Baker's Dozen of Comments

I still have NOT received your letter yet. Here is what some of your fellow readers have sent to me recently.

1) Good morning.
Seems like Eddie's call center is in jeopardy.
Is another apology forth coming?

2) From a recent editorial;

"The city has engaged traffic guru Sam Schwartz and the world-renowned tunnelling experts Parsons Brinckerhoff to draft a Made-in-Windsor solution for the border route and..."

Sam and PB are from New York. I didn't know NYC had a new borough to go alongside some of its more storied neighbourhoods.

Highjinx and hilarity all round.

I can't wait for Halberstadt's other pieces to come. He may broach the EC Row taboo.

3) Great job w/ your blog. Very insightful

4) Hey Ed,

Reading a few of the postings on blogs the last couple of days and complaints about Eddie not hearing the delegations/public I am struck with the lesson probably learned by Eddie at the Ciociaro club council meeting in March 2006.

Delegation after delegation got up to blast him and council. He failed to line up his supporters as speakers and thus it came off that the public was 95-5 against him and council - a big disaster for a guy who reads and collects his press clippings. He had to call MacKinnon and others up to grill them to save face.

He doesn't make the same mistake twice. He won't let the public speak again on any controversial issue (the border, the Bridge, the WUC etc) unless he's seeded the delegations with friends (if there are any). That's why he couldn't let those 6 people speak at council the other week - they were all going to blast him. He'd rather suffer the temporary flack for being anti-democratic than suffer a string of attacks in public.

When is Schwartz II coming? Ever?

5) Don't you just love Eddie's reasoning!? He says he's sorry for his "falure to control" unruly conduct at the August 27th meeting of Council.

He just doesn't seem to realize that what happened was a result of his efforts TO CONTROL the whole process for the past 6 weeks. He has been moving motions, giving "press conferences" and lectures, all from the Chair. and doing a whiteboard song & dance routine that further confused things. He has treated Alan Halberstadt shamefully contributing to other councillors thinking it was "get Alan Night!" He effectively engineered the handling of the entire WUC debate and audit and reaction to it, so that delegations would NOT be heard on the matter.

He failed to bring Alan's motion to a vote, delaying it until no one could remember what was at issue; he and the WUC have been the source of the misinformation at the heart of people's disdain and suspicion...

We do have a big problem in Windsor and it's Eddie Francis! His political shenanigans are becoming a gross abuse of the citizens and I'm tired of it!

6) I think you are right about the ruffled feathers between them. (Alan and Eddie)
Maybe it's time for the chicken again.....

7) Just received my Enwin/WUC bill. The portion for July is 8 days and the August portion is 25 days, roughly a 3 to 1 ratio. The actual cost of water hasn't changed but the other "fees" certainly seem to be a lot more than the thirty-some percent story that we are being fed ... I didn't do all the math but 8 days in July ($2.22) compared to 25 days in August ($13.16) is in the range of $4.21 for every 8 days. And that is only on the Meter Fixed Charge. The others are all variable according to usage.

Seems fair to them - use $6.16 worth of water (including the summer "levy") and pay an additional $69.92 for all the other taxes based on that usage and increased Fixed Charges. I can't wait until my entire next bill is calculated using the new rates.

8) There are several blogs addressing issues in Windsor in recent times. I believe it is time that the public interest start to have a face. Surely there are people in this City that could set up a Legal Action Fund to deal with any outrageous matters such as Conflict of Interest of Public Officials. Should such a fund be established I would make the suggestion that the relevant blogs provide linkages to such a Legal Action Fund to make it possible to secure the resources necessary to take on taxpayer abuse in the courts. This is the 21st Century and the days of petitions and protest are over, the executive and legislative arms of government need to meet the judicial!

9) There is one absolutely safe, extremely convenient and very well served location for another bridge. Is that so hard to understand?

10) How absurd and typical of the City of Windsor, to announce a new service delivery .This is at a minimum the third such venture in the last 10 years that have all gone nowhere , as there is no political or adminstrative will for real change.

Recall the Randolph Report ? then the 2002 hiring of change agent Dennis Perlin and the mass training of staff in Business Procees Review .This should provide endless material for the public to learn about the ineptitude of its elected staff and administration.

11) Should they not all resign from the WUC board and then they can govern the city concerns

12) Note to Dave Brister: For your information RATEPAYERS OF WINDSOR=CHARITY. No thanks to you. Weren't you a member of WUC too

13) I LOVE THE GAZELLE PART.
But there's no green grass for them to graze on without water mains...........