The tone of the mail I am receiving is becoming much more harsh towards the Mayor and Council. I would like to know how you feel too!
1) I am now firmly convinced that Francis is living in another world, another dimension, the twilight zone!
He is about to embark on a spending spree, at taxpayer's expense to advertise for support of his lost cause, no improvements until Greenlink is approved.
This will be an interesting study in political posturing. When will Geenlink be approved ? If approved when, if ever, will it be built ?
The next two months will, indeed, be very interesting along with the interim control by-law at February end.
2) ...here comes the article about him being the right person at the right time. [Dave Cooke's Windsor Star article] Of course when comments came pouring where "one person" claimed the rumour was that Dave Cooke was going to run for mayor I decided to put my two cents in. Well, when my comments were not posted (negative) I decided to write another comment with a different name (positive) then the comment was published.
My sister was over and told her to read the article and have her own comments (negative) well not only her comments were not published but the whole thing (the comments) dissapeared all together. So what that tells me is that the rumour is probably true.. Pretty clever eh!
3) It appears that [Council] are still hell bent on thwarting the Bridge Company. The delay [on the Interim Control By-law] was a real feather in the caps of all the opposition who turned up. Extremely important was the acceptance of the manipulative timing of the meeting was undemocratic. This is a first! I woke up this morning with a smile on my face and a bounce in my step...I will still be making a presentation when the next meeting is scheduled.
4) Isn't misdirected rage amazing?
I just read the article about Bubi's venting anger at the University.
Too bad their efforts weren't directed at the city. What a shame all that energy is wasted. If they only read your blog to see where to vent the anger maybe Windsor would be better off.
The University made the best possible choice looking at the current situation.
Can you imagine 3 years from now when Windsor would cut them off due to no funds left?
The next Mayor is in for a really rough time.
Still no press release about those jobs from Germany.
5) They will have to expand Zalev to hold all of the scrap deals Eddie has laying around.
6) Good Morning Ed,
I just read the U OF W editorial on Thursday. The Statement
“The arguments against the downtown, as expressed after the board of governors’ meeting, were considerably less than compelling: It might be inconvenient for students. It would mean forgoing a chance to make the university look more attractive to prospective students. It would eliminate the “on-campus” experience.
When I was looking at Universities to look at, ok, 30 years ago, my main concerns were – how does the university looks, how far would I have to go inbetween classes, and was looking forward to meeting tons of like students and mingling on campus. I’m sure that students look at that as well today. These are not “less compelling reasons” These ARE the reasons for students wanting to come here
Now if the city would have shown its support of the downtown area, by putting, say, an arena – where we already had most of the land, and some type of assurance of the urban village – putting the center downtown wouldn’t even need a vote – a no brainer – but since the city won’t help the downtown, why should the U
7) With a $110 million decision on its plate and the advice of almost all outside advisors to stay on-campus the Board did the right thing for the students and the University.
And now by doing the right thing the University is being slammed by a newspaper.
By saying that the facility is worth $40 million to the City if it goes downtown but worth nothing to the City if it is built on campus clearly shows that they viewed this in pure political terms and not what it means for the City and for the University. This facility is worth a lot to the City where ever it is built pure and simple. Maybe more if downtown but it is still the largest single investment in education in the history of Windsor and extremely valuable to the City. And relative to almost all other Universities in Canada the University of Windsor IS downtown. Certainly more downtown than Waterloo, Laurier and Guelph which are the schools being used as sterling examples of the benefits of a downtown vision. These schools took the bribe of money and located facilities downtown under some vague and unproven theory that this is good for the University and each City. A theory that has never been proven in practice and in some case has proven to seriously hurt students and their academic goals. McGill is a good example.
Has education funding come to the point where in order to pay for school infrastructure Universities have to take bribes to fulfill the political agendas of temporary politicians... the University of Windsor Board of Governor's should be proud of their decision to do the right thing.
8) Since the city saved around 35 million on the university, it becomes very apparent
the city has more funds than they know what to do with.*sarcasm inserted here*
I wonder if someone from Ford reads your blog.
They could be knocking on the city's doors looking to save the engine plant.
Where is Mr Lowenza Jr. these days?
Surely he would be a glorious advocate to help save Ken & Buzz's political
future with the union.
