More Letters
Here are emails received from readers like you. Where is yours?
1) Ed:
You really should express things more positively. For instance:
" We are talking about an arena that will cost in the neighbourhood of $100 million ..."
[Note: In my "negativity" BLOG, I had used the phrase "may cost"]
2) Ed, in the waste at City Hall, there is one expense that we in private business have to contend with, And that is to keep our wages in control. When companies get in trouble, contracts have to be re-negotiated for survival.
Try that one on with our municipal employees. We the tax payer, through our spineless representatives, have allowed the Public service, on our backs, to amass one of the largest pension funds in North America. Its time some of this was used To reduce taxes and pay back those persons who created it in the first place, the taxpayer !
Want to work on that one ?????
3) Hi Ed,
You tell us in your blog today what makes you sick. Here's what makes my stomach churn.
This mayor spends millions of dollars on a new arena, forks over millions more on outside lawyers and traffic gurus to fight senior governments and implores us to get behind his latest "border plan", as yet unseen by us mere mortals. Open and accountable government. Yah sure.
So, says the city, let's save some money for a change. Hmm, what's the easiest target? Libraries! Let's close four. Libraries, the backbone of any community that wants its citizens to be literate and informed. One of them in Olde Sandwich no less.
Let's hear it for Windsor. A town that loves expensive arenas and outside "experts" while its neighbourhood libraries and their patrons can go to hell. When's the
next election?
4) Good morning Ed. I am not one to pick but some things just stand out.
I was at the official NFL playground with my granddaughter, (yes it is a nice facility, pricey but nice) and enjoying a great day. A few of us noticed an advertisement for Windsor Casino.
It stated you could win 10 million credits and the go spend them at Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe? We wanted to know what is wrong with that picture. The government is spending millions to get people to the Casino. They want someone to win and then want them to spend the winnings elsewhere. This really can't be a good tourist picture for our area.
Seems to me we should be trying to keep them here to spend rather than advertising another tourist vacation spot. If I was on City council or even any BIA I would be incensed.
Are they really trying to develop this area?
5) I LOVE THE GAZELLE PART.
But there's no green grass for them to graze on without water mains...........
6) Breaking news: I understand that Eddie was just narrowly beaten out by Al Gore for the Nobel Peace Prize. What a shame, because the Greenlinking of Windsor is clearly more important and monumental that drawing attention to Global Warming…
7) Hi Ed,
Re your comments today about the re-branding exercise of the DWBIA.
As a small business solutions company, I find the name weird- Is The Downtown Mosaic a bar, restaurant, retail shop- all of the above, none of the above. It is confusing for me so how will it be perceived by anyone from out of this local trading area? It also removes the BIA from the title, so they, as an association will no doubt be lost in this confusion too.
The strangest part of dividing the downtown sector into “zones” I feel, is that the Riverfront Festival Plaza is not part of the mix. The DWBIA boundaries end on the south side of Riverside Drive, so the painstaking process of assembling the riverfront land for Windsor’s citizens is not being utilized to promote the city centre area. As you know, we have tremendous events booked on the waterfront all summer long, and this is not being used to leverage downtown. It is one of the best sites anywhere for events- just ask any Grammy, Rock N’ Roll Hall of Famer, Maple Leaf Blues award winner or Blues Foundation award recipient, who performs at Bluesfest International, what they think about our site. Aside from the stage, which the city hasn’t done a thing about, (it was if you recall, the “waiting area” for the original casino when there were lineups, do you remember those days?) Performers say we have a unique and remarkable event venue that is world-class. They play cornfields, block buildings etc. and when they get here, they tell us that, they as artists, are inspired by the view and will play longer and harder.
Just wanted to share my rant with you.
8) [Excerpts from a long letter that has been blogged elsewhere but I was asked to post it here too]
1) Ed:
You really should express things more positively. For instance:
" We are talking about an arena that will cost in the neighbourhood of $100 million ..."
[Note: In my "negativity" BLOG, I had used the phrase "may cost"]
2) Ed, in the waste at City Hall, there is one expense that we in private business have to contend with, And that is to keep our wages in control. When companies get in trouble, contracts have to be re-negotiated for survival.
Try that one on with our municipal employees. We the tax payer, through our spineless representatives, have allowed the Public service, on our backs, to amass one of the largest pension funds in North America. Its time some of this was used To reduce taxes and pay back those persons who created it in the first place, the taxpayer !
Want to work on that one ?????
3) Hi Ed,
You tell us in your blog today what makes you sick. Here's what makes my stomach churn.
