News Backgrounder
Comment
Quick Hits / Gossip
Arts & Entertainment
Real Estate
Restaurants
Food
Nature/Recreation
Local Tourist
Letters

[?] Subscribe To This Site

XML RSS
Add to Google
Add to My Yahoo!
Add to My MSN
Subscribe with Bloglines

Windsor Ontario News is Windsor and Essex County's online newspaper

Follow WindsorOntarioNews.com on Follow WindsorOntarioN on Twitter

Sarnia-Pt. Huron advances while Windsor-Detroit border stalls

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Feb 2 2012

While cross-border improvements stall in Windsor the Sarnia area is moving full speed ahead with an expanded Hwy.402 leading to the Blue Water Bridge.

The four-kilometre widened freeway will also be the first configuration in Ontario where one side of a highway will be four lanes and the other two lanes.

The westbound lanes are being expanded to accommodate what had been occasional vehicle back-ups leading to the bridge.

Click to read more

Great Lakes freighters cruise well into January due to mild weather

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Jan 23 2012

Milder weather has allowed freighters to move and up and down the Detroit River much later than usual, according to David Cree, president of the Windsor Port Authority.

“It’s still surprising to see lakers still coasting around the middle of January,” he said.

But it isn’t only in Lake Erie and Lake Huron where there has been no ice to impede ships but the entire Great Lakes have been pretty much been ice-free.

Click to read more

Amherstburg race could be model for future "boutique marathons"

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 22 2011

The Amherstburg World Alzheimer Day Run could be a model for the shape of marathons to come.

Run director Chris Uszynski, a veteran runner and organizer over the past several years of numerous Essex County runs for the Alzheimer Society, says that while full scale 42.195 km marathons may be a thrill for runners the first one or two times, ultimately many runners get tired of them.

His solution?

Click to read more

Serpentine Hwy. 3 to replace Huron Church-Talbot Rd. corridor

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 5 2011

Forget any notion that Hwy. 3, the conventional-looking road that now mostly leads from Hwy. 401 to the Ambassador Bridge, will remain the mainly straight thoroughfare that now exists.

Once the new Windsor-Essex Parkway is completed this highway - currently the main border route, a combination of Huron Church Road and Talbot Road – will become the new service road alongside the expressway.

But it will also be a totally new highway - entirely replacing what is now there - and more dramatically it will twist and turn over the submerged Parkway itself.

Click to read more

Windsor Star's move soon to end decades of downtown moviegoing

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Nov 25 2011

Windsor’s last downtown movie theatre will close in January to make way for renovations as the building becomes the new home of The Windsor Star.

Palace Cinemas general manager Gina Facca says she will shed “lots of tears” over what was still a “beautiful” location to watch movies.

Despite the four theatre complex being renovated almost 25 years ago the building was still in “fantastic shape,” she said.

Click to read more

City's image a concern for its Occupy Windsor stance - mayor

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Nov 18 2011

Mayor Eddie Francis says he would be concerned for the city’s image if authorities took action to remove the Occupy Windsor protesters from City Hall Square.

He said “we’ve seen what’s happened in other cites” where the protesters have been forced out of their weeks long camps - most often on public property - and it hasn’t looked good.

Francis said he doesn’t want to give “whoever is behind Occupy Windsor an opportunity to put Windsor in a negative light.”

And, he said, “right now the city can’t afford that.”

Click to read more

Sarnia rejected clear plastic bags, which Essex-Windsor proposes

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Nov 8 2011

While the Essex Windsor Solid Waste Authority is considering having residents put garbage in clear plastic bags, the City of Sarnia recently turned down the very same proposal.

Essex-Windsor is considering clear plastic bags as a way to police the type of garbage that people throw out.

The purpose is to get people to recycle more.

It’s all part of the agency’s master plan review - for which the agency is now seeeking public input - before discussing recommendations early in the new year.

Click to read more

Ambassador Bridge removes many of its duty free gas pumps

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Oct 31 2011

The popular gas pumps in front of the Ambassador Bridge’s sprawling U.S. duty free store have been removed.

The pumps were highly popular with Canadians returning from the United States not only because American gas is generally cheaper than Canadian gasoline but the bridge company tended to charge even less than most Detroit service stations.

The bridge sold the gas as duty free which also created controversy.

On Saturday the pumps – which were relatively new – were gone and all that remained was the cement islands and frame work (picture left).

Click to read more

Tool & mold "extremely busy"

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Oct 27 2011

The tool and mold industry locally is going gangbusters.

Largely as a result of the resurgence of the North American auto sector and demand for new and advanced automotive products, the area’s 100 or so shops are on a tear.

“It is extremely busy,” says Mike Hicks, acting president of the Canadian Association of Mold Makers (CAMM).

He said plants, which employ roughly anywhere from 30 to 100 people, are “running pretty well at capacity.”

Click to read more

Pamphlet urges residents to be water border eyes and ears

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Oct 13 2011

Some area residents are being asked to be on the lookout for suspicious activity along Essex County’s waterfront.

The RCMP and the Amherstburg Police Service have distributed a photocopied pamphlet advising residents who live along the river or lake to be aware of any number of activities which might involve human trafficking or smuggling, tobacco and drug smuggling.

“Help Keep Canadian Waterways Safe and Secure,” the pamphlet, with a picture of a big eye, says.

Click to read more

Video links DRIC bridge to "Chinafication of America"

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Sept 30 2011

An almost 10 minute video narrated by veteran Detroit broadcaster Vince Wade is linking the proposed new Windsor-Detroit bridge to the sometimes controversial NAFTA Superhighway.

It implies this could facilitate the takeover of much of the North American economy by the Communist Chinese.

The video, on You Tube, called “Gov. Snyder's NAFTA Bridge” uses patriotic imagery to show how the Chinese are buying traditional iconic American factories, such as GM plants in Saginaw and Willow Run, which were famous for making armaments during World War II.

Click to read more

Retailer Lazare's leaving the core

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Sept 14 2011

One of downtown’s oldest merchants, Lazare’s furs, will be closing its storefront in the near future and moving elsewhere in Windsor.

President and CEO Paul Twigg confirmed the company is still in discussions about where it will move and will have an announcement later this month.

Lazare’s has been at 493 Ouellette Ave since 1943.

“We need to be where there’s more foot traffic,” Twigg said.

Click to read more

Another downtown move: more UW hockey at Windsor Arena?

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Sept 12 2011

The University of Windsor could be moving more than some academic programs downtown. It could consolidate its hockey programs at the almost 90-year-old Windsor Arena aka The Barn.

