Onward

Regardless of all the rhetoric, Bill C-3 will pass with no problems. It received unanimous consent of the house on the 22nd of June.

That is simple reality. It has all party support in the House of Commons.

The real battle is not in the legislation itself, but in the implementation rules.

Without having any specific information at this point, I would guess that this bill will pass sometime in mid-February 2007.

Sewage Shame

This is certainly a black eye for Windsor - City record 'abysmal' in sewage treatment

Windsor is addressing one of the issues identified in the report with the expansion of the Lou Romano treatment plant.

The report itself highlights what a complex issue this is for municipalities to deal with:

“Although it would be easy to point the finger at municipalities, the Great Lakes basin is a political quagmire that includes two countries, eight states, a province, dozens of tribes and First Nations and hundreds of local municipal and regional governments,” continued MacDonald. “The only way out of this mess is to have all levels of government make a renewed commitment to upgrade our aging sewage systems and conserve our precious freshwater resources.”

That being said, I'm sure there is more that can be done by all Windsorites. I know at one time there was a program in Windsor to focus on removing downspouts from homes that were connected to the sewer. Whatever happened to this? I couldn't find anything on the City website other than the Sewer Use By-Law. Some of the areas most affected by old sewers are also the areas most likely to have these downspout connections (Wards 2, 3 and 4 I believe).

This is certainly one area that can be addressed at little or no cost to the City.

Some other things can easily be done by residents. The bonus is that not only are you helping reduce waste water but you will save money on both your water and energy bills:

- low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators can reduce your home water consumption as much as 50%, and reduce your energy cost of heating the water also by as much as 50%.

- low-flow toilets can reduce 22,000 gallons of water per year for a family of four

- repair your leaking toilet. A leaking toilet can waste as much as 400 litres per day. How to tell if your toilet is leaking? Put a few drops of food colouring into your tank and wait 10 to 15 minutes. If the colouring shows up in your bowl, most likely your flapper needs replacing.

- repair leaking taps. Most often a leaky tap may only require new washers and O-rings. DIY instructions for faucet repair. Every leaky faucet could be costing you several dollars per month, more if it is a hot water faucet.

- rain barrels are back in fashion. While you can purchase commercial rain barrels one suggested source of free barrels are local do-it-yourself wine shops. If anyone knows of places in Windsor where free barrels can be had, drop a note in the comments.

- buying a new washer and dryer - consider Energy Star products. With many retail stores offering "no payment - no interest" for periods of up to a year, you can often recoup slightly higher purchase costs in energy savings before you even have to pay for the appliance.

ENERGY STAR-qualified washers use 50 percent less energy and 35 to 50 percent less water than traditional models. Clothes washers with an ENERGY STAR symbol are 36 percent more efficient than the minimum government energy performance standard, and they feature sensors that automatically adjust water levels to the size of your laundry loads to prevent the unnecessary waste of water. Also included are advanced high-speed motors, which reduce the length of spin cycles while removing more water from your clothes, so less time and energy are needed for drying.

Those are just a few ideas off the top of my head (and a little Google help!). Feel free to post any other no-cost/low cost ideas in the comments section.

As much as we like to complain about City Hall and those running it, it is also in our best interest to do the things that will help both them and ourselves.

If you have kids, why not make it a project. Track your current water usage and then begin implementing reduction strategies. Have your kids track your efforts. Offer them an incentive - half of any savings they help produce can go towards something they want to purchase. Be creative!

Tear down those walls...

Last week I posted a blog on a paper I found on the Information Commissioner's website - Open Meeting Law

Some further research shows some effort is being made at the Provincial level to deal with this issue. The first bill I found was Bill 123, Transparency in Public Matters Act, 2005/Loi de 2005 sur la transparence des questions d'intérêt public. Ms. Di Cocco (Sarnia-Lambton) - this was a Private Members Bill.

This bill made it through First and Second readings and the Committe Stage before it was withdrawn for some reason at the Third Reading stage, in April of 2006. You can view the Committee Submissions online.

