Dinner Is Served

There is no doubt but that the Mayor gets lots of ideas from others. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that if it means that we can take advantage of ideas from other municipalities and jurisdictions that work. After all, why do we have to reinvent the wheel.

I suspect that relations between the Mayor and certain Councillors may be getting a little bit testy. The seeming animosity between the Mayor and Councillor Halberstadt that shows up during the Cogeco Council broadcasts, as an example, is certainly surprising considering that the Councillor was one of the biggest boosters of the Mayor.

As we are starting to get nearer to the time when Councillors have to decide if they are going to take a run at the Mayor's job, one should expect some more disunity and dysfunction on Council. Each of them will try to make a name for him/herself that would help distinguish him/her if the the decision is made to try to grab that job. Can you imagine what will happen if the Mayor decides, as rumours suggest, to run for a third term!

Well I thought long and hard about all this and wondered what the Mayor could do to try and keep everything calm, cool and collected. He ought to do what the Detroit Mayor did. He ought to borrow an idea from him that seemed to work wonderfully on the Tunnel deal: go with a Councillor to dinner. I was going to suggest a noon-time meal but I’ve heard it said that a number of the Councillors are already out to lunch.

I wonder if they will go to the restaurant with coffee that cost $154.

And no, I’m not going to suggest that the Mayor kiss their rings or other items as Kwame did in Detroit. That is something for consenting adults to discuss in private.

It would be extremely difficult for the Mayor to take the Councillor formerly known as Councillor Budget out. Can you imagine the time that they will spend discussing each item, line by line, on the dinner bill to ensure its correctness. The Councillor would have to make certain that each was charged only for exactly what was consumed by the person. The Mayor will have to watch as the Councillor takes out his calculator to add everything up and do the calculation for the gratuity.

It should be relatively simple with Councillor Dilkens. The only problem with him will actually be being able to find the time when both of them can fit a dinner into their schedules. The Councillor has been so busy attending DRIC Open houses, Detroit Council meetings and will be spending so much time in the County trying to get them to agree to discuss amalgamation that he may not have time to meet with the Mayor.

There is only one location that Councillor Jones would ever agree to meet and that is a restaurant in Sandwich. To say that he would want a sandwich in Sandwich is just too obvious a play on words and I would never think of doing that. To be honest, I would have suggested some nice spots in Detroit but that might have meant crossing the Ambassador Bridge to get across more quickly rather than waiting in line at the Tunnel.

Speaking of eating in Detroit, I would never suggest that for Council Postma given the criticism she has taken about shopping in Detroit. What I was going to suggest was the Junction for her so that, as a mom, she could bring her children there with her. The owners had suggested years ago that “a family entertainment venue be built with The Junction family entertainment company to provide families and youths with a place of entertainment in the city centre area.” They also have an idea as I blogged previously to have a museum complex built at their site. Unfortunately, none of that ever happened.

It would be interesting for the Mayor with the Ward 3 Councillors. I expect that Councillor Valentinis would go anywhere that the Mayor wanted to go while Councillor Halberstadt would not agree with anything that the Mayor wanted these days.

There is no doubt in my mind that Councillor Lewenza would order the most expensive meal of all the Councillors. If anyone complained, he would say it was a “great news story for the community” and would tell us how few pennies per year it cost each household to have the two of them dining.

Is there anywhere else but Erie Street that Councillor Marra would go! I heard it said that in his first run for Mayor the Councillor did not pick up as many votes in the Italian community as he expected so would he dare go elsewhere! They would probably share a Mayor-sized pizza. Restaurants seem to have a lot of trouble with that kind of pizza on their take-out menu however. As described, it shows a lot of promise but quite often, when ordered, has failed to be delivered.

Eddie might be greatly embarrassed when he invited out the Ward Five Councillors. He might think that he was talking about the great issues of our City with Councillor Hatfield when instead he was talking with Council Gignac. Those silvery white heads of hair can fool you every time! There is no doubt that Councillor Gignac would want to eat downtown but it would take Eddie forever to make a reservation there. As for Councillor Hatfield, he might not have time to eat much signing all of those autographs for star-struck Windsorites who may think he was preparing for a session of Percy's Panel with the Mayor for CBC-TV News.

It’s just an idea. I think that Eddie should chew the fat with his Chief of Staff to figure out whether this idea makes sense or not. Unfortunately, they cannot go to Bin 151 where I hear they have a private room where people can go to eat and, presumably, be unobserved. It will close down in August according to the Star.

Oh well, they will have to eat their lamb chops in public.