Our 50 Yard Line Super Bowl Tickets

Someone called my bluff. They wanted me to find out how many Super Bowl tickets Windsor received for our $345,000 contribution, errrr Francis relationship building payment, errrrrrr Sponsorship payment errrr "lock-in involvement" payment that Council approved just before Christmas in December, 2004. I assumed those details were hammered out when the Mayor went to Jacksonville, Florida in the middle of winter to promote Windsor at last year's game. I saw that tickets cost US$6-700 each and were probably sold out so I figured that it would not be too difficult to find out the answer.

I started doing some digging and prayed that Mayor Kilpatrick had not cancelled Windsor's role after Mayor Eddie might help cost him his re-election by arguing against what he wanted to do with the Bridge Company.

I understand that we had to make a contribution to ensure our involvement. I wondered if Toronto paid any money since "organizers of the Feb. 5, 2006, game said they've been booking hotel rooms as far away as the GTA." But then they do not get "a flag football championships for 13 and 14 year olds, an interactive theme park, a charity dinner and fantasy pool draft, an international VIP party and a tailgate party on game day" as the Star reported.

In my research, I saw a Windsor Star story in November, 2004 that said "The city's new transit terminal, which will be shared by Transit Windsor and Greyhound Canada, is expected to be open in time for fans to be shuttled to Super Bowl XV at Detroit's Ford Field in February 2006." Has the deal even been signed yet so construction can start?

I was going to ask Gordon Orr of the Convention and Visitors Bureau but I thought he might be too busy going to the movies with the Mayor's wife for their CKLW movie review show so I did not call him.

I looked on the Super Bowl website (SBXL.org) and saw this:

• 8. Will Windsor, Ontario be involved in Super Bowl XL planning?
  
  The Host Committee receives many questions related to this topic. The City of Windsor has become involved in a variety of ways including:
  
  Establishing their own Windsor Super Bowl XL Planning Committee, whose members include Windsor ’s mayor, Eddie Francis and Gordon Orr, Managing Director of the Windsor Convention Visitors Bureau. The Planning Committee is exploring a downtown Windsor festival.
  
  Windsor hotels are part of the NFL room block
  
  NFL Canada, one of three international NFL affiliates, will promote Windsor as a destination for Canadian NFL football fans to celebrate and enjoy the game.
  
  Windsor venues are under consideration for Host Committee and NFL events during Super Bowl Week.
  
  The Host Committee works with the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Windsor, Essex County and Pelee Island
  

I looked at the Sponsor page since Mayor Eddie said "we are a major partner in this event," at least with respect to snow plowing, but surprisingly that did not help. Windsor's name was not shown as a "Sponsor." I guess we are NOT a Sponsor even though the Mayor described Windsor's role in his State of the City speech as a "full participant." [UPDATE: I was told that Windsor is shown as a member of the Host Committee and there was a "Windsor" logo on the right of the Host Committee page. When I clicked on it, I was sent to the NFLCANADA.com website]

I checked the Detroit Free Press website where a number of the A-List parties were identified and their locations. I know Windsor made a presentation to "150 corporate clients in Detroit extolling Windsor's virtues as a location for parties and receptions." I saw parties in Detroit, Troy and Novi as examples but unless "Location not known" really is the code-word for Windsor, I saw no big party here.

The media would surely know. Windsor is supposed to be doing something with the media I thought although most of the Super Bowl media will be staying in Detroit and Livonia. Perhaps someone can tell the Detroit News about that since it ran a big story on how the Host Committee was courting the media. Windsor's name was not mentioned.

Finally, it dawned on me. I decided I had better call Ward One's Mr. Budget to find out the true answer. I knew what the Mayor was doing when I saw that a suite for the All-Star baseball game in Detroit was going for $30,000 on E-Bay and a ticket for around $2,000. Obviously, a Super Bowl ticket would go for much more.

