BLOGexclusive: Michigan DRIC's 10,000 Jobs---Is It All Smoke And Mirrors

We saw this headline and storyline

• "Supporters of bridge plan say it'll bring jobs
  
  The importance of this is all about jobs," Granholm said, citing 10,000 direct construction jobs as the direct result of the [DRIC] project."

But have you seen this headline yet in any of the Michigan media:

• "Attackers of DRIC bridge plan say it'll cost jobs
  
  The tragedy of this is all about the loss of jobs, the DRIC opponents say, citing about 10,000 construction jobs annually as a direct result of the [DRIC] project."

Of course not. No one has put the facts together except the BLOGMeister! Now you will learn why 10,000 people will lose their jobs due to DRIC because of startling facts never learned until the DRIC news conference. Read on.

The media reports of the DRIC Press Conference were fascinating with new stuff suddenly appearing that shoots down a lot of what DRIC had said before. All of this really for just one person too:

• "The clear goal of the event was to mount enormous pressure on the Republicans who control the Senate, specifically Senate Majority Floor Leader Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt), who has steadfastly resisted the DRIC project in favor of allowing the Ambassador to build a second span."

I also liked how the Bridge Company pulled an endrun around DRIC by scheduling a press conference later in the day and took away a lot of the DRIC media coverage by their rebuttal of what was said earlier.

Poor L. Brooks, so out of touch. So much misinformation being spewed out. I would not want him lobbying for my side of the debate

• "It was made very clear to me that a second span would not be welcome in downtown Windsor — congestion, pollution," Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson said. "If it's not going there, then the DRIC is the only game in town, or we lose out to New York."

Please, could someone please give L. Brooks a map of Windsor or a GPS device already so he won't get hopelessly lost and can tell where the Ambassador Bridge is located. Downtown, he is thinking of the Tunnel! And tell him that the Buffalo competition is a myth that MDOT has shot down years ago.

As for Jobs, Jobs, Jobs being so important for Michigan so that DRIC must be built now (as if the Ambassador Bridge people would not hire people for their project), that is a new one for MDOT. Here is what they said before were the objectives of the project. Look hard for the word JOBS:

Detroit River International Crossing Study Public Forum
Introduction of Project to the Private Sector

Capacity and redundancy, matters already disproved by facts, were the reasons for DRIC NOT jobs! These guys make it up as they go along.

Granholm said. "Let's get 'er done!" Terrific sentiment but where has she been for all these years.

Except, what's the hurry. Here is what is being proposed that the Governor does not seem to know about as shown in the SEMCOG data:

• Start date: 2021-2025 not now
  
• Not funded by a P3 but by revenue bonds secured by future tolls
  
• The bonds are Michigan General Obligation bonds so taxpayers are on the hook.

Here is what DRIC said their schedule was to the private sector and notice the difference:

Which schedule is correct? MDOT would not lie to the private sector and get everyone upset with them would they? Someone seems to be mistaken.

Here is something that I had never heard before and wonder if the Legislators have. To set this up, here is what I saw in Crains:

• "The cash-strapped Michigan Department of Transportation, a partner in DRIC and under criticism because it has been forced to cut back road projects while pushing for DRIC."

Then AP reported:

• "A combination of federal funds, bonds and $100 million in state transportation dollars would be needed to build Michigan's portion of the bridge. User fees would repay the debt."

Maybe I missed it but I don't remember any State money being mentioned before to be used for this project. It was always said that tolls would pay for it:

• "We estimate that the U.S. cost of construction will range from $900 million to $1.5 billon.” said Bill Shreck, M-DOT communication director. “This is the cost for construction and right of way acquisition and it includes the crossing, plaza and connection. Bridge tolls will be used to cover the cost of the project.”

In the press Release for the DRIC meeting, it was written:

• "The new bridge will be a publicly owned. Bridge tolls will be used to repay the private developer/financier, much the same way as other toll roads or bridges."

Here is what the private sector was shown:

Nothing there about $100M.

But all is ok. According to MDOT's Captain Kirk:

• "that money could be rolled into the financing, which would be repaid through bridge tolls, meaning in the end the state would have no upfront costs."

Roll up the $60m spent so far on DRIC studies, roll up another unexpected $100M, roll up cost inflation, roll up P3 profits and we've just increased tolls by a few extra dollars to make OTA's David Bradley's trucking members really whinge!

That assumes that there will be a P3 financing and that anyone will use the DRIC bridge if built since its tolls might be 4 times higher than that of the Ambassador Bridge! Unless Michigan taxpayers will subsidize it.

What is going on here? When did that $100M appear? Read this and wonder at how the MDOT people can actually look Legislators in the face:

• "From Oct. 1, 2010, through Sept. 30, 2011, we are looking at being $84 million short in state revenue, and that will cost us $475 million in federal funding,” said Nick Schirripa, communications representative for the MDOT Southwest region. “So we’re looking at roughly $550 million short for the 2011 year. That number only increases over the next three years.”
  
  Last month, MDOT released an updated draft of its 2010-2014 Five-Year Transportation Program, in which it will delay 243 projects statewide if that funding is lost. Also, the reduced highway program is estimated to support an average of 7,778 jobs a year between 2011 and 2014, down from 17,070 in 2010."

The difference is about 10,000 jobs per year!

They cannot come up with $84M but can come up with $100M for DRIC. Amazing. Interestingly, the State would lose about 10,000 jobs a year by not building 243 projects and how many more by using $100M of scarce funds for DRIC.

Why not save jobs by using $84M for those 243 projects and Bridge Company expenditures on their project for toll credits! Seems like a winner and perfectly logical to me.

