Dain City: Warzone

I like to write about what's happening in my community, and in some cases, I've been involved in organizing events which I later wrote up. But it's not very often I find myself in the middle of a major news story - yet that's exactly what happened tonight.

Not since Chad Everett came to town in 1981 has there been this much action in Dain City. Roads were closed, spike strips were laid down, mobile command centers were set up, and officers roamed the streets with guns drawn. It really was like something out of a movie.

Around 6:50 this evening, I saw a Facebook post claiming that at least 2 police cruisers and an ambulance were on the scene in Dain City. I was shocked - nothing ever happens here! So of course, I went outside to have a look. Sure enough, the stretch of Kingsway between Forks Road and the train tracks was blocked off by police, and a roadblock had been set up on Forks Road by Bay Avenue. An officer on foot was redirecting traffic coming in from over the bridge, sending the cars back the way they came. Another officer was instructing the family living on the corner of Forks and Kingsway (the yellow house in the above image) to leave the area. 

The word on the street at that time was that somebody had held up the convenience store with a weapon, and was now on the loose. The ambulance was assumed to contain either one of the store's owners, or a customer who had been injured - but of course, authorities can't comment on that. I watched a K9 officer exit the cruiser shown in the picture and head toward the store, but I went back inside before he entered any buildings.

I went outside a second time a short while later to see that the roadblock on Forks had dispersed. The officer on the bridge was still there, as were the ones parked on Kingsway. It seemed that the situation must have been resolved. I headed back inside to shower.

After that, though, I checked the feed again and found a real shocker. Not only was the roadblock back in place, but the NRP had set up mobile command centers in the parking lot of my building. 

The command centers - three of them, to be precise - were what truly convinced me that this was serious. These vehicles are quite rarely seen in action, and now here they were in my backyard. I watched them from a distance and observed an officer dressed in what appeared to be a bulletproof vest entering one of the trailers. By now, the story amongst the crowd had become more vague - nobody mentioned the corner store, it was just an armed man. The police still weren't giving out any information. I went back inside.

But my curiosity got the best of me, and I checked outside one more time about 20 minutes later. This time, the area was eerily quiet - the police had almost completely cleared the area, and we were in a full lockdown. Nobody was allowed to enter Dain City. Across the street from me, an officer stood holding a large gun, speaking to another officer in someone's front yard. It felt more like the wrong side of Kingston, Jamaica, than a scene out of peaceful Dain City, Ontario.

This time, an officer told me that I should either go inside and take shelter in my basement, or else get out of Dain City for the time being. As a resident of a second-floor apartment, I chose neither, and simply locked and chained my door before settling in for the night.

*

Much later, at around 10:30, the man in question peacefully surrended to the police, and the true facts of what happened this evening were revealed. It was a case of a man in crisis, armed with several weapons, capable of harming himself and others should he have chosen to do so. The command centres in my parking lot were negotiation centres, from which police tried to convince the man to end the standoff without incident. Luckily, he did, and he was taken into custody. The army of police vehicles began to pull out of Dain City.

We knew it was all over when the band at the Dain City Tavern started playing again.

There have been a lot of stories tonight. Some say that the man held up or otherwise robbed the Dain City Convenience before hunkering down in his home. One person told me that he had shot his wife prior to the standoff. Still others said that he had taken a hostage, though nobody claimed to know who it was.

But for now, I choose to forget about all those conflicting stories, and focus on one thing. As the situation finally draws to a close, and Dain City returns to being a quiet, peaceful hamlet, we can all be thankful that the situation was resolved as peacefully as possible.

It's been a crazy evening, and I think we all need a bit of rest. So the rest of the fine folks who live here in D.C. - good night!

Rockin' Out at City Hall

If city councillor Jim Larouche has his way, music lovers might have a chance to see the Tragically Hip live in concert, right here in Welland!

Notice I didn't say they'd be live and in person - the city wants to purchase the rights to livestream the band's farewell concert on the controversial $100,000 TV screen on the side of city hall. Admittedly, it sounds like a cool idea - but does it make sense?

