1)
Windsor is a city in turmoil. I believe that Windsor city Council is becoming more and more out of touch with the general population. Citizens are plagued by some poor decision making and too many secret meetings where public access (including good Star reporters) is denied... Some Councilors have been known to be downright callous and arrogant as the recent CUPE strike has shown. I feel Windsor really needs a catalyst to stimulate and bring the community together as opposed to attempting to drive a wedge between the myriad of interest groups that comprise the city.
To begin this healing, I feel that the Windsor Star needs to clean up some of its trashy anti-union opinions that they are attempting to ingrain on the people of Essex County. The Stars attempt to do this is frequently very obvious to me.
Most of the Star’s reporting is factual, though I feel that journalists such as Gord Henderson and Chris Vander Doelen accompanied by cartoonist Mike Graston, and their boss, Marty Beneteau leave much to be desired as ‘Opinion Shapers’. The Star Editorial management and opinion writers seem to take pride in assuming the worst and attempting to make it sound like fact. They have little good to say about the working men and women who, through union participation, contribute multi- millions of dollars and energy to the city and county.
I sincerely believe that the Star ‘Opinion Shapers’ have done their utmost to turn worker against worker and pit citizen against citizen to accomplish their goal of weakening worker’s rights and community solidarity through innuendo and exclusion.
In my opinion, the Star belittled the CUPE workers and obviously support the contracting out of their jobs. Though, I feel the Star’s short sighted attack on decent jobs is destined to kick our local economy in the groin. Take a minute and think. With contracting out comes greatly reduced wages and benefits which add to the downward spiral that our economy is suffering. That will equate to more people seeking benefits and services and less money to spend. With less money in our area, small businesses will also suffer along with the charities that depend upon the generousity of our community.
One would have to be pretty thick headed to think otherwise. What would be the outcome if unions did not or could not afford to participate in our United Way or other worthy campaigns? Would the Star then have more negative garbage to heap on unions and workers?. I feel the Stars negatives outweigh their positives as their senior staff seem to enjoy attacking the solidarity of our community... Their attitude needs to change!
I believe the Windsor Star has an arrogance in their management because they don’t have any competition, which causes me to wonder just how long decent citizens will continue to put up with the Star’s media dogs who think of themselves as opinion shapers?
2) "Who needs senior administrators when the Mayor can micromanage everything from the newsroom of the Windsor Star?"
3) 
google adsense, as im sure you know, picks up on the content of your site to decide what ads would best be shown....here is a screen capture of a page on the windsor star site yesterday.
zoom in on the "ads by google"
just thought it was rather humorous.
4) Hey Ed... the title you have chosen for the sitcom "The Marriage Bureau..Windsor Style" is much too long for a marquee. Let's shorten the name to "Screwed" which will bring more meaning to each episode especially when referring to the Mayor and Council.
I've purchased my Orville Redenback and am awaiting the premier episode which I assume will be seen on the Comedy Network.
5) Still a year away until elections and Lowenza Jr. wants to take on everyone!
Pay per view live from City Hall Square!
If you thought nothing ever got done in city hall, just watch the next year.
6) [Re: The Truth Always Comes Out] Excellent blog, Edward. You certainly can put the words together in the right order. Here is council who were under the impression that the terms of Skorobohacz's resignation were a fait acompli because Edgar told them it was. They understood there to be an employment contract because that's what was told to them...
But here's the kicker. They turn around and do it again! They approve the appointment of Reidel without knowing of other candidates, without insisting on an outside search, and without seeing what her employment contract is. What's she being paid? What are her benefits? What's the end date of the contract? What options of renewal are there for either side? What about termination? Severance? Council knows none of this but confirms her nomination because they are told to.
Incredible.
7) if morale was lousy BEFORE, you ain't seen NUTHIN YET! (I pray to the creator that no one harms themself or others, but I'm afraid that push is coming to shove, especially now that th former CAO is taking a hike... he is NOT without empathy and respect for the staff.... more's the pity)
8) If Alan's theory is you have to offend people to get things done we have a few scenarios,
He likes what Edgar does.
Alan p.o.'s people but still doesn't seem to fix problems. Catch 22 here.
What ever happened to Postma? Is her computer that bad or is she?
Okay Postma is a stretch, but even she hasn't opened her mouth to the star lately.
We're overdue.
9) I like the insight you had on recent federal political moves,
I find the Essex riding to be pretty interesting because I have no clue which way its going to go,
Cheers and keep up the good work,
I currently live away from Windsor and where I used to get news from the Windsor Star, I have totally switched over to your blog
10) Sounds like the airport is a scapegoat.
City hall is looking for a diversion from the city audit of the new building downtown.
11) WHEN will the councillors GROW SOME BALLS????
12) If one looked for a replacement, wouldn't that replacement want to be able to do his own thing. When you hire from within, they already know whose boss and who pulls the strings.
13) Coming soon to YQG.....as soon as we pay for that runway upgrade!
The World's Biggest Airplane, the Antonov 225
14) There are calls still coming in asking for cheques. Apparently many required documents that applicants/clients swear that they brought in to the office, are not reaching their intended destination. So, over these past three weeks hundreds of people have been told to re-submit their documents. It’s been awful for the applicants, clients and the workers. Calgon take me away!
15) Lufthansa is in the air freight business. How can anyone take any report from them as fair and unbiased? The more options there are for freight hubs the lower cost they can negotiate with the many airports. It is in their best interest to get every airport to start accepting freight. Windsor is just a pawn in there plan to maximize profits for their main operations. Looks like Windsor’s mayor is once again looking for a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that doesn’t exist. Should we be surpised?
16) The auto industry will take 5-7 years before it fully recovers
and it will never be the way it was due to the credit daze.
If you look at the total output now and see how long it took to get to it's peak,
it shows approximately 8 years.
We have gone back to 1996/97 figures in sales and manufacture.
Toss in automation.
Toss in Foreign competition.
Toss in aging population.
Doesn't look good for the "old school ways".
Dennis could probably sum it up better with his charts but don't look to the
auto industry to save other industries.
17) I can't tell you how sorry I am to read of John Skorobohacz's resignation. He is probably one of the most genuine and truly kind people I have met who work for the city. His sincerity and concern for the people who worked for him will be missed.
Having said all of this I am very surprised that it took him this long to leave. When you truly care for your staff, maybe you are too soft for this administration. With the Pit Bulls on council, maybe this was one man they could not push around. Good Luck John and God Bless, I hope in your next job the Mayor and council will appreciate much more.
18) I go into the high schools... I found it very interesting how some of these students had their own comments on the CUPE strike. But what was most interesting was how the ones who can now vote said they are going to vote just to get rid of Eddie Francis. Very interesting that he can not fool the youth as he has done to a lot of the adults in this city..
19) It just amazes me.
They want the airport to become a major cargo hub so bad they send the manager
overseas for business.
Yet there is a UPS company 1/4 mile from the runway on Rhodes Drive.
I thought they shipped a lot of air freight?
Sorry, it goes to London.
Maybe they should be working with people in their own back yard instead of going
to the other side of the world.
20) Brilliant writting today!
Keep up the good work,
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