Pomp But No Circumstance

I went to the Cleary to hear the Mayor's State of the City speech. You can read it for yourself when it is placed on the City's website so I do not need to set it out here.

It was a typical Eddie speech---very well crafted, ably delivered and designed to inspire. The trouble is, we've heard it all before. There was not a lot new. We had the talk of dreams, Vision and Action, doing big and PLANS. If I had a dollar for every time he used that word, I would be a rich man today.

I was interested more in getting the "feel" of the auditorium as Eddie spoke than to transcribe content. It was a good thing that there were so many City staff present or the lower level might have been half full. [I could have said half empty but I am being an optimist today!]

I do not know if the balcony was opened or how many people were there if it was. The attendance was less than in other appearances there even with the very heavy advertising and free refreshments. (A Councillor told me that staff were told to attend). That is NOT a good sign for a politician months before an election.

We had the Chicago Bulls-type introduction of the Councillors, ward by ward, with them walking down both sides of the aisles in the auditorium. You had to look quickly though or you would have missed them. That was it for the night for them except for a few mentions by the Mayor during his talk. Then we had the school kids from many countries waving Canadian flags and singing our national anthem to get everyone in the mood.

As I said, Eddie gave a very good speech. The speech was well-rehearsed as it should have been with Eddie speaking more slowly than normal and smiling a lot more. BUT, in my opinion, the room was flat. There were no big bursts of applause except once on the border and when Ken Cockrell Jr., the President of the Detroit Council, was introduced. When there was the obvious "pause for applause gap," the applause did not always come and when it did, it was more polite than enthusiastic. Even at the end, there was the perfunctory standing ovation but the applause did not last long. I did not feel any excitement.

What was new:

• A City birthday party on May 24
• Roots will offer some clothes designed for Windsor
• SIMPLICITY--I think--a new name to replace the hope-to-be-forgotten Citistat
• RAILS TO TRAILS for abandoned rail lines that will be turned into pathways (Too bad the Mayor did not mention that the DRTP corridor was the first one)
• Our new logo: LOVE THIS PLACE (Didn't we just spend money trying to develop one)

The funniest, and most insulting, line of the night...on the one hand the Mayor praised the fact that so many immigrants came to Windsor then claimed that our unemployment rate is so high because of them! I guess losing so many auto jobs, with their ripple effect, is something that he has not yet heard about.

Eddie's campaign will clearly be built around the theme that we are better off today than yesterday and that we will be better off tomorrow since that that concept came up several times.

After tonight, the E-Machine has to be worried. If I am right about the crowd reaction, then if this is the best that Eddie has going for him, then he had better hope that Bill Marra is not going to run.

PS. Read Gord Henderson's column today. I don't get it...the day after the Mayor's speech when one would expect Henderson to be supportive, a column showing all the flaws in this City that the Mayor tried to hide. I guess it is meant to say it is not Eddie's fault for the mess but the bureaucrats. Presumably we are supposed to forget that Eddie is in charge of Administration. Just to give you a flavour:

• "Returning to Windsor after two weeks with his family in Miami's trendy South Beach neighbourhood, Larry Horwitz felt like he'd gone back in time and landed in Sleepy Hollow.
  
  The deceleration was so rapid it left the downtown businessman and landlord with a case of psychological whiplash whose chief symptom is an overwhelming urge to grab Windsor by its pyjama collar and shake it out of its slumber...
  
  But he wishes some of the can-do attitude and boundless energy he witnessed in Miami could rub off on Windsor"