For those unfamiliar with the Hip, they are a rock band formed in Kingston, Ontario, and have been active since 1984. They have released 14 albums, 9 of which hit #1 on the Canadian charts, and they've been honored with 14 Juno awards for their work. Earlier this year, they announced that their leader singer, Gord Downie, had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. As a result, they are performing their final tour this summer. The final concert of the tour will be held in their hometown of Kingston.

The show is to be broadcast live and commercial-free on the CBC's television network, radio stations, website, and YouTube channel. It is also being shown at Hamilton's Gage Park, where event organizers say they will charge admission to cover the cost of the event. St. Catharines councillor Mat Siscoe wants it to be shown in Montebello Park, too.

Here in Welland, Councillor Larouche says "everyone from the region" could be invited to watch the concert on the big screen. He even came up with the (excellent) idea to collect donations to research the brain cancer Downie was diagnosed with. Whether admission would be collected is uncertain - none of the councillors seem to have commented on that. It seems unlikely that charging for admission would work, given the location, but I can't say for sure.

So, to examine the facts: this will be an additional expense on top of the $100,000 the city already spent on the screen. It will already be available in St. Catharines and Hamilton for a fee, and theirs will be in beautiful parks, not on the sides of their city halls. And the concert will also be shown for free on television, so we can all watch it in the comfort of our own homes, free to sing along without disrupting anyone.

But at the same time, it's a great way to get Welland's downtown buzzing with activity. It's a purpose for the giant screen that doesn't involve advertising - instead, it's something people actually want to see. And it could be an awesome way to attract people from neighboring communities, like Port Colborne and Niagara Falls, to come and spend time here. 

So despite the obvious drawback, I'll freely admit that I'm in favour of the idea. I think it's great to see the city trying something like this, and I really believe it might get us some attention from outsiders, where so many other attempts have failed. The fundraising idea is just the cherry on top, at least for me. 

What are your opinions on this idea? Feel free to leave a comment here (or on the Facebook post if that's how you got here) and let me know how you feel about it. Until next time...

Welland's Greatest Trilogy

Many years ago, when I was just barely beginning to take an interest in history, I accompanied my mother to a bank appointment at TD Canada Trust on Niagara Street. As I waited in the lobby, my attention shifted to an interesting-looking green book sitting on the table next to me. The book was about the history of Welland, a topic which I found very enticing, but which I hadn't been exposed to very often. By the time we were ready to leave, I'd made it through several chapters of the book. I recall finding the chapter on the Police to be especially interesting, especially the part where the author discussed Welland's public executions (surely we all have a bit of morbid fascination from time to time.)

For some reason, this book really stuck with me (the whole thing, not just the executions.) I credit it with giving me my keen interest in local history, which I still enjoy reading about. Eventually I began to collect small local items, searching through antique shops, junk stores, flea markets, and yard sales to find almost anything with 'Welland' written on it.

But the one thing that didn't stick with me was the title of the book. And so it was that I spent a large part of my 'career' as a local history collector searching for this book, knowing only the colour of its cover and a few bits of information it contained. After a few years (no exaggeration) of trying to track it down, I finally came across the book by chance, in one of Welland's thrift stores. It turned out that the book that got me into local history was the second volume of Aqueduct, Merrittsville and Welland, written by William H. Lewis.

This is, without a doubt, the greatest trilogy ever written about our wonderful city. Published between 1997 and 2003, the three volumes summarize the entire history of Welland in an engaging way. When reading these books, it's clear that the author cared deeply about his subject matter. Despite the seemingly endless amount of information contained within, none of it becomes boring, and it's blended together in such a way that it flows naturally from tidbit to tidbit. In short, I love this series, and there's no doubt in my mind that these are the definitive works on Welland's history. 

Mr. Lewis himself, a retired pharmacist, passed away in 2012, having lived a long and eventful life. At that time, my Welland collection was at its peak, and I happened to be shopping at the yard sale of another local collector when I heard the news (some time after the fact). It so happened that Mr. Lewis' estate sale was going on the same day. I made my purchases and headed over.

By the time I reached the address I'd been given, the garage sale day was almost over, and I feared that I might have missed it. But the writer's widow, Inez, was still outside. After introducing myself, and showing interest in a 1950s-era German typewriter that was on offer, we got to talking about history. She said that she had something to show me, if I were willing. 

