While enhancing the small business climate in Windsor and surrounding area has always been a priority and focus of my campaign, I am writing this post as a supplementary piece to the article in the Windsor Star (Tuesday August 24) titled “Windsor last in 12 city survey”. The CFIB ranks Windsor last, out of 12, in a survey completed by area businesses dealing with five main areas of concern. The immediate response from the City and Windsor Essex Economic Development Corporation (WEEDC) was to minimize the relevance of the survey and dismiss the findings because of leading questions and poor results elsewhere. This point may be very subtle but may be the biggest problem in the City’s approach to small businesses. They’re not listening.

The survey was completed by the business owners themselves. Saying that the questions were leading may be fair but they were leading for all cities involved and Windsor still ranked last. There is a true and real frustration among small business owners in this city and the Mayor’s office and council as well as the WEEDC want to paint it with their own numbers and their own views. They are not listening. Simply put. Stop saying the other cities show a dismal forecast as well. So what if other cities faired poorly. Windsor came in last. This is a sample of how the businesses feel. City Hall, the Mayor, and Council are not listening. The Mayor cites aggressive initiatives to change the tax structure over the last four years saying… “But in the last four years we have taken aggressive steps to reduce the tax burden on small business, commercial, multi-residential and large-industrial sectors.” Where can we see the results of these initiatives? Show us the numbers to justify these claims. Commercial property tax remains high, more than twice the provincial average. The small business community has not seen these reductions in commercial and small business taxes.

Small businesses play a key role in revitalizing Downtown Windsor and all you have to do is take a stroll down Ouellette Ave to see the immense failure by the current administration and council in this regard. 91% of businesses surveyed are unhappy with the city’s overall awareness of small businesses. This may be the most telling of all the categories. The complete disregard for Downtown and its small businesses has been apparent for years. Ask any business owner downtown when the last time a councillor talked to them about their concerns. They have ignored and abandoned Downtown Windsor in so many regards. Idle city center west lands, attempts to move the WEEDC and Tourism board to the airport, minimizing the decision to originally allow SummerFest to move out to the WFCU Center are just a few examples of this. Business owners feel like they are alone and have to fight each day as an island. That’s the pervasive attitude from City Hall. Instead of taking the lead on small business issues and initiatives that might help small businesses they are always reacting to outrage and discontent before making any progress on an issue. Last night’s council meeting where they agreed to allow micro patios to continue for the rest of this season without being closed down or having to pay the huge fees is a perfect example. The City reacted to the DWBIA and business owners. They didn’t come up with this idea or initiative on their own.

Downtown revitalization and diversifying the workforce both hinge on the viability of our small businesses. We need a council that pays attention to small businesses. We need a council that recognizes small businesses as the major economic driver that they are. We need a council that appreciates the efforts of our hard working business owners and helps them succeed. Simply put: We need a council that listens.