The bill has been re-introduced as Bill 142, Transparency in Public Matters Act, 2006/Loi de 2006 sur la transparence des questions d'intérêt public. Mr. Craitor (Niagara Falls) - also introduced as a Private Member's Bill.

As far as I can tell, Mr. Craitor's bill is the third reading version of Bill 123, will all the amendments incorporated. I haven't had a chance to do an in-depth comparison of the bills as yet.

As this is yet another Private Member's bill, there is little to no chance it will pass unless the Government decides to adopt it or incorporate it's contents into the review of the Ontario Municipal act.

With the Provincial Election scheduled for October of next year, there probably isn't a better time to raise this issue with all parties to ensure it's inclusion in their respective platforms. Municipal Governments have the AMO to represent their interests at Queen's Park. Citizens must rely on individual efforts and supporting organizations like the London Free Press and the Ontario Press Council. I will be contacting Mr. Craitor to obtain information about his bill and whether or not it will be coming to the committe stage in the near future. As far as I'm concerned, this issue warrants a trip to Toronto to testify at the committe - even if it's only for the 10 minutes that individuals are allotted.

Editorial Decisions

Generally I don't consider myself a conspiracy theorist. For example, yes I believe that the Americans actually did land on the moon and no I don't believe that 911 was the Great American Conspiracy engineered by George Bush or Dick Cheney.

That being said, one thing piqued my interest recently, the Windsor Star's banner headline on Saturday - Privacy czar opens secret garage deal. The article goes into great detail about when and how the Freedom of Information request was filed and the process involved in attaining a favourable ruling for the Star. One thing struck me as being absent from the story - when did the Star receive the ruling?

A quick check of the Information and Privacy Commissioner's website revealed that the decision in question had not been posted, so I decided to wait.

Now we know that the decision was released on the 10th of November. You would think that the Star would rush such a blockbuster story to print in their next issue - Saturday the 11th of November. Even if that was too soon, Monday the 13th would seem to afford a reasonable amount of time.

That's right - the 13th.

Some things leave even a skeptic such as myself wondering.

Council Notebook

Roseann Danese's Windsor Star blog - Election Notebook has been renamed to Council Notebook - Roseann Danese follows the happenings at City Hall, and posts all the behind-the-scenes news and notes.

Just curious...

Off to London for the day so I don't have a lot of time.

Things seem to be pretty quiet on the Ice Track front.

Since transparency and accountability seem to be all the rage in Windsor and Essex County lately, I wonder when we're going to get to see this sweetheart deal that Tecumseh has signed?

I've got a lot on my plate right now, but I'm thinking that if we haven't seen something by mid-December than a FOI request may be in order. Might as well start now, as it can be a long process.

The voices are out there

A good blog post from See McIntyre Info:

Windsor - Prosperity or Decline?

It is time for the city of windsor government to undertake bold and innovative steps to ensure the future propserity of this city. Bike lanes/paths and more parks are the core foundation for cultivating a healthy and active population (meaning the west side parklands should not be trashed for a new border crossing). Windosr's highly skilled workforce is the second component on which to build future economic growth and generate high paying, knowledge-based jobs. The recent flurry of activity by the mayor and city council demonstrates that lack of will is the only missing ingredient when it comes to Windsor's future prosperity.

One message that our new council should take to heart - many in this city are fed up with the platitudes and spin. These voices will only continue to grow and will be heard more often thanks to the internet.

Unless we want to see the crippling recessions of the past repeated in Windsor, it's time to take the bull by the horns. Windsor must become agressive in it's efforts to expand and diversify the local economy. The Economic Development Commission seems to be everyone's answer to the future of this region's economy. If and when this commission actually becomes functioning, I'm sure it will aid the area's efforts. The problem is - what major cities in Ontario don't have some form of an "Economic development" commission?

Windsor will never advance by simply following the same formula as other regions. We must begin thinking outside of the box - leading and not following.