35 million is more than enough to save the plant and many feeder jobs.
Nuts, I did it again. Common sense revolution.
That would make a great bumper sticker.............
9) I can't contain my thoughts in just 300 words, [Maximum length allowed in a Star Letter to the Editor]
It's not looking good for Eddie, nor council but it is looking good for the
University of Windsor! I am overjoyed that the university decided to build
the new engineering school ON campus which is still great for this city..not
just for the mare. The Mayor really didn't offer any deal or commitment as
you stated above..just the buzz! Talk about grasping at straws,throwing
caution to wind and gambling with money he didn't have...typical Type A
personality gone wrong. Maybe Fast Eddie can build his own campus
downtown..The School of Denial and Buzzness, with a faculty of neophytes and
foot washers...ah...the majority of city council minus the ones with
backbone (Marra, Halberstadt and Dilkens.) Or maybe a new catherdal..The
Church of Teflon with the doctrine of "I am infallible and can do no wrong,
with the council singing the hynm; "Praise Eddie almighty, he is never
wrong, Praise the wards and screw the gullible."
You're disgusted Ed! I am angry and ashamed to be a resident of this city
NOW. Not in a hundred years plus of my family living in this city, has
anyone one of them ever uttered such a comment. Some even served as city
councillors! Don't they, fast Eddie and the gazelle feeders realize that
they are elected officals in a country that takes pride in the democratic
process, which in one aspect is to be transparent to its citizenry!... this
isn't just your city Eddie!
I think it is time that the province be asked to step in and dismantle this
city council (forget about a recall) and take control while a new mayor and
city council are elected.
10) Very nice job on the critique of the Audit (which appeared to be a recitation of “yeah, what the Mayor said”) as opposed to an legitimate inquiry. You raised the real questions and took them to task for the non specifics, and it was very concise. Nice job
11) The citizens of Windsor got what Eddie and the councillors asked for. No smoking guns, no huge misappropriations, no missed billings, etc. The problem is, why did politics stop raising the rates systematically to deal with future requirements. They could have continued the process of 7-10% increases annually and wouldn't have had the embarassment that was created. Even now, I still don't get why they needed an 80% increase as the money will be coming in faster than they can spend it. Why not 10% increases every year until they are caught up.
12) I just don’t get it, I just returned from a weekend in Chicago where the highways are stacked three high going around and thru the town, with trucks on all of them. Why do the big thinkers in city hall that we should not have traffic on our streets. The people of Windsor have no problem cutting thru the heart of Toronto on there travels with all of the trucks. They seem to have no problem with using all of the highways in Michigan when heading to the airport and the shopping malls. If the people are not aware these highways cut thru every major city, the things that the American know if you build the understructure of highways first the business will follow. I also attended a review of Rahieh North Carolina 2 weekends ago and the work they are doing there is amazing. But they built the highways first and yes right thru the city.
13) Well boo hooo hooo. The belle of the ball didn't get his invitation to the party first.
Everyone's a suspect now in the grand conspiracy. From councillors who are wanting
to take over the Mayoral position to secretive talks on fixing roads.
Hasn't Eddie become a little delusional?
Everyone is closing in on him.
Whoops, wait a minute. Where is the press release on all these jobs he
brought back from Germany?
Or is he hiding the schnitzel again?
14) Is it just me or do you smell a rat as well due to the fact 5 minutes before Council discussion regarding the trucks on Dougall the city only found out about the closing of the interchange from the 401?
15) My gut feeling is that the Fed's are going to let ABC build their bridge and
then pay the city for overpasses and tunnels to get rid of the stop lights
along Huron Line...case closed.
Personally I think Eddie is still reeling from his knee-jerk reaction for
having to build the new arena well ahead of the time he really wanted to
build it and the place he didn't want to.
16) It certainly causes me to scratch my head when I read about the Town of Lasalle appealing a Windsor rezoning of commercial (high tax) land in Ojibway, Tecumseh widening a main artery from 401 at their whim due to high traffic volumes, and Lakeshore unable to treat their own water due to overexpansion and poor planning.
This area should have been amalgamated into one regional municipality eons ago. More of the ingredients exist here than all of the other amalgamated regions combined !
