Neighborhood residents say ‘Don’t be afraid of Drouilliard’

The residents of Ford City are excited to see what happens next with the resurgence of the area.

Over the years, Ford City — the Drouillard neighbourhood — has achieved notoriety in Windsor for high crime rates and dangerous living conditions.

But Ford City residents say that reputation is no longer true.

Gillian Benoit-Gonzalez, president of the Ford City Renewal Office said in her 38 years living in Ford City, the landscape has changed dramatically.

“I think for a period of time [the reputation] was warranted,” said Benoit-Gonzalez. “It was a fun, happy place to grow up. There was a dark turn because of economics, businesses moving out, crime, drugs and things kind of slipped to the wayside.”

Benoit-Gonzalez said that when the neighbourhood realized the neighbourhood had changed, they decided to shift their focuses to the reinvigoration of local businesses and committees.

Paul Kimmerly, co-owner of Drouillard Road business Standard Printing, said the community benefits from its old-fashioned approach to small businesses.

“We don’t have those big chains,” said Kimmerly. “We’re small shopkeepers, if that means much, but more a sense of the old-style of doing business and I think everyone here agrees.”

The Kimmerly family opened Standard Printing in 1968 and relocated to Drouilliard Road in 2012.

Kimmerly said he believes Ford City has one of the lowest crime rates in the city. This claim is in line with statistics from crimereports.com, a website dedicated to compiling every crime reported from police departments across North America. In the past month, 11 crimes were reported within Ford City, primarily consisting of petty theft. By comparison, the average neighbourhood in the city has approximately 20 crimes reported monthly.

Ford City’s approach to small business attracts multiple businesses from across Windsor to relocate into the area. Notably, Merch Runners relocated their shop to 1086 Drouillard Rd. more than two years ago.

Merch Runner co-owner Shane Wright uses murals to show that Ford City is not as terrible as the public claims it to be.

“It gets people to explore,” said Wright. “Go see this mural, go down the alley and look at the other mural, see the shops in between. It brings colour to the alleys, instead of them being this dark, dirty place.”

Wright’s most recent mural is a bold statement to the city to ‘Don’t be afraid of Drouillard,’ a sentiment local business owners share.