More And More Comments

I need your help. There is just too much to write about and not enough time to do it all in a timely fashion.

If any of you are interested, feel free to send me Guest BLOGs or short articles that I can post. You are welcome to send them anonymously or provide your name.

NAMING RIGHTS VALUE

As I explained previously, Marty Komsa structured one heck of a deal for the East End arena naming rights. [September 24, 2007 "Komsa Shoots, He Scores"]

The present value of the price paid by the Credit Union is probably around $1 million. It is all part of the other goodies that were negotiated that means that the City did another one of their poor deals.

Let me point out why I think that.

We learned from the Star about the value of the private boxes. The Naming Rights deal gave to Marty use of a private suite. It was not just for hockey since it was not so restricted as set out in the Administration Report nor did it say that the Credit Union has to pay any extras for playoff games or other events the way mere mortals have to do.

Using the Windsor Star numbers, the cost of a private box for 10 years per annum is for 14 season tickets (playoffs extra) $27,826. Would Marty want anything less than a premium suite at an additional cost of $10,000 plus GST per year.

Even if it is a standard box, just reduce that million dollars by a few bucks more and you can see how good a negotiator the City is. Scary when you think of other big deals that may come up soon.

EDDIE'S POST MAYORAL JOB

I was told, but did not hear it personally, that Eddie had made the comment on the radio recently that he was not going to be Mayor in Windsor for a third term. Obviously someone at City Hall saw the rumour comments in my BLOG and wanted to set the record straight. For that openness, we should be grateful.

So here is some pure out and out speculation for you thanks to recent Gord Henderson columns.

I can see Eddie getting a job with a major international consulting firm telling mayors around the world how they can do their job based on his experience. According to Henderson, so many North American mayors now want him to help them out. Eddie's prime advice would be to study problems to death I am certain. That way you cannot be blamed for anything. Let Councillors and outside consultants take the hit instead.

But that would be so tiring doing all of that travelling. Of course, it would also mean being away from Windsor which clearly is something that Eddie would not want to do since he is so pro-Windsor.

More likely, given Eddie's errrrrrrr Windsor's sponsorship of the Super Bowl and the Detroit Grand Prix, I could see him working with Roger Penske's organization. After all Roger and Eddie worked together closely on those two programs in Detroit. Roger could see so well how Eddie operates and where he could fit in.

Think I am kidding. As Gord said,

• "DesRosiers ... sees a leadership vacuum here involving business, academia, labour and politicians. In other words, there's plenty of blame to go around.
  
  He has a point. Other cities have key corporate players, visionaries with deep pockets and oodles of influence, like Roger Penske in Detroit, who make the calls and drive the agenda. In Windsor such players are, sadly, few and far between.
  
  It's a bloody shame, given this city's enviable location and enormous potential."

Mere co-incidence that Roger's name was used. Hmmmmmmmm

LESSONS FROM THE SCHREIBER/MULRONEY AFFAIR

Do our Councillors really have any guts? Take a look at Alan Halberstadt's BLOG dealing with Members of Council being on Boards. "Cuff Views Expose Council Mockery" http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/

I had raised this issue before with respect to Windsor Mayors' inherent conflict of interest by being Mayor and also the head of the Tunnel Commission.

The obvious thing to do, and the simplest, is to restructure the various boards and ensure that the Mayor and Councillors are not members of the Board. The same with the Airport and Tunnel Corporations.

However, in my opinion, Eddie would not dare give up control since being in charge is fundamental to what he wants to do in Windsor, whatever that is. And he would dump on them if they even tried. He would throw in their face that they voted just a few months ago to set up the Corporations with him as the Head. How could they change now.

So what can they do to ease into becoming a Council that performs its legal responsibilities. They should do exactly what the House Ethics Committee is doing. They seem to be taking the initiative and not waiting months for an Inquiry.

• "The opposition parties have struck a deal to have the House of Commons Ethics committee study the Mulroney-Schreiber affair, CTV News has learned...
  
  The opposition parties, which outnumber the Conservatives, want the committee to have a broad study of Brian Mulroney's dealings with Schreiber.
  
  They also want to examine Prime Minister Stephen Harper's conduct and that of the Privy Council Office in the way they handled letters Schreiber had sent Harper in March 2007."

Clearly, Opposition MPs are afraid of very narrowly drafted Terms of Reference that will not look into all of the matters that are relevant to the public and which the Government may not want disclosed.

Our Councillors should do something very similar and right now. It is perfectly clear that we are getting nothing more than a whitewash audit on the WUC matter since it is a section 9 audit only dealing with financial issues with no public involvement.

A proper forensic audit probably would have cost in the range of $500,000 or more. Our audit is only costing $150,000. For the difference, $350,000, our Councilors should set up an Inquiry to look into the WUC matter and allow that Inquiry to answer all the questions that the public want addressed. A good precedent is what happened in Toronto with the MFP matter.

Councillor Marra has already suggested something like this when he said that after the Ministry Audit came out and if people were not satisfied, we would do another audit. He should take the lead.

Why wait, DO IT NOW. I'm sure that Councillor Halberstadt would be agreeable too and Councillor Dilkens as well given his initiative with respect to openness on City Corporations affairs.

Which Councillor, or even the Mayor, would dare vote against it! Does any Councillor have the guts to put this forward at Council?

TD BANK

Nice to see that the deputy chair of TD Financial Group, Frank McKenna, was in town.

I'm sure that his PR people gave him a copy of the Star article in which two developers in town want to build a huge complex for the Bank downtown. It's pretty clear now why that story was written since it just appeared out of the blue.

• "several sources pointed to TD Bank, which has been exploring options to build a new downtown headquarters in Windsor to replace its outdated building at Ouellette and Wyandotte Street.
  
  "With a business of 58,000 employees, we are always evaluating our (property) arrangements based on evolving needs," said TD spokesman Nick Petter. "In this case, no decision has been made."

However, I wonder if any of the Gazelle feeders talked to him about it or were they too busy preparing marketing brochures. Did the Mayor convince him to do so or was he too busy arranging transportation for those whom he told to get out of town?

NEW ARENA DEVELOPMENT

Back on November 8, 2006, I wrote:

• "The Lear workers better start looking for a new job...it was suggested by Mr. Duben that their plant may close down sooner than expected presumably so that Mr. Farhi can redevelop the property...
  
  Mr. Farhi said in the Star today "Farhi said he foresees the Lear plant moving to an industrial area in a few years, which would pave the way for him and other landowners in the area to create a commercial and recreational hub surrounding the new arena. "This place, the way I see it, it is going to be transformed into a new development."

Wow, those fellows sure can tell the future. What did we see in the Star:

• "Twelve years after it was spun off from General Motors, Lear Corp.’s Windsor, Ont., plant is slated for closure in June of next year."

It wouldn't surprise me if the property values in the East End around that area jump up terrifically now given what may happen with new developments. I hope that the City had an option to buy more of Mr. Farhi's land for extra parking spaces since they seem to be required. I would hate to see taxpayers have to pay an inflated price.