South West Detention Centre

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• Transportation costs isn't a small amount. Extra costs of an SUV idling or slowly moving for an hour each time it needs to transport a prisoner plus the personel ends up being a lot. The city is not gonna remove stop lights and they'll give into police service demands for budget increases as always as it's popular with most voters.

  I live in downtown too am I'm not complaining. And, I'm not a big fan of Eddie either. But, it makes sense to me.

  As for incomining visitors, come on. They'll be coming from Delray Detroit. You just can't make a worser statement than Delray.

  If I had the time, I'd write another long argument. But, since an editorial in the Windsor Star did it, I'll quote that instead:
  http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/editorial/story.html?id=cea990de-0f07-41a3-acb6-2747344bd646&k=53008

  Jail site
  A lack of consultation
  Windsor Star
  Published: Friday, November 07, 2008 A9
  It's not as if the Dalton McGuinty government hasn't had enough time to consider the best location for a new Windsor jail. It's been four years since Monte Kwinter -- the then-minister of community safety and correctional services -- said replacing the 80-year-old facility in Sandwich was "virtually at the top of our priority list."

  At the time, Kwinter predicted it would take two years to put a shovel in the ground, and added that his ministry had already been looking at several potential sites.

  Four years later, it appears the province didn't look particularly hard for a new location and wasn't interested in the community's opinion in choosing it. In September, without any consultation, the government announced it had picked a 60-acre site north of Highway 401 between Walker Road and the 8th Concession.

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  Font:****And after three public information meetings, it seems fairly clear that many city residents don't like the preferred site for the 315-bed facility.

  Nick Prestinaci, a ministry manager of strategic planning and capital projects, admits "there's been some concerns with the site."

  Concerns are also coming from city councillors. Ward 4 Coun. Bill Marra, for example, agrees with residents who don't want the jail in the midst of a quickly developing retail area.

  "Is this the best and optimal use for this land? We will argue it's not," said Marra this week.

  Marra and Ward 1 Coun. Drew Dilkens were also critical of the fact the city was given no advance notice of the province's decision to build the new jail in the Walker Road area.

  While land use is important, it isn't the key issue.

  The real issue is that the city's preferred location -- the Brighton Beach industrial area -- is more practical. On one hand, it's removed from high traffic residential and commercial developments, but it's also far closer to the police station and courthouse than the Walker Road site, which would trim transportation costs still borne by the city. The Brighton Beach location is also on the doorstep of the police training centre.

  The province's arguments against the Brighton Beach site have been weak. The concerns about the extra expense of servicing the land don't hold much water since the area is already home to existing industrial development.

  Then there is the reported comment of one government spokesperson who claimed the area was too polluted for inmates and jail personnel. At best, that's a weak, unsubstantiated argument that's insulting to the people and businesses who populate the west end. At worst, it's galling that the government would play the pollution card when its been dismissive of environmental concerns in considering the city's GreenLink border road proposal.

  The new jail is a much-needed project that the community supports. But when any type of correctional institution is planned, government has a responsibility to include the community in the planning process. In this case, that hasn't happened.

  And, as a result, it shouldn't surprise the province that people living in the area have organized a residents' association and are planning to lobby MPPs and councillors in an effort to get the government to put the jail somewhere else. A petition with 1,000 signatures is already circulating in the area.

  The debate on the jail's location is a long way from over.

• The Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre in London is close to residential and commercial zones as well as being located next to the 401. It's the fortress looking structure in the bottom left of this satellite view:

  http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=711+Exeter+Rd+london,+ontario&sll=42.920771,-81.224531&sspn=0.006113,0.008047&ie=UTF8&ll=42.924487,-81.220036&spn=0.012224,0.016093&t=h&z=16

• Antun - Sorry, you were blocked as Spam.

  It's probably becasue you are new, and you happen to have the exact same IP address as Jen.

  Double posting?

• ooooh!!! Sha-ZAM !! ;-)

• Oh my.... did someone get busted playing the sock puppet game?

• Andrew, not that it matters, but, Jen is my girlfriend and Terry is also a friend of mine. I sent your blog around for people to read and comment on. As I said, it is an interesting site and worth a look for people interested in the jail. Hopefully more people I sent around to will post.

• Sorry, Terry 2 is a friend of mine...I don't know Terry.

• That is funny. I still stand by my comments.

• As I stand by miine. The terrible outcome of all this is that once again windsor looks negative and anti-business because we are once again (with Eddie leading the way once again) giving the finger to the province and/or anyone else.
  As a businessman, I will tell you all if you don't already know that Windsor is already considered the plague by many businessmen and leaders who do not live here but live all over the world. This is yet another reason why that perception is there.

  Where would you folks like to have this jail built? Where is the place you believe is best?

  David, out of town visitors are coming from the USA and they will use the third crossing to get here. Rarely do people who not live in Detroit use the tunnel so yourpoint is moot just as Delray being a cesspool (which I agree). That is in another city in another country. It has no bearing here.

• For all of you misinformed people, I will clear up a few misconceptions. First off, the Brighton Beach area is NOT more expensive. From the mouths of the people sent to the public meetings who are working for the Southwest Detention Centre, this current proposed location on the 8th Concession is THE MOST EXPENSIVE OPTION that they have considered. The are paying top dollar for the prime land, I've been told as much as $300,000-400,000 per acre, with 62 acres for sale. And why do they need to waste our tax money purchasing 62 acres for a 315 bed jail, when the 1000 bed Toronto detention Centre is built on only 26 acres? Also, the land is not serviced, which will be another high expense paid for by us, the taxpayers. It's funny how Sandra Pupatello falsely used that as a reason not to choose the Brighton Beach location, when that area is in fact already serviced. Not to mention, the distance from the courthouses, which if you read to the end of Mr. Schnurr's article, and not just the underlined portions that this blogger wants us to read, should be considered when choosing the location. Again, it will be us the taxpayers paying this hefty price for gas & transporting the prisoners multiple times a day, especially when gas is so expensive now adays.