City of (dwindling) roses seeks new name

Who are we? We’re the City of Roses, of course. That’s what we proudly still tell those who want or need to know more about us.

And we’re the Automotive Capital of Canada — it says it right there on the signage when you drive into Windsor. But are we really still either of these? It takes a savvy hunter to scavenge out the few remaining rose bushes in our city’s public spaces.

As for national automotive prominence, General Motors is gone, Ford has engine plants here but is now investing heavily in Mexican motor-making, and the CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, despite having just invested billions in the Windsor Assembly Plant, is questioning the future viability of Ontario’s automotive sector.

“Windsor needs to rebrand,” says Drew Dilkens, barely a seventh of the way through his first term as mayor.

City council has unanimously approved the draft of a new 20-year strategic vision for Windsor, which is now being costed out and which will form the basis for further public consultation and input in the fall.

The last strategic plan adopted in 2007 was just too broad, says the mayor. This one, he assures, will be focused and actionoriented and then chopped up into manageable and achievable bits to be funded through council’s annual budget sessions.

No surprise — the No. 1 goal in the draft plan is for more jobs for Windsor.

One brand Windsor doesn’t want to see stick is being known as the Unemployment Capital of Canada. There’s lots of potential. We’ve got a strategic location at the busiest border crossing in North America. We’ve got a richness of arts, cultural, sporting and entertainment offerings. We’ve fought and slain the tax and deficit monsters at city hall. We’ve got affordable housing. We’ve got top-notch educational institutions and a skilled workforce that knows how to build things.

But we’ve got big challenges: the nation’s worst employment statistics; population growth that has been stagnant, and threatens to remain so; a downtown in need of being awakened to its potential; and other neighbourhoods in need of sprucing up. After a decade of fiscal prudence, the political pressure is mounting to loosen the budgetary purse strings and do more with tax dollars, threatening to undermine Windsor’s hard-earned fiscal sustainability and growing competitive edge. Also, our image suffers when only the negative storyline is shared.

The roadmap to a new and improved city image can’t be developed by the mayor and city council alone. Residents have to get involved by facing up to our shortcomings while smelling the roses we still have and planting new promise for the future.

As the 20-year strategic vision draft states: “We need to change the story people tell.”