Early Edition: Council Bits and Pieces

Here are some random thoughts

DAYCARE PECUNIARY INTERESTS

I was told the name of the private daycare that Edgar's child attends but obviously, I will not BLOG it.

However, should Edgar (aka Eddie) be in the Chair when the issue comes up at Council? If the City daycares are ended and more kids attend private daycare to fill up spaces, then costs could come down. So he could obtain a benefit if the costs for his private daycare decreased.

Perhaps the Integrity Commissioner could rule on that...assuming he is not unemployed too after Monday. I don't expect him to be around, do you?

Given the Mayor's abundance of caution approach to conflict of interest, I am certain that he will stand down.

Whew, lucky for a certain hardliner that his/her spouse no longer works for the City's daycare group! That might have been awkward otherwise on the home front.

Another rumour circulating is about an Administrator whose in-law and also a good friend both have interests in private daycares. Does anyone have any information about that? Is it true or just an uncalled for, vicious attack?

If true, could that cause a problem if that is disclosed now?

If it is true and not disclosed until after the vote at Council, then that person should be fired if he/she had a role in the daycare matter.

So much drama Monday night!

WHEN WILL COUNCILLOR HALBERSTADT APOLOGIZE TO CUPE

Whiny Alan doth protest too much

Poor Alan and his reputation:

• "If the city's integrity commissioner continues to imply that a councillor was the source of a sensitive leak during last year's bitter CUPE strike, then he should either expose the culprit or apologize, says Coun. Alan Halberstadt.
  
  "It's pretty clear to me he's indicating the leak was from council," said Halberstadt. The problem, he added, is that Earl Basse failed to unmask the guilty party.
  
  "Apparently it is his gut feeling that a councillor was the leak, but by not naming the culprit, he implicates all of us," Halberstadt wrote in a recent posting on his Internet blog."

Slamming CUPE did not bother him when he said:

• "It has become clear now that the infamous "leak" (to the A Channel) of the bargaining positions of the city and CUPE was perpetrated by CUPE National. Details were perhaps verified by one or more people on the city side."

Where is his proof? Did Alan expose the culprit? Details were perhaps verified. Or perhaps they were NOT!

Nor did he complain about these smears from the City against unionists or ask for proof that I can recall. They were not true based on the Commish's investigation:

• "the city's response points out the leak could have just as easily come from a member of the union's bargaining committee. The city further alleges the leak could have come from an executive member of another union, going so far as to suggest a certain individual had been known to have loose lips in the past."
  
  
• "The Transit Windsor union leader whom the city suggests may have leaked details of contract proposals that derailed talks in the city strike has told a fellow union member he wasn't the source.
  
  Dragan Markovic, the president of Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 616, which represents hourly Transit Windsor employees, was identified as a possible source for the infamous leak in the city's response to a bad faith bargaining complaint filed by CUPE with the Ontario Labour Relations Board."

Halberstadt really needs to be quiet already:

• "Halberstadt said. "I was going to ask him again. If he determines it is a councillor, then what's his evidence?" he added.

DUH....Alan knows why the Commish reached the conclusion he did because it is in the report or didn't Alan take the time to read it:

Let it go Alan. We know why you are really mouthing off. It is your own self-interest

• "Mayor Eddie Francis and Councillors Ken Lewenza and Fulvio Valentinis suggested last week in the Windsor Star that hiring an Integrity Commissioner might be a good idea in the wake of a controversy surrounding the posting of "alleged" sensitive information on the border file on my website...
  
  I have a hunch that some of my colleagues would love to see an Integrity Commissioner monitor my blogs and administer punishment on me for expressing opinions that do not jive with the Council majority...
  
  I find it hard to believe that such a vile process would even be contemplated in this country in this day and age. But, If that day ever comes to pass, I have a threat for my colleagues, and it isn't veiled.
  
  I will be bringing Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms into the fray with every ounce of energy in my body and soul."

Just make sure Alan that the two Edgar (aka Eddie) complaints are investigated or will Edgar get his way and have them ended by getting rid of the Commissioner until after the election?

• "Chris Schnurr, of the Windsor Association of Concerned Taxpayers, believes his is one of the six unfinished investigations. In his blog, he writes that he filed a complaint with the commissioner last May into the mayor's conduct surrounding the proposed downtown marina/canal project, in particular the propriety of Francis sharing project information with federal officials ahead of councillors being able to deal with it."

I believe that the other complaint about Edgar falls right within the Commish's concerns and along the lines of the Jones investigation:

TUNNEL IMPROVEMENTS ARE STILL IN LIMBO

BAD NUMBERS FOR EDGAR (AKA EDDIE)

Not a huge number of people voting but the site is new.

Howwever, the trend-line is NOT good for Edgar. Maybe that is why Gord claims Edgar will not run again.
IF ONLY THE ENGLISH SQUIRES KNEW

Interesting comment:

• "A good stepping-off point to get into the United States is Windsor. You have such a massive marketplace at your doorstep," Doug Squires, president of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce, told The Star in a phone interview Tuesday...
  
  "When I hear the tonnage going over your famous bridge -- you really are a focal point," he said."

I wonder what he would say if he knew that Edgar called the "famous" Bridge Company the City's enemy and is thrwoing up every roadblaock possible--blight is next--to hinder and slow them down.

Hmmm, did Edgar ask him too to vote for Windsor in the Monopoly contest?

MORE RED BULL-ONEY

Did Dwight, Edgar and Sandra do this for us as was done in Australia:

• "Spectators will not have to pay to watch next year's Red Bull Air Race after the Western Australian Government intervened in a plan by race organisers to charge for admission to the event.
  
  In October last year The West Australian newspaper revealed that Red Bull Air Race GmbH planned to fence off big sections of the South Perth foreshore, considered the prime vantage point, and charge an entry fee.
  
  The decision, which contradicted the event's previously promoted 'free' status, prompted accusations that organisers and the WA Government had shunned its community focus in favour of making a profit.
  
  At the time Eventscorp and Red Bull Air Race Australia declined to say how much tickets would cost, but South Perth City Council, which approved use of Sir James Mitchell Park, estimated the charge at $20 a head.
  
  WA Tourism Minister Dr Liz Constable has now announced that both the 2010 and 2011 events would include "free general admission to ensure the race catered for the entire community".
  
  However, Dr Constable said that in line with previous races, spectators will have the option to purchase grandstand tickets and premium corporate hospitality packages."