Gibberish

Time to change the conversation.

Some comments that I have found over the last few weeks that just astounded me.

Just notice how much is said, how little is disclosed and how little is accomplished over issues that have been around for awhile.

There are some themes that come through loud and clear although that is not why I selected the comments. I'll let you discover them for yourself.

Eliminating Poverty--"We want to establish concrete ideas," Francis said when pressed to describe specific ideas leaders had. "We want to increase literacy rates. We want to increase the number of individuals with post secondary training. We want to decrease the drop out rate."

Francis didn't say how they would accomplish their goals nor how much it would cost."

The airport ---Francis said the city is poised to reach agreements soon on other aviation-related business but declined to provide details.

Long distance commuting---The Windsor mayor said project planning is "well under way," but several partners would have to come together to make the long-distance commute work. Francis wants to ensure his citizens can come home for family events or emergencies.

"Many stakeholders will need to come to the table - including the airlines - to negotiate charter fares. We will be seeking financial assistance from existing programs to reduce the financial and emotional impact on our long-distance commuters."

Truck Ferry land---"Talks are underway (with Morterm) to finalize the agreement regarding the property," said Dales on Wednesday. "We are close to getting a final agreement, but nothing is signed yet.

"We have had some positive discussions and hope to put that on paper shortly -- hopefully within the next month."

The East End Arena---Construction of the city's $64.9-million Windsor Family Credit Union Centre arena project is about $2 million under budget to date, the arena's steering committee has been told...

A $4-million grant from the province and selling naming rights throughout the centre were also helpful, Valentinis said.

"That's why it looks like we will come in with something less (than projected)," said Valentinis."

Tunnel deal--Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis believes negotiations on the Windsor-Detroit tunnel deal -- long championed by himself and Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick -- should not be derailed because of Kilpatrick's guilty plea Thursday and his pending resignation and jail term.

"Ken Cockrel has a list of issues he has inherited. We will give him some time to make the transition and then make that call when the time is right."

Red Bull---Francis travelled to London, England, last month to meet with Red Bull representatives in the hopes of attracting the high-speed, low- flying acrobatic competition back to the Detroit River.

"It's more alive than it's ever been," Francis said.

A number of issues, which Francis wouldn't elaborate on, had race directors leaning away from a return the Windsor-Detroit area. But Francis said the London meeting helped put the Detroit River back in contention.

Onion importers---The mayor said that he will also use his brief trip overseas to visit Frankfurt, Germany, and hopefully advance the establishment of a perishable food distribution centre in Windsor, a proposal he has been pursuing for almost a year.

"There have been a lot of steps taken on developing a business case," Francis said. "This trip is an opportunity to meet with the people in Frankfurt and determine the next step."

--"Francis left for Germany this week to lure unnamed cargo and food distribution warehouse operations to Windsor's airport.

Francis said one company, based outside Frankfurt, could hire between 50 and 500 local people if it strikes a deal in Windsor.

Francis wouldn't put a time frame on that, but said "a lot of the legwork is completed."

Job Fund---When Mayor Eddie Francis takes the podium this evening to deliver the state of the city address, he will propose the creation of a "substantial" regional fund that would help create jobs and bring direct investments to Windsor and Essex County, according to a source familiar with the mayor's speech.

"We're looking at a regional fund on a scale much bigger than anyone has ever discussed, either locally or from senior levels of government. It would require the co-operation of the City of Windsor, County of Essex, Province of Ontario, the Government of Canada ... but the driving force would be the regional economic development commission," the source said.

"It's going to be a proposal, but the city is prepared to move right away. Somebody's got to make the first move."

Leave why don't you---"I wouldn't give up on Windsor yet," said Francis when I asked him about the temptation to move to cities and regions, beginning with London and Woodstock, that are doing so much better than Windsor at churning out jobs. "We've had bad times before. But we always pull through it."

---But if Windsor is as awful as some homegrown critics suggest, and he gets that message at least twice a week in hostile letters, Francis wonders why they stick around. "If you think it's the worst city in the world, what are you doing here?"

FDI magazine award---The city's development commission is already poised to prominently feature the recognition in its efforts to win investment, said CEO Matthew Fischer.

