Stories That Will Astound You

Here are some more stories of interest

WHAT A WAY TO RUN A RAILROAD STRIKE

Seems civilized to me:

• "Via's 340 unionized locomotive engineers walked off the job Friday afternoon, after a noon deadline passed without a new contract.
  
  Early Sunday morning, less than 48 hours after the strike began, the company and the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) issued a joint statement announcing an agreement to enter into binding arbitration to end the strike.
  
  "The process proposed by the mediator will allow the parties to resolve outstanding issues and, most importantly, will get Canada's passenger rail service up and running," said Paul Cote, Via's President and Chief Executive Officer....
  
  The 343 engineers have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2006.
  
  Their key demands have been improvements in their work schedules and in the training of new engineers.
  
  Via spokesperson Malcolm Andrews told reporters Sunday that the company and the union have agreed on a list of outstanding issues to be submitted to the arbitrator, who will rule on them in the coming weeks."

GREENLINK IS DEADER THAN A DODO

• "Francis said council’s request for mediation on the parkway was to “show the willingness” to reach a compromise.
  
  The battle to win more changes to the parkway plan will continue despite Gerretson’s decision, the mayor said.
  
  “The process is still ongoing,” Francis said.
  
  “Just because they rejected mediation doesn’t mean we are going to give up.
  
  “We will try to reach out to the provincial government and DRIC team to see if we can arrive at a better solution. We have options available to us under the process.”

Wellllllllll, not quite as this exchange of emails with the Ministry of the Environment shows:

• "From: Ed Arditti
  Sent: July 09, 2009 1:26 PM
  To: McLennon, Catherine (ENE)
  Subject: DRIC project in Windsor
  
  Would you please confirm that there were 2 requests for a hearing under the Environmental Assessment Act in Windsor, one by the City of Windsor and one by representatives of Windsor Crossing.
  
  Would you please also confirm that the City has withdrawn its request."
  
  
• "From: McLennon, Catherine (ENE)
  To: Ed Arditti
  Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 10:22 AM
  Subject: RE: DRIC project in Windsor
  
  In response to your inquiry, a hearing request was received from the Windsor Crossing Outlet Mall.
  
  In a meeting with counsel for the City of Windsor, it was clarified for the Ministry of the Environment that the City was not formally asking for a hearing but offering an explanation about how a hearing could be used to overcome the issues with the project."

I guess the City decided that there were no longer any issues with the project such as death and destruction since there has been a thawing between Dwight and Eddie.

As Gord would say: Unconscionable!

ARE YOU A GOOD WITCH OR A BAD WITCH

Only "good" citizens in Windsor are entitled to information from our City leaders. "Bad" ones have houses falling on them.

I am not quite sure what the criteria are to determine into which category a citizen falls. Perhaps it is in that 1,000 page CUPE strike manual that I am not sure if any Councillors have read yet.

Here is part of a press release with an exchange between Councillor Drew Dilkens and Victoria Cross, a member of "The Concerned Citizens Action Committee, an ad-hoc group of Windsor residents formed to seek a fair resolution of the on-going City of Windsor strike:"

• "We’ve been raising simple questions, trying to get clear, simple answers to questions about the sums spent by the City for lawyers, substitute workers, security guards, extra payments to employees who are handling extra work," said lawyer Victoria Cross. "To date, our questions have not only been ignored. They have been dismissed."
  
  In correspondence with the CCAC organiser, Councilor Drew Dilkens was firm in his rejection of the idea of providing such information, characterizing the CCAC as a group set on destruction rather than a fair resolution. "I am not, nor will I ever be prepared to ask for the release of information to a group that is interested in destroying the position of the City of Windsor," wrote Dilkens in electronic communication.'

Since I am a "good" citizen, perhaps the Councillor will have that information released to me now. Thanks, I appreciate it.

THE ONLY ANTI CUPE STRIKE STORY THE STAR HAS NOT PUBLISHED

I was so disappointed that the Windsor Star did not run a story as the Toronto Star did designed to destroy CUPE worker morale and to cause dissension in the ranks as the strike carried on. I saw it in the Torornto Star:

• "Hundreds of T.O. picketers head back to work
  
  Several hundred striking Toronto civic workers have crossed the picket lines and have returned to work as their unions continue to fight city hall by entering into a fourth week of job action.
  
  City officials confirmed that more than 520 municipal workers have gone back on the job. They could not confirm whether the employees were part of the inside or outside workers union."

BORDER TRAFFIC VOLUMES

Oh my, billions of taxpayers dollars in Windsor and Detroit are to be spent based on "hope" it seems. What a fiasco!

It just does not seem to get the kind of media coverage that it gets in other border cities. Oh I get it, if it did, then there would be no need for the DRIC Bridge. Silly me:

• "Bridge crossings are down
  Officials: Fewer traveling back and forth between countries
  
  By JASON ALEXANDER
  Times Herald
  
  Fewer people are traveling on the Blue Water Bridge these days because of the struggling economy, and bridge officials say those numbers were reduced further this past month with the new ID requirements.
  
  Car traffic was down about 13% in June from the same time last year both going into Canada and the United States. Traffic had slipped about 7% in April and May from 2008numbers...
  
  Traffic was down 16% for all vehicles in June 2009 compared with 2008 for both directions across the bridge...
  
  Morris Hall, who oversees traffic on the bridge for the Michigan Department of Transportation, said passage has taken a hit.
  
  "After June 1, a lot of Americans aren't going to Canada," Hall said. "We were pretty steady down, but now it's a little bit more..."
  
  There has been a sizeable reducation in commercial traffic, however.
  
  The number of trucks crossing the Blue Water Bridge has dropped about 24% from this time last year.
  
  "The truck traffic is a real barometer of the economy," Korosec said. "We started to see big declines in October, and the economy started to tank in November. The Dow Jones and traffic numbers are almost in sync. We will be able to tell when it picks up before anyone else."
  
  He hopes that is soon.
  
  "We are in the slump with everyone else. We take in everyone's predictions and we'll see how that translates," Korosec said. "We are hoping things pick up."
  
  Hall agreed.
  
  "Less traffic is less revenue," he said. "It's hard to tell what will happen, but we hope things will rebound."

HOW MAYORAL POLITICS IS PLAYED

This is how the game is played in the Big Apple according to the New York Times:

• "Mr. Wolfson claimed his first Democratic scalp in May, as Mr. Weiner — once a close ally in the Clinton campaigns — dropped out of the mayoral race amid a Wolfson-led behind-the-scenes campaign to force him to do just that.
  
  Working with a local press corps he had cultivated for years, Mr. Wolfson and his team dug up and then pushed a steady stream of politically damaging tidbits about Mr. Weiner, giving the congressman an early taste of what he might face come the fall."

And you wondered why Gord Henderson had been slashing Bill Marra so early on! Now you can understand why that weird term was inserted in the CUPE Protocol re New Beginnings to embarrass Bill. It was a message delivered to Bill and any other possible competitor to our Mayor IF he decides to run for a third term.

SPA PARTY

I attended my first one, set up by my daughter at our house. She took this photo of the snacks provided.

The lady who ran the evening said that I was the first male to ever attend at one of her sessions.

Hand and face creams, ointment for dry skin, foot massage, eyepatches and soft music that almost put me to sleep. Plus good food and wine...what a way to spend a Saturday evening!