Clearly, the Mayor had arranged, while in Jacksonville, that the City could sell all of our Super Bowl tickets. Thus, he would single-handedly solve Windsor's budgetary woes for 2006! The "cooling centres" trial run in the summer. A Fiasco, hardly. Oh ye of little faith. It was the dry-run for renting out the centres for visitor accommodation to give us a budgetary surplus! If an Amherstburg home is listed for $8,000 US a week during Super Bowl, think how much we could get by renting out the South Windsor arena.

How clever, but then again the Mayor had been "Young Entrepreneur of the Year" hadn't he.

I'll let you know the answer when I find out.

Why Can't The Tunnel And Bridge Be Friends?

Gord Henderson said, “Some of us snickered in July when the bridge company rolled out its grandiose and seemingly preposterous plan … Nobody's laughing now.” Do you want to bet on that? I hear some laughter coming from the foot of the Ambassador Bridge.

Didn’t Gord understand, as the Bridge Co. did, that with the falling traffic projections and the changes to the auto industry, we might not need another crossing for years, if ever.

If Gord had remembered that their project would only cost about $200 million rather than the amount of $600 million for a new bridge, then he would have known that this was a no-brainer. Who wouldn’t want to save the $400 million that may never have to be spent?

The real bombshell was the massive land redevelopment in Detroit but I guess that was deemed to be “non-news” since the Bridge Co. had already talked about using some of their land already for an expanded Cobo Hall and new hotels. Of course, there was their deal with the Port Authority that will make all of their projects so much easier to do.

It was interesting to read what the City’s rah-rah newsletter said about the Bridge Co. deal, errrr I mean the Windsor Star. It was truly “hot” off the presses, so hot that the paper had production problems and I did not get the Saturday Star until late in the day and then again on Monday.

And it was predictable.

“No more tunnel bus” were the first words in our favourite Columnist’s story. I did not understand that one to be honest. I frankly thought that the solution would improve service since “service” and the “Tunnel bus” seem to be oxymorons. With 100 booths into the US and a huge plaza, buses could be cleared quickly. After all, we want to make it easier for Americans to go back home too don’t we.

Here are some excerpts from recent horror stories:

1. More than five dozen regular tunnel bus commuters have signed a petition asking for improved service


2. Transit Windsor is telling tunnel bus passengers it can't guarantee leaving a half-hour before baseball games or other events at Comerica Park will get riders to the start of the event.


3. Transit Windsor has cancelled its tunnel bus service on fireworks night due to lack of downtown access on both sides of the border. That means no Tigers shuttle to Comerica Park.


4. Public transit buses are not given precedence over long-haul tour buses or inter-city buses, which arrive with more passengers, more to declare and thousands of pounds of baggage


5. Penny Williams, spokesperson for Transit Windsor, acknowledged Thursday that orange alerts in the U.S. following the July terrorist attacks in London resulted in buses being backed up on the Windsor tunnel plaza well after the first pitch for recent Detroit Tigers games... On several of those buses, more than half the passengers disembarked in Windsor and went home frustrated after further delays were announced due to the slow pace of processing tour buses through customs and immigration on the Detroit side of the border.


6. Bus searches at the U.S. border are disrupting Transit Windsor's service to Detroit sports events, stranding angry fans and raising concerns among Super Bowl organizers… Chief Ron Smith, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Homeland Security… suggested the problem was because of the volume of buses coming through the tunnel -- there is room on the Detroit plaza for only two at a time.
   

Then we had No more direct commutes to jobs in downtown Detroit. Sheeeeesh, there is going to be an exit for NEXUS card-holders right at the existing tunnel.

And then the coup de grace: No more fast and convenient access to Tiger Stadium, Comerica Park, Cobo Hall, the Fox Theater and Greektown. So let me see, if I understand this. Go an extra mile or two and spend a few extra minutes OR wait in a line-up for up to two hours or more going through the Tunnel. Which would you prefer?

