1) There's a great quote from the [Star] Monopoly article.
The sky’s the limit, even in hard times, [Francis] said.
It certainly is: GreenLink, Cargo Village, Skorobohacz's termination pay, downtown canal, one day trips to Germany, weekenders in Washington, consultants and lawyers from 400-500 km away, etc, etc, etc. Go for it Eddie.
I was also wondering why Vander Doelen didn't cover the Monopoly story
2) I want to vote for the Ambassador Bridge for one of the utilities. Let eddie francis roll the dice + pay Matty...
3) Sorry would be a better game affiliation... Maybe a commemorative edition of Trivial Pursuit (eddie francis edition) or Barrel of Monkeys (City Council Edition) or Operation (union negotiations edition). Maybe home editions of the Biggest Loser or Survivor or Jeopardy.
4) Geez - I'd hate to draw a Chance card in the Windsor version. "Advance token to indian Road, do not tear down boarded up houses." Of course, there is no "Free Parking" in Windsor game...
5) National event on 23 January 2010 and Windsor is included
6) Too bad that the Mayor hadn't mastered the game called Sim City. This is a game where you are in charge of a city including all services without all the repercussions should there be a failure in the player's decisions. Upon second thought it would appear that the Mayor is currently and has currently been playing the game for real for the past two years. Only difference is the repercussions may come on election day if he chooses to run again...ugh!
7) Go Fish – the do we build the downtown aquarium game
8) Oh my - the dirt you dig is incredible. Your new handle is going to be Columbo. Mayor Columbo. lol :)
9) I would [for Mayor] but since you are running I'd never stand a chance against the great blogmeister.
10) Well, Ed - you have a strong following out here!
You have not only entertained us with your wit, but, you keep us guessing as
to how in the hell you are getting all this info - how accurate - absolutely
astonishing! And We LOVE IT!!!!!
For someone who is not on the inside to get the actual mood - I have often
wondered if you are really not working somewhere in a hidden cubicle
overhearing conversations with "whisper 2000" or one of those "spy" cameras
- you know - teddy bear sitting up on a shelf!
Following your articles - I enjoyed the "Friends" the most - your detail and
background (homework) is something to be admired. The 400 Audit - You have
the dates, quotes, votes, etc. - all in print - makes it difficult for
someone to deny it being said - other than "misquoted" - ha!
As far as the "Star" - I believe they must be hurting in readership - hardly
anyone I know reads it anymore. We basically use it for the crossword puzzle
to do at lunch - that's about it - oh sorry, also for the ads for the
grocery stores.
As far as our current mayor - I think he will run again - because he can't
find a job anywhere else.
The Star is just throwing names out to see who bites for him.
Today, on 800am I heard that Ernie Lamont - "The Bacon Man" has signed up
along with another fellow from the U.
As far as I am concerned - Ernie will get my vote! No Problem.
Oh yeah, and that $72 or $78 rebate cheque I received - well I still have it
in the envelope - I don't plan on depositing it - I will keep it outstanding
in their books and he can kiss my ***!
11) No answer from Fulvio? Shocker!
12) If there is nobody else willing to oppose Eddie, and there is an ABE (Anybody But Eddie) groundswell, I would do it for the sake of Windsor, but I cannot believe that there is not someone else out there with better qualifications and the guts to oppose him. I feel sorry for the poor CUPE members that were totally hung out to dry by their National Union in order to test the Toronto case, and Eddie, who should have remained neutral in the case, pending negotiations with the City representatives.
We certainly need new leadership, someone who can bind together this dysfunctional Council, someone with realistic views of the terrible situation in which we find ourselves in Windsor. REAL steps, not pipedreams.
12) That [full day kindergarten] will take at least 5 years maybe to have all the schools on board and even then it may have had quite a few setbacks. So basically they are going to start closing the daycares down when I heard this year there are only 10 pilot schools here in Windsor so the city is not going to wait to see how it may or may not impact the C Of W daycares?
13) I wrote a few months back on the City of Windsor Daycares and we have not been told anything from our superiors, yet Gord is now saying we are not sustainable? Does he know something we don't? It is very disheartening to read you may be out of a job when management has not said 1 word to us as to where the daycares stand? I would love to know are all the daycares done as we know it? When will the budget report come out and will it state where the daycares stand? I for one am tired of being kept in the dark
14) I remind you of the disaster of the Huron Lodge project. At the end of the day it will be all the same reasons. No one at the city knew what they were doing so they blamed all of the subs. How much is the lawyer bill on this file. now they have hired so called professionals for a report.
