But I wanted to make mention of the issue for two reasons. First, Chris Schnurr has recently researched and written a couple great posts about the topic.
From his post, 60 Points of Light:
Mr. Henderson again attempted to paint the canal as the saviour of the downtown by resurrecting the famed Bricktown Canal completed at a cost of $26-million in 1999 in Oklahoma City, population 1-million.... But what Mr. Henderson did not tell us was that the Bricktown Canal was but one of 9 projects approved by voters there known as the MAPS Master Plan...
This master plan includes: fairgrounds renovations, a new AAA baseball park, a bus trolley system, renovation of its convention center and music hall, a new arena and new library and learning centre. Banking downtown revitalization on a canal is not unlike banking revitalization on a marina, the prospect of which was something that Gord Henderson loathed back in 2003.
The central tenant of the canal proposal is that a water feature will lure Windsor households to move downtown. What I find so absurd is that we already have a beautiful water feature downtown. Its called the Detroit River. And we have a beautiful chain of riverside parks that, with a fraction of the costs to add water a couple blocks inland, could become a truly great public place.
That's all I'll say for the time being. Part of me agrees with Ed that the canal proposal is just a distraction from all the ills from the not so bright side of Windsor.
