Dumb As A Fox

The Bridge Co. people may not be all that smart as everyone makes them out to be. Or are they? If they were so clever, then they would have been able to read the minds of Eddie and the Councillors and would have known that an interim control by-law and a demolition by-law were going to be sprung on them:

• "The bridge has been buying property on the city's west end and demolishing buildings to pave the way for a new plaza, that would accommodate cars and trucks. The company has demolished eight homes and there are 35 homes left to be demolished.
  
  Stamper said if the company had known there was an effort to create such a bylaw, it would have acted more quickly in demolishing the properties."

Then how does one explain that they are so successful in what they do. The answer is quite simple. Their opposition is really dumb and does not think through what they do. In fact, most of what the Opposition does winds up helping the Bridge Co. in the end.

A good example is the latest fuss over homes that the Bridge Co. owns in the West End. We see Councillor Postma being allowed to speak about the squalor in the West End. She even used the "G-word" on A-Channel news. Naturally it is the Bridge Co.'s fault. She must have had the Mayor's permission in advance. I hope she got the permission in writing to go public or she could face a possible Integrity Commissioner threat just as Councillor Halberstadt did if her ploy falls apart.

• "This is obviously a tactic to get city council to order demolition, so it will set a precedent so they can tear down the homes on Indian," said Postma. "In the past eight months these properties have deteriorated to unbelievable lengths. That's a pretty nasty tactic. It's pretty ignorant."
  
  Postma said the city will order the company to board up the houses and clean the properties within the next week."

Let's see now....the Interim by-laws were passed in January so for most of the period that the Councillor was complaining about the Bridge Co. was under the City's thumb. I guess she forgot that. The amnesia disease must have spread out to the West End since Council decided not to spend the money to "scrub" Tunnel fumes from their over-budget, "heritage" Ventilation Building.

The Councillor's solution to board up homes hardly makes a lot of sense either. I guess in her mind that is better than getting the Green Corridor Group from the University involved. But then again, only she and her colleagues can reconcile the anti-Bridge Co. move to prevent them tearing down vacant homes on Indian Road, then demanding the Feds to tear down the Biker's house and then voting against the Bushante redevelopment. I can't figure out these conflicting Council actions.

Perhaps I am not being fair to the Bridge Co. Perhaps they are smarter than I thought. Dan Stamper said:

• "Let the city determine what they are going to do about the application," he said. "They are going to have to figure out what all this means to them. We will respond to it depending on what they determine.
  
  "It's ridiculous for Windsor to tell us we can't demolish houses that are vacant and boarded up. From our perspective we will leave it up to the city. They are going to have to determine how they are going to treat us."

Now let's see what is happening. The neighbours where the Bridge Co. homes are located did not seem all that thrilled with Councillor Postma's suggestion. It was stated in the Star story:

• "At this point some residents along Edison Street, angry over crumbling houses, garbage piles, squatters, thieves and a mouldy stink, would be happy to see a bridge entrance next door.
  
  "We want them down," said Steve Bridgen, who has lived on the street for 27 years. "That's the bottom line. We don't want this stuff on our street. If they're going to build a highway, build a highway. We can't live in squalor. We will take a green space, we will take a wall, we will take anything other than these dilapidated houses. These houses are dumps. They're depreciating the property values and we don't want them...
  
  It's disheartening when you spend your whole life on a street and there's been no kind of criminal element," said Bridgen.
  
  "Now we have to lock our doors even tighter and be that much more careful..."
  
  But residents still plan to petition city council to tear them down.
  
  "It's an eyesore," said Gerry Paterson. "It's a health issue. I believe I couldn't sell my house now.

So as a result of the City's actions with the interim and demolition by-laws, the residents will demand that the homes be torn down. The Bridge Co. has had to do nothing. In effect, Councillor Postma and her colleagues are the source of the problem for the area but the story is an attempt to point the finger elsewhere. They did not think through what stopping demolition for up to two years could do to the neighbourhoods or what preventing development might mean. They just reacted and thought they were being so smart.

The Mayor and Council are the ones who will be responsbile for the homes coming down, not the Bridge Co. If they refuse to allow the Bridge Co. permission to do so, they will be the ones "ghettoizing" neighbourhoods (using Councillor Postma's term). Isn't it ironic, don't you think.

You see what I mean...the City's stupidity in not thinking through what they were doing may allow the Bridge Co. to get what they wanted in the first place.

The Bridge Co. is dumb all right---like a fox! And now do you understand what I mean about their opponents being so dumb!

I was curious where Councillor Postma's Ward-mate was in all of this. Why was she alone front and centre on an issue that was a loser? Is Councillor Jones the "heritage" Councillor and she is the "squalor" one?

I think it is more than that. I think she was hung out to dry! No wonder she was allowed to speak and not the Mayor, the Voice of Council. No wonder Councillor Jones was not around. They did not want to look like the ones responsible for the mess. Let the Councillor Postma take the blame for it! Let her look like she could not prevent the homes from being demolished or the neighbourhood suffering.

PS. ON A-Channel news, Councillor Postma described herself as being backed into a corner like a "rat" on this issue. Hmmmm...Now we have the Three Blind Mice and a Rat on Council dealing with the border issue. What other rodents do we have as our Local Government?

PPS. As I told you before, the Star likes setting up the real story. The "squalor" story was nothing more than a justification for the "heritage" front page story this morning. "West-end residents hope for heritage designation." Demonize the Bridge Co. Saturday, demonize them today and get a heritage designation designed to try to stop them from moving forward. So obvious already and so tiresome.