Windsor City Council has mandated its senior administrators to enter discussions with the university to see if the U would be interested in taking a greater role or partnership in the arena.

The university’s men’s Lancers hockey team already plays its home games there.

Click to read more

May opening expected for visually striking Detroit River restaurant

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com August 25 2011

Travellers between Windsor and Amherstburg will soon have a restaurant to dine in midway along the scenic route.

Developer Rob Delicata hopes to begin construction later this year on his Ranta Marina Grill, which is expected to open next May.

Delicata is going ahead with the striking architectural building after approval by Amherstburg’s committee of adjustment, from which no appeal by upset neighbours was launched.

Click to read more

Recreation complex would create an artificial lake, ski hills, trails

alt test WindsorOntarioNews.com July 25 2011

An Amherstburg businessman has an idea for a year-round retreat and recreation complex including an artificial lake, ski hills, a working farm, motor sports, and hiking and nature trails.

Scott Sinasac originally thought of the idea about a decade ago and generated some media attention at the time.

But he decided not to pursue it because he was younger then and because of his tool and die career.

Click to read more

Fast-growing Metro newspaper eyeing the Windsor market

alt test WindsorOntarioNews.com July 11 2011

Metro, a tabloid daily newspaper that opened a London Ontario edition in April, is eying Windsor as a possible site to launch a newspaper.

Metro’s English Canadian publisher Bill McDonald said that while the chain has “no specific plans” to enter other markets “we are exploring a whole series of potential options and Windsor’s on the list of markets we’re considering.”

The tabloid is largely geared to transit commuters in larger cities such as Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver.

Click to read more

New detention centre will allow public to use recreation facilities

alt test WindsorOntarioNews.com July 3 2011

The new South West Detention Centre or regional jail, will allow the public to use its gymnasium as well as outdoor soccer and cricket fields.

Windsor city planner Rinkey Singh said use of the gym along with washrooms will be by “appointment only” for groups, and the public would be segregated from the inmates.

The soccer and cricket fields will be separated from the jail by berms and will not be used by prisoners.

Click to read more

"Work rules" blamed for long fireworks transit shuttle wait

alt test WindsorOntarioNews.com June 28 2011

Thousands of fireworks attendees last night were left waiting a long time to catch the Transit Windsor shuttle back from downtown.

“This was not good at all,” said Pat, a lifelong Windsorite who has long attended the fireworks but doubts she will take the shuttle again.

“If I were living here I would not come back – never,” said Kathy, an American who left her car at Devonshire Mall to catch the shuttle.

Click to read more

Windsor's international gateway a dismal stretch for motorists

WindsorOntarioNews.com June 8 2011

alt test

The buildings have been demolished and much of the land is vacant and forlorn looking.

Meanwhile several buildings that used to be businesses - such as a Petro-Canada and a produce market - are empty.

Then there is the zigzagging black fencing that runs for kilometres on both sides of the road.

These are the images that greet motorists driving along the city’s main gateway – Huron Church and Talbot roads east of the E.C. Row Expressway and which link Hwy. 401 to the Ambassador Bridge.

Click to read more

Intricate plant species removal contract goes to unique nursery

alt test WindsorOntarioNews.com June 3 2011

St. Williams Nursery and Ecology Centre, a highly specialized nursery, is handling the intricate job of protecting the rare and highly sensitive plant species along the Windsor-Essex Parkway corridor, the new border route to Detroit.

That means removing plants along the 11 km route and replanting to preserve them while the Parkway is being built.

The nursery was contracted by the province to handle the task and has been working out of the former LA Collision garage at the corner of Hwy. 3 (Talbot Rd.) and Todd Lane.

Click to read more

Early Parkway work will affect Howard Ave., North Talbot Road

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com May 24 2011

The first parts of the Windsor-Essex Parkway to be built will actually be roads to divert traffic out of the LaSalle and Tecumseh areas and around the construction work on to and off of Highways 3 and 401.

Parkway planners told a public meeting last week that the new Howard Ave. Diversion will link to a new roundabout (above left) immediately south of the junction where Hwy. 3 currently meets Hwy. 401 and where the Parkway’s eastern end will be located.

The Diversion – which will link to the intersection of the current Howard Ave. and LaSalle’s new Laurier Pkwy. Extension – will be “one of the first features...to facilitate traffic staging operations,” according to Parkway public info documents.

Click to read more

Windsor getting IMAX theatre

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com May 17 2011

At long last an IMAX theatre is coming to Windsor.

It will open July 15 at Silver City in south Windsor and debut with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, in 3D, which also opens across North America that day.

Cineplex Entertainment spokesman Kyle Moffatt said it will be the first IMAX theatre in southwestern Ontario.

Click to read more

"Context sensitive" bicycle trails proposed for Essex County routes

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com May 4 2011

A Windsor – Amherstburg bike trail along the Detroit River would be one of two “context sensitive” trails in Essex County, should local municipalities approve a major plan for a series of “active living” pathways.

The report, almost a year and a half in the making, comes before county council May 18 and presumably local municipal councils later this year.

The county’s manager of transportation planning Jane Mustac says the Windsor – Amherstburg trail would begin at Morton Drive and follow County Rd. 20 through the “urban” parts of LaSalle and Amherstburg.

Click to read more

Free Internet hot zones? They're limited to city's downtown core

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com April 18 2011

Windsor and Essex County may have hundreds of kilometres of fibre optic cable underground but the only area in the city that ordinary people can use the Internet for free is downtown.

For two years, as a result of a Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association (BIA) initiative, people have been able to take their laptop computers into the downtown core and access the Internet anywhere without paying a subscription fee.

Click to read more

13 km of black fencing to keep snakes out of Pkwy construction

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com April 12 2011

Those lines and lines of black fencing that have been put up along Talbot Rd. and Huron Church Rd. over the past month are there for one purpose and one purpose only – to protect the snakes.

There are 13 km of black geotextile fencing in areas planners of the new DRIC border route have designated as having large populations of snakes.

Joel Foster, who heads the environmental section for MTO’s Windsor Border Initiatives Implementation Group, says the fencing was installed as a requirement under the Endangered Species Act.

Click to read more

This election candidate is out in front with use of social media

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com April 5 2011

Now your phone can communicate with a candidate via his lawn sign.

NDP Essex candidate Taras Natyshak is the first area candidate - of any political stripe - to embrace social media to the point of putting “tags” on his lawn signs.

The just-delivered batch of signs shows the candidate’s picture, of course.

But in the bottom right hand corner are the familiar Facebook and Twitter logos.

