IF WE CAN'T GATHER INDOORS, WE NEED TO EMBRACE THE OUTDOORS
As COVID forces us to keep our distance, it is time to get out there and enjoy the season
“It's a balmy five degrees on our patio!” read a sign I saw outside a restaurant in Iceland two years ago.
Icelanders sipped drinks and soaked up the sun.
When the average temperature in July is 12 degrees, you embrace it.
That's what we need to do this winter — embrace the season, while maintaining safe social distancing, of course.
Being able to walk, run, cycle or just sit outside during long, warm, sunny days last spring and summer helped keep us safe and sane during the first wave of the pandemic.
Now, it's dark by 5:30 p.m. The temperature has plunged. Snow and ice will follow.
And we're in the middle of the second wave of COVID-19, with cases rising.
Many children couldn't trickor-treat on Halloween. There's already talk of limiting gatherings at Christmas. We've already sacrificed a lot, some much more than others. We're tired of it.
As Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged recently, it's going to be a tough winter.
If we can't gather indoors, we need to dig out our long underwear and head outdoors.
That's why several recent city decisions are so significant.
The first was council's unanimous decision to allow new curbside restaurant patios to remain until Dec. 31. They opened in the summer to help eateries serve more people safely during the pandemic. They've helped restaurants stay afloat and preserved jobs. Almost as important, they've provided people a place to socialize and enlivened streets. Many restaurants have since added heaters to warm the autumn chill.
Remember the hardy Icelanders. If they can do it, so can we in Canada's Sun Parlour.
Cities also need free outdoor activities that everyone can do. The decision to offer free skating all day at Lanspeary Park is a perfect example. It's a first, and it will cost the city, which is already out millions of dollars because of additional costs and lost revenue during the pandemic. But it's an invaluable investment in the community's mental health.
We're going to need something festive during the holidays, too. Again, a little forward-thinking and imagination goes a long way. Only the Grinch would have voted against two merry initiatives that council recently approved.
One is the city's $20,000 contribution to a “reverse” Christmas parade in which the floats, bands and Santa Claus will be stationary and spectators will drive by. It's the first time the city is funding the parade, but as John Fairley, vice-president of St. Clair College, which will host the event, said, “Everybody needs something right now.”
The other initiative is $20,000 city grants for Business Improvement Areas to stage light displays after Bright Lights, the city's spectacular annual show in Jackson Park, was cancelled because of the pandemic. The Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association is planning to spend $80,000 to light everything on Ouellette Avenue from Tuscarora Street to Riverside Drive. There will also be carollers, Windsor Symphony Orchestra musicians, Santa Claus, roasted chestnuts.
And here's a bonus from the Downtown Windsor Farmers' Market — a Christmas market. The market is extending its season until Dec. 12, moving to the ground floor of the Pelissier Street parking garage. The Germans do it best, but cities all over are catching on to the popularity of Christmas markets. Finally, we have one, too.
We can't ski in Windsor, but we can still excel at apres ski, as Citylab pointed out in a story on beating the winter COVID-19 blues. What about live music at outdoor rinks and toboggan hills or on the riverfront on weekends? What about food trucks serving hot chocolate, cider and other winter treats?
One of the simplest things Windsor can do is ensure that bike lanes and trails are plowed and sidewalks shovelled. Every winter, I look at the snow and ice on downtown sidewalks and wonder how people in wheelchairs and on scooters get around. They can't. This is the year to do something about it.
Walktober, the city's challenge to residents to go for a walk every day in October, with examples of the health benefits and cool facts (one step requires up to 200 muscles), was a another laudable initiative. We could do it all winter, if sidewalks are shovelled.
Ultimately, the pandemic and the need to get outside should prompt us to reconsider how we design our streets. When the world locked down, people in my neighbourhood emerged from their houses and began walking, running, riding and rollerblading around Roseland Drive, which circles Roseland Golf and Curling Club. It was like a track. The neighbourhood has never been so busy. People greeted each other as they passed (carefully, giving each other a wide berth).
But there are no sidewalks, and the street lights stop partway around Roseland. If you're walking at night, you need a beacon. And be prepared to dive out of the way of cars.
It's time to start building those sidewalks called for in the new active transportation master plan.