Windsor talk

[Symz]

I've never been overly fond of the place either, but my company would have it's Christmas parties there each year. Also, the place has been a Windsor landmark for a long time.

I was surprised to hear it was closing.

[north 42]

Originally Posted by Symz

I've never been overly fond of the place either, but my company would have it's Christmas parties there each year. Also, the place has been a Windsor landmark for a long time.

I was surprised to hear it was closing.

I just remember going there in the mid 80s a couple of times and it was tragic. I didn't realize that it was an actual brew pub lately though. Did they make good tasting beer?

[Symz]

Originally Posted by north 42

Did they make good tasting beer?

I never had the urge to try it!!

Honestly I had only ever gone there maybe a half a dozen times in the 10 years I have worked with my current employer

[Symz]

Windsor City Council OK's the WSO's move into the Capital Theater.

WINDSOR, Ont. -- Windsor Symphony Orchestra season ticket orders start today after city council Monday night approved the conversion of the Capitol Theatre into the symphony's new home.

"We're thrilled," said WSO board president Barbara Kuker. She said the organization had to wait for council's decision before launching into the new season.

After years of revenue concerns and increased production expenses, as well as scheduling worries in the larger but shared Capitol Theatre, "we're entering uncharted territory," said WSO 1st vice-president Stephen Savage. With "fewer seats and a smaller home," he said the symphony has to rethink its business plan, including "readjusting" the size of the orchestra. Asked if that means a smaller symphony, Kuker told reporters that "remains to be seen."

The WSO takes over operation of the 92-year-old Capitol Theatre in September, paying the city a nominal fee of $1 a year for 10 years, with an option for an additional 10 years.

The city will retain ownership and make all necessary repairs and upgrades to the Capitol, with council approving an expenditure of more than $1.8 million this year to bring the building up to snuff.

As well, the city will write off an outstanding loan of $246,925.76 to the orchestra.

In return, the WSO agreed to make the building accessible for rental to other regional arts groups. The orchestra will also eventually lose its annual operating grant from the city, which currently stands at $300,000. It will be reduced to $125,000 in 2013 and 2014, then eliminated in 2015.

The future of the Capitol has been in limbo since the previous creditors declared bankruptcy in 2007, leading to a series of court battles with the city over ownership.

The issue was resolved early in 2011 and the city took the building over. Negotiations to have either St. Clair College or the University of Windsor assume ownership fell through, however, and the city turned to an unnamed "third party," which, to nobody's surprise, was the WSO.

Kuker told council the deal shows the city has confidence in its symphony, a 64-year-old institution that is home to "some of the finest instrumental instructors in the country."

Francis said the move would save the city in the neighbourhood of $400,000 to $500,000 a year, with the alternative being to board up the building and put it up for sale on the open market.

The orchestra currently spends more than half its annual grant on rentals.

Monday night's council meeting also saw a round of applause for Ken and Sue Quinn, whose Quinn Roofing Solutions was recognized for its donation of $25,000 in roofing services for the Capitol Theatre.

Kuker said everyone associated to the move to the new symphony home "is very excited."

[north 42]

I was doing a walk this morning before going to work, and noticed that Chatham St. was being torn up in the construction area of the Aquatic Centre, so hopefully that means that excavation is starting now. It'll be nice to have multiple construction sites going on at the same time downtown, it makes my walks much more interesting!

[Symz]

We went for a walk along the downtown riverfront today and wow! It's the place to be I guess! With today's warm weather there must have been a thousand people down there. It was really nice to see that many people down there without some sort of special even going on.

[Symz]

So is Windsor now going to become a haven for brothels? Just as we're trying to clean up our image and appeal more to average people and families.

[Symz]

Has anyone ever seen the word 'Smile' on a building around the city? There is a guerilla art project in the city to try and spread some smiles and happiness. So far I have seen Smile on the derelict Grace Hospital building and the bridge overpass along the river near the CBC building.

Here is a time lapse video of one of the contributors doing some urban smile art on the side of a building.

source: http://windsorite.ca/2012/03/smile-w...ign-timelapse/

Local videographer Mike Evans produced this video of the “Windsor Smile Campaign”, a new guerrilla art project found all over Windsor.

Evans produced this video over a three day period using time-lapse photography. The campaign and its unidentified artist has a goal of transforming unsightly objects such as derelict buildings and blight into beauty and art.

The newest mural depicted in the video is located on the side of the Best Lil’ Hair House on University Avenue West and SMILE art appears on such locations as a burnt-out building next to Bubi’s downtown, on several second story buildings on Wyandotte West, the top floor of Grace Hospital’s Brett Building and many other spots across town.

• Video Link

[Blitz]

Just because it contains the word 'smile' doesn't make this ok. It's still vandalism.

[Symz]

Originally Posted by Blitz

Just because it contains the word 'smile' doesn't make this ok. It's still vandalism.

That video I would guess its safe to say it was consensual from the business to put the art on the side of this building. The other random smile tags aren't done in paint, but done by glueing paper posters. Those I guess you could call vandalism, but like I said they're done by simply glueing paper posters which will fade, wear and eventually degrade.

I'm pretty sure they're trying to go about this in a respectful way. The video of the painted mural was noted on Windsorite.ca with the artists name. Vandals tag anonymously. So... I think you're being a little uptight about this.