Here's the irony:

• "Stamper attacked Granholm, saying the governor flies all over the world "looking for jobs for Michigan, and then comes to Detroit and tries to take away business from the best run, privately owned bridge in the world."

Finally, you had to listen to Dan Stamper rip apart what DRIC claimed. I listened in via a meeting conference call. It was the best I had ever heard him. He was in a really fighting mood as you can tell from reading his introductory remarks:

• “FACTS ARE PESKY THINGS” and legitimacy may ultimately prove right from wrong.
  
  While the DRIC continues to hold GREAT NEWS CONFERENCES, they forget to tell what they lack to accomplish their goal.
  
  While the State and Governor and others continue to have GREAT NEWS CONFERENCES about all the things that DRIC has, they forget to tell you the following:
  
  DRIC has no Congressional approval
  
  The Ambassador Bridge has Congressional and Parliamentary Approval.
  
  DRIC claims they have EPA approval, they have had the luxury of approving themselves --- They didn’t tell you it is being challenged Community Groups as well as DIBC.
  
  The Ambassador Bridge has filed all environmental studies and the US Coast Guard has publicly acknowledged the “FINDING OF NO SIGNIFICANT IMPACT” and the only delay is Government red tape (by the same bureaucrats that manage the DRIC)
  
  DRIC claims they have approval of their EIS in Canada they again are attempting to approve themselves --- They didn’t tell you that it is being challenged by Sierra Club.
  
  The Ambassador Bridge has filed all environmental studies in Canada and again the only delay is Government red tape (again by the same bureaucrats that manage the DRIC)
  
  DRIC claims they are ready to go---They didn’t tell you that they own no land in Detroit and that they have to condemn 250 homes, 50 businesses and multiple non-profits and churches.
  
  The Ambassador Bridge owns all land need except for less than one fourth of an acre on City owned park that has been closed for more than a decade and that the city had signed an agreement to sell it at one time.
  
  DRIC claims Canada will not allow The Ambassador Bridge to land in Windsor—
  
  The Ambassador BRIDGE NEWS FLASH we have already landed and built the landing for the Enhancement Bridge with approval from Canada.
  
  DRIC claims that 17 traffic lights separate the 401 highway and the Ambassador Bridge.
  
  The Windsor Essex Parkway that is part of DRIC connects 401 directly toward the Ambassador Bridge and eliminates all but three traffic signals.
  
  DRIC claims they are ready to go—They still are faced with attempting to build over salt mines and hazardous material.
  
  The Ambassador Bridge is building on solid bed rock with 80 years of history supporting the current bridge.
  
  DRIC claims that a new bridge is needed now due to traffic increases
  
  Ambassador Bride traffic even with the uptick of the first quarter of 2010 over 2009 (lets not forget that the auto industry was mostly shut down in 2009) is only at 1987 levels.
  
  DRIC claims they are ready to go and will put 10,000 folks to work in 2010--- They didn’t tell you that in a SEMGOG report MDOT states that construction won’t begin until after 2021.
  
  DRIC claims they need a P3 partnership to make a go of their bridge
  
  The Ambassador Bridge needs no partner or taxpayer money for the Enhancement Project.
  
  DRIC claims Ambassador Bridge has no support.
  
  The Ambassador Bridge and MDOT received full support for the Ambassador Bridge Gateway Project that included as the first priority to allow for the second span. This support was in written form from the Ontario and from the City of Windsor and Detroit.
  
  While the State and Governor and others continue to have GREAT NEWS CONFERENCES the Ambassador Bridge continues to employ folks and create JOBS/
  
  What we all heard today was a contradiction of statements.
  
  The Governor claims that the DRIC will be built with someone else’s money “NOT TAXPAYERS MONEY.”
  
  But, then she is asking again for legislation to allow MDOT to continue to move forward with TAXPAYER money on top of the $33 million of TAXPAYER MONEY that has already been spent.
  
  While the States and Governor and others continue to have GREAT NEWS CONFERENCES The Ambassador Bridge continues to construct needed infrastructure to the border.
  
  While the States and Governor and others continue to have GREAT NEWS CONFERENCES The Ambassador Bridge continues to operate the best BORDER CROSSING IN NORTH AMERICA.

Darn, Dan should have added in the Presidential Permit as well that the Ambassador Bridge does not need and DRIC does. Do you really think that Secretary Clinton is going to help out Canada after what the US Ambassador to Canada said about wait times dropping, what her Department said before in their closed door session with DRIC and what she said in Ottawa about the border! I hardly think so.

And what was the effect on Senator Cropsey? Was he impressed with all of this pressure errrr attention:

• "But Mr. Cropsey fired back...
  
  “It’s not that I’m being unreasonable,” he said. “I think it’s asking questions the taxpayers are asking that the governor hasn’t come up with any answers for.”
  
  Further, Mr. Cropsey said, “It really surprises me that Brooks Patterson would be out there pushing for a massive spending increase for a Michigan Department of Transportation that has been so inept in its spending that it’s obviously going to call for a massive tax increase.”
  
  On the overall project, Mr. Cropsey said he is skeptical of public-private partnerships, saying some have gone bankrupt in recent years, putting the state at risk of having to cover the costs should the same happen with the DRIC.
  
  Mr. Cropsey also questioned MDOT’s $100 million upfront cost estimate, saying the department has a long history of grossly underestimating costs. And for all the talk of the need to build the bridge for jobs, actual construction is a decade away, he said, meaning no immediate economic impact...
  
  “I want a vote because I want every politician in Lansing to be on the record as to whether they support the biggest boondoggle in Michigan history,” he said."

Perhaps Sandra could make her killer bacon and cheese quiche to impress him!

