DRTP's White Flag Of Surrender And Other Stories

I'll do some other arena stories next week. With all of the arena excitement, some old ideas just did not get distributed in as timely a fashion as I would have liked. Here are a bunch of notes about things that interested me. Better late than never.

1) RAILS TO TRAILS AND LOOKING A GIFT HORSE IN THE MOUTH

Here is some heresy. Rails to Trails may be one of the dumbest ideas around. It sounds so "ecological" doesn't it, so environmentally friendly.

Geeee. Do you think it might be time for open and transparent Government in Windsor? A meeting on the Arena and then this. This subject must be a vital subject for the Community since City Council called a special meeting for it:

• NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING
  
  The Council of the City of Windsor will meet in public session to receive a presentation from officials with the Ontario Trails Council. This presentation is open to the public and will be held: Thursday, September 28, 2006, Council Chambers, Windsor City Hall at 5:00 o'clock p.m.

Strange set of priorities at City Hall don't you think for a Special Meeting?

And speaking of rails and trails, John Middleton, the Ward 4 candidate for Councillor, asked me a good question in a conversation we had: if the DRTP corridor is tunnelled, all of the many KMs of it, then who will be responsible for policing it? Who will be responsible for maintaining it? The city?

If we do not have enough money for policing now, and we are struggling with finding tax money for essential services, is this a "gift" that we really want? If we can get rid of Superior Park, to get money from the sale surplus park assets as Councillor Zuk claims, why would we now take-on more park-space.

In fact, Chris Schnurr in Ward 2 suggests that we NOT remove the rails since they will never be put back in but that we ought to look at all of our rail lands in the City and County for public transit services eg like a GO Transit-type service perhaps to get cars off the roads!

So do not get sucked in by a gift and a slogan that may wind up costing us money!

2) WHEN IS AN ELECTION NOT AN ELECTION...

...when the election is not covered completely by the only major newspaper in town.

Take a look at the email that Chris Schnurr, the candidate in Ward 2 for Council, sent to the Star's Editor. It is very troubling. The Star's policy of "vigilant fairness" and refusal to cover candidate's "kick-off" meetings where positions are outlined make it very tough to beat an incumbent in this City.

CKLW could send out a reporter but the mighty Star could not. Geeez, what if Schnurr actually wins. Then what will the Star do, ignore that too since there are nine other winners on Council, a Mayor and School Board Trustees to interview.

• Dear Mr. Beneteau:
  
  I am writing to express my deep concern regarding a statement made by your newsroom with regards to my official campaign launch tomorrow, for the Time for Action Campaign for Chris Schnurr, Council Candidate Ward 2.
  
  According to my campaign manager, Jason Silvert, one of your staff stated, "If we had to cover all the campaign kick-offs, we wouldn't be doing anything else."
  
  As a community newspaper that has given ample coverage to incumbents thus far (Labour Council meeting with incumbents,Bill Marra through Gord Henderson's columns, etc.), I expect that equal opportunity will be given to candidates in this
  election who have serious concerns with the direction that the city is taking.
  
  It is my expectation that the Windsor Star will be presenting a balanced report of this year's municipal election, given that terms for councilors have been extended to 4 years. This next term is of upmost importance to the city with
  regards to our economy, border infrastructure, taxation and city services, and a balanced debate is essential.
  
  I quote below the Ontario Press Council's recommendations regarding this matter:
  
  "...Therefore, voice should be given to diverse opinions, edited faithfully to reflect stated views."
  
  I do appreciate the amount of work that covering candidates will require, however, as John F. Kennedy said, "The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all." Failing to give balanced reporting to all candidates stifles open and transparent debate and seriously undermines the democratic process. It is imperative that voters be presented all the information necessary to make an informed decision on Election Day.
  
  It is my expectation that the Windsor Star will cover campaign launches, as they are the most important aspect of any campaign at any level. Again, my campaign launch is Tuesday evening 6 p.m. until 7 p.m. at The Coffee Exchange, 343 Ouellette Ave.
  
