downtown a disgusting mess

I was born and raised in Windsor. When living or visiting other cities I always defended Windsor due to our beautiful waterfront and explaining that when living here, we have the best of both worlds — living in a smaller and safe Canadian city with Detroit and all the amenities of a large U.S. city so close.

However, I must say how disappointed and saddened I am in our city, especially seeing Detroit going through such a revitalization. How could we possibly think of being considered in the Amazon bid?

The only thing we have going for us is our waterfront. It must also be very disappointing for those visitors venturing out from the hotels, casino or waterpark with many stores closed, restaurants or bars that are so run down since they have not put any money back into their establishments, yet the same crowd continues to come despite their appearance.

We tout such things as more garage parking, a downtown market during summer months, more lighting in alleys and a winter wonderland in Jackson Park. However, it will take much more than that to make our downtown look appealing and safe.

I don’t exaggerate when explaining our downtown is disgusting. It appears the only money willing to be put up to build, lease or make improvements is from out of town and they are not being encouraged as they should be to invest in our city. Where is the leadership and forwardthinking to spearhead growth in our core? Gary Hillier, Lakeshore