Letters, We Get letters

Here are some more that came recently:

1) Ed Lumley is also a Walkerville High School grad... Ed, was the team captain.

As for this new downtown solution, of course it comes down to engineers to finally get a solution.

There's us and there's the rest of you.

2) Dear Canada Revenue Agency,

Enclosed is my 2007 tax return showing that I owe $3,407.00 in taxes.

Please note the attached article from the Globe and Mail, wherein you will see the Feds are paying $171.50 for hammers and The Royal Canadian Air Force has paid $600.00 for a toilet seat.

I am enclosing four toilet seats (value $2400) and six hammers (value $1,029), bringing my total remitted to $3429.00.

Please apply the overpayment of $22.00 to the "Conservative Election Fund," as noted on my return. You can do this inexpensively by sending them one 1.5" Phillips Head screw (article from the Globe and Mail detailing how CMHC pays $22.00 each for 1.5" Phillips Head Screws).

It has been a pleasure to pay my tax bill this year, and I look forward to paying it again next year.

Sincerely,
A Satisfied Taxpayer

3) From the Star today on budget deliberations;

"What we have found is the cities that invest in themselves attract people -- and then the (corporate) investment will follow."

Jobs follow people is essentially what the Mayor is saying and it is ass backwards. People go where there are jobs. Calgary is a terrible place to live right now (I was just there). But 73 people a day move there. Because there are jobs.

4) last night's "looking forward" event was amazing...the glen murray part was anyway...he sure did make me wish he was OUR mayor...i'm sure a lot of things he said infuriated the mayor, though no doubt that was NOT his intention...i was not pleased to see gordon orr cut him short, as though we were pressed for time (when really the event was scheduled from 7-10pm and we got out at 9:30pm) while murray was being particularly passionate about and advocating for the benefit to a community of arts and culture...and strangely, i only heard soundbites from diane francis this a.m., not murray at all...he was very down to earth and charismatic and actually made you believe that change, of the positive sort, was possible...

5) just read the Diane Francis/Glenn Murray thing..........I am not knocking those two as they are sharp people but people here came to the same conclusions they spoke about except our leadership have poor listening skills.......and that includes the CAW.

it does bring up something interesting...........people with an entrenched or trapped mentality are more likely to listen to outsiders rather than people closer to the issues. Imagine if we were to bring prominent ex-pat Windsorites back to Windsor to speak about what it takes to progress. Imagine a Dick Peddie or Ernie Eves or Colm Feore....a Kin-Man Lee (publisher of the Toronto Sun and an old school chum) or ...even Shania Twain (gotta have a hook to get a full audience)....there are a ton of prominent medical people globally who came from here....and even old warhorses like Paul Martin or Dennis (he will need a governor put on him...) but he still is of use. Imagine that ...Ed.

6) Just had breakfast in a little restaurant in ***** Ontario. There were two gentlemen sitting at the table across from us discussing the story on the bridge in the globe and mail. They were saying how the government is trying to rob Matty Moroun of his business and if he is willing to invest in Canada then the government should get out of his way. I was quite surprised...

Just thought I would share this with you to give you an example of how far reaching the effect of the story is going to be.

7) Let me see.......With the millions of dollars in cash that Windsor reportedly has for major projects, why does Council HAVE to cut jobs?

How many jobs have to be cut to catch up with the single source spending?

With all the jobs being lost in this region you would figure any political leader would be saving jobs and not making people expendable.

8) maybe Dave Bing can give a seminar

[Reference is to the Detroit News story--"Former Pistons star and Detroit business leader Dave Bing has lined up a team of heavy-hitting business and civic leaders to back his $60 million luxury residential development on Detroit's east riverfront.

The project -- The Watermark Detroit -- is one of three major condominium developments city boosters hope will transform the once-blighted riverfront into a centerpiece of downtown Detroit's fledgling revival.]

9) How are you, I do receive your blogs every day about the Bridge the Tunnel etc...

Well my comment is what would a new bridge or a new tunnel do for a city which is dying day after day like Windsor!

Small businesses are suffering and of course nobody cares, neither the Government nor the City, what do you expect from a government who makes laws to fight small businesses; I'm a small business owner and I've never seen it worse, it's been getting worse and worse day and day and I'm wondering for how long can i survive, what do you expect when a government want to cut your only source of living!

What the city of Windsor is doing about it? NOTHING oh I forgot yes they charge me high property taxes ( I pay $350.00 Monthly For a 1200 Square foot), what the city is doing for me? I pay over $200.00 a year for business license) what the city is doing for me NOTHING; they're only taking the money which I'm not making and haven't been making for the last four years...

What about Downtown (I mean the GHOST CITY), We are near one of the biggest states (Michigan) Windsor should be busy 24/7 it should be like a small Las Vegas, what the city is doing about it? NOTHING ...

You call this thing Downtown...HA I've seen downtowns but none like the one we have here higher taxes no sevices and they think they doing us a favor those City Councill...

I voted for Eddy Francis in the first round thinking that this guy comes from a home of a small business owner and he knows that small businesses are the bone of the economy but what a big disappointment as if his parents never had any difficulties in running their Bakery!!! I still have his first campaign brochures about Downtown and the promises... here he is in the second term... and what we get here... things are getting worse and worse...

One of the suffering Small business owners