Lock your doors and watch yourself on the streets:
Police arrest man after botched burglary attempt and high-speed car crashTwo men broke into a young family's household (waking up their three-year-old) and then escaped in a high speed car escape through the streets of Windsor. Not safe.
A 30-year-old Windsor man is in custody after a botched break-in resulted in him behind the wheel of a stolen vehicle that crashed into a pole.
“This was a violent crash at a high rate of speed,” said Staff Sgt. Michael Langlois of the investigations division. “Our officers are estimating the speed to be 140 km/h at impact, or close to it. The individual was lucky not to have been killed — or (to have killed) anyone else.”
...
The vehicle went out of control a few blocks away and collided with a pole at the intersection of Vimy and Parkwood Avenue.The driver attempted to flee on foot, but he was quickly subdued by officers.
The suspect was taken to hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries suffered in the crash, then taken into custody.
Langlois described the accused as “well known to police.”
Langlois said the victims have no connection with the accused and their residence was apparently chosen at random for break-and-enter. “They’re very shaken up over the incident," he said.
Scary stuff - I wonder if the police overestimated when they said that the suspect crashed at 140km/h. That's insane.
Windsor Stuck with Lear Steel EyesoreDeveloper Farhi says waste heaps will be cleared soonWe spoke in the last installment of What the hell is wrong with Windsor? we talked a bit about how it isn't always a great idea to have one guy own all the land in the downtown area. Well, here's an example of how they can basically do what they want. [and frankly, in my opinion, good for them. don't let anyone tell you what to]
There's apparently little Windsor can do for now about forcing the removal of the huge piles of twisted scrap steel next door to the WFCU Centre. City officials and councillors have fielded complaints about the unsightly mountains of iron girder and cladding -- the remains of the former Lear plant on Lauzon Road.
[...]
The one-year stipulation exists under the building code, but Lee Anne Doyle, the city's chief building official, said the clock didn't start until the demolition work ceased on Oct. 22, 2009, leaving 7,000 tons in scrap.
Doyle said the owner of the property, London developer Shmuel Farhi, has told the city he's eager to clean up the property but that steel prices tanked over the past year as a result of the global recession.
Doyle said Farhi has nevertheless indicated he'll be moving the waste heaps soon.
"We're hoping for the spring, but we can't legally move until the one-year deadline," Doyle told city council this month.
Farhi acquired the 100-acre Lear property in 2005 for $8 million. In the fall of 2006 he traded 40 acres of land behind the Lear plant to the city for its new arena, in exchange for a prime 1.1-acre site west of the Art Gallery of Windsor plus $1.5 million in cash.
Police warn of lug-nut vandalsIt's not just thievery that is inspiring criminals in the area - instead, some clowns are actually loosening parts off of shopper's cars by the outlet mall. Unreal.
LaSalle police are warning residents in the area of Windsor Crossing Outlet Mall and the Heritage Estates subdivision to check their vehicles for loose wheels. Police say several vehicles in the area of Huron Church Road and Sandwich West Parkway had their lug nuts loosened or removed Thursday between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.Police are seeking two suspects.
Students campaign against college strike
Lost semester feared
College students are rightly scared that there is going to be a big strike - although I don't think college profs make as much money as the profs at the UofW, and likely can't afford to hold out for too long.
St. Clair College students and others across the province fearing a faculty strike are taking to the Internet to try to prevent a work stoppage like the one that threatened semesters in 2006.
"Students are concerned, obviously, with all the threat of the possibility of a strike looming in the air and students clearly are wondering what is going on and what is happening," said Justin Fox, the president of the St. Clair College Student Representative Council.
Faculty at community colleges went on strike for 21 days in March 2006 and had the strike lasted much longer the second semester could have been threatened.
It's our hope that both sides will go back to the table since this is kind of a special year. St. Clair has over 1,000 Second Career students here at our campus, the largest in the province, so there are a lot of questions for them as to what is going to happen with their funding and their education as well.
"In contrast to the 2006 strike, this year students are trying to set the agenda ahead of time using online networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, both of which were in their infancy four years ago. [I don't think Facebook is going to get teacher's a raise. Also, in this whole article, all the reporter did was talk to Justin Fox? Fox doesn't even represent anyone on either side of the bargaining table - weird?]
Still no deal, 6 months after city strike ended
Speaking of strikes - would you believe that the paperwork from that 100+ day strike over the summer isn't done yet?
