Sam's Garden Of Eden Does Not Win The BIG Award

Congratulations are due to Sam Schwartz for winning a Diamond Award for his Greenlink project. Mind you, I am not sure which version of Greenlink was presented--the original, Son of Greenlink or some other variation or compromise solution. But that is a quibble.

Unfortunately, Sam did not win the Empire Award but it seems that his project may not have been eligible since it looks like a New York State award only.

I mention this because good old Gord talked about the award when discussing Greenlink.

• "The irony, from Windsor's perspective, is that Mayor Eddie Francis will be in Manhattan tonight to join the Sam Schwartz firm at a black-tie gala of the American Council of Engineering Companies of New York where Green- Link will be given a Diamond award for its innovative design.
  
  Good enough to win awards in New York State. But not good enough for the folks in charge of laying asphalt in Ontario, the ones who can't figure out how to keep service centres open on our most important highway."

The suggestion is that Sam's project design was better than DRIC's. Maybe it was and maybe it was not. You see the DRIC Road was not eligible for the award since only FOREIGN HIRED consultants from New York State were eligible to apply.

• "An ACEC New York hallmark is the annual Engineering Excellence Awards (EEA) Program. EEA recognizes and celebrates engineering achievements that demonstrate the highest degree of skill and ingenuity among member firms."

And member firms are

• "firms registered to practice engineering in New York State"

Sorry Gord, that tactic does not work either!