15)
Please take a minute to check out keepwindsorpublic.ca which is a new website dedicated to educating the public on why city services should be kept public!
16) Why give me bread when you can feed me with a steady diet of cake.
17) Ed
The people of Windsor need you to run for Mayor!
18) Detroit hasn't seen much in the way of good news this year, with the ailing auto industry shedding jobs. The latest numbers from the Department of Labor put the unemployment rate for the Detroit metro at 16.7 percent, compared to 15.1 percent for the state. Still, Motor City grabs a spot on our list [Forbes' list of America’s costliest cities] in large part because of the high cost of utilities. Residents pay, on average, $243.56 per month for electricity. In contrast, in Atlanta the average bill is $141.64.
19) Communications Dept. at City Hall. All the media people are laughing.
He dodged the bullet with John Fairley on Face to Face on the election issue to run again but I feel he will run again. Who in there right mind is going to pay him what he makes as Mayor and second who would hire him.
This 400 building issue is very serious but I can not see Ellis-Don Construction forking over a $100,000 for legal fees not in this current economy.
It is going to take some one out there with plenty of balls to show LEADERSHIP IN THIS TOWN AND RIGHT NOW WE HAVE NONE.
20) [Re: Will the BLOGMeister run for Mayor] Come on Ed, don't joke around about this subject. Just do it. You have half of Windsor's problems already solved sitting behind a keyboard.
21)WANT ADS
Needed immediately
1 Mayor no experience necessary.
Job includes,
Pushing a button to silence people.
Dreaming up mega million dollar projects.(Must not start one job for ten years)
Fly to Germany at taxpayer expense for a day.
Ignore current recession, call it cyclical and forget about it.
Take credit on anything you see fit.
Point the finger when necessary.
Meals included.
Please forward resume addressed to city hall.
What the heck, forget the resume, just show up.
22) It has been a very busy time for me. I found what I was looking for. This is what council had when deliberating about the budget. You will notice the "SLR"'s. These are the positions council was deciding upon either keeping or removing prior to the release of the Approved Final 2009 Budget. Not all the SLR's are just one position, but some are a number of positions with their salaries lumped together. I do believe my boss said a total of 26 positions were being reviewed for elimination. Some were approved. This is what Cupe was aware of before they went on strike, knowing they would return to some eliminated jobs. As a Cupe member, the uncertainty was by far the most excruciating part of the strike; between that and knowing there really was no way to fight against the Mayor and council for resolution to a collective agreement. Not to mention public view.
23) You out did yourself this time, just superb.
24) How can Skorobohacz be blamed for the delay in the audit undertaking; when the CAO reports to council? Why did city council not instruct the CAO? Was city council informed? If not, why not? If so, why didn't they act?
It's too convenient to blame the CAO for the stonewalling of information since he isn't even here to defend himself against such allegations.
25) Ed, I love reading your blog. Keep up the good work.
I am a local business owner and disgusted with this city administration. To think how much money is wasted on out of town lawyers to argue and delay and make deals that are so terrible to our city. After so many mistakes in a row, I wish they would agree they are adding to the problems and just keep their nose out of some of these issues.
Can you imagine if they did a study to see how much damage they did to downtown by taking away the arena? Postma and Jones voted against their own!!! There was one councillor who voted against that deal. You probably know he didn’t get re-elected. Cassivi was dead right and it was so obvious. Mr. Taqtaq would have probably even made out well. There would have been more tourists.
26) Great work, man you do a lot of research on past events....unlike the star....I really think they make stuff up to create a story...We need to get back to a windsor based media, not controled by those outside of our city boundaries.
27) (Copy of a letter sent to me)
I just have to ask Chris is there any worker anywhere you aren’t willing to publicly knee-cap?
Let me take a moment to explain retention pay as it relates to firefighters. These men and women are highly trained. If our fire dept didn’t pay on a scale equivalent with the rest of the municipalities these folks would have no incentive to remain here. They would take their training to another municipality that pays better and values the fact that risking one’s life in service of taxpayers is worth paying for. The result of that would be Windsor would have to hire and train more firefighters at considerable expense.
