Unanimous support for downtown Windsor by council

After a marathon, six-hour meeting on the Downtown Windsor Revitalization Plan, council and the mayor voted in favour of increasing taxes to support the core.

Taxes will go up 0.70 per cent on 2024 tax bills to help pay for the $3.2 million plan. It means an increase of $22 for the average taxpayer.

It calls for 12 additional police officers to patrol the core, increased auxiliary officers in downtown parks and trails, and expanded services at H4 (Housing and Homelessness Help Hub).

Windsor Police Chief Jason Bellaire told council the key to the plan’s success is the expansion of the H4 so police have somewhere to take people in crisis who don’t need the care of a hospital and who aren’t under arrest.

He also reassured councillors that focusing staffing and resources downtown won’t impact the other wards.

Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens in Windsor, Ont., on Tuesday, April 23, 2024. (Rich Garton/CTV News Windsor)In fact, Bellaire said since rolling out the focused units in the core, they have noticed their response times have improved in other wards because there is less crime pulling officers away from the other wards and into the core.

Windsor police said they can begin “immediately” to implement the plan by reassigning officers into the core while they work to recruit the 12 new officers to the force.

Bellaire said they also have 98 auxiliary, “the most we’ve had in a long time.”

The discussion started with more than 30 delegates speaking to council -- all of them in favour of the plan.

Coun. Joanne Gignac admitted to her colleagues she wasn’t going to vote for the plan when she came to chambers Monday.

After hearing from all of the delegates, social advocates and the city’s housing authorities she changed her mind and voted in favour of the plan. 

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, council, administration and Windsor police originally unveiled the new "Strengthen the Core" plan on April 23.