Has WAR been declared by our Generalissimo, the Mayor of Windsor, against new enemies? Eddie is already fighting the Ambassador Bridge Co., DRIC, and the Senior Levels. Has he not learned from history that you don't open up a second front? Has he now declared war on the County too?
Hold on, perhaps we need to give Eddie Francis the benefit of the doubt.
I am sure that you saw this comment by Hillary Clinton with respect to the absurd statements that her husband, the former President, has been making during her Presidential campaign:
Hold on, perhaps we need to give Eddie Francis the benefit of the doubt.
I am sure that you saw this comment by Hillary Clinton with respect to the absurd statements that her husband, the former President, has been making during her Presidential campaign:
- "you know, maybe [he] got a little carried away," she said.
"But you know, that comes with.. sleep deprivation which, you know, I think is marking all of us."
My recollection is that Eddie said that he was working 18 hours a day as Mayor and now with a little one who may be still keeping him up at night the number of hours of sleep have probably been reduced as well.
How else can one explain these two recent stories in the Windsor Star and make any sense out of what he is doing:
- Windsorites leaving in droves
'It's probably 10 to one, people leaving for every one coming in' - Mayor unmoved by talks
Unconvinced that the Ontario government is listening to Windsor when it comes to the border file, Mayor Eddie Francis wants to "mobilize" the community and recruit residents to send a strong message to the province.
A blitz of billboards, media advertising and direct mail will be used in the campaign."
Didn't we just have a blitz in Windsor for Greenlink? You remember those full-page ads in the Star. The radio spots on CKLW. The Ward meetings. All that was done and the money spent so that the City could present something to the Senior Levels. For my information, although I have not asked recently, nothing was ever presented by the City. Does that mean that Eddie did not get the "overwhelming" support he thought he could get?
And now the Mayor wants to do it all over again. This is craziness.
The sales people whose job it is to get advertisements at the various media outlets ought to be thrilled. With a down Windsor economy, here comes the City to fill in all that empty ad space. The media better learn however to be nice to the Mayor and to keep on having "W's" strapped to their wherevers or else they may not get in on the gravy train respecting advertisements. You don't want to bite the hand that feeds you do you.
So much for the Motion that was passed by Council to try and be nice-nice with the County. Eddie is barely out of the meeting with the MPPs and the County Mayors and now he is starting a war against them. They must be Windsor's new enemy. It is not just an ad campaign that the Mayor is starting but rather:
The sales people whose job it is to get advertisements at the various media outlets ought to be thrilled. With a down Windsor economy, here comes the City to fill in all that empty ad space. The media better learn however to be nice to the Mayor and to keep on having "W's" strapped to their wherevers or else they may not get in on the gravy train respecting advertisements. You don't want to bite the hand that feeds you do you.
So much for the Motion that was passed by Council to try and be nice-nice with the County. Eddie is barely out of the meeting with the MPPs and the County Mayors and now he is starting a war against them. They must be Windsor's new enemy. It is not just an ad campaign that the Mayor is starting but rather:
- "Mayor Eddie Francis wants to "mobilize" the community and recruit residents to send a strong message to the province.
A blitz of billboards, media advertising and direct mail will be used in the campaign."
Funny, if Eddie believed so much in what he is saying, why wouldn't he have started the lawsuits he has threatened so many times before. It is because he knows he has no strong legal position. I'm sure that Eddie will not want to be a witness at a trial and to have his files opened for examination. Look at how the Bridge Company's lawyer, Paula Lombardi, walked all over him at the Special Council Meeting. Can you imagine what would it would be like when he was examined on discovery for hours and days and weeks on end by lawyers acting for his "enemies!" It would not be a pretty sight.
He knows that he was completely outmaneuvered by Sandra and Dwight before, and now after, the Provincial election. They don't have to be afraid of him anymore because they will still be in office in 2010 when he leaves the job as Mayor. He has completely lost any leverage over them.
Aren't you tired of hearing about the "cheap" solution of spending $1.6 billion? It does not play well either. Eddie better go out quickly and do some polling because he is still relying on polls that are out of date if he thinks that this message is being accepted by people in Windsor. Or he can just read what people say about him online.
What Windsorites are interested in, and that is confirmed by Dwight Duncan's outburst after he did polling I would think, is JOBS, JOBS, JOBS. The story in the Star, and more interestingly the comments in the Windsor Star Forum on the subject, ought to be a concern to the Mayor and to Council. People are leaving Windsor in droves. We have the highest unemployment in the country. We have no economic development strategy because our Gazelle Feeders took a year to find out that they didn't have any brochures. Eddie went to Germany and came back with nothing after spending thousands of dollars in taxpayer money. Is a trip to Mexico next for him?
Building the road to the bridge and building the Ambassador Bridge Enhancement Project will produce between 10 to 15,000 infrastructure and spinoff jobs now. Those jobs are absolutely essential at this time to tide this City over until such time as we can figure out what we want our new economy to be. That project along with the construction of the medical school and the Engineering Complex by the University will help not only the people who are working but the businesses in the City since people have cash to spend in Windsor.
And what do the Windsor Star Editors say about all of this. They attack the University for not going downtown and go after the Ambassador Bridge Company in Editorials. Are they that foolish?
What they should be writing is that this Mayor is incompetent. Read Councillor Halberstadt's BLOG "City Council Not Respected"
Aren't you tired of hearing about the "cheap" solution of spending $1.6 billion? It does not play well either. Eddie better go out quickly and do some polling because he is still relying on polls that are out of date if he thinks that this message is being accepted by people in Windsor. Or he can just read what people say about him online.