Click to read more

Keep donating to Diabetes, fired Value Village employee pleas

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com March 22 2011

The Value Village employee fired last week from the chain’s Dougall Avenue store is pleading with the community not to boycott donations to the Canadian Diabetes Association.

Kathleen Nolan says many in the community seem to be taking out their anger at her firing at the non-profit charitable organization, which donates clothes and other goods to the Value Village stores through its Clothesline program.

Click to read more

Revive City of Roses image?

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com March 15 2011

The man who oversaw introduction of Windsor’s rose city emblem back in the 1960s thinks it’s time Windsor refreshed the brand.

In a letter to Mayor Eddie Francis, Doug Johnstone, who chaired the rose committee for the Greater Windsor Foundation, said that “for a time” Windsor in fact did “become well known as a City of Roses.”

But he said the image has fallen by the wayside as the city’s overall reputation has become a little tattered.

Click to read more

Filling-up stateside? Declare it, but no tax if gas is in the tank

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Feb 28 2011

Canadians have been doing it for what seems forever.

And now with gas prices on the rise and the Canadian dollar hovering above its American counterpart there’s more incentive than ever to purchase gasoline in the United States.

The age old question is, is it illegal?

Most people might be surprised to learn that it is not illegal to pump gas into your car and then come back to Canada.

Click to read more

Anti-corporate tax cut campaign has satirical billboards, web site

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Feb 18 2011

Satirical billboards have popped up around Windsor by a group calling itself People for Corporate Tax Cuts.

The province-wide campaign, funded by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU), was launched over the past month, and aims to bring attention to Ontario’s $2.4 billion cut in corporate taxes.

The campaign says that $2.4 billion will come out of the pockets of ordinary Ontarians – to the tune of $500 per family.

Click to read more

Area's newest roundabout will link to Windsor-Essex Parkway

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Feb 11 2011

The newest road roundabout that will be coming to our area isn’t far from where the county’s first two major roundabouts exist – LaSalle.

It will be built between Howard Ave. and Outer Dr. just west of where Hwy. 3 now connects to Hwy. 401.

And it will be associated with the Windsor-Essex Parkway border route.

The Town of LaSalle opened its two new roundabouts – the area’s largest – last year.

Click to read more

Major changes for Fort Malden, region's iconic historic site

alt test WindsorOntarioNews.com Feb 1 2011

The biggest changes in decades are coming to the region’s iconic historical site, Fort Malden in Amherstburg.

It’s because of $1 million in federal infrastructure grants, with work to be completed by March 31.

And it works out just in time for planning for next year’s War of 1812 bicentennial celebrations in which the fort – located on the Detroit River – figures prominently.

Click to read more

Metro Windsor is number one in the nation for cheap house prices

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Jan 26 2011

The Frontier Centre for Public Policy hails Windsor as having the most affordable homes in Canada.

“Broken down into regions, the most affordable market in Canada, Windsor, Ontario, is almost five times more affordable than the least affordable, Vancouver, B.C,” it says in a new report.

The Winnipeg-based organization says affordability is determined by using the “median multiple” principle – the median house price divided by gross annual median household income.

Click to read more

It's all done; property acquisition now completed for W-E Parkway

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Jan 5 2011

The province has acquired all the property it needs for the new Windsor-Essex Parkway – the 11 km border route connecting Hwy 401 to a new bridge between Windsor and Detroit.

“MTO now has title for all property required for construction of the Windsor-Essex Parkway,” Amy Virago, the ministry’s property supervisor, said.

The news follows financial closure last month of an agreement between the province and the consortium, the Windsor Essex Mobility Group (WEMG) that will be building the Parkway, estimated at $1.4 billion.

Click to read more

Kingsville's web site shows the town's "southern" identity crisis

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 30 2010

The Town of Kingsville has an identity crisis.

While the town has long called itself the country’s “most southern town” and features that name on road signs, it’s a different story when a visitor goes to the municipality’s web site.

The Town of Essex is irked by the town’s southerly claim.

It has sent a letter to Kingsville asking the town to stop calling itself the most southern town in Canada.

Click to read more

Scratch rumours - DRIC "early construction" not about detours

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 22 2010

If there are rumours flying around about this, best to nip them in the bud – even if spring is still some time away.

Some people seem to believe the new overpasses being built off Mero Ave. in south Windsor near Hwy. 3 and 401 are not actually part of DRIC’s new Windsor-Essex Parkway.

The construction, which has been going on for several months, is often dubbed the Parkway’s “early construction” by the media, and began without fanfare.

Click to read more

Solar farm now finished at Tilbury

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 9 2010

The world’s largest manufacturer of solar panels has just finished building a high profile solar farm - the area's largest - along Hwy 401 at Tilbury, and hopes to begin construction of an Amherstburg solar farm by the spring.

First Solar Development Canada, part of Arizona-based First Solar, is in the commissioning process of the Tilbury five-megawatt farm with energy to be supplied to the Chatham-Kent power network.

A view of the farm from Hwy 401 shows more than 82,000 panels assembled on “tables” to catch the sun’s rays, with enough generation to power as many as 2500 homes on a typical summer day.

Click to read more

Environmentalists say higher power bills are good for us

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Nov 24 2010

Consumers may vent about increasing power bills (right) – with more hikes to come – but the amounts simply reflect the real costs of energy and in fact are a good thing, environmentalists say.

The fact Finance Minister Dwight Duncan, responding to public pressure, last week decided to lop 10 per cent off power bills, is certainly not the way to go, Angela Bischoff of the Ontario Clean Air Alliance said.

“We think anything that reduces energy prices is not a good thing, that higher electricity prices signal or encourage people to reduce their consumption of electricity.”

Click to read more

Trucks regularly barrel through Talbot Rd. amber and red lights

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Nov 15 2010

It’s one thing for cars to run amber and red lights. It’s something else when huge transport trucks run them.

Spend even five minutes at the corner of Howard Ave. and Hwy. 3 (Talbot Rd.) and chances are pretty good you’ll see trucks not even slowing down for amber and red lights.

“There are a lot of trucks running amber and red lights,” Windsor police spokesman Sgt. Brett Corey says.

Click to read more

No rift between Windsor film festival and casino, Coady says

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Nov 10 2010

The attendance was up but, no, there wasn’t a rift with the casino.

And, yes, maybe there is room for more screenings and comfortable seats at future film fests.

Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF) executive director Peter Coady (above) was commenting on this year’s local movie extravaganza, which wound up Sunday.