The item Mrs. Lewis showed me was a souvenir flag from the 1939 royal visit to Canada, by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother). She told me that she and her future husband, as schoolyard friends, had attended the ceremony and received the flag. All those years later, it was still displayed proudly in their living room - and in all likelihood, it still is. (I couldn't find a picture of one of these flags online, but a similar one is on display in the 'School Days' gallery at the Welland Museum.)

Mrs. Lewis also had a souvenir medal from the royal visit, which she gave to me before I left. It was given free of charge -from one generation of local historians, to another.

2 years later, after trying for some time to donate my collection to the museum, I sold nearly the entire lot at my own yard sale for far less than its true value. I've regretted it ever since, as I knew many of the items I had could not be replaced. Mere months later, after some changes behind the scenes at the museum, I recieved an email stating that they'd rediscovered my inventory list while cleaning out some paperwork, and they were interested in the entire lot. It was too late. The only item I still had, and was willing to part with, was a 1960s camera case from the Union Carbide factory. I donated that, and since then, I've been able to find very few items of the sort I had collected. 

But I kept the Lewis' medallion, and I always will - a small piece of the legacy of one of Welland's greatest writers.

*

Further Reading:

The Tribune: Retired Pharmacist's Welland History Became Local Bestseller

The Tribune: Bill Lewis Was a World of Information

Obituary

Do the Youths Deserve a New Skatepark?

It's now been 24 hours since I last received a physical threat via Facebook Messenger, which means I'm clearly overdue for another blog post. And what's more controversial in Welland at the moment than the skatepark debate?

The debate's been going on for years between two groups of people - believers and non-believers. It's been dying down in the last little while, but now that the City Council has decided we will be getting the skatepark by 2017, the debate flared up again. Anyone reading this should already know which camp I'm in, so this article might be a bit biased. But I'll do my best to take a balanced look at the big question...

Do the youths of Welland really deserve a new skatepark, or are they just a bunch of juvenile delinquents?

The most common argument I've heard against the skatepark is that the current one attracts too many ne'er-do-wells. We should we build a new one when the current one is apparently full of drug dealers and other assorted criminals? This belief might have some foundation, but I don't think the skatepark contains anywhere near as much criminal activity as some Wellanders seem to expect. I pass by the skatepark on the canal path on quite a regular basis, at all hours of the day and occasionally into the night. Not once have I witnessed anything questionable there at all. 

I can't help but wonder if this belief doesn't come from the old stereotype that all skateboarders are juvenile delinquent types, which isn't really true. Do people just look at a kid with ripped jeans and a flat-brimmed cap and assume he must be a cocaine dealer? Beats me. Personally, I'd be willing to bet that more drug deals take place in school washrooms than at the skatepark. I know because I've walked in on them.

Just to add one more point about that issue before I move on, imagine if the skatepark really was populated exclusively by people on the NRP's Most Wanted list. Mayor Campion assigned Welland's CAO, Gary Long, to choose a location for the new skatepark. It's quite likely that Long will choose a high-profile location for the $600,000 project. So if the new facility were built in a location where people tend to congregate (the current one is a bit tucked away), then surely the crime rate there would drop.

Another big argument against the new skatepark is that the current one has been so heavily vandalized. This is true, and there's no getting around it - the current skatepark is covered in graffiti, and I don't mean the cool street art kind. However, it's not hard to see why this might be. The skatepark, as it sits, is more useful as a canvas for 'tags' than for skateboarding. It's in a state of disrepair and it simply isn't safe to use. Also, its cheap construction makes it quite difficult to remove graffiti from it once it's been put there, and I can only assume that covering it in layers of paint would make it even less conducive to skateboarding on.

Furthermore, before you blame the youth community for this part of the problem, consider the fact that the 2 most recent graffiti-related arrests in Welland both involved legal adults - one of whom was a well-grown man at 31 years of age, making him old enough to be the father of most people who use the skatepark. Though if Welland's most recent gossip is any indication, the other guy arrested for graffiti - an 18-year-old - was also old enough to father some of the people who use the skatepark, if you catch my drift.

In any case, the movement of the skatepark to a more public location ought to be enough to deal with the graffiti issue as well.

