Doesn't Councillor Postma Read My BLOG

I am very hurt. And even more lonely.

It appears that Councillor Postma is unaware of my BLOG.

According to http://chrisschnurr.wordpress.com Councillor Postma said on John Fairley's Face-To-Face that she

• “read[s] all the blogs out there. If you read certain blogs the [Ambassador Bridge] project is outlined very clearly.”

She must have missed mine because she claimed as well that

• "when you look at it (the Ambassador Bridge’s plans) it will take out 1/3 of Sandwich Towne.”

I thought I had been pretty clear in my BLOGs that such an assertion was incorrect. That is why I thought she never came here.

Then I figured it out.

Obviously the Councillor and some of her colleagues and clearly many people in Sandwich and the rest of Windsor may have been misinformed by the DRIC drawing and comment that kicked out the Bridge Co. from the DRIC hearings. [See BLOG April 12, 2007 "Border Misinformation http://windsorcityon.blogspot.com/2007/04/border-misinformation.html]

To be fair, I can understand as well why she may be confused. After all, the Mayor is the "voice of Council" in this matter. She naturally would look to him for direction. Didn't he write to the Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon and Premier a few months ago saying:

• "City council is calling on Ottawa to dismiss the Ambassador Bridge's application to twin its span, citing concerns about the impact on Windsor's environment and residents.
  
  The demand was made in a letter recently to federal Transport minister Lawrence Cannon...
  
  The city has also written to Premier Dalton McGuinty and other provincial government leaders requesting their support.
  
  "City council is very concerned about the potential significant harm that a second Ambassador Bridge would cause to residents of the city of Windsor," said the letter to McGuinty, signed by Mayor Eddie Francis."

And this

• "BRIDGE SNUBBED
  
  City council has no plans to meet with officials of the Ambassador Bridge as part of the environmental assessment process regarding its twin span.
  
  The bridge company on Monday unveiled plans for a series of public consultation meetings across Windsor and Essex County. As part of the process, a request was made to meet with city council and the mayor.
  
  "It will be up to council through a majority to decide whether they will act upon the request," said Mayor Eddie Francis. "No member of city council has expressed a desire to meet with them..."
  
  But the city has opposed the twinning of the bridge, fearing the environmental impact of border-bound trucks on local residents. "

Was the Mayor misinformed too?

Geeeeeeeeeez, then I got it. Of course they do not want to meet with the Bridge Co.. The Mayor and Council think they know what the Bridge Co.'s plans are. They may not know the real facts either! Maybe they did not come to my BLOGsite just like Councillor Postma.

There is a problem for me that is a bigger one and perhaps for other Windsorites as well. I am not sure how I should interpret what the Mayor says.

I thought he was speaking on our behalf as Mayor. Now I am not so certain. Perhaps instead he may have been speaking as Chair of the Windsor Tunnel Commission, the competitor of the Ambassador Bridge for border traffic, and the competitor of the Bridge Co., if you listen to Eddie, about gaining control of the operation of the Detroit half of the Tunnel! The Senate of Canada picked up on that issue away during their hearings on Bill C-3.

We learned on Melanie Deveau's show the other day that he was speaking with the Detroit Mayor since 2005 about a Tunnel deal which was announced by Kwame the other day for the first time.

Mind you, on March 11, 2004, the Governments of Canada, Ontario and the City of Windsor signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the Let's Get Windsor-Essex Moving Strategy that Eddie negotiated. One of the five projects announced as part of Phase One was improvements to the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Plaza which would help the Tunnel compete against the bridge. Each level of Government was to put in $10 million or $30M in total to help driver traffic from the "private" Bridge to the "public" Tunnel.

Why this even got Gridlock Sam involved as an advocate for the Tunnel way back when he first presented his report. As part of his "Fast Track Elements," he proposed "Restore Windsor Tunnel share of border crossing." and Improve operations at Detroit-Windsor Tunnel.

He also pointed out that the Tunnel should be improved to recapture the traffic lost since

• "Had 1999 traffic ratios been sustained Ambassador Bridge would have had 1900 fewer cars per day in 2004."

Sam was also paid $40,000 for a ordered by the Windsor Tunnel Commission which has not

• "released the report to the public.
  
  Chairman Mayor Eddie Francis cited property and security reasons for keeping the report confidential...
  
  Schwartz's report on the tunnel plaza addresses how to route traffic to the tunnel, how to manage it through the tunnel and changes needed on the other side, said Francis.
  
  "We have an obligation to ensure our passengers and our commuters are able to access the tunnel with as little impediment as possible," he said.

What made Eddie do it, the blockbuster Tunnel deal I mean:

• "Fearing that billionaire Ambassador Bridge owner Matty Moroun was poised to gain a stranglehold on Windsor’s two border crossings, the City of Windsor has entered into a US$75-million agreement with Detroit to take full control of the Windsor-Detroit tunnel...
  
  Moroun over a year ago made a US$20-million offer to Detroit for control of the U.S. side of the tunnel for 100 years, but that deal was killed by Detroit city councillors following objections from Windsor and the Canadian government...
  
  Sutts agreed the driving force behind the deal has been “to keep this out of the hands of Matty Moroun and the Ambassador Bridge.”

Which hat is the Mayor wearing when he speaks? The interest of the Tunnel is not necessarily the same as the interest of Windsor as conflicts in the past have shown. Making money at the Tunnel which is good for the Tunnel's bottom line so it can pay the Community a dividend ($6.6M in the past) could reduce tourism and business which would hurt the Community.

I have talked about the inherent conflict of interest of Windsor Mayors as MAYOR and as CHAIR of the WTC. The Tunnel deal is the classic example. It is like Transport Canada being the regulator of the Bridge Co. under Bill C-3, being a competitor for the DRIC P3 bridge and acting as financier for Eddie's deal. As Mark Butler of Transport Canada said

• "Transport Canada is awaiting a formal proposal from the city on any funding support, said Mark Butler, spokesman for the federal ministry.
  
  “Certainly there may be an opportunity for the government of Canada to be involved in the actual transaction,” he said.
  
  The federal government recently budgeted $400 million for the border in Windsor and funds also still remain from the joint federal-provincial $300million border infrastructure commitment to the city."

I am disappointed that Caroline's Council colleagues on the WTC did not explain the facts to her so she would not say the wrong thing. Or were Councillors Brister, Marra and Valentinis misinformed as well?

As a public service, let me clear everything up in the simplest possible terms for everyone so they can know what the Bridge Co. wants to do in the West End of Windsor. It will be done visually so Councillor Postma and others will be able to grasp the concept quickly---if the Ward 2 Councillor ever finds her way to my BLOG!