Regarding your column on the city managers unionization efforts in which you stated that Francis took on CUPE and won I am curious to know how you call the resulting CBA a win for taxpayers. I defy you to show me one single penny of savings. If you haven’t bothered to do your research as per usual I can help I have many correspondences from councillors and from Mr Colucci that confirm that the elimination of PRB’s from new hires results in NO SAVINGS for at least 30 years and that’s assuming we hire somebody today or in the near future. Conversely in order to buy their way out of that benefit from employees that do not and may never exist Eddie handed CUPE raises in perpetuity way in excess of what they would have settled for early in the negotiation process. Further because of Eddies childish intransigence and his issuing of ultimatums in the press months before negotiations he completely missed a real opportunity to achieve meaningful and lasting savings throughout the entire corporation. CUPE was well aware of the economic situation and would have as they have many times before come to the table with changes to work-rules and other efficiencies that would have saved us money this year and every year going forward.
28) Hello sir , have been a fan of your site for some time
I would like to address the issue of the WPD switching to an encrypted radio system as is the trend for many public safety agencies nowadays , It would seem unfortunately that many of the citizens were not aware ,.. or did not care,.. or understand the scope & implications of their public servants being able to operate in secrecy....
I would like say If they believe any encryption is absolutely necessary , it has been done in many other forces where they will only encrypt the private data & leave the dispatch channels open to public & media monitors...This is a fair compromise & successful model that many agencies have done that maintains trust & transparency
29) I just can't take that DRIC bridge seriously in the present economic climate unless you have people going mad about just spending money regardless....perhaps that's it!!!!
30) Wow Ed!!! Wait until Friday you said....and....ZOINKS!!!!!
Holy, Holy Cow! Congratulations and well done on this one....let's
see if this gets swept under the proverbial Mayoral Rug!!!!
31) Oh my. What a slam dunk. The picture is priceless - where on earth did you get that from?
Ed, thanks for the unveiling of this and every ongoing misadventure that this Mayor has put this city through. It is so time for a change.
Well done. Thanks.
32) When Dwight mentioned the uneducated portion of the public being a problem
for 2025 prosperity, I wonder which portion voted these people in?
The intelligent ones or the dumb ones?
33) I can hardly wait for the next installment, as the plot thickens the smoke screen doesn't ....things are becoming more and more transparent. What a lovely big shovel you must have Mr. Arditti, keep digging and sharing your findings...it's been an extremely eye opening read to date.
Thanks!
34) Ed, I am so frustrated when I think of the thousands and thousands of
dollars wasted, by the City, on the Capitol Theatre debacle, just on
legal fees alone. I am disgusted by the thought, that frequently
comes to my mind, about the bequest left for the theatre, how the
money was not used for its intended purpose is like 'spitting on the
grave' of the person who bequeathed it in my opinion. Then there is
the $140,000.00 that was a confirmed grant from Trillium Foundation
for the Capitol to benefit from (the domino effect here for the
community would have been impressive and I bet we would still have
some of our local businesses still around that closed shortly after
the Capitol went bankrupt ) For a mere $65,000 from the City and a
show of support for Windsor's grandest old theatre and the local arts
groups who help drive the economy, this WASTE of money need never had
happened.
I am also frustrated that so many residents still see the arts
community as pariah when every successful city has a thriving arts
community that help generate tourism/spin off revenue and such. It is
those that belittle the arts that help to sweep the above disturbing
facts under the mayor's rug.
35) Pickup Sticks – the Local 82 at work game.
Aggravation – the read the Windsor Star game.
Barrel of Monkeys – the east end arena audit and land swap game.
Boggle – the how the mayor keeps finding work game.
Cranium – the how to get “a-head” on the public dime game.
Life – the what mini-Gord's Corrupt Member of Council should get game.
Memory – the what Windsor bloggers have game.
36) Re Ann story;
You have to make a stand against the Bridge company but it is OK to bulldoze the houses on Matchette road and in the community of Delray.
8) Oh my - the dirt you dig is incredible. Your new handle is going to be Columbo. Mayor Columbo. lol :)
9) I would [for Mayor] but since you are running I'd never stand a chance against the great blogmeister.
10) Well, Ed - you have a strong following out here!
