Can you believe it? The apologists are so predictable.
Not a word about what the Bridge Co’s Project is all about but just an attack on a small element of it in order to preserve the Mayor’s billion-dollar short-term dream. Or rather his “starting point” which will lead to what he really wanted to do in the first place but could not trust us to tell us until he got everyone worked up over Prairie grass and extinct species at Ojibway and spent millions of dollars to divert our attention! (Whew what a mouthful). You know The Real Plan! The Real Plan! After all, we are not as smart as the Philosopher King is and certainly cannot be trusted with “facts.” Let’s keep it in camera folks. (It involves the Tunnel as is becoming so abundantly clear right now)
Not one single good word so far about how the Bridge Co.’s project might re-vitalize a destroyed US city that just happens to be across the river from Windsor. Not one single word about how this could be the start of a massive regional economic redevelopment that could actually increase business here. Not one good word about how this could make our border actually work so that we can ship our goods into the US more quickly or how Americans can come over here to spend money to bolster our dying downtown.
If the apologists are not careful, the City may wind up losing its tickets to the Superbowl game or Eddie may have to sit all by himself. All of his relationship building will be for nought. We may not get one single Superbowl Party if we are too disruptive to Detroit’s future and we do NOT have one yet by the way from looking at the Detroit media. And the Mayor’s several hundred thousand dollar donation to become a sponsor of the Superbowl (who wants a Science Centre for kids anyway) might become a useless investment after all!
I heard that our Mayor might even have called some Detroit Councillors about what was happening. I cannot believe that rumour. Why his good buddy and Mayor in Detroit might consider that to be a breach of protocol to have a Canadian politician try to interfere with a US legislative vote and influence it directly by contacting Councillors.
I can just imagine the NDPer from Windsor West climbing on his soapbox if an American politician tried to do that in Canada. John, the husband of Norma Coleman, Eddie’s Chief of Staff, and his Editorial Board colleagues at the Windsor Star in Editorials and cartoons and Gord Henderson in a column could fulminate about how the Americans were interfering with the good government of a sovereign country. They could shouted out their anti-American rhetoric and tell them to stay home or we would cut off their oil. That’s why I am so sure that Eddie would never even consider doing something so impolite.
So let me summarize the predictable, apologist the attack so far and give you my response in brackets:
A bridge twinning and the proposed superplaza would require a raft of government approvals [We have to keep those Bi-national Engineers working. The Governor almost ruined their Christmas taking away all of those corridors so quickly. I wonder what approvals are needed in CANADA for a project completely in the USA]
reassurance by the Canadian Border Services Agency that it has no plans to station its customs officers in Detroit [No plans for Detroit today but pilots projects already underway in other locations]
Rep. Steve Tobacman, who represents the southwest Detroit, said he was was extremely concerned about the latest bridge proposal. [Duh…he introduced anti-Bridge Co. legislation in the Michigan state legislature. Is he expected to be happy!]
this has not gone to Detroit city council [but it will]
Campaign contribution records show Moroun and other bridge company executives have contributed significantly to the campaigns of Kilpatrick and his mother, U.S. congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick [The smear is out. Doing something that it is legally allowed is somehow wrong. Hmmm I better check the political contributors to the Mayor’s and Councillor’s campaigns. At the end of September, Chuck Scarpelli at City Hall told me it would cost exactly $5.67 to get a photocopy of the Mayor’s complete contribution list and nothing to view it. I think I may take him up on that soon.]
Detroit Coun. Sheila Cockrel expects the Mayor will push council to quickly make a decision on the offer and described that as unfair with the municipal election looming. [And their system of local Government pits the Council against the Mayor so what do you expect. Did she say she was against it though so that policeman and fireman would have to be laid off for lack of money? It would be like our Mayor giving the Councillors the full and complete Schwartz Report a few days before he was making it public and expecting their complete approval]
Francis will discuss the legality of any proposed lease buyout today with Windsor tunnel commission lawyer Cliff Sutts [Oh oh….the lawyer threat. Now how would he be able to comment on a US deal? I bet the Bridge Co. has lawyers that might want to talk to Eddie too about this.]
