Short Items Of Interest

Here are more stories for you to savour

ARENA vs. TENS OF THOUSANDS OF WINDSORITES

Looks like the Arena won the first game of the series for the Windsor Cup. The Buskers enjoyed by "tens of thousands" of people is the latest City event to have difficulties. The Star reported

• "Windsor Buskers Festival cancelled for 2007

Jan Wilson, the city's excecutive director of recreation, said ...that organizing the festival requires year-long work, and the department found itself "stretched a little thin" due to its commitment to "other major projects," such as plans for a new Windsor arena and recreation complex."

You see, the City learned well. If you want to cancel a Festival, do it in the last minute so it cannot be revived by others such as the Bridge Co. and DRTP did with Festival Epicure.

Oh well, the downtown business people do not need that business anyway. They can wait until next year or perhaps longer since the East End arena has been delayed.

The Arena did not cause any tax increase so stop complaining.

ENGINEERING COMPLEX COST

It is so quiet about a possible move downtown? Is anything happening?

I can tell you one thing: University dollars are being wasted.

It's not much mind but they add up in the end. Check out the University site for a virtual tour of the facility that may have to be scrapped. Figure out what THOSE costs are and who will be stuck paying for them. Not the City I would think.

HOFFA'S VISION SIGNALS DRTP'S DEATH

James is the latest convert to the logistics business being the driver of the economy in this part of the country. He was quoted in the Detroit news this way

• "In his interview with the News, Hoffa called for doing more to make Michigan a logistics hub, noting the world's busiest crossing point in terms of trade is the Detroit-Windsor border.
  
  "Remember the movie 'The Graduate' when the guy pulled Dustin Hoffman aside and said 'plastics?'" Hoffa said. "Well, now when the guy gets pulled aside its 'logistics.' That's the magic word."

However, he also talked about DRTP...not DRTP the Truck highway but the DRTP for a new rail tunnel ie 500,000 rail cars per year.

So here comes a new name for DRTP: It's The Rail Tunnel--logistically speaking

CMVA AND THE BORDER

If the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers Association is talking about "new" capacity, of course they want a DRIC bridge. They want as many crossings as possible. Who cares if taxpayers pay for it.

The Star made a big point about the fact that the Ambassador Bridge was not mentioned. Why would it be? The letter had nothing to do with them.

What has the CMVA said before about the existing crossings. Here is what it said in the letter supporting the Schwartz Plan interestingly enough:

• Toronto, Ontario (January 21, 2004)
  
  “This is one step in the process towards real, and long overdue, infrastructure improvements in Windsor, and we encourage the federal and provincial governments to continue working closely with the region and City to work out the details of an implementation plan as soon as possible,” added Nantais. “We strongly support interim improvements designed to optimize existing crossing infrastructure that can be implemented while the Bi-National Review continues its work towards a much-needed new border crossing.”

And frankly, I personally would not get too excited about CMVA. They thought Schwartz was a good idea and the Nine Point Plan too!

WHO IS GOING TO NEW YORK

Surely if Schwartz needs information to do another Windsor presentation, he needs local help. Or if Eddie needs him to do something on the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel, he needs someone from Windsor to give a local flavour.

So which lucky City Hall employee won the lottery to spend time in the Big Apple with Sam?