Eviction looming, Windsor Pride seeks extension
Sky-high rents, no elevators and old buildings in disrepair are just some of the frustrating roadblocks the Windsor Pride Community Education and Resource Centre is encountering as it scrambles to find new downtown digs.
“I don’t know quite honestly what the hell to do,” Bob Williams, executive director of the community centre for Windsor’s LGBT community, said Friday. He was preparing to tour three more potential sites in the face of a June 30 eviction from its longtime headquarters in the city-owned Pellisier Street parking garage.
Williams had already visited 12 vacant properties, most of which were either too expensive, in terrible condition or insufficient for the group’s needs.
In a recent letter to council, he asks for an extension at the existing site, where several tenants are facing eviction after a controversial decision late last year to convert the commercial space into more parking.
The original six-month eviction notice was extended by a month in May. Williams reported late Friday that Mayor Drew Dilkens’ office had contacted him to schedule a meeting for Monday to discuss his dilemma.
“Giving us to June 30 to get our butt out of here is literally putting us on the street,” Williams said.
It appears there’s lots of vacant space in the downtown, until you start looking, said Williams, who pays the city about $1,000 a month for 1,200 square feet. In addition, there’s a similar-sized space next door where counselling is provided.
He’s found that out-of-town landlords want “outrageous and astronomical” rents. Landlords who live here have been more considerate, but many of their buildings are so old that the cost to renovate them rules them out.
“It’s an aging population of buildings downtown,” Williams said. “Some have asbestos, some have leaky roofs, the majority of the ones on the second floor are not accessible for handi-capable people.”
Meanwhile, he is committed to continuing the many programs offered by Windsor Pride, from Narcotics Anonymous meetings to counselling sessions to group meetings for marginalized youth. The centre is used by about 700 people a month.
“We’re ... trying to be good downtown citizens, trying to continue to service the at-risk members of this community, and we just can’t do it by the end of the month.”
He said if the eviction notice isn’t extended (he’s hoping for six more months), Windsor Pride will find a temporary location to run its programs, likely at the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association office.
Rino Bortolin, the city councillor who represents the downtown, supports an extension.
“It was a horrible decision in the first place to close it,” he said of the council decision that was strongly opposed by the BIA. An attempt by local investors to take over the parking garage and keep the commercial space was also turned down by council. Bortolin said many downtown businesses have been trying to help Windsor Pride find locations.
On Friday, the owner of the Mandarin House on Ouellette Avenue was showing Williams some vacant office space on his second floor. And downtown landlord Italo Ferrari was offering a vacant law office on the third floor of his building at 443 Ouellette.
“It’s frustrating because it seems like everyone else is coming to the table to make it happen, except for us,” Bortolin said of city council. “To me, it feels like we should be trying everything we can to have them stay downtown.”
Another parking garage tenant, Youssef Hair Boutique owner Youssef Gereige, has found a new location in the former Crazy Horse tavern in the 400 block of Ouellette, but it will cost almost double the rent — from $1,300 a month to $2,200. In addition, renovations will cost $60,000 to $70,000, said Gereige, who said he doubts the work will be done before he’s evicted.
“I’m struggling, trust me. I don’t think I’m going to be ready,” he said.