Heritage Platform – Mark McKenzie – Candidate for Windsor City Council – Ward 4

This post is the ninth in a series in which we reached out to municipal candidates to ask their heritage platform. Responses will be posted in the order received.

The ninth to respond was Mark McKenzie, Candidate for Windsor City Council – Ward 4. The responses are in the candidate’s own words only slightly edited in a way that doesn’t in any way change what they said.

Windsor has done a mediocre job at preserving and respecting our heritage buildings, especially in the downtown core over the past 30 years. The Norwich block is a perfect example of that, and should continue to serve as a reminder to not make those mistakes again. Over the past few years Windsor has made some great strides in adaptive reuse, most notably working with the University of Windsor on the former Windsor Star building and the Downtown Windsor Armouries. I would like to see us continue down that path for many years and decades to come.

As a lifelong resident of Ward 4, I spent a lot of my childhood at Willistead Park as well as Memorial Park in South Walkerville. Willistead Manor is by far my favourite Ward 4 landmark, due to its rich history and stories/legends that surround the home. Christmas time at Willistead is something my family and I look forward to every year. In addition, I have always had a soft spot for the now closed Restrooms building located in Memorial Park. I believe the building was constructed in the 1920’s, and was open to the public until approximately 2012-2014 at which point the building was closed due to frequent vandalism. I would love to see this building restored and reopened at some point, with the addition of a splash pad, and upgrades to the dog park and playground equipment. For a little bit more info on the Restrooms, you can visit International Metropolis.

To reach out to Mark McKenzie, visit his website. Follow him on Facebook or Twitter.

Picture from Facebook. Click here to see the original source.