Dilkens For Mayor

• Remember when I wrote that BLOG about Councillor Drew Dilkens being a nobody. Well he is now a somebody. And how.
  
  Can you imagine, he is mentioned in the first line of Henderson's Saturday column dealing with the Council airport debate and in today's Editorial too. All that Drew did was ask for some information that was necessary for him to make an informed vote. Is that asking too much? In fact, Henderson stated that what he asked for was perfectly reasonable too:

• "objections over timing and lack of information before voting against it [The Airport Resolution]."
  
  

Don't you find it fascinating that Eddie had to run to Gord. I sure do. Does it mean that every time that he is in trouble, he has to run to Gord as his protector? Does Gord feel obliged to be an apologist for the Mayor when he does something stupid, to make excuses for him? Or is Gord there to play the heavy, to beat up on anybody who dares oppose the Mayor?

This column was almost as funny as Henderson's "Shooting the Messenger" column where he gave Eddie credit for the mess that he actually helped create. One very eerie line in that column that is so apropos given what is going on at the airport with the City trying to take it over and run it is the following:

• "Enwin was a broken organization with a defective top-down culture which stifled employee initiative. It lacked entrepreneurial skills yet gambled, with our money, that it could become a corporate player with investments in hot water tank sales, billing, telecommunications, laboratory testing and training. Heads have since rolled and it's now refocusing on core responsibilities, delivering water and electricity.
  
  "The problem was that they were trying to compete with the big boys. But they didn't have any experience in the business world," said Francis. "We decided as a group, let's get out of the businesses we don't belong in, and take this back to basics."

Yes just like now, with amateurs trying to run an airport and be a big-league operator in the airport business. All of a sudden we now have experience in the business world I see with our "Young Entrepreneur of the Year" in charge.

Back to the Ward 1 Councillor. Here's another one of those funny Windsor Star "online/published version" changes that I am sure that someone can explain easily. It's probably due to a lack of space.

This has to do with DRTP and its new proposed rail tunnel which obviously can be a concern in Ward 1 because of what DRTP proposed previously. In the online version of the Star, both Councillors Brister and Dilkens were mentioned.

• "Coun. Dave Brister, who represents South Windsor, was once the leader of a neighbourhood group that fought against the DRTP truck plan because of the potential air and noise pollution impacts. He still resides close to the corridor.
  
  He declined an invitation to meet with DRTP over its latest plan, saying Thursday he first wants to secure a government funding commitment to build the new truck feeder highway in Windsor leading to the border, which would eliminate any need for the truck-route component of the DRTP plan.
  
  "DRTP has a history of using the rail issue to mask the larger goal to have a truck route to help fund (with border tolls) the new rail tunnel," Brister said. "I don't see anything different in terms of their end goal.
  
  "Once we have our (border) road network established, by all means I'll be happy to talk to them about rail, but I'm not prepared to do that until that is nailed."
  
  His wardmate Coun. Drew Dilkens did meet with DRTP.
  
  "It was a general discussion of how they are looking to create a new high-stack rail tunnel," he said. "My first question is what happens to the existing tunnel. We don't want to see trucks going through it.
  
  "The answer was passenger rail, but in terms of business case, I'm not sure it's there. If Via and Amtrack had interest they would be running trains through there already.
  
  "Let me be crystal clear. I'm against running vehicles and trucks through the city as DRTP proposed in the past."

The Councillor formerly known as Councillor Budget put his head in the sand and refused to meet with DRTP. How is that serving his constituents since he has no idea what they're doing? Councillor Dilkens on the other hand went to see what they were doing because perhaps a doublestack rail tunnel makes sense for Windsor and to protect his comunity. I would have thought that this was the responsible thing for a City Councillor to do, to be informed.

However, with the published version we read about Councillor Brister, but Councillor Dilkens was nowhere to be found in the story. Poooooof, it was as if he never existed. That'll teach him to ask those kinds of questions at Council, innocuous or not. No good publicity for him.

What seems perfectly clear right now is that Eddie is not quite sure yet how to deal with Drew. Does he be his friend and bring him back into the fold. I mean Drew is still a rookie Councillor after all. He is entitled to a mistake or two. Or does Drew get hammered so that he stays in line a la Bill Marra.

You know of course that some people will be knocking on Drew's door after his Monday dustup with the Mayor and will be asking him whether they can start a "Draft Dilkens for Mayor" campaign even it is several years before the next election. They will encourage Drew to keep on asking the tough questions that no one wants to ask on Council and distinguish himself that way from the rest of them.

Some people have heard the rumours about Eddie running again and can't stomach that possibility. They don't have to worry fortunately about Councillor Brister because he told Gord Henderson that he was never going to run for Mayor and he wouldn't break his word now would he.

• "In fact, said Brister, he has zero interest in becoming mayor.
  
  “Write that rumour off forever. It’s not something I ever want to do and it’s just never going to happen."

Councillor Halberstadt may run federally as might Councillor Lewenza if Joe Comartin retires so they would be out in that case while I don't believe that Councillor Valentinis wants to run to be Mayor. If they ran and lost, running for Mayor would look like a consolation prize and would destroy their credibility.

Would it be a Marra/Dilkens contest unless Councillor Gignac decides not to run for the Liberals federally. You know that she's hedging her bets. It doesn't matter for which position she's running. She started her work to make herself even better known than she is now.

Did you know, according to the website of Dmytro Doblevych, a digital media developer living in Detroit, Michigan

• "Elderly and disabled people were being moved from their old and cramped Huron Lodge Nursing Home just off Tecumseh Road to a brand new facility at 1881 Cabana Road West. On entering the building, each resident was photographed with the City of Windsor councilwoman Jo-Anne Gignac. In total, 224 photographs were made."

A client in this case apparently was the City of Windsor. I wonder what that all cost and who paid for it?

So Drew, if you are going to run, you better start moving. You need to get involved in a rubber chicken circle pretty soon. And if you hear that he has rented a Segway again, then you will know!