Seriously, does the Tunnel have any alternative but to partner now? I am sure that some revenue share can be worked out if that is all it takes. If the Tunnel stays on its own and you were someone who crosses the border, would you go to the crossing that has a few booths each way or one that has 100! And if DCTC thinks that the U.S. Customs is giving the Ambassador Bridge a competitive edge by doing a better job of clearing traffic congestion there, then just wait.

I had this idea too that if we have a better way of getting cars through the Tunnel, then we may not have to spend the $30 million of taxpayer money on the Phase 1 changes at the Tunnel plaza or have to change the roads down there. Or does that interfere with some hidden Master Plan that we do not know about?

If we want to increase Tunnel revenues and improve the City’s slice from Mr. Taqtaq’s Duty-Free Shop, then we need to start thinking and not reacting. Sam Schwartz wanted to direct Casino traffic to the Tunnel too and what good would that be if cars were lined up? We need a border that works for the good of Windsor and not just the good of the Tunnel.

The Mayor has said in speaking about what must be done to improve Tunnel revenues "We have to do something to counter the perception that there are delays at the tunnel by doing a better job of managing and funnelling traffic into the tube." Perhaps a proper conversation with the Bridge Co. might open his eyes or is he afraid to speak with them?

Windsor Mayors' Conflict Of Interest

The word “mayors’” in the subject line was not a typo but deliberate. It is not specific to any mayor. The issue is much broader than just the one that is most obvious now. It goes right to the heart of the relationship between Council and its creations.

Let me discuss the matter in the context of the issue that is front and centre now. But the conversation can apply to other companies and boards as well

As a relative new-comer to Windsor, I always wondered why the Windsor’s mayors seemed so antagonistic to the Ambassador Bridge Co. I would have thought that they should be proud that the #1 border crossing point in North America is in Windsor and of the economic prosperity it brings. Clearly, it must pay a good chunk of money in taxes to the City and provides employment, including jobs for University students at the Duty-free shop. It certainly makes contributions to a number of institutions in town at a time when corporate contributions are harder to find.

Without going into the pros and cons of the Bridge Co’s economic redevelopment/border crossing proposal at this time, superficially at least it seems to make sense and is worthy I would have thought of consideration. After all, the trucks would go right through Windsor to eliminate backups, the Customs inspection areas would not be in Windsor and it seemed that the combination of the bridge and tunnel would make us closer to having an “invisible” crossing to attract tourists and business to the region. The best news for taxpayers is that the Bridge Co., not Windsorites, pay for all of it. More importantly, it was entirely consistent with the thoughts of the international guru who spoke at the City/County meeting recently respecting regional economic redevelopment and could help us create employment in Windsor when we just lost over a thousand high-paying auto jobs.

So I was surprised when the 200 booth proposal was first announced that the Mayor and Councillor Budgeteer were so negative. This time around, the Mayor wants to butt in and look at the anti-trust situation in the US, supposedly, I assume, to see if there can be any roadblocks put forward to hinder or delay or stop the deal cold. I do not remember seeing anyone commenting about the economic impact on the region however.

In passing, I am not sure what gives the Mayor any right to spend taxpayer money on such an issue outside of our jurisdiction or is he spending the money as Chair of the Windsor Tunnel Commission. I wonder if a lawyer was retained and if Councillors understood the legal consequences of taking the action being proposed and approved spending money on legal fees by email or Blackberry again. We shall have a chance to find out and to speak on it when it is brought to Council for ratification after the fact for the third time recently.

But in rereading what they said, I finally understood the problem. “The plan would effectively shut down the tunnel.” “the bridge's plan [is] a serious threat to $6 million in annual revenues for the city as part owner of the tunnel.” Their focus seemed to be on protecting the interest and revenues of the Tunnel and the City's slice of the Tunnel Duty-free shop revenue as members of the Windsor Tunnel Commission. I wondered if they were also looking at the “big picture” as members of Windsor City Council to protect Windsor’s interests as well? Other examples where the same type of issue can arise are the Library Board or Transit Windsor or Enwin.