I'll throw one idea out there.

Roseland Golf Course and the City Marina - sell 'em both. Personally, I've never really considered either one of these to be 'core' services that the city should be providing. It's not as if there are a lack of either golf courses or marinas in this area.

Let's assume the sale nets $5 million. (no idea if this is real or not, just a guess on my part).

Take one half of the proceeds and create a Windsor Arts Endowment. With proper planning, investment and recent changes to the tax code favouring charitable giving, the city should be able to provide stable long term funding to the arts and eventually shift the funding from the tax base to the endowment.

Take the second half of the proceeds and create a research fund. St. Clair College and the University of Windsor are two of the city's greatest assets and we need to leverage their benefits in any way possible. Automotive research is being addressed by the Federal and Provincial governments. Windsor needs to explore other areas. With the expansion of our medical school, this is one avenue to invest in. The school of Engineering is another obvious choice. With alternative energy technologies gaining an ever greater importance worldwide, there probably aren't many other industries with as much growth potential.

I realize that there are many rules, regulations and laws concerning the above, but I present it as just one example of how Windsor must be pro-active instead of reactive. We can no longer sit around and wait for the Provincial or Federal governments to dole out some more of our own tax dollars. By leading the way, Windsor will be better positioned to take advantage of whatever government programs emerge in the future.

If current laws restrict the city taking action as needed, then we need to turn up the heat on our local representatives. Turn it up high and quickly.

Lead, follow or get out of the way - Windsor needs to lead.

Open Meeting Law

After reading yet another article such as the one in Saturday's Windsor Star - Privacy czar opens secret garage deal - it is becoming more and more evident that the only way we will achieve real open government is through legislation. At the Municipal level, with the shift from three to four year terms, open government legislation should be of paramount concern.

Most current Municipal politicians are not going to advocate for this, so it is up to the average citizen. The next Provincial Election is in October of 2007. Time to starting making the MPPs listen - it's the only chance you'll have for the next four years.

Below is the conclusion of a discussion paper prepared by the Ontario Privacy Commissioner's Office in October of 2003:

Making Municipal Government More Accountable: The Need for an Open Meetings Law in Ontario

Ontario needs a tough new municipal open meetings law to ensure government actions areopen and transparent. The Municipal Act does not go far enough. It does require, with limitedexceptions, that councils and boards conduct their business at open meetings where thepublic can attend and observe the debate. However, accessible, transparent government goesfar beyond opening the doors to a meeting.

The broader objective of transparency is to ensure that citizens understand how decisionsare made and have an opportunity to participate in the decision-making process. To be trulyeffective, we need a new law that will encourage integrity in our municipal governmentsand help ensure that elected and appointed municipal officials are operating in the publicinterest.

A new law must ensure that both municipal officials and the public have a clearerunderstanding of which gatherings constitute a “meeting” and which do not. It needs toensure that citizens are given proper advance notice of meetings, and that municipal councilsor boards do not try to slip something onto the agenda at the last minute without telling thepublic. It needs to ensure that the public has access to an efficient and effective oversightbody that can investigate complaints and resolve disputes. The law must also provideremedies or penalties if municipal officials refuse to comply with open meetings requirements.

Although this paper points to the much tougher open meetings rules that exist in U.S.jurisdictions, the provincial government should enact a made-in-Ontario open meetings lawthat is practical and fair. For example, the penalties available in some U.S. jurisdictions forviolations of open meetings rules, particularly criminal penalties, may be inappropriate inOntario’s municipal environment.

An open meetings law may not enjoy full support from all incumbent municipal politiciansin Ontario. However, this is a weak reason for not pushing forward with such an initiative.The Ontario government should consult with municipalities, businesses, unions, communitygroups, non-profit organizations, the media and all other stakeholders who have an interestin promoting open and transparent government. Ultimately, the general public should bethe arbiter of whether the status quo is satisfactory or if a tough new open meetings regimeis needed that will enable citizens to more effectively scrutinize the conduct of municipal governments.