Those With No Brains Support DRIC

I am not being mean. I did not say this. The Governor did. Here is how the Detroit News put it:

• "Granholm: New Detroit River bridge a 'no-brainer'"

It was not the barn burner I expected it to be. It was merely another of the the typical DRIC rallies.

But here is the fascinating part. The justification for DRIC has changed. Again. They are playing the DRTP game of the "JOBS" Tunnel. Look how far that got them with their rail tunnel conversion to trucks. Nowhere!

• "It's not about Democrats or Republicans," Patterson said. "It's about jobs."

Funny, he did not say whose jobs like certain bureaucrats and Wall Street bankers and consultants and lobbyists and lawyers. Some of them are very well paid for the work in their jobs with more to come i DRIC goes forward.

Here is how the Free Press described it:

• "Speakers backed the DRIC project today as a jobs creator, mostly leaving unsaid other justifications including redundancy in case of an attack on the Ambassador Bridge and the need for newer, more modern capacity than that provided by the 81-year-old Ambassador."

It's hilarious. DRIC supporters cannot win on anything they have tried in the past because it has been proven as untrue. So now they are forced to fall back on jobs as the reason for the project.

I guess real people who want jobs would not build the Ambassador Bridge Enhancement Project so that project would not require people being hired. DUH!

The tragedy of DRIC is that it destroyed any chance of our region moving forward for a decade and has cost untold suffering to people. All we got was stalling not action from every level of Government as they fed us the platitiudes about how important our crossing is.

There is no money to pay for it from Michigan or the US where the only border focus is on Mexico as the Secretary of State made clear in her Ottawa interview. It is so bad that if the P3 legislation is not passed, DRIC is dead. Why did the Governor wait for the last second to try to get this legislation passed if the DRIC bridge is so vital for Michigan?

Canada has not put one penny aside in its Budget either for a DRIC bridge counting on a P3 for it. Even the DRIC road is to be a multi-billion P3 in Ontario.

Where all of this money is coming from for jobs in a time of an economic meltdown, I am not sure. As long as Moroun is in business, no P3 operator would invest in a new bridge so you understand the need to demonize and vilify him. We know however that Moroun has the money for his bridge--and for jobs--already. No one seems to care about that.

We could have had those thousands of jobs years ago building the Ambassador Bridge Enhancement Project and the DRIC road in Canada. Our region would have been spared a good part of the suffering of the near Depression and auto companies' meltdown and would have been repositioned already for our future had our Governments not stalled and reneged on their previous commitments.

Today was a waste of time. it did not change anyone's mind.

• "Patterson said he had talked to Cropsey about his opposition to the DRIC, but to no avail.

It is sad to see the misinformation being spread still by a man like L. Brooks Patterson. Doesn't he have a researcher in his office. Heck, he just needs to read my BLOG for all the information he needs:

• "Patterson said the real fear was that without the DRIC, commercial traffic might shift to the crossing in Buffalo, N.Y.
  
  "It's the DRIC or New York," Patterson said."

Didn't he know that MDOT destroyed that myth years ago in a presentation. They should have told him so he would not be embarrassed and made to look like a fool.

How sad for him. And for us with this kind of leadership.

BLOGMeister mail

Here is what my readers are thinking:



1) A man was sleeping in the park at city hall this afternoon and Eddie is off on spitfire business. Made me sad!



2) see Toronto Star, now Canada vs Matty AND Nora Moroun!

and they will never pay for bridge " User fees would repay the debt ! " paragraph 4 [in the story],

Bridge plan dangles jobs for Michigan !

and will the province continue funding Windsor when McGuinty has canceled

4 billion in transportation in Toronto ???

I can see a big delay coming!



3) What I don't understand is why my government is promising me jobs but only if I allow them to quash

a private business man. The two can be mutually exclusive but my government is twisting these two

things into one. Something very wrong here. It's a free country or so I thought until now.



So Canada wants to build a bridge. Go for it.

So Matty wants to build a bridge. Go for it.



But kindly stop holding up "job carrots" to Canadians for ulterior motives. Canadian or American

governments that want to put private enterprise out of business when it is the very foundation for

both countries, do not have my respect nor my support.



Eddie Francis DOES NOT SPEAK FOR ME. Neither does that Doer guy.



4) Your blog sure has gotten a lot of attention lately.

Gord's column tells of political dealing and common place.

I think all three are fighting for their political future.

Since when can two sitting ministers guarantee an extra $78 million

in a breakfast deal in an MP's home?

So much for transparency and political process.



5) Watch what happens with Red Bull's spectators.

They are going to drop fiercely.



6) We should be so lucky that you would run [for Mayor]. Can you imagine the campaign!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



7) I found this morning's read very entertaining!



8) "It will also put to rest the issue of the private individual soliciting donations for the Chimczuk Museum and of other groups posturing for the funds".

Surely they cannot be referring to The Executive Director of Chimczuk Museum Inc., an Ontario numbered company, the owner of the name "Chimczuk Museum" name, and a Canadian Registered Charity !



9)

DRIC and Political Cynicism

Is this how we justify it, rationalize it and think nothing more about it? Is this what selling out all comes down to and how it is praised and sold as a marvellous accomplishment? The end justifies the means.

• 
  
  
  
  "Bit by bit, this warming relationship bore fruit. It brought millions in provincial funding for Red Bull air races. It brought huge provincial contributions (matching the feds) that helped make Windsor's massive infrastructure program the largest per capita in all of Canada. And in the end it brought Windsor a border fix that's a huge improvement on the status quo as well as a job creator other hard-pressed Canadian cities would kill for.
  
  At $78 million and counting in negotiated extras for Windsor, that was some quiche.

It does not matter what is done no matter how dishonest, how disgraceful or how hurtful as long as we get the right result.