Our taxes would be lower. Our planning could be carried out in proper sequence without bickering. Transit services could be extended, hospital services expanded etc. etc.
Maybe we should start a branch of W.E.ACT to include W.E. Amalgamate ?
The mayoral race at least would be interesting.
17) Hope that the Mayor tells these German folks that when they visit Windsor, they can take an Air Canada affiliate (Air Ontario) right into the airport and see it from the sky - not to fly into Metro Detroit and drive by.
18) I am not sure why you think property values will skyrocket if the UofW builds downtown. Did property skyrocket around the UfoW as it expanded? It certainly didn't.
What it did do was push families out of the area and introduced new absentee landlords that can't even follow the fire codes properly.
Instead of the surrounding area surging forward it is now mired with unkept houses and lawns, large parties with increased noise, and vandalism to surrounding residents property.
Have you asked those who still live in the area how great it is to see couches on porches or left to rot out front of the houses? Have you seen increases in business in that corridor? No, you or I have not.
What makes us think that this being placed downtown will be benificial? It sure hasn't been beneficial to the surroundig area of the UofW.
What pisses me off is that I invested in my property on the words of our city leaders that an urban village was going to be built and the RFP's were going to be sent out in a few short months (2006). None of this happened! Now I get to have university students run amok in this neighbourhood as well. So much for my investment and the work I have thus far. In fact I am sure to lose money on this endevour by the city as housing prices have plummeted.
Next time I will be sure NOT to take the words of this city as truth and instead do what is right. Like the rest of the residents I will do what I can to get mine.
19) If I was looking at using a transportation hub that is not there yet, with no final access road, no new crossing, and no sight to unload at, why would I waste my time going to see vacant land.
Excuse me for being sarcastic, it just flows with crap like this.
Has any one ever tried to get a job based on possibly what may or may not happen
in the future? Timelines?
I think the Mayor is wasting precious time and dollars on a project he will never see to an end.
20) Congratulations on having your AIESEC Alumni Story be chosen as one of fifty to mark AIESEC Canada’s 50th Anniversary this year! We would like to profile your story at AIESEC’s upcoming Gala on April 5th, 2008 in Montreal (details from AIESEC Canada to follow).
21) The Old Testament phrase, “Swords into Plowshares” comes to mind – perhaps it is better for eddie stop preparing for war & start attending to jobs at home. He’s willing to go half way around the world for 50 flower jobs, but unwilling to walk to the end of the block for a billion dollar economic stimulus. Which do you think the construction trades would prefer? He needs to beat his swords into plowshares, indeed.
22) First Time writer – I have enjoyed reading your blogs, very informative, and a hell of a lot better than reading the star.
Just watched tonight’s city council meeting, especially regarding the 3:00 AM closing.
What exactly is the city trying to do with this bylaw?
Larry Horwitz want to have a bylaw so that the city can have a down time to clean up for the next day. Great. How is making some of the establishments downtown close at 3, but other stay open going to achieve this. My thoughts would be close downtown up at 3, send everyone home, so they can clean up. But that’s not what he said. He said, close the hip-hop clubs, but the strip bars can stay open. So now we have all these drunk people going out on the street, and if they don’t want to cool down at the local food stops, they get to go and watch naked girls – good way for a 19 year old drunk person to wind down.
You want to market Windsor, you market it as 2 distinct entities – A vibrant day-tiime business mecca, with everything the prim and proper person wants, then let loose at night with the vibrant, multi-facited venues, from fine dining, to great entertainment for everyone’s taste. Now that is something the new convention center can market. Downtown Windsor will be open until 3, no matter how you slice it – its Provincial Law – keeping it open an extra hour to let the power drinkers wind down in a controlled, non-alcoholic environment – is that so bad???
Are there problems? Of course – but they are problems that are not indicative of the environment that the downtown was created for. They are problems that are created by external forces, as our Mayor has so eloquently said.
Businesses are not closing downtown because of the bars. It is because it is not worth people going downtown to shop there. Windsor Society has shown that. Give people a reason to go somewhere, and damn, they will go. They have nothing to go downtown for, except the bars.
Hope what I said made sense.
