Windsor Bloggers Are Respectable Now

It has taken just over 2 years since I've started writing a BLOG before it seems the Windsor Star will take blogging seriously.

We Bloggers have suffered the odd Henderson attack and name-calling in his column. And I had a nasty Page 2 story written about me that I think was designed to hurt me and discredit me. Instead, the attack increased my readership dramatically and gave me respectability according to some. Oh I know the Star has Bloggers on their website but, as we have seen, their reporters seem to come and go with their BLOGs for reasons unknown.

What I believe is the Star has finally realized, along with other members of the media, that Bloggers do play a role in our society. To be direct about it, in Windsor, we are the alternative to the major media. I have been told so many times that people read the BLOGs not necessarily because they agree with what we Bloggers say but because we provide them with information that no one else does. We allow our readers to form their own judgment based on information provided.

Some people are still having difficulty with it. We have our sources. We get scoops. Disgruntled citizens complain to us and look to us for help. We get City Hall insiders leaking information to us, including those very close to those who govern us. The media pick up stories from us.

Few in power will dare admit that they read our ramblings but they do. They have to respond to what we write even though they hate it and will never acknowledge it. They hope that if they ignore us we will go away. We won't. We just grow stronger every day.

Some are still afraid. As an example, while I have been accredited by both the Federal and Provincial Governments with respect to the border issue, I still cannot even receive a response from the City of Windsor to my request to be accredited the way other reporters in the City are. The reason for this failure should be obvious. City Hall cannot afford to have someone they cannot control get "official" information or have access.

For example, how did Gord know that

• "Duncan took a congratulatory phone call from Mayor Eddie Francis Tuesday night, before the swearing-in celebration really took off, and they're scheduled to meet again in Windsor on Nov. 9 to go over details of the GreenLink plan."

Did Eddie tell him that or Dwight or someone from their offices? Was it given to him on a silver platter? I have to scrounge around for that kind of info.

What prompted these thoughts is Monica Wolfson stating in her BLOG that she is

• "going to expand the subjects of my blog to writing about the Internet and specifically local bloggers, Internet sites, etc. I'm appointing myself to this task, as it seems like it's a pop culture area that gets little attention."

You will note in the Star today her page 3 story on a local Blogger. I was surprised at the extent of the coverage including a photograph. However, I was somewhat also surprised at her comment:

• "some local bloggers revel in the missteps of politicians."

If one writes about politicians, one writes about both the good and the bad. In Windsor however, it is difficult to write about any "positive" steps taken by a politician at any level. And to "revel" is hardly the word that I would use in describing what local bloggers do.

My own view in writing what I do and in reading the other political BLOGs in town is that we write more in sorrow than to revel. We all seem to be expressing the same point of view even though we may say it in different ways and using different tones. We cannot believe that our local Government is so out of touch with its citizens and so uncaring of what we think. All of us want the best for our City and are shocked at what is going on here as we see it crumble in front of us.

Frankly, some of the Star reporters' BLOGs are more negative than anything than any of us have written. Just ask Da Wife of Vanderblogger.

Ms. Wolfson should know exactly what I mean after the personal experience that she has had in the Windsor Utilities Commission matter. Her stories and the BLOGs forced a Mayor who was elected with almost 78% of the vote less than a year before to call in the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to to do a third-party audit, even though it will turn out to be what few in town wanted. I am sure that she learned about pressure as well when one writes about a Mayor during a crisis.

One other thing Ms. Wolfson talked about

• "some bloggers who can be petty and mean-spirited."

I cannot believe that she is talking about Councillor Halberstadt and his BLOG that way. Just kidding Alan. You know about the amoebae sense of humour.