He will have everything all tied up, then watch how expensive it will be to cross. We can't allow this to go any further [Thank heaven…the monopolist angle before the end of the article. Too bad that the Bi-national said that there was competition for the Bridge. They are lousy monopolists too if Sarnia and rail could take away a chunk of their business as the Star reported only a few days ago. Anyway, it would be the Port Authority who set prices not the Bridge Co. as I understand it. The Bridge Co. would just be the operator, not the owner. The US set-up would be the same as now I believe]
Forbes recently estimated Moroun's holdings at more than $1 billion [Wow being hugely successful is a sin. Perhaps if we had someone who knew what he was doing as a business person running the border, we would NOT have the mess we are in now!]
I checked my list of apologist possible attack items and they got 9 out of the 10 of them. I guess they must have run out of space.
Now I don’t want to tell you I told you so but I did yesterday.
Does anyone over here have the faintest idea what the full Bridge Co. Project is from reading the Star? Nope.
Does anyone over here have any idea that the Project is really about economic development? Nope.
Does anyone over here have the faintest idea that we should be part of this “REGIONAL” development if we want to prosper? Nope.
I’ll set it out for you once again. What the Star refuses to publish, the four elements of the “Port of Opportunity & Employment.”
1) Border Solution, “International Center” of trade & tourism to promote increased trade opportunities between Canada and the US ie the 200 booth solution that was announced before.
2) Creation of “Big Box & Main Street” retail development in the heart of Detroit’s major roadway network
3) Port Authority creation of a major manufacturing & distribution center ie a very specialized competitive solution for retention and cost savings for regional manufacturers and the entire US supplier community
4) Detroit-Wayne County Port Authority assumes operation and expansion of Detroit Windsor Tunnel
Not a word about what the Bridge Co’s Project is all about but just an attack on a small element of it in order to preserve the Mayor’s billion-dollar short-term dream. Or rather his “starting point” which will lead to what he really wanted to do in the first place but could not trust us to tell us until he got everyone worked up over Prairie grass and extinct species at Ojibway and spent millions of dollars to divert our attention! (Whew what a mouthful). You know The Real Plan! The Real Plan! After all, we are not as smart as the Philosopher King is and certainly cannot be trusted with “facts.” Let’s keep it in camera folks. (It involves the Tunnel as is becoming so abundantly clear right now)
Not one single good word so far about how the Bridge Co.’s project might re-vitalize a destroyed US city that just happens to be across the river from Windsor. Not one single word about how this could be the start of a massive regional economic redevelopment that could actually increase business here. Not one good word about how this could make our border actually work so that we can ship our goods into the US more quickly or how Americans can come over here to spend money to bolster our dying downtown.
If the apologists are not careful, the City may wind up losing its tickets to the Superbowl game or Eddie may have to sit all by himself. All of his relationship building will be for nought. We may not get one single Superbowl Party if we are too disruptive to Detroit’s future and we do NOT have one yet by the way from looking at the Detroit media. And the Mayor’s several hundred thousand dollar donation to become a sponsor of the Superbowl (who wants a Science Centre for kids anyway) might become a useless investment after all!
I heard that our Mayor might even have called some Detroit Councillors about what was happening. I cannot believe that rumour. Why his good buddy and Mayor in Detroit might consider that to be a breach of protocol to have a Canadian politician try to interfere with a US legislative vote and influence it directly by contacting Councillors.
I can just imagine the NDPer from Windsor West climbing on his soapbox if an American politician tried to do that in Canada. John, the husband of Norma Coleman, Eddie’s Chief of Staff, and his Editorial Board colleagues at the Windsor Star in Editorials and cartoons and Gord Henderson in a column could fulminate about how the Americans were interfering with the good government of a sovereign country. They could shouted out their anti-American rhetoric and tell them to stay home or we would cut off their oil. That’s why I am so sure that Eddie would never even consider doing something so impolite.