Yet another argument against it is the cost. Admittedly, $600,000 is quite a lot for a skatepark, but it's because the city wants it to be a good one. Look at the skatepark in Port Colborne, which ours is supposed to rival, and you'll get an idea of why the cost is as high as it is. And since one-third of the money will (hopefully) be coming from the Federal government, this expenditure will certainly be worthwhile. It's about time the youth of Welland got something new - and the taxpayers aren't even paying anything extra for it (the money's just been moved around in the budget, so your tax dollars are already gone one way or the other.) For everyone who complains that there's nothing for kids to do here, the solution is staring you in the face - why are you rallying against it?

And one more thing. I just have to respond to the argument put forth by Councillor DiMarco at this week's city council meeting. He said he couldn't support the idea of spending so much money on a skatepark when we have roads in need of fixing. Well, here's a question to the masses: if the roads are so important, why on earth did we spend $100,000 on a giant TV screen nobody wanted, and $5.8 MILLION on repainting a bridge for non-existent tourists?

I eagerly await your responses. And please, keep it civil: all death threats should, at the very least, begin with "Dear Mr. Smagata..."

Skatepark Funding Approved!

Breaking news from tonight's City Council meeting - the funding for Welland's new skatepark has been approved!

According to Allan Benner, who is on the scene, Councillors carried a motion to apply for the second round of federal government funding offered on Canada's 150th anniversary. The government is giving out millions of dollars in funding for public projects of all sorts. The same idea was utilized during Canada's centennial in 1967 - that wave of projects gave us Welland Centennial Secondary School, among other things. 

If the Federal funding ($216,000) is not approved, Treasurer Steve Zorbas promised the remainder ($433,000) will still be included in our 2017 municipal budget. He said that building a new skatepark was considered "a high priority" for Welland. 

Though the motion passed, not all of the Councillors were in favor. Ward 4 Councillor Tony DiMarco said there was "no way (he) could support" the idea. He questioned why Welland would use the money for a new skatepark when we have roads in need of repair. (I'd say because potholes don't kill people, but rusted and jagged skateboard equipment can, but that's only my opinion.) DiMarco did state that he might be able to get on board if he had "positive feedback from the community." I leave that one up to my readers.

Councillor Pat Chiocchio, also of Ward 4, said he was in favour of the idea, but felt it needed further discussion. He added that the current facility is "disastrous" and questioned who would be responsible if someone were injured while using it. (Unless there are signs stating otherwise, I'd assume the answer is the City.)

Mayor Frank Campion said that Gary Long, Welland's Chief Administrative Officer, would work on finding a good location for the new skatepark, which will then be discussed by the council. He (Campion) believes that a better location than the current one would be beneficial.

As someone who has been involved with the skatepark project for 2 years now, I can say it's quite likely that we will be approved for the federal funding in this round. Even if not, the improvement we could make with municipal funding alone would be massive. This could finally be the end of the MYAC's seemingly endless struggle to make headway on the skatepark issue. Welland's youth community might finally have a skateboard park we can be proud of, putting us on the same level as Port Colborne, Dunnville, and other nearby communities. It might be a few years later than some of us would have liked, but it's great news for Welland. Now all we have to do is wait and see how it plays out...

Don't Shoot the Messenger

If you pay attention to the news on TV, you might believe that totalitarian dictatorships like North Korea are the only places where writers are threatened because of their work. But as I learned today, it happens in Welland too.

Now, this blog has been controversial in the past. In particular, my post about the giant TV screen on city hall caused a bit of outrage on Facebook, as did my post about the existence of activities for youth in Welland. That controversy led me to write about Chalkdust, the calypso singer who courted controversy for years with his lyrics. But none of that could prepare me for the aftermath of this morning's post about the pregnant 13-year-old girl.

Should I have expected controversy? Yes, I knew it was coming. But I expected the outrage to be directed elsewhere - perhaps at her parents for allowing it to happen, perhaps at the system that seemingly failed her. I didn't expect the outrage to be directed at me. 