In other words, is there an inherent Conflict of Interest built in when the Mayor and Councillors are both a Tunnel Commission Chair or member and when they are also a member of City Council. On the one hand the Mayor can say from a Windsor-wide perspective : "We see the tunnel as a public utility while the DCTC sees it more as a profit-generating private operation." On the other hand when the Bridge takes away Tunnel traffic, he says as a true competitor "our traffic has gone to the bridge and we have to do a better job of convincing people that the tunnel should be their crossing of choice."

Assuming that the proposal may hurt the Tunnel, (I think the proposal would actually enhance Tunnel business) is that necessarily bad for Windsor's over-all interests? If the Tunnel were not owned by the City, would Council look at the matter from a different perspective? I would have thought that Council would look at what is in the best interest of the City from an economic perspective, and not also as a competitor to the Bridge Co. It would be forced to look at how to keep the border moving from a practical point of view and not also an owner.

What if the City thought the Bridge Co's ideas made sense and took actions that hurt the Tunnel's interests. How would its manager react to a decrease in revenues? Could it take action against the City since it looked at Windsor's interests before that of the Tunnel?

It is hard to wear two hats when legal duties are owed to both entities and the interests may conflict.

I don’t have a solution but one obvious action to minimize the conflict is to remove the Mayor and Councillors from the Boards, even though it may mean a reduction in their take-home pay. Citizens could replace them and matters would be brought to Council with the recommendation of the Board’s directors for action. The structure of the Windsor Police Services Board with Council could serve as an example.

Putting Our Regional Partnership At Risk

We are 2-300,000 in City and County population. They are 5,000,000. Eddie may have a tough time in the future if his buddy Kwame gets re-elected. Or even his opponent.

Two interesting stories in the Windsor Star on Saturday

• 1)Windsor-Detroit partnership touted
  "Detroit's embattled Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick says the best regional partnership for his city is not with the suburban cities in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties, but with Windsor....The best opportunity Detroit has and Windsr has for survival into the future is to join together... Eddie Francis has been working to improve the cross-border co-operation."

• 2)Detroit mulls bid for half of tunnel
  "The proposed deal...has already received approval from Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick...
  
  Mayor Eddie Francis said Windsor is investigating the potential violation of antitrust laws should Moroun's bridge company convince Detroit council to approve the controversial deal.
  
  At Friday's meeting, Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams encouraged council to accept the bridge deal, pointing to the economic and job benefits through construction and others tied with big box retail outlets the bridge has said would be built on property it owns in Mexicantown"

Now maybe it's me, but if the Mayor of Detroit has signed a deal that he thinks makes sense for his City and his Deputy Mayor encouraged Detroit Council to accept it, (especially if it will help him be re-elected as the cynics would suggest), then how happy do you think Kwame is today now that the Mayor of Windsor has stuck his nose into his issue.

Can you imagine the Star headlines if the Detroit Mayor called Windsor Councillors directly to try to kill a deal that Windsor's Mayor thought made sense for the economic redevelopment of the City.

Windsor's lawyer/Mayor might even want to "sue the b......." for inappropriately butting in, especially since he is a politician from a jurisdiction out of the country.

So much for the cross-river partnership.

All Windsor Council Meetings Are Cancelled

Windsor Council ratified last Monday night another vote that was done secretly. Not a biggie, like the work of art/sign, just in relation to the Mayor's Youth Town Hall meeting at Devonshire Mall.

• "To expedite approval of the requirement for the City of Windsor to sign the "Temporary Occupancy Licence Agreement", the Deputy Clerk conducted a poll of Councillors on Thursday, October 13, 2005 requesting that approval be given to the Chief Administrative Officer and the City Clerk to sign the agreement, satisfactory in form and content to the City Solicitor.
  
  The poll resulted in the following: eight councillors indicating approval of entering into the agreement; two councillors were not available during the poll."

