Mark Tesolin Complete Source for Windsor Real Estate

The Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association (DWBIA) strives to ensure that downtown Windsor is the preferred place to work, visit and live. All DWBIA membership programs and services follow the association's mandates to improve, beautify and maintain public lands and buildings within the DWBIA boundary. To meet their objectives for downtown Windsor, the BIA offers many programs and services in the areas of marketing, education and advocacy, communications, environmental concerns, and more.

The Downtown Mosaic's five distinctive districts offer prime settings for relaxation, entertainment, shopping, exercising, art appreciation, and fine dining. Downtown Windsor hosts a wide variety of ethnic, cultural and epicurean experience. For more information on the Downtown Mosaic and the DWBIA visit www.downtownwindsor.ca.

The Shores of Essex Resource Corporation has launched the first cross-county tour of "A Trolley Named Desire," a bus modified to look like a trolley that runs on a blend of soy and diesel fuel and can carry up to 45 passengers. Each week the "trolley" will pick up riders from the Windsor Crossing shopping centre and take them to county wineries and other sites of agricultural interest. The $20 ticket price does not include lunch, but riders are able to taste local fare at various stops at affordable reasonable prices.

This trolley project is intended to boost the area's "agri-tourism" and raise awareness of the diversity of food being produced here. After attending the tour launch, Essex County Warden Nelson Santos said "I think once you start telling people we actually have thirteen wineries in Essex County, their eyes open."

Trolley conductor, Nathan Bridges researched his role and takes his job seriously. HE learned that the last trolley in Windsor was taken out of service in 1939 and says, "I'm probably the first trolley conductor in Windsor since 1939."

The bus-trolley has low back seats, large picturesque windows, on-board air conditioners and heaters to ensure that tour riders can njoy their experience year-round. To learn more about the trolley tours, visit www.wetrolley.com.

The Beaver, a Canadian history magazine, features Canada's top ten historic photographs in its latest issue. The magazine is published by Canada's National History Society and is on shelves across the country.

Among the ten photographs are images of Terry Fox silhouetted by a police car's headlights, Paul Henderson's triumphant celebration in 1972, the last spike in the railway that uniting the country, and a youthful soldier standing nose-to-nose with a Mohawk warrior at Oka. The magazine also tells the stories of the photographers, their subjects, and the context in which the photo was taken.

According to Mark Reid, editor in chief of The Beaver, photography is one of the most meaningful ways to connect Canadians to their history. "The beautiful thing and magical thing about these photographs is that there's such a visceral and emotional quality to photographs, that you can see a photograph and it can take you back to a time and a place and a memory," he says.

Go to www.historysociety.ca/bea.asp to visit The Beaver online.

The fourth annual Windsor International Film Festival will be held November 7 - 16, 2008 in downtown Windsor and Lakeshore. The six-day extravaganza features critically-acclaimed independent and international films. The festival contributes to downtown Windsor's growing economy and includes both fiction and non-fiction films selected to appeal to Windsor's culturally-diverse population.

There are many exciting volunteer opportunities available for those interested in making the Film Festival an event to remember. Volunteers get to enjoy the first-hand excitement and magic of the cinema arts at such venues as the Palace Cinemas, the Lakeshore Cinemas, 285 The Terrace, and the Art Gallery of Windsor. There are opportunities to help with both preparation and execution of many events and venues, including the Opening Fundraising Gala Reception and Premiere Screening.

If you have a background and/or interest in film, projection, or sound, or just want to join in on the fun, please sign up to volunteer by completing the online application at http://www.windsorfilmfestival.ca/get_involved_applyonline.html.

We look forward to seeing you there!

According to Statistics Canada, more than half of Windsor-Essex County adults are overweight and about one in five squeezes into the obese category, making this region an area with a higher-than-average number of overweight people. The 2007 Canadian Community Health Survey, conducted by the federal government, found that 56.3 percent of Windsor-Essex residents aged 18 and older are above their acceptable weight. Included in that group are 19.8 percent of local adults who are obese. Across Canada, 16 percent of people are considered obese and 48.4 percent are overweight or obese.

49.2 percent of local men versus 24.1 percent of local women are overweight. Obesity rates were 20 percent and 19.6 percent, respectively. The report also indicated that more than half of Windsor-Essex residents said they are not physically active.

The Community Health Survey also found that almost 20 percent of Windsor-Essex residents aged 12 and older are daily or occasional smokers and 22 percent have five or more drinks in one sitting at least once a month. Further, the survey found that more than 15 percent of area residents reported having high blood pressure; 10 percent had asthma and close to seven percent had diabetes. One in five survey respondents said they suffered from arthritis.

These figures suggest little has changed since a local health coalition launched a call for action against unhealthy lifestyles a year ago. Go For Health, a partnership of the Cancer Prevention Network, the Health Action Windsor-Essex Coalition and the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit, urged local municipalities, school boards and businesses to work together to reduce the rates of obesity, diabetes, chronic diseases, and substance abuse in the region.