More BLOGMeister Quotations
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MATTY IS REALLY MY FRIEND
- “There seems to be this general appearance that the city is opposed to the bridge being twinned, and it doesn’t make any sense,” said Rosenthal, a retired engineering-firm CEO…
Francis argued that the federal government must first give the OK for a bridge, before the city can issue smaller permits, and that the bridge has yet to provide a detailed plan. Francis also said councillors are not against the bridge in principal.”
Why is Eddie always arguing? Why doesn’t he just speak normally and with a nice smile on his face? He might make more friends that way.
I’m glad to see that the Mayor has finally acknowledged that the City’s role in the border file is minimal. I mean, after all, he did concede this in front of the Senate anyway so why he could not say this in Windsor is beyond me.
I note that the Mayor still may have memory problems from the amnesia disease. No, that is not it. I think he just cannot remember that the Bridge Company came in front of Council trying to explain their billion-dollar plan for the border and Council only gave them 10 minutes to do their Presentation, including what they wanted to say about their relationship with the University’s Green Corridor Group. Council was not courteous enough to even extend that Presentation time.
How many hours did Schwartz speak at Council about Greenlink and how many hours did Estrin speak the other day? It is no wonder that Eddie forgot.
Eddie is right about one thing, about Council not being against the Bridge Company in principal. He and most of Council it seems are against them in fact. The shameful debate about the fire damaged house on Indian Road is just about all the proof that anybody needs.
WHAT WE HAVE IS A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE
- “I was happy to hear the mayor say that wasn’t the case at all,” Rosenthal said, “and that it was some sort of public-relations mix-up.”
I was opposed before but now I’m all in favour of our Mayor spending a quarter of $1 million on a new PR Group.
All this time, I thought that he personally might have been against the Bridge Company’s plans, especially when he used the word “enemy” or used their own law firm to oppose them and in particular to go to Cleveland to fight their application with the US Coast Guard.
None of that was true. It is the fault of the media in Windsor. They just could not understand what the Mayor was saying. It may be his fault as well because he speaks too quickly for them. He needs to slow down.
If this is all a huge mistake, then the Bridge Company should ask for the help of the City to build their bridge and ask the Mayor to issue the smaller permits that they need to convince the Federal Government that all is well between the two of them.
I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW
- “Matty Moroun is a brilliant businessman who looks 50 years into the future," said Eddie Francis, the mayor of Windsor, who finds himself at odds with Moroun on his bridge as well as his plans for a second one. "On the other hand, he's seen as a slumlord. A man who goes into a neighborhood and eradicates it for his own gain. That's his reputation and that's what he now battles."
Whew, if the crack about “slumlord” is not another PR mix-up, then perhaps Eddie had better remember that people in Windsor do have access to Detroit newspapers. If only Eddie had told the reporter that he and Council have prevented the Bridge Company from tearing down their boarded-up homes and replacing them with Green space, Moroun would not have that reputation.
I do not understand why Eddie would not allow the Bridge Company to tear down their homes and replace it with Green space so that he could say that his new, about to be announced “blight” policy is working. Oh I get it, Eddie will allow them to do so under his policy and take credit for it. Silly me, I forgot that politics was involved and that Eddie needs a success finally.
To be very serious for a moment, the tragedy of Eddie Francis is that he knows how brilliant Moroun is and instead of capitalizing on it both for the City and for himself personally, he has abused Moroun.
I had suggested years ago a partnership between the Bridge Company and the City over the border file and other matters when Eddie was the City Mayor. I did not even receive the courtesy of a reply.
The border is vital not only to our success now but to our success in the future. And who understands the border better than the Owner of the Bridge Company?
As this story and the story in the Star disclosed, Moroun’s empire is much more than the Ambassador Bridge. Why we are not partnering with him to take advantage of what he can offer us is beyond me.
Can it be that our Mayor is afraid to deal with him because he is afraid that he will come out second-best? Probably. But then that is due to our Mayor’s own insecurity about his abilities and his failure to have the right people advising him. To me, it is a reflection of an anti-business attitude that we have seen on a number of issues in Windsor.
IT’S A HUB BUB
- “Detroit, by virtue of its proximity to Canada is uniquely situated to be a major logistics center in the new world economy. It is the city's best hope for a future as Moroun sees it.”
Alfie Morgan talked about Windsor being a transportation hub too recently. I hope Eddie does not remember what Alfie said or he might think the two have been speaking together behind his back. No holiday card for Alfie then.
I GOT YOUR NUMBER
- “Basically, it is not good business sense to have a monopoly on such an important trade route," said Sean O'Dell, executive director of the Windsor Gateway Project, the Canadian portion of the proposed bridge. "Moroun will lose some traffic, but there's more than enough business to go around."
I hate this misinformation. It is pathetic. He should be slammed by his superiors and forced to fess up. Is this the best the representative of the Canadian Government can do? Oh I forgot, it is part of their plan to smear Moroun.
It appears that even Federal bureaucrats have been hit by the amnesia disease as well. He forgot that DRIC destroyed the concept of the Bridge having a monopoly when they set out the competition that they face already.
Only in a bureaucratic mind could a loss of 80% of truck traffic and 60% of overall traffic to a new DRIC bridge be considered losing “some traffic." Today's Trucking figured out with the loss of border traffic in general and the huge loss at the Ambassador Bridge that:
- "Ambassador Bridge truck crossings plummet
12/15/2008
WINDSOR, Ont. -- If this keeps up, there might not be a reason for a second bridge at the Windsor-Detroit Gateway after all.
Freight traffic over the world's busiest border crossing declined by nearly 500,000 trucks through November from 2007.
According to reports, truck traffic on the Ambassador Bridge dropped 14.9 percent to 2.7 million from 3.2 million last year."
As Mr. O'Dell knows, an investment grade traffic study was supposed to have been prepared presumably to bolster the Governments’ case that there is sufficient traffic so that an investor would make a return on its investment. The Government hired a consulting firm, Wilbur Smith, to do the job. The RFP went out in November, 2007. It was supposed to be finished by the Summer of 2008.
I was told the other day that it was not yet finished and might be completed next June, a year late!
Funny that it has not yet been completed after all of this time. Oh my, the results cannot be included in the DRIC EA. I wonder why.
The answer should be simple: it destroys the entire rationale for building a DRIC bridge! The Report has to be buried. It's ok though. I will do an FOI for it!
WHAT A RELIEF
- "Madoff fraud may not add up to $50 bln-experts
NEW YORK, Dec 12 (Reuters) - When the dust settles, Bernard Madoff's alleged fraud could turn out to be closer to $20 billion than $50 billion, fund experts said on Friday."
- "It's not my job to worry about Detroit," said Francis, the mayor of Windsor. "My job is to be concerned about the people of Windsor."
posted by JoeBlog at 12:01 a.m.
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