More News To Share

It was a good news day today. Lots and lots of things to comment on.

THANK GOODNESS FOR A SCANDAL

Aren’t you tired already of reading about the political shenanigans in Ottawa? As I quoted before from Margaret Thatcher’s speech writer,

• “The decisions that really matter to political leaders are those to do with the getting and holding of power. Other decisions may turn out well or ill. They may cost billions of pounds or hundreds of lives, but for enlisted politicians those decisions are secondary. What matters to them is: will I still be here after this?”

Fortunately however we will have another matter that has raised its ugly head again to divert our attention from our problems. It is going to be tough for the Opposition today to know which items to hit the Government with. Here are the first two paragraphs of the story in the Globe and Mail:

• “Secret Airbus connection revealed
  Documents show former Mulroney aide involved in airplane sale
  
  Fred Doucet, Brian Mulroney's former chief of staff, received a list from Air Canada detailing how many Airbus aircraft had been delivered to the airline in the early 1990s, contradicting Mr. Doucet's sworn testimony that he has “no knowledge at all about anything involving Airbus.”
  
  The fax, as well as three letters written by Mr. Doucet, are the first indication that someone in Mr. Mulroney's inner circle expressed interest in the airplane sale before it erupted as a public scandal.”

This great...why worry about the economy. We can fight an election over a scandal. That is the recent Canadian tradition

SPEAKING OF AIRPLANES

Congratulations to us. Some good news finally

• “Windsor and Essex County have been jointly selected to host Ontario's largest municipal conference, in 2010.
  
  "It will be a great showcase for the region," Gordon Orr of the local Convention and Visitors Bureau said of the Association of Municipalities of Ontario annual gathering coming here for the first time.
  
  Orr estimates the four-day event, with approximately 2,600 attendees, could inject about $10 million into the local economy.

However, (yes I know I have to be a wet blanket) did you notice in the last paragraph of the story, where all the important information is placed so no one will read it, the following:

• “Orr said in order to win the hosting bid, the city and county had to pledge to host receptions, provide volunteers and supply buses to shuttle the delegates to meetings and on study tours. He estimated the local hosting costs at about $50,000, split evenly between the city and county.”

Frankly, that doesn’t bother me because the return on investment is pretty good if we actually do get the $10 million. You remember the overinflated Super Bowl numbers that we heard about to justify the City’s sponsorship so I am a bit skeptical about the actual amount.

It is interesting that the expenditure of money for this event did not come in front of Council on Monday. Presumably it was paid through the Convention and Visitors Bureau as part of their budget. I thought that some other events were paid through them as well to keep them away from bothering Council.

Here’s what I’m getting at. Did you see how nervous the Mayor was at Council when he was asked about Red Bull? He finally spilled the beans that he was aware of the dates of the air races but did not tell us about locations. Does that mean that we lost out or is he saving some good news for the appropriate time so that he can get the benefit of the publicity? He will also have to figure out how to get the millions required for the race but that is a whole different story.

At Council on Monday, Keith Baxter asked for $50,000 over five years, subject to a number of conditions that have to be met first, to run an air show in Windsor. The numbers of people who could attend the show could range up to 100,000 per year. Obviously, many of these people would be local but even if it was only 10% who were not, that would be almost 4 times the number of people who would be attending the AMO convention each year for 5 years or more. And the cost was only $10,000 per year, $5,000 if the County chipped in half!

As an example, the aircrews from the Forces’ aerobatics teams would probably on their own need about a hundred rooms or more for several days. Along with food, gasoline purchases for the planes and other expenses that they would spend locally. One could expect about $50,000 to be spent by them alone.

Instead, in Windsor, process rules and the request was shuffled off to some Festivals committee that will not meet until January and which has never given more than a few thousand dollars to any festival. Of course, the fact that Baxter needed the City on side by this Saturday did not seem to impress anyone. No need for flexibility when millions are at stake.

What bothers me about all this is that the Airport people and Administration were in favour of the concept. Supposedly. They know the rules better than Baxter would. Why did they set him up to fail in front of Council? Why didn’t they send him much earlier on to the proper Committee who could have looked at this matter?

If Baxter cannot demonstrate at the Air Shows meeting that the City is on side, does that mean that we lose out on the air show and all the business that would bring to us?

Baxter made a huge error. He should have said that the Town of Tecumseh wanted to be the sponsor! Then Windsor would have rushed to beat them.

THE NOSE KNOWS

A huge Brownfield development is almost ready to be announced. I can just feel it. How else to explain the big story in the Star today

Thank goodness that Councillor Dilkens has such a sensitive nose and that Councillor Halberstadt can see so well:

• “Zalev emissions targeted
  Councillor complains of 'putrid' odours, questions monitoring
  
  Coun. Drew Dilkens was driving home from a Caboto Club event on Saturday night around 10 p.m. when he described odours from the metal recycling company as intolerable.
  
