Some Surprising Thoughts

Just some news stories that I found fascinating and that I wanted to share with you.

INDIAN ROAD HOMES CAN FINALLY BE TORN DOWN

• "Mary Ann Cuderman, who owns a bakery in Sandwich, said she thinks the debate around the location of a third border crossing somewhere in the city's west end might have hurt growth in the area.
  
  "In the Malden Road and Prince Road area, people want to get out," Cuderman said. "The whole crossing conversation has made people queasy. That's probably what is driving that."
  
  Cuderman doubted vacant, boarded-up houses close to the Ambassador Bridge -- which bought them to accommodate its proposed twin span project but can't tear them down because of a city freeze on development -- significantly affected the population in the neighbourhood.
  
  Those homes had been rented mostly by students, Cuderman said. Students wouldn't have made it into the population counts because it was conducted in late spring of 2006 when most of the homes would have been unoccupied."

EDDIE THE TEACHER

Clearly Eddie has missed his calling. He should have been a professor or a teacher rather than a politician or Mayor or leader. Look at how quickly he educated John Tory in only an hour or so.

Windsor Star 04-03-2007

• "Asked how likely it is Windsor would have to deal with a surface- level super highway to the new crossing if he were elected premier, Tory replied: "I can't answer that question," and pointed to his lack of access to information on the border file. "

Windsor Star today

• "Tory said he supports Windsor's GreenLink proposal to resolve the border truck problems."

HE FINALLY GOT THE MESSAGE

• "You can only be told so many ways to take a hike before you get the message," Francis said Thursday."

That was our Mayor when the County did not do as he told them with respect to the Tourism Board.

Now if he would only listen to Windsor taxpayers too and the message we are giving him.

THE DATING GAME

It's just like the movies... boy meets girl etc. However in this case I don't think there is going to be happy ending.

• "I don't think Tecumseh was ever really interested," said City Coun. Caroline Postma, chair of the Transit Windsor board.
  
  Transit Windsor hasn't received a resolution or even a letter from Tecumseh's council indicating a serious interest in planning a bus route and stops, Postma said Thursday. "They are a reluctant suitor..."
  
• But when it came time to present a financial proposal to Lakeshore -- which was done Nov. 27 -- Tecumseh wasn't invited to the meeting, Postma said."

BUDGET FOLLIES

Don't you find this coincidental. The amounts are so similar:

• "Mayor Eddie Francis tried to calm fears Thursday, following Wednesday's budget deliberations when city councillors discussed cutting the program's $474,000 funding, as one way of reducing a tax hike for Windsor ratepayers that currently sits at 3.1 per cent."
  
  
• "Francis was upset by county council's decision Wednesday night not to contribute $500,000 more annually to help bolster the local tourism industry -- reeling from a tighter border and stronger Canadian dollar."

CITY MONEY TO THE MEDIA

Item 2 on Council's Agenda says that the City will spend about $400,000 on Star advertising. How much of that did we pay for Greenlink ads? Has the City put in its DRIC response yet by the way? If not, why did we need to spend money on ads?

I wonder how much was paid to CKLW this year too.

Do the other media in town get City ads too?

OUR MONEY SITUATION MUST BE BETTER

I thought everybody at City Hall was scurrying around trying to complete the budget. Apparently not now. I guess we don't have to with a Standard & Poor's AA rating. Who cares what that Western think tank and CIBC think about our economy. I dismiss them too.

• "The mayor said given the early status of the city's budget deliberations, it would be premature for anyone to "jump to conclusions" that the crossing guard program would be cut, but the city is looking for ways to trim costs. The budget will likely not be finalized until early February."

TAX CUT NOW

Given that there is almost about two months before the budget will be finalized, there is only one thing that can be said: