Francis and The Border

Here are some border stories involving our Mayor.

Is it my imagination or is he becoming more and more irrelevant on this issue as time goes on? He just keeps singing the same tune but no one seems to be listening or caring. DRIC just keeps on going, the Bridge Co. keeps on going re their Enhancement Project, the Senior Levels keep on going re the DRIC road.

What does Eddie do---talks on and on and on and on about a tunnel while he hides Schwartz and spends our money. And we can wait as Lauzon/E C Row is brought back by a Councillor whom he suckers to do the dirty work by bringing a Motion of Reconsideration at Council.

CALLING DR. FRANCIS

I saw this comment from WCBSTV.com

• "Now the administration has determined it is going to take between $6 billion and $8 billion to repair or replace some of the oldest of most delapidated bridges in New Jersey, which includes about 34 percent of them...
  
  Former chief engineer of New York's Department of Transportation, Sam Schwartz, said back in August about 13 percent of the bridges nationwide are structurally deficient.
  
  "If a bridge is structurally deficient, we ought to treat it as a patient in ISU, and we ought to be monitoring it on a regular basis," Schwartz said."

Do you really think that Michigan can afford to build a new DRIC bridge when I am sure that it will have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on bridge repairs throughout the State.

Now Dr. Francis claims that Sam is an international guru on transportation matters and Sam has said that we ought to be concerned about the Ambassador Bridge given its age. So why won't our General Practitioner Mayor listen to his hired, expert Specialist and allow the Bridge Co. to cure its problem by replacing its old factory with a new one and rehabilitate the old one for redundancy purposes?

That sounds like good medicine to me!

SPECIAL MEETING

I guess I missed this one. I must have blinked.

This is the August meeting, disclosed at the October public Council meeting, where Council must have approved the hiring of Parsons Brinckerhoff. Interestingly however, in a Gord Henderson column in June, it was stated that

• "the talks collapsed when the Detroit River International Crossing team (DRIC), in response to a tunnel proposal prepared by New York traffic guru Sam Schwartz and U.S. engineering giant Parsons Brinckerhoff, offered only token improvements in plans for a depressed roadway."

What seems fascinating to me is that PB could be hired by someone, have negotiations with DRIC and the Council didn't even know who they are according to the notes from the Special Meeting.

Oh I forgot the Mayor is the Voice of Council. And it seems of their brains too.

How could there possibly be negotiations? It must mean that Council nothing about them since the tunnel experts had not yet been hired.

Can you tell me who's in charge? Can you reasonably state that this entire process by the City is not totally out of control!

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE

Do you ever watch this TV program or Dancing with the Stars. I was reminded of those shows when I read Eddie's comment:

"Francis said he can't understand why Ambassador Bridge officials are "dancing around" the city's requests for detailed information.

"We have been asking for and continue to ask for the detailed studies, so that we may be able to evaluate the impact on our community," Francis said. "Until we get those studies, it's really hard to comment on the issue."

Funny, isn't this the same Mayor who did not want to meet with the Bridge Company? All of a sudden now he wants information from them.

I wonder what detailed information Eddie requires. It seems rather hypocritical for him to demand detailed information when he is so secretive about information that taxpayers have paid for and paid for and paid for. Why is it that everyone else knows about the Schwartz Report other than taxpayers? What is going on with the Tunnel Plaza Improvements or the US $75 million tunnel deal?

Eddie very well knows that some of the things that he is asking for are not required given what the Bridge Company's plans actually are. They are not plans to double capacity as he well knows.

Why can't the Mayor just ask for the plans that are required under the Environmental Assessment Process? While he may have personal preferences as to what he would like to receive, he knows legally that they are not required and need not be produced.

I wonder if Eddie has yet understood that he has blown the City's opportunity to deal properly with the Bridge Company. Perhaps what they are telling them now is that he is irrelevant.

Cha-cha-cha

DALTON AND DRIC

Would someone please buy a suit jacket or sports coat for the Premier of Ontario. He looked so ludicrous on TV news standing between Sandra and Dwight all dressed up in their Sunday best with him in his shirt with his sleeves rolled up. I know that this is his image but really.

If the man can't afford proper clothes, then how can he afford to spend almost $4 billion on Eddie's dream.

How can the Mayor possibly support any Liberal candidate when the party has rejected his tunnel concept. After all, the Premier said that the DRIC proposal is "a pretty solid recommendation."

Well I would think that the deal between the Liberals and the Mayor must be signed in blood. How else to explain what is going on? I am sure that you saw the weasel words in the Star's story that could allow the Government to change his position:

• "The people of the city of Windsor are the ones who have to live with this, so let's see what they have to say."

That is why the Schwartz report will not come out until after the election and why the border has not been made an election issue in the Provincial campaign.

And after the election, who will care? Not the re-elected Cabinet Members.