This mayor spends millions of dollars on a new arena, forks over millions more on outside lawyers and traffic gurus to fight senior governments and implores us to get behind his latest "border plan", as yet unseen by us mere mortals. Open and accountable government. Yah sure.
So, says the city, let's save some money for a change. Hmm, what's the easiest target? Libraries! Let's close four. Libraries, the backbone of any community that wants its citizens to be literate and informed. One of them in Olde Sandwich no less.
Let's hear it for Windsor. A town that loves expensive arenas and outside "experts" while its neighbourhood libraries and their patrons can go to hell. When's the
next election?
4) Good morning Ed. I am not one to pick but some things just stand out.
I was at the official NFL playground with my granddaughter, (yes it is a nice facility, pricey but nice) and enjoying a great day. A few of us noticed an advertisement for Windsor Casino.
It stated you could win 10 million credits and the go spend them at Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe? We wanted to know what is wrong with that picture. The government is spending millions to get people to the Casino. They want someone to win and then want them to spend the winnings elsewhere. This really can't be a good tourist picture for our area.
Seems to me we should be trying to keep them here to spend rather than advertising another tourist vacation spot. If I was on City council or even any BIA I would be incensed.
Are they really trying to develop this area?
5) I LOVE THE GAZELLE PART.
But there's no green grass for them to graze on without water mains...........
6) Breaking news: I understand that Eddie was just narrowly beaten out by Al Gore for the Nobel Peace Prize. What a shame, because the Greenlinking of Windsor is clearly more important and monumental that drawing attention to Global Warming…
7) Hi Ed,
Re your comments today about the re-branding exercise of the DWBIA.
As a small business solutions company, I find the name weird- Is The Downtown Mosaic a bar, restaurant, retail shop- all of the above, none of the above. It is confusing for me so how will it be perceived by anyone from out of this local trading area? It also removes the BIA from the title, so they, as an association will no doubt be lost in this confusion too.
The strangest part of dividing the downtown sector into “zones” I feel, is that the Riverfront Festival Plaza is not part of the mix. The DWBIA boundaries end on the south side of Riverside Drive, so the painstaking process of assembling the riverfront land for Windsor’s citizens is not being utilized to promote the city centre area. As you know, we have tremendous events booked on the waterfront all summer long, and this is not being used to leverage downtown. It is one of the best sites anywhere for events- just ask any Grammy, Rock N’ Roll Hall of Famer, Maple Leaf Blues award winner or Blues Foundation award recipient, who performs at Bluesfest International, what they think about our site. Aside from the stage, which the city hasn’t done a thing about, (it was if you recall, the “waiting area” for the original casino when there were lineups, do you remember those days?) Performers say we have a unique and remarkable event venue that is world-class. They play cornfields, block buildings etc. and when they get here, they tell us that, they as artists, are inspired by the view and will play longer and harder.
Just wanted to share my rant with you.
8) [Excerpts from a long letter that has been blogged elsewhere but I was asked to post it here too]
Amid great fanfare and theatrics, the City of Windsor rolled out its new "GreenLink" border initiative. Within hours of its release, the...Windsor Star... revved up...
Experience the rapture, they proclaimed! Call 311 and give us the thumbs up, they exclaimed! This is your final chance, they shrieked! The messiah has arrived, save yourselves! "Gridlock Sam" and his "Garden of Eden" caravan have just pulled up to Huron Church bearing gifts: 300 acres of parkland!
To a weary population beaten down by years of record smog, pollution and the endless rumble of trucks, the promise seemed enticing. To a city over-run by urban sprawl and cancerous growth... to a sick, bloated worn-out shell of a city mired in its own waste, the second coming of "Gridlock Sam" appeared like a godsend.
I too wanted to be a believer. I picked up the phone to dial 311 and register my approval, when my eye caught a glimpse of an almost imperceptible headline on the front page of the Windsor Star, "Lure of Big Box Jobs Sways Council". I put down the phone and read…..
No! This can't be true I thought. Who in their right mind would propose such a ludicrous plan, a big box sprawlmart supercenter, complete with 48 acres of asphalt right at the gates of the internationally acclaimed, federally and locally funded, provincially protected, Ojibway Prairie Complex.
Imagine taking the family for a nice Sunday drive out to Point Pelee and upon arrival finding a Walmart Supercenter right outside the gate. As you enter, a Walmart greeter hands you a cart and proclaims, "Welcome to Point Pelee". Have they all gone mad?