Only 1451 Days till the next election!

I was looking for some information on the City of Windsor Election website when I noticed that they already have the next election date plugged into the countdown timer.

Some people may laugh, but for anyone interested in running for council in the next election - the race has already begun.

1. Do a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) on yourself and have at least 5 close friends do the same. Make sure you ask them to be brutally honest.

2. Take your combined SWOT analysis and build a plan for the next four years to reduce or eliminate your weaknesses, take advantage of your opportunities and minimize or eliminate your threats. eg. Poor Public Speaking - take a Dale Carnegie course or join a Toastmasters club, Low Name Recognition - volunteer with organizations within your ward and throughout the city, write 'Letters to the Editor' on a regular basis , etc...

Early bird gets the worm really does apply in this case. Look at it as a four year exercise in self-improvement. An oft used acronym from my Navy days comes to mind PPPPPP (the 6 Ps's) - Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance. It may not be politically correct these days, but it certainly applys.

See ya in four years!

Some basic election analysis and thoughts

One caveat to these numbers, is that they are not precise. The way the data is presented in the reports does not allow for it. The Mayor's race allows for the most accurate count as we can use the Total Votes (57411) divided by the Reg Voters (152798) for an overall turnout number of 37.6%

The Ward races are a little trickier to obtain accuracy as you must use the Times Counted number divided by the Reg Voters. This number is not accurate as it reflects some ballots that needed to be counted more than once. When I get a chance I'm going to count the number of ballots cast in the Mayor's race, by polling place and compare them to the Ward figures, by polling place. This should give us the most accurate numbers possible.

Edit: for an example, look at Ward 1, Poll 1 - Association for People with Physical Disabilities. In the Ward report, all we have is Times Counted - 603. If you look at the Mayor's race, you see that Times Counted is 603 but the Total Votes are 590, a difference of 13 votes.

Mayor's Race - 37.57 %
Ward 1 - 41. 52 % *
Ward 2 - 28.78 % *
Ward 3 - 33.8 %
Ward 4 - 42.0 %
Ward 5 - 39.7 %

* Reflects updated percentages based on actual number of voters plus advanced poll votes divided by total registered voters.

One thing that stands out for me is the current Ward makeup. It's fairly obvious that we are due for a look at either re-distributing the wards or adding another ward to the city.

Ward 1 - 42,255
Ward 2 - 22,837
Ward 3 - 25,875
Ward 4 - 26,695
Ward 5 - 35,136

Ward 2's lower numbers most likely reflect the highly transient student population. Wards 1 and 5 are obviously the growth areas of the city. When you consider that our Council is only "part-time", the disparities evident in Wards 1 and 5 are not really fair. The Councillors in these wards are carrying between 10 to 20 thousand more citizens than the others. This has to make their job more difficult in terms of responding to their constituents.

One other thing to consider - is Windsor ready for full-time Councillors?

Let's not kid ourselves, between committee meetings, board meetings, community events and council meetings, this already is a full time endeavour. The salary paid to Councillors though, restricts who can run. Unless you have another source of income (ie. are retired, own your own business, have a spouse with sufficient income), most people can not afford to run for a council position. Are we unnecessarily restricting the talent pool in this regard?

Poll by Poll Results

My thanks to Chuck Scarpelli for his prompt response to my inquiry. Here are the poll by poll results for the election. Read 'em and weep.

2006 Election Detail.pdf (103.92 KB)

There are a number of points to understand the sheet. Here is the email that I received explaining things.

Paul;

I am attaching a poll by poll detailed summary of election results. Please note that the first column in the summary depicts the number of eligible electors and the second column depicts the number of ballots that passed through the tabulator machine for that poll. The third column shows the number of votes cast for that office, followed by the breakdown by candidate.

The number of proxy certificates that were issued and certified by the City Clerk was 48.

The number of persons who voted at the Advance Voting days was 4835.

