State Of The City---Then And Now

It may be an extremely short State of the City speech given by the Mayor.

The Star states that a statement released by City Hall says the speech will "applaud the spirit and strength of Windsor's proud history, take stock of the city's achievements over the past year, and look to Windsor's exciting and ambitious future,"

The achievements won't take long and if we do not fix the road to the border we may have no future. Unless you like to relive the past and hear about Sandwich, it could be a pretty boring night.

It should be amusing to hear how the E-machine drafted, re-election speech that kicks off Eddie's mayoral campaign will "spin" the lack of anything happening in this City over the last 2 1/2 years.

Want to bet that we will hear how the Keg and the new Bus terminal will be the beginning of a re-vitalized downtown that will result in an urban village, especially when the St. Clair students bring excitement to our City Centre. That is if we ever get a bus terminal.

Want to bet that we will hear the multi-recycled story about the new plants coming to Windsor and our new regional economic redevelopment program (of course that does NOT include Detroit any longer after Eddie's poke at Kwame). But we will not hear names because of "confidentiality."

Want to bet that not much will be mentioned about the old Schwartz "Think Big" Plan but a lot about how this Mayor and Council will fight for us to save our quality of life. Better late than never after all

Want to bet that Sandwich, our City finances and the Arena....no I better not say more or else you will not go to hear Eddie . Instead, I will just post excerpts from 2 of Gord Henderson's columns that put this speech into a proper perspective:

May 1, 2004

"Let's be honest. In terms of entertainment value, the Eddie Francis era at city hall can't hold a candle to the clown show presided over by his predecessor.

Some nights I find myself pining for the old days when Mike Hurst called the shots and we could count on a tantrum or two, oodles of eye rolling and grimacing and the occasional cataclysmic explosion.

In five months with Francis as mayor we've gone from the roller derby to the corporate boardroom and although the new way of conducting business isn't half as much fun for gawkers, it's a big plus for Windsor."

February 14, 2006

"Don't let it go to your head, but Windsor's fame is still growing by leaps and bounds and if it continues at this pace we'll all need showbiz agents to protect our piece of the action.

Think about it. A month ago we were a bunch of nobodies piddling away our days in dullsville. Then, out of the blue, came that notorious "Super Sin City" label that yanked Windsor out of the shadows of big brother Detroit and propelled it onto the global stage.

I figured that was the pinnacle, our once-in-a-lifetime moment in the blinking red neon, and we would soon slip back into comfortable obscurity. Silly me. I should have known our city elders would have an ace up their sleeves.

Last Thursday they played it, revealing that our dysfunctional council was scheduled to go on the couch last night and receive group therapy from Dan Mulhern, the husband of Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm. A counsellor for the councillors.

Bam. The wire services picked the story up and sent it whipping across the country. In an instant we went from Sin City to Psycho City, a wacky burg that needs out-of-country counselling to keep its politicians from ripping each other's throats out."