To "expedite" is so important in a democracy isn't it? More important than following the Procedural By-law that the Mayor is so proud to enforce when a member of the public dares speak beyond the allotted 5 minutes as an example.

At the least, I am so glad to see that Council is ratifying its recent "secret" votes so that the public if it wishes may speak about the subject. Interestingly, what happens if the public does not like what was done before it has had a chance to speak. It makes the whole exercise somewhat redundant doesn't it? Oh well, the Star and Gord Henderson may not do stories again attacking the Mayor. I told you he would learn his lesson. Norma Coleman can rest easy.

There is an issue in my mind whether the process used is "legal" and can even be ratified since the City's Procedural By-law has specific requirements re "special meetings."

I asked the Mayor and Councillors if they would let me know the date when the Schwartz Report ratification vote would take place so that I might be a Delegation. It was done in secret too. I won't hold my breath though waiting for an answer.

In thinking about it, since Council handles all of the important matters in camera or by "polling" and really only discusses issues like CarTunes, feral cats, pit bulls and circuses in public, who needs public Council meetings.

Accordingly, I move that, to "expedite" matters, all public Council meetings be cancelled for the rest of this Council's term. All in favour say "Aye." Carried unanimously.

PS. Will the ratification "hat trick" be approving retaining a lawyer to consider causing problems for the City of Detroit/Bridge Co. deal on anti-trust allegations? I hope there was a big explanation on the Blackberrys about the legal risks involved too.

The Apologists Strike Back

Can you believe it? The apologists are so predictable.

Not a word about what the Bridge Co’s Project is all about but just an attack on a small element of it in order to preserve the Mayor’s billion-dollar short-term dream. Or rather his “starting point” which will lead to what he really wanted to do in the first place but could not trust us to tell us until he got everyone worked up over Prairie grass and extinct species at Ojibway and spent millions of dollars to divert our attention! (Whew what a mouthful). You know The Real Plan! The Real Plan! After all, we are not as smart as the Philosopher King is and certainly cannot be trusted with “facts.” Let’s keep it in camera folks. (It involves the Tunnel as is becoming so abundantly clear right now)

Not one single good word so far about how the Bridge Co.’s project might re-vitalize a destroyed US city that just happens to be across the river from Windsor. Not one single word about how this could be the start of a massive regional economic redevelopment that could actually increase business here. Not one good word about how this could make our border actually work so that we can ship our goods into the US more quickly or how Americans can come over here to spend money to bolster our dying downtown.

If the apologists are not careful, the City may wind up losing its tickets to the Superbowl game or Eddie may have to sit all by himself. All of his relationship building will be for nought. We may not get one single Superbowl Party if we are too disruptive to Detroit’s future and we do NOT have one yet by the way from looking at the Detroit media. And the Mayor’s several hundred thousand dollar donation to become a sponsor of the Superbowl (who wants a Science Centre for kids anyway) might become a useless investment after all!

I heard that our Mayor might even have called some Detroit Councillors about what was happening. I cannot believe that rumour. Why his good buddy and Mayor in Detroit might consider that to be a breach of protocol to have a Canadian politician try to interfere with a US legislative vote and influence it directly by contacting Councillors.

I can just imagine the NDPer from Windsor West climbing on his soapbox if an American politician tried to do that in Canada. John, the husband of Norma Coleman, Eddie’s Chief of Staff, and his Editorial Board colleagues at the Windsor Star in Editorials and cartoons and Gord Henderson in a column could fulminate about how the Americans were interfering with the good government of a sovereign country. They could shouted out their anti-American rhetoric and tell them to stay home or we would cut off their oil. That’s why I am so sure that Eddie would never even consider doing something so impolite.