Take care, and keep up the good work
23) Boy, if I was Matt Fischer I would be embarassed. Having watched tonight's Council meeting cudos to Bob Willems and his group for organizing the promotion entitled "Let's Get Windsor Going". This apparently is in conjunction with the Auto show and a set up at the Armouries including the University, College and auto dealers showing the new vehicles on this side of the river for those that may not be able to get over to Detroit the next 2 weeks. Mr. Willems quickly slipped in the comment (hope you got it on tape) that "they couldn't get a partnership with Windsor on the promotion." Isn't this part of the Development Commission's mandate... to work with those in the community to enhance exposure and business growth. Guess Matt was out in the field feeding the Gazelles.
Later, mention was made that the city was indeed involved with the Auto Show in Detroit and would be attending a function sponsored by the Consulate General's Office. One Councillor asked for more details and Skorbahacz (sp?) said that someone from Windsor would be rubbing shoulders with worldwide auto executives at the function in Detroit. When asked how much it would cost Windsor the CAO stated he "thought" $25,000.....say what !!!
Mention was also made that the City of Windsor would not be having a booth at the show (as they have had in the past.) Guess Matt hasn't found any brochure printers yet. This Development Commission is a total joke !!
It is high time someone asked some poignant questions as to what Matt and the Development Commission have done for the past year. Has anyone ever heard of an "Objectives and Accomplishments Review?"
24) CANWARN program is a trained volunteer group that assists Environment Canada keeping an "eye on the weather" and reports severe weather events directly to the Ontario Storm Prediction Centre in Toronto. Based on the observation (i.e. a tornado) Environment Canada uses the observers information to either issue or update weather statements or warnings.
The CANWARN program began in Windsor in 1987 and is now a nationwide volunteer group with in excess of 4500 volunteers. It has received recognition from several government organizations as well as police and other first responders.
What has this got to do with downtown crime/violence? I understand currently there have been cameras positioned in various areas in the downtown core. These cameras are apparently monitored by private citizens but I am not sure what protocol or quthority they have with the police. If these monitors were moved to a location either in or near the police communication centre monitored by Auxiliary Officers on weekends they could notify dispatchers of incidents they see happening or about to happen and have officers dispatched to the scene. It could be introduced as a "pilot project" and if proved beneficial expanded by adding more cameras in the downtown core.
1) I am now firmly convinced that Francis is living in another world, another dimension, the twilight zone!
He is about to embark on a spending spree, at taxpayer's expense to advertise for support of his lost cause, no improvements until Greenlink is approved.
This will be an interesting study in political posturing. When will Geenlink be approved ? If approved when, if ever, will it be built ?
The next two months will, indeed, be very interesting along with the interim control by-law at February end.
2) ...here comes the article about him being the right person at the right time. [Dave Cooke's Windsor Star article] Of course when comments came pouring where "one person" claimed the rumour was that Dave Cooke was going to run for mayor I decided to put my two cents in. Well, when my comments were not posted (negative) I decided to write another comment with a different name (positive) then the comment was published.
My sister was over and told her to read the article and have her own comments (negative) well not only her comments were not published but the whole thing (the comments) dissapeared all together. So what that tells me is that the rumour is probably true.. Pretty clever eh!
3) It appears that [Council] are still hell bent on thwarting the Bridge Company. The delay [on the Interim Control By-law] was a real feather in the caps of all the opposition who turned up. Extremely important was the acceptance of the manipulative timing of the meeting was undemocratic. This is a first! I woke up this morning with a smile on my face and a bounce in my step...I will still be making a presentation when the next meeting is scheduled.
4) Isn't misdirected rage amazing?
I just read the article about Bubi's venting anger at the University.
Too bad their efforts weren't directed at the city. What a shame all that energy is wasted. If they only read your blog to see where to vent the anger maybe Windsor would be better off.
The University made the best possible choice looking at the current situation.
Can you imagine 3 years from now when Windsor would cut them off due to no funds left?
The next Mayor is in for a really rough time.
Still no press release about those jobs from Germany.
5) They will have to expand Zalev to hold all of the scrap deals Eddie has laying around.
6) Good Morning Ed,
I just read the U OF W editorial on Thursday. The Statement
“The arguments against the downtown, as expressed after the board of governors’ meeting, were considerably less than compelling: It might be inconvenient for students. It would mean forgoing a chance to make the university look more attractive to prospective students. It would eliminate the “on-campus” experience.
