Big City Politicians Take Charge
Councillor Valentinis wondered why no one listened to the City of Windsor. Why should anyone listen when the only newspaper in town can call our two Senior Councillors "trash" and get away with it! I am told the Mayor said something about it on radio in his Tuesday CKLW spot but I have not yet seen City Hall demand and get an apology. In fact, the Star attacked the two Councillors again yesterday!
The Mayor's Chief of Staff should be instructed to contact the Star's Editor and get an explanation for this discourtesy. If no acceptable response is given and the Star refuses to make an apology, then Council should consider whether it should allow the Star to continue to have access to its Chambers.
When Mary, my friend from Delray, told me that there was going to be a DRIC meeting in her community and she expected some Detroit City Councillors to appear, I thought I would go over and see what big city Councillors were like in action.
I was not disappointed. These people are not Councillors of a small town. They have authority, they have clout (to paraphrase our former Mayor)
Mary introduced me to Kenneth V. Cockrel, Jr, the Council President Pro Tem. He remembered me from the emails that I had sent on the border and confirmed that the Councils of Detroit and Windsor were planning to meet in the new year. I also saw Council Member JoAnn Watson but did not get a chance to say hello to her.
The DRIC public meeting was not like ours. There was about a 30 minute presentation with questions afterward. Extensive amounts of materials were given out. It was a Delray community meeting and they were being told the bridge is coming through there. It reminded me of our Special Council meeting in January 2003.
As far as DRIC was concerned, DRTP is dead and buried. While they said that DRTP was free to go on their own, as is obvious, the case made against them effectively said that it could never be a long-term solution.
The very surprising news was the confirmation that the Twinned Bridge was a favourite crossing choice of the Americans but was not acceptable to Canada.
But the reason why not was intriguing. According to Joe Corradino, the US consultant, the two sides had agreed that no crossing would be built if one side was unduly impacted more than the other. The Twinned Bridge would have been horrible for Canada since trucks would go down Huron Church Road and there would be an 80 to 100 acre plaza at the foot of the Bridge that would negatively impact the community there. Therefore the Twinned Bridge was "out."
There is one tiny, little problem with this explanation (and which would be the subject of a lawsuit by the Bridge Co. I am certain): that was NOT the Bridge Co. proposal at all but something that DRIC made up. They then could dismiss it as unacceptable rather than deal with what the Bridge Co. really proposed ie a plaza in "industrial" lands and a "dedicated" road to the bridge for trucks only.
Now we can understand why the diagonal bridge had to be talked about. The Canadians and Americans could not agree.
It seems to me that this is terrific ammunition for the Detroit Councillors to use when DRIC seeks their support for the destruction of Delray!
The real fun though was watching the Detroit Councillors in action. Councillor Watson asked the DRIC people why there was not a "no action" alternative put forward since that did not seem to have been addressed. That would be done the MDOT rep replied. (It signalled to me that perhaps the 200 booth proposal of the Bridge Co. made some sense to the Councillor as well since it did not require a new bridge to be built for about 20 years or more!)
She then went on and said flat out that the bridge was not going in Delray, that the SouthWest of Detroit was growing in population and that a bridge there would stop this growth at a time when Detroit needed more people. As for politics, and this was the good part, she let everyone know that Detroiters cast more votes for Governor Granholm than the people did Downriver. And isn't next year an election year for the Governor and Members of Congress? She invited the DRIC people to come to Council at any time since they are full-time Councillors and are around.
Ahhhh the use of full naked political power at its finest! No holds barred!
President Cockrel approached the problem differently. He had copies of the Detroit resolution against a new bridge and gave the DRIC members a copy of it. He asked what the hurry was since he had been hearing about the border for the 12 years he was in public life! He said SW Detroit was going to be the proposed home of a number of major developments and no one had looked at all of them in total to see what the impact on the community was going to be. One at a time perhaps, but not altogether. Accordingly to him, nothing would happen until Detroit finished whatever studies it was going to make.
How to be heard Councillor Valentinis....start acting like Councillors Cockrel and Watson. Get the community involved again instead of working in secret. And start using the common sense that I know YOU have, even if that common sense is not shared universally on Council. It is obvious what needs to be done. Do we have to wait until the Detroiters do it for us so that we have no bargaining position with the Bridge Co. at all.
