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By

Wednesday May 20th, 2009 @ 12:36am

City News

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City Council has approved a forty eight million dollar canal project for downtown Windsor; more specifically for the Western Super Anchor site (pictured above).  The canal will be funded 2/3′s by the federal government, with Windsorites paying the rest through the city’s capital projects budget.  The canal is still subject to approval by Ottawa (whether or not it gets funded via infrastructure stimulus funds).

The plan for the “Canal District” is to have a man made, concrete-lined waterway horseshoe from Caron St. and Riverside Drive, through the super anchor site, and back out to the riverfront walkway near the art gallery — with no actual connection to the Detroit River.  The hope is to line the canal areas with retail, entertainment venues, and the like.

You can read the entire Canal report on the City’s website, here (PDF).

Now, I’m still pretty skeptical about this project, personally.  It’s interesting, indeed, but it may not be the savior for downtown that everyone is hoping for.  I’m going to wait to see how this all turns out several years down the line, before I make any kind of final judgment.

Your thoughts?  Ideas?  Comments?

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  • thenshesaidno

    WHY

  • hey_joe42

    I think they need a history lesson.
    Manmade waterways never turn out good.
    Its not wise to mess with mothernature.

    But all I got to say is they better buy the land off the homeless guy there that was building a castle for the last few years.

  • anonymous

    Why is Erie street BIA thriving even in these bad times! That is all we need to ask ourselves: What are they doing RIGHT that downtown and other BIAs are not? Then apply their methods to downtown and enjoy the same success. Walkerville BIA has also done a wonderful job in recent years. I strongly believe civic pride is the key here – and that is something that is generally lacking downtown. Filth and dirt are like a cancer. It just attracts more filth and dirt. Think of your own neighbourhood – all it takes is one or two homeowners to slack off and the whole street starts to slide. It’s a malaise that needs to be addressed. And throwing money at the problem by way of a useless ditch won’t solve the core’s woes. Change starts from within. And I fear most business owners in the core don’t understand that or just don’t care.

  • fleeting_image

    This is an epic failure. Someone should have pitched that other plan to them again. I was more feasible fincially.

    Although I suppose they might be expecting rent from business owners who might want to take advantage of the riverfront. I suppose they expect revenue from that.

    *sigh*

  • anonymous

    Should’ve built the arena downtown instead

  • jaleco

    This.

  • jaleco

    His castle sounds like it’d be a better venture than this.

    IDK, but I have a hard time believing that digging a hole and filling it with water is a good thing. Though I will be thrilled if it turned out that way.

    I’d also be shocked.

  • westerntragedy

    Exactly. The vast majority of downtown businesses are hoping and praying to be saved by some sort of invisible magic wand. I hardly think the Canal is that.

    Besides, if you’re visiting the “Canal District”, what are the chances of you making a detour to Ouelette?

  • jodelli

    When is this Western Super Anchor ever going to go up, anyway? I mean even the way the economy is surely some freighter somewhere won’t need theirs anymore. We could put it up in the parking lot across from the AGW until a bigger one gets built.

    I still don’t think a 400 ft boat anchor is the best use of resources though.