Feeding The Starving Gazelles

Someone better be careful. The Animal Control people may be called. It looks like the gazelles have not eaten for a very long time and their feeders need a huge infusion of cash in order to satisfy their hunger.

It had to be one of the strangest performances I have ever seen at Council. Remo Mancini, Chair of the Economic Development Commission, came to Council asking for $50,000 to match what he's going to ask from the County Council as well this week.

Now I recall that the Commission's budget was $1.3-million annually rising to $2.1 million after five years. What the heck did they do with all that money that necessitated them coming in begging for more? How did they spend that cash?

You see there is this private enterprise partner who wants to put in $150,000. I think it is in cash. I'm not sure though if it is cash, services or a combination thereof to do something with the Commission. This amount is to be put in provided that the municipal entities put up $50,000 each as well. Get it, put in $50K City Council and get $200K. What a deal! Who could turn it down. That's how to lever money.

Now here's the weird part. Mancini refused to tell Council who this party is, telling them that they will have to wait for a few days. Nor did he tell Council exactly what is going to be done with this quarter of $1 million. I think the Commission had a business plan since it appeared that Matt Fischer was reading from it. It might have been nice for him to share with us mere mortals what it said but why bother.

They let him get away with it. Heck, what happened was that Councillors fell over themselves throwing money to accomplish whatever it is that Mr. Mancini wants to accomplish with whomever it is that he wants to accomplish it with but won't tell us about. Council will also probably throw in more money to sustain in the future whatever it is that is supposed to be done. Even the Councillor formerly known as Councillor Budget who was the most skeptical of all of the Councillors and who thought that the Commission did a poor job with young entrepreneurs did not have the guts to vote NO.

And that's what groups should do when they want come to Council and ask for money. They should just say to give it to us and don't be so inquisitive. It worked for the Commission, beautifully.

The Board has been around for about a year or so and Mr. Fischer since February. I was expecting to hear some dynamic announcements that will be good for the economy of the region. Something positive for a change so that I could write a positive BLOG. I was hoping to hear that they attracted some new businesses or new investors, or that there was expansion of existing businesses and new jobs being created. I heard none of this.

Instead, all that I heard was that it has taken the Gazelle Feeders about a year to realize that they don't have any marketing and promotional materials. Nothing, nada, zippo, zero. And that they need some now or they cannot compete against the other development commissions around North America. You'd think that Windsor's CAO who is involved with the Commission would have run to the Mayor much earlier to tell him that the Commission is unable to do any selling of the City.

It's shocking. It is absolutely preposterous. Where's the rest of the Board, don't they know what's going on either? Is there no common sense?

We are told as well that we are going to see the results of the economic summit that took place in August. Three months to do a summary of a meeting seems to me to be a fairly long time. After all, Mr. Mancini said months ago that

• "the next step in strengthening the local economy will be to prepare a report based on the numerous recommendations made by more than 150 participants and then establish priorities.
  
  "We have to decide what to pursue immediately and we will need to mobilize the community to help us do that," said Mancini."

Like the true politician that he used to be, Mancini talked about the old dysfunctional Commission on whom he could blame everything. Just like the Liberals blaming the Tories for the financial mess when they first came to office.

Yet, the old crew were responsible for Windsor winning that FDI award. But why give them credit. Most of those people who worked to achieve that award are no longer working for the Commission. You remember that was the award in which "Windsor has been named the best small city in North America for investment by a publication of England's prestigious Financial Times... fDi magazine (Foreign Direct Investment)."

It appears that our new Commission has done nothing to date to capitalize on that award or least we did not hear about it last night. How could they after all, they don't have any marketing materials. By the time that those materials are created, printed and distributed, there will be a new award winner and our advantage will have just disappeared.

Can you imagine the sales call...

• "Hello, I am from the City of Windsor... Windsor, Ontario. You know the City that won that prestigious FDI award in April, 2007. That's right, last year's reward.
  
  I would have contacted you earlier but we did not have a budget for a phone call or for a face-to-face meeting. It didn't matter anyway since I did not have anything to leave with you or to send you and the only film about the City that I could show you came from that found by the Mayor that was dated back in 1994.
  
  But don't worry, our website is only six years out of date too."

I heard Mr. Mancini drop the word "outstanding" so many times I lost track of the number. I wonder if that was a word used in that retired English teacher's BLOG that Monica Wolfson talked about in yesterday's Star. In my opinion, I have seen no evidence such that the word can be applied to the performance of the Commission.

But I'm being much too harsh. I should expect little from them. As was said before

• "Because of the nature of the region’s strategy, traditional performance measures such as the number of new plants attracted, or the number of jobs retained, albeit significant, should not be the primary indicators of success. These could actually be counterproductive by driving the wrong behaviour."

Oh, and by the way, I probably should not have written this BLOG in this tone. I might get scolded by the Mayor if he thinks it is negative. You see he lectured everyone again after the presentation was over demanding of us that we all have to be united and pull together. It was the same drivel that he gave us in his State of the City speech. You remember:

• "We are all Chief Public Relations Officers of the City of Windsor...
  
  Others are listening. Others are watching us. The old era of airing our dirty laundry in public is over.
  
  We must unite."

I am prepared to face the wrath of Eddie. I am prepared to be called petty and mean spirited. In a City that is desperate for jobs, this lack of action is inexcusable. It's interesting. Chris Vander Doelen was doing a bit of speculating in his BLOG:

• "But if it plays its cards right, the city might also be the base from which Volkswagen launches a huge expansion in North America -- an expansion that probably includes a new assembly plant."

If you were a Volkswagen executive watching the Economic Development Commission last night, how would you react to this City? If this is a case where actions speak louder than words, then are we ever in trouble.