So let me summarize the predictable, apologist the attack so far and give you my response in brackets:

 A bridge twinning and the proposed superplaza would require a raft of government approvals [We have to keep those Bi-national Engineers working. The Governor almost ruined their Christmas taking away all of those corridors so quickly. I wonder what approvals are needed in CANADA for a project completely in the USA]

 reassurance by the Canadian Border Services Agency that it has no plans to station its customs officers in Detroit [No plans for Detroit today but pilots projects already underway in other locations]

 Rep. Steve Tobacman, who represents the southwest Detroit, said he was was extremely concerned about the latest bridge proposal. [Duh…he introduced anti-Bridge Co. legislation in the Michigan state legislature. Is he expected to be happy!]

 this has not gone to Detroit city council [but it will]

 Campaign contribution records show Moroun and other bridge company executives have contributed significantly to the campaigns of Kilpatrick and his mother, U.S. congresswoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick [The smear is out. Doing something that it is legally allowed is somehow wrong. Hmmm I better check the political contributors to the Mayor’s and Councillor’s campaigns. At the end of September, Chuck Scarpelli at City Hall told me it would cost exactly $5.67 to get a photocopy of the Mayor’s complete contribution list and nothing to view it. I think I may take him up on that soon.]

 Detroit Coun. Sheila Cockrel expects the Mayor will push council to quickly make a decision on the offer and described that as unfair with the municipal election looming. [And their system of local Government pits the Council against the Mayor so what do you expect. Did she say she was against it though so that policeman and fireman would have to be laid off for lack of money? It would be like our Mayor giving the Councillors the full and complete Schwartz Report a few days before he was making it public and expecting their complete approval]

 Francis will discuss the legality of any proposed lease buyout today with Windsor tunnel commission lawyer Cliff Sutts [Oh oh….the lawyer threat. Now how would he be able to comment on a US deal? I bet the Bridge Co. has lawyers that might want to talk to Eddie too about this.]

 He will have everything all tied up, then watch how expensive it will be to cross. We can't allow this to go any further [Thank heaven…the monopolist angle before the end of the article. Too bad that the Bi-national said that there was competition for the Bridge. They are lousy monopolists too if Sarnia and rail could take away a chunk of their business as the Star reported only a few days ago. Anyway, it would be the Port Authority who set prices not the Bridge Co. as I understand it. The Bridge Co. would just be the operator, not the owner. The US set-up would be the same as now I believe]

 Forbes recently estimated Moroun's holdings at more than $1 billion [Wow being hugely successful is a sin. Perhaps if we had someone who knew what he was doing as a business person running the border, we would NOT have the mess we are in now!]

I checked my list of apologist possible attack items and they got 9 out of the 10 of them. I guess they must have run out of space.

Now I don’t want to tell you I told you so but I did yesterday.

Does anyone over here have the faintest idea what the full Bridge Co. Project is from reading the Star? Nope.

Does anyone over here have any idea that the Project is really about economic development? Nope.

Does anyone over here have the faintest idea that we should be part of this “REGIONAL” development if we want to prosper? Nope.

I’ll set it out for you once again. What the Star refuses to publish, the four elements of the “Port of Opportunity & Employment.”

1) Border Solution, “International Center” of trade & tourism to promote increased trade opportunities between Canada and the US ie the 200 booth solution that was announced before.

2) Creation of “Big Box & Main Street” retail development in the heart of Detroit’s major roadway network

3) Port Authority creation of a major manufacturing & distribution center ie a very specialized competitive solution for retention and cost savings for regional manufacturers and the entire US supplier community

4) Detroit-Wayne County Port Authority assumes operation and expansion of Detroit Windsor Tunnel

Now if we can start the real discussion about our future economic recovery (don't forget that 4,500 Windsor Ford jobs are on the line if we get a GEMA plant here) and forget about the border since the Bridge Co. will fix it, then we might get somewhere.

A Port In The Storm

I am really angry!

What a great day for Detroit! What a horrible day for Windsor! What a gross miscalculation that may cost us dearly if someone at City Hall does not finally wake up. Obviously I am talking about the Ambassador Bridge Company’s plans for the economic revival of Detroit. Oh, and fixing the border too, Properly!

