Congratulations Are Owing

Some people in the region deserve our thanks for some of the things that they are doing for us.

HOLY NAMES STUDENTS

The students at Holy Names high school have a real reason to remember Remembrance Day now. They understand better that but for the sacrifices that many men and women made we would not be free today.

I remember our Remembrance Day ceremonies in high school. We got poppies, we had a school assembly and there was a person who played the trumpet, generally off key, at 11 a.m. on November 11. Even so, it was a very emotional time.

My generation has a reason for remembering the Wars. We probably had parents and grandparents who were still alive and who had fought in the Great Wars. Some had relatives who escaped from the atrocities in Europe. We were in the middle of the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

But that is the distant past for most students today. It is something that you read during history class or you might watch on TV on the History Channel. It is very hard for them to relate to. Actually, we should be grateful for that.

Consider then the actions of the Holy Names students. When their memorial for Remembrance Day was destroyed by vandals, a number of students in their construction classes rebuilt the vandalized crosses and ensured that they were restored exactly the way crosses on military graves would have been positioned.

The students are to be congratulated for their actions. They now understand the meaning in a very practical way of what so many people sacrificed for.

WOODSLEE CREDIT UNION

What a great gesture by the Woodslee Credit Union to contribute $150,000 to the Economic Development Commission. With matching $50,000 grants from the City and the County, the budget of the Commission has been increased by $250,000. That is on top of the $1.3 million that they budgetted to spend this year.

I hope that the Credit Union put some conditions on the donation ie. the Commission actually had to do something with the money that would help attract new investors and bring jobs to the region. The word thrown around at Council was "measurables." In other words, the Commission should have been given some objectives to reach so that they could demonstrate how well they achieved them.

If actions such as those by the Credit Union and by business people such as Tony Toldo are matched by others, then there is some hope for this region.

DAVE PETRETTA

You have seen their signs all around town these days, Petretta Construction. They seem to be the major company building things in the City, in particular projects for businesses and not just for Government.

I've heard about this company before. I asked around about them and friends of the owner gave me some very interesting information about projects that they have been involved in.

According to the Windsor Star,

• "Petretta Construction, a local firm, has reached conditional property purchase agreements with business owners on the east side of the 100 block of Ouellette Avenue and is in negotiations with others in a bid to lure a major Toronto corporate investor who is considering levelling those properties to construct a commercial building."

What a terrific opportunity this could be for our downtown. Something real and not another paper vision with artists renditions. However, the Star article gives a few warnings that Mr. Petretta I hope will consider.

Obviously, we all know about Canderel and the difficulties in subleasing that property except at bargain rates even though it is one of the finest buildings west of Toronto. I thought the Mayor's comment about the Canderel building was very interesting and concerning as well for any property developer in Windsor at this time:

• "There is not any incentive to fill in the retail"

In other words, no one wants to move there.

Mr. Petretta will be competing with people like Joe Mikhail who owns several buildings downtown and from the Star article also wants to build a major commercial office complex on land he owns. Apparently he already has "commitments for seven floors."

What makes this exciting for us in Windsor is to have developers competing to build their projects and to draw businesses here to fill up the space. Mr. Mikhail would be a formidable competitor. He was the fellow who praised our Mayor so highly in the Sutherland matter and in whose building the call center employees are located. I believe also that the City is building a parking lot for the employees.

I have seen the plans of another developer downtown who has a magnificent idea about revitalizing the City Centre as well. That too could provide some well needed action for the downtown.

Here's what really scares me:

• "Mayor Eddie Francis is aware of the proposals being considered for downtown, which he described as being in the early stages of planning."

What the developers need to do is to figure out a way to neutralize and isolate the Mayor and Councillors and keep them from butting in and messing up these deals. We need private enterprise to start spending their money in Windsor.

In fact, I like Joe Mikhail's idea to have Ontario Government employees move down here to work. That would fill up office space quickly. If the Mayor wanted to do something useful, he would speak with his good buddy, Ontario Cabinet Minister Sandra Pupatello with whom he chats every day according to her, and convince her to have the Government send jobs down here ASAP.

It is time that the Mayor and Council act in a positive manner and help out our developers. We have seen too many actions by this Council that are negative towards private enterprise development. It is time that common sense prevailed with our politicians.

Congratulations to Dave for taking a chance by betting on Windsor with his money.