The Mayor's Chief of Staff should be instructed to contact the Star's Editor and get an explanation for this discourtesy. If no acceptable response is given and the Star refuses to make an apology, then Council should consider whether it should allow the Star to continue to have access to its Chambers.
When Mary, my friend from Delray, told me that there was going to be a DRIC meeting in her community and she expected some Detroit City Councillors to appear, I thought I would go over and see what big city Councillors were like in action.
I was not disappointed. These people are not Councillors of a small town. They have authority, they have clout (to paraphrase our former Mayor)
Mary introduced me to Kenneth V. Cockrel, Jr, the Council President Pro Tem. He remembered me from the emails that I had sent on the border and confirmed that the Councils of Detroit and Windsor were planning to meet in the new year. I also saw Council Member JoAnn Watson but did not get a chance to say hello to her.
The DRIC public meeting was not like ours. There was about a 30 minute presentation with questions afterward. Extensive amounts of materials were given out. It was a Delray community meeting and they were being told the bridge is coming through there. It reminded me of our Special Council meeting in January 2003.
As far as DRIC was concerned, DRTP is dead and buried. While they said that DRTP was free to go on their own, as is obvious, the case made against them effectively said that it could never be a long-term solution.
The very surprising news was the confirmation that the Twinned Bridge was a favourite crossing choice of the Americans but was not acceptable to Canada.
But the reason why not was intriguing. According to Joe Corradino, the US consultant, the two sides had agreed that no crossing would be built if one side was unduly impacted more than the other. The Twinned Bridge would have been horrible for Canada since trucks would go down Huron Church Road and there would be an 80 to 100 acre plaza at the foot of the Bridge that would negatively impact the community there. Therefore the Twinned Bridge was "out."
There is one tiny, little problem with this explanation (and which would be the subject of a lawsuit by the Bridge Co. I am certain): that was NOT the Bridge Co. proposal at all but something that DRIC made up. They then could dismiss it as unacceptable rather than deal with what the Bridge Co. really proposed ie a plaza in "industrial" lands and a "dedicated" road to the bridge for trucks only.
Now we can understand why the diagonal bridge had to be talked about. The Canadians and Americans could not agree.
It seems to me that this is terrific ammunition for the Detroit Councillors to use when DRIC seeks their support for the destruction of Delray!
The real fun though was watching the Detroit Councillors in action. Councillor Watson asked the DRIC people why there was not a "no action" alternative put forward since that did not seem to have been addressed. That would be done the MDOT rep replied. (It signalled to me that perhaps the 200 booth proposal of the Bridge Co. made some sense to the Councillor as well since it did not require a new bridge to be built for about 20 years or more!)
She then went on and said flat out that the bridge was not going in Delray, that the SouthWest of Detroit was growing in population and that a bridge there would stop this growth at a time when Detroit needed more people. As for politics, and this was the good part, she let everyone know that Detroiters cast more votes for Governor Granholm than the people did Downriver. And isn't next year an election year for the Governor and Members of Congress? She invited the DRIC people to come to Council at any time since they are full-time Councillors and are around.
Ahhhh the use of full naked political power at its finest! No holds barred!
President Cockrel approached the problem differently. He had copies of the Detroit resolution against a new bridge and gave the DRIC members a copy of it. He asked what the hurry was since he had been hearing about the border for the 12 years he was in public life! He said SW Detroit was going to be the proposed home of a number of major developments and no one had looked at all of them in total to see what the impact on the community was going to be. One at a time perhaps, but not altogether. Accordingly to him, nothing would happen until Detroit finished whatever studies it was going to make.
How to be heard Councillor Valentinis....start acting like Councillors Cockrel and Watson. Get the community involved again instead of working in secret. And start using the common sense that I know YOU have, even if that common sense is not shared universally on Council. It is obvious what needs to be done. Do we have to wait until the Detroiters do it for us so that we have no bargaining position with the Bridge Co. at all.
By the way, given the opinions of these two Detroit Councillors, and the Resolution of Detroit Council, Councillor Gignac may have made a bad tactical mistake seeking a meeting there. Our Mayor and his Councillors may find themselves at odds with Detroit Council. It could get ugly if regional unity is broken, with WINDSOR the big loser!
The Super Bowl may be a lonely experience for Mayor Francis as well.
posted by JoeBlog at 6:45 a.m.
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