Twin City – Part II

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• Once again, I sigh when I look at "what could be". This is a beautiful city! Andrew, you hinted that St. Etienne lost its main source of employment but successfully recovered from it. What was the main employer and how big was it? It is success stories like this that must come to light for Windsor to follow the example of.

• Chris, at one time the major employer was the coal mines and bicycle manufacturing. The mines shut down, and only one wheel maker remains, and the city has reinvented as a cultural and educational centre.

  Their Modern Art Museum is one of the best in the world (ranked only behind the Pompidou in Paris, and the MOMA in NYC), and they have the "École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Saint-Étienne" which is one of the top engineering schools in France, and "Jean Monnet University", a top general university under the charter of the University in Lyon (similar to how the U of W used to be affiliated with Western in London).

  The city also regularly host a stage of the tour de France, a nod to her history as a major bicycle centre.

  Interesting to note that their mayor - Michel Thiollière who was first elected in 2002, is well regarded, and was a finalist for "World Mayor" in 2006.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Mayor

  I guess competent leadership is a necessity. :)

• To add... The mines closed in 1973, the mines employed 2000+ miners, and several hundred surface workers. The site is a museum today and an intersting place to visit.

• Wow, that city is really something. It makes me want to visit. Will people speak Engish there? I'm curious, what does an average sized one bedroom apt. in downtown cost (Can $) conversion.

• David, it's fairly expensive, I'm not certain of the cost... As for the languarge issue, some will speak English, but not too many. It would be much easier to get by if you spoke French.

• Very nice pictures. We all have to apppreciate one major difference between Windsor and this sister city. St. Etienne like most European cities is Civilized by comparison. That is, the stéphanois have been there since before the 13th century. We have only been here for approximately 400 years (half of that as a muddy outpost). They have had a lot more time to get things right. We have also grown up in a geography of wide open space which we obviously capitolized on. Not to mention that St. Etienne was not born in the age of the automobile. By the way...There is more economic history to St. Etienne. During Napoleons time it was known as Armeville (Guntown) and they produced the majority of armaments for Napoleons follies. We are at the beginning of the history curve. This is when the difference gets made.

• Nice posts, Andrew. It's nice to sit back and ponder what could be, but in the end, Windsor is just like most of North America - it's never going to be an artificially dense city. Some cities can force that (like Portland, because of the green movement in the NW). But as said previously, Windsor is not only from the auto generation, it (like Detroit) is the producer of the auto boom. It's ripples have spread far and wide, however, which could have been expected. Just reaching the shores of China I suspect.

  Those buildings in the city look nice, but I think too many people of my generation couldn't get used to living in a box. I prefer space, and we have the luxury of it. I read that 3% of the US is developed land. Has to be even less than that in Canada. Heck, Ontario is bigger than Texas (though don't tell a Texan that). France has to regulate growth, because, like Germany, if growth were not controlled, they'd be out of space.

  North America was founded by people seeking to escape the confines of the Old World. They wanted "wide open spaces" and they got it. That spirit still lives in most people here. The dream is not for a swanky Park Avenue apartment, it is the estate, with a lake, trees, lawns, stables, whatever. Those who have that in France are the ultra-rich. Here, it is possible for someone without billions to have at least a slice of that lifestyle.

  I find it interesting that the Europeans I've met (Germans mostly), envy our lifestyle here, the spaces, the size of homes that they could never afford back home (or even obtain at any cost). A fair amount of them chose to stay here simply for that reason. So for every person here getting misty-eyed over the Old Country, there is bound to be someone there looking at real estate listings for 5 bedroom colonials with 4,000 sq ft. (and a 5 car garage).

  Still, good article. I would like to visit, but I doubt I could live there. If you think taxes are bad here (yikes). That social contract ain't cheap.

• Andrew, noting the stone turet building in St.Etienne, what is the oldest building in Windsor?

• I'd have to disagree with age being a factor. Quebec City looks a lot like St. Etienne and was established 400 years ago. Also, just across the river, Detroit looked like that and then in 1805 a great a fire burned most of the city to the ground because the buildings were so close to each other and they had to replan the layout of the city. And, yet, they still managed to build new structures of similar grandeur like the Wayne County Courthouse and the old City Hall (demolished in 1963). And, they continued to build fantastic buildings in Detroit like the Kemper's Hecker House or it's much larger rival the 8th Precinct (built in 1901). They still have a lot of fantastic architectural treasures still standing. Not much longer after Napoleon, Detroit was a huge shipbuilding, locomotive producing and industrial hub. Detroit was doing it all the way up to the riots. Since we are just across the river and so close to Detroit, floods of money should have poured into this city for these kinds of building projects, so it's inexcusable that our city looks the way it does and the age of the city has nothing to do with it.

• Duff Baby House, built 1798, on Detroit and Mill Street. The invading Americans burned everything else to the ground.