You have not only entertained us with your wit, but, you keep us guessing as
to how in the hell you are getting all this info - how accurate - absolutely
astonishing! And We LOVE IT!!!!!
For someone who is not on the inside to get the actual mood - I have often
wondered if you are really not working somewhere in a hidden cubicle
overhearing conversations with "whisper 2000" or one of those "spy" cameras
- you know - teddy bear sitting up on a shelf!
Following your articles - I enjoyed the "Friends" the most - your detail and
background (homework) is something to be admired. The 400 Audit - You have
the dates, quotes, votes, etc. - all in print - makes it difficult for
someone to deny it being said - other than "misquoted" - ha!
As far as the "Star" - I believe they must be hurting in readership - hardly
anyone I know reads it anymore. We basically use it for the crossword puzzle
to do at lunch - that's about it - oh sorry, also for the ads for the
grocery stores.
As far as our current mayor - I think he will run again - because he can't
find a job anywhere else.
The Star is just throwing names out to see who bites for him.
Today, on 800am I heard that Ernie Lamont - "The Bacon Man" has signed up
along with another fellow from the U.
As far as I am concerned - Ernie will get my vote! No Problem.
Oh yeah, and that $72 or $78 rebate cheque I received - well I still have it
in the envelope - I don't plan on depositing it - I will keep it outstanding
in their books and he can kiss my ***!
11) No answer from Fulvio? Shocker!
12) If there is nobody else willing to oppose Eddie, and there is an ABE (Anybody But Eddie) groundswell, I would do it for the sake of Windsor, but I cannot believe that there is not someone else out there with better qualifications and the guts to oppose him. I feel sorry for the poor CUPE members that were totally hung out to dry by their National Union in order to test the Toronto case, and Eddie, who should have remained neutral in the case, pending negotiations with the City representatives.
We certainly need new leadership, someone who can bind together this dysfunctional Council, someone with realistic views of the terrible situation in which we find ourselves in Windsor. REAL steps, not pipedreams.
12) That [full day kindergarten] will take at least 5 years maybe to have all the schools on board and even then it may have had quite a few setbacks. So basically they are going to start closing the daycares down when I heard this year there are only 10 pilot schools here in Windsor so the city is not going to wait to see how it may or may not impact the C Of W daycares?
13) I wrote a few months back on the City of Windsor Daycares and we have not been told anything from our superiors, yet Gord is now saying we are not sustainable? Does he know something we don't? It is very disheartening to read you may be out of a job when management has not said 1 word to us as to where the daycares stand? I would love to know are all the daycares done as we know it? When will the budget report come out and will it state where the daycares stand? I for one am tired of being kept in the dark
14) I remind you of the disaster of the Huron Lodge project. At the end of the day it will be all the same reasons. No one at the city knew what they were doing so they blamed all of the subs. How much is the lawyer bill on this file. now they have hired so called professionals for a report.
15)
Please take a minute to check out keepwindsorpublic.ca which is a new website dedicated to educating the public on why city services should be kept public!
16) Why give me bread when you can feed me with a steady diet of cake.
17) Ed
The people of Windsor need you to run for Mayor!
18) Detroit hasn't seen much in the way of good news this year, with the ailing auto industry shedding jobs. The latest numbers from the Department of Labor put the unemployment rate for the Detroit metro at 16.7 percent, compared to 15.1 percent for the state. Still, Motor City grabs a spot on our list [Forbes' list of America’s costliest cities] in large part because of the high cost of utilities. Residents pay, on average, $243.56 per month for electricity. In contrast, in Atlanta the average bill is $141.64.
19) Communications Dept. at City Hall. All the media people are laughing.
He dodged the bullet with John Fairley on Face to Face on the election issue to run again but I feel he will run again. Who in there right mind is going to pay him what he makes as Mayor and second who would hire him.
This 400 building issue is very serious but I can not see Ellis-Don Construction forking over a $100,000 for legal fees not in this current economy.
It is going to take some one out there with plenty of balls to show LEADERSHIP IN THIS TOWN AND RIGHT NOW WE HAVE NONE.
20) [Re: Will the BLOGMeister run for Mayor] Come on Ed, don't joke around about this subject. Just do it. You have half of Windsor's problems already solved sitting behind a keyboard.
21)WANT ADS
Needed immediately
1 Mayor no experience necessary.
Job includes,
Pushing a button to silence people.