The term "spoiled ballots" is used for ballots that have been spoiled by a voter either by the voter selecting too many candidates for a particular office, or the voter tears their ballot, or perhaps the voter marks their ballot incorrectly. In all these cases the voter have chosen to receive another replacement ballot. If this is the case, the voter returns to the Deputy Returning Officer at the station and hands their ballot back to the DRO stating that they have spoiled their ballot. The DRO takes the ballot and then writes spoiled on the back of the ballot and puts the ballot in the envelope marked "Spoiled Ballots". The voter is then issued another ballot.
On the night of the election, these envelopes along with all voting equipment are returned to the City Clerk and are not totalled collectively since these ballots were returned by the voters themselves used for the Statement of Managing Deputy Returning Officer.

If you have any other questions do not hesitate to contact me.

Looking at the number of proxies issued - 48 and number voting at the advance - 4835 (3.1%), confirms in my mind the benefits of moving towards some method similar to the federal process of Special Ballot voting.

The city's Customer Care Centres are strategically positioned throughout the city in high traffic/high use facilities. I think that allowing voting at these locations from the time nominations close until the first day of advance polling would help increase voter turnout.

I'm not particularly a fan of mail in ballots or internet voting. Mailing is still very open to abuse in my mind and internet voting is still very questionable at this point.

I'm just throwing this all out there to see what others think.

Poll by Poll data

I haven't been able to find any poll by poll results posted online as yet. I've sent an email to the City inquiring about this data as well as things like number of spoiled/rejected ballots, number of people who used the advance polls and number of proxy votes.

Once I receive either an answer or data, I'll post the results here.

I'm specifically interested in the number of proxy votes cast. I think the proxy could be done away with as they have federally and replaced with a similiar 'Special Ballot'.

People would be able to apply and receive a Special Ballot by mail or vote any day at the Election office using Special Ballot. (until the first Advance Poll begins). Between City Hall and the Customer Service Centres, there is an opportunity for Special Balloting to encourage more people to vote by making it more accessible and convenient.

With City Hall and five Service centres accepting votes from close of nominations until the opening of Advance Polls, we would be able to add another potential 20 days of voting for residents.

What the Fu*k?

The ink's not even dry on the election results and already it begins.

From Gord Henderson's column today:

"Look for border infrastructure, the Zalev scrapyard and Windsor Airport to top the must-do list when Mayor Eddie Francis and his new council meet with a facilitator in early December to draw up a battle plan for the next four years.
Job 1 of the strategic planning session at Willistead Manor, in all likelihood, will be the city’s response to border construction proposals from the senior levels of government that could hit the fan in days or weeks. "

Can someone tell me why a " facilitator " has more influence in drawing up the " battle plan " for Windsor than the average citizen. Silly me, I thought that's what election campaigns were for.

The border is a non-stop topic in Windsor, but correct me if I'm wrong, did anyone hear a whisper of Zalev or Windsor Airport during this campaign? For that matter, did anyone hear a whisper of ANYTHING during this campaign?

Quite frankly, I'm not looking for hug-a-councillor(tm) cooperation from this council. The citizens of Windsor didn't elect their individual councillors to be part of some grand coalition brokered by an anonymous facilitator. There are 10 councillors and 1 mayor. For once in this city, I would expect the agenda and votes to reflect that reality.

On the other hand, I'm not holding my breath.

Postma's got potential in stand-up

Windsor's Komedy Corner is always looking for new talent.

Knock down, drag out funniest quote of the evening goes to the Windsor Star's Trevor Wilhelm with his report on the Ward 2 race:

Chris Richie, who with fellow challenger Gail Growe wanted to refurbish Windsor Arena instead of building a new facility, said the election showed him one thing: He shouldn’t have entered the race.

“There was a couple too many challengers; I think I was one of them,” said Richie, 31.

Postma, 33, said the number of candidates had no effect on how she did.