But here is something for you to consider, how do we know that the result is "right" and that what is being done is not being carried out for some ulterior motive that will profit someone at all of our expense and to all of our detriment in the long term? How can we trust those who tell us that we got the best result when they have deceived us until now?

When I was younger and more naïve, I wanted to be Prime Minister of Canada. I was deeply involved in politics in my University days at the federal and provincial levels and in University party politics.

I was excited by the clash of ideas, my party’s views being the correct ones of course. What I and my friends were doing was for the good of the country, about our future. Until reality sunk in.

To make a long story short, I became disenchanted very quickly about the nature of politics and my dreams of leading the country vanished. Until STOPDRTP. That is where I became General Counsel and got involved in municipal politics, the place where an individual really can count in our society and does have a role that directly impacts people.

That is how I met Edgar (aka Eddie) for the first time and when he asked me to be part of his campaign team to change the nature of politics in this City. I fell for his pitch hook, line and sinker to be blunt about it and have regretted my involvement with him for years now. My only excuse is that I am not the only one who has been fooled by our “non-politician.”

This is a rather personal introduction to what I wanted to write about today. It is no wonder that people are cynical about politicians. Sandra let the the cat out of the bag during the press conference about the DRIC road when she said:

• 
  
  
  
  "Sandra gave it away in the Star video when she said in answer to whether the "feud was overblown:"
  
  "it has been blown out of proportion because people do not see is that despite that we do not agree on the methodology we agree on where it is we want to go... There has been dialogue all along. There has never been a point where we have not been talking... What the public sees and what actually goes on often are not the same, often they are."

Here is what a municipal political insider told me respecting Edgar and judicial review and how Bill Marra was slammed when he suggested negotiating not litigating:

• 
  
  
  
  "the breakfast meeting that took place at Sandra's place occurred immediately after a Windsor Star Story that reported on an in-camera session at which time there was a shouting match between Marra and other members of council. It was the story that suggested Lewenza came after Marra with threatening language, which was in fact quite true at the time. As you may recall, it was when Bill publicly stated that he did not agree with the rest of council re: a legal strategy, i.e. judicial review, against the province re: the border and he publicly spoke about pursuing other negotiating alternatives...."

Remember what the Star story said in early 2008, the same time-frame Gord described in his Saturday column:

• 
  
  
  
  "Last week, Marra spoke out against other councillors who had criticized Windsor's two provincial cabinet ministers, Sandra Pupatello and Dwight Duncan, for not supporting the city's GreenLink border plan.
  
  Marra said he believed negotiating further with the local MPPs was a better tactic than blasting them."

He was right wasn't he and it really happened but he got hammered for it since it took away from the drama. The truth could not be even hinted at. No wonder Marra has had to be discredited continually!

Even more interesting, if the timeframe is right, the meeting came right after this event described by the Star this way:

• 
  
  
  "Cabinet ministers Dwight Duncan and Sandra Pupatello unveil the Windsor Essex Parkway plan. The city slams the plan. Eddie Francis says council is “pissed” that the DRIC team did not incorporate more elements of Greenlink. Duncan counters the plan calls for the most expensive piece of roadbed in provincial history."

It would seem that Edgar's urinary problem was very short-lived.

Is it any wonder that politicians are viewed so negatively by people? I really don’t understand it. It should be an honourable profession, helping the public, serving the public need, doing the right thing for the good of all. But it is not as Margaret Thatcher’s speechwriter wrote. It is all about power, influence and being re-elected no matter what and no matter what the cost and to whom.

• 
  
  
  
  "The decisions that really matter to political leaders are those to do with the getting and holding of power. Other decisions may turn out well or ill. They may cost billions of pounds or hundreds of lives, but for enlisted politicians those decisions are secondary. What matters to them is: will I still be here after this?"

The big Detroit Chamber meeting with the Big Guns and Heavy Hitters was all a stage-managed fraud. I wasn’t there, but mini-Gord was:

• 
  
  
  
  "Friday's news conference was an elaborate bit of political theatre intended to convince Moroun's supporters in Lansing to vote for the public good rather than the preservation of a private empire.
  
  "You know how things work in the U.S. -- you have to choreograph it," a former Canadian ambassador explained of the performance we witnessed in Detroit on Friday. "They need persuasion, and all this was for that audience up in the legislature."
  
  Cross your fingers that they liked the show."

It was designed to intimidate Michigan Senator Cropsey and his colleagues who think DRIC is a boondoggle.

Our Mayor was one of the bit players in the cast and did his part to show that Moroun will be stopped--- by the Indian Road homes not being allowed to be demolished perhaps?

Make the script as you go along; improvise, it does not matter. When capacity seems to be the reason for a new bridge as traffic is increasing, then pretend that is why we need a new public bridge. When the numbers decline, then drag out security and redundancy as the rationale. When that doesn’t work, then it is Jobs, Jobs, Jobs.

But it is all a lie…it is to force Matty Moroun out of business so that Prime Minister Harper can buy the bridge more cheaply under the auspices of his secret mandate letter.

Why doesn’t the Prime Minister just come out and say it? We all know it by now. Why is he so afraid to let the public in on the truth?

The truth what is that? If you have read Gord Henderson’s column today you ought to be sick. I do not care which side you are on respecting the border file. It does not matter. In fact the issue itself does not matter. What is disgusting to me is the way that our three local politicians: Edgar Francis, Sandra Pupatello and Dwight Duncan have acted.

Actually, is not how they have acted that sickens me but rather what they have done to thousands of people within this region. They have deliberately and maliciously fooled us. They have stalled us and delayed when the proojects could have been started years ago. At a time when our economy has suffered and people are out of work, when homes are being foreclosed and businesses shut down, htey were all acting.

