More News

Here are some more short news items of interest. Well, they are interesting to me anyway.

WHO WILL FEED THE GAZELLES NOW

Well you read it here first, again.

I would think that the Credit Union people who gave a donation of so much money must be furious today too. Has it all been wasted?

What a slap in the face for the Economic Development Commission and for our region. Another delay at a time when we cannot afford a delay.

And what a waste of money. How much more of the Commission's funds are going to have to be spent on another job search rather than being spent on printing brochures for possible investors? And how much more time?

To be direct, I am not in favor of Mr. Mancini being appointed to the CEO position when he is already Chair of the Board. He also has his own business so how can he run both? His function should be to find a new CEO right away, not to be involved in the day-to-day activities of the Commission.

If the Commission needs someone to help an interim basis, it is my understanding that Roman Dzus may be available. Wasn't he the person who was responsible for doing the work that earned the City of Windsor that prize from the English magazine that Eddie Francis keeps throwing in our face. Perhaps Roman might actually be able to do something with it because it seems to date no one else has on the Commission!

UPDATE: I see that CKLW claims that "AM 800 News has learned that Fischer has retained legal counsel." That to me suggests an unhappy parting. Considering that Fischer has a three-year contract at $169,000 per year, I wonder how many library books this settlement will cost the City and County.

I wonder if someone suspected something. The March edition of the WEDC "Goodnews" Newsletter did NOT include the names of the WEDC staff while previous ones did! Or perhaps it was merely a redesign.

SNUBBED

Now Eddie knows what it's like to be snubbed. Perhaps he, and Council, might get the message that he is considered irrelevant by Senior Level Windsor politicians.

If you watched CBC news on Monday, you would have seen Eddie Francis standing in a crowd of people watching the speeches by the Premier and others with respect to the Ford announcement. He was not on the platform.

To be frank about it, that was a gross insults to the Mayor. After all, he is the Head of the City.

However, what do you expect. When he was invited to attend the session with Dwight and Sandra a few days before, he chose instead to go to a public school Read-a-thon. He left town rather than meet Dwight at the pre-Budget meeting.

One can only snub or get into a fight with Cabinet Ministers so many times. I wonder if Eddie has told the story about the disagreement that he had with the Minister of Transportation at the meeting with the County with respect to environmental assessments.

This time around, my information is that he was not invited to attend at all when the Premier arrived in town. Yes, he was there but invited by someone other than the Province to attend. At the least, he got his 15 seconds of fame when he was interviewed by the CBC.

And certain Councillors whine about why Windsor does not get more money. Get real.

MOVING OUT WEST

Poor Eddie. Even if his Jobs Today program was real, which it is not, it just would not work out. In the first place, Windsorites would have difficulty finding a place to stay out of West and if they wanted to move out there, they could probably not afford to buy a home. Here are the latest stats:

Can you imagine someone trying to move fromWindsor to Saskatoon!

If that was not enough, the Detroit News reported:

• "The high cost of fuel has airlines raising fares, cutting the number of seats available on routes, tacking on sizable fuel surcharges and changing baggage rules. For some carriers, the cost of jet fuel has more than doubled over the past year and that will translate into sticker shock for consumers, too."

It looks like people might not be able to afford to come back on the weekends either. The plane fares are rising so rapidly.

All in all, another disaster for the Mayor. Another plan that was not through properly but was just designed to meet a political need at the time.

$100,000 WISE, $111 MILLION FOOLISH

You know the expression "Penny wise, Pound foolish."

Its meaning as I saw one website is:

• "Overcareful about trivial things and undercareful about important ones. The literal image is of the person who fusses over small amounts of money to such an extent that he misses opportunities to save or make large amounts. "

I could not help but think of that expression when I saw the story in the Star about the Low-Martin house:

• "The committee agreed in principle to give Vella a $100,000 grant from the two city heritage funds, pending council's approval. The money was to be forwarded upon completion of the project and hinged on acquiring several estimates for the work.
  
  But Coun Dave Brister, a member of the committee, said Monday he was absent when the decision was made and asked that council's decision to be defered until mid-April so the legal department can investigate and more specifics can be gathered on the work to be done."

Here's my question for the Councillor formerly known as Councillor Budget. When did the Councillor receive the documentation with respect to flipping the Tunnel from the City to the Tunnel Corporation? How long in advance of the meeting? What due diligence did he undertake? What questions did he ask and of whom?

My information is that the Councillors and Commissioners received the package of materials, some of which were given out to the media and which I requested and received, shortly before the meeting. I'm not sure precisely how much in advance.

The documents are not easy to read or to understand and there are some very significant issues in them. How long did the Councillors discuss this matter at the meeting? Did the Ward 1 Councillor ask that this matter worth $111 million be deferred for several weeks so that it could be investigated and, frankly, so that members of the public would have the opportunity to speak about this at Council?

If he did, there was nothing reported about this in the newspaper. All that I saw was that the Councillor had difficulty with a $100,000 transaction such that he needed several weeks of study time.

Does the expression fit...you be the judge!

WHINY ANSWER TO FULVIO'S QUESTION

There he goes again asking his perennial question why Windsor was shortchanged by the Province. As if Councillor Valentinis did not know the answer. His slamming of the Province in not giving Windsor more certainly would not win favours with the Province when CKLW states:

• "DUNCAN'S OFFICE RESPONDS 2008-04-01 15:19:02
  
  Windsor got what it asked for. That's the reply from Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan's office to a question about infrastructure funding from a city councillor. Ward 3's Fulvio Valentinis wondered why last Friday's announcements were not done on a per-capita basis. Windsor got nearly 11.5-million dollars, while Tecumseh received 4.5-million. Valentinis thinks the city didn't get its fair share, based on what Tecumseh received. Steve Erwin, an aide to the minister, says the city asked for a specific amount in its application, as did Tecumseh."

Another answer is the whiny response from his colleague, Councillor Gignac, who enlightened us about the situation in Hamilton.

Perhaps if she listened to herself speak, she would have heard about a Cabinet Minister who works with the Mayor of Hamilton.

Perhaps if she rereads the Hamilton newspaper story she will see that

• "[Mayor] Eisenberger met with McMeekin -- a former Flamborough mayor and regional councillor -- and Finance Minister Dwight Duncan to outline Hamilton's unique circumstances and needs."

I guess she forgot [that darn City Hall amnesia disease again] that our Mayor had a chance to meet the Minister of Finance in a pre-budget meeting so he could outline Windsor's "unique circumstances and needs" but he chose to fly to Germany, taxpayer paid, to meet up with a start-up company instead. Hamilton met with Dwight in his pre-budget meeting last January to make their pitch! They asked for $20M but did not receive it all either.

Perhaps if she stopped her Mayor from talking about a $1.6 billion "cheap" solution, the City might get somewhere.

Perhaps if her Mayor did not threaten "enemies" such as the Senior Levels with lawsuits or run massive advertising blitzes against them, the City might get more money.

Perhaps she might advise the Chief of Staff of the Mayor to ensure that the Mayor's calendar is flexible so that he can attend meetings where our local Cabinet Ministers give us money, and he might be invited to attend sessions where the Premier gives out cash.

Good thing that the Mayor recognized Councillor Gignac before Councillor Lewenza. Imagine if he had praised the Province for giving money to Ford before she went on her rampage against the Province.

I think that Councillor Gignac with this childish outburst just demonstrated to me that she is not mayoral material for a City like Windsor.