Three Faces Of The Star

Do you remember that old movie starring Joanne Woodward, The Three Faces of Eve? It was about a woman with multiple personalities.

That movie seems so appropriate to me when thinking about the Windsor Star. I cannot tell on any given day which personality of the Star will be present. I cannot find consistency in what the newspaper does and the positions that it takes in relation to local municipal political matters.

You know what I think of the Star. I am so angry at them that, if I had the time, money and the assistance of people who really knew what they were doing, I would love to start up an online newspaper to compete with them. This City needs an alternative voice and the only one right now the City has is that provided by a number of Bloggers online.

However, I thought the Star had changed. Perhaps it was becoming a readable newspaper once again. After all, it did some fine investigative work on the Windsor Utilities Commission matter. Its Editorial on the Schwartz Report was relatively balanced, for the Star. Oh I know about Gord Henderson but I read him more now for amusement then for information or insightful journalism.

But is the Star really making a change? I'll give you two examples below. One dealing with WUC and the other dealing with the border road. I'll let you decide which face of the Star is showing up.

First let's deal with the Windsor Utilities Commission. With the examples I have shown on here before of changes in Star stories, usually the Star makes the Published version a lot more friendly to City Hall than the Online version which is published first.

How do you explain this then? Which Editor decided to add and incorporate the negative comments in the Published and why:

• ONLINE VERSION
  
  WUC's help with water bills called 'a start'
  
  Monica Wolfson, Windsor Star Published: Friday, October 12, 2007
  
  The Windsor Utility Commission's water rate assistance program will be able to help only about 200 people if they seek the maximum $125 per person grant that will be available for 2008.
  
  Starting in January, WUC is creating a $25,000 assistance program that will be run by the same people who administer Keep the Heat, an assistance program for poor people who can't pay their winter gas and electric bills.
  
  The water program will give out a maximum $125 one-time-only payment once a year to consumers who are in arrears. If every qualifying client seeks the maximum, the fund will be exhausted with 200 applicants.
  
  In August, water rates increased 86 per cent. The average yearly water bill will rise to $406 from $219. The sewer surcharge also increased 60 per cent. The average sewer bill will jump to $629 from $400.
  
  "The initiative will evolve," Lewenza said. "Water is a non-discretionary service."
  
  WUC Commissioner Rocco Lucente asked administrators to approach the city about creating a similar assistance fund for residents who can't afford to pay sewer surcharge fees.
  


• PUBLISHED VERSION
  
  WUC fund 'token' effort
  
  Monica Wolfson, Windsor Star Published: Saturday, October 13, 2007
  
  The Windsor Utility Commission's water assistance program will be able to help only about 200 applicants if financially struggling consumers seek the maximum $125 per customer grant that will be available next year.
  
  Coun. Alan Halberstadt said administrators made a hollow effort to help needy people.
  
  "It sounds like basic tokenism to show they are helping people," Halberstadt said.
  
  The water program will give out a maximum $125 one-time-only payment once a year to qualified consumers who have received a disconnection notice. If every qualifying client seeks the maximum, the fund will be exhausted with 200 applicants. The plan must be approved by WUC's audit and finance committee in November.
  
  In WUC documents, administrators call the program a "made in Windsor solution" to provide assistance to low-income families, the disabled, the terminally ill and the elderly.
  
  In August, water rates increased 86 per cent. The average yearly water bill will rise to $406 from $219. The sewer surcharge also increased 60 per cent.
  
  The average sewer bill will jump to $629 from $400.
  
  WUC's water distribution revenue was $29 million in 2005, according to an annual report.
  
  When asked if the assistance was too little, WUC chairman Ken Lewenza said "it's a start."
  
  "The initiative will evolve," Lewenza said. "Water is a non-discretionary service."
  
  Lewenza proposed lobbying the province and federal governments to get money to help Windsor residents pay their bills. Halberstadt called that idea a "non-starter."
  
  "The program is subject to review," said Victoria Zuber, chief financial officer for WUC. "We just need to see how this goes."
  
  The water assistance program will be operated in the same way as other energy aid programs, said Sylvia deVries, spokeswoman for WUC.
  
  "Once our customers get a disconnection notice that will be the notice to go to social services," deVries said. "Records will be processed and once they are reviewed, they will issue payment for the account. For water, if a person is in arrears, it's the same trigger."
  
  WUC commissioner Rocco Lucente asked administrators to approach the City of Windsor about creating a similar assistance fund for residents who can't afford to pay sewer surcharge fees.
  
  "They should be providing $37,000 because that's 150 per cent of $25,000," said Lucente referring to sewer surcharges, which are calculated on 150 per cent of the water bill.
  
  Halberstadt said city council will receive a report soon on sewer surcharge revenues.
  
  "I think we should look at reducing that percentage from 150," Halberstadt said. "That would help everybody rather than the odd person."

That was quite a difference in the two stories. It almost seemed as if the reporter was sent out to get more quotes and on the negative side. Note that the last "Made in Windsor" solution was a failed plan by ex-Mayor Hurst on the border involving parklands and the DRTP South area!

Next, let's talk about the border and more specifically, Sam's shunnels or short tunnels. This really is the major difference between what DRIC proposed and what Sam proposes.

What is the big story over the weekend with respect to trucks, roads and tunnels: the blazing inferno in the Los Angeles tunnel that involved 29 vehicles and killed three people resulting in the closing down of Interstate 5 and necessitating major repairs to the truck tunnel that may take many weeks.

I hurriedly went to the online version of the Windsor Star, as I normally do in the morning, to see how the Star covered the story. To be direct about it, given that Sam's presentation had only taken place a few days ago, I expected massive coverage of the story.

After all I am sure you remember the big story in January about pollution in California, "Kids' health woes, road fumes linked: Development of lungs one issue cited in big U.S. study." Shouldn't we expect therefore a similar story on the truck tunnel fire?

I did not find a thing on the Online version. (Note, I did not go to the digital version of the Star since I get the hard copy in the morning). I am sure that you can imagine what I was thinking about the Star and its editors! I was ready to write CanWest and demand that the entire Star management staff be replaced with people who understand journalism and then file a complaint with the Pres Council.

Unfortunately, I can't do it. The Star covered the story. But they did it in a very nice way. Check out the image of the page below.

It is on the back of the Classified section, on Page C-8, just after the comics! Because it is a photograph with a few lines of text underneath it, I assume that is why it was not shown on the Online version. If I had not gone through the entire Star looking for the story, I never would have found it. Read the text yourself to see how thorough the story underneath is.

I must admit that I thought the placement of the story strange and the lack of information about the accident and the consequences even stranger. Frankly I do not consider it to be responsible journalism in the context of what is going on in Windsor these days. No one can argue that the Star didn't cover the story now but the way in which they did to me is disgraceful.

So which personality is the Star? You may not have known that a book was published after the movie was finished. It was called "The Final Face of Eve." I wonder when we will see that face of the Star.