Readers Write
Here are some more words of wisdom from readers. Where are yours for the world to see?
1) As you know, a number of citizens have been attending each of the last 7 or 8 meetings of the City of Windsor AUDIT COMMITTEE, often speaking as delegations (separately) on the subject of The Mike Dunbar Audit.
This audit covers all the details concerning the construction of the "400 City Hall Square Building". This building was finished at a cost of $33.4 Million, $6 Million above the original "not to exceed" price. This audit was commissioned by resolution of Council in July of 2006 and conducted by the City's chief auditor Mike Dunbar.
Mike Dunbar resigned from the City in December 2007.
If you've followed this story at all (it has been the subject of five artcles in the Windsor Star and 4 Editorial pieces all during 2008)you have learned as the "DISTURBERS" have:
-That during the year this "audit" was in the hands of the City CAO it was seen by the Mayor and at least (we believe) 25 city staffers..(much of this was learned at a June 08 Council Meeting); yet the citizens have been denied the right to view it.
- The Audit Committee has decided that it "isn't really an audit" because it lacks many details that should be included ...that's their excuse for not releasing it (yet);
- The Audit Committee has hired KPMG to AUDIT the audit and make recommendations for "completing" it;
-As well they have hired a Lawyer from Toronto to explore the legal issues raised by the "audit".
That's where it all stands!
The next meeting of the Audit Committee is TUESDAY DECEMBER 2 at 2 PM in the fabled 400 City Hall Square building, probably in room 407.
Several people already have been granted status as a DELEGATION, and will be speaking again (for up to 5 minutes) demanding that the Mike Dunbar Audit be released at once, without further delay.
What can you do?
If you are concerned, as many are, you could simply ATTEND this meeting, with the rest of us -OR- if you really want to get involved, you can contact City Council Services, the Clerk's Office (below) and ask to be a DELEGATION allowed to speak at this meeting.
The person to contact (by Nov 28th) is
Mary Lou McCullough
Council Committee Coordinator
Phone 519-255-6222, extension 6470
This audit covers all the details concerning the construction of the "400 City Hall Square Building". This building was finished at a cost of $33.4 Million, $6 Million above the original "not to exceed" price. This audit was commissioned by resolution of Council in July of 2006 and conducted by the City's chief auditor Mike Dunbar.
Mike Dunbar resigned from the City in December 2007.
If you've followed this story at all (it has been the subject of five artcles in the Windsor Star and 4 Editorial pieces all during 2008)you have learned as the "DISTURBERS" have:
-That during the year this "audit" was in the hands of the City CAO it was seen by the Mayor and at least (we believe) 25 city staffers..(much of this was learned at a June 08 Council Meeting); yet the citizens have been denied the right to view it.
- The Audit Committee has decided that it "isn't really an audit" because it lacks many details that should be included ...that's their excuse for not releasing it (yet);
- The Audit Committee has hired KPMG to AUDIT the audit and make recommendations for "completing" it;
-As well they have hired a Lawyer from Toronto to explore the legal issues raised by the "audit".
That's where it all stands!
The next meeting of the Audit Committee is TUESDAY DECEMBER 2 at 2 PM in the fabled 400 City Hall Square building, probably in room 407.
Several people already have been granted status as a DELEGATION, and will be speaking again (for up to 5 minutes) demanding that the Mike Dunbar Audit be released at once, without further delay.
What can you do?
If you are concerned, as many are, you could simply ATTEND this meeting, with the rest of us -OR- if you really want to get involved, you can contact City Council Services, the Clerk's Office (below) and ask to be a DELEGATION allowed to speak at this meeting.
The person to contact (by Nov 28th) is
Mary Lou McCullough
Council Committee Coordinator
Phone 519-255-6222, extension 6470
[Sign up as a late delgation]
It has been 23 months since this completed audit was delivered; it's time for the citizens to see it!
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT
2) Gosh Ed - do you ever sleep??? I sat down three times in the last 3 days and had to reread all of this. Totally mindboggling. I'm going to start calling you the Magnificent Carnac. There are just way too many players in this game to make heads or tails of all of this but I still thank you for digging and laying it all out.
3) And to comment on your Wednesday's article, One After Another, I did shake my head in disgust with Cuderman's statement, "He (Moroun) has decimated a whole community and made us look like a ghetto on his own whim." Please, Mary Ann, save the BS. How convenient for her too to be suffering from amnesia, forgetting to mention the interim bylaws put in place by her beloved Mayor. If Council would have sat and gave the Bridge Corp more than 10 minutes to present the Green Corridor project, those properties would have been ripped down and the project would have been under way. This could have been a very good start for some real progress in West Windsor. Mary Ann better not rely on her Prince to make things happen down there with some great financial incentives. Ed just forgot to mention that the well was dry.
Anyhow, God love ya Ed for your labors and again thanks for the read this weekend.
4) Suggestions for the jail................
Have it moved to Chatham-Kent where they want it.