“I really work hard for the west end; I think my work stands for itself. I have a lot of grassroots support.”

Puh-leeze!

Without the Growe/Petoran vote split, Ward 2 would be looking at a new face and some balance for a change. Postma's spin would put a Maytag repairman to shame.

Election Night Quick Hits

Congratulation to Alan and Lisa. I'm proud to have worked with both of them and have them represent the voters of Windsor. Stay tuned - you're looking at Windsor's first blogging Councillor and Trustee.

One slight upset in Ward 4 tonight, otherwise a rather dull evening.

To be quite blunt, this was the most apathetic municipal campaign I've ever witnessed in my lifetime. Ideas, thoughts, policy and platforms might as well of been a swear word - not to be spoken. For what it's worth, I have no sympathy for the citizens of Windsor over the next four years. With record low turnout and non-existent debate during the campaign, the council we have elected is exactly what the city deserves.

An interesting idea has been proposed to form the " Windsor Shadow Council ". This is something that I had been contemplating in one form or another. Most likely, starting in the new year, we're going to fire this up and hopefully begin some meaningful debates and ideas. If anyone is interested in joining this endeavour, email me at bluebloggingsoapbox@gmail.com .

Eventually this blog will be shifting to the WE Speak platform but before that happens I need a little time out. I'll continue posting here in the meantime.

Win or lose, congratulations to everyone who ran. Not many people understand the time and committment it takes simply to run let alone win and fill the office. Thanks for having the courage to stand up and let your voice be heard.

Live Election Results

City of Windsor live election results available on the City of Windsor Election website.

An interesting side note for candidates who decided NOT to have a website. Traffic here at Windsor Municipal has been going through the roof today. For most of the day we've been averaging 30 to 50 unique visitors per hour. I would estimate that over 90 percent are coming from Google searches.

That's hundreds of swing voters looking for information to make up their mind at the last minute. I certainly hope that someone doesn't lose a race tonight by a few hundred votes.

When it comes to close election races, you shouldn't leave anything on the table.

Fearless predictions

For what it's worth, here's my Crystal Ball picks for Monday's election. (I reserve the right to change this post several times before the actual voting starts on Monday)

Mayor
Question here is, does Wonham crack 5000?

Ward 1
1. Drew Dilkens
2. Dave Brister
3. Greg Baggio
I'll give the edge to Dilkens based on number of doors knocked on. Now he just has to get that vote out.

Ward 2
1. Ron Jones
2. Caroline Postma
3. Chris Schnurr
4. Gail Growe
Either Schnurr or Growe could take the second spot in this ward but I think the vote split works against both of them.

Ward 3
1. Alan Halberstadt
2. Fulvio Valentinis
3. Tony Blak
Tough call, but I think the incumbents edge will help pull things through for Valentinis. Who's got the better GOTV team?

Ward 4
1. Bill Marra
2. Ed Sleiman
3. Dave Cassivi
4. Ken Lewenza Jr.
Toughest race in the city to call. No matter the result, Sleiman has earned the reputation as the hardest working candidate in this ward's election.

Ward 5
1. Jo-Anne Gignac
2. Percy Hatfield
3. Steve Farrell
4. Stephane Beaudin
The number 3 and 4 spots were the hardest picks here.

Public School Board Trustee

Ward 1,2,3
1. Tom Kilpatrick
2. Shelley Harding-Smith
3. Kim McKinley
4. Lisa Gretzky
One open seat ensures at least one new face on the board in 1,2,3. I'm guessing at a bit of a voter backlash here.

Ward 4,5
1. Gail Simko-Hatfield
2. Steve Micallef
Vote split favours the incumbents

Remembrance Day

CF members reflect on Nov 11th.

From a reader

I received the following by email.

Paul,
While on the topic of Remembrance Day, and apart for all things this current City Council has or have not done this 3 year term, I would like to congratulate them on putting their budgetary differences aside and remembering our vets last year.