Six months after ratifying a new contract that ended a 101-day strike, city administrators and CUPE union leaders have yet to sign the agreement.
Both sides are refusing to sign because of disputes over what was agreed upon in the three-year deal.
“We still don’t have a signed collective agreement,” said Jean Fox, president of Local 543 which represents city inside workers. “We are at odds with what we negotiated back in July.
“The corporation — for lack of a better word — are reneging on what they agreed to at the bargaining table.”
Local 543 union leaders insist it was agreed that the city’s seasonal workers who tallied 750 hours on the job can apply for posted internal full-time jobs as they become available, Fox said.
But city administrators have disputed that was part of the final agreement and say the number is 1,250 hours, she said.
It has never taken longer than four months to get the union and the city to sign off on a contract during her 30 years with the city, Fox said.
“You might have one unresolved issue, then once it’s resolved then everything is fine,” she said.
If the two sides can’t agree an arbitrator may soon be called on to resolve the dispute, Fox said.
“The way I and the negotiation team interpret this is one way and the way the corporation looks at it is another way,” she said.
“This is huge for the seasonal employees. You have lifeguards who have worked for the corporation for six years and many are university students or have degrees. All they are asking for is a better opportunity to apply from the inside.”
CUPE Local 82 president Jim Wood, representing outside workers, has also refused to sign off until he is assured three part-time workers are eligible for post-retirement benefits.
Under the contract lifetime benefits for all future employees starting the date the contract was ratified will no longer receive post-retirement benefits.
Wood said it was agreed during negotiations that the three workers — who work in municipal arenas and community centres — be included on the list of of those receiving post-retirement benefits should they be hired for full-time jobs.
“It’s pretty well done for us, except as far as these part-timers,” Wood said.
City administrators, including CAO Helga Reidel, who was lead negotiator for the city, could not be reached for comment.
With the exception of the issues in dispute, the terms of the new contract — including pay increases — are in effect.
Coun. Ken Lewenza Jr. said city council has not been made aware the deal has not yet been signed.
“It should absolutely be signed and it’s ridiculous it’s not,” he said.
“After collective agreements are reached, it’s normal there is a small window where you need time to get everything in print and signed off, but certainly it doesn’t make sense six months later it’s not signed.”
Spectacular Mountain could be made from all Windsor's fill
Well, it will be interesting to see if one big pile of garbage wants another big pile of garbage in it, to make it look better.WINDSOR, Ont. -- Does Windsor want a mountain? With a record number of big construction projects about to begin, as well as with the dig of all digs — the Windsor-Essex Parkway — looming on the horizon, a big question is what to do with all the surplus dirt that will be generated. “We could create something pretty spectacular … look at what we have at Malden Park,” said Don Sadler, the city’s executive director of parks and facility operations.
The $60-million retention basin project about to get underway east of the downtown will alone require the removal of about 24,000 cubic metres of dirt for a football field-sized basin.
“There’s going to be a substantial amount of fill generated in Windsor over the next three to four years. The need for a home will be in high demand,” said Sadler.
[C]ity staff are already scrambling with what to do once the dirt starts flying. “It’s safe to say those plans and discussions will become a high priority … it already is a high priority,” said Sadler.
City hopes lofts bring life to core
Bentley's Roadhouse is set to become site of loft apartments?
A downtown Windsor building that has sat vacant for two years is slated to be transformed into loft-style apartments. Formerly home to Bentley's Roadhouse, the building at 747-757 Ouellette Ave. will be renovated into 16 one-bedroom apartments geared to residents with low incomes."
It's pretty much an eyesore right now," said owner Mike Soleski. "It'll be more urban, modern-looking and contemporary."City council approved a zoning change for the property Monday night, allowing the ground floor of the building to be used for residences and the Pelissier Street end of the property to house a laundromat. Other plans for the building include a rooftop terrace for residents.
[If you really want to stimulate the downtown economy, why would you put in low-income housing, one-bedroom apartments? Many low-incomers have small families they can't afford to house - this doesn't seem to really help them, does it?]
