Thoughts To Pass The Time

I had a few minutes to spare and decided I would BLOG a few thoughts that came to mind.

WALK LIKE A MAN

Remember when Eddie took a walk at the mall and the idea of the Youth council popped into his head.

Remember when Eddie took a walk at the Rotary Lobesterfest and he and the St. Clair President started talking about the Cleary.

Remember when Eddie took a walk at that wedding and met Mr. Farhi which resulted in the exchange of downtown land for an arena site in Farhi's Lear property.

My thought was to solve the huge border problem, Eddie needs to take a hike.

ONLY THE WINDSOR MUNICIPAL SHADOW KNOWS

You want an an alternative to the Windsor Star (until such time as I get the time and the energy with a few people I know to start up an online newspaper), then you have to read the BLOGs in Windsor. I check them out every morning, first thing.

Each Blogger has a different style and a different view of what is important. Even when we all cover the same story, we take different approaches.

Check out http://windsormunicipal.blogspot.com/ and especially the BLOG "Budget Blues." Paul talks about the three budget "drivers" (There's that "d" word again!) Marketing (ie branding Windsor), Communications, and the Police.

DUH!!!!! when Paul brought the drivers together, what leapt out at me was EDDIE RUNNING FOR A SENIOR LEVEL OFFICE! And we as taxpayers are going to pay for his campaign expenses big-time and are going to be pleased to do so it seems.

I have already told you about crime being a Toronto issue (and now for Councillor Postma!) to help get Eddie his cabinet post. Now we are told we need an expensive marketing campaign to spread the Eddie Francis vision, message (and face) around the world run by a massive "corporate communications" office run by Admin. (And who runs Admin!)

It's scary now. Eddie must think he is Lee Iacocca. I can just see the TV spots and media ads. There is Eddie smiling against the backdrop of the new Eddie Francis Square and our signature City Hall being built where the Barn used to be before it was torn down. Remo Manicini and the new Economic Development Czar are feeding the gazelles in the flowering and blooming economic garden. Activity is all around with happy construction workers giving their "thumbs-up" in the huge construction project. And the catch-phrase said by our Visionary:

"If you can find a better region anywhere in the world in which to invest, go there!"

E C ROW AND THE TUNNEL

Will someone please send Gord Henderson the inter-office memo. Dave Battagello finally got it.

THE TUNNEL IS DEAD AND WE ARE GETTING E C ROW AS OUR BORDER ROAD.

It will tie into the DRIC road which will go to the new Ambassador Bridge. Enhancement Project. Isn't that what Eddie and Minister Cansfield talked about at the taxpayer paid lunch several weeks ago when they talked about the transportation hub at the airport for planes, trains and trucks. How else will the vehicles get to and from the enhanced Ambassador Bridge easily except by an uploaded and expanded E C Row. The Province and Feds have wanted that for years and we are getting it.

Don't you worry, Michael Nobrega the former head of Borealis' Infrastructure group (the DRTP boys) is now the new OMERS Pres. and he will kill DRTP to make this all possible (I wonder if someone led OMERS to believe that OMERS has a role in the P3 bridge that will never get built. If true, I have a strong suspicion who it might be).

The Battagello story the other day about the internal MOT newsletter was "leaked" to him NOT to work up people (and Henderson) for a multi-billion tunnel that has no value but to tell the world that the Ontario Government has signalled that a tunnel here is dead. After all "A spokesman for Ontario's Transportation Minster Donna Cansfield also defended the summary. "I don't think the comment is misleading, it's correct," said Jamie Rilett."

WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOUR

Guess which famous Windsor politician I heard was looking recently at a home for sale in South Windsor and my idea as to why he/she was doing so. I'll never tell!

ANYONE WANT HALF A BRIDGE

Grosse Ile and the Downriver did it to DRIC once and now they are doing it again.

Assuming Canada was so foolish so as to consider expropriating the Canadian half of the Ambassador Bridge, the Government would need to have the US side condemn the other half of the bridge.

In Township of Grosse Ile vs. Grosse Ile Bridge Co, the Township tried to expropriate the bridge from its private owner for "public" purposes. The Court could find no "public necessity" to do so.

Would that apply if someone tried to expropriate the Bridge Co.'s business merely to give it to some other private entity in a P3? You better believe that the Bridge Co. would use the case as a precedent.

Since Canada was creating the "possibility" of a new crossing but always planned, in my opinion, to expropriate the Bridge Co.'s interests if they did not sell out, this case could be the end of that Plan

A NEW CAREER FOR BATTAGELLO

The Windsor Star reporter unfortunately was not nominated for one of the 53rd annual Ontario Newspaper Awards. Maybe his story on me will be nominated next year.

However, all is not lost. It looks like he may have a new career as a "talking head" but on radio not television. Good old Dave gave a radio interview in the US radio station about the Bridge Co. and Bill C-3. Nice voice Dave!

STOP THE PRESSES: SPEEDING TICKET SCANDAL

I cannot believe it. What makes Star front page news: the possibility that a $177 traffic ticket was "fixed." 27 kM over the speed limit too. I wonder if that "prominent city businessman" is sweating wondering when the Star will publish his name. They have it after all since they have a copy of the ticket.

• "Stannard said Friday. "We need to deal with this properly and quickly. We were on this right away. We're not wasting any time. We've got nothing to hide...
  
  The police issue 20,000 tickets a year, Stannard said. He said he doesn't know how often a ticket gets cancelled, but he said it's not fair to assume that it happens frequently."

I expect that the Star will demand that a full-scale public investigation and inquiry take place into all of the cancelled tickets as well, not just this one. Not only that, the Windsor Police should NOT be examining themselves the Star will fume as they did in January, 2004:

• "Therefore, it's to the advantage of both the community and the police service to determine the best way to restore faith in the department and provide absolute assurances to the community that the allegations are isolated. The way to accomplish that goal is to bring in an outside agency to conduct the specific investigation, or at least a subsequent investigation to ensure everything was looked at. It will remove any perceptions that corners might be cut, or things covered up because city police are investigating their own."

After all, didn't the "Windsor police [request an] OPP probe after they received complaints" in another incident in late 2005. And that was after the Chief "After charging a second officer in a month with theft, Windsor police have formally requested a provincial government review of its property and search warrant procedures " in January 2004.

Hey Glenn, welcome to the front page world of of Fire Chief Dave Fields! It must be that time in the budget process to soften you up.

WEATHER THIS COULD HAPPEN HERE

Perhaps some well-known media type in Windsor could follow the lead of the Weather guy on Channel 4 WDIV-TV and try the same here with the Capitol Theatre:

• Could plays be the thing?
  
  With a real estate deal and one step in the city approval process under way, opening night for a new professional theater in downtown Northville may be getting closer.
  
  Northville resident and WDIV-Channel 4 meteorologist Chuck Gaidica and his wife, Susan, are among those leading the effort to create the Tipping Point Theatre.
  
  Christina Johnson, executive director of the nonprofit theater, said last week that Gaidica and local developer Chuck Lapham bought the building at 361 Cady St. that will house the theater. The 4,000-square-foot building has been a variety of businesses, including a testing site for car wash equipment, she said.
  
  The theater board plans a March 10 fundraiser. It has raised about $25,000 of the $100,000 needed to get the basic expenses such as lighting and staging handled. "