The new street signs in the Walkerville area, is truly appreciated and is a great gesture toward honouring our vets and has been copied by several municipalities throughout Ontario.

Doug Diet

Mayor's Race - Update

A Pittance of Time

Something to consider as we head toward Remembrance Day on Saturday. Many of you may be out shopping and running your weekly errands that morning.

A Pittance of Time

On November 11, 1999 Terry Kelly was in a Shoppers Drug Mart store in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. At 10:55 AM an announcement came over the store’s PA asking customers who would still be on the premises at 11:00 AM to give two minutes of silence in respect to the veterans who have sacrificed so much for us.

Terry was impressed with the store’s leadership role in adopting the Legion’s “two minutes of silence” initiative. He felt that the store’s contribution of educating the public to the importance of remembering was commendable.

When eleven o’clock arrived on that day, an announcement was again made asking for the “two minutes of silence” to commence. All customers, with the exception of a man who was accompanied by his young child, showed their respect.

Terry’s anger towards the father for trying to engage the store’s clerk in conversation and for setting a bad example for his child was channeled into a beautiful piece of work called, “A Pittance of Time”. Terry later recorded “A Pittance of Time” and included it on his full-length music CD, “The Power of the Dream”.

Cross posted from the Torch

Arts Council Survey Results

The Arts Council - Windsor & Region sent out a survey to all candidates in this Municipal Election. Posted below are the responses/non-responses.

Arts Council - Windsor & Region (ACWR) wishes to assist constituents
who support the arts with their election decisions and asked candidates
in the November 13th Municipal Election to respond to the Artsvote Survey.

[Please note the ACWR considers that the arts comprise: culture, heritage,
music, dance, performance, visual arts, literary arts, drama, film, media arts,
and much much more.]

All candidates' responses (including indications of "No Response")
are available by clicking on the links below. Where there are no links,
that candidate chose not to respond.



Candidates for Mayor

Mohamad-Ali BEYDOUN - No Response
Mohamed CHAMS - No Response
Eddie FRANCIS - No Response
David WONHAM - Click here for Response


Councillors Ward 1

Greg BAGGIO - No Response
Dave BRISTER - No Response
Drew DILKENS - Click here for Response
Mohammad KHAN - No Response
Ed KOBROSLY - No Response
Henry LAU - Click here for Response
Tom LYND - Click here for Response
Alfonso TESHUBA - Click here for Response


Councillors Ward 2

Gail GROWE - No Response
Ronald (Ron) JONES - No Response
Tom LIVINGSTON - Click here for Response
Dan PETORAN - No Response
Caroline POSTMA - No Response
Chris RICHIE - No Response
Chris SCHNURR - Click here for Response


Councillors Ward 3

Anthony (Tony) BLAK - No Response
Alan HALBERSTADT - Click here for Response
Fulvio VALENTINIS - No Response


Councillors Ward 4

Dave CASSIVI - Click here for Response
Ken LEWENZA - No Response
Bill MARRA - Click here for Response
John MIDDLETON - No Response
Ed SLEIMAN - No Response


Councillors Ward 5

Frank BATAL - No Response
Stéphane BEAUDIN - Click here for Response
Steve FARRELL - No Response
Jo-Anne GIGNAC - No Response
Percy HATFIELD - Click here for Response
Bill KACHMARYK - Click here for Response
Irene TAYLOR - No Response
William (BJ) TAYLOR - Click here for Response

Secret Harper/McGuinty meeting with a Windsor twist

Considering the Federal government just announced a $1 billion dollar by-pass for the Montreal region, this is good news:

What PM, premier discussed at secret talks

Infrastructure. Harper reportedly indicated that a major new federal infrastructure program is forthcoming that will be weighted in favour of Ontario to help with improvements at border crossings, especially Windsor-Detroit. Harper had little to say, however, on the proposed extension of the Spadina subway to York University, for which Ontario is seeking federal support.

