Ward 1 incumbent Francis announces he’ll run again
The first-term councillor representing a big chunk of South Windsor is seeking re-election. Fred Francis, the 37-year-old brother of former mayor Eddie Francis, filed his registration papers for Ward 1 earlier this week. He’s the first candidate registered in the ward and only the second incumbent councillor to file citywide.
(The first one was Ward 2 Coun. John Elliott.) The deadline for registering is July 27 for the Oct. 22 election.
“You look back at the last four years — what did I campaign on four years ago, what did I achieve and what more needs to be done. I think more needs to be done,” said Francis, who added he’s continuing to focus on one of his main promises: holding the line on taxes. And anyone who’s watched council over the last four years, “knows where I stand on taxes,” said Francis, who said he “eats and sleeps” his job as a city councillor. “Hopefully, the track record is there.”
Ward 1 is bounded by Dougall Avenue to the east, Grand Marais Road to the north, and the 401/ Herb Gray Parkway to the south and west, but also includes a lowpopulation section of West Windsor that is bounded by the Town of LaSalle and goes all the way to the Detroit River.
In the 2014 election, with seven candidates in Ward 1, Francis won with almost 37 per cent of the vote, followed by Ryan Mancini (29 per cent), Matt Ford (14 per cent) and Denise Ghanam (10 per cent). Up until this week, Francis was tightlipped about whether he’d run again.
Ward 1 has been the recipient of millions in city investments, he said, including turning the former South Windsor Arena into the Capri Pizzeria Recreation Complex, $45-million-plus in improvements to Cabana Road, tennis court resurfacing in Central Park, new playgrounds at six South Windsor parks and major work on the Lennon Drain to help guard against flooding.
In the works is a big expansion of the Budimir branch of the Windsor Public Library.
“Four years later, being able to point to these different projects, saying they’ve been completed, they’re pending or they’re starting, that’s something I think the people in Ward 1 will be happy with,” Francis said.
He believes that citywide, the economy has improved but work still needs to be done with respect to diversification.
If re-elected, Francis said he wants to “move the ball” on major road improvements on Talbot Road and the Sixth Concession, and increase investments in roads and sewers overall.
The biggest challenge in the next couple of years will be finding solutions to prevent the kind of terrible flooding that hit the ward in the fall of last year, he said.
“We really want to get a handle on that.”