  "I had to hold my breath. I could hardly breathe because the smell was so horrendous," he said…
  
  Coun. Alan Halberstadt also raised concerns at Monday's council meeting about Zalev's, pointing to a costly cleanup earlier this year of discoloured curbs, sidewalks and medians on Howard Avenue that were linked to iron oxide dust from trucks leaving the scrap yard…
  
  “While the $75,000 cleanup was done months ago at the company's expense, the problem of the rust-coloured material being tracked out of the scrap yard has returned, Halberstadt said.
  
  "They are still dragging the stuff out and it's back out on the streets," he said.”

Expect more and more stories about this to work up the locals about this environmental disaster in our midst. Remember what I BLOGGed before when speaking about the University Engineering Complex transaction and the so-called money that the City was to put forward. Eddie presented a proposal that was described as "too vague" such that the University was forced to reject it:

• “Effectively, the Mayor suckered his Councillor colleagues into being agreeable to fund almost $40 million for a project payable over a number of years, even higher if one includes the waiver of property taxes. All that is needed now is for the Mayor to put forward a gigantic transaction and Councillors will have no reason not to approve it. They will have no choice especially since it won't start until around 2010, just in time to get them re-elected…
  
  Now what could this deal be... Henderson gave it away the day after Eddie was re-elected as Mayor and gave it away again today in his column. The item was dealt with at Council recently as well and the radio station of the "W" news director strapper just happened to run a poll on the subject. As the Sheriff warns us:
  
  "If nothing else, that leaves the city with fiscal leeway for future deals that could include ... dare we hope, elimination of the Zalev scrapyard."
  
  You will see the dream being promoted soon of a huge multi-million dollar deal for the Zalev scrapyard in which the three levels of Government each contribute $40-$50 million for the Brownfield redevelopment of this site. Obviously, Councillors and the public will jump on board and demand that it be done. A huge development at this site will be Eddie's legacy to himself.”

86% RATE INCREASE IS NOTHING FOR WINDSOR TAXPAYERS

The story speaks for itself:

• "Municipalities saddled with aging infrastructure, plummeting demand
  
  ESSEX -- Increases in water and sewer surcharge rates for 2009 could hit area homeowners harder than tax increases as municipalities grapple with aging infrastructure and provincial pressure for full cost recovery…
  
  Watson Associates consultant Gary Scandlan predicts increases in water and sewer surcharge rates of around 10 per cent will be common across Ontario…
  
  Brought in to develop a 10-year plan for water and sewage system funding in the Town of Essex, Scandlan recommended five to eight per cent increases in water rates in 2009 in the four wards of the Town of Essex.
  
  But the need for a $7.3-million sewage treatment plant in the Colchester South ward could mean a whopping 26 per cent increase in its sewer surcharge.
  
  In Lakeshore, the big debate will be over whether to keep a $144 a year special levy on 12,000 homes brought in two years ago to fix the worst of the town's 56 kilometres of rusty water pipes…
  
  But along with keeping the levy in place, the town's draft budget also recommends an eight per cent increase in water consumption rates and a five per cent increase in the sewer surcharge rate.
  
  Tecumseh will also put its residents on notice shortly of plans for water and sewer surcharge rate increases…
  
  Essex hasn't made any decisions on the rates yet and any changes will be advertised first and go to a public meeting.”

ARE LANDLORDS BEING SUCKERED

I think so. They just don’t know it yet. Their victory was too easy.

• “Commissioner says new regulations too onerous
  
  Hundreds of landlords crowded into city council chambers Tuesday night erupted into applause when the Windsor Licensing Commission accepted a report that no further regulations be imposed on their sector.
  
  The group was worried that the commission would follow the lead of other cities like Oshawa in imposing limits on the number of bedrooms for student housing, written tenancy agreements for each tenant and other regulations.
  
  But city licensing director Diane Sibley told commission members that the requirements would result in an "onerous licencing regime for business owners."

The real crunch comes next week at Council when they get truly hammered unless they are there in droves again to resist what is to be imposed on them.

Those City Hall people are just so smart. Take a look at the Agenda Item and see who is supposed to be part of the Committee:

Oh my goodness, can you believe who was not supposed to be part of the Committee: the landlords! Also there is no representative from the Real Estate Board who obviously would have expertise in the subject matter and who would be aware of what investors would think.

Were the landlords being set up with the easy victory so they would not think to attend at Council. Or perhaps just to have one or two people there so that when they were ignored their opponents could say that landlords made their case but lost out.

If I am correct, then it troubles me that this is the way that Government operates inWindsor.

Oh well, I guess it is just like Jr. A hockey. Council is the training ground for politicians for the time when they play in the Parliamentary Big League in Ottawa.