What's Yours Is Mine

I am still trying to figure out why Citistat has not yet been implemented. I figured that with the amount of money wasted, that Citistat was designed to prevent, we probably could have been on the road to building a new arena. On the Mayor's Report Card it is still shown as "Implementation of CitiStat..In Progress."

In other words, when is inaction not in action---when it is in progress!

Now I was trying hard to figure out how to get the Mayor to do something finally on Citistat. That pesky Councillor Halberstadt asked about it at Council once that I recall and was brushed off (We better get our non-Tag team efforts geared up again soon).

Then I had the perfect idea. I would pretend that Bill Marra wanted it in the last election. If Bill wanted something, then Eddie would grab it and make it his own!

How did I know that...well I told you before about Eddie's Youth Council idea. "Bill Marra talked about [teen Youth council] at a UWSA Council Meeting before the last election, a meeting that he and Eddie attended. "Hello Devonshire Mall Loiterers." Bill also talked about holding Town Hall meetings throughout the year.

And who was the Chair of the committee which developed the city centre-west community improvement plan or the "urban village"---why Bill Marra.

But it was the tunnel concept that proved to me how to get Eddie to do something. Our Mayor is a big booster of a tunnel" "We want to see every option explored, including tunneling or anything that would basically see the trucks buried," Francis said. "It would improve the environment, quality of life and allow trucks to move more freely toward the border."

To be direct, the beginning of the "let's build a tunnel" movement for Eddie was in a news story in December 27, 2005: "Council expected to retain border experts" ie "Council is also concerned whether the proposed feeder road leading to a new crossing will be a tunnel, below street level or at- grade." [It's spooky...do you know when David Estrin was hired by Mike Hurst to protect the interests of Windsor: December 30, 2002.]

However, to be fair, the person who raised the tunnel issue was Bill Marra again during the last mayoral campaign:

New mayor's role; Sheila Wisdom
Windsor Star 11-03-2003

• "Both state that Windsor needs a "direct connection" from the 401 "to the border" that bypasses neighbourhoods.
  
  How can that happen? With three potential crossings in the city, that is difficult to achieve. In the debate on Windsor Star-Cogeco Cable 11, Marra hinted that the solution may be something like a tunnel, which could help the project avoid residential areas and therefore avoid being tied up in hearings or litigation for years. This, however, will require convincing the federal and provincial government to put real money on the table."
  
  

THE BIG DIG; Taking trucks underground; Dave Battagello Star Border Reporter
Windsor Star 04-17-2004

• A tunnel under the city, stretching from the 401 to the border, would eliminate tieups on Windsor streets, improve air quality and offer seamless access to the U.S., its backers say.
  
  "It's doable," says former councillor and mayoral candidate Bill Marra. "Going underground is not a new concept. It's being done time and time again, especially in Europe. My family is from Switzerland and they go through mountains there.
  
  "This potentially could be a 100-year solution for Windsor if they do it correctly -- not just 30 or 40 years. It's the smart way to go for this community and the environment."

It's all politics after all. I bet Bill understands now how Tommy Douglas felt about Medicare when the Liberals made it their idea!