BIA starts GoFundMe campaign to pay city’s $14,000 fee for Pelissier parking garage files

The Downtown Windsor BIA has launched a campaign to raise the nearly $14,000 that the city is demanding for more information on the vote to eliminate retail space at the Pelissier Street parking garage.

“It’s important for our city to be open and transparent, and that we know all the reasons for all the decisions, good or bad,” said DWBIA chairman Larry Horwitz.

“This one is something that most merchants, most residents in the downtown core area are very much against. Every architect and engineer is against this decision.”

The BIA started a GoFundMe campaign called “Fund Freedom of Information request” on Friday. The group recently filed a FOI request for records of city hall communications leading to the controversial decision to convert ground floor commercial space in the parking garage into more parking spots.

The BIA received a response letter from city clerk Valerie Critchley stating it would cost the business group an estimated $13,672.20 to obtain the records. The city wants half of the fee paid upfront with a certified cheque before the document searches begin.

The clerk’s office estimates it will take 375 hours of staff time, at $30 an hour, to do the searches and prepare a response. The cost also includes about $2,400 for 12,000 photocopied pages.

“It think it’s excessive,” said Horwitz. “I don’t understand why it’s such a high number. It baffles me. I guess we’ll find out.”

Horwitz kicked off the GoFundMe campaign with a $500 donation. By Sunday evening, 14 people had donated a total of $1,000.

“We felt that it was time to move forward on it,” said Horwitz. “A lot of people have been trying to find ways to give money towards the Freedom of Information and so the GoFundMe was a natural.”

Council voted 7-4 last November to evict the parking garage’s remaining tenants and convert the ground-floor space into about 40 parking spots. The conversion would cost $500,000. A recent extension of the six-month eviction notice for the last two tenants runs out at the end of June.

The vote to evict the tenants was a flip-flop of a previous council decision. About a year ago, council voted to continue allowing commercial space in the ground floor of the garage. But a few months later, council decided in a closed-door meeting to convert the commercial space to parking spots. After that move sparked public outrage, council revisited the issue in a public meeting and reaffirmed the incamera vote.

Horwitz is hoping something in the documents could help change the decision. He said council is making decisions that go against the grain of forward-thinking cities revitalizing their downtowns by promoting more foot traffic.

As an example, Horwitz pointed to Detroit’s move to close Woodward Avenue between Jefferson Avenue and Larned Street to create a pedestrian plaza.

“I think it’s archaic,” Horwitz said of plans for the Pelissier garage.

“In Michigan there’s a big announcement of closing off Jefferson and making it a pedestrian area.

“Every city in the world is going a completely different direction and I think that we’re doing things that will hurt us in the long run. That’s why it’s so important. It’s something for the future and for our children.”