are things to do (particularly if you’re part of a scene), but the mere existence alone of districts… does not a perfect city make. All I hear is how wonderful and bohemian and world-class neighbourhoods like Walkerville and Pillette Village are (”village” is quite a stretch, let’s be honest), yet I’m puzzled with why we must delude ourselves by this idea that they’re, in fact, more than they really are.
Positivity is integral though, if these areas are to develop into creative hubs, and there are several very ambitious business owners now trying to bring more to the city through these neighbourhoods. Kudos to them. But these things take time and resilience and stiff upper lips. A few craft sales on a street corner, do not turn Pillette & Wyandotte into SOHO suddenly. But persistence, unity, public interest and time just might. And for Windsor, I’m pulling for that.
But enough with this sense of entitlement. Windsor is far from perfect, and perhaps it’s time for the soap-boxers to put down the megaphones. The Economist, an international publication, did not have Windsor in its cross-hairs. Taking a swipe at Windsor? Seems to me the focus was fairly analyzing the harsh economic realities of an Americanized border town that has taken a phenomenal amount of blows in the last decade.
And that’s really what Windsor is… right now.
On the other hand, I can’t wait to come back to town and I look forward to seeing positive change.
I also disagree with Urbanrat and Margaret. Downtown Detroit and Downtown Windsor are adjacent Neighborhoods and that is a strength. They are natural partners. This border frustration is not a permanent situation, it perpetuates and exacerbates an unnatural deliniation. I have hopes that the people who make these stupid decisions to divide us will one day realize that our survival is codependant.
As far as Margaret is concerned. You think that because we disagree with a particular group of residents on a particular issue, we’re against you. Again, its an all or nothing attitude. I can disagree with you vehemently about riverside drive and we can agree on a cornucopia of other issues.
You are saying that unless we silence ourselves on what we believe to be a mistake on Riverside Drive, we won’t accomplish anything. That is a threat and extortion.
We can agree on one thing, progress in this city is as slow as molasses. However, our blog exists for two reasons. To educate and to act. I am frustrated that we have been negligent to post an accomplishments section. It includes bringing the worlds foremost authorities to Windsor to comment on our particular situation. It includes petitions, it includes support of events, it includes lobbying. The day that Scaledown is religated to solely pontificating is the last day I participate.
We may sound arrogant, but thats a side effect of being well researched and well read. We shouldn’t have to apologize for the fact that we spend a lot of time researching our positions. Our positions are not some whimsical personal opinion, those who blog here have spent literally thousands of hours reading and listening/questioning experts.
But if your support requires me to acquiesce to the movement against bike lanes in our city. I never really had your support in the first place.
Scaledown is an ACTIVIST BLOG and I am damn proud of that.
P.s. sorry for the the ignorance but who is the snot nosed shit in T.O?, I can’t get to all the comments
Mark, what I expressed above is not out of not knowing that the two downtowns are adjacent neighbourhoods. I grew up with my parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles talking about how easy it was to jump on a ferry for a quarter and go bar hoping or shopping or to visit family members who married and moved over to Detroit. But when they built the first freeway in Detroit and destroyed a vibrant African-American neighbourhood, it was like cutting Detroit’s throat and the bleeding of Detroit began.
i remember taking the tunnel bus over with my parents to shop on Woodward or visit the free soda tap at Vernor’s, going to Tiger Stadium with my grandfather on a Saturday afternoon, picnicing on Belle Isle because Windsor didn’t have any parks like that. And what kid of my age in Windsor, didn’t look forward to going to Hudson’s at Christmas time!! I got married the day they blew up Hudson’s and could hear the blast from where we were. Both are now long gone in memory.
At this moment I don’t see the city of Detroit doing anything to relieve the border situation, especially when you see ads on TV telling Detroiters and Americans, why get a passport to visit Canada (they never say Windsor) and spend your money there (re: UnAmerican) while everything you want is in Detroit. Windsor has always been a lesser “quaint” neighbour or a fun time to Detroiters.
My great uncle Frank Walker was a trainer for the Detroit Red Wings for thirty five years and has his name of the Stanley Cup twice. All his sisters, my great aunts married Americans and lived in Detroit, then moving out to the new suburbs of Dearborn and Highland Park, which to me at that time was way out in the country.
