Memorial Cup observations and Common Man comment by Dick Fitzwell
You would never know the City of Windsor is hosting the Memorial Cup.
On my way to work down the city’s signature street, Ouellette Avenue I noticed construction pylons on both sides of the dilapidated road. Nothing says welcome to Windsor by ‘uglifying’ the main road with the start of a construction project that will annoy both residents and visitors.
Another planning brainstorm sees E.C. Row lanes reduced to one lane starting May 23, 2017. Nothing like making it easy for people to get to the rink in the east end ( which should have been built downtown in the first place).
There were no signs anywhere saying Welcome to Windsor, Home of the 2017 Memorial Cup. Speaking of signs, last year’s sign downtown said, “ Do You Know Your HIV Status”. That one was a gem. This is strange since there should be visitors attracted to the downtown area since there are a few hotels nearby. When I walked to get a coffee, I didn’t see any signs in restaurants or coffee shops either.
On a positive note, the new City Hall has been going up at a pace I have never seen before. And the million dollar flag pole is up. Use your imaginations to guess what it looks like.
They opened a time capsule from 25 years ago. I wonder if any MFP stuff was in there.
As far as the tournament venue is concerned, we will soon know if parking will be a problem. There are shuttle services being offered from the local establishments including Johnny Shotz, which is in Tecumseh.
Unrelated to hockey, the entire downtown is a disaster. Most other medium sized cities have a thriving urban centre with decent urban housing. Not here. You have to stickhandle the drug addicts and other forms of human waste who I see every day walking around down here. My favorite sign is, “I NEED MONEY TO FEED MY PREGNANT WIFE”. The guy is about 25 years old and evidently did not pay attention to the birth control module or the getting a job module at school. There is no effort whatsoever to sweep up the garbage and promote downtown living, shopping and promoting the beautiful waterfront this city has. Empty buildings, torched buildings and the for lease signs are everywhere.
A Common Man and the Dick Fitzwell !
Windsor Tomcats 