$16,999.50

Not everyone in Woodstock was thrilled about their donation of $17,000 to the City of Windsor for the border file it seems. Imagine what they will think now once they learn that Sam Schwartz's guy in town announced he was leaving for a new job. If that does not signal the Schwartz report and the new Estrin/Schwartz proposal are dead, then nothing will!

And here is how Windsor thanked Woodstock too:

"The City of Windsor will be flying the flag of the City of Woodstock outside Windsor City Hall as requested by City Council, from today, Monday July 17, until Friday July 21. This is a tribute to the generous gesture made by the City of Woodstock in relation to the border plan." A full 5 day week ...for $20,000 they might have got the weekend too!

I found this Letter to the Editor in the Woodstock newspaper and am posting it here. The $34,000 donation over two years represented a dollar per person from Woodstock's 34,000 population. I think at least one person wants his money back!

Rebuttal to editorial
The Woodstock Sentinel-Review

Coun. Dave Nadalin - Woodstock
Tuesday June 20, 2006

In response to the editorial in the Friday, June 16 Sentinel-Review, there are a few points in need of clarification on my behalf.

I have been accused of many things over my political career, but I don’t recall a "cheap politicker" being one of them. Unlike some, I make no attempt to control the media and my comments referred to were solicited by the radio station, with the timing being totally of their control.

There are a few basic principles to good journalism. Be objective, accurate and never let yourself be manipulated.

The issue of the Windsor donation from the City of Woodstock has had numerous objections stated on my behalf. One of the most recent was a final budget meeting this year, when I offered up this year’s $17,000 instalment to fund the mayor’s excursion to Japan. The fact the Sentinel chose not to report that is something I have no control over.

In dealing with the $34,000 gift to Windsor, I will state again there are a few fundamental flaws with this overindulgence of generosity.

There should have been a stipulation that Windsor lobbies other municipalities, at the very least for matching contributions even though I’m sure there would have been few takers. The money that would have had a significant impact on our operating budget means absolutely nothing, to a city sitting on a $300 million reserve for this project and the Schwartz report it originally targeted is dead. Since there is no Canadian senior government support and the Michigan legislature has reportedly pulled out of any deal with Windsor for this project, you now have a real waste of Woodstock taxpayer money. Due diligence should have caught that before Couns. Sobeski and Lauder, who are very honest and hardworking individuals, were hoodwinked into being part of an ill-conceived gesture to begin with.

I would have preferred to hire six new crossing guards than donate money just to have our flag flown at Windsor City Hall.

If there was a desire to help overcome the issue of traffic at the Windsor/Detroit crossing, then one must remember macro issues belong at the macro level. Even the naysayers would have to agree that a group like the UWO Regional Alliance would be a perfect fit for this issue, so that cities such as Woodstock, Windsor, London and Stratford could lobby senior governments in a collective fashion. At the very least it could have been seed money for the lobbying effort. The only cash or manpower donation I can remember the city giving another municipality was for disaster
relief. Our trip out to eastern Ontario to aid after the ice storm is an example.

I will take responsibility for not pressing the issue further, but in case you haven’t noticed, my opinions on the spending habits of this council don’t carry much weight. The money wasted on the Goodwill OMB hearing, the thousands spent on a bye-election that had a miniscule turnout, the fell swoop double-digit pay raises and the lucrative perpetual land deals with our neighbours are examples that my bitching becomes an exercise in futility, unfortunately.

If I return in any capacity next term, rest assured the new council will be pressed not only to do due diligence on the cause, but to attach stipulations to fund a larger scope lobbying effort before the second $17,000 is cut, if in fact one is cut at all.

Maybe a stipulation could be that Mayor Francis pressure Windsor Raceway to live up to its end of the bargain with the Woodstock Agricultural Society, after many have tried including the late Couns. Joe Pember and Jack Dunn.

The editor who penned the critical editorial, I’m sure, has a bright future ahead as many of his predecessors before him have, but it is important to keep the principles I have mentioned close to heart in future reporting. Particularly in an election year that will in all probability, include a very important and definitive mayoralty race. That is all I ask.