Sale of main library to Downtown Mission draws criticism at packed BIA gathering
Ouellette Avenue location a concern for business owners in the downtown
A packed meeting Tuesday night to air concerns over the sale of the main Windsor Public Library branch to the Downtown Mission heard numerous concerns over the transparency of the process and the negative impacts the sale will have on Ouellette Avenue and the downtown.
More than 50 downtown business owners and citizens gathered at the meeting at the Best Western Plus on Riverside Drive hosted by the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association.
The City of Windsor announced earlier this year it is selling the downtown library building to the mission for $3.6 million. The mission’s plan is to move its kitchen, programs and offices to the building’s first floor. The second level of the building will be converted into transitional housing and one-bedroom apartments. The deal closes in June 2019.
“We were not consulted, it is a public facility and there was inadequate consultation,” said Stan Cunningham, past president of Windsor Public Library Foundation, a separate fundraising arm that is now being wound down. “We were never formally consulted on this issue when we used to put money into it.” Connie Bonadonna, owner of Rafinee fashion boutique at Ouellette Avenue and Erie Street, said she supports the Downtown Mission, but questions the suitability of placing it on the city’s main drag.
“It breaks my heart to see these people, but it’s not about homelessness, it’s about drug addiction and mental illness,” said Bonadonna, who said she often arrives in the morning to her business to find people sleeping in her parking lot and used syringes scattered around. She said she doesn’t see homeless shelters on Toronto’s Bloor Street or main streets in Chicago. The meeting began with a show of hands of people who support the library’s sale, those who are opposed and those who have no opinion.
The final tally was 15 supported the sale, 25 opposed it and five had no opinion.
Letters will be sent to the city and library board outlining the concerns expressed at the meeting. Architect Greg Heil said he is particularly concerned about the sale of a taxpayers’ asset for around $35 a square foot when the price would be much higher on the open market. “For all intents and purposes it’s a new building,” Heil said. “It could be retrofitted for any use.”
He suggested that when the city does build a new library it will be “down by the swimming palace on (developer Shmuel) Farhi’s land.” Joan Shanfield-Melnick, owner of Shanfields-Meyers china shop on Ouellette Avenue, said she is a frequent visitor to the library and it brings together lawyers, doctors, the mentally ill, the disabled, who might all be sitting quietly at the same table.
“A library is a precious building,” said Shanfield-Melnick. She also questioned the wisdom of centralizing all the services catering to the homeless in the downtown core.
Ron Dunn, executive director of the Downtown Mission, was unhappy with what he heard at the meeting.
“I wish that people would take the time to get to know the project versus kiboshing it, and when I hear language talking about bums ...,” Dunn said.
“Listen, everybody has a basic right to live, and all we’re trying to do is reinforce that. We’re downtown because that’s where the people that need the help are. It’s not the other way around.” On Monday, the city announced that the temporary location for the downtown library branch would be within the new city hall, while a new permanent library location is developed.
We’re downtown because that’s where the people that need the help are. It’s not the other way around.