So let me summarize the predictable, apologist the attack so far and give you my response in brackets:
A bridge twinning and the proposed superplaza would require a raft of government approvals [We have to keep those Bi-national Engineers working. The Governor almost ruined their Christmas taking away all of those corridors so quickly. I wonder what approvals are needed in CANADA for a project completely in the USA]
reassurance by the Canadian Border Services Agency that it has no plans to station its customs officers in Detroit [No plans for Detroit today but pilots projects already underway in other locations]
Rep. Steve Tobacman, who represents the southwest Detroit, said he was was extremely concerned about the latest bridge proposal. [Duh…he introduced anti-Bridge Co. legislation in the Michigan state legislature. Is he expected to be happy!]
this has not gone to Detroit city council [but it will]
Campaign contribution records show Moroun and other bridge company executives have contributed significantly to the campaigns of Kilpatrick and his mother, U.S. congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick [The smear is out. Doing something that it is legally allowed is somehow wrong. Hmmm I better check the political contributors to the Mayor’s and Councillor’s campaigns. At the end of September, Chuck Scarpelli at City Hall told me it would cost exactly $5.67 to get a photocopy of the Mayor’s complete contribution list and nothing to view it. I think I may take him up on that soon.]
Detroit Coun. Sheila Cockrel expects the Mayor will push council to quickly make a decision on the offer and described that as unfair with the municipal election looming. [And their system of local Government pits the Council against the Mayor so what do you expect. Did she say she was against it though so that policeman and fireman would have to be laid off for lack of money? It would be like our Mayor giving the Councillors the full and complete Schwartz Report a few days before he was making it public and expecting their complete approval]
Francis will discuss the legality of any proposed lease buyout today with Windsor tunnel commission lawyer Cliff Sutts [Oh oh….the lawyer threat. Now how would he be able to comment on a US deal? I bet the Bridge Co. has lawyers that might want to talk to Eddie too about this.]
He will have everything all tied up, then watch how expensive it will be to cross. We can't allow this to go any further [Thank heaven…the monopolist angle before the end of the article. Too bad that the Bi-national said that there was competition for the Bridge. They are lousy monopolists too if Sarnia and rail could take away a chunk of their business as the Star reported only a few days ago. Anyway, it would be the Port Authority who set prices not the Bridge Co. as I understand it. The Bridge Co. would just be the operator, not the owner. The US set-up would be the same as now I believe]
Forbes recently estimated Moroun's holdings at more than $1 billion [Wow being hugely successful is a sin. Perhaps if we had someone who knew what he was doing as a business person running the border, we would NOT have the mess we are in now!]
I checked my list of apologist possible attack items and they got 9 out of the 10 of them. I guess they must have run out of space.
Now I don’t want to tell you I told you so but I did yesterday.
Does anyone over here have the faintest idea what the full Bridge Co. Project is from reading the Star? Nope.
Does anyone over here have any idea that the Project is really about economic development? Nope.
Does anyone over here have the faintest idea that we should be part of this “REGIONAL” development if we want to prosper? Nope.
I’ll set it out for you once again. What the Star refuses to publish, the four elements of the “Port of Opportunity & Employment.”
1) Border Solution, “International Center” of trade & tourism to promote increased trade opportunities between Canada and the US ie the 200 booth solution that was announced before.
2) Creation of “Big Box & Main Street” retail development in the heart of Detroit’s major roadway network
3) Port Authority creation of a major manufacturing & distribution center ie a very specialized competitive solution for retention and cost savings for regional manufacturers and the entire US supplier community
4) Detroit-Wayne County Port Authority assumes operation and expansion of Detroit Windsor Tunnel
Now if we can start the real discussion about our future economic recovery (don't forget that 4,500 Windsor Ford jobs are on the line if we get a GEMA plant here) and forget about the border since the Bridge Co. will fix it, then we might get somewhere.
18 comments:
Wow! What wonderful altruists these guys who run the bridge are! They're stepping up to handle a problem because no one else will! They're going to revitalize the city of Detroit...
... wait...
...I couldn't type I was laughing so hard...
...they're going to solve the decreased ridership at the tunnel! wow! wow! wow! What great corporate citizens!
Your shilling for the Bridge is really something to behold. Perhaps we should also check your records, or those of Ojibway Now for funding records? Naw... you and Skip are too smart for that. By the way - come clean on how many meetings you've had with Skip and Dan behind closed doors. Really sad to see someone with apparent intelligence being bought and paid for. Your endorsement of the Bridge Parkway route through Sandwich when you opposed the DRTP route through South Windsor is highly hypocritical. A route through a neighbourhood is a route through a neighbourhood.
This deal has everything to do with Kwame and the Detroit election and nothing to do with "superior motives" of the Bridge Co. They need Kwame to push this deal through. Kwame needs to finish up this (losing) mayoral race with an example of job creation which was a big debate topic this past week.
Well lo and behold - you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours.