When I was looking at Universities to look at, ok, 30 years ago, my main concerns were – how does the university looks, how far would I have to go inbetween classes, and was looking forward to meeting tons of like students and mingling on campus. I’m sure that students look at that as well today. These are not “less compelling reasons” These ARE the reasons for students wanting to come here
Now if the city would have shown its support of the downtown area, by putting, say, an arena – where we already had most of the land, and some type of assurance of the urban village – putting the center downtown wouldn’t even need a vote – a no brainer – but since the city won’t help the downtown, why should the U
7) With a $110 million decision on its plate and the advice of almost all outside advisors to stay on-campus the Board did the right thing for the students and the University.
And now by doing the right thing the University is being slammed by a newspaper.
By saying that the facility is worth $40 million to the City if it goes downtown but worth nothing to the City if it is built on campus clearly shows that they viewed this in pure political terms and not what it means for the City and for the University. This facility is worth a lot to the City where ever it is built pure and simple. Maybe more if downtown but it is still the largest single investment in education in the history of Windsor and extremely valuable to the City. And relative to almost all other Universities in Canada the University of Windsor IS downtown. Certainly more downtown than Waterloo, Laurier and Guelph which are the schools being used as sterling examples of the benefits of a downtown vision. These schools took the bribe of money and located facilities downtown under some vague and unproven theory that this is good for the University and each City. A theory that has never been proven in practice and in some case has proven to seriously hurt students and their academic goals. McGill is a good example.
Has education funding come to the point where in order to pay for school infrastructure Universities have to take bribes to fulfill the political agendas of temporary politicians... the University of Windsor Board of Governor's should be proud of their decision to do the right thing.
8) Since the city saved around 35 million on the university, it becomes very apparent
the city has more funds than they know what to do with.*sarcasm inserted here*
I wonder if someone from Ford reads your blog.
They could be knocking on the city's doors looking to save the engine plant.
Where is Mr Lowenza Jr. these days?
Surely he would be a glorious advocate to help save Ken & Buzz's political
future with the union.
35 million is more than enough to save the plant and many feeder jobs.
Nuts, I did it again. Common sense revolution.
That would make a great bumper sticker.............
9) I can't contain my thoughts in just 300 words, [Maximum length allowed in a Star Letter to the Editor]
It's not looking good for Eddie, nor council but it is looking good for the
University of Windsor! I am overjoyed that the university decided to build
the new engineering school ON campus which is still great for this city..not
just for the mare. The Mayor really didn't offer any deal or commitment as
you stated above..just the buzz! Talk about grasping at straws,throwing
caution to wind and gambling with money he didn't have...typical Type A
personality gone wrong. Maybe Fast Eddie can build his own campus
downtown..The School of Denial and Buzzness, with a faculty of neophytes and
foot washers...ah...the majority of city council minus the ones with
backbone (Marra, Halberstadt and Dilkens.) Or maybe a new catherdal..The
Church of Teflon with the doctrine of "I am infallible and can do no wrong,
with the council singing the hynm; "Praise Eddie almighty, he is never
wrong, Praise the wards and screw the gullible."
You're disgusted Ed! I am angry and ashamed to be a resident of this city
NOW. Not in a hundred years plus of my family living in this city, has
anyone one of them ever uttered such a comment. Some even served as city
councillors! Don't they, fast Eddie and the gazelle feeders realize that
they are elected officals in a country that takes pride in the democratic
process, which in one aspect is to be transparent to its citizenry!... this
isn't just your city Eddie!
I think it is time that the province be asked to step in and dismantle this
city council (forget about a recall) and take control while a new mayor and
city council are elected.
10) Very nice job on the critique of the Audit (which appeared to be a recitation of “yeah, what the Mayor said”) as opposed to an legitimate inquiry. You raised the real questions and took them to task for the non specifics, and it was very concise. Nice job
11) The citizens of Windsor got what Eddie and the councillors asked for. No smoking guns, no huge misappropriations, no missed billings, etc. The problem is, why did politics stop raising the rates systematically to deal with future requirements. They could have continued the process of 7-10% increases annually and wouldn't have had the embarassment that was created. Even now, I still don't get why they needed an 80% increase as the money will be coming in faster than they can spend it. Why not 10% increases every year until they are caught up.
