Questions, Questions, Questions

Who will provide the answers and when

WHAT ARE THE UNDEVELOPMENT COMMISSION INCOME AND EXPENSES

Will we ever see a statement about how much the WEDC received in revenue and from whom and how much it spent? In particular, how much was spent in domestic and foreign travel and by whom over the last several years. What concrete results were achieved by the travel?

I would have thought this information should be readily available by now for the new Board and to the public. After all, there is nothing to hide is there. We do not need a forensic accounting do we.

Speaking of the Board how does Eddie get to sit on it given the Council Resolution saying he can only be a member for a few months. Was something passed in camera to change that?

And by the way, don't you find it surprising that his appointment was not made publicly? I heard he initially wanted a private person on the Board but when Bill Marra's name was put forward, since there was a view expressed that a City politician should be a Board member, Eddie put his name forward too. Eddie won 6-5 in the vote. Given the closeness, who voted for and against?

Will Eddie now receive a Board fee if he is a permanent Board member?

Given his run for federal office if he should be nominated, should Warden Santos resign from the Baord?

WHEN ARE THE INVESTIGATION RESULTS TO BE RELEASED

Gee, how long does it take for the internal report and for the Integrity Commissioner's report on the infamous leak during the strike to be released? Earl Basse received the complaint in mid-June!

If he has reported already, when did he do so and where is the Report for the public to review? If it was management, could this be considered proof of bad faith negotiating that prolonged the strike to the financial detriment of CUPE workers?

I am pretty sure I can guess who leaked it from a Star photo I saw but I would like official confirmation.

And by the way, has anyone ever asked how Councillor Marra's "New Beginnings" program made it into Eddie's Back To Work Protocol and why? Bill was not told about it in advance it seems from his email especially since Bill claimed it was irrelevant to the strike.

ARE DWIGHT AND EDDIE GOOD FRIENDS NOW

Clearly they have to be. It is not too early to be thinking about possible runs for federal seats and re-elections as Mayor and as MPP.

With the sale of Brighton Beach and the DRIC Road supposedly moving forward, Greenlink has to be put to death or rather, some great compromise has to be reached so Eddie can save face!

Will Bill Marra's ambition to be Mayor be sacrificed again in the name of power politics?

WHERE WILL GORD ORR GO

I ask this because:

• "Current managing director of the visitors bureau, Gordon Orr, a 14-year city employee, has been at the helm since February 2003. He has decided to remain a city employee and not apply for the tourism top job. He expects to be reassigned to a new position within a few months after overseeing the transition of a new CEO."

I wonder if he will join the CAO's Group. Councillor Halberstadt in his BLOG recently wrote:

• "With all of the talk about scaling back the municipal workforce in the wake of the CUPE strike, I cannot resist dusting off a blog I posted about a month before the walkout. Before reading it again, you should be advised that all of these new positions (up to seven) to serve out of the CAO's office will be non-union personnel...
  
  I have a hard time believing that the mayor and upper administration will have the gonads to go ahead and actually hire these individuals."

He was referring to this:

• "Windsor property taxpayers can be forgiven for shaking their heads in disbelief when they learn that City Council has earmarked $570,000 to hire a battery of new full-time equivalent positions under the auspices of the CAO's office.
  
  It remains unclear how many FTE positions will be created in CAO John Socorobohacz's office in the midst of a job-loss tsunami cresting across the rest of the community, but it could be up to seven...
  
  The concept of a Corporate Communications Office has been a political footbal for two years...
  
  The cynical view is that this office will be populated by spin doctors spewing propaganda.
  
  One passage in the Service Delivery Review charter on this project indicates the latter might be the case, at least in part. It enunciates that one of the roles of the office will be "damage control."

Gord is a good Communicator after all. He and the Mayor's wife, Michelle Prince, do Movie Reviews on CKLW as just one example.

WHY DO WE NEED A CANAL

There goes Councillor Hatfiled grandstanding again, this time for a real grandstand:

• "With Amanda's success and Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis lobbying to host the International Children's Games, the idea of building a 50-metre pool here has been raised again. The city and county could lobby governments for money for a pool for the region, on the edge of South Windsor, minutes from Tecumseh, Essex and LaSalle, says city Coun. Percy Hatfield."

For sure, keep it away from downtown. We cannot have people attracted to the West End Super anchor site can we, say tied in with an Aquarium!

Instead of trying to save a buck by removing PRBs from newly elected Councillors (but NOT from himself and his colleagues), he should be advocating building a series of Geodesic Domes over the canal, part of which could be used for a pool!

