More Items You May Have Missed

I wonder if you saw these recent items or were you distracted by all of the silliness going on.

GIMMEE, GIMMEE, GIMMEE

We in Windsor have been trained by our Mayor and Council to have an entitlement mentality. Because we are Windsor, we are entitled to a multi-billion-dollar boondoggle called Greenlink as just the most obvious example. After all, we are entitled to have the best “quality of life” in our City although Greenlink itself does nothing for the major source of pollution that comes from the United States. But that is a mere detail that is unimportant when the political careers of certain people are at stake.

Chris Schnurr did a BLOG about some of the tunnel projects that were mentioned in Eddie’s presentation the other week and what was interesting was the contribution required either from a private party or from the local community.

In my opinion therefore, our Mayor and Council need to put up Windsor taxpayer money, and big sums of money too that will of course bankrupt this City for generations, as our contribution for Greenlink. We would pay in other words for the difference in cost between Greenlink and the DRIC road. Seriously, it can be sold on the following basis never mind what the reality is: after we ever pay off the Arena, we will be rolling in dough if you remember what Mr. Henderson wrote in one of his columns.

Of course, I have a reason for saying this. It has already been said in a similar fashion in the United States and by none other than Gridlock Sam Schwartz, our Mayor’s transportation guru. Obviously, our Mayor has learned from what he has said and is just waiting to spring this on us since so much infrastructure money will be around. This is how he will convince the Senior Levels to build Greenlink. Here is what Sam said:

• “The cornerstone of Obama's infrastructure plans: the creation of a bipartisan supported National Infrastructure Bank funded by the federal government to the tune of $60 billion over 10 years. The bank is likely to require any project seeking more than $75 million in federal support to submit a proposal to the bank - a proposal that would include the contribution to be made by state and local governments, user fees and a plan for maintenance.”

It would not surprise me to see our Federal Government do that in January as part of their Budget to stay in power. After all, any project above $50 million has to take a look at P3s already as the basis of financing. It would not be very much more for the Finance Minister to add in local contribution for bigger projects. Of course, P3s will have great difficulty raising money in these days of economic restraint and are a foolish way to build infrastructure but what the heck, politicians don’t care when it is your money, dear reader, and mine that is involved.

Oh, and do not worry. Sam will help Eddie justify that as well:

• “At the same time, Gov. Paterson must integrate recommendations from his commission on public-private partnerships, formed in September with the mission of maximizing the value of the state's assets in the face of the fiscal crisis. Such partnerships are no panacea, but they do offer money up front and a much faster track for implementation.”

Thanks Sam. Thanks Eddie. Thanks Jim Flaherty. I really did not need all that extra cash in my wallet. Feel free to spend it as you wish.

SENIOR LIVING

Congratulations to the Windsor-Essex Regional Chamber of Commerce, Greater Windsor Home Builders' Association and Windsor Essex County Real Estate Board for starting the Windsor-Essex Active Retirement Community Initiative http://www.retirehere.ca/

Its mission "is to attract investment, create new jobs and revitalize the real estate market throughout Windsor-Essex by building on the region's growing development of active retirement luxury properties and services, and by promoting the unique location, diverse lifestyle and quality amenities of its nine communities."

I am surprised that the Development Commission is not one of the founding groups since it seems that this initiative would fall within its mandate. Oh well, some of their people are too busy coming and going to Europe for trade shows. Interestingly, on the website's "Start a Business" page, there is no reference to the WEDC either. At the least, the WEDC did publish their press release "Local Group Hopes to Lure Retirees Here."

Here however is the problem that I see with respect to this initiative.Take a look at the picture that I posted. It is that of a doctor isn't it. Here is what the website says:

• "Take Good Care! We're focused on leading health-care specialists and facilities that include 2 municipal and one county hospital providing 1,000 acute-care beds; state-of-the-art Windsor Regional Cancer Centre; 20 long-term care facilities, the University of Windsor's new Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry plus expedient access to world-class hospitals in Detroit, the University of Michigan Health System in Ann Arbor and London Health Sciences Centre, London, Ontario. "

Sounds very impressive doesn't it until one reads this story in the Windsor Star:

• "Windsor and Essex County still needs another 200 doctors, Mavrinac said. Even with the retirements that have taken place, one in five local doctors is over 60 and one in 12 are over 70, she said.
  
  The need is greatest for family physicians and wait times are as high as 14 months in some medical specialties, although some gaps in specialist and psychiatric care for children and seniors have been filled, she said.
  
  Still, about one in four local residents don't have a family doctor -- a higher rate than the provincial average of one in five....
  
  Mavrinac warned that the effort to turn Windsor and Essex County into a nationally known retirement area also carries with it the need to make sure that health care services will be adequate for a growing senior population.
  
  More experts in geriatric care will have to be recruited if the percentage of seniors -- already growing -- rises further, she said."

Notwithstanding the seemingly successful recruitment efforts, the number of doctors still needed, 200, is the number that has been around for years as our shortage.

