Armouries Open House

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• If the city is awash in money, they should lower the property taxes, which is the highest in Ontario, instead of wasting taxpayer money frivolously like there's no tomorrow. Today's front page in the Windsor Star said we're in last place in all of Canada as for future economic outlook. A lot of it has to do with our high property taxes and leadership consistently voting for overpriced projects like this.

  Also, I went to the open house today. There's no way the arena could fit 1,500 seats. They had the windsor symphony stage in the back and the seats going up to the middle of the hall, where the garage door off the alley used to be. I counted 10 rows with 10 chairs on each side. That's two hundred chairs. If you fill the other half with chairs, that's another two hundred. You might be able to squeeze another 200 chairs as long as the fire marshall doesn't scream about safety. So, maximum capacity looks to be around 600 seats. That's as much as the Walkerville Theatre. But, it's still smaller than there current location of 1,200 in the Chrysler building. I didn't really notice a sound difference. And, how much of the current 1,200 seats does the symphony normally fill? Spending $60 million to move the WSO to the armouries is huge boondoogle to the taxpayers. The armouries should be a war museum or Windsor archive museum instead.

• I too think 40 or 50 million is a bit out of line for a reno. You could probably build a nice new facility with a contribution of 50 million but rest assured if there is a way to screw up the Armouries as a usable facility get the Council involved.
  Incidentally, it was interesting to hear Dan Stamper on the news reassuring us that they are going to build another span, while the Feds, the Province and the City continue to procrastinate.

• Vp - build a new facility?? The whole point of reusing the armouries is sustainability and reuse. Infill. Not to mention bringing a huge part of Windsor’s history back to glory. Making it a top notch attraction instead of being vacant.

  While the price may seem large, the benefits it could have to the entire city are unthinkable. To have people think of Windsor as something other than a lunch bucket town is huge for attracting investment. A world-class venue in a derelict part of the core can spur growth and investment in the immediate area.

  The federal and provincial governments have many heritage and cultural grants that can be accessed. Hopefully the WSO puts up a large sum of cash as well as starts a donation campaign to raise funds. The DWBIA always seems eager to provide at least some sort of cash investment when it comes to luring major tenants downtown.

  All of these, and I’m sure I am missing some, could significantly reduce the cost. This is also something for our administration to show leadership on and encourage our neighbours in LaSalle, Tecumseh, Essex, even Amherstburg and Leamington, that an investment in a project such as this can reap benefits for the entire region in attracting workers and families lured in by a higher quality of life in the area. Those towns can use the enticement of living a quiet rural life while being only a half hour drive to world-class Canadian facilities. No need to cross the border. No need to exchange money. Spending money locally.

• I've got a better idea. If council can't get their act together and turn it into a war museum, they should make sure the facade is properly designated as heritage and sell it to the highest bidder like London Ontario did with theirs. This council can learn a lot from the way London runs their city like how to count!!

• David, I'm not so sure about that idea... I would almost rather have it sit empty than to have a highrise punched through the middle of it...

  If you aren't familiar with the London project, here's a photo:

  http://www.flickr.com/photos/mike_55/87585209/

• I thought the hotel/highrise was a good idea. Not sure what an empty building will bring but at least it would be inuse and not have the ability to be torn down regardless of designation. We all know that brass plaque can be mowd down with the rest of the building.

  However, I think the Symphony is a great idea and if council and our mayor without a vision don't think it is a good idea I say open it as the quinessential area museum.

• That's only one possible private sector use for It. It doesn't mean that there will be a glass tower sticking out of the back of this one. Have you seen the inside restaurant that they turned the lobby into? They washed off all the paint inside to reveal the beautiful interior brickwork, highlighted with halogen lighting. I've never seen a finer interior, while maintaining the beauty of the exterior. http://www.expedia.ca/pub/agent.dll?qscr=dspv&flag=l&itid=&itdx=&itty=&from=f&foop=0&hwrq=&htid=27978&spsh=&spsi=&crti=4&nfla=1&&zz=1194567636458&&

  But, that's besides the point. The city simply can't afford to keep it, let alone fund it's conversion into new concert hall when it already has one in the Chrysler Theatre. In fact, the city should sell at least half of it's properties including the armouries and all the public housing highrises it owns. We no longer have the tax base to support this level of public municipal ownership anymoe. We have the highest property tax percentages in Ontario. I noticed in the legal notices section of monday's Windsor Star that our good ol' friend Stephen Funtig of the Capitol is handling Walkerville Breweries' bankruptcy. Another entrepreneur trying to put a historical building to good use being wiped out trying to pay our Draconian property taxes. The business' here can't handle the increasing tax burdens imposed by condo conversions of residential highrises and businesses leaving the city. The only way to make our property taxes competitive with other Ontario cities is to start selling off money losing city owned properties to the highest bidder. Only then will you see this city get back on track and flourish!

• David, for the record the city no longer owns the Cleary.

• Also, where is the notice you talked about? I can't see it in Monday's paper/

• It was in the classified section under Legal Notices on the first page of classifieds I believe. I think D1, but not exactly sure. It was either Saturday or Monday. I could get the exact page number if I didn't already throw it away in blue box Tuesday night.