Coun. Ron Jones said he hopes the project will breathe new life into a downtown core full of empty storefronts with for sale signs in the windows. [and replace them with people who have no money, and likely bad jobs, hence their Low-income status - great strategy - they'll really brighten up the downtown core]
"We've been looking for diversity in the downtown area, and I think this is a creative way to bring people to the core."[It's awfully creative if you think people with no disposable income are going to help - ... I guess I'm a little off-base here. Unless you're bringing more jobs downtown for these low-income people to work at, it's not really helping anyone]
Soleski said Windsor's entertainment hotspot is moving north to the area of Park Street and University Avenue. He hopes to see the area surrounding the new apartment building -- which is between Tuscarora Street and Elliott Street -- become a residential hub. [Okay, but there still have to be more jobs down there]
The CMHC's most recent housing survey, conducted in October 2009, shows Windsor's vacancy rate for one-bedroom apartments was 12.2 per cent, with 872 of the city's 7,154 one-bedroom apartments sitting empty. While that vacancy rate has fallen over the past year, it's still three times as high as almost all other census metropolitan areas in the province. The average price of renting a one-bedroom apartment in Windsor is $622 per month, the second lowest rate among Ontario's census metropolitan areas.
But the city's high vacancy rate and relatively low rental price don't mean the new units aren't needed, said CMHC spokeswoman Judy Binder. She said there's a long waiting list of residents who need low-income housing. Rent in the new apartments will be fixed at $650 -- including utilities -- for 15 years. The $400,000 loan to the project developers will earn forgiveness over those 15 years as long as the building's owners don't increase the rental price.
Girl fondled in store, cops say
A 45-year-old man is behind bars after he allegedly stalked a young girl around a west side grocery store Monday before grabbing her backside and giving her a wink.
Officers went to the store in the 700 block of Crawford Avenue around 4:30 p.m. after a woman told the manager that a man had grabbed her 14-year-old daughter's buttocks.
Police said the man crouched down next to the girl as if he was looking at something on a low shelf. As he bent down, he also reached up, grabbed her buttocks and winked at her.
The startled girl immediately fled from the aisle and told her mother. The store manager held the suspect until police arrived.
Daniel Joseph Chauvin, 45, of Windsor, is charged with sexual assault.
400 builder denies wrongdoing
If you were wondering what made people upset with the 400 building audit, this is it, basically. There was a tendering process that was not honored, and someone should be held responsible for that (no, not the contractors).
Without any edits, you can read it all here.
Why did three city councillors give Vindella Enterprises an opportunity to fix its bid after a deadline passed to submit proposals for the construction of 400 City Hall Square?
"We never knew why they did what they did," said former city auditor Mike Dunbar, whose early findings triggered a more intensive report of the project. "This report is clear on what they did, but not clear on why they did it.
"That was one of big questions we had in our report and it's still not answered."
But the owner and operator of Vindella Enterprises and Oscar Construction, said he did nothing wrong to win the bid to build the $32.5-million 400 City Hall Square building.
"The only thing we did wrong was give a lower price," Vince Balsamo said. "That's the only mistake we did.
"We did a beautiful job, built it on time and I'm not ashamed we did it. Nothing illegal was done. Everything was in the open."
Vindella and Oscar have been thrown into the spotlight after an audit revealed that city councillors and staff violated municipal bylaws in 2002 and 2003 to award Balsamo's firms the project despite an RFP process that gave another construction firm higher marks.
Three councillors -- Fulvio Valentinis, Peter Carlesimo and Charlie Hotham -- who sat on the selection committee breached rules when Vindella was encouraged to amend its bid after the deadline, the report said.
Audit committee member Coun. Alan Halberstadt is curious about the reasons behind the committee's actions.
"Obviously, their story is they were looking for the lowest price, but the audit has different conclusions," he said.
"Yeah, it was lower, but a lot of components entered into it and they went into negotiations with a non-compliant bidder."
Vindella had a non-compliant proposal that should have eliminated the company from consideration, according to the city audit. The company's amended bid proved to be the winner, edging out EllisDon Construction.
"The councillors on the selection committee acted as if they believed that they could, individually, do whatever they wanted in selecting the successful proponent, including ignoring the result of applying the matrix table and applying different criteria," Toronto lawyer Andrew Roman wrote in the audit report.
The three members of the committee disagreed -- with one insisting their actions were "heroic" because they were able to save taxpayers $2 million.
"If you are going to judge the committee it has to be on the mandate we were given," Carlesimo said. "The key consideration was cost. We were heroic in carrying out that task.
"Nearly $2.5 million was saved."
The committee's mandate was to bring back the best deal for taxpayers, Hotham added.
"The lawyer (Roman) is hanging his hat on a matrix," he said. "There was a matrix and he said EllisDon scored higher. Absolutely they did. But nowhere in the documents or mandate of the steering committee did it ever say make a decision based on the matrix. Show me wording that says that.
