Cleary A Mess

Eddie has real problems with the Cleary deal. Whom can he blame if it falls apart? Three of the Councillors have conflicts of interest respecting the College since either they work there or have a relative working there I believe so they could not be involved. That leaves seven Councillors to make the decision based on Eddie's negotiated deal. Unless it is a reasonable deal, I can see five of the seven opposing it right off the bat.

On April 19, it was all smiles: "A tentative agreement turning over operations of the Cleary International Centre to St. Clair College and bringing hundreds of students into the downtown is expected to go before city council within two weeks, Mayor Eddie Francis said Tuesday." What's a few weeks between friends, right.

There are probably some very unhappy people downtown in the business community who had some very high expectations.

First the University of Windsor deal went bust and now it appears as if the St. Clair College deal may not happen either. So much for the 1000 students and staff spending money downtown. Gone may be all of the help they can provide to businesses. Say adios to the urban village and perhaps also the funky bus terminal. I sure hope that there is nothing in the Keg deal that guarantees them business. Is this the last hope for the DWBIA too? The new Casino won't help them at all as new retail will migrate away from downtown to the new Convention Centre area.

Will the Cleary deal happen? The College knows that the Mayor is desperate to do a deal to try and save downtown so why not play hardball? Do Councillors know that the deal may not be a good one for the City but are they prepared to hold their collective noses and sign off on it?

On the other hand, it's an election year. Do they want to be part of an Eddie salvage operation, just like with the Bus Terminal and the Arena thereby jeopardizing their own political careers if it is a dumb deal? Do they view this as another Canderel perhaps?

I am told that the issue is one of who “owns” the Cleary once St. Clair moves in. The College wants to be the owner since it chooses not to make a heavy capital investment in a leasehold deal. The City wants to remain the owner since it is still a City property even though it will be leased out. The concern is that the College won't guarantee that it simply won't "flip" the Cleary down the road for big bucks. Can you imagine if the College sold the property and made millions in profit when the City gave it to them for virtually nothing. It would be embarrassing to the “Young Entrepreneur of the Year” that he would be outfoxed by a mere academic.

We were told by the Mayor that "The substantive parts of the agreement were included among the parameters set down by council when these discussions began and should not come as any surprise."

College president John Strasser said, "we hope to have something ready for council by the end of April providing the minor details are worked out and then it's up to council to decide."

I cannot believe however that this is the real issue. It is something so fundamental to the deal that it should have been resolved right at the start of negotiations, probably before the Mayor kissed the University good-bye! If it was left to the end, then it shows the immaturity of negotiating at City Hall.

Will the blame be placed on St. Clair again for pulling out on the deal in the last minute as happened with them at the Income and Security building. Will the Star give us all of the breath-taking inside gossip that points the finger elsewhere than the Mayor's office?

However, President Strasser knows he can wait. The Cleary is going nowhere. It will continually drain money from the City. There will be a new Mayor come November anyway so he can restart negotiations with him.

One of my contacts said to me this morning:

"Notice how everytime something is going bad, Francis is quoted to say "We need to bring resolution to this, one way or another". That seems to be his way of indicating there will be no deal."

Eddie may have one way out...but will the University even answer the phone after the last meeting involving the Cleary? Or is this whole episode nothing more than a big set-up so that Eddie will look like a miracle worker to "save the downtown" and to force Councillors to agree to something that makes little sense? We'll find out soon enough.