A city committee is hoping to give Windsor's robust alley network some more credit.
The Development and Heritage Standing Committee has approved moving forward with an alley and laneway naming policy.
Ward 3 councillor Rino Bortolin sits on the committee and says most Ontario municipalities have a naming policy in place which not only gives more character to a neighbourhood, but also makes it easier for emergency crews to respond to calls for service.
He says this important part of the Windsor's infrastructure is often ignored.
"There's still a huge amount of misconception and misunderstanding as far as the value of alleys and the importance of alleys," he says. "There are large swaths of this city that do in fact have alleys that are operational and that are important for the infrastructure."
Bortolin says there's no question the city's alleys need more attention.
"There aren't any municipalities that have service levels for alleys and, hence, all investments in the alleys have to come from the residents themselves," says Bortolin. "This is a great report to start that discussion to actually start putting some importance and some power to the residents to actually elevate the status of those alleys."
He says this could be the first step to getting minimum alley standards in place.
"It doesn't matter what time of year there are always issues in the alleys and every time we go door to door before elections alleys are one of the biggest infrastructure issues that are facing some of the core neighbourhoods and areas," he says. "So I'm really glad this is going forward."
The committee's recommendation will now go before city council at a later date for further discussion.