Playing Catch-Up

There are so many things to write about. I hate overwhelming you, dear reader, with too many postings in a day. But if I don't send you the material, I find that it becomes dated. So the solution, is a catch-up Blog like this where there are lots of thoughts with a few words only in each.


Detroit Council approves zoo rescue plan

Can you imagine the joy at Windsor City Hall when they saw the above Detroit headline. I heard that the bubbly was brought out and almost opened since they thought that the Joint Councils meeting actually worked and that Detroit Council was onside with Windsor's plans.

It was only when a staffer noted that they were talking about the real Detroit zoo that the bottles of "Baby Duck" were sent back to the refrigerator.

After-effect of Joint Councils meeting

I have not seen much coverage so far in the Detroit media about the Joint Councils meeting.

It became clear to observers on the other side that the Windsor Council had planned this to be an anti-Ambassador Bridge meeting rather than a pro-regional meeting to boost relations between Windsor and Detroit.

The attempt to cover over the huge discrepancy in revenues between the two sides for so many years ($6 million for Windsor, $600K for Detroit) did not go over well. In fact, it opened the eyes of a number of Councillors to what the Bridge Co. said to try to get their Tunnel deal through was true!

While the Ambassador Bridge is not the most beloved institution on the other side either, one thing that has been learned is do not go after Dan Stamper personally. Working for a private company means that he does not have to be "politically correct" and he is not afraid to fight back and in very direct language.

Will Moroun sell the Ambassador Bridge

He said he would as a business deal but obviously only if the cheque has a lot of zeroes in it.

I wonder if people understand that he is a real bridge operator and not just someone involved to make a quick buck. Down in the Niagara region, they keep on saying that he is not really interested in building a bridge there but is there merely to protect his investment in Detroit.

I am sure that you read the story about "a toll bridge that connects International Falls to Fort Frances, Ont., and logs more than 900,000 crossings a year between the United States and Canada" is for sale.

The interesting lines in the story to me were "One private company, which owns a bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ont., is said to be interested in the Rainy River bridge. Dan Stamper, president of that company, said there have not yet been discussions but "I'd be glad to talk to them."

Yes, a lot of zeroes in that cheque!

I am a nooooooooooobody

Mel Lastman of Toronto and I have something in common now. We are both noooooooobodies.

He (and now his son) however made a fortune on the word "nobody" as the tagline in his advertising as the "Bad Boy" of the Toronto appliance business. As for me, I write Blogs.

What prompted this thought was a few news stories that dealt indirectly and directly with Bill Marra.

He must be smiling like a Cheshire Cat these days.

The end of the police investigation into Hotel Dieu Hospital without laying charges has to be good news since he is Chair of the Board there. He has handled masterfully so far the various inquiries that are ongoing.

But the big news is that the Draft Marra For Mayor movement must be in high gear and must be gaining some success.

Marra is the most serious candidate to Eddie's E-machine and that no matter what has been done to him to date, he is still viewed as a serious threat.

Another attack on him but this time in a news story. The story was presumably one about him making a decision about whether he wanted to run or not and for which position "Bill Marra says he's thinking about running for municipal office this fall. But the former city councillor and mayoral candidate won't say which council chair he's eying." It gave a very good description of what he has achieved in the last few years.

However, it was the last paragraph that gave away the real purpose of the story:

"Political observers, like Lloyd Brown-John, suggested that Marra target a councillor's seat rather than the mayor's chair. "I don't think Eddie Francis is beatable for a lot of good reasons," said Brown-John, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Windsor. "He hasn't really offended anybody."

Again the suggestion that someone not confront the Mayor. The E-machine should learn that saying it so does not make it so.

But the Blogmeister was personally offended by the Professor's remark. He has clearly not been reading my BLOG, or maybe he has. I am offended. I guess it really means that I am a nooooooobody.

Windsor's new youth advisory committee

I told you before that Eddie is a bureaucrat. He likes process and prodcedure over actually doing something. You cannot make a mistake for something if it goes wrong and get blamed if you study it to death. Here is another example of that.

Did you read this about the Youth committee. "Council voted Monday to establish an 11-member committee with a budget of $2,000 to report on issues that affect young people.

The committee will have eight months to report to council and make recommendations on a variety of issues."

11 persons, $2,000 budget, 8 months! Heck grab a bunch of kids and give them pizza and a Coke and you'd get an answer the same day.

Now I did remind you before that this idea was what Bill Marra discussed during the last campaign (along with the "urban village" which Eddie has adopted as his own). I found the timetable interesting. 8 months from now is around election time isn't it? Imagine the big "Youth" headlines when the story comes out. And consider that Kwame won the election in Detroit because he was able to get the youth vote out in the last minute.

Another notch in the electoral holster for the E-machine. Well-done!