Current technology allows for prisoners to be tried via cable.
No transportation costs.
No "increased crime rate".
Empty land for future city planning prospects.
Since the jail is Provincial responsibility, and that an EA assessment is a waste of
paperwork, we can assume Eddie is crying the blues because he has no say.
This way he makes the province look like the bad guys.
I still say the jail should go on the downtown city west lands.
Talk about captivating the core visitors.
5) Why don't they just build it downtown? Just imagine how many people it would bring downtown probably more than the engineering building. ;-)
6) Isn't this a made in Windsor story
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/story.html?id=9d763c91-07a5-44a3-90b3-25f7f90464de
7) I heard that both Windsor and Detroit are thinking of turning the tunnel into a car wash, that way we can get legally hosed! When Detroit wants to make a deal with anybody regardless of country or state, we all should be holding onto our wallets.
8) Can you picture an arrangement where Windsor owns the revenue stream and some bridge owner purchases the U.S. half of the tunnel?
9) Good morning ED
Say ED clue me in buddy is there a court date for the Juncion trial? If so please let me know I want to be one of the crowd.
10) Duncan tries to be concillatory, speaks like a gentleman, and the mayor responds like a [expletive deleted]. I weep for this city.
11) The terrible injustice that has been meted out to Geoge & Chuck is the result of our elected representatives failing to exercise due diligence. What the Mayor has against these law abiding taxpaying businessmen has yet to be determined. When they win their civil suit will be the time for this Mayor to do the right thing and resign.
12) I hope Henderson reads - and publishes - the Sound offs for the Sofos story.
This is the epitome of political interference and beaurocratic red tapethat is causing businesses in Windsor to flee to other areas, or worse,go bankrupt leaving empty buildings and lost dreams.
13) Ed, I feel sick to my stomach reading this. What the hell is Francis thinking as this is nothing more than Corporate suicide. Is he that intent on overpowering ABC that he can't see the writing on the cash flow statement? This transaction does not make one ounce of sense to me.
Thank you for all the digging. The taxpayers in this City need to know what is really going on.
14) Ed with the amount of lawsuits in this city we should be able to lower the jobless rate by training more lawyers for the city. Has anyone kept count of how many lawsuits that have laid against the city since Eddie took office with all of the lawyers running the city, without a business man to make a common sense decision?
The cost to be crazy, is there to find out how many cases they are working on and how much the city is hiding in exposure to these lawsuits.
It is going to a whole room of lawyers to clean up the mess that is left behind
15) Ed, my question being, how can they justify this monster project, when not needed ? who will be blamed at the failure when the ambassador bridge builds the second span ahead of all the rest , and keeps a lower fare for the vehicles crossing.??? honestly , many heads should roll for this blunder and stupidity, I am afraid the true cost to "taxpayers will never be known, [LETS FACE IT , IT,S ALL TAXPAYERS MONEY DOWN TO THE LAST LINE ON THE PAVEMENT." I cannot wait to see the reaction when the bridge company sues every body,
16) Do you suppose it meant anything that Obama’s call to Harper was collect???
17) This is not the first time that you have mentioned Marra as a possible mayoral candidate…I’m curious to know why…What are you seeing that the rest of us aren’t?
18) Ed, how good do you feel by getting this so right all along?
thanks for the blog. You're truly devoted and never at a loss for words. I look forward to your writings as much as my first morning coffee.
19) Margaret Thatcher was absolutely correct. Getting elected, and then getting re-elected are the primary concerns of every politician that I have encountered.
20) If anyone thinks that this Council will use this money ($20 million) for the replacement of aging sewers, water mains, and roads is dreaming in technicolor. This will only happen if Queens Park put stipulations on it similar to those imposed on the E. C. Row upgrade.
21) This is the exact problem with this debate ... having these meetings promotes NIMBY thinking to the n'th degree and thus nothing gets done.
It has been 23 months since this completed audit was delivered; it's time for the citizens to see it!
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT
2) Gosh Ed - do you ever sleep??? I sat down three times in the last 3 days and had to reread all of this. Totally mindboggling. I'm going to start calling you the Magnificent Carnac. There are just way too many players in this game to make heads or tails of all of this but I still thank you for digging and laying it all out.
3) And to comment on your Wednesday's article, One After Another, I did shake my head in disgust with Cuderman's statement, "He (Moroun) has decimated a whole community and made us look like a ghetto on his own whim." Please, Mary Ann, save the BS. How convenient for her too to be suffering from amnesia, forgetting to mention the interim bylaws put in place by her beloved Mayor. If Council would have sat and gave the Bridge Corp more than 10 minutes to present the Green Corridor project, those properties would have been ripped down and the project would have been under way. This could have been a very good start for some real progress in West Windsor. Mary Ann better not rely on her Prince to make things happen down there with some great financial incentives. Ed just forgot to mention that the well was dry.
Anyhow, God love ya Ed for your labors and again thanks for the read this weekend.
