Eddie On Face-To-Face

John Fairley does it again! His interview of the Mayor was masterful, allowing the Mayor to say what he wanted but pushing him into saying some things I am certain that he did not want to say.

As I have said before, John has a different style depending on whom he interviews. No matter, he gets the information out there.

Here are some excerpts from John’s interview that I thought might be interesting for you. It is just a sampler of what you will see on his complete interview with the Mayor on Cogeco.

Now if only Councillor Brister would have the nerve to appear on the show. I'd love to have John interview him about how the Arena was on budget.

MAYORAL PRIORITIES

JOHN FAIRLEY: Why weren’t you at that luncheon?

MAYOR FRANCIS: Oh I had a prior family commitment. As you can appreciate, they didn’t, they didn’t even give us notice until I think a month prior to it. So it was my wife’s…

JOHN FAIRLEY: Why didn’t the Councillors go?

MAYOR FRANCIS: ….it was my wife’s birthday weekend. I don’t know, you’re going to have to ask them. Let me go back to…

JOHN FAIRLEY: Yeah but don’t you send Councillors out? We knew there was one councillor there out of ten councillors. There’s other events, someone always goes on your behalf.

MAYOR FRANCIS: Sure.

JOHN FAIRLEY: So why didn’t anybody go?

MAYOR FRANCIS: Well you just said there was a Councillor there, so. And I know there were tons of City staff that were there as well. As far as I’m concerned I had a long standing family commitment. It was my, it was my birthday, my wife’s birthday weekend and certainly…

[While I cannot fault the Mayor for placing such importance on family, nevertheless he is the Mayor of a City of 200,000 people who do depend on him as well. He has a responsibility to citizens since he is our Leader. Considering that he had a month of time to change his family plans, his failure to attend the Premier's luncheon is inexcusable given the potential "death" of this city, in the Mayor's terms. And it was not his wife's 40th birthday either.

I saw this ad in the Star which you may find interesting as well

DID THE PREMIER BIAS THE DRIC PROCESS

JOHN FAIRLEY: Why would Premier Dalton McGuinty come to town and says we’re eager to move on it [DRIC ROAD].

MAYOR FRANCIS: anyways, back to your point in terms of the Premier. I fundamentally disagree with the Premier. The Premier’s comments that it’s the responsibility of leadership to make decisions. Okay. It’s the responsibility of leadership to make the right decision in difficult circumstances…When other cities are adopting GreenLink concepts and putting them into place to become economic competitiveness, doesn’t the Premier have a responsibility to sit back and say shouldn’t we look at doing things differently? And that’s where the Premier’s responsibility lies. More importantly, the Premier has an obligation to ensure that the integrity of the Environmental Assessment is not compromised. And that he put this process in place. He agreed to this process. This process…

JOHN FAIRLEY: Do you think he crossed a line with his comments?

MAYOR FRANCIS: Well I think his comments…

JOHN FAIRLEY: You’re a lawyer?

MAYOR FRANCIS: I, I believe his comments are very prejudicial because basically, and I don’t need, you don’t need to be a lawyer to understand this or appreciate it. DRIC is in the City of Windsor and DRIC is saying we have until December the 12th to respond to the current proposal. The Premier’s coming down on December the 5th, seven days before submission deadline and says don’t even bother. There’s an inconsistency and they can only answer it.

[If the Mayor is taking the position that the Premier's comments are prejudicial, then there is no reason to wait. He should immediately commence a lawsuit that he has threatened forever. Nothing can possibly be done, even waiting for what the Mayor claims is the DRIC timeline, to undo the bias]

DRIC LAWSUIT

JOHN FAIRLEY: Do you, do you and Council have the mandate to stop this process legally?

MAYOR FRANCIS: We as a community have the opportunity, and I think this is the important part to recognize, there is an environmental assessment. The environmental assessment is law in the Province of Ontario. The law and the legislation in the Province provides a number of opportunities for stakeholders, such as us, to provide input, to provide comment…

MAYOR FRANCIS: But we, we have different avenues available to us. Legal being one of them, okay. But it’s also important to recognize the timelines here. DRIC. The Province of Ontario. Dwight. Sandra. Premier McGuinty. Dave Wake. All of the partners associated with DRIC know the timelines. The timelines have been very, very clear…

so John, back to your earlier question about what our options are? We have another year of options available to us. And make no mistake about it, City Council has given clear direction that we are going to do what we need to do…

JOHN FAIRLEY: Did you vote in-camera to go to court? Is that a strategy on the table for the City of Windsor?