  
  Chris Schnurr
  Council Candidate, Ward 2
  
  
  

Marty Beneteau, the Editor of The Windsor Star replied and I will post his letter if he allows me to do it. The gist of what he said was they cannot cover everything and but that they do try to provide full coverage after the nominations. They only have so much space in the paper and the number of staff members is limited.

I can understand Mr. Beneteau's issue but it does not appear that every candidate had the initiative of Mr. Schnurr to contact the Star. Moreover, not every candidate would hold their campaign kick-off on the same night.

I am sure that there are stories more important than Windsor's Government for the next four years and the people running for it. Schnurr's campaign kick-off was on a Tuesday night and stories in the Star in Section A on teh following Wednesday included: "Dog killer on the loose," "Barn to make showbiz debut," "Lakeshore voters to have more choices," "School safety patrollers don new coloured vests," "Kids Day event set."

3) MIKE HURST'S DRTP REVELATION

What does DRTP's CEO know that we mortals do not know?

Here is a news headline from the CKLW News Website:

• BORDER CROSSING ELECTION ISSUE 2006-09-21 06:58:36
  
  Mayor Eddie Francis is being warned that his stand on a new border crossing may cost him his job come election time. The CEO of the Detroit River Tunnel Partnership, Mike Hurst, expects candidates who support a tunneled route to a new bridge to have the support of most voters. He says the tunneling option is what Windsor residents deserve to protect Ojibway and Sandwich Towne and to reduce pollution by 50%. Francis opposes the plan

First the comment about Eddie and his "job" can only make sense if there is a candidate for Mayor who will run against Eddie. Obviously, Mike took my CBC "campaign speech" too seriously!

How does Mike know what candidates will support DRTP? Simple, he has been courting them. If you cannot beat Eddie directly, do it indirectly by lining up Councillors against him to make his life hell. He learned that strategy from what happened to him in the last year of his term when Eddie was part of a coalition of Councillors against him on border issues. Payback time for Eddie!

The most important comment though was Mike's huge concession that means that the DRTP under the river is dead and that his only job is to gather enough support so he can flog the now useless DRTP corridor to salvage the millions wasted on this project!

He now supports a "tunneled route to a new bridge" to protect Sandwich and Ojibway. The only "new bridge" that he can be referring to is the new Ambassador Bridge "enhanced" project.

In case you did not get it, that is the DRTP's "White Flag of Surrender" to the Bridge Co. and the signal that DRTP now is begging the Bridge Co. to work with them.

I don't get it...why doesn't Mike just pick up the phone and call them. Their number must be in the phone book if he lost it. Or has he done so and knows what their position is? Most strange to me.

4) ARENA LESSONS TO BE LEARNED FROM ESSEX

As reported in the Star:

• "ESSEX - A $16.9-million twin pad arena proposal was rejected Monday by town council as too expensive to even present to the public for comment.
  
  "We can't afford this," recreation director Doug Sweet told council during a review of almost a dozen options that have been costed out by consultants following tours of Ontario rinks.
  
  Instead of the deluxe arena that meets everyone's wish list, the town will focus its planning on a scaled-down version of the two-pad rink that St. Thomas built in 2004 for about $11.4 million....
  
  Allowing for inflation since 2004, a rink like the one in St. Thomas, but with about half the seating, would cost roughly $12.5 million to build in 2007, council was told…
  
  Miller said council can't make any major financial decisions before the Nov. 13 elections, but some realistic options can be developed for the new council to choose early in 2007.
  
  Deputy-mayor Percy Dufour, who heads the town steering committee that's been touring arenas across Ontario and meeting with consultants, said he was disappointed the costs came in much higher than consultants initially promised. "

Strange, the cost of an arena went up by $1M even though half the seats were taken out but the proposed East End extravaganza which was to cost $60M in 1999-2000 in Port Huron would cost us only $48M.

I am sooooooooo confused. I am missing something somewhere