Coady said 5900 people attended the four day event, “which is an improvement over last year.”

Click to read more

Lewenza says he was victim of "perfect storm" in election loss

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Oct 31 2010

Defeated city councillor Ken Lewenza Jr. was “a little disappointed but not entirely surprised” by losing his seat in the Oct. 25 municipal election.

Lewenza – the only incumbent contesting a seat who lost – said he was the victim of “a perfect storm.”

The two term councillor also lost by a wide margin – 3063 to 2342 votes.

Click to read more

TV station to change bandwidth to accommodate US cell company

alt test alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Oct 24 2010

Local TV station A Windsor will have to move off its 700 megahertz spectrum because it is interfering with extending a 4G cell phone network across Metro Detroit.

Verizon Wireless needs the bandwidth to extend coverage to parts of Oakland and Macomb counties by the end of the year.

But the plans are held up until A Windsor departs that frequency position.

Verizon spokeswoman Michelle Gilbert stressed that the Canadian station had not “done anything wrong.”

Click to read more

Province targets low income tenants for more rental aid

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Oct 13 2010

Low income renters likely will benefit from a new provincial program that will subsidize their rents.

And, if city council approves it Monday – which looks likely because the city will not be out any money to administer it, an official says – that rent assistance will be retroactive to July.

The province would pay up to $180 per month for the period July – December 2010.

In the new year it would pay up to $250 per month.

Click to read more

Some Essex County voters are receiving more than one ballot

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Oct 6 2010

Some people in rural municipalities that are using mail-in voting – all seven in Essex County plus Pelee Island - are receiving more than one ballot.

But election officials say there’s no need to worry.

The identical ballots might go to the same people because they own different properties or because their names are listed with slightly different spellings.

Click to read more

Splashy tourist ad campaign directed - at local residents

alt test WindsorOntarioNews.com Oct 1 2010

Slick colourful tourist ads continue to appear in newspapers across Windsor and Essex County by the revamped local tourist bureau.

The ads – as large as half pages in both the broadsheet Windsor Star and tabloid size weekly community newspapers – obviously aren’t directed to a market outside Windsor-Essex.

They’re specifically directed to a home audience.

Click to read more

University of Windsor to examine the state of local online media

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Sept 28 2010

Windsor is seeing a growth in digital media in the form of blogs and online newspapers and other news or issues-oriented web sites.

The University of Windsor is taking stock of this growth at a gathering called A Conversation About Digital Communities Thursday and Friday.

Besides traditional media like newspapers, radio and television, several local blogs have sprouted up over the last few years.

Click to read more

Parkway payouts study

Should DRIC property owners be compensated for emotional loss?

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Sept 16 2010

A University of Windsor professor suggests that when governments expropriate for major projects like the Windsor-Essex Parkway some money should be paid for emotional and psychological costs.

Anneke Smit (right), an assistant professor of law, is studying how compensation is being paid to some of the several hundred property owners along the Parkway or DRIC (Detroit River Intl. Crossing) route in west Windsor and LaSalle.

Click to read more

Sierra Club targets Ojibway but DRIC road won't go through it

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Sept 7 2010

The Sierra Club’s application for a judicial review targetting the $5 billion DRIC project – in particular the $1.5 billion nine-kilometre roadway linking existing Hwy. 401 to the new west Windsor bridge – may give someone the impression the road is actually being designed to go through an officially-designated sensitive ecosystem.

But it’s not.

Click to read more

Cameras aren't for surveillance

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Aug 29 2010

Perhaps you haven’t noticed them.

But if you look closely as you drive along the city’s major border routes you will see posts with small rounded dark objects at the top.

Smile through your windshield, because you’re on not-so-candid camera.

Since 2003, 41 of these “traffic incident management cameras” have been installed.

They’re on Huron Church Rd. from the bridge plaza to Highways 3 and 401.

Click to read more

Mystery man: alleged G20 rioter largely unknown back home

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com Aug 17 2010

Just who is Nicodemo (Nick) Catenacci?

The Windsor man, 41, was arrested by Windsor police last week in connection with rioting at the G20 Summit in Toronto in late June.

Catenacci was picked up Aug 10 by police while riding his bike on Howard Ave. and transported to Toronto where he faces charges of arson and breach of probation.

Click to read more

Ranta Marina condo development would have first area time shares

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews Aug 10 2010

The proposed 108-unit, twin-storey condo towers on the site of the former publically-owned Ranta Marina would be the first in Windsor-Essex to have time-shares, similar to resorts.

Developer Rob Delicata says there is no way his partnership could sell all units as condos to local residents, most of whom would be “empty nesters.”

“We’re not going to sell 108 units in Essex County,” he said. “Things are tough around here.”

Click to read more

Amherstburg residents puzzled: just what are those things?

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com August 3 2010

In Amherstburg the big question all summer has been – what are those things?

Those things are little huts that dot the town’s main urban area, looking for all the world like bus stop shelters.

Indeed many citizens have taken to calling them just that.

But, even if the town might be interested in signing on to regional transit in the years to come, Lou Zarlenga, manager of public services, nips that thought in the bud.

Click to read more

Ranta Marina sign restricting access has "always been there"

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com July 28 2010

One of the arguments long made by Amherstburg residents who didn’t want Ranta Marina sold to private developers is that the municipality shouldn’t sell off a public park, suggesting the marina is no different from soccer fields or the arena.

But that would imply the marina is available without restriction to anyone. A neighbouring public park at the marina site is in fact unrestricted. But the marina itself has a sign that very clearly says, “Stop! Boat Owners Only Past This Point, Deliveries Excepted.”

Click to read more

Shabby parks? Blame the weather

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com July 19 2010

If city parks are looking a little shabbier than usual blame it on the weather.

Parks head Don Sadler said the large amount of rain this spring and summer has increased grass growth and crews are still scrambling to “get caught up."

“It’s just that the weather put us that far behind.”

Sadler said crews usually cut grass in parks once every 10 days.

Click to read more

Patriotic slogan tags Ambassador Bridge owner's truck fleet

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com July 7 2010

The company that owns the Ambassador Bridge has shown that, when it comes to supporting the troops, it is also “unabashedly patriotic.”

For years – from just before the invasion of Afghanistan following the terrorist attacks of 9/11 – CenTra, which owns the bridge and trucking company Central Transport, has had prominent signs on the back of its 7000 truck trailers with a strongly worded message rarely seen on corporate vehicles.

Click to read more

LaSalle's new east-west road to be completed by end of the year

WindsorOntarioNews.com June 30 2010

alt test

A new east - west link across LaSalle – a road that has long been in the planning stage – will be completed by the end of the year.