MAYOR FRANCIS: Absolutely. It’s always been a strategy and that shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.

[See comment above. A "year of options." What a farce.]

MEMBERS’ INTEGRITY ACT ISSUE

JOHN FAIRLEY: Okay. What did you talk about with Dwight in the cab ride? The infamous cab ride we heard about?

MAYOR FRANCIS: You know I’m not…

JOHN FAIRLEY: Did you talk about the border?

MAYOR FRANCIS: I’m not going to get into …

JOHN FAIRLEY: Did you talk about the border?

MAYOR FRANCIS: Well I won’t talk about…yeah we did…I’m not going to get into the details of it, but I can tell you exactly the general premise. I said to Minister Duncan, and the conversation I had with Minister Duncan is consistent with the conversation that I’ve had publicly. I’ve explained GreenLink. And just like you started off this show by asking me what the principles of GreenLink were, is exactly what I explained to him. And as I said at the St. Clair College meeting, you got to look at those three key residential areas and those high dense areas and find a way to plug up the holes to protect those residents.

[I wonder if the Opposition will ever act]

TUNNEL DEAL

JOHN FAIRLEY: Okay. We have the tunnel…give us an update on the tunnel deal. We, it’s reported in the news that there’s 1.8 legal fees already…

MAYOR FRANCIS: Mm-hmm.

JOHN FAIRLEY: …calculated. Where is it at and where are things going?

MAYOR FRANCIS: Well the tunnel deal right now is, the ball’s in Detroit’s court. And has we had indicated earlier…

JOHN FAIRLEY: The cost of, the managing the debt, like infrastructure Ontario…

MAYOR FRANCIS: Mm-hmm.

JOHN FAIRLEY: …what would the cost be for the $75 million?

MAYOR FRANCIS: Well again, we never got to that point because there are different variations of the deal that were being negotiated with the Kilpatrick team. Obviously that deal did not happen. Those discussions stopped. So we’ll see what, what starts anew.

JOHN FAIRLEY: We don’t have a ballpark of what that is?

MAYOR FRANCIS: Obviously is there’s going to see a transaction, what you’d like to see is the financials, what it will cost. And as I’ve indicated and as Cliff Sutts has indicated and everybody else has indicated that’s associated with this file, and I think you have come to know me well enough in the community who understands we will not do anything unless there’s a, a supportable and sound business case. That business case…

JOHN FAIRLEY: From the information you have right now, is it a sound business case for…

MAYOR FRANCIS: But there, the deal…

JOHN FAIRLEY: …75…

MAYOR FRANCIS: …the deal never progressed to the point where we were ready to make the deal or close the deal. And I guess you literally do not know what the deal is until you’re in a position to…

JOHN FAIRLEY: Both sides.

MAYOR FRANCIS: … close the deal and until you have all the information. And the deal never got to the stage where it was a decision, okay we got to Council this week or next week because we’re ready to close the deal. Until you get those numbers and until you have a firm understanding of what the terms and conditions are, you really can’t really assess what the …

JOHN FAIRLEY: So you don’t have…

MAYOR FRANCIS: …business case is…

JOHN FAIRLEY: …firm numbers…

MAYOR FRANCIS: …but I can tell you…

JOHN FAIRLEY: …from Infrastructure Ontario.

MAYOR FRANCIS: …I can tell you….well Infrastructure Ontario is only one element of this, really. Infrastructure Ontario is just being approached to see whether or not we can borrow money from them at whatever the interest rate was that they were charging. That’s only one element of the deal. You’ve got traffic, you’ve got a number of other issues, you’ve got capital requirements. For us, the driving, the driver force, the driving force behind the discussions was that we cannot afford to have this entity, the American half fall into private hands because of the…

[Almost $2 million spent and the transaction never progressed to the point where one could even consider whether there was a business case made such that this transaction made sense. And no information about what Infrastructure Ontario offered. Unbelievable.]

DUNBAR AUDIT/REPORT ON 400 BUILDING

JOHN FAIRLEY: Okay. Alright. City Hall. 400 City Hall Square audit.

