Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Jane's Walk in Walkerville

The Jane's Walk that we had in Walkerville went over really well. We had around forty people enjoying the warmth of the sun, of the company around them and of the stories they told of their neighbourhood.

These folks were there and they describe the walk better than I can:

- http://www.internationalmetropolis.com/?p=1867
- http://www.scaledown.ca/2009/05/04/ive-never-had-so-much-hope/
- http://www.lulujane.ca/?p=383
- http://community.livejournal.com/windsor_visuals/101409.html

One of the reasons why I love the Jane's Walk event is because it is one of the few events I've come across that embodies the ideas it celebrates: community, conversation, walking, neighbourhoods, sharing, accessibility, stories, and activism.

On that note, is anyone interested in a Jane Jacobs book club?

Friday, May 01, 2009

Join us tomorrow for a Jane's Walk in Walkerville

“No one can find what will work for our cities by looking at ... suburban garden cities, manipulating scale models, or inventing dream cities. You've got to get out and walk.”

Jane's Walk in Walkerville
Saturday, May 2, 11 am
starts & ends at Taloola Café


Jane’s Walk is a neighbourhood tour that celebrates the work of activist and urbanist Jane Jacobs and the city life she loved.

Please join our tour guides from Scaledown.ca as we look at the way Walkerville's historical buildings have been creatively re-used to meet the needs of today's residents. We will also imagine improvements to the neighbourhood and discuss ways to take the best of Walkerville into the future. The walk is on, rain or shine.

For more info, see Scaledown.ca or Janeswalk.net

No news is good news from the Windsor Star

Ok, I understand that Chysler's bankruptcy is going to dominate today's news coverage, but why is it that I only learned from Alan Halberstadt's blog that,

Getting back to my alleged subservience to the mayor, I can use last night as a good example to refute such charges. I cast opposing votes on two of the mayor's pet infrastructure stimulus projects that will be forwarded to the federal government -- $30 million to service urban sprawl greenfields in the old Sandwich South, and some $44 million for Eddie's west waterfront marina-canal. One third of the projects cleared last night will be funded by city taxpayers if approved by the senior governments. I was the lone dissenter on the urban sprawl project.

The canal-marina was defeated on a 6-4 vote. I couldn't, in good conscience, vote for a project without seeing any details or a business plan. Dave Cooke turned over the documents to the mayor a number of weeks ago, but the plan has yet to be seen or vetted by Council or the public.

This dodgy voting process occurred two nights ago and there is not a single word mentioned in the Windsor Star about this?

Why do I subscribe to this paper again?