There are numerous sites throughout this city more suitable for this type of predatory development, than the "Garden of Eden" that is Ojibway. The Lou Romano Sewage Lagoon comes to mind…or how about the Central Avenue Transfer Station? For a highly visible site that could act as a Big Box Beacon, I recommend building it atop of one of the city's numerous reclaimed landfills.
The well oiled, snake oil salesmen at city hall claim this big box monstrosity is a compatible development for this site. "There will be no negative impacts to the surrounding Ojibway corridor" they spout...
Experience the rapture, they proclaimed! Call 311 and give us the thumbs up, they exclaimed! This is your final chance, they shrieked! The messiah has arrived, save yourselves! "Gridlock Sam" and his "Garden of Eden" caravan have just pulled up to Huron Church bearing gifts: 300 acres of parkland!
To a weary population beaten down by years of record smog, pollution and the endless rumble of trucks, the promise seemed enticing. To a city over-run by urban sprawl and cancerous growth... to a sick, bloated worn-out shell of a city mired in its own waste, the second coming of "Gridlock Sam" appeared like a godsend.
I too wanted to be a believer. I picked up the phone to dial 311 and register my approval, when my eye caught a glimpse of an almost imperceptible headline on the front page of the Windsor Star, "Lure of Big Box Jobs Sways Council". I put down the phone and read…..
No! This can't be true I thought. Who in their right mind would propose such a ludicrous plan, a big box sprawlmart supercenter, complete with 48 acres of asphalt right at the gates of the internationally acclaimed, federally and locally funded, provincially protected, Ojibway Prairie Complex.
Imagine taking the family for a nice Sunday drive out to Point Pelee and upon arrival finding a Walmart Supercenter right outside the gate. As you enter, a Walmart greeter hands you a cart and proclaims, "Welcome to Point Pelee". Have they all gone mad?
There are numerous sites throughout this city more suitable for this type of predatory development, than the "Garden of Eden" that is Ojibway. The Lou Romano Sewage Lagoon comes to mind…or how about the Central Avenue Transfer Station? For a highly visible site that could act as a Big Box Beacon, I recommend building it atop of one of the city's numerous reclaimed landfills.
The well oiled, snake oil salesmen at city hall claim this big box monstrosity is a compatible development for this site. "There will be no negative impacts to the surrounding Ojibway corridor" they spout...
Equally not surprising, although very disheartening is the fact that the city's own... Environmental Planning Advisory Committee (EPAC) “reluctantly” supports the project. According to their sad logic, “a commercial development is preferable to a residential development”. They don’t realize that either option is like a Trojan horse that will open up the entire area to further encroachment and fragmentation, thus destroying the very fabric and connectivity of this sacred “GreenLink”. The EPAC naively believes they can somehow lessen the impact of this “Boxing In” as long as they “get a seat at the table”, apparently when the feeding frenzy begins...
environmental groups, citizens, the MNR, the racetrack, the Windsor Business Association Advisory Committee (WBAAC} and the Town of LaSalle are outraged and opposed to this project. In fact, the Town of LaSalle’s planning department issued the following statement from its commissioned peer review of the Applicant’s Market Impact Assessment and Planning Justification Report which concludes….. “….It is difficult to imagine a more inappropriate location to plan a major big box commercial centre such as that proposed on the subject lands….”
The one hope for the “Ojibway Complex” is that the progressive and farsighted Town of LaSalle take up the fight to the Ontario Municipal Board. LaSalle has already publicly stated that it does not support this Big Box commercial development. The project “does not represent good planning, is contrary to both the Town of LaSalle and the City of Windsor’s Official Plan and does not meet the requirements of the Cabinet Approved Provincial Policy Statement” and most certainly is in conflict with the Endangered Species Act. There are many citizens in both LaSalle and Windsor who would stand up and fight if LaSalle would take the lead.
The renown conservationist Robert Marshall stated, “It is exigent that all friends of the wilderness ideal should unite. If they do not present the urgency of their view-point the other side will certainly capture popular support. Then it will be only a few years until the last escape from society will be barricaded. If that day arrives there will be countless souls born to live in strangulation, countless human beings who will be crushed under the artificial edifice raised by man. There is just one hope of repulsing the tyrannical ambition of civilization to conquer every niche on the whole earth. That hope is the organization of spirited people who will fight for the freedom of wilderness”.
