Sandwich residents not optimistic that much will change after death of bridge owner

Residents who have been fighting the late Manuel "Matty" Moroun and his son Matthew Moroun over the boarded up homes they own in Sandwich Towne are not optimistic much will change now that the senior Moroun has died.

"Moroun senior has raised his son in his image and he is going to be doing the same thing that the senior did. I don't think anything is going to change just because Matty Moroun has passed away," said Edison Street resident Carla Wiedemann, who lives across the road from several boarded up homes which are owned by the bridge company.

The billionaire businessman who owned the Ambassador Bridge died July 12 from congestive heart failure at the age of 93. His son Matthew has been running the family business for several years since Moroun's retirement.

"I can't be gracious because this family has hurt a lot of people in this area for a very long time," Terry Kennedy, a neighbourhood advocate, said.

The boarded up homes sit in limbo, crumbling and rotting along Felix and College Avenues, Bloomfield Road, Edison Street, Rosedale Avenue and Indian Road.  An interim control bylaw imposed by the City of Windsor prevents their demolition.

Ward 2 Coun. Fabio Costante would like to see the bridge company demolish the homes, but only with a plan in place for the land that the city could approve.

Costante's first choice would be for some sort of affordable housing development.

"The replacement of residential density is top of mind for me," Costante said. "Because it's important that we continue to attract more and more people to Sandwich. Affordable housing, absolutely, is top of mind."

Wiedemann and area resident, David Steptoe, agree.

"It'd be fabulous if they turned this into low cost housing or multiplexes," Steptoe said, pointing to homes on Edison Street.

Marina Clemens, the chair of Windsor's Housing and Homelessness Advisory Committee would like to see some of the homes renovated for use as low cost housing, but is also open to a project.

"Let's build something either modular or some tiny houses. Let's just diversify ourselves and give people a chance and make sure we're building good neighbourhoods where lots of people feel welcomed and safe," Clemens said.

Two years ago, the former head of safety and security for the bridge company, Hunter Kersey, told CBC News the company was working with the community to either create a farmers' market or Victorian gardens on the site.

Kersey said the idea of using the land to connect the new span to the E.C. Row Expressway was dead.

• Ambassador Bridge wants to demolish homes, urges council with sign campaign

Hotel-Dieu Grace Healthcare's vice president of external affairs Bill Marra recently told CBC News they would entertain the idea of building their proposed mixed use residential and assisted living facility project on the properties. 

"If it's property that's available, we'll look at it," Marra said.

Meanwhile, area activist and founder of Bloomfield House, Teajai Travis, would also like to see affordable housing built on the site.

He challenges Matthew Moroun to come see for himself the condition of the neighbourhood and commit to making changes.

"You know, if he is a human being with humanity, ... he would not want to hold people hostage inside their own neighbourhoods," Travis said.

"I would invite Matthew Moroun to come into the neighbourhood and have conversations, have real conversations with the people about how we can move forward," he said 

In 2017, the Ambassador Bridge received a permit to build a second span next to the existing bridge. But time is running out to start construction.

One of the conditions was that construction would start within five years. It's not clear if the demolition of homes along Indian Road qualified as the beginning of construction. 

CBC News has reached out to the bridge company, but were not immediately available for comment.