On February 5, 2008, I faxed a letter
of the same date to the city's Building
department manager, Mr. Bill Jean. Shortly
after I sent the fax, I received by fax
from the city's building department a
"REQUEST FOR INFORMATION" attachment,
from a city employee, that was not Mr. Jean.
The request had nothing to do with my
letter. About a minute or so later, I
received another "REQUEST FOR INFORMATION"
that was in regards to my letter.
A cover letter indicated that the wrong
attachment had been sent the first time.

After reading the contents, I decided
to keep the document rather than throw
it away. At the time, it seemed similar
to me

Until the Seagrave story, I had forgotten
all about the document. It was the address
of 933 Walker road indicated in the
earlier story about the Seagrave demolition,
that made me think of the document. When
I checked the address numbers indicated in
the document. Neither address numbers were
933. So I was really surprised today to turn
to the letters to the editor section
of the Windsor Star to see a picture of the
demolished Seagrave building,with the few bricks
still standing, with white painted on
address number of 961. Now that address
number was in the document. Click on
document to enlarge. See letter below.


City heritage at risk at
Lettert
Published: Friday, April 18, 2008

The historic Seagrave Building is lost ... perhaps it's time to save the Windsor Heritage Committee itself from "demolition."

I have served on the Windsor Heritage Committee for 10 years, most of those in the capacity of chair. I'm proud to be associated with the achievements the WHC has made toward protecting our city's heritage. This has included the recent preservation of the Holy Rosary Convent and John Campbell school buildings and multiple other property designations under the Ontario Heritage Act. We have been grateful for the strong heritage awareness and support exhibited by the current city council for these initiatives. As well, the committee has carried on a long tradition of annual local heritage celebration through community recognition awards, Heritage Highlights video clips, heritage property funding, youth colouring contests and many other projects. Indeed, the vibrancy of Windsor's heritage advocacy was recognized in 2005 as a provincial standout by the Ontario Heritage Trust.

Beyond the significant efforts by a group of volunteer members, the lifeblood of the WHC has traditionally been the dedicated and professional service of the heritage planner, a full- time city staff member who would conduct our research, guide the structure of our motions, police other city departments with respect to heritage priorities and otherwise co-ordinate all aspects of WHC activities. It is a vital and indispensable role in the heritage life of our city. Windsorites owe a debt of gratitude to Nancy Morand who served with distinction in this capacity for many years until her retirement mid last year.
REDUCED TO RUBBLE: Demolition crews dismantle an old brick building in the 900 block of Walker Road last Thursday. The building reportedly housed Seagraves Fire Engine manufacturing plant.View Larger Image View Larger Image
REDUCED TO RUBBLE: Demolition crews dismantle an old brick building in the 900 block of Walker Road last Thursday. The building reportedly housed Seagraves Fire Engine manufacturing plant.

It's with Nancy's departure that our serious problems began. We expected that her qualified replacement would be hired in advance for training and a seamless transition prior to her leaving.

Instead, without consultation with us, an arbitrary decision was made by senior administration not to replace the position, ostensibly, for reasons of cost efficiency. In the void left behind, we now have heritage chaos. Murky interdepartmental and personal agendas prevail and we've seen a silly tug-of-war over the heritage mandate between planning and cultural affairs departments.

As a result, we fail to receive adequate support from either. The careful protocols put in place by Nancy to flag heritage interests among building and planning departments applications has broken down and big things are falling through the cracks. Our modest operating budget has been cut to one-third its traditional level. Heritage Week in Windsor was effectively cancelled this year because no one could get authorization to reproduce a few hundred copies of the colouring contest form to distribute to the schools and the community heritage recognition awards were hijacked by others. Despite this, we try to carry on. I laud the efforts of our Doors Open subcommittee dedicated to bringing back this popular program notwithstanding lacklustre financial and material support from the city. But even our recent initiatives toward saving the prominent Low-Martin House have been stymied by needless procedural wrangling evident of a city administration without an appropriate structure for heritage administration.
attention of the CAO and other senior administration staff without the courtesy of a reply. We have also appealed to our councillors without effect.

It's time for council and the mayor to review this matter "in the full light of day." Without it, it's only a matter of time before another Seagrave building falls to a bulldozer and the Windsor Heritage Committee is damaged beyond repair.

GREGORY HEIL
Chair, Windsor Heritage Committee

To see picture
http://www.canada.com/windsorstar/news/letters/story.html?id=f247f53d-9060-456a-a41a-03361fce0439&k=84698