Maddy backed the wrong horse in this election. Kwame is out. Good riddance to the crook.
Revitalization... haha what a laugh.
Nice personal attack Mr/Ms Anonymous. At least I have the guts to identify myself and what I write. Too bad you are afraid to do so.
Actually, I am surprised that it took so long for someone to attack me personally using the ad hominem approach. I am surprised that you did not also say that I am running against Eddie for Mayor or for Council in Ward One or does that come next? If Council keeps going as it is, then I think a lot of people might run and easily win against a number of the incumbents.
Glad to see that you read my blog but not very closely. Then you would understand why the WALTS Road is almost inevitable now.
If this all has to do with the Detroit election, then Eddie has lost a friend in Detroit and so has Windsor. So much for economic co-operation on regional projects, remember, what was to save Windsor's economy in the globalized world. Five times reading a book for nothing now.
I, as Detroit Mayor, would not be too happy if the Mayor of Windsor is trying to interfere in a deal that I thought was good for MY City! Does that now give Detroit's Mayor the right to try to tell us what to do?
I should hope that the Bridge Co managers are NOT altruists but hard-headed business people. In that case, we might actually get a Project that makes money and not have some pie-in-the-sky billion dollar short-term dream that should now be recognized as the failure that it is.
If your thoughts are as accurate as your spelling of the Bridge Co. owner's name, then we ought to ignore what you say!
"Matty" Moroun lol big deal the spelling is wrong.
You still don't answer how many times you've been sat down for brainwashing sessions. You and Jim Petersen. Two of a pair.
You sure try to make them sound like altruists... when is the Pope stepping aside for "Matty" to take his place?
Let me ask you - they announced 9 months ago they were going ahead with twinning the bridge regardless. Yet they haven't pulled a SINGLE permit to date. Huh. A lot of posturing and puffery. Just like this latest announcement.
The WALTS road is inevitable? You're pretty quick to concede victory to them.
Look - the Bridge Company is worthy of respect and in some aspects admiration. Moroun outbid the Canadian government way back when. It's not his fault Free Trade was signed in 1985 or Just-In-Time delivery became a pillar of modern business models. He's made a lot of money since then. His investment has paid for itself many times over, good on him.
But now, at the expense of the health of both economies he deliberately antagonizes all levels of government on both sides of the border (with the exception of Kwame), sabotages EA studies locally and up in Port Huron, and thus is ENCOURAGING the governments to decide on a public crossing - a result he wants because he knows he can fight that in court for 20 years and maintain his grip on this corridor. I say again - look at what he's done up in Niagara Falls.
Hey - don't be so thin skinned. You want to shill for the Bridge company that would rip west Windsor apart you should expect to be attacked.
I am not thin-skinned just surprised it took you so long to write :-)I have been doing this Blog for over a month now.
I assume you had to respond since you did not like it when the Bridge Co. trumped Eddie's Real Plan. So you have to attack
People who are anonymous ought not to throw stones. Sign your name next time so we will all know who you are and can decide if you are a shill for someone?
But keep on writing since you have a good grasp of what they are doing everywhere. The other point of view needs expressing as well.
But please watch your language. You do not have to hide your real, not apparent, intelligence with some inappropriate use of words.
Cheap shot Mr/Ms Anonymous! Trying to smear Ojibway Now's regarding funding records. People have tried that in the past regarding the funding of STOPDRTP too. It didn't work then, so don't think it will now.
Everything Mr Arditti is writing must be true then since you are attempting to attack his integrity.
Well Mr.Arditti has done it again. Very well said information that both the city, and the mayor have tried to hide. Here is one individual who has taken criticism yet still maintains a strong-hold on what is right and wrong. I belive this 1 individual has both the guts and confidence to speak out against any wrongs that people or organizations are doing. A small man can criticize but it takes a big man and a strong one to express how they feel!
haha - well you managed to find two friends to stand up for you... how about some family members now?
Mr. Ed is being attacked by me because I have rarely ever read such unconditional love for any one of the proponents of the border morass. Could only be an employee of the month. Mr. Ed sounds like a lost little puppy who followed a new master home after the old one kicked him out because he didn't match the new furniture.
To quote Al Mac (the literal NIMBYist)"the plan makes no sense to the point of being ridiculous". He was talking about the Schwartz Bypass. But I think that quote has application to the Detroit Tunnel River Road or whatever they want to call it. What a joke. I'm not even sure where to begin with that one.
