Wednesday, March 28, 2007

More On Marra's Tunnel Motion



I received a note from an inside mole that Councillor Marra's Tunnel motion is coming up again at next Monday's Council meeting.

Now you cannot find that out by going to the City's website. The Motion is NOT on the Agenda. It normally would be shown on the Order of Business but that does not come out until some time on Friday:
  • "The Order of Business for the April 2, 2007 City Council Meeting will be posted to this website on Friday March 30th."
If it is posted after noon, then I assume that citizens do not have the right to appear as a delegation as of right but only if Council allows it. Since no one would have found out about it but for this BLOG, it probably would have been passed on consent anyway with no fuss or muss fi that was the objective.

My first thought if true is why is it coming back and why at this time. Is it simply that about 2 months has passed? Here is what Bill said about his motion and why he deferred it:
  • "Coun. Bill Marra says he has agreed to defer a motion demanding a tunnelled border route after the province said it would explore a "comprehensive solution" to border traffic problems, with tunnelling as part of the discussion.

    The commitment came last week in a meeting between Mayor Eddie Francis and Ontario Transportation minister Donna Cansfield.

    "The (mayor's) meeting with the minister went well," Marra said Wednesday. "I agreed to defer the motion so that (tunnelling) can be part of the broader discussion with the province."

    "I am content on the condition it will be included in the context of a package rather than one line item. At the end of the process, if it isn't I will bring it forward and introduce (the motion) again."
So, what is the comprehensive solution in which tunnelling is part of the package? Councillor Marra cannot introduce the Motion again and hide that answer from us. OR is the process now over? Is the true position that the Province who gave no money for Windsor in its budget is unable to reach a consensus with the City. If that is the case, again Councillor Marra must tell us.

Let's see how it is played out on Monday. It will give us some indication of what is going on here. I just wonder who wanted it back for a vote...Bill or Eddie or someone else?

Councillor Halberstadt said this on his BLOG. Perhaps he is correct:
  • "Already there are signs of political manipulation that will delay the DRIC recommendations, originally expected this summer.

    The excuse for the delay is already in front of us. We are told that the results of a study on the health effects on children of diesel fuel emissions along the current Huron Church route will not be known until after the DRIC recommendations.

    Conspiracy theorists suggest that Duncan and Pupatello are hoping that the local community will insist that the study be completed and released prior to the final spending and engineering decisions on the access route.

Honestly, who knows anything any more.

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