They all ought to be thrown out of office and banished for their actions.

I hate to say it but I did tell you so. The DRIC road debate was a charade. Nothing was supposed to happen until 2010 and it did not no matter how bad the economy was in this region with the highest unemployment in Canada. Our politicians just did not care!

As an aside, all of a sudden, Grd makes Sandra the heroine of the piece. Why is Dwight running for the Liberal leadership and Edgar might take his place provincially? Keep Sandra happy and not being a trouble-maker? As a smart politician, she gets suckered continuously.

The animosity between Edgar and our Cabinet members never existed. Just picture this, Dwight in his nightcap, Edgar in his PJs and Sandra in her nightie serving them her killer bacon and cheese quiche in her home early in the morning as they plotted for years on how to deceive us. What a painting that would be to hang at the Windsor Art Gallery one day.

What is even more disgraceful is that the Windsor Star’s main Columnist thinks it is all terrific. Was the Star itself part of all this, playing its role as the Messenger? I’m afraid I do not know the answer to that question but I do know what its Editor, Marty Beneteau has said in the past:

"We did things that newspapers can do to bring about change, positive change. I think we got a lot of results this year and this now validates the results we got."

Look at what Gord is writing about as if it is a badge of honour

• 
  
  
  
  In early 2008, with the battle between the city's GreenLink proposal and DRIC's Essex-Windsor Parkway plan at a fever pitch and with relations between Mayor Eddie Francis and the city's two provincial cabinet ministers going through an especially rocky patch, Pupatello decided it was time for the trio to sit down, roll up their sleeves and speak their minds, no holds barred, in an attempt to eliminate misunderstandings and mend the relationship. [And how do we know this did not start even earlier? Just because Gord chooses to stake out a particular time-period does not make it so.]





• 
  
  
  
  
  "the two Windsor ministers remained gagged and bound with bureaucratic Velcro. There could be no promises made. No commitments. No horse-trading.
  
  But there could be, and needed to be, a drastic change in the working relationship of Windsor's three most important politicians. They needed to recognize that they were on the same team, the Windsor Team, and had the same objective in mind, the best possible border infrastructure deal that could be carved out for their city.
  
  "We're going to sit here until we sing Kumbaya if it kills me," Pupatello recalled telling herself as the "Quiche Conference" started off on a stiff, almost brittle, note. But being Windsor-bred politicians, the painful formalities were soon cast aside in favour of honest, unvarnished talk." [What were they doing, exchanging recipes about making quiches and pita breads? Nice job Gord trying to prevent the two Cabinet mmebers from being charged under the Members' Integrity Act!]





• 
  
  
  
  
  Team Windsor was on a new footing. [What a telling description! Two years of teamwork against Windsorites]





• 
  
  
  
  
  The paranoia and suspicion had lifted. All three understood clearly how important it would be to lower the decibels -- especially at Queen's Park -- and start working together in pursuit of a common objective. [That objective was shown at the DRIC Chamber meeting. The deal was done mere days before the meeting so that as mini-Gord told us Canada could be seen to be united and now Michigan had to come onside to beat Moroun]





• 
  
  
  
  
  Francis and council gradually moved the border file to the back burner. And dialed down. Diplomacy took over. Dinner meetings, here and in Toronto, replaced soapbox speeches and demonstrations.
  
  You might have seen Duncan and Francis dining at Caesars. Or Pupatello and Francis breaking bread at El-Mayor on Wyandotte Street.[I wonder whose expense accoints paid for these nice meals. Oh, oh, Gord forgot the Dwight/Edgar ride to the airport too. How many meetings and when so that a Members' integrity Act can now be filed respecting the Tunnel deal!]





• 
  
  
  
  
  The city had good reason to go this co-operative route. It had been warned by its legal advisers that it had only a 50-50 shot at winning a lawsuit and that victory, which could ice the project for a generation, might be worse than defeat. [Wow, all that money and praise for our legal weapon of mass destruction and at best it was 50/50! If we knew that so did the Province's lawyers. Just like with arbitration, Edgar neglected to tell us everything about our legal position. Millions wasted. For what? Those who wanted a settlement were mocked as somehow hurting Windsor when they were right all along.]





• 
  
  
  
  
  Bit by bit, this warming relationship bore fruit. [The Americans have a legal theory they call "the fruit from the poisonous tree." I guess this is how Adam felt after eating the apple.]





• 
  
  
  
  
  It brought millions in provincial funding for Red Bull air races. It brought huge provincial contributions (matching the feds) that helped make Windsor's massive infrastructure program the largest per capita in all of Canada. And in the end it brought Windsor a border fix that's a huge improvement on the status quo as well as a job creator other hard-pressed Canadian cities would kill for.
  
  At $78 million and counting in negotiated extras for Windsor, that was some quiche. [It's how things are done children. Lying and cheating are ok as long as you get something out of it. Of course this could never have been negotiated by anyone unless they sold-out but why use such language. I bet Gord thinks that this confession of his will be good for his soul. All that money vs. his stories of our destruction. It worked out so well so we can forgive them all]
  
  
  
  

Did you see any remorse, anything that he wrote about concerning the suffering of people along the DRIC Road corridor? I guess that he believes that all is fair in love and war and politics to work up the population so that we believe that our health and our children’s health is at risk if this damned DRIC road is ever built in our area.

Actually, Gord should insist that the prize won by Sam Schwartz for Greenlink ought to be given to the DRIC engineers because after all, that is the road that we’re getting in Windsor and the road that we were always getting in Windsor. Or rather, it will be the road until such time as the RFPs come back and the cost of the road escalates into billions. Then all we will need is a cheap DRIC solution and an upgraded EC Row, exactly what the Joint Management Committee wanted years ago.