To say that I attack because you speak the truth is lame and self-serving.
Don't expect me to announce who I am - I'm not interested in getting fired any time soon. Live with the anonymous tag. Or maybe I'll get myself a name like Skip Stamper or something.
And the fact that I've p.o'd some people by actually countering the propaganda mouthed on this "blog" has me wildly amused. I'll be back.
I don't know what you mean by "literal nimby-ist."
And I would actually be Al Mc...not Mac...
What's your point?
I've read Ed's blog since day one. I don't agree with everything he says but I'm glad people are starting to respond.
How am I the nimby-ist? nimby-est?
My 'backyard" is a nationally significant wilderness with 4 levels of government designation and protection.
More importantly, I too live in a neighbourhood.
One of the largest elementary schools in the county will be 200m or less from Schwartz's bypass.
Of Sam's 4 final Options, the one that routes through Ojibway along Lasalle's border affects the most homes and businesses.
Don't kid yourself, the bypass plan was designed to place the negative burden on people who don't vote in Windsor. It was chased out of every existing transportation corridor by the Nimbys into a natural area our grandparents worked to save for us.
I won't weigh in on Mr. Maroun, I'm probably somewhere between you two on that.
I will say that if the rumours are true and the West Windsor Community Truck Watch has made a deal with Eddie, Brian Masse and the CAW to ally in support of the bypass, then the NIMBY-IST title will have to go to them. And I wouldn't trust Eddie to do the "right" thing anymore than I'd trust Maroun.
But Eddie is supposed to be a public servant, there used to be a different standard.
you say " a neighbourhood is a neighbourhood"
But somehow this does not extend to LaSalle?
If the West Windsor Maroun haters support putting a bypass next to my kids school, destroying homes and neighbourhoods in Lasalle, particularily for a "non solution" like the bypass, how are they any better?
Scariest part: They don't see that the bypass leads directly back to Huron Church. The bypass feeds the bridge too, WWCTW!! Wake up.
In any case, just rumours... i hope it is not true.
I hope they are smart enough not to make a deal with Eddie. Obviously he is trying to divide and conquer the citizens/advocate groups.
Estrin has plenty of experience with that.
So, explain what you mean by "literal nimbyist"?
I'm actually a "NIMLR". On the binational aerial photo the Schwartz route goes directly over my block.
Not In My Living Room. I'll be one of the lucky ones in Lasalle. I'll be expropriated. By the time the 3000 people between Todd Lane and Normandy wake up
it will be too late for anyone to stop it.
So go on, tell me what "literal nimbyist" means...
I'm dying to argue with someone other than Ed about this stuff,,,,
To pretend you don't know about DRTP, now that's funny.
Y'all can speculate as much as you want about the bridge, tunnel, mayor and council. The bottom line is this: The City of Windsor has never been able, and never will be able, to manage a mega-project of these proportions. They haven't managed to put up an arena. They can't convince Bill Docherty to fill in his 20 year old hole on Riverside Drive. They can't plow the streets when it snows. They can't even design a parking lot with spaces that actually fit vehicles as large as the ones we build in this city! But Eddie and the crew are going to lead us to economic prosperity with a new border crossing. Who's going to help him, the black-caped goths and skater dudes that he met at the mall last Friday? Where's all this going? The episode of The Simpsons when the built the monorail comes to mind .....
Nice to hear from Al McKIMBY too now! All we need is Mary Ann and maybe the Professor too. Lord knows Mr. Ed can be mistaken in his blog photo for Mr. Howell.
I think Al, you are mistaking me for a proponent of the Schwartz Bypass just because I say you are a NIMBYista (I add the 'a' to make it Che G. chic). If I have a beef with you it is the Johnny-Come-Lately to the environmental advocacy scene... it took some consultant proposing a freeway behind your house to get your ass of the couch. Where were you when Lasalle is drawing up plans to wipe out 3/4 of its greenfields with a sea of soulless subdivisions? Where were you when Coco is proposing a big box development on Springwood and Matchette? Ever see how much traffic those things generate? What'll that do to the environment just across the street? And where are you on the City wanting to build a new arena across the street from the park on Raceway property? Start piping up on these issues too and maybe people will start to believe you aren't just a self-interested homeowner trying to protect his government protected back-yard. We should all be so lucky to back onto a park. My house backs onto a Filipino woman who steals topsoil from my backyard at night but I digress...