MAYOR FRANCIS: Mm-hmm.

JOHN FAIRLEY: Have you seen the Dunbar Report, have you read it?

MAYOR FRANCIS: No. No, I’ve seen… Elements of it.

JOHN FAIRLEY: You’re telling me that this Audit that’s so important, that you have not looked at it, never read it…?

MAYOR FRANCIS: it’s not an audit and it’s not complete until the Audit Committee submits their report… There was a time….we have an Audit Committee, we have a lot of faith in their abilities to do what they need to do. There was a time where there were, desired by the Audit Committee to bring elements of it in front of City Council and there was a question as to whether or not some of it was in-camera or not. So I had to see elements of the report to make a determination. And basically my, my conclusion back to the Audit Committee was no, when you’re done your work, then you come to City Council. Until you’re done your work, and you shouldn’t be in, in front of City Council.

[Citizens should at least be able to see the parts that the Mayor saw. But don't hold your breath.]

INDIAN ROAD HOMES

JOHN FAIRLEY: What about coming together to demolish homes on Indian Road?

MAYOR FRANCIS: I could you tell you exactly and I’m going to give you more insight in terms of the discussions I’ve had with the Ambassador Bridge. Contrary to their position, contrary to what they will lead you to believe, I’ve met with the Ambassador Bridge on several occasions on this very issue. With them were, was Susan Whelan. And I can tell you exactly what I said to them. And it’s something that’s consistent with what Councillors have said, but for some reason continues to go ignored, perhaps it’s for their own purpose. We said to them show us the plan.

JOHN FAIRLEY: It’s a buffer zone.

MAYOR FRANCIS: Show us a…

JOHN FAIRLEY: It’s a green buffer zone.

MAYOR FRANCIS: Where? Where’s the plan? Do you…

JOHN FAIRLEY: Well how would anybody know…

MAYOR FRANCIS: …know what they said to me?

JOHN FAIRLEY: …about it but you?

MAYOR FRANCIS: Do you know what they said to us?

JOHN FAIRLEY: What?

MAYOR FRANCIS: They’d like to take time to develop it. We said no-no-no, we, we’ll replace it with a buffer zone, show us your construction. Home goes down tomorrow, how long is it going to take you to replace it? What’s your construction cycle? What kind of landscaping are you going to put into place? How long do the people have to wait? The fear that we have is demolishing it and becoming a parking lot. Or overgrown with weeds. We support a buffer zone. We support replacing those homes if, if they can be replaced and they, they…

MAYOR FRANCIS: Why should the Bridge, why should the Bridge be given any more special treatment or any other different treatment than you and I would receive? ‘’

JOHN FAIRLEY: Okay.

MAYOR FRANCIS: The area’s under demolition control. Go read the bylaws. They’ve been that way forever. Demolition Control is very clear. To demolish, when an area’s under Demolition Control and someone wants to apply for a demolition permit, they have to provide for what they will replace that demolished property with…

JOHN FAIRLEY: It’s not personal?

MAYOR FRANCIS: It’s never been personal. They, they like, they’ll make it seem like it’s personal.

JOHN FAIRLEY: It’s not personal to you?

MAYOR FRANCIS: No, why should [inaudible] personal?

JOHN FAIRLEY: So you would support it if they gave, came with a plan and show the buffer zone ….

MAYOR FRANCIS: Right, but…

JOHN FAIRLEY: ….and where they’re going to plant the trees and…

MAYOR FRANCIS: …not the type of plan that has been overly promised on this community and then it, we all go away. A plan that’s real with definitive timelines, with a schedule that if we agree to it, this is going be and this is going to replace it and this is how long it’s going to take to replace it.

[Their homes were not treated in a manner similar to others. It must be that darned amnesia disease again.

I guess the Mayor forgot about the Bridge Company's appearance in front of Council where they were only allowed 10 minutes to speak and were granted no extensions. I guess he forgot that they brought along their model of what they wanted to do. He also must have forgotten about this press release as well issued by the Bridge Company:

• "The Bridge had hoped to use the space for landscaping adjacent to the new customs booths under construction just west of the current Bridge. The company is working with the University of Windsor and the Green Corridor on a master plan to landscape the Huron Church Road area to improve Windsor's environment.
  
