How To Spend Money In Cleveland

It looks like David Estrin and friends had a nice visit to Cleveland at Windsor taxpayer expense to meet the US Coast Guard. I hope they had a pleasant lunch.

I assume that Councillor Halberstadt will send the appropriate apology letter to the Bridge Co. now.

You may remember that the Councillor said in his Blog:

"The Ambassador Bridge, in a bizarre move, has applied to the United States Coast Guard for a permit to build a second span and the city feels a need to become involved in blocking that process."

The Bridge Co.'s actions were not so strange after all it seems. As the Star reported:

• "The coast guard has been named the lead federal agency on the U.S. side assigned to process the bridge's twin span permit application."

To whom should the Bridge Co. have applied if not to the lead agency?

But we should not be too angry at the Councillor. After all, someone worked him and his colleagues up. We are beginning to see who the City thinks its "enemies" are. We are seeing the start of the war that is being prepared to be fought with taxpayer money! After all, someone in power in the City "feels a need to become involved in blocking that process."

Now our dashing Councillor, the protector of the public purse and of open and transparent government, wants us to believe that:

• "Estrin is still working on a public report to Council, complete with recommended resolutions and legal remedies, he believes the city should take to protect its interests against the enemies. It will be up to the new Council to say yeah or nay."

Oh Alan, give us a break. Do you really think we are that stupid as to believe that we do not know why Council has already set aside $400K for legal and consulting fees. Has Gridlock Sam come back to help out Estrin again as well? Did the Dynmaic Duo make a presentation to the US Coast Guard on our behalf?

Why are you pretending that there is no strategy already decided upon by THIS Council and why are you refusing to publicly post on your Blogsite the one or two Resolutions that Council has already passed in this matter! Why do you refuse to tell us the exact amount of taxpayer money that has been spent to date on this US extravaganza and how much more will be spent? Tell us exactly who "feels a need to become involved in blocking that process."

It is great that you want to open up City Government and we should be grateful for the tiny steps that you have taken so far. But stop pretending to be our champion unless you really are going to do the right thing for taxpayers.

What I find bizarre is the cost of preparing a 35-page report about Windsor issues to be presented to a US authority in the US and the cost of sending a CANADIAN lawyer to an AMERICAN agency. I wonder if the Coast Guard gives a darn about Windsor. I wonder how impressed that they will be with Mr. Estrin's CANADIAN accomplishments.

I thought the Coast Guard mandate is the US. Why would they even consider CANADA. In any event, what we learned is that Estrin lost! He was there to call "for suspension of the Ambassador Bridge company's application to twin its span." It was reported that "It does not appear the coast guard will suspend the application."

Don't we have a CANADIAN process on which our CANADIAN lawyer should be focusing? Do you think that the City of Detroit will spend the money to hire a US lawyer to make a presentation to tell the Canadian authority what the impact of the enhancement project will be in Detroit? Of course not. Only Windsor would appear in another country to tell them what they should do under their process.

I certainly hope for Windsor's sake that Estrin has the backup for the charges "that information provided in the bridge company's application is clearly erroneous, and in other places misleading and inaccurate." These are very serious allegations to make. If they cannot be proved, then there could be serious consequences to the City. I wonder if Estrin's statement is the real justification for the "enemies" remark that has been repeated several times now.

The three new enlistees better be prepared for the Strategic meeting that the Mayor will be holding shortly. Remember, they will be told to keep everything confidential. We cannot let the enemies know what is going on. Shhhhhhh. Mum's the word!