Construction of the Laurier Dr. extension – officially known as the Laurier Parkway – began in late May.

Sewer work is now almost completed.

The parkway will be two lanes with a gravel shoulder but is designed to be four lanes “predicated on development and growth,” according to LaSalle’s chief administrative officer Kevin Miller.

Click to read more

St. Clair MediaPlex could become emergency info & training hub

WindsorOntarioNews.com June 24 2010

alt test

St. Clair College’s new state of the art MediaPlex in downtown Windsor could operate as a hub for gathering and disseminating information during emergency events, such as the tornado and other severe storms the area has experienced over the past month.

Essex County’s emergency management coordinator Phil Berthiaume says the idea came from St. Clair, in particular Veronique Mandel, who heads the college’s journalism program.

Click to read more

Brookfield says gifts not a way to buy off wind power opponents

WindsorOntarioNews.com June 18 2010

alt test

Brookfield Renewable Power spokeswoman Shelley Moorhead assured that the Gatineau, Que. – based company is not trying to buy off any opponents to the companies’ two Essex County wind projects, the first of which is under construction now.

“Oh, absolutely not,” she said.

Moorhead was commenting on the fact the company, which is building projects in Kingsville and Lakeshore, is giving away merchandise at its storefront office at 125 Talbot Rd. in Cottam.

Click to read more

No plans to change date of rainy Art in the Park, event chair says

WindsorOntarioNews.com June 14 2010

alt test

There are no plans to change the date for Windsor’s annual Art in the Park.

For the first time, the second day (Sunday) of the two-day weekend event was cancelled earlier this month because the location of the art fair, Willistead Park, was “significantly flooded,” Art in the Park Chair Shari Cunningham said.

The park’s southeast corner Sunday “was like a lake,” she added, noting organizers had to close the event “to ensure the safety of our vendors, our exhibitors and the public.”

Click to read more

Essex County's first wind farm, near Harrow, now completed

WindsorOntarioNews.com June 9 2010

alt test

Its might be Essex County’s newest tourist attraction.

The area’s first wind turbine farm is up and – almost – running in the Town of Essex, just off County Rd. 20.

Construction on the so-called Harrow Wind Farm (picture right) was completed in late May and the turbines are now going through “final commissioning” – being tested with Hydro One and the supplier – before going into regular use.

Click to read more

Revamped tourism web site to debut later this month - Ryan

WindsorOntarioNews.com June 7 2010

alt test

Get ready for a new local tourism web site, the first new product of the revamped regional tourism office.

Tourism Windsor Essex Pelee Island CEO Chris Ryan says the new “100 per cent” revamped site will likely debut “at the end of this month.”

The web site will eventually have a tool by which visitors can make holiday bookings.

Click to read more

New festival to jazz-up Windsor

WindsorOntarioNews.com June 1 2010

alt test

Detroit’s got one. Toronto’s got one. Now Windsor will have its own summer jazz festival.

The first Windsor International Jazz, Food and Art Festival will be held at Big Tony’s Original Wood Fired Pizza Co. outdoor lot on Walker Rd. June 18 – 20.

Owner Tony Gallippi is a huge jazz fan and thinks Windsor should be exposed to more live jazz music.

“I love it, I could listen to it all day,” he says, noting his four-year-old restaurant has jazz-oriented live music on weekends.

Click to read more

Baird: no to Ambassador Bridge compensation

WindsorOntarioNews.com May 28 2010 alt test

Transport Minister John Baird has made clear that there will be no compensation to the Ambassador Bridge should DRIC become a reality.

Asked if the government would pay compensation to the bridge’s private owners because the new international crossing would use government dollars to compete with a private company the minister adamantly said “no.”

Baird noted it is “hardly unprecedented” for public and private entities to compete against one another.

Click to read more

Border officials say their aim is to keep traffic wait times down

WindsorOntarioNews.com May 12 2010

alt test

Still waiting half an hour – or longer - to cross into the U.S.?

Wondering why Customs booths that should be open aren’t? Wondering where all that extra money went for beefing up resources at the Canada – U.S. border but it still seems to take as long to cross as ever?

According to United States Customs and Border Protection, wait times aren’t any longer than they have ever been.

“I don’t think so,” said spokesman Ron Smith.

Click to read more

Was Granholm appearance "orchestrated?"

DRIC money letter

WindsorOntarioNews.com May 6 2010

alt test

Was it all orchestrated?

Did Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm make it seem as if a shiny new offer from Canada’s government to build the DRIC border project was a last minute effort that could save Michigan financially just in the nick of time?

That’s how Michigan state representative and Republican Marty Knollenberg sees it.

A week ago a breathless Granholm entered the high profile state transportation committee meeting in Lansing, which was discussing a new border crossing, and read a letter from Canada’s transport minister, John Baird, offering up to $550 million for land acquisition and other costs associated with the DRIC project in Michigan.

Click to read more

Walker-Provincial intersection to have grandest city entranceway

WindsorOntarioNews.com May 3 2010

alt test

The most impressive new entranceway to the City of Roses will be built at Provincial and Walker roads.

The intersection near the city’s busiest big box area and other retail plazas along the Walker Rd. strip will probably see “some vertical elements” that will welcome motorists to Windsor.

It’s all part of the city’s efforts to beautify entrances to Windsor, a plan that started two years ago with upgrades along Dougall Ave.

Mike Clement, manager of parks development, said final details haven’t been worked out. But the entrance will probably have “some kind of small tower or something just to mark the intersection.”

Click to read more

New meters to grace city streets

WindsorOntarioNews.com April 28 2010

alt test

City Council may be considering outsourcing parking meter enforcement jobs. Meanwhile the city just received a batch of new parking meters to replace some of the older, or more well used, ones.

Bob Godin, supervisor of parking operations, said 400 new meters recently arrived.

“So some new ones will be going on the streets fairly shortly.”

The city replaces groups of meters at regular intervals.

Godin said some of the oldest meters date back to the mid-1990s, which doesn’t seem that long ago.

Click to read more

DRIC construction well underway

WindsorOntarioNews.com April 22 2010

alt test

There has never been any formal announcement but construction of the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) freeway is well underway.

And this is not “pre-construction” such as the relocation of utilities, as has often been reported.

This is the real thing.

The Ministry of Transportation has awarded a $15.5 million contract to Facca Construction Inc. of Essex for the project south of Howard Ave. and immediately west of Hwy. 3 near the Hwy. 401 interchange.

