Bridgeco Over Troubled Waters

Do you remember the Ambassador Bridge Co's Windsor Star ads promoting their innovative new border proposal? They paid for them on three separate occasions including 2 1/2 pages of Bridge Co. ads in the Star(4 1/2 if you include the "flag") just before the July 1 holiday weekend. Are there any doubts? They are serious in what they are proposing. Can anyone remember them doing something like this before?

In passing, it is interesting that they had to pay for advertisements to get the attention of the Mayor and Councillors. From what I have been told, there have not been many conversations between our City officials and one of the most important parties in the border issue. After all, they do "own" most of the border trucking business and a good part of the passenger car traffic as well in South-West Ontario.

I was amused by the contrasts in looking over events over the past few months: The "open and transparent" City Government acting in secret, hiding behind the "lawyer" excuse, while the "secretive" Bridge Co goes public.

To be blunt, the Bridge Co. does NOT need Windsor to agree or disagree with their proposal since all of the changes can be done on the US side only. So why are they trying to win support on our side? Perhaps because they are a WINDSOR company too who pays taxes here and who employs people here and does have a role to play in the redevelopment of Ward 2.

Again the Bridge Company suggested partnering with the City. Does Council have the nerve to talk to them to do a deal in the best interest of Windsor. Or are the Mayor and Councillors going to wait until the FEDS impose one on us, or rather, wait until the FEDS walk away from us since the border has been "solved" short-term?

At some point if there is no reaction, even the Bridge Co will lose patience. Then what happens to us? The failed Schwartz strategy is hardly a fall-back with the City having no strategic alliances formed by now to help us and no money either to construct what Gridlock Sam suggested.

Even Sam knows when he is beaten! His interview on the John Fairley show on Cable 11 a few months ago was unbelievable. He admitted (I am sure with proper approval being given by City Hall) that his proposal was a thought provoker rather than written in stone. If he is not firm on his own PLAN and is open to suggestions on better alternatives, then why isn't Council prepared to admit the obvious?

The Bridge Co solved the short-term problem on their own with 4 booths (and they propose to build 7 more on the US side to increase capacity by 50% and 9 more on the Canadian side), they will solve the intermediate problem on their own with 200 booths and they are prepared to go to Ojibway, where Schwartz wants to go and where they own the land already, for the long-term.

It does not take a rocket scientist, a lawyer/entrepreneur or a "mediocre" physicist to know what the City ought to be doing!