He’s calling it Windsor 2022.
Matt Marchand, who is running to be the next mayor of Windsor, announced his framework for a city-wide strategy on homelessness, opioid and crime with a focus on the downtown.
Marchand says there were extensive consultations on his plan, involving members of the community as well as former big city mayors in Canada and the U.S.
“Windsor is facing an opioid and crystal meth crisis, increasing homelessness, and rising crime,” said Marchand. He hopes to significantly reduce those problems by 2022, which would also be the end of the next term of office.
Marchand’s plan is to work with community-based organizations, as well as the province and feds for predictable and sustainable funds and a strategy to invest in addressing mental health, homelessness and addiction issues. He also wants to create programs to clean up and revitalize the Downtown and provide additional resources and preventative crime measures.
Marchand also seeks to establish benchmarks to measure results of the initiative every six months.
Short-terms goals include the implementation of programs such as Meters for Change, Wheels of Change, Transitional Storage Lockers, neighbourbood and community improvement grants, increasing Windsor Police DIGS (Drugs and Gun Enforcement) Unit, and expanding COAST (Community Outreach and Support Team) program.
“We must bring the community together to restore our confidence in our city. The Mayor’s office must take the lead and assume community leadership on this issue,” Marchand said in a release.
The “Marchand for Mayor” plan is separated into five key areas: Social solutions (homelessness, mental health, drugs, child poverty, social innovations), infrastructure enhancements (transportation, alleyways, community heritage), along with strategies for business building, neighbourhood building and crime prevention.
“In order to have a healthy, livable community that attracts jobs and retains residents, we have to have a vibrant Downtown and City,” he said.
It’s on the heels of a similar platform announcement by fellow mayoral candidate Drew Dilkens two weeks ago, which also touched on the issues of homelessness, crime and mental health and addiction, but set out different steps in addressing the problem.
Dilkens made a number of pledges, including spending more on security cameras in high-crime areas, beefing up the Windsor Police Drugs and Guns Unit and providing funding for a city outreach worker.