Vandalism is more like the punks that keep tagging THC or the word PURE with spray paint on every light post, rail crossing in the city, or even the Riverside Convenience near my house which was newly stucco'd not too long ago.

So I respectfully disagree with you Blitz.

[Blitz]

If the property owner is fine with it then that's ok but in many cases there has obviously been no permission granted.

If this kind of thing is allowed to happen then it opens up a slippery slope, that's all. Laws are not subjective. People only think this is cute because it contains the word 'smile' but if he was doing the exact same things with the word 'asshole' or something, there would be a completely different reaction...even though the exact same laws are being broken either way.

[Symz]

Originally Posted by Blitz

If the property owner is fine with it then that's ok but in many cases there has obviously been no permission granted.

If this kind of thing is allowed to happen then it opens up a slippery slope, that's all. Laws are not subjective. People only think this is cute because it contains the word 'smile' but if he was doing the exact same things with the word 'asshole' or something, there would be a completely different reaction...even though the exact same laws are being broken either way.

Well, I believe the large wall mural was done in good faith, the business is a hair salon, so I'm sure they know what's up.

The other tags are just paper posters which aren't permanent.

Besides, more people in Windsor do need to smile, just take a peek over at the Windsor Star forums to get an idea of how uptight and nasty Windsorites seem to be towards eachother, it's terrible.

[Symz]

Oddly enough, the Windsor Star did a video recently on urban graffiti downtown.

http://www.windsorstar.com/entertain...975/story.html

[Symz]

Did you guys know there's a website where you can view webcams at many of Windsor intersections?

source: http://windsorite.ca/2012/04/check-o...affic-cameras/

Did you know that the the Ontario Ministry of Transportation has made many of Windsor’s various traffic and intersection cameras available online for all to view?

Windsor’s traffic cameras are mostly available in various busy neighbourhoods and areas and are confined to important intersections and roads such as Tecumseh, Huron Church, Wyandotte or Lauzon.

Online traffic cameras have been popular in Toronto and the GTA since the 90′s when the first “COMPASS” cameras were installed, and the MTO has been slowly rolling out online visibility of cameras throughout the province as part of an open data initiative.

Windsor’s cameras went online in the summer and they are a great way to check up on construction of the Windsor Essex Parkway or check out road conditions when weather is bad before you head out.

Here's the link to the webcam site.
http://windsorite.ca/traffic

[Symz]

Windsor is expanding it's free wi-fi zone downtown in the hopes it'll be one more thing to help make downtown more attractive.

source: http://windsorite.ca/2012/04/expande...-city-council/

The request by the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association to install wifi antennas on downtown street poles has been approved by City Council.

On Monday evening the request by Larry Horwitz, DWBIA president, to move the DWBIA’s 42 indoor antennas out on to city street poles to expand wifi coverage of the downtown area was approved.

The DWBIA has already spent $82,000 on the project since 2008 when it was implemented and plans to spend $20,000-$30,000 a year on the service which Horwitz says will take up to 2 years to fully implement.

“With the University coming downtown in the next couple years and the college expanding, with this city creating the aquatic center, which is going to be truly beneficial for downtown, and the wifi covering those areas we think that the wifi will be very important for the future of downtown.” said Horwitz

Horwitz says that it is important to move the system outside because with the units currently inside, when a business closes or moves out the system is turned off as well as the signal has trouble passing through the concrete inside the buildings.

“This is an initiative by the downtown DWBIA, they didn’t come to us and ask for money, they’re simply saying let us put it on the utility poles and we’ve already initiated the system in phase one we want to expand it,” said Ward 3 Coun. Fulvio Valentinis “It’s a great step forward in terms of attracting people downtown towards the businesses and as a place certainly to reside.”

“Carries.” said Mayor Eddie Francis.

[Symz]

Has anyone noticed the huge influx in fires and arsons in the past year in Windsor?

Something is up.

[north 42]

Originally Posted by Symz

Has anyone noticed the huge influx in fires and arsons in the past year in Windsor?

Something is up.

I think it has to do with the growing number of abandoned houses in the central part of town. It's scary, but hopefully it makes the city figure out a way to get these structures torn down faster than is currently possible.

[Symz]

Well, so they finally took the Radisson signs off the front and back of the building downtown. I saw a crew of guys on top of the roof of the lower single floor portion of the mall that connects to the hotels, near the tourism bureau a few weeks ago, but thought they were maybe just going to clean the windows.

I'm glad to see the signs are off, considering it's now not the Radisson, but honestly the new Riverside Inn seems low budget, and the building looks rough. I mean it still basically says Radisson, lol.

[cbyrne2014]

Unrelated to the recent discussions, but I went on a tour of the Canadian Club Brand Center on Riverside Drive this past December. Really worth it to those of you who haven't had the chance. Beautiful building, rich history, whiskey sampling and great value!

I just finished writing a review on Trip Advisor and it seems like it's garnered attention from others, too: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractio...n_Ontario.html

To those unfamiliar with the building, here's a photo of the exterior from Riverside Drive:

(Photo Credit: Doors Open Windsor - http://www.doorsopenwindsor.com/sites/2/)

[cbyrne2014]

Another thought coming out of left field.:

I am curious if there is anyway to determine the demographics of various neighbourhoods in Windsor. Lately, I have been musing a community project that is targeted for seniors and that information would be very helpful.