12) I just don’t get it, I just returned from a weekend in Chicago where the highways are stacked three high going around and thru the town, with trucks on all of them. Why do the big thinkers in city hall that we should not have traffic on our streets. The people of Windsor have no problem cutting thru the heart of Toronto on there travels with all of the trucks. They seem to have no problem with using all of the highways in Michigan when heading to the airport and the shopping malls. If the people are not aware these highways cut thru every major city, the things that the American know if you build the understructure of highways first the business will follow. I also attended a review of Rahieh North Carolina 2 weekends ago and the work they are doing there is amazing. But they built the highways first and yes right thru the city.
13) Well boo hooo hooo. The belle of the ball didn't get his invitation to the party first.
Everyone's a suspect now in the grand conspiracy. From councillors who are wanting
to take over the Mayoral position to secretive talks on fixing roads.
Hasn't Eddie become a little delusional?
Everyone is closing in on him.
Whoops, wait a minute. Where is the press release on all these jobs he
brought back from Germany?
Or is he hiding the schnitzel again?
14) Is it just me or do you smell a rat as well due to the fact 5 minutes before Council discussion regarding the trucks on Dougall the city only found out about the closing of the interchange from the 401?
15) My gut feeling is that the Fed's are going to let ABC build their bridge and
then pay the city for overpasses and tunnels to get rid of the stop lights
along Huron Line...case closed.
Personally I think Eddie is still reeling from his knee-jerk reaction for
having to build the new arena well ahead of the time he really wanted to
build it and the place he didn't want to.
16) It certainly causes me to scratch my head when I read about the Town of Lasalle appealing a Windsor rezoning of commercial (high tax) land in Ojibway, Tecumseh widening a main artery from 401 at their whim due to high traffic volumes, and Lakeshore unable to treat their own water due to overexpansion and poor planning.
This area should have been amalgamated into one regional municipality eons ago. More of the ingredients exist here than all of the other amalgamated regions combined !
Our taxes would be lower. Our planning could be carried out in proper sequence without bickering. Transit services could be extended, hospital services expanded etc. etc.
Maybe we should start a branch of W.E.ACT to include W.E. Amalgamate ?
The mayoral race at least would be interesting.
17) Hope that the Mayor tells these German folks that when they visit Windsor, they can take an Air Canada affiliate (Air Ontario) right into the airport and see it from the sky - not to fly into Metro Detroit and drive by.
18) I am not sure why you think property values will skyrocket if the UofW builds downtown. Did property skyrocket around the UfoW as it expanded? It certainly didn't.
What it did do was push families out of the area and introduced new absentee landlords that can't even follow the fire codes properly.
Instead of the surrounding area surging forward it is now mired with unkept houses and lawns, large parties with increased noise, and vandalism to surrounding residents property.
Have you asked those who still live in the area how great it is to see couches on porches or left to rot out front of the houses? Have you seen increases in business in that corridor? No, you or I have not.
What makes us think that this being placed downtown will be benificial? It sure hasn't been beneficial to the surroundig area of the UofW.
What pisses me off is that I invested in my property on the words of our city leaders that an urban village was going to be built and the RFP's were going to be sent out in a few short months (2006). None of this happened! Now I get to have university students run amok in this neighbourhood as well. So much for my investment and the work I have thus far. In fact I am sure to lose money on this endevour by the city as housing prices have plummeted.
Next time I will be sure NOT to take the words of this city as truth and instead do what is right. Like the rest of the residents I will do what I can to get mine.
19) If I was looking at using a transportation hub that is not there yet, with no final access road, no new crossing, and no sight to unload at, why would I waste my time going to see vacant land.
Excuse me for being sarcastic, it just flows with crap like this.
Has any one ever tried to get a job based on possibly what may or may not happen
in the future? Timelines?
I think the Mayor is wasting precious time and dollars on a project he will never see to an end.
20) Congratulations on having your AIESEC Alumni Story be chosen as one of fifty to mark AIESEC Canada’s 50th Anniversary this year! We would like to profile your story at AIESEC’s upcoming Gala on April 5th, 2008 in Montreal (details from AIESEC Canada to follow).
