Downtown Windsor – Part I

View Comments

• Sorry, John, I guess that you didn't get my point. The only reason that I edited one word of your quote was because I couldn't stomach the use of the adjective that you used.

  I did not respond to your statement out of context or twist what you said.

  I proudly stand by the DWBIA video as being the best way to recruit businesses to downtown The strategies fo the DWBIA are based on the recommendations of the International Downtown Association Panel and a Merchandising study with recommendations on how to recruit. Districting was a main recommendation of both reports.

  John and Andrews frustrations with me seem to make them attack our downtown and resist acknowledging any positive element of it.

  If you don't like our specific video, I think its a matter of taste. I'd have yet to see a downtown business recruitment video that surpasses it.

  As to James comments, Christian Aldo has converted 3 empty bldgs to art galleries on pelissier. The DWBIA and WIFF tried, but were rebuffed due to insurance concerns.

  Shawn Micallef has commented in this blog, I'd like to hear him weigh in on some of these discussion points

• BTW, I hvae yet to see one postive result from criticising our downtown. If Andrew or John think they're brutal honesty somewhow will affect positive change, I'd like to see them demonstrate how that has ever happened in our city. It will only give politicians justivficaiton to further abandon their duty to downtown

• BTW, I hvae yet to see one postive result from criticising our downtown. If Andrew or John think they're brutal honesty somewhow will affect positive change, I'd like to see them demonstrate how that has ever happened in our city. It will only give politicians justivficaiton to further abandon their duty to downtown

• Brutal honesty about violent events occuring on Pelissier street near Wyandotte seems be justification for spearheading a new by-law. Did you accomplish that by closing your eyes real tight? I recall one early comment by yourself (elsewhere) where you offered to stand there with a camcorder, or something to that effect, to show city council just how bad it is after hours. Does brutal honesty only work when it's for your political agenda, or can the rest of us have a say too?

• "John and Andrews frustrations with me seem to make them attack our downtown and resist acknowledging any positive element of it."

  Oh really? Read back through the comments again. For example, one of mine -

  Now this is not to say I would discourage patronizing those few businesses that are trying to make downtown a better place. We need to reward the businesses that ride the straight and narrow and that do not contribute to the ’shitification’ of downtown. There’s no denying that.

  Also go back and read through seven years of posts highlighting history and architecture of Windsor - especially downtown - on this site. There are veteran businesses in the downtown area that have been highlighted very recently and spoken of very highly (and defended vigorously) by yours truly and Andrew. On the shoot itself, we had lunch downtown. We stopped and admired a couple businesses that were open that comprise the small start of what could be a proper mix to serve a potential residential influx. How many people commenting can even say that much? Or that it had been one's second trip downtown to spend money that weekend alone.

• Well, it's a good thing the video isn't on Youtube. Most people won't even know it exists and be able to laugh at how far off from reality it is.

  The soundtrack and flashiness makes it seem like it was designed for the 19 year old Michigan bar crowd, not urban professionals or families. It's in poor taste and poorly thought out. Now contrast this with say some of the Pure Michigan ads for Detroit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4OA-Bi_sJQ Big difference.

• Mark wrote:

  If Andrew or John think they’re brutal honesty somewhow will affect positive change, I’d like to see them demonstrate how that has ever happened in our city. It will only give politicians justivficaiton to further abandon their duty to downtown

  Not at all, but I do feel the need to counteract the "spin" put out by the City and the DWBIA that everything is rosy down there. I bet most outlying residents haven't been downtown in years. Why? For the most part there isn't anything to bring them down. We have elements (like the WSO which for some reason wasn't in the slick marketing video), but those are things you drive down to see and drive back home.

  Watching that video is like having someone pissing in my ear and telling me it raining.

• I don't think the comments and photos here are unnecessarily slamming downtown, rather it's tough love. What I see in these pictures, mostly, is opportunity. Buildings that are still intact (albeit behind some unfortunate stucco or bricked false-fronts) and empty spaces that are likely cheap to rent, waiting for creative folks to move in.

  Of course, those creative folks (from business people to artists) can't do much when the city's economy is down.

  I don't mean to be too hard on the video, but ultra-slick PR videos like that don't appeal to me (maybe if that atrocious song was changed I might think a little different though) because they look like every other ultra-slick PR video produced. They might know a lot more this sort of thing than I do (I hope they do) but what does it tell me about Windsor? The aesthetic of the video is that of trying to hard (which is what I meant by "desperation") because I don't get a feel for what Windsor is like. Instead, I get quick editing that looks like the beginning title sequece of, say, a Global newscast that tries to show they're urban but their studio is really out in the suburbs.

  All that to say, the effort is commendable, I'm just not down with the execution. Though the video falls into the trap of many provincial towns and cities, it is far from just a Windsor thing. Last year the outrage at Tourism Toronto's "Toronto Unlimited" campaign was wide and loud. Ads ran in the New York Times that embarrassed the city. The mayor disowned himself from the campaign (Tourism Toronto is an arms length body). They still run, but it was cooled down a bit. Like this Windsor video, it depicted a Toronto none of us recognized.

  That doesn't mean to avoid portraying Windsor as good and positively as one can, but rather to make an effort at getting to heart of Windsor's charms. A walkable downtown. Follow somebody around a bit more rather than have 30 jump cuts a minute. Linger on some of those fine buildings, the magnificent and stunning view of detroit. There are people in Detroit who long for an intimate "real city" feel, and Windsor can provide that in a few places. Royal Oak might be the only place in Detroit where you can get that, and it could not touch the kind of diversity that Windsor has.

  Get rid of that song!!! That shit might play in heavy rotation on Much Music, but it appeals to a fairly narrow slice of people. Use a song by a local artist! There are loads around Windsor. Take a playful approach, a whimsical approach, instead of the cliche corporate boardroom approach. This video will appeal to some people certainly, but a lot of the "creative class" (for lack of a better term) which their money to spend and etc are sophisticated enough to see through it.

  The details are what attach people to places. It's more of a challenge to show them because it takes time to see them, to get people in to them. When I come back to Windsor I often sit in the Coffee Exchange and write because it has Wifi and a proper espresso machine. The patio is gone though -- would have made a urbane shot of someobody on a laptop there. I'd see that and think "hmm an activity other than partying downtown ... neat." Maybe that was in the video, but the song got in the way.

  People in the suburbs who may have not come down to Downtown in ages have the impression that it's a wild no-go territory -- this video doesn't undermine that view. It shows life, yes, but not the mixed-use kind of downtown city's are striving for. Delicate and sweet and thoughtful rather than brash and loud and screaming.

  All this is IMHO, of course.

• Shawn, all excellent point, and for the record your humble opinion is always welcome over here.

  The post this week aren't slamming downtown as Shawn pointed out. I just want to show the other side of the coin, the side you don't see in slick videos and glossy flyers, but rather the side we the residents have to live with.