Fighting City Hall

The big front page story "Yes, you can fight City Hall" and the large colour photo just did not happen out of chance. Someone at the Star made the decision to run it that way.

It was meant as a warning to Council, and especially the Mayor, to get out of this mess while the getting out is good. Fighting civil lawsuits in situations such as this can turn out in ways that can never be anticipated and with potentially dire consequences.

Do you think that someone also had a hand in the Editorial re the 400 Building that said today:

• "Frankly, we are not interested in reviewing this partial audit sometime next month.
  
  We, like all residents of Windsor, want to see the draft audit that was prepared and submitted by Dunbar in December 2006. That's the gift residents want before Dec. 25. It is our right and the city's responsibility."

Do you think that the Star has finally had enough after all of these years!

Congratulations to George Sofos and Chuck Faubert, and to Frank Miller their lawyer, on their victory to get the Junction “grandfathered” under the City’s entertainment by-law.

I trust that the City will not be vindictive and try to delay their re-opening by filing an appeal. To be direct, it would not surprise me if the City does that given the way at this matter has been handled.

It would seem to me, although I have not seen the reasons for judgment, that an appeal would be futile since the Judge must have made the decision based on the “facts.” Generally, unless the Judge totally missed the point, matters cannot be appealled successfully on questions of fact alone. Do City taxpayers need to pay more legal costs for something like this when the Junction Owners want to re-start their business and start hiring people?

I am glad to read how Councillor Jones reacted and hopefully, the rest of Council:

• "Coun. Ron jones, who represents the west end, said the city must abide by the court decision."

Someone has been teaching him what Black Letter Law means.

It would not surprise me to see the City threaten to appeal unless George and Chuck drop entirely their civil action against the City as well. As the Star story stated

• “Meanwhile, the city faces a $1.5-million lawsuit filed by the owners after council rejected their bid for a business licence.
  
  Sofos and Faubert claimed $750,000 in damages for negligent representation, $500,000 for bad faith, and $250,000 for punitive and exemplary damages in a statement of claim filed May 5 in Superior Court by their lawyer Claudio Martini.”

I know both of these gentlemen and that tactic will not work. If they carried on this long, then they will carry on even if the City appeals. And if the City does appeal in a frivolous and vexatious manner, then all it does is increase the claim for bad faith and punitive damages.

Let me be blunt. If decisions are being made in this matter, then the Mayor should NOT be involved at all. There is a reason why he left the Chair at the Council meeting and participated in the Junction debate, an action I have never seen him take before or after, unless one wants to consider his WUC Whiteboard presentation to be something similar. I have no idea what that reason is but we would find out during his cross-examination in front of the Trial Judge in the civil action.

Now that might make for some compelling news stories for the media if it went that far. We would hear from certain City Hall staffers as well and who knows, perhaps an MP from Windsor West who lives behind the Junction and a Councillor or two. We might even learn who took the inflammatory photos that were used against the Junction, how they were used and why.

Only those Members of Council who have no “reason” should be instructing counsel in this matter. The best decision that they could make is not to appeal, pay George and Chuck as little money as they can to settle and let them get on with life.

Anything else is a waste of taxpayer money.