4) Suggestions for the jail................
Have it moved to Chatham-Kent where they want it.
Current technology allows for prisoners to be tried via cable.
No transportation costs.
No "increased crime rate".
Empty land for future city planning prospects.
Since the jail is Provincial responsibility, and that an EA assessment is a waste of
paperwork, we can assume Eddie is crying the blues because he has no say.
This way he makes the province look like the bad guys.
I still say the jail should go on the downtown city west lands.
Talk about captivating the core visitors.
5) Why don't they just build it downtown? Just imagine how many people it would bring downtown probably more than the engineering building. ;-)
6) Isn't this a made in Windsor story
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/story.html?id=9d763c91-07a5-44a3-90b3-25f7f90464de
7) I heard that both Windsor and Detroit are thinking of turning the tunnel into a car wash, that way we can get legally hosed! When Detroit wants to make a deal with anybody regardless of country or state, we all should be holding onto our wallets.
8) Can you picture an arrangement where Windsor owns the revenue stream and some bridge owner purchases the U.S. half of the tunnel?
9) Good morning ED
Say ED clue me in buddy is there a court date for the Juncion trial? If so please let me know I want to be one of the crowd.
10) Duncan tries to be concillatory, speaks like a gentleman, and the mayor responds like a [expletive deleted]. I weep for this city.
11) The terrible injustice that has been meted out to Geoge & Chuck is the result of our elected representatives failing to exercise due diligence. What the Mayor has against these law abiding taxpaying businessmen has yet to be determined. When they win their civil suit will be the time for this Mayor to do the right thing and resign.
12) I hope Henderson reads - and publishes - the Sound offs for the Sofos story.
This is the epitome of political interference and beaurocratic red tapethat is causing businesses in Windsor to flee to other areas, or worse,go bankrupt leaving empty buildings and lost dreams.
13) Ed, I feel sick to my stomach reading this. What the hell is Francis thinking as this is nothing more than Corporate suicide. Is he that intent on overpowering ABC that he can't see the writing on the cash flow statement? This transaction does not make one ounce of sense to me.
Thank you for all the digging. The taxpayers in this City need to know what is really going on.
14) Ed with the amount of lawsuits in this city we should be able to lower the jobless rate by training more lawyers for the city. Has anyone kept count of how many lawsuits that have laid against the city since Eddie took office with all of the lawyers running the city, without a business man to make a common sense decision?
The cost to be crazy, is there to find out how many cases they are working on and how much the city is hiding in exposure to these lawsuits.
It is going to a whole room of lawyers to clean up the mess that is left behind
15) Ed, my question being, how can they justify this monster project, when not needed ? who will be blamed at the failure when the ambassador bridge builds the second span ahead of all the rest , and keeps a lower fare for the vehicles crossing.??? honestly , many heads should roll for this blunder and stupidity, I am afraid the true cost to "taxpayers will never be known, [LETS FACE IT , IT,S ALL TAXPAYERS MONEY DOWN TO THE LAST LINE ON THE PAVEMENT." I cannot wait to see the reaction when the bridge company sues every body,
16) Do you suppose it meant anything that Obama’s call to Harper was collect???
17) This is not the first time that you have mentioned Marra as a possible mayoral candidate…I’m curious to know why…What are you seeing that the rest of us aren’t?
18) Ed, how good do you feel by getting this so right all along?
thanks for the blog. You're truly devoted and never at a loss for words. I look forward to your writings as much as my first morning coffee.
19) Margaret Thatcher was absolutely correct. Getting elected, and then getting re-elected are the primary concerns of every politician that I have encountered.
20) If anyone thinks that this Council will use this money ($20 million) for the replacement of aging sewers, water mains, and roads is dreaming in technicolor. This will only happen if Queens Park put stipulations on it similar to those imposed on the E. C. Row upgrade.
21) This is the exact problem with this debate ... having these meetings promotes NIMBY thinking to the n'th degree and thus nothing gets done.
22) ED
As you are aware, many communities are transferring their loyalties from newspapers to blogs and many newspapers are establishing blogs in anticipation of this shift. The big question is how to develop a business plan that will sustain bloggers but I think that this is going to happen.
I believe that if you can develop a more newspaper-like blog with definable sections and features you will be in a position to compete effectively with your local paper very soon.
I don't doubt that you are way ahead of me on this but I have been reading about Bloomberg's increasing dominance over traditional newspapers and I thought of you.
As you are aware, many communities are transferring their loyalties from newspapers to blogs and many newspapers are establishing blogs in anticipation of this shift. The big question is how to develop a business plan that will sustain bloggers but I think that this is going to happen.
I believe that if you can develop a more newspaper-like blog with definable sections and features you will be in a position to compete effectively with your local paper very soon.
I don't doubt that you are way ahead of me on this but I have been reading about Bloomberg's increasing dominance over traditional newspapers and I thought of you.
posted by JoeBlog at 10:05 a.m.
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