There is also construction along the north side of Hwy. 401 adjacent to the Southwood Lakes subdivision.

Click to read more

Playboy chooses Windsor as Canadian spot for beach party

WindsorOntarioNews.com April 19 2010

alt test

Playboy has selected Windsor as one of two Canadian cities to throw a 50th anniversary party.

The parties, the other in Niagara Falls, commemorate the anniversary of the first Playboy Club.

The beach-themed party will be held at Caesars Windsor June 10 and is one of 50 being held around the world.

Caesars Windsor spokeswoman Holly Ward says the casino is expecting as many as 1000 to attend. Tickets cost $30.

Playboy representative Theresa Hennessey says Caesars was chosen because Playboy thought it would be “a really great fit with the brand.”

Click to read more

SouthPoint letter confirms Lake Erie wind project very much alive

WindsorOntarioNews.com April 13, 2010

Leamington’s SouthPoint Wind doesn’t appear to be backing down from its bid to place as many as 715 wind turbines in Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair.

Despite not being approved last week by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA) for an initial application of 15 wind turbines in Pigeon Bay off Leamington and Kingsville, and comments from local political representatives that the project was effectively dead, the family that owns SouthPoint is proceeding with the controversial projects.

Liovas Group president Jim Liovas said in a letter to Leamington council Friday, after the OPA announcement, that the company is “currently in the initial stages of these projects.”

Click to read more

Pigeon Bay wind turbine project appears dead in the water

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com April 9, 2010

SouthPoint Wind’s proposal to build 15 wind turbines in Lake Erie off of Leamington and Kingsville appears dead in the water – at least for the time being and it may never get approved.

The proposal by Leamington’s Liovas family did not win approval this week by the Ontario Power Authority (OPA), which released a list of approved green energy projects, including wind.

“That has not been approved,” Tim Weber, spokesman for Windsor West MPP and cabinet minister Sandra Pupatello, said.

He said the application has not been permanently rejected. “I’m not using that word.”

Click to read more

Detroit refinery to increase Windsor pollution "enormously"

alt test WindsorOntarioNews.com April 8, 2010

A Windsor environmental and occupational health researcher says Windsor’s air pollution, already bad, will get a lot worse, after the expansion of the Marathon Oil refinery in southwest Detroit is completed.

“It’s going to be adding enormously to air pollution issues,” Jim Brophy said.

Marathon is expanding the refinery to handle oil from Alberta’s tar sands, which will arrive through a new pipeline.

The Detroit Heavy Oil Upgrade Project is under construction and will be completed by 2012 increasing the refinery’s processing capability by 13,000 barrels per day.

Click to read more

Campaign urged to get cyclists off nine business district sidewalks

alt test WindsorOntarioNews.com March 26, 2010

Windsor’s nine business improvement areas will be asked to put up signs advising cyclists not to use sidewalks.

The action comes after the injury of a six year old on Ottawa Street by a fast-moving cyclist who hit the child coming out of a retailer.

Ward Three councillor Alan Halberstadt says the initiative is to try to get cyclists to stop using the sidewalks of central business districts, where there is a high percentage of pedestrian traffic.

“It’s quite dangerous for pedestrians because cyclists are sometimes racing up and down the sidewalks, people walking out of stores, it’s a dangerous business.”

Click to read more

Transit's best and worst routes

alt test WindsorOntarioNews.com March 21, 2010

Transit Windsor’s best revenue generating routes?

Why, the “main lines” that criss-cross the city. These are the Transway 1A, Transway 1C and Crosstown 2.

The worst performing routes?

The South Windsor 7 and the Lauzon 10.

Stats for 2009 show those routes only generated 25.9 per cent (South Windsor 7) and 23.9 per cent (Lauzon 10).

That means the routes recovered only those percentages of their total operating costs (salaries, fuel, vehicle deprecation, etc.) from the fare box. The rest of the money is made up through subsidies from city taxes, the provincial gas tax and advertising.

Click to read more

Huge traffic drop at Windsor-Detroit tunnel; bridge traffic up

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com March 16 2010 Photo by Kim Kozlowski

The Windsor Detroit Tunnel has seen a precipitous decline in traffic this year, with so far as many as 113,728 fewer vehicles year-to-date (until end of February) over last year.

The stats are provided by the Public Border Operators Association, representing publically-owned border crossings between Ontario and Michigan, and New York State.

Car traffic at the tunnel is down 112,219 vehicles, truck traffic down 795, and buses or miscellaneous vehicles down 714 for a total of 113,728 fewer vehicles.

Click to read more

W-E approved for 25 green energy projects

alt test

WindsorOntarioNews.com March 10 2010

Pelee Island Winery is the first winery in Ontario approved to sport roof top solar panels as a result of a provincial energy announcement today.

As well, solar panels will likely be coming to area Loblaw grocery stores including Real Canadian Superstores, Zehrs and No Frills.

Windsor’s David Suzuki public school, expected to open in the fall, will also have rooftop panels.

Ontario Minister of Energy and Infrastructure Brad Duguid says 510 contracts – some 25 in Windsor and Essex County - have been approved for 120 communities across the province where between 10 to 500 kilowatts of power each will be generated.

Click to read more

DRTP moving on new rail tunnel

alt test

EA likely in "second quarter"

WindsorOntarioNews.com March 5 2010

The Detroit River Tunnel Partnership (DRTP) will be moving ahead with an environmental assessment for a new rail tunnel with an announcement coming “within weeks.”

The project – a partnership between the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) and Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) – should have the EA underway in the “second quarter,” spokesman Mike Rohrer says.

The DRTP originally proposed a truck tunnel under the Detroit River, which created a storm of controversy as a proposed solution for traffic congestion between Windsor and Detroit.

Click to read more

Olympics move over, Inukshuks are us!

WindsorOntarioNews.com Feb 26 2010

alt test

It just goes to show that Canada’s southernmost region can also get in touch with its Great White North inner being, especially during this snowy February.

The time-honoured Inuit Inukshuk is the symbol of the Vancouver Olympics.

But along the highways and byways of Essex County there are homemade Inukshuks.

A massive one (on right) was spotted on Manning Rd. north of Hwy. 401.

Another is on Broderick Rd. in LaSalle.

Click to read more

Eco-friendly bags used to steal groceries

WindsorOntarioNews.com Feb 22, 2010

alt test

At least one local grocery is patting down shoppers’ enviro-friendly reusable grocery bags looking for stolen items prior to checkout.

No Frills in Amherstburg has been checking the bags, used by shoppers in place of plastic bags, because there have been incidents of theft.