Why else do you believe that Sandra contributed $200,000 to the Lufthansa study for the Cargo Shanty at the airport. The need to connect the airport to the border and the need for a DRIC detour as Sandra and Dwight mentioned in the past will get Edgar off the hook for his so-called opposition to trucks on E C Row notwithstanding his support of an upgraded expressway years ago. He thinks we have forgotten this:

Gee. this is what we got in these negotiations isn't it along with money for the Tunnel except the words E C Row have NOT been mentioned yet..

Years of opposition to the Provincial Government, nasty words about the Premier and the fight between Edgar and Council and the Province (I wonder if the Councillors had the faintest idea what was going or were they part of of the deception as well so they too should be thrown out of office), threats of lawsuits and judicial reveiw, hors-long presentations at Council by Estrin and Edgar were never real. The “so called almost have a deal but then see it fall apart” columns by Gord after hearing from a provincial government insider are now very suspect. I think it should be obvious who the provincial government Leakor is. He/she should be ashamed.

Not a word about the people who were deceived into attending educational meetings by our Mayor and Council so they could be suckered about Greenlink. Not a word about the thousands of people who are convinced by the Mayor to send in postcards opposing the Provincial road or who phoned in to 311 to express their opposition because they felt that they were doing the right thing for the City. Not a word of apology to all of these people were used and must now feel that they were tricked by our politicians.

Instead, our major newspaper Columnist is thrilled about all this and praises what was done.

"Bit by bit, this warming relationship bore fruit. It brought millions in provincial funding for Red Bull air races. It brought huge provincial contributions (matching the feds) that helped make Windsor's massive infrastructure program the largest per capita in all of Canada. And in the end it brought Windsor a border fix that's a huge improvement on the status quo as well as a job creator other hard-pressed Canadian cities would kill for.

At $78 million and counting in negotiated extras for Windsor, that was some quiche."

I am so glad that I learned about this side of politics years ago and decided that running for Prime Minister was not for me. I do not know how some of our politicians can get up in the morning and look at themselves in the mirror after what they have done. But I guess when you have few scruples and you are power-hungry or worse then it does not matter.

All I know is that I could not in good conscience live with myself.

Mayoral Showdown: Edgar vs. Junior

Wouldn’t that be a hoot! In the end, Ken Lewenza Jr. would win by a land-slide!

It would undoubtedly be, at the beginning at least, the most polarizing campaign ever seen in Windsor. It certainly would pit two completely different points of view against each other. There would be clear-cut differences in solutions, content and style.

I can just imagine the Star columnists and Editorialists licking their chops as they would dream up different ways to vilify Junior. Actually, that would be the best thing that ever happened to him. The Star's declining reputation is such that being demonized by them is a big Plus. As time went on however, I would expect that people would get a better appreciation of Junior and his abilities and that the stereotypical picture of him would soon disappear.

I would be willing to make a bet as well that we would never see such a campaign. My own view is that if Lewenza announced that he was going to run for Mayor, Edgar would not do so. He could not face months of blame and criticism from someone who knows the facts about the way that Edgar has run this City into the ground and the mistakes that he has made. And Junior would NOT be afraid to use them in a campaign.

Oh it would be ugly and Edgar could not stand the heat. And neither could the Councillor formerly known as Councillor Budget who did not have the guts to debate Junior after the CUPE strike if he ever thought about running if Edgar did not.

I was thinking about all this when I read the Star story about the meeting involving the Windsor Utility Commission rate increase and this comment in particular:

• “Lewenza and Wladarski blamed the current problems -- and a five-year water "infrastructure deficit" of $148.8 million -- on years of political reluctance to raise fees."

I thought about the difference in styles of the two men on two major issues: the WUC rate increase and the DRIC $78 million sellout.

In the DRIC sell out, Edgar, the Voice of Council, arranged for the resolution behind closed doors during secret breakfast meetings with Sandra and Dwight confirmed by an in camera vote of Council. With the rate increase, Junior is prepared to take his chances by holding meetings across the City out in public to explain what needs to be done and to hear what the population would say, whether good or bad.

To the thousands of people who sent in postcards to support the Greenlink campaign of the Mayor and who attended all of the meetings so that he could get a few extra dollars at the expense of their and their childrens's health supposedly, what Edgar did has to be a slap in the face.

Compare that with what Junior did such that even one of his strongest opponents in the past could say after the meeting:

• “We've got to have a rate increase, there's no way around it -- we've neglected this too long," said city hall watchdog Al Nelman.”

Do you really believe that Edgar had the nerve to face the public on his Greenlink settlement? He would have been shouted down. No wonder we have hardly seen a story about it since it happened. Even the Star could not justify the sell-out and has to be embarrassed about its role!

Yet Junior was prepared to go to the public and sell his point of view, as he did successfully, even though he was asking people to pay more money"

• "The Windsor Utilities Commission heard what it wanted Thursday night, when a small group of city residents gave support to new water rate hikes during the first in a series of ward meetings on the subject...
  
  WUC's selling job was so good that west ender Louise Jamieson was among the converts...
  
  "What you're paying for is access to the system," said Lewenza.
  
  He said it costs $50 million to run WUC and maintain Windsor's water system, whether consumers conserve or not.
  
  "I understand I have to pull my weight, but it doesn't seem to pay to be thrifty," said Jamieson."

