Very Short Shorts

Here are some quick comments

WAIT, WAIT, WAIT

I am glad to see that both A-channel and the Star took my BLOG about the law firm and expropriation and talked to people along the corridor who are waiting for an offer from the Province to buy them out.

As the home/business owner said on the TV News broadcast said, all they are doing is waiting! And as they are waiting, the uncertainty is driving business away from them. After all who would put a deposit down for a wedding two years in the future if they do not know that the business will be around.

HEY BRIAN MASSE---IT SOUNDS LIKE THE JUNCTION'S ISSUE TOO.

Brian can cry crocodile tears for the Talbot Road residents but if it comes to something in his backyard, literally, why it's a whole different story!

Obviously, my BLOG hit a nerve. Readership increased dramatically yesterday. I am not sure though if the new readers are residents or law firms who are looking for new business!

It looks like my comment yesterday has a great deal of truth to it especially if the ultimate game is to use E C Row. Could this be the reason that there have been no significant purchases:

• "Is the whole DRIC road exercise just part of the move to build the preferred E C Row corridor international road? Have the people on Talbot Road and the businesses on Huron Church for years and the "Tunneleers" for the last year been used as pawns in a cynical chess game? Has the law firm fallen victim as well? If true, then those who perpetrated such actions ought to suffer severe consequences for causing disruption in our Community --- and in Delray as well!"

ARE WE BEING SET UP FOR E C ROW BY SAM

Oh this is so tiresome. Eddie's comments in the Star today are so bizarre now. Was the latest Schwartz negotiation with DRIC designed to fail? Does Schwartz really have a new plan with a new route that he is going to spring on everyone whenever he appears in front of Council or is it as Henderson described....merely a bunch of short "tunnels" with parkettes?

Of course, the Senior Levels and DRIC would have to dismiss a new route out of hand because the EA process would have to start all over again. But hey, it means more stalling!

Here is the strange comment Eddie made in today's Star:

• "Our experts have told us there is a way to get trucks across the border without having to carve through a community."

Does this mean tunnel(s) "under" the ground rather than "through" or a new route completely? E C Row has already "carved" through the community hasn't it and it has room to expand. It is exactly like Highway 401 through Toronto that expanded and Sam specifically mentioned the roads in Toronto didn't he:

• "The road should fit itself around the community rather than the community around the road. You see this in Toronto and other places. "

The pesky environmentlists have to worry again that Ojibway is at risk for having a tunnel underneath it. That would put the City at odds with Minister Cansfield wouldn't it. If environmentalists are not worried, they should be since Eddie has said in the past:

• "Given the alternatives we're facing, I would far rather see truck pollution filtered by trees than by lungs."

It was also said in the Star:

• "Under a $1-billion plan unveiled recently by traffic expert Sam Schwartz and Mayor Eddie Francis, a new truck route would be built along the edge of the Spring Garden area. It would then cut through, around or under the Ojibway tall prairie grass preserve before emerging on Ojibway Parkway and heading south to a potential new crossing."

And this:

• "Mayor Eddie Francis insists city council is committed to an environmental assessment process that ensures no project proceeds unless it can be demonstrated it won't have a negative impact.
  
  "People think we're going to plow a road through environmental lands. That's not what Sam's report talks about," says Francis. Council favours a full EA that meets requirements of both provincial and federal regulations -- the most stringent possible.
  
  Schwartz's report says there are ways to run a bypass through the area using tunnelling and other methods without disrupting environmental lands."

Eddie can never be wrong can he!

Perhaps Eddie already has a deal with the Province since he "approved" Sandra in Windsor West so there has to be a quid pro quo. Is this all another charade masterminded by the Eminence Grise?

Surprise, surprise....Eddie and the Province become best of friends again with Eddie's "compromise" errrr "concession" saving the day. And after all we have a Provincial election coming up and didn't Dwight say for the umpteenth time that the politicians would make the ultimate decision. So Eddie is the genius negotiator and Dwight and Dalton (with Sandra grudgingly included) look strong by kicking around the DRIC bureaucrats.

Oh dear, I can see another Eddie/Province vs. the Feds battle coming up especially if the Feds have NOT been involved so far and they will be asked to pay over 50% or more of the extravagances.

Oh don't ask your Councillor for an answer . He/she has not yet been let in on the final secret have they? And they do NOT have the guts to ask the questions to which Windsorites deserve answers. They do not want to be scolded publicly again by the Mayor as he did at Council last Monday. Being made to look so stupid is just so embarrassing isn't it

THE $75M TUNNEL DEAL

Speaking of guts, which Councillor or media person has the nerve to ask the Mayor and then tell the public what is going on with the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel deal and the Tunnel Plaza Improvements.

As I am sure you saw at Council when I was talking about the Tunnel deal, the Mayor refused to answer my questions!

BAD FAITH

Check out Chris Schurr's BLOG on the Junction. He picked up on an item I mentioned about how the City could have helped George Sofos out.
http://chrisschnurr.wordpress.com/2007/07/17/the-good-faith-bad-faith-junction-george-sofos

Why didn't they? He gives a positive way that Council can act since their Administration and the Mayor seemed to have failed them on this one. They have no choice but to do so given this new information or face potential personal consequences for which they cannot be indemnified by the City in my opinion.

THE BIG CHEESE

Thanks to Windsor Municipal Shadow for posting this CBC News clip on his website
http://windsormunicipal.blogspot.com/2007/07/do-rats-whine.html

Poor Councillor Postma. (I won't call her Councillor Rat....she is self-destructing politically on her own so she does not need me to help speed up the process). She seems so terrified to speak to the Ambassador Bridge people even though they are located in her Ward and probably are her biggest taxpayer!

But then again, she does not dare or the proposed Integrity Commissioner could be sent after her too for breaking the Mayor-Is-The-Voice-Of-Council rule.

It's so strange that Councillor Jones does not support her publicly since they are such a two-some. Is he smart enough to keep his head down on this one and let her take the hit? It's much safer talking about heritage and how Sandwich is such a "jewel."

What's really strange is that the Councillors talked about some investor who wanted to put $100K into Sandwich some years ago. Has the person done so? I thought the investor was out of New York City! Here they have an investor from their Ward who wants to invest hundreds of millions of private dollars to create jobs in their Ward and to help beautify it without destroying Sandwich and they won't even talk to them. Strange.

Oh well, I guess Councillor Postma is pleased with Ward 2's redevelopment: stopping the Junction and having a new Tim Hortons built!