Ouellette to become pedestrians only?

by Evan Mathias

Windsor City Councilors would like to close Ouellette Avenue to all vehicle traffic and turn it into a pedestrian zone, but not everyone thinks it’s a good idea.

The idea has been under discussion for a while, but no decision has been made about the proposal.

“It deserves looking at, it’s not a new idea, something that’s been talked about for a lot of years, along creating a pedestrian based downtown,” said Windsor City Councilor Bill Marra. “It’s in a lot of other cities throughout North America, actually around the world.”

Marra says a large factor contributing to the idea is the movement of school campuses to the downtown core.

“St. Clair College has created a downtown campus, the University of Windsor is creating a downtown campus,” said Marra. “The Windsor Star building going up at the intersection going up at the corner of University Avenue and Ouellette Avenue it’s creating a more conducive environment for just pedestrians.”

Marra also said when the City does close down Ouellette Avenue for festivals people love the experience and many vendors feel the same way.

However the owner of the Downtown Smoke Shop at the corner of University and Ouellette said he feels differently about the issue.

“I think it’s bad, people already complain that there’s no parking, the way the system goes now people commute through cars,” said Anis Serhan. “It’s not going to increase the traffic of people coming down here.”

Marra said he believes most merchants would like the change and it creates a nice environment for people downtown. He said he would like to see it happen and wants to discuss the option of turning the downtown core into a more pedestrian friendly zone. He also said they should start small and see how people like the change.

“Maybe shut it down for a whole summer, maybe do it a couple months at a time,” said Marra.