Remember the sage words of our experts on the border on Council, the Mayor and Mr. STOPDRTP:

• “A plan to create a joint 150-acre U.S.-Canada customs plaza on Detroit's west end to handle tunnel and bridge traffic has been floated by the bridge company. A new road parallel to the riverfront would carry tunnel traffic to the superplaza, according to the bridge's proposal.
  
  "The commission feels (the bridge plan) doesn't make any sense," Francis said. "The plan would effectively shut down the tunnel. There would be no use of it. If people have to go all the way to the west end (for customs clearance) they would just use the bridge."
  
  Coun. Dave Brister, a member of the tunnel commission, described the bridge's plan as a serious threat to $6 million in annual revenues for the city as part owner of the tunnel.
  
  "Clearly that would be at risk if the bridge's plan goes forward," Brister said. "I would have concern if the DCTC is supporting the bridge plan because it’s not in the best interest of Windsor taxpayers."

Well they were both wrong. It does make sense and the Tunnel will now thrive in spite of our naysayers. The Mayor and Councillor Brister have to start “Thinking Big.” They just don’t seem to get it yet.

It is clear that they have not figured out that, to make money at the Tunnel, you need a working border at the Bridge and Tunnel so that Americans do not fear waiting for hours to cross into Canada. A working border is in the interest of the taxpayers of Windsor and businesses who depend on getting their goods into the US without delay. Promoting subsidized NEXUS cards is NOT the way to promote a free-moving Tunnel for heaven’s sake. They are talking as Tunnel Commissioners and what is good for the Tunnel only and not as Members of Council interested in what is good for all citizens of Windsor.

Unlike the Schwartz billion-dollar dream, this is no chimera. The stars seem to be aligning themselves properly so that this concept can be brought to a practical reality. Ask the Bridge Co. how long they have been working on this and doing what it really takes to get a project like this organized and moving. Oh well, they are only putting up 30 million of their money in real US dollars so I assume they think it makes sense. They are only business people after all.

The story is not the Tunnel although it is very important for Detroit budgetary reasons and for the Council apologists to stir up people in Windsor for their own self-interest. I hate to be a spoil-sport but it does not matter what we say about this. This is all taking place in the US so who cares about Canada, except us. Clearly the Governor and the Mayor of Detroit will be pleased.

The real story is the economic revival of Detroit and the region. The real tragedy is that Windsor is not up there on the stage saying we are part of this.

Isn’t it ironic. A few weeks ago the City brought in another world-famous guru to tell us about the importance of regional co-operation in the globalization fight and now we are on the outside looking in as a major announcement is made. I wonder if our Mayor even was told about it or is he totally now out of the loop. I just do not get it.

I may as well tell it to you here since I doubt that you will read about it locally above the din of the apologists. As I understand it, there are 4 key elements on what is being called “Port of Opportunity & Employment.” The word Port is used since the Detroit Wayne County Port Authority is a major player in the program. (In case you missed it, months ago the Bridge Co. said that it wanted to work with the Port Authority over here. I wonder if anyone from the Authority followed up)

The elements are:
1) Border Solution, “International Center” of trade & tourism to promote increased trade opportunities between Canada and the US ie the 200 booth solution that was announced before.
2) Creation of “Big Box & Main Street” retail development in the heart of Detroit’s major roadway network
3) Port Authority creation of a major manufacturing & distribution center ie a very specialized competitive solution for retention and cost savings for regional manufacturers and the entire US supplier community
4) Detroit-Wayne County Port Authority assumes operation and expansion of Detroit Windsor Tunnel

My suggestion however is that this is just the beginning of the story. Check out the Port Authority’s website on your own to see what the true advantage of this whole concept is. It is brilliant! The GM project will be clearly the first of many such projects to grow Detroit economically.

There’s a lot more to talk about but that can wait for another day.