After a sweeping change on the executive of the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association, the outgoing chair is defending his accomplishments.
During a news conference Tuesday, Larry Horwitz said, under his leadership, downtown was transformed from a 'sin city' reputation to that of a 'smart city'.
He also takes exception with those who claim the outgoing board had gone stagnant, saying there are more amenities in the core including the Canada Day parade because of the actions of the DWBIA.
"This year change happened in the last six months," he said. "Change happened and guess what, we now have the Santa Claus Parade on Ouellette Ave. where it should. That's change."
Horwitz says the people he's been working with have dealt with difficult issues like the opioid crisis.
"The present board had the commitment and the strength to weigh-in on these developments. How will the next board handle this?," I hope well. We wish them well and for our sake, and for the sake of downtown that we love, we wish them the best and we hope to work with them on that," he said.
Outgoing DWBIA Chair Larry Horowitz bids good bye with a lengthy recounting of the accomplishments under his leadership starting from when he took over. #cklw @AM800News pic.twitter.com/FPd8AJDI8L
— Peter Langille (@PLangille800) December 11, 2018
DWBIA board member candidates received an email announcing the 2018 Election results and everyone on the current board was voted out with the exception of Marry Anne Ducharme of Pearce, Ducharme and Associates Family Law.
But Horwitz says he's received a letter of resignation from Ducharme.
"She was the only board of director member that was re-elected to the new board,"says Horwitz. "In the letter of resignation, she stated that the new board wishes to go in a new direction and she'll step down because she's not part of that."