21) The Old Testament phrase, “Swords into Plowshares” comes to mind – perhaps it is better for eddie stop preparing for war & start attending to jobs at home. He’s willing to go half way around the world for 50 flower jobs, but unwilling to walk to the end of the block for a billion dollar economic stimulus. Which do you think the construction trades would prefer? He needs to beat his swords into plowshares, indeed.
22) First Time writer – I have enjoyed reading your blogs, very informative, and a hell of a lot better than reading the star.
Just watched tonight’s city council meeting, especially regarding the 3:00 AM closing.
What exactly is the city trying to do with this bylaw?
Larry Horwitz want to have a bylaw so that the city can have a down time to clean up for the next day. Great. How is making some of the establishments downtown close at 3, but other stay open going to achieve this. My thoughts would be close downtown up at 3, send everyone home, so they can clean up. But that’s not what he said. He said, close the hip-hop clubs, but the strip bars can stay open. So now we have all these drunk people going out on the street, and if they don’t want to cool down at the local food stops, they get to go and watch naked girls – good way for a 19 year old drunk person to wind down.
You want to market Windsor, you market it as 2 distinct entities – A vibrant day-tiime business mecca, with everything the prim and proper person wants, then let loose at night with the vibrant, multi-facited venues, from fine dining, to great entertainment for everyone’s taste. Now that is something the new convention center can market. Downtown Windsor will be open until 3, no matter how you slice it – its Provincial Law – keeping it open an extra hour to let the power drinkers wind down in a controlled, non-alcoholic environment – is that so bad???
Are there problems? Of course – but they are problems that are not indicative of the environment that the downtown was created for. They are problems that are created by external forces, as our Mayor has so eloquently said.
Businesses are not closing downtown because of the bars. It is because it is not worth people going downtown to shop there. Windsor Society has shown that. Give people a reason to go somewhere, and damn, they will go. They have nothing to go downtown for, except the bars.
Hope what I said made sense.
Take care, and keep up the good work
23) Boy, if I was Matt Fischer I would be embarassed. Having watched tonight's Council meeting cudos to Bob Willems and his group for organizing the promotion entitled "Let's Get Windsor Going". This apparently is in conjunction with the Auto show and a set up at the Armouries including the University, College and auto dealers showing the new vehicles on this side of the river for those that may not be able to get over to Detroit the next 2 weeks. Mr. Willems quickly slipped in the comment (hope you got it on tape) that "they couldn't get a partnership with Windsor on the promotion." Isn't this part of the Development Commission's mandate... to work with those in the community to enhance exposure and business growth. Guess Matt was out in the field feeding the Gazelles.
Later, mention was made that the city was indeed involved with the Auto Show in Detroit and would be attending a function sponsored by the Consulate General's Office. One Councillor asked for more details and Skorbahacz (sp?) said that someone from Windsor would be rubbing shoulders with worldwide auto executives at the function in Detroit. When asked how much it would cost Windsor the CAO stated he "thought" $25,000.....say what !!!
Mention was also made that the City of Windsor would not be having a booth at the show (as they have had in the past.) Guess Matt hasn't found any brochure printers yet. This Development Commission is a total joke !!
It is high time someone asked some poignant questions as to what Matt and the Development Commission have done for the past year. Has anyone ever heard of an "Objectives and Accomplishments Review?"
24) CANWARN program is a trained volunteer group that assists Environment Canada keeping an "eye on the weather" and reports severe weather events directly to the Ontario Storm Prediction Centre in Toronto. Based on the observation (i.e. a tornado) Environment Canada uses the observers information to either issue or update weather statements or warnings.
The CANWARN program began in Windsor in 1987 and is now a nationwide volunteer group with in excess of 4500 volunteers. It has received recognition from several government organizations as well as police and other first responders.
What has this got to do with downtown crime/violence? I understand currently there have been cameras positioned in various areas in the downtown core. These cameras are apparently monitored by private citizens but I am not sure what protocol or quthority they have with the police. If these monitors were moved to a location either in or near the police communication centre monitored by Auxiliary Officers on weekends they could notify dispatchers of incidents they see happening or about to happen and have officers dispatched to the scene. It could be introduced as a "pilot project" and if proved beneficial expanded by adding more cameras in the downtown core.
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