Dreaming up mega million dollar projects.(Must not start one job for ten years)
Fly to Germany at taxpayer expense for a day.
Ignore current recession, call it cyclical and forget about it.
Take credit on anything you see fit.
Point the finger when necessary.
Meals included.
Please forward resume addressed to city hall.
What the heck, forget the resume, just show up.
22) It has been a very busy time for me. I found what I was looking for. This is what council had when deliberating about the budget. You will notice the "SLR"'s. These are the positions council was deciding upon either keeping or removing prior to the release of the Approved Final 2009 Budget. Not all the SLR's are just one position, but some are a number of positions with their salaries lumped together. I do believe my boss said a total of 26 positions were being reviewed for elimination. Some were approved. This is what Cupe was aware of before they went on strike, knowing they would return to some eliminated jobs. As a Cupe member, the uncertainty was by far the most excruciating part of the strike; between that and knowing there really was no way to fight against the Mayor and council for resolution to a collective agreement. Not to mention public view.
23) You out did yourself this time, just superb.
24) How can Skorobohacz be blamed for the delay in the audit undertaking; when the CAO reports to council? Why did city council not instruct the CAO? Was city council informed? If not, why not? If so, why didn't they act?
It's too convenient to blame the CAO for the stonewalling of information since he isn't even here to defend himself against such allegations.
25) Ed, I love reading your blog. Keep up the good work.
I am a local business owner and disgusted with this city administration. To think how much money is wasted on out of town lawyers to argue and delay and make deals that are so terrible to our city. After so many mistakes in a row, I wish they would agree they are adding to the problems and just keep their nose out of some of these issues.
Can you imagine if they did a study to see how much damage they did to downtown by taking away the arena? Postma and Jones voted against their own!!! There was one councillor who voted against that deal. You probably know he didn’t get re-elected. Cassivi was dead right and it was so obvious. Mr. Taqtaq would have probably even made out well. There would have been more tourists.
26) Great work, man you do a lot of research on past events....unlike the star....I really think they make stuff up to create a story...We need to get back to a windsor based media, not controled by those outside of our city boundaries.
27) (Copy of a letter sent to me)
I just have to ask Chris is there any worker anywhere you aren’t willing to publicly knee-cap?
Let me take a moment to explain retention pay as it relates to firefighters. These men and women are highly trained. If our fire dept didn’t pay on a scale equivalent with the rest of the municipalities these folks would have no incentive to remain here. They would take their training to another municipality that pays better and values the fact that risking one’s life in service of taxpayers is worth paying for. The result of that would be Windsor would have to hire and train more firefighters at considerable expense.
Regarding your column on the city managers unionization efforts in which you stated that Francis took on CUPE and won I am curious to know how you call the resulting CBA a win for taxpayers. I defy you to show me one single penny of savings. If you haven’t bothered to do your research as per usual I can help I have many correspondences from councillors and from Mr Colucci that confirm that the elimination of PRB’s from new hires results in NO SAVINGS for at least 30 years and that’s assuming we hire somebody today or in the near future. Conversely in order to buy their way out of that benefit from employees that do not and may never exist Eddie handed CUPE raises in perpetuity way in excess of what they would have settled for early in the negotiation process. Further because of Eddies childish intransigence and his issuing of ultimatums in the press months before negotiations he completely missed a real opportunity to achieve meaningful and lasting savings throughout the entire corporation. CUPE was well aware of the economic situation and would have as they have many times before come to the table with changes to work-rules and other efficiencies that would have saved us money this year and every year going forward.
28) Hello sir , have been a fan of your site for some time
I would like to address the issue of the WPD switching to an encrypted radio system as is the trend for many public safety agencies nowadays , It would seem unfortunately that many of the citizens were not aware ,.. or did not care,.. or understand the scope & implications of their public servants being able to operate in secrecy....
I would like say If they believe any encryption is absolutely necessary , it has been done in many other forces where they will only encrypt the private data & leave the dispatch channels open to public & media monitors...This is a fair compromise & successful model that many agencies have done that maintains trust & transparency
29) I just can't take that DRIC bridge seriously in the present economic climate unless you have people going mad about just spending money regardless....perhaps that's it!!!!
30) Wow Ed!!! Wait until Friday you said....and....ZOINKS!!!!!