There will be no Bypass in the immediate future - my understanding of EA's is that you have to demonstate Purpose and Need to kick-start an EA. The DRIC can meet the P&N criteria in assessing a bypass because they're ultimately going to select the Ojibway crossing for long-term, but the city cannot in short term - traffic volumes are dropping, queues are gone (for now)and Brighton Beach appears to be redundant.
The City needs to revise its strategy. There will be no third crossing before 2015 or even longer. Routes to the west are boogeymen not to be chased at this time.
At the risk of being poo-poo'ed by Mr. Ed the key to Windsor's future is the intermodal facilities and the double stack rail tunnel - all dependent on the Rail Rationalization Study that's underway. Moving to rail is sexy right now - show me a federal bureaucrat who is going to fight that idea - good luck finding one.
A program has to be initiated that will reduce the number of trucks crawling through the city by transferring them to other modes. Reduce the number of trucks using the existing bridge to compound the fact of falling volumes and I doubt highly that Matty will spend $400 to $500 million of his own money on a twinned bridge or plaza expansions. Why would he?
Rail rationalization? Back in the 1970s, CP Rail was forced to remove a pair of sidings it built between Walker and Howard. The lawyer who led the fight: Leon Paroian. The same Leon Paroian who is now under retainer to -you guessed it - the Canadian Transit Company! You think he doesn't remember all those long, hard hours spent keeping more trains off the CPR? You can't rationalize much on a single-track main line. And the only other rail-route out of the city that leads to the rail tunnel is the DRTP corridor. You won't make anyone happy choosing either of those routes. Besides, successive Liberal governments (and Conservative ones for that matter) have an absolutely abominable record doing anything positive for the railroads. Ridden Via Rail lately? Sure, rail is the smart way, but our federal governments have been botching rail policy since the Pacific Scandal. You'll see a new bridge somewhere around here long before a new rail tunnel.
Calvin, you missed a news story back in June!
"CenTra and its related companies own and operate hundreds of trucks as well as local rail lines.
"We plan to make the Port of Detroit a true intermodal facility where materials flow in and out and where we easily transfer cargo containers and products between ships, trucks and rail cars," said Dan Stamper, a director of Ambassador Port Co.
Stamper, also president of Moroun's Detroit International Bridge Co., which owns and operates the Ambassador Bridge, said shipping by vessel is about 20 percent cheaper than rail, truck or air service.
"We see a lot of potential for the port," he said. "We feel it could help reduce truck traffic on public roads and the bridge."
It's not a news story if it's emanating from Dan Stamper. What was that in response to? The proposed DIMF that has already passed it's EIS in Michigan? Another example of Matty's White Knights riding to the rescue and proposing to do something that someone else is already planning on?
Once the DIMF is up and running Ontario drivers will be prohibited by law from going over there and picking up goods to bring back to Ontario. We need our mirror over here, and preferably before that one gets up and running.
These bridge guys have a real nice tendency to stick their nose in other people's problems. You never talk about Port Huron Mr. Ed - explain what interest the Bridge company has in publishing two-page ads up there with contrarian plans for the plaza expansions? They have no plans other than to muck up someone else's business so that nothing gets done and the capacity up there stays flat. More business for Matty.
I will never trust the Bridge Company to do anything good for anybody but themselves.
Hi Calvin Hobbes:
i don't have any defense against the charge that it took a consultant proposing a freeway in my backyard to get my ass off the couch.
My ass is still on the couch for too many hours, truth be told.
I don't think being a "Johnny come lately" negates my efforts though. Considering 'commited" environmental advocates like the Windsor Green Party originally ENDORSED the Schwartz bypass plan, I'm quite happy to be a Johnny come lately.
The fact is that back in January, none of the established local advocay groups were saying anything about Schwartz, and the City's propaganda machine was working overtime pushing for a fast track municipal class EA for the bypass.
I think I played an important role between Jan and April, when these local groups started to come out publicly against the plan.
As for the raceway arena/Big box, I would be happy to be a part of any effort to protect Ojibway from impacts casued by development in the industrial/commercial/residential areas that surround the park. And in fact I have spoken and lobbied on Ojibway issues other than the bypass. The important difference about the bypass is that it takes out protected areas WITHIN the park...seems like a crucial distinction and priority to me.
