WeACT Rules; Another Success For Windsorites

What a nice story in the Star about “the affable and occasionally ornery curmudgeons who have been hounding members of the city's audit committee for nearly a year.” They are members of WeACT, the Windsor Association of Concern Taxpayers, headed by Chris Schnurr.

They deserve our thanks for a year's worth of effort! The audit is devastating to the City's project management of the 400 building. Wait until Part II comes out for some real shockers.

There is no doubt at all that Windsorites would not be seeing anything at all significant about the 400 Building Audit but for their involvement. There is no doubt whatsoever that ultimately the Dunbar Audit will be released due to their persistence.

Of course, this is not the only project they are involved in. I would tell you what some of the others are except that would give it away to City Hall. I have no intention of doing. I want Council and Administration to be caught by surprise.

One other project that was mentioned in the story is the Windsor Tunnel deal with Detroit. Wait until you see what happens at the next Commission meeting. It should make the Star and the other media outlets as well. Just a warning in advance for the various Media Editors in town. Make sure that you have crews available to attend that meeting also.

The beauty of what they are doing is that they are holding politicians accountable in a way that cannot be done at Council. A Politician who hopes to be elected to a position has no choice but to deal with them at the Committee meeting or look like a fool in the eyes of the Public.

I suspect that the Dunbar audit is not all that different than what was revealed yesterday. But look at the turmoil that it has caused the Mayor and Council who been made to look like idiots for being so secretive. That is worth more than the price of admission.

Another member that attends a number of meetings along with the five is “Madame LeFarge.” I would suggest that you do a search on the Internet to understand the significance of the name. One thing that is for certain. If she was at the roundtable as pictured in the Star, she would not have told the reporter her age!

The five are members of WeACT as the story just briefly mentioned. Now you understand the raison d’être of the group and its significance for Windsor with its most secretive municipal Government.

• “Founded in 2007, the Windsor Association of Concerned Taxpayers (WeACT) is a watchdog organization that looks out for your tax dollars and rights as a taxpayer.
  
  We provide oversight of local government and aggressively resist unwarranted taxes and fees and ill-advised public expenditures. We challenge our municipal government to be accessible, responsive, efficient and fair. "

There are of course many other members of WeACT with other skills who were working on different projects, just ready to pounce on Politicians who think they can fool the public. Some of those people are public while others are working behind the scenes for obvious reasons.

The good part about a group like WeACT is that it can draw on the expertise of people who are quite talented at what they do and who have good connections within the City. Moreover, considering many of them are retired as well, they have the ability and most importantly the time to do things that an ordinary citizen might not be able to undertake with all of their day-to-day responsibilities. Being "older" in this case is a huge advantage because most of these people who are now politically involved have seen it all before. There is not all that is so new under the sun as some younger politicians may believe. Been there. Done that

Obviously, most of my readers are unable to assist WeACT by attending meetings along with the five plus one because of work, home and school commitments. Isn’t that what Government depends upon? Look at when meetings are scheduled, for Government convenience not for that of Citizens. If Citizens cannot attend, then who knows what is going on.

However, there are other ways that you can assist WeACT. Just go to their website and join up. http://www.weact.ca/

Now I'm going to make you feel guilty. What you should be doing is contributing to the WeACT Legal Fund as I have asked before. http://www.weact.ca/donate.htm

• "Funds may be paid into the Legal Fund by visiting any branch of the Royal Bank and making a deposit to Account #08152-1008275.Donations can be completely anonymously thereby eliminating any perceived or real concerns of retribution."

And for you business people who are sick and tired of City Hall but afraid to make a ruckus because you know what will happen to your business if you do, now you have a way of making a difference without anyone knowing about it.

There, after making that donation, don't you feel so much better!