More BLOGMEISTER Letters

If you keep sending them, I will keep posting them

1) Photo above is from Andrew at http://internationalmetropolis.com/ What is more interesting is his comment on the website:

• "Surprisingly NO city councilors were present. Not even Ron Jones or Caroline Postma, the ward two councilors where the Capitol resides could bother to show up.
  
  The lack of Council or any elected officials to show up to the rally, really spoke volumes about how this council prioritizes Downtown and the Arts Community."

2) And even worse Ed ... the last two times Dennis DesRosiers spoke in Windsor there were over 500 in attendance. Yikes, how can a guy like DesRosiers attract huge audiences and Eddie only get a small audience.

3) Ed, perhaps Eddie is taking his cues from George Bush and has launched a program of Dumbing Down of Windsor. You cannot get any dumber than to sponsor wrestling.

It won't work. We're not THAT dumb. Thank goodness for people like you to remind us to think.

4) Gee Ed, a city councillor said our 48 or 58 or 68 million dollar arena-playpen for out of town teenage hockey players won't cause taxes to rise.

But helping the Capitol stave off bankruptcy will, I guess.

5) I would have thought that with the financing taken care of and "Eddie" and Windsor the #1 creditor in running they would be making a groundbreaking announcement as far as the job creation at the Capitol and saving a heritage building, like the ones being saved in Sandwich by the bridge. Sorry. He was busy giving away the Cleary.
Ironic.

The local MP's in charge of this area are extremely quiet these days.
Guess they were busy reading about the money being injected to help the greater GTA economy.
Ironic.

The union wants the bonus money going to workers, to be put into development investment instead for job creation. Quite honorable but useless.
The same car companies that have forced suppliers to give back year after year, take literally years to pay and then stretch payments again have caused another closure. (No names be mentioned)

If they would have paid to schedule instead of giving bonuses to union workers could they still be open instead of "stiffing" the employees?
Ironic.

I wonder if those telemarketing people are taking resumes. My daughter has tried with no success. Think Eddie can give her a referal?
Ironic.

6) I told you U-haul was the fastest growing business in the area

7) Statistics Canada, just released the New Home Selling Price Index and it shows Windsor as the only major city with a decline, year over year (-1.7%). The Windsor new home selling price index stands at 104.2 (1997=100). Check out the full text and charts. It clearly shows how pitiful Windsor has performed.

8) A reader sent me a Letter to the Editor of the Star that was sent to the Star but never published. I thought you might enjoy it. I sure did!

I have to tell you though, the idea of an "online" alternative media outlet is getting stronger and stronger in my mind. I have already talked to a fellow who has suggested some newspaper templates that we can build on. If you have an interest as an editor, writer, advertiser, techie or "deep pocket" financier, let me know. It might be a lot of fun.

Do you think the mass media is concerned about lonely Bloggers...Don't you see the push about the "Digital" Windsor Star. Imagine how much their profit would be if they did NOT need newsprint any more.

Preposterous you say. "For the times they are a-changin'". And I include both the London Times and the New York Times in that phrase!

How about robots replacing auto workers, word processing software replacing secretaries, ATMs replacing bank tellers, online bill-paying and statements. Why not a digital newspaper online that has the "look and feel" of a daily newspaper but without the massive costs of production and distribution.

Here is that letter after a bit of an aside:

• "As a regular reader of local blogs, including Mr. Arditti's, I was not surprised that you missed the real story in your article "Blogger linked to bridge firm".
  The headline should have been "Blogger consistently scoops Windsor Star on border and City Hall stories".
  
  Many believe the motivation for this attempt at discrediting Mr. Arditti was a result of his going public last week with potential problems and delays for the City's new arena. In fact, there are several stories that have not only been broken by local blogs, but some important stories reported on blogs never see the light of day in the Windsor Star.
  
  For example, in city councillor Alan Halberstadt's blog last December, he reported on the defection of Sam Schwartz's local engineer and office manager Marko Paranosic. Marko was the de facto designer of the "Schwartz bypass", and the fact that he chose to quit, leave his home town and speak publically of his bitterness toward the political interference of the Mayor's office on the border file was somehow missed by the Star. He referred to the power point presentations he gave on the proposed bypass as "a dog and pony show", and even councillor Halberstadt had to admit that the "stupidity" of the bypass plan made it "vulnerable to its critics". Even though this story involves millions of wasted municipal taxpayer dollars and the credibility of the mayor, council and Windsor Star editorial writers, it was somehow deemed of no interest to Star readers.
  
  That your attempt to discredit Mr. Arditti features a quote from Councillor Dave Brister approaches comedy. Brister, as quoted recently in your paper, would have us believe that only 2 or 3 out of 200 thousand people care about transparency at City Hall.
  
  That statement in itself is an affront to any real journalist, and clearly shows that Brister would just as soon have the electorate keep their head in the sand shovelled by the Windsor Star when it comes to how council and the mayor operate.
  
  We should thank Mr. Arditti and all local bloggers who shine a light where the mayor and council prefer darkness."

9) Hi Ed: I just completed reading your last two writings and had a look at youtube to view Matty's proposed six lane bridge. It sure looks good to me. What's the big deal in Old Sandwich Town? I don't see anything that would be worse than what aleady exisists and it would not cost us a red cent.

10) out of town for the march break - read thru the papers this morning - one article reported that Eddie made $154K in '06 and $141 in '05. That's a 10% increase. Where's the hue and cry? What about leadership by example as we head into this budget session... [NOTE: The mayor's salary was $140,703 in 2004]