The Chair of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association's board of directors says with funding now approved they're looking forward to getting to work.
Windsor City Council approved the BIA's budget of $667,550 at their meeting last week.
It was the fifth year in a row for that figure with no changes.
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive, Chris MacLeod says the biggest single line item for this year is security cameras and safety measures.
He says they're looking and a number of programs, including replicating and building off of Project Green Light in Detroit, a public-private-community partnership aimed at improving neighbourhood safety.
"We've allocated $108,000 towards that initiative. Whether it's capital expenditure for cameras, or subsidies for ongoing monitoring, or subsidies for security patrols in the downtown. Now that we have our budget approved we can start to get into the details of where exactly those funds will be allocated," he said.
A significant part of the budget, and the board's primary focus, is centered on safety and security in the downtown core.
MacLeod says to get people back to the downtown area, and to attract new people and new business downtown, they've got to do more than just talk about it.
"It's perception right, we're in kind of the show me now phase. We've allocated the funds, we're going to put together a plan, and then we're going to show what we can do. And I believe when we show people improvement that that'll just further bolster our business case for bringing more businesses and people downtown."
He says business owners need to know they have their backs, and that they're doing things to really reduce the nuisance stuff.
Street cleaning and alley cleaning continues to be a large budget item for the BIA, along with the Downtown Farmer's Market, which brings the largest foot traffic to the area during the week.
Additionally, MacLeod says the other new initiative is related to lighting and decoration.
"We've set aside almost $60,000 for lighting downtown and it really enhances our safety and security initiatives," he continued. "Because if we can bring more lighting to streets and alleys, less dark places for things to go wrong, as well as enhance and beautify the downtown."
The new DWBIA board was announced back at the beginning of May.
Their term runs until November 14, 2026, or until their successors are appointed.
- with files from AM800's The Morning Drive