Of course, there is an easier way to recruit doctors but until our City and County get off their rear ends and put pressure on the Senior Levels, it will be difficult to convince seniors to move to this part of Ontario. After all, Windsor is one of the most underserviced areas in the Province medically.

WHERE'S THE HORSE

I like this headline in the Star. Kudos to the headline writer:

"Spits close Barn door"

However, if you read a bit further down in the Story, you would see the following:

• "Mayor Eddie Francis, who addressed the standing-room crowd before the puck-drop, stressed that Windsor Arena is merely transforming, not dying.
  
  "The Barn will still be here," Francis said. "We're just beginning a new era. With every new era there's change. So we'll be telling a new story here, just without the Spitfires."

What that means is that when the City tears down the Barn to make way for the City's new City Hall, there will be a plaque stating that this was the site of the oldWindsor Arena. That is the change that will be here with the new era. And he forgot to mention at the end of his sentence that not only will the new story be without the Spitfires, but it will be also without the building.

But why ruin a nice evening to say that.

BULLPEN SESSION

How the heck can Councillors be loopy if Eddie keeps cancelling their Friday BULL meetings. Unfortunately, he was unable to attend not only these sessions but the Premier's Bagel meeting with the Chamber of Commerce.

According to CKLW, Councillor Bill Marra was the only City politician there.

No, no, no. This was not a snub. I mean, after all, it was only the Premier. No favouritism could be shown. He had to treat him equally after he did not meet with the PC leader, John Tory.

Oh....this Friday's BS session is cancelled again too.

DOES HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF

Here is part of a Gord Henderson column written several years ago. In light of the 400 Building audit fiasco, it is very interesting:

• Whistling in the dark; Gord Henderson
  Windsor Star 12-23-2004
  
  There's more than a hint of wistfulness in Mike Dunbar's voice as he considers how the MFP affair might have turned out if only he'd had the support he now offers other whistle blowers.
  
  Dunbar, you see, was one of a handful of brave souls who put their necks on the line at city hall to try to sound the alarm over a series of disastrous lease financing agreements that left Windsor and Essex County taxpayers embroiled in costly lawsuits and on the hook for hundreds of millions of dollars.
  
  And now, in a supreme twist of irony, he's become the whistle blower's whistle blower. As city auditor, Dunbar is now armed with wide-ranging powers to probe files, examine documents and root out fraud, waste or abuse of city assets. A hotline, established six months ago, has provided a steady stream of information from citizens and city staff who are fully protected from retaliation and Dunbar reports to an audit committee, headed by businessman Max Zalev, that operates at arms-length from city administration.
  
  "I like to think that I'm the whistle blower's best friend. I hope so," said the Windsor native. An accountant and a Massey and St. Clair College grad, he declined to blow the whistle on his age...
  
  The KPMG report, a copy of which was obtained by The Star's Anne Jarvis, described the extreme vulnerability felt by finance department employees as they tried in vain to warn their superiors, Tony Haddad and Gerry Pinsonneault, that the MFP lease figures were wildly out of line...
  
  Intimidating and belittling. That speaks volumes, doesn't it? In a city that had zero protection for whistle blowers, these folks were risking their careers and their homes to try to keep Windsor taxpayers from being taken to the cleaners. They could have looked the other way or joined the party and enjoyed the good times. Instead they tried to rock the boat. That took guts.
  
  "It was stressful," conceded Dunbar of the period when he was trying to raise red flags before being taken off the MFP lease financing work and given other assignments, including handling Ottawa's transfer of Windsor Airport to the city. "That's why I'm so adamant about the whistle blower policy. If other people are in my circumstances, I intend to give them some outlet."

Hmmmmm. I wonder if Mike has a copy of his report and would release it as a "whistleblower."

BICYCLING

What bicycling path should the City take?

• "A recent ruling by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment allows the city to widen parts of Riverside Drive — against the wishes of some residents — in order to create an unbroken bike path along 16 kilometres of waterfront."

Perhaps before the City does so, it should remember this case:

• "City told to pay injured cyclist; $844,450 award.
  Ruling called victory for everybody who uses road
  
  Calling Windsor "reckless," an Ontario Superior Court justice has ordered the city to pay a prominent city surgeon $844,450 in damages for not warning him about a raised catch basin that threw him from his bike, injuring him for life.
  
  "This judgment is really a victory for everybody who uses the road -- in-line skaters, runners, cyclists, mopeds, wheelchair users," said lawyer Martin Wunder.
  
  "It's going to, I hope, make the city and other municipalities be more responsive and responsible to their obligations to their cities..."
  
  Yovanovich said he's happy with Morissette's judgment because he thinks it may improve road conditions for cyclists.
  
  "The City of Windsor has really had a callous attitude and generally shown reckless behaviour in terms of safety issues for cyclists," Yovanovich said. "They are spending, from my view, a great deal of time, resources and income planning new bicycle trails when they should be putting a little more effort cleaning up and maintaining the trails and roadways that are presently available to cyclists."