But for me it goes beyond family and a once great admiration of Detroit, the mindset of Americans has changed to a fortress America, we Windsorites are now looked upon as aliens and possible terrorists with our shared history being thrown on the landfill. So I don’t put up with that deep silent,shit! or blatant attitude anymore and have no reason to “go over there!” Detroit today only wants the money from Windsor to flow, otherwise they don’t give a damn about us over here unless our mayor ponies up some money for them.
Kevin, I agree absolutely with your view of our riverfront park —- boring! I live downtown and very rarely visit that most boring of parks and that includes Jackson Park and almost every park in Windsor.
I didn’t like the articles by Next Cities or the Economist but also agree with Darren, I don’t like this city being the canary in the coal mine for a descending way of life but Scaledown was formed because you guys saw that what is and what was was changing and not for the better. Detroit was declared an XUrban city ten maybe fifteen years ago, so others saw the decline of Detroit before the current economic crisis and Windsor went along with them in holding on to a way of life that can’t be supported now or even into the future. Right now, Windsor is becoming or is an XUrban city.
Windsor always road on the coat tails of Detroit, except for the war of 1812, the demand of place and geography, which we can’t escape, even today on Canadian national news shows or newspapers, Windsor is synonymous with Detroit and its perils and decline. Everything that is “supposedly” wrong with the North American way of life comes from being made in Detroit and Windsor.
I did not say that what is or isn’t happening in Windsor is great or always fun, there is a lot of work that has yet to be done, heck, even started. We have a mayor and his toady city council who only sees the “his” grand schemes but not those living in the diverse neighbourhoods of our city. A mayor who only wants to build new things as monuments to himself and not look after the old things, he has no more of an interest or the will to deal with “old” Windsor.
I guess I’m different, I’ve never lived in a “burb” nor was raised in a burb and have no compunction to do so, nor have I owned a car in thirty years! Downtown is my “hood” and as a kid in the fifties know what is sadly and desperately lacking now but I have made it my home and am working to make it better if just by living here!
Mark, yes you and others at Scaledown are arrogant but I love that arrogance because I know you guys are well read and the research and hours you put in to frame a situation but to others who read here, they care a great deal for this city and if holding up a mirror to what is not right or what can be better is a fault, I will side with them on holding up the mirror to Windsor.
A crisis, is a bad thing to waste!
The Power of Positive Press.
Really, are we all getting bent out of shape about what an insignificant magazine has to say? Hear me out: I was in Toronto not too long ago, and when I responded “Windsor” to the question of my origins from a Bartender, he quickly jumped back with “I’m sorry”. When asking him about how he came to that conclusion, he told me he studied in London, and it was pre-programmed to assume that Windsor was a wasteland. He said he had only been once, to stay at the casino, and had one of the best weekends he could remember. Does that sound so bad? Windsor is going to attract as much negative press as Detroit gets from USA, because it is an easy target. Just like the school-yard bully, IGNORE it, walk away, and make what changes you can to avoid such criticism in the future.
Have we forgotten that FDi magazine in UK rated Windsor #1 Overall in 2007/8 for Small Cities of the Future in all of North America, and #1 in Quality of Life in 2009/10?
What about this Aug 2, 2009 article from the Chicago Tribune highlighting the historical and positive tourism venues in the region? http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-0802-windsor-canadaaug02,0,4058750.story (no mention of the strike there!)
Its time people stop focusing on the negative and start focusing on the positive historical, and cultural benefits this region has to offer. Should we really care what Torontonians think? Afterall, we are more likely to be welcoming tourists from Chicago than Toronto, as Tourism Ontario (aka. Tourism Toronto) only advertises the GTA/Niagara region.
ps. Toronto’s Harbour-front walk is just as boring and not nearly as nice. Both cities should take lessons from Halifax.
JP, I don’t like the idea of Halifax’s waterfront as the model. I find the waterfront at Halifax is overrun with cheap souvenir shops and fish-and-chips/ hotdog-and-burger stands. Also there is no real programming in Halifax.
What Halifax gets right is the connection of the waterfront to the downtown. Also their waterfront is more alive and functional than ours which currently is just a view.
But when we make the connection between our waterfront and the downtown, like during Redbull, we accomplish results Halifax could only dream of. Similarly when we make our waterfront more alive and functional, like during the recent floating concert, again Halifax could never create that sort of magical atmosphere.
