Downtown platforms to fuel election debate
Mayoral candidate Marchand stirs pot with long list of platform promises
Exploring novel ideas, recognizing the impact of small change, working with neighbourhoods, learning from other cities, making Windsor’s shamefully high child poverty a priority — there is a lot in mayoral candidate Matt Marchand’s platform for downtown.
Finally, we have a campaign. When Marchand, former CEO of the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce, announced he’s running for mayor, it was seen as the first real race for the city’s top elected position since former councillors Eddie Francis and Bill Marra slugged it out in 2003. Smart, knowledgeable, energetic, he was seen as the only viable challenger. He led the drive for an auto strategy and fair trade. He believed in a bolder, more aggressive agenda. He appealed to more progressive voters. Then came his campaign launch. He couldn’t say what he thinks about downtown, taxes, even if he was still chamber CEO. Then came his first announcement: holding one council meeting per quarter outside city hall. It drew blanks. Windsor just spent $43.9 million building a new city hall with a council chamber double the size of the old one. Meetings are now livestreamed.
Elections are about ideas, and the mayor’s race sets the debate. But the mayor’s race was stalled. “I don’t want to talk about rotating council meetings, no offence,” said Coun. Rino Bortolin, who represents the troubled downtown, now the focus of the campaign.
But Marchand’s downtown platform announced Tuesday, with 53 proposals covering homelessness, neighbourhoods, businesses, infrastructure and crime, offers a distinct and substantive alternative.
“I like it,” said Bortolin. “He’s listening.”
He supports basic things that seem to be big controversies here.
He gets that small things make a difference, like micro grants and alley lights. Micro grants help residents pay for repairs to porches, fences and walkways to improve their houses, streets and neighbourhoods. City staff proposed this last year. Council rejected it. Now the Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative raises money to do it. Our alleys are pitch dark. People don’t feel safe near them. They want lights. It’s been a fight to get some. The $50,000 that Marchand allocates won’t buy many, says Sarah Cipkar of the collaborative, and it doesn’t address transforming alleys into cool spaces, like Detroit. But it’s a start.
Marchand also understands that “the best neighbourhoods are made by the people who live there.” He proposes funding neighbourhood initiatives like community gardens, pop-up markets, movie nights and alley parties. The collaborative raises money for that, too, because the city didn’t support it.
Cities like Hamilton and Kitchener support these programs. It means more than money.
“It gives us a platform with the city,” said Cipkar. “Now, we struggle with who do we go to if we want to do something. And a lot of the ideas are a bit out of the box for Windsor.” Marchand’s platform also proposes things that are good for business and good for the city, like sidewalk patios. It costs The Coffee Exchange, a popular, longtime cafe, $300 a year in city fees to have a sidewalk patio. There are two tables. It costs other restaurants as much as $1,000, in addition to tables, chairs and railings. Marchand says he’ll reduce the fees.
“It’s something you want to have. It promotes interaction between businesses and the street,” said owner Ron Balla. That’s good for business and good for creating vibrant streets. In Canada’s Sun Parlour, why wouldn’t you do this? Better crosswalks have been controversial. It took years to get one in Walkerville. Marchand proposes trying a pedestrian scramble at Ouellette and University avenues. It’s an intersection where stoplights stop traffic in all directions while pedestrians cross in all directions. They’re being tried in Toronto, Kingston, Edmonton and elsewhere.
I don’t know if there are enough pedestrians to warrant one at Ouellette and University, but, said Coun. Chris Holt, who finally won the crosswalk in Walkerville, “I applaud anybody willing to look at different ways to use the public realm. It leads to good-quality solutions. Let’s look at all those.” Marchand also acknowledges the shameful fact that one in four children in Windsor — one in three in west Windsor — live in poverty. The city “must give some children a head start so everyone can finish the race,” he says, pledging to support programs like ProsperUS, which supports children “from cradle to career.” Launched this month, it’s the first of its kind in Canada, backed by many of this area’s most prominent community leaders.
So where will the $4 million for this platform come from? The city needs to set new priorities, Marchand says.
“The underpass to nowhere would be the first one to go,” he said, referring to Mayor Drew Dilkens’ controversial proposal for a pedestrian underpass under Riverside Drive. “It’s not needed, and it’s too expensive.”
The only thing wrong with this platform is there’s too much jammed into one announcement. Most people won’t read it all, and that’s too bad. Marchand should do what all politicians do: reannounce it in digestible parts. He has a mountain to climb to upset Dilkens, but he has started a debate.