Remember when Edgar first ran for Mayor, he made the following comment about him being a politician:

• "Over the next four months I will engage the voters of Windsor in a discussion about our future, the future of Windsor. I will do this not as a politician but as a citizen who wants to serve you…
  
  I said to you earlier that I am not a politician and I am not running for office to be Mayor for life…. Should I be fortunate to be elected to lead our City, and should I ask the citizens for a second term …….My term is not to exceed two."

Yea, right, especially in relation to possibly running for a third term. Supposedly, we are going to find out what he’s going to do sometime in May. When I see that, I will believe it.

Look at what he said in the past with respect to WUC rate increases, before an election:

• "The Windsor Utilities Commission will have to justify any water rate increase this fall, Mayor Eddie Francis said Wednesday.
  
  "I pay for water and I want to know what we pay these rates for," Francis said at a meeting of the commission.
  
  "(The rates) have to be justified. We aren't going to stand by when they say 'We need this.' We are going to ask why."
  
  Francis said in an interview he believes water rates are too high...
  
  When the study is completed, Francis said he hopes it will show water rates can be decreased."

Too high, hopes that they can be decreased! Boy, was he wrong! What a businessman. How does one explain this. After the election, we were hit with an 86% rate increase which the Mayor took the lead in justifying.

Look at what he has said now with respect to possible rate increases, naturally before the election. In passing, he was not at the WUC commission meeting where this matter was debated and decided. He chickened out:

• "Mayor Eddie Francis, also a WUC board member, missed Thursday’s meeting because he was overseas, but agreed Friday the water company may have to look at a more gradual increase.
  
  The mayor took the lead in pushing the 86 per cent hike in 2007.
  
  “Right now this community cannot handle a 10 per cent increase,” he said. “You need a more realistic approach in what’s required. You are not going to resolve the infrastructure deficit in one or two years. Maybe there needs to be a 10- to 15-year plan and be balanced in people’s ability to handle this."

Edgar was front and centre supporting the 86% increase but where is he now defending the latest WUC increase before the next election? Invisible!

Compare that approach with that of Councillor Lewenza who was effectively putting his career on the line by going out to meet with the public. Naturally, the Star wants to vilify him since coincidentally there is a story about the big rate increase at Enwin where the Mayor is on the Board. The numbers were given to Enwin last Thursday and it took this long to crunch them and to have the Star report them!

What did Edgar have to say about this increase? Invisible in the story. Instead, all we received was excuses from the Company that pays Members of Council huge amounts so that their Council salaries are increased dramatically.

Oh I would love to see a Mayoral campaign between Edgar and Junior but that would never happen. Obviously, the first issues that would be discussed would be the 101 Day CUPE strike and outsourcing. Edgar could never dare debate that matter with Junior because the Star protection of Edgar’s huge sellout of the citizens as a hardliner would be demonstrated. His reputation would be shot forcing him to pull a “David Miller.”

Edgar could never stand up to the questions about why garbage should be outsourced or daycares closed without consultation whatsoever. Even on parking enforcement, the discussion was held behind closed doors until Edgar had to say:

• "The matter was subject to much debate behind closed doors Monday night, but Francis said council concluded, "out of an abundance of caution," to have the matter dealt with in public at next week's regular council session."

It would have been fun for me at least to watch this campaign go forward but alas it will never happen. Pity for us.

Dead Men Don't Pump Gas But They Do Get A Salary And Other City Stories

The urban legend of Edgar (aka Eddie) being a smart business person who can run this City as a successful business is falling apart piece by piece, day by day.

Oh don't take my word for it. Read what a business person who runs a City in a worse financial position than Windsor is in has to say about a situation about vacant jobs. From Detroit Mayor Dave Bing's recent Budget speech:

• 
  
  
  "This administration also promised to put an end to politics as usual and tell the truth, even when it wasn't popular. We've cut out all the unfunded vacant positions from this budget. The 2009-10 budget included more than 500 positions without a dollar to actually fill them. This is something past administrations used for political reasons, most notably in the police department to create the perception that there were more officers on the street than the City actually had on the force.
  
  Our citizens deserve to know the real numbers, without the phantom positions or the fuzzy math. As a businessman, I expect a real budget with real numbers and a plan that delivers real results."

In Windsor, it's worse. Vacant postions were funded unlike in Detroit. For years it seems.

I hate to tell you that we need ANOTHER investigation in Windsor but we do.

Creative book-keeping, what else can you call it.

Please do not tell me that I should believe one thing that I am told about our Budget and our so-called reduction in taxes. Department figures...hardly reliable now. Clearly they have been padded for years. Someone had to know about it but who? And what did they do about it?

Well mini-Gord found out and he told us:

• 
  
  
  "The critics claim there are no savings from eliminating empty positions at city hall. Not true, says Mayor Eddie Francis. Under Windsor's budgeting and spending procedures, each department is given an annual cash allotment based on its staff costs and other needs.
  
  So if an empty job is still on the books, the department gets the cash for that job on the assumption it will be filled later. If the position remains unfilled, the department gets to spend the extra cash on other stuff -- pending council approval, of course.
  
  That's the way most budgets work, in most governments and even most private companies. No manager in their right mind gives up staff complement willingly, or gives money back to the finance department. That's just not the way the game has been played ... until now.
  
  This year, managers throughout the corporation took the request for savings much more seriously than ever before, the mayor said this week. "Everybody was on board. It was really good," Francis said.

Nice to know that no one took saving money seriously before. Years of deception are being justified. What a shocking statement to make from a self-proclaimed business person. Would he have allowed HIS money to have been used this way?

It was all a game before. Those line-by-line so-called tough Budget sessions by the Councillors before, especially when the Councillor formerly known as Councillor Budget was in control, did not find anything wrong. Either they were incompetent or hoodwinked by their staff or both since positons were not filled yet money was being given out as if they were.