"My mandate was clear and concise -- bring back the best deal for the city."
Allegations Vindella received favouritism or preferred treatment in the bidding process especially angered Hotham.
"We met with Vindella as many times as EllisDon and EllisDon as many times as Vindella," he said.
"They each had every opportunity to answer the same questions. In the end, Vindella brought back to us a deal $2 million less than the other proponent."
EllisDon said last week that the company will consider legal action against the city -- which maintains the time limitation for such action has expired.
Meanwhile, Halberstadt disputes his former colleagues' arguments they saved taxpayers' money. Vindella's original design was smaller than the one that was eventually constructed, which ultimately cost an additional $7.6 million.
"What upsets me is (Carlesimo) hailing himself a hero for saving $2.3 million," Halberstadt said. "But that's not true. He is going on the bid for a smaller building."
Once several council-approved additions were thrown in, the final price jumped from $24.9 million to $32.5 million.
"Obviously favouritism was shown to Vindella for whatever reasons," Halberstadt said. "Again, I have no idea what conversations took place between them and the proponent. It's not part of what showed up on the audit. Those are questions left unanswered."
Balsamo is listed as co-director of Vindella with Della Pellarin, according to a corporate search obtained by The Star. He described it as the management company for his holdings.
He is also listed as co-director for Oscar with Maria Balsamo. Other officers of that company include Domenic Lapico, Antonio Lapico, Stephania Lapico, Alathattuparambil Razak and Aysha Razak.
Confusion around requirements and expectations of the 400 project were "unbelievable," making it difficult to complete a proposal, Balsamo said.
Nevertheless, his company's bid was strong enough to make the first stage shortlist of six, then pass the second stage down to two companies. From there, both Vindella and EllisDon had a fair shot at making their pitch and received equal treatment from the city, he said.
He contradicts audit findings by saying there never was a second or new amended proposal, just information added to the original proposal at the request of the city -- done by fax or email, Balsamo said.
Balsamo said he has frequent conversations with councillors about projects.
"It's a small city, I talk to everybody, all the councillors," he said.
"I know Eddie (Francis) very well, too. Did I talk (to the three councillors) directly about the project? No. The decision was made by the full council. Those three councillors, they just provided advice and the full council then made the decision."
Canwest papers up for sell
Scary situation if you're in the publishing industry - or are looking to start a career with the print media. And yes, Canwest owns the Windsor Star.
The country's largest chain of newspapers, held by Canwest Global Communications Corp., has been placed under creditor protection and will be put up for sale next week by senior lenders led by a consortium of five Canadian banks.
Following court approval Friday, Canwest Limited Partnership's secured lenders -- which together hold $953 million in debt -- will solicit offers for the publishing division, which includes the National Post, 10 major city dailies including the Victoria Times Colonist, Vancouver Sun, Vancouver Province, Edmonton Journal, Calgary Herald, Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Regina Leader-Post, The Windsor Star, Ottawa Citizen and Montreal Gazette.
The unit also owns 26 community newspapers, as well as associated online and mobile properties.The voluntary filing and protection granted Friday under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act will allow the publishing group, known as LP, to operate as usual but provide debt relief while it continues to work on a recapitalization plan.
The entire publishing division is being put on the block. "After due diligence, it was determined there is value in acquiring the whole of Canwest LP's business, given the operating synergies that can be realized from a national chain of newspapers and online businesses,'' said Ann DeRabbie, spokesperson for the agent bank for Canwest LP senior secured lenders.
DeRabbie confirmed "There is no interest in day-to-day management from the ... lending group."Bids will be accepted for seven weeks before they are stacked up against an undisclosed but anticipated bank target of $950 million to $1.1 billion, which is based on the going rate for newspapers multiplied by their earnings. The bids will then be whittled down to a handful of finalists for a second seven-week round of competition.If a superior offer to the target doesn't emerge, the bank-led group of lenders has proposed transferring the newspapers' assets into a separate, independent company.
2000-2010: Windsor's decade that wasWINDSOR, Ont. -- It was a decade of upheaval, but also of success.
The first 10 years of the new millennium brought some difficult times for Windsor: terrorists sabotaged cross-border travel, a car industry imploded during what some call the Great Recession, and war in a far-away land claimed too many Canadian lives.
Yet despite serious setbacks, and some high-profile deaths, Windsor managed to make its mark on history — and in a good way.
In fact, with grand openings and grand parties, Windsor even managed to have some fun along the way.
