Streetcar restoration worthwhile

Giving job to the pros absolutely the right idea

It was amusing to hear Bill Marra’s council posse prattle on this week about finding a warehouse to park that historic Windsor streetcar in while they figure out what to do with it.

Predictably, Marra, Rino Bortolin, Chris Holt and Irek Kusmierczyk heaped praise on the idea of saving the 99-year-old piece of Windsor’s past while, almost in the same breath, trashing the plan for a speedy, first-class restoration. It’s called working both sides of the (political) street.

Their alternative? Warehouse it. Then take all the time we need mulling its future. Then maybe round up some volunteers, hopefully not named Larry and Moe, who could spend countless hours of their boundless spare time, away from the kids, hammering and drilling streetcar No. 351 back to its 1920s glory.

Marra should have warned his young followers that we’ve been down this “warehouse” road before. In late 1999, Marra seconded that fateful motion to spend $237,000 (equal to $330,00 in 2017) to salvage the marble facade of the doomed TD Bank at Riverside and Ouellette during demolition of the historic Norwich Block for the Canderel development.

The less said about the Canderel fiasco, which cost Windsor taxpayers in excess of $50 million and an entire heritage block that could have been a key player in revitalizing downtown, the better. The scars from that debacle are still healing.

But sticking the bank facade in a warehouse? How did that work out? Sad to say, but 18 years later the bits and pieces are still gathering cobwebs at the Lou Romano waste treatment plant.

Many of us wanted it saved. We thought $237,000 was a worthwhile investment in a historical/architectural treasure. But dumping it into a warehouse — out of sight, out of mind — to await divine intervention, or an imaginative developer, has proven disastrous.

All sense of urgency was lost once it was locked away, and that’s exactly what would happen with streetcar No. 351 if it were off-loaded in some dank, spider-infested warehouse to await a discount council fix or, more likely, left to rot in peace, which would be only marginally better than consigning it to the landfill.

Holt, a skilled tradesman, told council he knows people who would donate time and talent to restoring the streetcar.

No doubt many would step forward, tools in hand. But putting a complex project, involving dramatic deterioration of a rare heirloom, in the hands of well-meaning amateurs means consigning it to the distant future.

In Ottawa, eager volunteers, including rail and transit enthusiasts and high school students, have spent the better part of 17 years working on a 1917 streetcar. As of January, it was 80 per cent finished at a cost of $500,000, most of it donated.

Then there’s our prized Lancaster bomber. Some fine people have dedicated countless hours to the enormously challenging restoration of the former Jackson Park landmark. But it’s now a 20-year project costing city taxpayers an untendered $850,000 and there’s no end in sight.

Amateurs mean well. Professionals meet deadlines. In RM Auto Restoration of Blenheim, one of the top restoration firms on the planet, the city has placed No. 351 in the ultimate professional hands.

For a maximum $750,000, perhaps less, these folks will deliver an authentically restored streetcar in two years. That’s miraculous, given the timelines for most projects this demanding.

Marra now has his knickers in a knot over a funding approach, using $7.2 million from a cancelled parking garage project, to bankroll the streetcar restoration and other developments.

Funny how he didn’t find it nearly as “disturbing” a few weeks ago when $4.3 million from the same legitimate source was used to pay for new playgrounds in every city ward, including his own. Council was all smiles that night.

Bottom line. Even with all this crass politicking Windsor will soon boast one of the continent’s best-restored transportation artifacts.

For a city that has long viewed the bulldozer as the answer to its heritage issues, that will be a welcome step forward.