Read this misleading headline:

• 
  
  
  "Another 19 jobs erased at city hall"

Nope. here is what really happened:

• 
  
  
  "City council decided behind closed doors Thursday to chop another 19 full-time equivalent job positions to remain on target for a zero per cent municipal tax increase for the 2010 budget.

Imagine a schoolteacher in class asking a student this question and getting this answer:

• 
  
  
  Q. "What does your father or mother do for a living?
  



• 
  
  
  A. "Oh, my mother works in an "equivalent job position" at City Hall."

Now get this. It was tough cutting these equivalent job positions

• 
  
  
  "Councillors seemed content with Thursday’s closed-door decisions, saying many of the eliminated jobs are vacant or can hopefully be cut through attrition.
  
  “A number of these jobs have been vacant up to five years,” said Coun. Ron Jones. “They have been jobs on paper.
  
  “But certainly it’s a tough time and we had to make some tough decisions. I don’t agree with all the decisions that were made today, but majority rules.”

FIVE YEARS!!! Jobs on paper! What is going on here? How many millions of dollars have been wasted? How many daycare spaces could have been saved? Which managers have been fired for this?

Oh I get it. For five years certain Departments have told us lies. We thought they were getting money for real people who were working there but instead they were getting salaries for people who did not exist. They used the money for other purposes. We thought they actually were cutting money from their budgets but they weren't. They were using "salary" funds for those purposes.

What else is buried in the Budget figures that we do not know about!

Border Traffic Numbers In A Perspective

Whew, all that good news about the border traffic numbers increasing massively over the last few months must feel like good news to Transport Canada's Sean O'Dell and the DRIC supporters who will be trooping over to the Detroit Chamber offices for their big pro-DRIC rally on Friday.

I hope Sarah Hubbard keeps that list I asked of her of attendees. I want to see how correct I am that the usual suspects will be there.

Then the Ambassador Bridge Company goes and spoils it all by issuing a Press Release that tells us what the numbers really mean:

• Ambassador Bridge traffic up, delays down
  
  WARREN, Mich. – Traffic crossing the Ambassador Bridge increased 11 percent in the first quarter of 2010, compared with the depressed levels of automobiles and trucks using the bridge during the same three-months of 2009.
  
  The Detroit International Bridge Co. (DIBC), which owns and operates the Ambassador Bridge, said the increase was more a reflection on extremely low levels of traffic at all border crossings during the first quarter of 2009, caused by the global economic crisis and near shutdown of the automobile industry at that time.
  
  “We are happy that the increase in traffic during the first quarter shows the economy is better than it was last year and we hope the trend continues,” said DIBC President Dan Stamper. “Even if traffic continues to hold at higher levels, 2010 will be on track for the second-worst year over the last decade.”
  
  The Ambassador Bridge is the No. 1 international crossing in North America and it alone carries more than one-quarter of the trade between the United States and Canada.
  
  First quarter traffic this year was down 12 percent compared with 2008 and down 44 percent from 2000.
  
  Most of the first quarter increase was truck traffic, which was up 22 percent compared with 2009. But truck traffic in the first three months of 2010 was 15 percent lower than 2008 and 30 percent lower than 2000.
  
  Automobile traffic in the first quarter was up just 5 percent from 2009, but 9 percent fewer autos used the bridge compared with the first three months of 2008 and 51 percent fewer than in 2000.
  
  “It is interesting that the increase in traffic we had at the Ambassador Bridge, particularly with trucks, corresponds with a doubling of toll rates at the Blue Water Bridge, where traffic was up at a lesser rate,” Stamper said.
  
  Average wait times for passenger and commercial traffic crossing the Ambassador Bridge was well below 9 minutes in 2009 and significantly below the 70-minute average wait times that occurred in 2002 in the aftermath of 9/11, when U.S. and Canadian government inspectors increased border security.
  
  Working closely with federal authorities on both sides of the border, the Ambassador Bridge added additional inspection booths, parking areas and pre-processing centers for commercial vehicles and made electronic processing assistance available. Wait times at the Ambassador Bridge plummeted as a result.
  
  Analysis of internal hourly data on wait times from January 2010 shows that wait times for passenger cars traveling to Canada using the Ambassador Bridge exceeded 9 minutes only 4 percent of the time. Trucks going to Canada experienced wait times exceeding 9 minutes only 3 percent of the time. Wait times for cars and trucks entering the U.S. from Canada had wait times exceeding 9 minutes less than 1 percent of the time.

Yes, I know that cars are not trucks. However, if only the Bridge Company had mentioned as well what Crains did to demonstrate that the increase in traffic for the region overall was not all that it is cracked up to be when looking at what the Tunnel lost and the Bridge gained, then the story would have been complete:

• "Car and truck traffic at the bridge is up slightly more than 11 percent through March, an increase of 167,192 vehicles to 1,663,965 from 1,496,773 at the same point last year.
  
  Tunnel traffic, however, is down more than 15.5 percent for the year, to 886,477 from 1,049,865. That’s a decline of 163,388 vehicles over the first 90 days of the year."

And I hope David Bradley is there to talk about his perspective about empty trucks and how his members will be pleased to pay the huge DRIC tolls considering he whinged about the tolls increasing at the Blue Water Bridge:

• "there's still a long way to go to return to peak levels, observers say.
  
  "It's a hopeful sign but I don't think we're out of the woods yet and I do think there's a long way to go to recoup the traffic that has been lost," said David Bradley, president of the Ontario Trucking Association.
  
  "How filled are these trucks? It's one thing to have trucks crossing, we're glad to see those numbers pointing in the right direction. I still think there's still some issues in terms of balance of trade across the border and therefore making sure those trucks are filled both ways."