Detroit Council Saves Windsor

Keep your fingers crossed. The Tunnel deal may be dead! Finally.

Its end will come none too soon as far as I'm concerned given all the secrecy involved.

There was absolutely no need for this behind closed-door intrigue if the deal made sense for taxpayers on both sides of the river.

It looks like Windsorites may owe a big debt of gratitude to members of the Detroit Council. They may have saved us from another Francis folly, the $75 million transaction with the Tunnel.

You may not have seen the recent headlines in Detroit but they are certainly good news for Windsor taxpayers who are already struggling with the downturn in our economy:

• "Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick's proposal to sell Detroit's half of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel as a stopgap budget fix was all but declared dead for this fiscal year Friday by the City Council."


• "Council doubtful of proposal to sell tunnel"


• "Detroit nearly throws out tunnel proposal"

You have to shake your head in amazement when you read something like the following that frankly makes no sense to me whatsoever but I am sure that there must be a legal justification for it:

• "In other budget work, Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick submitted a revised proposal to sell the city's half of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel for $75 million as a way to balance the 2007-08 budget. The deal appears to no longer rely legally on using an existing agreement between Detroit and Windsor to recognize each other's bus fares as part of the foundation of the tunnel sale."

That seems so convoluted, it is almost ridiculous. Bus fares as the basis of support for a Tunnel deal! Remarkable.

Was this Press Release and announcement back in October 2006 nothing but a phony to hide some kind of transaction necessary for the Tunnel deal:

• "October 24, 2006 (Detroit) SMART has partnered with DDOT and Transit Windsor to develop a single transfer system that bus passengers traveling between Detroit and Windsor can now use. In the past, customers traveling between the two countries could not use transfers between the different systems."

If so, is there any other conclusion but that politicians on both sides of the river have no respect for their taxpayers!

I really wonder if there was a Tunnel deal in the first place. The reason I ask this question is that I have never understood, if this deal is so good for both sides, Windsor and Detroit, then why haven't the Mayors of the two cities chosen to tell us what the transaction is? What's the big secret?

I cannot believe that the PR machines of both Mayors would not have turned out Press Release after Press Release showing us how wonderful the deal is and how much each side would make on this transaction to justify it. I don't recall really anything on our side telling us why it was a good deal for Windsor although on the Detroit side it was designed to fix a budgetary problem. I also do recall reading the warnings being used when it looked like Detroit Council might turn it down

• "Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams repeatedly told council members Monday that the $65- million deal to sell Detroit's half of the tunnel would allow the city to end with a balanced budget. If the deal is not approved by the end of the fiscal year June 30, Adams has warned, the city would have to make drastic cuts in services and lay off workers."

The deal almost seems like it changes daily. I can understand that it is complicated because it is a cross-border deal but surely after a year of negotiations the parties should have been able to arrive at a structure by now that is workable. After all, we in Windsor has spent over $1 million so far on outside fees for this project. That it keeps changing so often tells me that there are severe problems involved, problems that the Councils on both sides have no idea what they are, never mind the taxpayers.

Here's one thing that I find very disturbing about our Council and how they do business, or rather do NOT do it. Take a look at some of the things that Detroit Councillors are saying:

• "I do not see this thing getting approved as a component of this budget,"
• "I just don't see how the deal is going to take place," she said. "I'm not a person that's in support of onetime fixes, and I think it's a onetime plug in the budget."
• Councilwoman JoAnn Watson said she opposes selling something as singular as an international crossing for $75 million. "Does that sound like a good deal to you?" she said. "No. Hell no."

As for our Councillors, sure they have talked about the deal in general including Councillor Marra saying this

• "My concern is not legal finds, but ultimately is this decision favourable for the taxpayer. What looked good eight months ago might not be good today."

After that comment, I hear that certain people went ballistic and this became Council's new mantra

• "Coun. Bill Marra, a member of the city tunnel commission, said councillors have been asked to refrain from commenting until the negotiations are complete."

I have never heard anything as absurd as this. The Councillors are being told in effect that they cannot perform their legal duty. Their continued silence suggests that they are going along with it.

Why the only other thing that I can recall that is comparable is the Councillors approving the arena deal with the Spitfires without looking at the agreement so that they had no real idea what they were approving:

• "City council approved the agreement with the Spits in the fall of 2006, but councillors themselves were not shown copies of the deal. Council endorsed it based on an administration report that was then taken away following in-camera discussions.
  
  "I couldn't tell you what's in there," said Ward 5 Coun. Percy Hatfield, one of several councillors who will be seeing details of the multimillion-dollar deal for the first time this week. "

Why it almost seems that Councillor Hatfield has no shame that he is ignorant of the terms of that deal that will cost us $64 plus million dollars and more by the time it is finished.

The other person who has to be very happy at this time is Minister of Finance Dwight Duncan. How he would have justified a loan in effect to the City of Detroit in the amount of $75 million when Ontario is suffering itself is beyond my comprehension. That it should have been even considered for one second is a disgrace. It should have been rejected right out of hand by the Ontario Government.

I can hardly wait for the finger-pointing to see who gets the blame:

• Will it be our Mayor because he was incapable of getting financing necessary for the project?
• Will it be the Federal Government for pulling out and not financing the transaction?
• Will it be the Detroit Councillors who are not willing to cooperate with the Detroit Mayor notwithstanding his text message difficulties?
• Will it be the Mayor of Detroit who kept this deal alive forever when it seemed to have no possibility of ever closing and who seems to have lost the trust and confidence of his Council so that no deal could ever be done?

Actually, I expect that the Bloggers in town will be blamed for the collapse. Why not, we are blamed for everything else that is negative.

It won't bother me one bit to accept the blame. If the Mayors can't tell taxpayers why this deal makes sense, then there is no reason to consider it any further.

Tunnel Deal: R.I.P