What Windsorites are interested in, and that is confirmed by Dwight Duncan's outburst after he did polling I would think, is JOBS, JOBS, JOBS. The story in the Star, and more interestingly the comments in the Windsor Star Forum on the subject, ought to be a concern to the Mayor and to Council. People are leaving Windsor in droves. We have the highest unemployment in the country. We have no economic development strategy because our Gazelle Feeders took a year to find out that they didn't have any brochures. Eddie went to Germany and came back with nothing after spending thousands of dollars in taxpayer money. Is a trip to Mexico next for him?
Building the road to the bridge and building the Ambassador Bridge Enhancement Project will produce between 10 to 15,000 infrastructure and spinoff jobs now. Those jobs are absolutely essential at this time to tide this City over until such time as we can figure out what we want our new economy to be. That project along with the construction of the medical school and the Engineering Complex by the University will help not only the people who are working but the businesses in the City since people have cash to spend in Windsor.
And what do the Windsor Star Editors say about all of this. They attack the University for not going downtown and go after the Ambassador Bridge Company in Editorials. Are they that foolish?
What they should be writing is that this Mayor is incompetent. Read Councillor Halberstadt's BLOG "City Council Not Respected"
The Mayor after all the time that he had to negotiate with the University had not prepared a business case for bringing the University downtown and had not discussed with Council what it is that they were prepared to do financially. How could he then possibly expect the University Board to agree to a downtown campus! The University Board members would have been derelict in their duty if they had listened to the Mayor. Not only was his offer "vague" it was nonexistent!
Eddie does not want a border road solution. I don't know what he wants. If he wanted a solution, he should have accepted the word of two Senior Cabinet Ministers that the road to the border would be completed before the Manning Road project was finished. It certainly would be easy enough to prepare an agreement saying that. Wouldn't that end the issue?
It does not matter what anybody says or what anybody does. Eddie will keep shifting his ground. He has to. He has been boxed in by some of the absurd statements that he's been making over the past few years with respect to the border matter.
Our Expressway is in bad shape and the City has not enough money to maintain it or to upgrade it since it is at capacity. Administration needs money from the Province to fix it up for heavens sake or we could have a calamity with respect to the Expressway bridges. It is their number one priority and a public safety issue as they have said in a Report to Council. Cansult warned us about the problems with respect to the Expressway a long time ago. What has been done to remedy the situation? Perhaps we should take money from the East End arena to fix up our roads.
Insulting the County doesn't make sense. Insulting the Senior Levels who give out grants and who will create infrastructure jobs here doesn't make sense. Insulting the Ambassador Bridge Company which has solved the truck backup issues at its expense and who wants to create thousands of jobs here doesn't make sense.
What makes sense to Eddie is a salvaging the career of Eddie Francis. Eddie is desperate to do something to save his political life before it is shown to be a total failure. He needs to mobilize the troops. He needs to create a brouhaha. He needs the Senior Levels to impose a solution so that he can be our martyr. He needs a way out.
We need to focus our attention now on City Councillors and stop thinking about a Mayor who is so out of touch with citizens.
I cannot help but think of Mayor Mike Hurst in 2003 and compare that situation with Eddie Francis in 2008. Councillors recognized then and should do so now that they have a legal obligation to act in the best interests of citizens of Windsor. They can no longer allow a Mayor to waste money and time to save his legacy. The Senior Levels have an obligation to act as well not only for the good of Windsor but for the good of the Ontario and Canadian economies.
In my opinion City Councillors and the Senior Levels should accommodate the Mayor and take away the border file from him. Let them be seen as decisive by taking action to help protect this City. Eddie can no longer be the Leader And the Voice of Council on the border file.
Eddie does not want a border road solution. I don't know what he wants. If he wanted a solution, he should have accepted the word of two Senior Cabinet Ministers that the road to the border would be completed before the Manning Road project was finished. It certainly would be easy enough to prepare an agreement saying that. Wouldn't that end the issue?
It does not matter what anybody says or what anybody does. Eddie will keep shifting his ground. He has to. He has been boxed in by some of the absurd statements that he's been making over the past few years with respect to the border matter.
Our Expressway is in bad shape and the City has not enough money to maintain it or to upgrade it since it is at capacity. Administration needs money from the Province to fix it up for heavens sake or we could have a calamity with respect to the Expressway bridges. It is their number one priority and a public safety issue as they have said in a Report to Council. Cansult warned us about the problems with respect to the Expressway a long time ago. What has been done to remedy the situation? Perhaps we should take money from the East End arena to fix up our roads.
Insulting the County doesn't make sense. Insulting the Senior Levels who give out grants and who will create infrastructure jobs here doesn't make sense. Insulting the Ambassador Bridge Company which has solved the truck backup issues at its expense and who wants to create thousands of jobs here doesn't make sense.
What makes sense to Eddie is a salvaging the career of Eddie Francis. Eddie is desperate to do something to save his political life before it is shown to be a total failure. He needs to mobilize the troops. He needs to create a brouhaha. He needs the Senior Levels to impose a solution so that he can be our martyr. He needs a way out.
We need to focus our attention now on City Councillors and stop thinking about a Mayor who is so out of touch with citizens.
I cannot help but think of Mayor Mike Hurst in 2003 and compare that situation with Eddie Francis in 2008. Councillors recognized then and should do so now that they have a legal obligation to act in the best interests of citizens of Windsor. They can no longer allow a Mayor to waste money and time to save his legacy. The Senior Levels have an obligation to act as well not only for the good of Windsor but for the good of the Ontario and Canadian economies.
In my opinion City Councillors and the Senior Levels should accommodate the Mayor and take away the border file from him. Let them be seen as decisive by taking action to help protect this City. Eddie can no longer be the Leader And the Voice of Council on the border file.
Eddie needs a long, long rest.
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