Holy, Holy Cow! Congratulations and well done on this one....let's
see if this gets swept under the proverbial Mayoral Rug!!!!
31) Oh my. What a slam dunk. The picture is priceless - where on earth did you get that from?
Ed, thanks for the unveiling of this and every ongoing misadventure that this Mayor has put this city through. It is so time for a change.
Well done. Thanks.
32) When Dwight mentioned the uneducated portion of the public being a problem
for 2025 prosperity, I wonder which portion voted these people in?
The intelligent ones or the dumb ones?
33) I can hardly wait for the next installment, as the plot thickens the smoke screen doesn't ....things are becoming more and more transparent. What a lovely big shovel you must have Mr. Arditti, keep digging and sharing your findings...it's been an extremely eye opening read to date.
Thanks!
34) Ed, I am so frustrated when I think of the thousands and thousands of
dollars wasted, by the City, on the Capitol Theatre debacle, just on
legal fees alone. I am disgusted by the thought, that frequently
comes to my mind, about the bequest left for the theatre, how the
money was not used for its intended purpose is like 'spitting on the
grave' of the person who bequeathed it in my opinion. Then there is
the $140,000.00 that was a confirmed grant from Trillium Foundation
for the Capitol to benefit from (the domino effect here for the
community would have been impressive and I bet we would still have
some of our local businesses still around that closed shortly after
the Capitol went bankrupt ) For a mere $65,000 from the City and a
show of support for Windsor's grandest old theatre and the local arts
groups who help drive the economy, this WASTE of money need never had
happened.
I am also frustrated that so many residents still see the arts
community as pariah when every successful city has a thriving arts
community that help generate tourism/spin off revenue and such. It is
those that belittle the arts that help to sweep the above disturbing
facts under the mayor's rug.
35) Pickup Sticks – the Local 82 at work game.
Aggravation – the read the Windsor Star game.
Barrel of Monkeys – the east end arena audit and land swap game.
Boggle – the how the mayor keeps finding work game.
Cranium – the how to get “a-head” on the public dime game.
Life – the what mini-Gord's Corrupt Member of Council should get game.
Memory – the what Windsor bloggers have game.
36) Re Ann story;
You have to make a stand against the Bridge company but it is OK to bulldoze the houses on Matchette road and in the community of Delray.
37) Thank you for caring about Windosr enough to enlighten the few that still care about what is going on...too bad not enough is being done about trying to resolve the issues...they just keep multiplying...
38) I was wondering what credentials Gordon Orr has to do and be responsible for the positions assigned him
39)
I thought of 'Mouse Trap', but maybe "Rat Trap" would be better...
... for the rodents who have taken up residence around the outside of 'old' city hall
(and those who are temporary tenants INSIDE....)
"Husker Du" - the "do you remember (ANY SCHEME from inside city hall that's actually worked out for the TAXPAYERS?)" game??
How about the "(NO) Truth or Consequences"? Game (appearing weekly on cable 11)
"Mystery Date" - the "when will any of the projects/reports/audits be finished/written/released" game
"Risk" - the "I don't care it's not MY money" game
I know!!!
"PAR = CHEESY"
(geez, I could do this ALL NIGHT!!)
40) yes I think officials both sides would be smart to say:
- DRIC is a nice-to-have facility but in the current economic/trading climate it is unnecessary and unfinanceable
- let's put the DRIC plan on hold and revisit it if and when the economy and total border traffic revives and shows signs of growing significantly into the future beyond the capacity of the AB
- meanwhile let's deal seriously with Moroun and get joint planning into synch to improve connections both sides of the Ambassador
41) My husband says you are one hell of an analyst.
42) I’m taking the Planning Dept’s side on the issue of infill before Greenfield development. What was presented last Thursday was nothing new. The study in question has been discussed before. Our inner city and traditional neighbourhoods have been hollowed out and left to rot. It is the city’s responsibility to keep the city vibrant and create conditions to let it thrive. The big developers are facing an economic reset (not a recovery) that will see them take huge losses on properties that in the old paradigm could have generated big revenues. They are holding onto a way of doing things that is dying, period. This region will get smaller population wise and financially as well. The tough row to hoe is getting developers to see the potential of bringing retail and commerce to where the people are instead of the build it and they will come standard they are clinging to.
No comments:
Post a Comment