Edwin, I certainly do not care for the tacky side of the Halifax waterfront, but it did have something that Windsor’s and Toronto’s waterfront equivalent did not have: people. With a metro population of around 350k, the availability of people is far less than Toronto’s 5.5 million, and Windsor’s 5 million (including Detroit area), but they were there in large numbers. To top it off, the weather was cold and windy, and there were still people! I dont know exactly why, but I think it could be functional aspect of the downtown, as you mentioned. Real fishing boats, tug boats, tall ships, and even a Carnival cruise ship came in. In addition to that, there were other things along that waterfront: Anchors. On one side, you had a casino (that was pathetic in comparison to Caesars, but it was a casino), office buildings to bring lunchtime crowds, historic tourist areas with shops/etc, boat tour docks, Martime Museum, a Biotech research facility, Breweries, and the Pier21 Museum at the far anchor. With this many people walking about, there was new condo development all along the waterfront. I think what makes it work, is a great mix of things. Im not implying to make a replica of the Halifax waterfront, just to take note of it, pick the good parts, and give things a try. I’m not opposed to temporary chip or ice-cream stands along the water. Heck, you cant even get ice-cream downtown now! [please correct me if i am wrong on that statement] Its just that something needs to be done, because I see people walking, jogging, skateboarding, and biking along the waterfront, but they obviously are not stopping downtown. — not enough to do (shopping/etc).
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Columnists/Cornies_Larry/2009/08/01/10332741-sun.html
I wanted to to an entirely new blog posting on this article
London ranks high on the Around town section
What really pissed me off was the lame Windsor Star column that didn’t even acknowledge that category. Its back to what I call the “Monty Python” defense of “that parrots dead” response “no its not”.
The Windsor Star column mentioned 3 or 4 categories but completely ignored that category. I commented on it but for some reason the comment was ignored as well.
Scaledown has a lot of functions but the “Around Town” category represents the fundamentals of what we are talking about (I’m speaking for my co-bloggers here)
I’m also frustrated that what I feel are the semantics of my aggressive nature that have alienated some. I have people (readers and other bloggers) that I’ve pissed off royally for a bunch of reasons that I feel agree with me.
We agree that repopulating downtown is a cause and/or effect of the “around town” category.
Sure I support the Canal in prinicpal, but its only because its primary goal is to attract residents and repopulate the core. I support it in principal because no market study has been done to say if this is the most cost efficient way of doing so.
I think that what gets me in trouble is that When it comes to these opinions I consider myself a “Fanatical Agnostic” A fanatical agnostic is someone who Doesn’t know, but is 100%, absolutely sure that you don’t f***en know either. I harshly shoot down these other opinions more because I feel those who espouse them state them as fact vs. opinion when they know nothing more than I do.
Will a canal Work as intended, I don’t know, but to those who are so sure that they know, FU. You simply don’t know either. Thats what a market rate study is supposed to tell us. If my experience starting more businesses than most (7 retail locations for Bedroom Depot, a manufacturing plant, 5 restaurants and bars, 3 construction/development projects and 4-5 commercial property aquisitions and sales) has taught me anything, it has taught me that sometimes the best most sure plans blow up in your face and sometimes bizarre high risk ventures pay off far more than you would have ever guessed. I’ve had the most sure things lose me big bucks and I’ve had stupid decisions that I know were wrong regardless of the results pay off huge.
So yeah, thats where I’m coming from, it pushes my buttons to see others so sure of themselves. Maybe I come off as arrogant but its only because I’m fearless to throw stuff out there that could see me proven wrong. Its just not a big deal to me and I take no shame in being proven wrong. I take pride and show respect for taking the risk, not in whether that risk paid off…..
ahhh. gotta stop drinking and blogging
He’s not dead, he’s pining!
Hi all
Just a note - Margaret (me) and Marge are not the same person! I love Scaledown and I don’t think anyone here is a congenital complainer.
It may be that we have become so feckless as a people that we no longer care how things do work, but only what kind of quick, easy outer impression they give. If so, there is little hope for our cities or probably for much else in our society. But I do not think this is so. ”
— Jane Jacobs, The Death And Life of Great American Cities, 1961