Star Gazing

What an interesting Windsor Star today. Very unusual. Here is my take on some of the stories.

WHERE IS GORD HENDERSON

I don’t care what anybody has to say. Something strange is going on. No, no, no I have not been offered his position to be the main Columnist at the Star as was suggested some time ago.

Here is what I mean. In his goodbye column, Marty Gervais wrote:

• “Today will be my last column as a full time writer for this paper.”

Then he said

• “However, I will continue with My Town on a freelance basis…”
  
  Keep reading me. I'll be here as usual.”

That is peculiar don’t you think. Why would he give up a full-time job to do the same as a freelancer? Maybe it has to do with his 35 years of service at the Star. I don’t know.

All that I do know is that there is just as peculiar going on with the Henderson column too. Where is that hard-hitting Gord? Is he freelancing too now but we just do not know it.

What has he written about since he has returned from holidays… home renovations, Via Rail fences, defence of Councillor Brister, HMS Detroit, playing soldier, John McGivney Children’s Centre and now, if you can believe it… roses. In fact, he’s even acting as a reporter with respect to the Farhi “downtown” story.

Oh sure, he did write about the canal vision and the naysayers but where are the columns about the Tunnel deal, Eddie’s secrecy, the FBI probe in Detroit and its effect on Windsor, the 400 building audit, the Estrin case, the Integrity Commissioner, Greenlink, the border file and so on and so on and so on.

Perhaps you can explain it.

A ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME

I cannot believe it. A huge story about a Windsor and roses and a Henderson column as well. Has the Publisher of the Star taken up gardening as a hobby?

The obvious point to make is that if we cannot afford our rose gardens then how can we afford the Greenlink parks. I know they were supposed to be “naturalized” but really.

First we are losing our title as the "Automotive Capital of Canada" and now we are losing another title: the "City of Roses."

SHOVEL- READY LANDS

Here we are about to get a windfall of $20 million from the Province and what does our Mayor want to spend this money on?

Let’s have a contest. What do you think that the money should be used for:

• Watermains so that we will not be hit by another huge levy increase
• Sewers so that residents will not have water in the basement after the next giant downpour
• Fixing potholes and streets such as Wyandotte West near the University
• Building a wireless network to provide advantages for tourists who visit here and to provide low-cost communications services for businesses and residents
• Tunnel Plaza improvements.

I am sure that you can think of other projects. I thought that Council had a list of prioroty items that they had looked at before. Now that they have all this extra money, there is no reason why those projects could not be completed in a very timely fashion.

However, our Mayor has his priority and it has nothing to do with citizens’ needs today. It was something that was deferred until 2011 but now he wants to bring it forward immediately:

• “The mayor suggested possibly spending the funds on projects that promote economic development, such as servicing airport lands or the former Sandwich South properties to pave the way for industrial development.”

Let’s see what guts the Councillors have and whether they will choose the citizens, needs or the Mayor’s.

According to the story,

• “We will have a discussion with council on how best to spend this money and maximize the return.”

I wonder if that will be in a public Council meeting, in an in camera meeting or will the Mayor call some of the loopy Councillors and give them a tip before he tells us what he’s going to do as with the canal project.

Now you know what Greenlink and the canal project were really all about when you see what is important to the Mayor.

SARCASM DOES NOT WORK IN PRINT

As a journalist, Councillor Halberstadt should know better.

He writes a Letter to the Editor about Councillor Loopy’s comments about "in the loop" Councillors meeting privately with the Mayor. Then, in a comment about the $20 million from the Province, he seems to weaken his position when he states that some of the money could be used for

• “perhaps investing "a few bucks" in the mayor's canal and marina plan for the western super anchor lands downtown.”

If he was being sarcastic, the comment did not work in print. Some people may now take the view that the Councillor was is in favour of doing the feasibility for the canal project but that he was acting politically because of the Mayor’s attacks on him with respect to the Library.

It would be better if he did not make these offhand comments again.

CITIZENS GET SNUBBED TOO

John Tory can feel better now. He should not take it personally when the Mayor snubbed him whne he was in town, supposedly working on the Tunnel deal. Citizens are ignored as well as we can see in today’s Henderson column:

• “A resident in a condo tower overlooking the park, Barrett watched from his balcony in disbelief last May as city crews ripped out the roses and tossed down straw. Unable to reach Mayor Eddie Francis, he unloaded while leading me on a recent tour of a park that stands out like a sore thumb on Windsor's manicured riverfront.”

I wonder what Eddie was working on at that time that was so important to snub a taxpayer. I also wonder why his staff did not take some action. Even if it was to tell the gentleman that they knew all about it, they could have done something. I am not surprised that he had to take Gord on a tour to get some publicity because of his frustration.

I contacted the BLOGGERS' "friend" to get action on some weed removal. Check out the BLOG of the Mayor of Monmouth http://themayorofmonmouth.blogspot.com/ :

• WE WANT WHAT THE NAYSAYERS ARE GETTING
  Gateway to Willistead Park Unknown and Uninviting
• Parks Department Responds to Super Naysayer
  Gateway to Willistead Stands a Chance

DRRT WILL BE BACK

Will the Jobs Tunnel website come back online? Will we see an advertising blitz from the DRRT people to support a $400 million rail tunnel? Is DRTP dead?

Some more interesting comments from the rail story. If the new train station is to go downtown, is that the end of the transportation hub at the airport? So much for another part of Schwartz’s report.

It is interesting to compare the work done respecting to the rail lands with the announcement of and the feasibility study with respect to the canal project. I wonder to which Naysayer Councillor Valentinis was speaking when he said:

• "The railway companies have been part of this (study)," he said.
  
  "This is not just a consultant with a pie-in-the-sky. They have been funders of this particular solution, they have participated."

One thing that is really disappointing is that

• “the study that will go to city council on Sept. 9 contains the technically preferred solution.”

Public involvement will only take place afterwards. Depending on what information is made available, we may not have the thinking behind the preferred solution. At the least, the DRIC process pretended that citizens were involved. I hardly think now that the City can complain about their process.

And if rail transportation is improved dramatically, please explain to me again why we need a new DRIC bridge.