Wyandotte residents say they need parking and paint, not streamers
'If the streets stay dirty, even if you put up nice ribbons, it won't like nice'
Some business owners and customers along Wyandotte Street East say what their neighbourhood needs isn't brightly coloured banners — it's more parking, clean streets and fresh paint.
Windsor city council balked at spending $1.4 million on a plan for the first phase of the Wyandotte Town Centre World Market during its meeting Monday night.
Councillors raised questions about safety and costs, and asked the area's business improvement association to go back to the drawing board and come back with something that will work with plans to create different districts in the city.
CBC spoke with people in the neighbourhood to find out what they think Wyandotte needs. Here's what they said:
Rabee Ibraheem
The owner of Rabee Hair Salon said parking is always a problem for businesses along Wyandotte Street East.
Ibraheem added that he doesn't think spending so much money on streamers would be a worthwhile investment.
"I don't think it's going to be worth it to spend all of that money to do that. You can do something else."
Evelyn Charett
Charett said Wyandotte Town Centre can be "a bit drab at times."
She thinks a fresh coat of paint would really liven up the area.
"Take the money and do something else with it, rather than put up streamers and stuff like that," she added. "The wind is going to blow it all away."
Alex Athier
As a business owner, Athier said he's in favour of anything that helps attract more people to the area.
He's in favour of council's districting plan because "it's nice to have an identity," but said that a more practical step might be more useful.
"It needs a major cleanup. If the streets stay dirty, even if you put up nice ribbons, it won't like nice."