  "Our goal is to improve the international crossing that is viewed by the 9.4 million cars and trucks each year that use the Ambassador Bridge. Regrettably council's decision will delay the development of the green buffer area adjacent to the newly expanded customs plaza," added Stamper. "We will continue to work with the Green Corridor, the University of Windsor and other community partners that are interested in improving the area."]

ARENA COST

JOHN FAIRLEY: What is the cost, all in?

MAYOR FRANCIS: All in, the cost to the City taxpayer will be approximately $63 million, $62.9 million, we just made a decision last week.

JOHN FAIRLEY: But you have to, I have to ask you, what is the cost of the land?

MAYOR FRANCIS: That’s all in.

JOHN FAIRLEY: No, no, but you you traded land downtown.

MAYOR FRANCIS: That’s included in that $63 million number.

JOHN FAIRLEY: You’re [inaudible] …servicing, servicing…

MAYOR FRANCIS: John I, John…

JOHN FAIRLEY: …paving..

MAYOR FRANCIS: John I, I hate to burst the bubble, I really do, because I know there’s a lot of people out there that want this to come in a hundred million dollars because that’s what they positioned themselves on. I remember when we first announced the arena, people were saying it’s going to be $105 million, $110 million, this thing’s going to be a catastrophe. It’s coming in under, under schedule. On the budget issue? The budget issue has always been what’s it going to cost the City of Windsor. Right? The initial cost to the City of Windsor was $64.9 million. We, we’re very fortunate to receive a provincial grant…

JOHN FAIRLEY: Right.

MAYOR FRANCIS: …and I’m very grateful to the Ministry of Sports and Culture and Tourism that provided that $4 million grant. And then of that grant we used some of it to fit it out for the entertainment. We took the other remaining $2 million and applied it against what the City would have to pay, which brought it down to $62.9 million. This past week there was about $115,000.00. So it’s around $62.9 million that the City will have to pay.

JOHN FAIRLEY: But the cost of land, the developing…

MAYOR FRANCIS: All that’s in there.

JOHN FAIRLEY: …the street lights. The ..

MAYOR FRANCIS: Cost of the land.

JOHN FAIRLEY: ….asphalting…

MAYOR FRANCIS: The asphalt of the parking lots.

JOHN FAIRLEY: …the servicing.

MAYOR FRANCIS: The servicing of the site. The, all of that’s in there. And it’s not, don’t take my word for it, these documents are very public documents. They have been public from day one. The budget, the detail, all of that’s there. Just go and review it. It’s all there.

[Where oh where is Councillor Brister to put our minds at rest. I guess the cost of the new parking lot will not be included in this amount.]

RED BULL

JOHN FAIRLEY: Red Bull Races I hear is coming in June. Is that true?

MAYOR FRANCIS: Well we’re still working on it. We’re not there yet. There’s a, we hope, we’ve made some progress but we’re not there yet.

JOHN FAIRLEY: How much is it going to cost us?

MAYOR FRANCIS: Well we’re not there yet and we’ll, we still have a lot of discussions. Obviously an event of this nature is a significant event and with it comes a cost, so we, we’re in discussions with them and we’re trying to see what we can do.

[If Roger Penske thought it inappropriate to run the Grande Prix in Detroit this year, I wonder what makes Eddie believe that he will find sponsorship of the air race for the millions involved.]

THIRD TERM

JOHN FAIRLEY: Okay. Alright. You gonna run as Mayor or you’re done?

MAYOR FRANCIS: Well I’ve still got two years to go.

JOHN FAIRLEY: Are you going to be…

MAYOR FRANCIS: I’ve got two years to go…

JOHN FAIRLEY: ..continuing?

MAYOR FRANCIS: …and we’ll talk. We’ll see.

JOHN FAIRLEY: Well you said on the show you weren’t. It’s a two-year term,

MAYOR FRANCIS: I’ve still got two years to go.

JOHN FAIRLEY: Okay.

MAYOR FRANCIS: My focus is the next two years.

[Please, someone, anyone, get your campaign team together and start gearing up for the next election. Eddie is going to run for a third term. Where else could he get paid this well! Or, is he playing the Mike Hurst game and will not run but will hold everyone off until the last possible second? The only way that he can control the Councillors for the next two years is if they believe that he may be the Mayor again.

Where is that Chicken Suit again!]