I am certain that Minister Baird and MP Jeff Watson could find the money for that too especially if they are trying to save Jeff from being defeated by Warden Nelson Santos in the next Federal election. They found $34M for Eddie already. What's a few bucks more?

WHO ELSE IS RUNNING FOR THE LIBERALS

Some one seems to know the result in advance. I guess the answer must be no one since it looks like Nelson will be acclaimed:

• "Nelson Santos Nomination Meeting will be Friday August 14th around 7-7:30 PM possibly at the [name of location] in Kingsville - not confirmed yet. They're asking for the President, Executives & family, friends of the [Name of riding] Fed. And Prov. ridings to be invited. They will be sending the invitations later."

WILL DALTON FINALLY GIVE US THE POWER OF RECALL OF MUNICIPAL POLITICIANS

Just imagine how active people would be in local politics then. The threat of recall itself would keep politicians on the straight and narrow.

Just look at the Ward Boundary Review fiasco where a Petition of only a few hundred Windsorites has scared the heck out of our Council:

• "This is obviously a difficult issue for some members of council to deal with because reshaping the city electoral map could not only increase workload, but could also make re-election more difficult.
  
  That's likely part of the reason councillors were unable to come to an agreement on a revised ward system a month ago.
  
  They looked at everything from 10 wards to 8 wards and two fewer councillors. After a dozen failed motions and a three-hour debate, council essentially gave up.
  
  But public pressure resulted in a motion to reconsider a new ward system, and that will lead to a discussion -- and hopefully a decision -- Monday."

WILL THE BROOKINGS REPORT EVER BE REPORTED CORRECTLY

I doubt it. It destroys the DRIC bridge project since it says that spending billions cannot be justified since traffic has dropped so much.

The distortion of facts on the reporting of their Report has bothered me. I cannot believe how sloppy the media is by continuing to report something that is factually wrong.

I suspect thought that I know who has caused the sloppiness and why ie not disclosing to reporters a key section of the report.

I saw that Jim Lyons of the Windsor Construction Association gave an interview recently on the border file and sent him this note with a copy to his Board:

• "Jim,
  
  I saw the comments in the Daily Commercial News. http://dcnonl.com/article/id34828 "Windsor, Ontario awaits crossing jobs boom"
  
  I do not know if you told the publication about or if they had the information themselves already about the Brookings Report. That report in fact said that the Ambassador Bridge's new bridge would be built first and questioned the need for spending billions on a DRIC bridge since traffic has decreased so much. In other words, the story's comment was completely incorrect. It is the need for the DRIC bridge that is being questioned
  
  In addition, the proposed DRIC road can be routed directly to the Ambassador Bridge to avoid "current-access thoroughfares" and access to the Ambassador Bridge accordingly would NOT need any "careful planning regarding traffic access through Windsor."
  
  Please help to stop the spread of disinformation to members of the Construction industry. As you know, the consequences can be serious for them if they do not know the facts."

HAS THE AMBASSADOR BRIDGE COMPANY HAD ENOUGH

You better believe it.

I have no intention of making a comment about the dispute between the Bridge Company and Councillor Jones since the Star story does not set out the specific matters in issue although it has to do with the homes on Indian Road.

I expect that not only will

• "The Ambassador Bridge company [fire] a warning shot across the bow... threatening legal action if [anyone] persists in spreading what the company alleges is misinformation about its practices and intentions regarding [the border file]"

but will actually start suing regardless where the Party is located and regardless who the Party is.

It will be interesting to see if someone will have the nerve to test them now.

WILL THE TORONTO MEDIA DO A CORRECTION

Remember how they gushed over Eddie and his brilliant plans to handle garbage during our strike? They accepted at face value about the 75-80% of garbage that he said was being dealt with.

Why then are they not reporting this:

• "Trash pickup still behind, but no OT
  
  City officials are holding firm to a pledge not to pay overtime following the 15-week municipal strike, although trash collection is still running about two days behind.
  
  “Council has determined that the best way to proceed is to get garbage collection back on track, but not to pay out any strike related overtime to accomplish that goal,” Ward 1 Coun. Dave Brister said Thursday evening.
  
  “A number of councillors, myself included, heard from residents throughout the strike who said, do not pay overtime to complete the work that wasn’t done during the strike.”

Wait, if there is garbage still not picked up, do not blame Eddie:

• BLAME COUNCILLOR BRISTER

Wait, we cannot blame the Mayor and Council or even the Councillor. You see, Eddie's plan worked completely. It is just that Windsorites are so wasteful and so not concerend with the environment that we have produced tons of new garbage since the strike is over and that has caused the problem. Accordingly,

• BLAME WINDSORITES