Ward 7 candidate proposes safety and traffic fixes as part of campaign

A focus on safety continues to be one of the key issues for many candidates running in this year's municipal election, and one candidate in Ward 7 says the social illness of crime has been growing in their community.

Angelo Marignani says there is a crime concern in Forest Glade and East Riverside, and without proper treatment it will become uncontrollable. 

He says if elected, he would introduce a motion to set up a satellite Koban Police Station at the Forest Glade Community Centre. 

"It'll be staffed by uniform officers and will reinforce community policing, reduce response times like our satelitte ambulance station, and work in cooperation with our downtown central police station. I think this is really important because it'll bring a non-confrontational face to the police force," he said.

A Koban is a station for police officers built at key areas in the city, such as in front of train stations or in shopping districts which have traditionally been used in Japan.

Marignani says reducing response times will be a deterrent for crime in Ward 7, and there's another piece to his safety proposal as well.

"I would also like to see Blue Emergency Call Boxes being used in various parts of our city. These phone boxes are like security police boxes that are located at the University of Windsor."

He says those would help residents become the eyes and ears in helping local police do their job effectively, along with better lighting along pathways and close circuit cameras around the skate park and new tennis courts in the area. 

Marignani says another key concern is around  traffic calming, which includes three components.

"One is engineering, two is education, and three is enforcement. If elected as a councillor I would put a motion forward to introduce movable, portable photo radar. This radar system is currently being used around the world and is showing dramatic, and I mean dramatic, results in the reduction of speeding, accidents, and death."

He says it would involve a photo radar device that can be placed anywhere in the city, which can be moved around, where vehicles traveling carelessly over the speed limit will have a picture or video taken of them with a time, date, and speed they were travelling along with a speeding ticket mailed to their home.

Marignani is one of five candidates in the running for Ward 7, including current councillor Jeewen Gill, Sydney Brouillard-Coyle, Greg Lemay and Sophia Sevo.