People ripped into me on Facebook for writing the post, despite having no idea who it was about, or for that matter, who I am. I've been called every name in the book in the last 12 hours, and accused of a myriad of crimes, most of which aren't even actual crimes. Some of them threatened to call the police on me and have me charged with harassment. They said the cops would be at my door within minutes unless I took down the post. So what did I do? I refused. After all, republishing public information is not, and has never been, a crime. The post stayed up.

Then a real nutball got on my case. It started the same as all the others - the police would be called and I'd be arrested, et cetera - but then it got worse. And this person, whom I believe is the same age as myself or even younger, said that he would do something to me if I didn't take the post down. No, he didn't work for the Italian Mafia (they only operate in the Falls around here.) He just wanted to come show me what's what and have a fight, probably so he could go viral on YouTube. I bet that video would have gotten more than 10,000 views. Still, I told him off and the post stayed up.

Then, the subject of the post reached out to me. She told me to take the post down.

So I took the post down.

Now people are asking why. Well, for starters, she was much more polite than any of the other keyboard warriors who came after me. She only threatened to call the police once. But in all seriousness, I didn't write the post to offend her. Sure, I meant to incite controversy, but I don't want to give a pregnant teenager any more stress than they already have. So I took the post down out of courtesy.

So now that it's all over and done with, can someone please get these online thugs out of my hair? If they don't leave me alone, I might have to call the cops and have them charged with harassment. I hear the police will show up in record time...

General Electric Brings New Jobs to Welland

You know something big is happening in Welland when the Tribune prints its headline in capital letters.

General Electric has recently announced that they are opening a factory in Welland. Known as the "Brilliant Factory," it will produce engines and their components, as well as other equipment. It will sit on the 75-acre Harry Diffin Industrial Park, located on the west side of Highway 140. GE says that the factory will create 150 new jobs initially, and potentially many more to come. Hiring will begin later this year.

The new GE factory will be located on this 75-acre site.

Mayor Frank Campion is calling this 'the biggest news we've had in Welland for a long, long time,' and it's easy to see why. Factories and other employers going out of business seems to be daily news around here - much like stabbings in Toronto or scandals in Ottawa, we hear about them so often that each one is just a blip on the radar. (For proof, look at the "Highlights of Welland's Industrial Timeline" in today's Tribune, which includes 7 factories that closed and 2 that opened.) We've lost Union Carbide, Atlas Steels, John Deere, MMFX, Henninges Automotive, Energex Tube, and Powerblades all within the last 17 years.

But soon we'll have GE, and we known they'll be here to stay. Millions of dollars worth of incentives, Welland's skilled workforce, and a strategic location will keep them here. It's for these reasons that Welland was selected out of 10 municipalities that were initially considered. 

General Electric says this engine will be among the models built at the Welland facility.

Many people were responsible for helping to bring GE to Welland. Mayor Campion says most of the hard work was done right here at City Hall. It was Justin Trudeau who convinced GE to come to Canada 8 months ago, but without the efforts of our municipal government, Welland might not have stood out among the other cities available. Other names, like Chrystia Freeland (Minister of International Trade) and Alan Caslin (Regional Chair) have also been credited for their share of the effort. Niagara Centre MP Vance Badawey and Welland MPP Cindy Forster both congratulated our city on the achievement. Forster acknowledged that Welland has been “hard hit for many, many years” and seemed hopeful that this might be a chance to change that fact.

So what exactly does all of this mean for Welland?

Well, 150 jobs might not seem like much for a city of 50,000 people, but it bears repeating that those are just the jobs that will be created during the initial phase of the factory's operation. The GE factory in Waukesha, Wisconsin, which ours will be replacing, has 350 workers - and since the Welland plant will be even more high-tech and modern, it could employ even more people. And that doesn't include other jobs created along the supply chain, selling equipment and offering services to the new plant. The benefits will spread all throughout our city, and many Wellanders could soon find themselves employed by a world-class manufacturer.

Mayor Campion is hopeful that once GE is settled in, other companies will notice and follow suit. "We should all be proud of this achievement and recognition on the world stage and look forward positively to what the future will bring," writes the Mayor. "In years to come I believe we will be able to look back and say GE’s arrival in Welland was a positive turning point in Welland’s economic prosperity." 

Could this really be the beginning of Welland's industrial renaissance? Only time will tell...