So as 2009 draws to a close, here’s a quick look back at the top Windsor news stories of the past decade.
9/11
The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States made headlines around the world — 2,973 victims and 19 hijackers died when planes flew into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a field in rural Pennsylvania.
As a result, the U.S. launched the war on terrorism — invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, and enacting the USA Patriot Act.
Windsor in particular was affected by the fallout — tighter border security and passport requirements cut tourism almost by half in this border town. At its peak in 2000, nine million visitors came to Windsor, though annual tourism has now dropped to less than five million.
John Atkinson
Const. John Atkinson, 37, was shot in the face May 5, 2006, when he approached two teenagers carrying out a drug deal in the parking lot of an east side Mac's convenience store. It was the first shooting of a Windsor police officer in the service’s 120-year history.
Nikkolas Brennan is serving a life sentence for first-degree murder. It shocked and saddened this community and opened the eyes of many to the growing scourge of guns and drugs in this city. It also changed the Windsor Police Service forever.
“The was probably the most powerful event that happened to this organization in my time,” said Deputy Chief Jerome Brannagan. “It was a very difficult way to reinforce how fragile life is.”
Plant closings
The auto industry meltdown hit Windsor harshly and helped make the city’s unemplyment rate the highest in the country, peaking around 15 per cent. The auto industry as a whole in Canada has lost more than 74,000 jobs since 2000, most of them in the last 18 months. The parts sector was hardest hit. Canada now has only 40,000 parts jobs, compared to the peak of 100,000 a decade ago.
Windsor alone has lost tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs, most auto-related. By next summer, GM is scheduled to leave Windsor completely.
The good news is the auto industry seems to be stabilizing, Chrysler’s assembly plant is expected to run on three full shifts for the foreseeable future and Ford’s Essex engine plant starting Feb. 1 will begin assembling a new five-litre V8 engine for the Mustang GT and possibly the automaker’s best-selling vehicle, the F-150 pickup.
Border crossing
The biggest road project in Canadian history has taken much of the decade to plan, but preliminary work for the $1.6 billion Windsor-Essex Parkway finally started earlier this month. Full construction starts in 2011.
From the 401 on the Canadian side to Interstate 75 on the U.S. side, the whole project — which will include a new bridge — should cost roughly $5 billion. Some 12,000 jobs are expected to be created.
Cpl. Andrew Grenon
On Sept. 3, 2008, Cpl. Andrew Grenon, 23, became Windsor’s first soldier killed while serving with the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan. An insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan claimed Grenon, as well as fellow Princess Patricia’s Light Infantrymen Cpl. Mike Seggie, 21, of Winnipeg, and Pte. Chad Horn, 21, of Calgary. Five other Canadian soldiers were injured. Thus far, 138 Canadian soldiers have died since 2002 in the war in Afghanistan.
Thousands of people lined the route that Grenon’s casket took on Sept. 12 as the hearse made its way to Our Lady of the Atonement Church for the funeral of the fallen hero.
Spitfires
The Windsor Spitfires defied the odds on May 24, 2009, to capture their first Memorial Cup title in the franchise's 34-year history.
They beat the Kelowna Rockets 4-1 in Rimouski, Que., becoming the first team to win Canada's national junior championship after losing the first two games of the round-robin tournament.
Windsor-born captain Harry Young was the first to raise the Cup after receiving the trophy from CHL commissioner Dave Branch.
Mickey Renaud
The city was saddened when popular Windsor Spitfires captain Mickey Renaud died at his Tecumseh home Feb. 18, 2008, from the rare heart condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The 19-year-old athlete was a fifth round draft pick for the Calgary Flames. His No. 18 jersey was retired and now hangs at the WFCU Centre. Mickey Renaud Way leads into the facility.
WFCU Centre
The plan to seal the arena deal was kicked into high gear after languishing for decades when, in September 2006, Windsor was blindsided by the announcement that Tecumseh was building its own Ice Track.
But after the community discussed a new arena for half a century, the Spitfires finally played their first game at the $72-million, 6,500-seat WFCU Centre on Dec. 11, 2008.
Caesars Windsor expansion
After three years of construction, the new $439-million expansion of Caesars Windsor changed the local skyline, with the 5,000-seat Colosseum, convention centre, and 27-floor, 269-room Augustus Tower.
The $2.3-million gala opening with 5,000 invited guests and a performance by Billy Joel set the stage for things to come. Though business has dropped at the Windsor gaming hall, the fancy new facility has attracted a number of big-name acts, including Jay Leno and Celine Dion, likely the biggest entertainer ever to perform in Windsor.
