A Tunnel Contest

I had this really weird dream.

Remember I told you that back in February, 2005 the Mayor thought we should hire someone to look after the Windsor Tunnel's business. It is, the Mayor said, a multi-million dollar asset that "requires more attention than it's getting."

Well nothing was done and the Tunnel has been going downhill to the point that revenues will be almost zero to the City next year so that taxpayers will have to come up with another $6 million of lost revenues in its budget. In September, 2006 an ad was placed looking for an Executive Director.

Since I had not heard that anyone was hired, I dreamt that the Commission had a choice to make to decide who the next head would be. It all came down to 2 choices: hire the Bridge Co. to run the Tunnel since they are the best border operator in North America or hire Remo Mancini who used to work for the Bridge Co. (Many people have seemed to have forgotten his previous job now that his past life is in the processs of being re-written). He's the new Chair of the Development Commission. From reading his Bio, it looks like does consulting primarily so I figured with his experience he could squeeze the position in. He would have some background already about the Tunnel and would have an opinion on how to make it work better.

Just as the decision was to be made, my alarm went off so I do not know who won!

Oh well, to help out who is ultimately selected, let's run another contest:

1. Compared with last year, how many vehicles less have gone through the Tunnel this September and October after Eddie increased the tolls earlier in the year
   


2. Compared with last year, how many vehicles less have gone through the Tunnel year to date
   


3. If the numbers continue downward at the same rate, compared with last year, how many vehicles less will have gone through the Tunnel and what percentage of total yearly volume does that represent
   


4. When will Eddie hire someone "to live and breathe tunnel business" (is that after they clean up the dirty air being exhausted via the new and improved Tunnel Ventilation building in downtown Windsor)
   


5. If the losses keep mounting will anyone want to lease it or securitize revenues or is this all part of a different Plan
   


6. With the volumes crashing, why would the Senior Levels want to invest $30 million in the plaza improvements? If the volumes are decreasing so quickly, will the need to get vehicles off of City streets disappear too
   


7. Has Eddie mismanaged the Tunnel operations since he is also Chair of the Windsor Tunnel Commission


8. If the answer in #7 is yes, would you trust him to make decisions about a new border crossing


9. How much has the value of the Tunnel decreased since Eddie has become the Chair?