As to "where was I" when Lasalle was wiping out its green fields for sub-divisions.. i was living 3 blocks from the bridge in Windsor, raising kids, paying taxes and donating my time and money to causes as I was able. Where were you?
No doubt, I am motivated as a "self interested" homeowner...but I ended up a homeowner near Ojibway because of my life long love and enjoyment of its natural wonders. There is no way I would have taken on the amount of work I have soley for reasons of self interest. It would have been cheaper and easier by far to move, or just wait quietly for an expropriation check.
But the self interest portion will always be there and that is a good thing. Environmental advocates need to embrace NIMBY's when their goals are the same.
NIMBY's can be beasts of burden for causes that are concern to us all.
As for "We should all be so lucky to live on a park" ...luck has nothing to do with it. Do you have a mortgage? Do you pay property tax?
I hope you are right about there being no bypass in the immediate future.
I am not so sure. Remember the City has over 4 million invested in Estrin/Schwartz already.
And they can get around the P/N stuff via a municipal class EA. This was their plan in the spring and while the talking points have changed, I personally don't believe that the intent has.
So, don't have a beef with me. have a beef with the Mayor, the Province, the CAW, CAWWREC, the Chamber etc. They all support a bypass that doesnt bypass anything. They throw their power and influence behind a plan they cannot justify. It has reduced a problemn of regional and national scope (the border) to mere municipal political considerations. We will all pay in the future for that short-sightedness.
DIMF?????
LAST PARAGRAPH DELETED
Al McnotMac said...
Hi Calvin H
Re:
"First he said Ojibway is the way to go... then he had to customize and justify building a bypass to serve short term objectives."
This is exactly the problem...Schwartz's after thought became the "fast track" phase one objective.
As you said yourself, projects this size tend to stagnate and mutate and often not get done.
It would be typical of Windsor to build the bypass
and the crossing never be built or built elsewhere.
The bypass to nowhere would become more infamous than the "Guiness Book" expressway.
Personally, I think they should avoid ripping a swath out of Ojibway, but at a minimum they should wait until they are solid on the crossing location and financing before even considering it...and even then only considering it among alternatives as legislated by the Ontario and Canadian EA Acts.
The City as led by Estrin clearly had a different idea in mind in January.
They were floating a spring 2006 construction start
under a municipal class EA.
They went as far as getting Provincial approval, money for the EA and a commitment of 150 million dollars for the bypass.
As I said, their talking points have changed, but I don't know about their intent.
I believe the intent to use Ojibway as a route is not driven by sound planning and design but driven by pure political reasons.
Exsisting corridors should be considered and eliminated as alternatives before using a significant protected natural area.
The City continues to "finesse" the bypass by the way...their latest talking point is that "other communities get thier ring roads, Calgary, Orangeville...we just want a ring road like everyone else". That doesn't sound like an approach to a new crossing to me. And taken as a "ring road" the bypass design is seriously deficient to the point of being ridiculous, senseless, insane and every other colorful adjective I've thrown its way.
( and I did apologize for defaming the insane with the comparison)
11:29 AM
I'll post your comments as I will those of others as I said on my profile
I stopped allowing anyone to post because of comments that I considered inappropriate. Not censorship but ensuring that comments remain proper.
Naw....I can handle criticism and negativity like you like to dish out. Sticks and stones and all that. It's easy though when no one knows who you are though isn't it?
It is, in effect, a moderated "comment section now. And all that people need do to be "anonymous" is open up a yahoo or hotmail account as you did
----- Original Message -----
From: Joe Smith
You criticize Windsor city hall for too much secrecy and you create a blog to start exposing some of that secrecy. You encourage 'whistleblowers' to share what they know. Then as soon as people actually start reading what you have to say and posting in any kind of volume, you start censoring their posts and restricting postings to 'team members'. So what's the point?
Are you really trying to do something positive for the community, or are you just a self-promoting hypocrite who can't take being criticized?
The whistleblowers who may want to come forward will not do so unless you give them that anonymous option.
My advice: Bag the censorship and open up the 'blog. If you don't, everyone who has taken the time to read what you have to say will think you're a fraud, if they haven't formed that opinion already!
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