The Mountain Must Come To Eddie

In the words of ex-Mayor Mike Hurst when speaking about himself, Eddie Francis is the Mayor of a small town. He has no authority; he has no clout.

Eddie has already conceded Federal paramountcy to the Feds re the immediate vicinity of the border and knows that the Province can upload City roads like Huron Church and E C Row any time they want. He has absolutely no bargaining position.

However, Eddie is incapable of being wrong. He never makes a mistake. He can never be blamed. He thinks he is something special.

But what if he is clearly wrong? What if he is doing something that is clearly bad for a part of the City or for the City itself? Would Eddie finally grow up and admit he was wrong.

Not a chance.

Others must fall on their sword and do the dirty work for him. Just as Jane Boyd did for ex-Mayor Hurst publicly during one of the border debates that I can recall. That action must be taken to preserve whatever plans are for Eddie's future. He must be deemed infallible. He must be shown as the Victor over the enemy forces. No matter what.

How else to explain what Councillor Ron Jones said in the Star in the strange story about the Indiain Road homes on Saturday.

• "Councillor Ron Jones, who pushed for the heritage study that could be complete early in the new year, said he wants to work with the bridge on beautifying the neighbourhood.
  
  "I would like to see the bridge company come to city council and say here are our plans," Jones said. "They might be surprised at the help they would get from the people who represent this area.
  
  "But how can we, as the City of Windsor, say yes to a plan that we have no idea what it might be?"

Of course, he knows as well as we do that the Bridge Company has a relationship with the University's Green Corridor group to fix up the area. Didn't they get a few minutes at Council to present their plan before it was summarily dismissed!

• "Ambassador Bridge spokesman Skip McMahon said the city is preventing his company from beautifying the neighbourhood.
  
  "We have shared our plans with the city," he said, noting that he has yet to hear from a resident who doesn't want the homes demolished. "We're prepared to sit down with anybody who wants to talk about beautifying that area and getting those homes torn down."

Why should the Bridge Company come to Council when the City Planner has already said to Council that Adminstration would object to the destruction of the homes while the CIP process was underway. Coming to Council would be a waste of time for them.

Councillor Jones is funny. Why doesn't he work with them instead of offering them "surprises." One could make the argument that he and his Wardmate are feeling the heat from residents so he wants the Bridge Company to come to Council so his other 8 colleagues could turn them down so he and Councillor Postma are off the hook.

Yet, they are supposedly being begged to come to Council. Desperately. How can I claim this...look at the words of praise for the Bridge Company in a Star story for once:

• "But I give the bridge credit, because they make sure they take away garbage. And they keep the grass cut...
  
  Indian Road resident Erik Lobzun said he believes the homes should be torn down before a major fire occurs.
  
  "The homes are just rotting away anyhow," said Lobzun. "This is just dangerous, for us and for the firefighters," he said."

Interestingly that language is very similar to what the Bridge Company said in a letter to the Mayor dated July 9. Remarkable isn't it?

Obviously, Councillor Jones is falling on the sword for Eddie as he begs the Bridge Company to come and talk to Council but only of course to genuflect in front of our Mayor:

• "Councillor Ron Jones, who pushed for the heritage study that could be complete early in the new year, said he wants to work with the bridge on beautifying the neighbourhood.
  
  "I would like to see the bridge company come to city council and say here are our plans," Jones said. "They might be surprised at the help they would get from the people who represent this area."

Yes that is the study where the Report was prepared that Greg Heil condemned isn't it and for which he resigned as the Heritage Committee Chair claiming it was a political tool directed towards the Bridge Company! He did not want to be sued over it.

Obviously, Councillor Postma did not achieve the results Eddie wanted.

• "The bottom line is homes have to come down," she said. "Bring you applications forward. It's the dawn of a new day."

Now it's Councillor Jones' turn to see if he can make the sun rise. Now both Ward 2 Councillors appear to be on the Bridge Company's side for this one small issue.

Don't believe me about the sword falling for Eddie.... take a look at the Star Editorial on Saturday as well.

• "Second, this precedent-setting decision can become the catalyst to move closer to the city's favoured GreenLink proposal, ensuring that all communities along the corridor are given the same consideration...
  
  Francis is correct. From the beginning, GreenLink has been the most fair and equitable proposal for our citizens...
  
  Now Premier Dalton McGuinty must take the reins, instructing bureaucrats to continue refining the Parkway plan until this community is given the superior solution it deserves."

So the Province with the ultimate power over the roads has to come and bow down to our Mayor's ridiculous plan. Why? To waste hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in a time of economic restraint to make Eddie a star so that he can run against Dwight? I don't think that Dwight is that dumb politically.

The whole thing smells of Eddie trying to make it appear that he is not offering concessions and compromise all over the place when he really is. Why else would Eddie have called a Special Council meeting the day after the DRIC Spring Garden meeting. He obviously knew about it. Eddie orchestrated the meeting and expected to go on TV Cogeco to show us his brilliance. Unfortunately, he had his bluff called by residents who were going to appear at Council and denounce his lack of action so he cancelled the meeting and had a press copnference instead where no one could attack him. He had his captive media friends there who would not ask the tough questions.

Eddie knows he has lost. The Eminence Greasie is forcing him to back-track as quickly as possible to make it appear that he has won publicly. After all, when the Bridge Company tears down their homes and the Province builds E C Row notwithstanding what Eddie wants, then who would ever pay homage to him again? Even the Councillors might discover that he never had any power to their chagrin.

The old Eddie Francis would have fumed that the Province held a residents' meeting right before the Special Council meeting to end-run Council and that they never told the City what they were planning. He would have threatened litigation again and called David Estrin to do another litigation strategy opinion for Council. (Whatever happened to the one he was to do months before and for which taxpayers must have been charged?)

For the new Eddie Francis, the headlines scream:

• "Mayor thrilled with changes in border route boundaries"
  
• "Border route altered
  City applauds move away from Spring Garden Rd."

Wow just days after a Henderson column telling the Province that they had better be more like the Feds:

• "They listen and they work with us. And some day we hope to replicate that on the provincial level," said Francis...
  
  In other words, the Harper regime, which has no stake in Windsor but sees the big picture on trade corridors, has been a true partner. Meanwhile, the City of Windsor and a provincial government with two prominent Windsor cabinet ministers are at war over a project that this city will have to coexist with well into the 22nd century. So much for easy assumptions about who our real friends are."

The Province really knuckled under so quickly and easily!

Eddie learned well from the CAW's Buzz and Ken Sr. Grab a victory any way you can even when you have lost everything. He has learned that the Senior Levels are not fooling around any more since we are coming to the end of the road so to speak. Time for him to back off now.

The Senior Levels are prepared to give him one last chance. If not, they will act as Chrysler just did with their Local 444 Union negotiator over layoffs:

• "Yesterday this was not in the plan and today it became the plan," said Ed Saenz, spokesman for Frank Ewasyshyn, Chrysler's Executive Vice President in charge of manufacturing...
  
  Rick Laporte, president of Local 444, said he was deeply frustrated by the layoff and the way it was announced to him and his members. "I had a sit-down meeting with them at 1 o'clock (in Auburn Hills) and they told me the layoff was cancelled. They told me everything was OK, as a matter of fact.
  
  "And lo and behold, by the time I got back to my office it was back on again," Laporte said."

How to explain this drastic change for Francis....Eddie has already gone to the Mountain and been told the facts of life. It's just that he has not told us about it nor does he dare.