No Frills is owned by the Loblaw chain.

Calls to Loblaw and other major grocery chains such as Sobeys and Metro, asking if there has been a noticeable increase in theft and whether their companies have similar policies on checking shoppers’ bags, were referred to an industry association.

Click to read more

Remands like Windsor Jail worse than pen

WindsorOntarioNews.com Feb 18 2010

Photo by devonhaupt flickr.com alt test

Provincial remand facilities like Windsor Jail tend to be much more violent than federal penitentiaries, says the head of Canada’s best-known agency that works with prisoners.

Craig Jones said prisoners generally “will do anything to get out of remand because the conditions are so bad.”

The executive director of The John Howard Society of Canada was commenting on a recent beating at the jail, where prisoners allegedly attacked a new inmate because he hadn’t brought drugs into the prison when serving a weekend intermittent sentence.

The victim was paralyzed from the waist down.

Click to read more

Local recycling bin contract with Mafia firm

WindsorOntarioNews.com Feb 15 2010

A company that signed a contract with officials for pedestrian street recycing bins was affiliated with the Mafia.

In today’s editions the National Post reports that Windsor, along with several other Canadian cities including Toronto, London and Ottawa, signed a deal several years ago with OMG Media Inc. to install what has become the familiar stainless steel recycling bins on streets where pedestrians can divide their garbage by throwing them into different slots for glass and paper.

OMG or Olifas Marketing Group at one time had $1.6 million in shares owned by Montreal mob boss Vito Rizzuto’s wife and three children, the Post reported.

Click to read more

Downtown asking $600,000 from Ottawa

alt test WindsorOntarioNews.com Feb 12 2010

The Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association is seeking $600,000 from the federal government to start a business incubator.

BIA executive director Chris Edwards says the money is needed to get the incubator up and running.

“We do have a model to sustain it; the BIA would be heavily involved in that.”

An 8000-sq ft space has been tentatively selected for the site, and an individual has come forward to donate the space, Edwards said.

Click to read more

Bertolin working on bingo lawsuit

WindsorOntarioNews.com Feb 10 2010

Former city licensing commissioner Diane Bertolin, who resigned suddenly last week, is continuing to work for the city on a class action lawsuit over bingo license fees.

The lawsuit has been brought on behalf of charities who say the fees were too high to cover the costs to the city of processing the licenses and regulating the industry.

Should the city lose it could be on the hook for up to $85 million.

City solicitor George Wilkki says Bertolin "continues to work on that file" but had no further comment.

(For more on the resignation see story below; for more on the bingo lawsuit, see Nov 18 2009 story)

Long time senior manager resigns city post

alt test WindsorOntarioNews.com Feb 8 2010

One of Windsor city hall’s key administrators, after a long career with the city, has resigned her position.

Diane Bertolin resigned Friday afternoon. No reasons were provided to staff.

“We found out about three in the afternoon” that day, Michael Chantler, director of business administration in the licensing department and who answered to Bertolin, said.

“It was a complete surprise to me.”

Bertolin had been employed with the city 19 years, 14 in licensing.

Click to read more

Candidate to take legal action against city

alt test WindsorOntarioNews.com Feb 4, 2010

The man who was ousted as chair of Windsor’s crime prevention committee says he’ll be taking legal action against the city.

John Middleton, who’s running in this year’s municipal election as a candidate in Ward 5, says he will make details known in “two weeks - max.”

“There will be clear action when the news release comes out,” he said.

Asked if the legal action might relate to character defamation, he replied, “That’s correct.”

Click to read more

A shocker: natural gas bills to decline $500

WindsorOntarioNews.com Feb 1, 2010

The average family in Windsor and Essex County will see their natural gas bills decline by about $500 this year. Customers who opened their Union Gas bills over the past month may have been shocked to see the drop in their bills. In fact they’re paying one-third now what they were paying a year ago.

Click to read more

A'burg proposes first county farm market

WindsorOntarioNews.com Jan 29, 2010

The first Essex County farmers’ market could be built in Amherstburg if the town is successful in securing more than $500,000 in federal stimulus money for a project at a site on County Rd. 20 at the end of Walker Rd.

Click to read more

Detroit? No, just Windsor's near east side

WindsorOntarioNews.com Jan 26, 2010

There’s a little bit of Detroit on Windsor’s near east side. Vacant lots, boarded up buildings, houses with disintegrating roofs, the blocks between Aylmer and Louis Avenues with Chatham St. E. running in between, look like they could be a stand in for the worst parts of the Motor City.

Click to read more

American non-union company protested

WindsorOntarioNews.com Jan 21, 2010

The local Labourers Union will be making its voice heard against any attempt to hire a non-union American company to do work on the $60 million Windsor Retention Treatment Basin (RTB) along the riverfront.

Click to read more

Activist says new border route has no sound environment, economic purpose

WindsorOntarioNews.com Jan 17, 2010

The director of the Sierra Club’s Ontario chapter Dan McDermott says the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) should not go ahead because it is an affront to the Windsor Detroit ecosystem and is questionable in light of global warming and diminishing use of carbon-based fuels.

Click to read more

Mayoral candidate Sam Sinjari will "take action" to turn city around

WindsorOntarioNews.com Jan 14 2010

Windsor mayoral candidate Sam Sinjari, 20 years old, believes he has what it takes to be the mayor of Windsor. “I’m going to take action,” he says, should he be elected to the city’s top post in this October’s municipal election.

Click to read more

"Windsor" scam artists target Ohio victims

WindsorOntarioNews.com Jan 11, 2010

Windsor‘s border location makes the city an easy target for scam artists who illegally seek to have Americans wire money to fake lawyers or family members.

Click to read more

Lise Lacasse returns for opening night screening of movie Youth in Revolt

WindsorOntarioNews.com, Jan 7, 2010

Tecumseh’s Lise Lacasse is coming home Friday night when she’ll be at the second performance of Lakeshore Cinemas’ screening of the movie Youth in Revolt.

Click to read more

Local 211 call centre to serve all southwestern Ontario

WindsorOntarioNews.com Jan 4, 2010

The City of Windsor will soon be operating the 211 non-emergency call service for all of southwestern Ontario. In fact the city hall department which oversees 211 began work on the expansion immediately after city council gave its okay in mid-December, with staff getting down to work after the New Year’s break.

Click to read more

In the dark: "hundreds" of Windsor blocks without streetlights

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 30, 2009

Drive the long block along Roseland Dr. E. between Dougall Ave. and the Roseland golf course and you might notice something a little peculiar – the absence of street lights.