CUPE strike
A 101-day strike by 1,800 city workers became one of the most divisive issues in recent memory in Windsor.
About 400 outside workers belonging to the Canadian Union of Public Employees, without a contract since Dec. 31, went on strike April 15, 2009. About 1,400 inside CUPE workers followed on April 18.
Tension rose throughout the summer, as parks went unmowed and trash uncollected. A “near-riot” erupted at a CUPE vote at the Caboto Club on July 16 after the city sent managers there with leaflets. Workers resoundingly rejected the offer.
But CUPE members later ratified a deal, giving up post-retirement benefits for new hires but receiving a $2,000 signing bonus and a 6.3 per cent wage hike over four years.
Losing the Norwich block
The city has so far paid almost $24 million to business owners and tenants of the former Norwich Block. Four business owners have yet to settle.
The Norwich Block, which was the oldest mercantile block in Windsor at the time, was razed to make way for the Canderel-built building at Ouellette and Riverside West. Most Norwich Block claims were settled in 2004, when the city offered a 25 per cent premium on assessed values.
One Riverside Drive West, also known as the Chrysler building since it houses the automaker’s Canadian headquarters, remains partly vacant. Its first tenants arrived in August 2002.
MFP scandal
It was the biggest financial scandal in Windsor's history. Taxpayers were fleeced out of hundreds of millions of dollars in overpayments on lease agreements for everything from fire trucks and communications equipment to computers and the regional landfill.
After The Windsor Star broke the story, there was a massive investigation of the city’s finance department, the firing of two senior officials and a $305-million lawsuit against MFP.
Jesse Imeson
Former Amherstburg resident Jesse Imeson became a triple-murderer at the age of 22 in July 2007 and was the subject of a nationwide manhunt, profiled by U.S. television show America’s Most Wanted.
His killing spree started with the murder of architecture student Carlos Rivera, 26, who was found strangled in Imeson’s Windsor flat July 19, 2007.
While on the run, Imeson went on to kill Bill Regier, 72, and his wife Helene, 73, in their Mount Carmel home.
Imeson was arrested without a fight in Portage-du-Fort, Que., on the evening of July 31. He pled guilty to three counts of second degree murder on Oct. 27, 2008, and was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 25 years.
Charles Sylvestre
For four decades, the late priest Charles Sylvestre sexually abused young girls in his parishes.
Sylvestre pleaded guilty Aug. 4, 2006, to sexually assaulting 47 girls over nearly 40 years in Chatham, Pain Court, Sarnia, London and Windsor. By February 2007, nearly 60 women had told Chatham-Kent police their stories of abuse at the hands of Sylvestre.
It was also discovered that church officials knew of the abuse and did nothing. Bishop Ronald Fabbro later publicly apologized on behalf of the Catholic church.
Sylvestre, 84, died Jan. 22, 2007, at Kingston Penitentiary, after serving less than four months of his three-year sentence.
Academic upgrades
The first 24 students of the University of WIndsor’s $15-million medical school began classes Sept. 3, 2008.
The province later announced $4 million more to finish the empty third floor. But something is already amiss at the Windsor school, part of the University of Western’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, given that its two top leaders, associate dean Dr. Tom Scott, and assistant dean Dr. Raphael Cheung resigned this month.
Meanwhile, the University of Windsor also built the $18-million Anthony P. Toldo Health Education Centre, which houses nursing faculty, in 2003. As well, the school announced plans to build a new 300,000-square-foot, $112-million Centre for Engineering Innovation.
St. Clair College also opened new facilities, with a new downtown campus that opened in 2007, the $33-million Ford Centre for Excellence in Manufacturing which opened in 2003, and the $9-million Centre for Construction, Innovation and Production which officially opened in November. And it announced plans to build a $5 million mediaplex in the old Salvation Army building downtown.
Super sports
Windsor teamed up with Detroit as a sort of secondary host on a number of high-profile sporting events over the last decade, bringing special parties to the city, such as: the Major League Baseball All-Star Game at Comerica Park July 12, 2005; Super Bowl XL at Ford Field on Feb. 5, 2006; WrestleMania 23 at Ford Field April 1, 2007; the Final Four April 6, 2009; the annual Belle Isle IndyCar Grand Prix; and two years in row of the Red Bull Air Races, which this year was based in Windsor.
Posts
