The Mayor of Monmouth: October 2008

Exact site location for the SWDC. Walker Road is over the horizon.

Windsor Star, “A” News, Mayor’s Office Give False Spin on Location

Looking east across 8th Concession from the New Jail.

Looking north from the Correctional facility.

Looking South towards Hwy. 46 and the 401.

The new jail is not in or near the big box development on Walker Road. It is not close to South Windsor and it is not on the corner of Provincial Rd. and Walker. For the record, the new South West Detention Centre will be on the Eighth Concession just north of the 401. It will be in the middle of what is now a farm field. In fact, it will be completely surrounded by corn fields save for a couple of farm houses, a soccer field and the 401. Walker road is not even visible from this location. The distance from what will be the front doors of the new detention center to the intersection of Walker Road and Provincial is 2.2 kilometers. To Hooters it’s 2.8 kms. Hardly worth ruining a good shopping spree.

There is good speculation as to why the Mayor and his well trained media entourage went out of their way to trigger a stampede of concerned citizens. Before getting into that, read below how the Windsor Star, “A” News and the Mayor reacted to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services’ announcement:

“Windsor's growing big-box area on Walker Road will soon have another neighbour to go with its groceries and home supplies: a new jail”. Windsor Star.

“Proposed site for new Windsor jail: Walker and 401” Windsor Star

“As Jason Chapman reported on A-News at Six, although it seems everyone agrees Windsor's 83-year old jail needs to be replaced the Walker Road site chosen for the 315-bed jail is not the area where city hall was hoping it would be built.” --- A news

“Walker Road site chosen for $30-million detention centre” ---Headline --- A News

"From a logistics perspective there are better locations than to pop it into a heavy commercial area like that," said Francis, chairman of the Windsor Police Services Board. "It's going to cause problems for us and it's going to come at a cost. From a police perspective, we prefer a more direct route." -- Eddie Francis

The Mayor made it very clear that he would rather have the South West Detention Center built on Brighton Beach property. One reason...The City has been trying to dump that property for years. There was also a time when the Detention Facility was being discussed in conjunction with the border file (yes, the Mayor knew about it back then). Back when the access routes and crossing location were still secret. He plugged for Brighton Beach hoping that the Province would tip its hand revealing access routes and a crossing point. After careful consideration the site was nixed. Health considerations for staff and inmates, brine wells and lack of infrastructure all contributed to the Provinces decision to select a superior site. The Mayor was none the wiser. Last week he said this: “Francis said the city had suggested the Brighton Beach industrial area near the Detroit River since its closer to the courts and in a less commercial area -- which might make for easier transportation of detainees back and forth.”…”It’s going to cause problems for us and it’s going to come at a cost. From a Police perspective, we prefer a more direct route.”

As the crow flies the SWDC announced location is only 1.7 kilometers further from the court houses than the Brighton Beach proposal and it’s a clear shot up highway 46 to Provincial to Howard to the courts. So much for that scare tactic.

Why aren’t the Mayor and his droogs playing up the positives? We are replacing a worn out, dirty, 83 year old facility with a new state of the art correctional center with over three times the capacity. This means that the courts won’t be doling out two-for-one time. Offenders, especially repeat offenders will now be incarcerated for their full sentence instead of being let out half way through. That will translate into a reduction in all crimes right across the city. The new location is actually better suited to covering the needs of all county jurisdictions. It is very accessible by major city and provincial highways and public transit.

Economic Benefits

The economic benefits created by the South West Detention Center are the real deal. The Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services points out that construction will translate into $30 million in salaries (ballpark) for about 150 Windsor area construction workers over the duration of the project. There will be $16 million in supply purchases from Windsor and Essex County businesses. Approximately 800 person years of employment will be generated throughout the life of construction. Correctional service jobs will at least double and quite possibly triple. This not only means more disposable income in all of Windsor and Essex County; it also means a surge in benefits to local businesses of all kinds. Staff from the SWDC will be visiting, shopping and spending money in the community they work in. They will be eating at restaurants, buying groceries, furniture, home improvement items and services of all kinds. Yes…This is economic development and community improvement all rolled into one nice package. A gift in these economic times. A gift which our elected officials should embrace with full gratitude.