It is glaringly obvious that the Mayor and City Council, with the exception of Councilor Halberstadt lack both the vision and intent to safeguard the natural habitats that so many citizens, many of them children, have fought so hard over the years to protect. All the rhetoric and public relations propaganda in the world can not hide the fact that this council has no regard for its citizens or the earth. This council makes a sham out of the city’s motto: “The River and the Land Sustain Us”. Just look at the area of the “Little River Enhancement Group”. Children spent years of toil rehabilitating this site, only to witness the city’s encroachment with roadways and bridges, urban sprawl housing projects, and the soon to be $100 million dollar future “white elephant” arena and 2400 car parking lot.
The City has truckloads of taxpayer dollars for lavish projects that primarily benefit the wealthy few; the developers, lawyers, planners, consultants and so called hired experts. This is the real “Green-$-Link” of which the city refers to in the new improved Schwartz Plan 2. A green-$-link that has already cost Windsor taxpayers upwards of $5,000,000! ...For this same council to now advocate a disneyscaped 300 acre parkland Greenlink border plan while aiding and abetting the destruction of the real green-link, the Ojibway Provincial Prairie Nature Reserve, is hypocrisy at its finest.
I urge everyone who still cares about the natural world, who still values community and integrity, who still envisions a world worthy of leaving for our children, to stand up and fight against the City of Windsor’s betrayal of its citizenry, its neighbors and the natural world. Call or Write LaSalle and encourage Council to oppose this sordid plan at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). Call Windsor’s 311 or write/e-mail Windsor City Councilors to object to this Big Box Boondoggle!
environmental groups, citizens, the MNR, the racetrack, the Windsor Business Association Advisory Committee (WBAAC} and the Town of LaSalle are outraged and opposed to this project. In fact, the Town of LaSalle’s planning department issued the following statement from its commissioned peer review of the Applicant’s Market Impact Assessment and Planning Justification Report which concludes….. “….It is difficult to imagine a more inappropriate location to plan a major big box commercial centre such as that proposed on the subject lands….”
The one hope for the “Ojibway Complex” is that the progressive and farsighted Town of LaSalle take up the fight to the Ontario Municipal Board. LaSalle has already publicly stated that it does not support this Big Box commercial development. The project “does not represent good planning, is contrary to both the Town of LaSalle and the City of Windsor’s Official Plan and does not meet the requirements of the Cabinet Approved Provincial Policy Statement” and most certainly is in conflict with the Endangered Species Act. There are many citizens in both LaSalle and Windsor who would stand up and fight if LaSalle would take the lead.
The renown conservationist Robert Marshall stated, “It is exigent that all friends of the wilderness ideal should unite. If they do not present the urgency of their view-point the other side will certainly capture popular support. Then it will be only a few years until the last escape from society will be barricaded. If that day arrives there will be countless souls born to live in strangulation, countless human beings who will be crushed under the artificial edifice raised by man. There is just one hope of repulsing the tyrannical ambition of civilization to conquer every niche on the whole earth. That hope is the organization of spirited people who will fight for the freedom of wilderness”.
It is glaringly obvious that the Mayor and City Council, with the exception of Councilor Halberstadt lack both the vision and intent to safeguard the natural habitats that so many citizens, many of them children, have fought so hard over the years to protect. All the rhetoric and public relations propaganda in the world can not hide the fact that this council has no regard for its citizens or the earth. This council makes a sham out of the city’s motto: “The River and the Land Sustain Us”. Just look at the area of the “Little River Enhancement Group”. Children spent years of toil rehabilitating this site, only to witness the city’s encroachment with roadways and bridges, urban sprawl housing projects, and the soon to be $100 million dollar future “white elephant” arena and 2400 car parking lot.
The City has truckloads of taxpayer dollars for lavish projects that primarily benefit the wealthy few; the developers, lawyers, planners, consultants and so called hired experts. This is the real “Green-$-Link” of which the city refers to in the new improved Schwartz Plan 2. A green-$-link that has already cost Windsor taxpayers upwards of $5,000,000! ...For this same council to now advocate a disneyscaped 300 acre parkland Greenlink border plan while aiding and abetting the destruction of the real green-link, the Ojibway Provincial Prairie Nature Reserve, is hypocrisy at its finest.
I urge everyone who still cares about the natural world, who still values community and integrity, who still envisions a world worthy of leaving for our children, to stand up and fight against the City of Windsor’s betrayal of its citizenry, its neighbors and the natural world. Call or Write LaSalle and encourage Council to oppose this sordid plan at the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). Call Windsor’s 311 or write/e-mail Windsor City Councilors to object to this Big Box Boondoggle!
posted by JoeBlog at 11:55 a.m.
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