Click to read more

Unique lamp posts designed for Windsor

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 26, 2009

These lights were designed for Windsor. Those futuristic-looking streetlights that first showed up more than a decade ago are now more in evidence along downtown streets.

Click to read more

Toyota yanks scenes of Windsor Jaycees' Canadian unity flag

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 21, 2009

Images of that giant Windsor Jaycees Canadian flag have hit the cutting room floor. The flag, made famous when it became the symbol of the last-minute Canadian unity rally in Montreal just before the 1995 Quebec referendum and which possibly played a role in saving the country – has been lopped from a Toyota advertising campaign in Quebec.

Click to read more

City Hall: good pay if you can get it

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 17, 2009

A group of city hall management employees is seeking to get the same status as a union and wants to negotiate a first contract with the city. This week they overwhelmingly voted down a city offer because it didn’t match provisions of non-management staff represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

Click to read more

Customs eyeing bridge plaza for expansion

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 15, 2009

While owners of property in Windsor’s west end continue to feud with the city about the fate of dozens of boarded up houses along several blocks near the Ambassador Bridge one of the reasons cited for a prohibition on the homes’ demolition has a definite basis in fact.

Click to read more

Artists launch sticker campaign against Mayor Francis

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 11, 2009

A group of artists has launched a campaign against Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis. The group, which apparently doesn’t want to be identified and seems to be working “underground” has been placing stickers around the city criticizing the mayor.

Click to read more

New charge coming to cable bills in January

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 9, 2009

Local cable TV subscribers will see a new charge on their January bills. It’s the Local Programming Improvement Fund (LPIF) charge and amounts to 1.5 per cent plus tax.

Click to read more

Essex County towns hooking-up smart water meters

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 7, 2009

Several Essex County communities are on the leading tech edge when it comes to what used to be the simple water meter. Amherstburg, for example, has been rolling out its Sensus electronic water meters this fall.

Click to read more

U.S. group chooses Windsor for coats for kids distribution

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 4, 2009

In an unprecedented move the Knights of Columbus Supreme Council in the United States will be giving away hundreds of brand new coats for elementary school students Monday in Windsor at the Unemployed Help Centre.

Click to read more

BIA decries Ouellette Ave improvements as "sea of gray"

WindsorOntarioNews.com Dec 2, 2009

The City of Windsor spent almost $5 million on new streetscaping downtown. But members of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association, which kicked in more than $1 million of the cost, aren’t happy at all about it.

Click to read more

Citizens group has eyes on DRIC Customs plaza

WindsorOntarioNews.com Nov 29 2009

The group that is challenging a big box retail development along Matchette Rd. in west Windsor also has its eyes on the environmental impact of the Detroit River International Crossing’s (DRIC) massive Customs plaza in Brighton Beach near the Detroit River.

Click to read more

Council activist says tunnel proposal "dubious, stupid"

WindsorOntarioNews.com Nov 26, 2009

Who is Bruce McLeod and why did he make a complaint to Windsor’s Integrity Commissioner about a meeting Mayor Eddie Francis had with now convicted Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick two summers ago?

Click to read more

Paul Martin part of Trust to revamp Assumption Church

WindsorOntarioNews.com Nov 24, 2009

Former Prime Minister Paul Martin and well-known Canadian author Richard Rohmer have been enlisted to serve on a national campaign to seek funding as part of a major plan to renovate Assumption Church and surroundings.

Click to read more

Electronic bingo hall opening in Windsor

WindsorOntarioNews.com Nov 22, 2009

Windsor’s first E-bingo hall will be opening later this month with a grand opening planned for early December.

Click to read more

City could be on hook for up to $85 million

WindsorOntarioNews.com Nov 18, 2009

The City of Windsor could be on the hook for as much as $85 million should a class action lawsuit challenging it over the legality of bingo fees be successful.

Click to read more

Ranta Marina protesters "self-interested" group

Windsor Ontario News November 15 2009

One of the Amherstburg town councillors who voted to sell the municipally-owned Ranta Marina is not fazed at all by vocal opposition to the conditional sale to developer Rob Delicata.

Click to read more

Transit looking at cheaper passes, open transfers

Windsor Ontario News November 12 2009

Transit Windsor is considering major changes to its fare system, including the introduction of inexpensive daily family passes and transfers that would allow passengers to return in the direction they came from without paying another fare.

Click to read more

Law says child driver should have been supervised

Windsor Ontario News November 10, 2009

There are restrictions for children under 12 using dirt bikes, including where they can drive them and the kind of supervision they must be under.

Click to read more

Clinton cut fees for environmental fundraiser

Windsor Ontario News November 6, 2009

Bill Clinton may charge well over $100,000 for speaking engagements but he cut his price substantially to be guest speaker at a gala fundraiser next spring by the Essex Region Conservation Foundation.

Click to read more

Windsor could gain sizable revenue from Parkway properties

Windsor Ontario News November 3, 2009 Some 150 parcels of city-owned land along the Windsor-Essex Parkway route could derive substantial income for the city although Mayor Eddie Francis wouldn’t speculate as to how much the city could earn.

Click to read more

Poor economy leads condo owner to advertise nationally

Windsor Ontario News November 2, 2009

A Windsor man thinks the local market for a luxury riverfront condominium is so poor that he has spent considerable money to buy display advertising in one of Canada’s national newspapers to advertise the property.

Click to read more

Bridge uses billboards to take campaign to public

Windsor Ontario News October 29, 2009

The Ambassador Bridge company has taken its appeal for a new bridge span directly to the public.

Click to read more

Canada Post won't deliver along construction route

Windsor Ontario News October 28, 2009

Amherstburg residents this week received hand delivered letters from the town’s public works department informing them that the post office will not have letter carriers deliver mail along the stretch of road that is being torn up and replaced as part of a municipal beautification project.

Click to read more

Tecumseh park plan has lake pier, ecological gardens

Windsor Ontario News October 27, 2009

Tecumseh’s new waterfront park, now largely an open space with limited amenities, is expected to undergo a major transformation under plans being drawn up by the town’s engineering consultants, Toronto’s EDA Collaborative Inc.

Click to read more

New signs coming to Highway 401

Windsor Ontario News October 23, 2009

Expect newer and better signs along Highway 401 in the near future to alert motorists to the fact that service centre sites are still open.

Click to read more

Tecumseh says MPAC office will be on transit route

Windsor Ontario News October 20, 2009

Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara says there will indeed be public transit service to the new Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) office when it opens in Tecumseh likely in late January.

Click to read more