"This is bragging rights. It's a great tool. I will use it until it wears out," he said."

Legal options--- Mayor Eddie Francis says he will urge Toronto lawyer David Estrin to quickly provide legal options in dealing with the province's controversial border traffic highway planned for the Huron Church Road-Talbot Road corridor...

"(Council) has asked me to pick up the phone, call David Estrin and tell him to hurry up his work," Francis said. "Council wants to know all their options from A to Z -- what are the benefits, pros and cons (and) what steps need to be taken.

"The legal issues will be flushed out more and brought to council for Monday or soon after."

Greenlink talks with the Province---Francis divulged to reporters after the council meeting that discussions had been held between the city and DRIC officials over the summer. "They were productive," he said without elaborating.

--“What surprises me is that over the course of the summer, the discussions that have taken place under the environmental assessment process have not yet resulted in DRIC compromising, or even moving toward a compromise,” Francis said.

“I would characterize this entire process as very difficult and frustrating. Today’s meeting was no different than many other difficult and frustrating meetings that I’ve attended over the course of this file.”

Essex polling---Masse refused to say who had conducted the snapshot poll and who paid for it, except to say it isn't part of his campaign. "No, it's not me. It's somebody else's polling, it's an independent polling," Masse said.

When pressed on who is paying for it, Masse said: "Well yeah, it has nothing to do with our campaign.

"I can't disclose where we got it from," Masse said. "There's some independent pollers out there and we've been able to get some of that polling information from time to time."

Economic meltdown--Greenspan: Bad data hurt Wall Street computer models

Using nature to describe a man-made financial disaster, Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve , Thursday called the financial-market meltdown a "once-in-a-century tsunami" and explained to a U.S. House committee what he thought went wrong. And insufficient data was one of the causes he pointed to.

Greenspan has long praised computer technology as a tool that can be used to limit risks in financial markets. For instance, in 2005, he credited improved computing power and risk-scoring models with making it possible for lenders to extend credit to subprime mortgage borrowers.

But at a hearing held today by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Greenspan acknowledged that the data fed into financial systems was often a case of garbage-in, garbage-out.

Business decisions by financial services firms were based on "the best insights of mathematicians and finance experts, supported by major advances in computer and communications technology," Greenspan told the committee. "The whole intellectual edifice, however, collapsed in the summer of last year because the data inputted into the risk management models generally covered only the past two decades a period of euphoria."

He added that if the risk models also had been built to include "historic periods of stress, capital requirements would have been much higher and the financial world would be in far better shape today, in my judgment."

On investing---"Times of great stress usually mean times of great opportunity. Almost seven billion people still need food, clothing, shelter, transportation, etc., every day. Investing in "Bread and Butter" companies whose yields at today's prices exceed five per cent is difficult to resist (provided one has some money to invest)."

Who needs elections. Civil Servants know everything---"Once civil servants are satisfied that politicians have been exposed to and understand all facts surrounding a policy issue, they will happily implement whatever decision is reached by cabinet or ministers.

The difficulty arises when there is an impression that politicians and their political advisers have not considered all options, have cut corners or have made decisions on shaky grounds. When that happens, bureaucrats believe it is their duty to insist, to re-visit, to further discuss, to re-submit until it becomes clear that the concerned ministers are well informed.

Only then will they press the implementation button and move the file to the next stage. This is a time-tested internal safety mechanism that has successfully served Canadians as well as their elected politicians for decades...

[Politicians] never understood that the only thing they had to do was to welcome the advice, acknowledge they had understood it and inform bureaucrats of the resulting political decision. Satisfied that they had done their job, civil servants would then have happily shifted from giving advice to implementing the political decision."

And some non-gibberish---Meanwhile, Bloomberg...didn't sugarcoat the economic hardships the city faces in the next few years, suggesting that taxes will rise but that he'd work to stem any layoffs.

"We are going to have some very tough times here," warned Bloomberg who said the crumbling economy was one of the chief reasons he wants to remain in office...

"I'm not going to be all that popular when we address the fiscal problems in the next 13 months but I'm too old to fudge it and I'm too old to compromise for political reasons," Bloomberg said.