City of Windsor Voter Ride Program

VOTER RIDE PROGRAM
City of Windsor
Municipal Election 2006

Council Services, at City Hall has initiated a voter ride program with Transit Windsor in conjunction with the municipal election. If you are an eligible voter and find it difficult to get to the polls to vote, a free bus ride to the polling stations is being provided.

As an eligible voter for this election, you will receive an “Official Voter Notice” in the mail which outlines your qualifying address, dates and times of voting, and polling locations.

Here’s how the voter ride program works:

• Eligible voter receives “Official Voter Notice” in the mail.

• Voter gets on the appropriate bus to get to the polling location.

• Voter hands bus driver the Official Voter Notice.

• Bus driver punches the notice with a special Transit Windsor punch.

• Voter presents the punched form to the Deputy Returning Officer at the poll and receives a return bus ticket home.

* If you have been left off the voters’ list you may have been issued, by the City Clerk, a completed green Form EL15. Present this form to the bus driver who will in turn punch the form. This form substitutes for the Official Voter Notice and the same procedure is followed as above.

** If you have no “Official Voter Notice” and have not been issued an EL15 Form, you may come to the City Clerk’s Office and obtain a voter card. You will then follow the same procedure as those voters who were mailed a card.

Halberstadt Community Forums

Sorry about the delay in posting this. The first forum was held last night but you can still make the second one if you are a Ward 3 voter.

Halberstadt to Host Community Forums

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WINDSOR, ON – November 6, 2006 – Alan Halberstadt (Windsor City Councillor, Ward 3) will
be hosting two community forums this week to allow residents a chance to discuss the issues they feel are important in the upcoming election.

“Getting feedback from my constituents is always an important part of my job as a City Councillor,” says Halberstadt, “and it’s even more important at election time when local government issues really become top of mind for people. Over the course of this campaign we have distributed thousands of surveys and received hundreds of responses. These meetings are designed to give voters a further chance to let me know what they’re concerned about.”

Details of the meetings are as follows:

Holy Family Church
686 Marentette Ave.
Tuesday, November 7
6:00 - 8:00pm

St. Peter’s Church
166 Tecumseh Road West
(Access off Pelissier)
Wednesday, November 8
6:00 - 8:00pm

Alan will be available to the media for comment immediately following the meetings.

-30-

For more information contact:
Alan Halberstadt
(519) 551-3006

OR

Matt Bufton
Campaign Manager
(519) 819-3037

Rally for New Detox Facility

Rally! It's Time To Take A Stand

Nov. 10, 2006
6PM
Wyandotte and Glenngary

Windsor needs a Medical Detox Facility. The Detox on the West End of Windsor is no more then a flophouse. It was built with no treatment in mind. It was built to take people off of the street and for that reason only. Crack Cocaine is getting out of hand, violence and crime is on the rise like never before. Kids as young as 16 are getting hooked to crack cocaine. These kids will soon be introduced to Aids, through the sex world of crack. Aids are not being monitored in this crack world. The Government has to step in and build a facility to help these people. The kids don’t have a clue what awaits them in the dark world of crack.

I believe, that most people, including most policy makers are presently unprepared to confront the significant challenges facing the public’s survival. I am further driven by a sense of urgency, as I believe that continuation of current trends in the drug/crack cocaine, population is growing. If we are to avert this drug problem, we must change our course, and our course can be changed only through education, and the Governments help.

Detox Centres are in the business of getting people off the immediate effects of drugs, medication or alcohol. Then what needs to be achieved at a Detox Centre is to get the person out of physical pain, and restore a standard sleeping schedule and proper eating habits. With counselling and then they may be ready for a 30/90-day program.


Thanks
Sophia Martin

People's Platform 2

People's Platform

I will keep the original post updated as any suggestions or ideas are submitted. You don't have to be a candidate to jump in. This is your opportunity to voice your ideas and bring them into the public. You can post your submissions in the comments or email them to me at bluebloggingsoapbox@gmail.com . Submissions can be made under your name or anonymous, whatever you prefer.

Here are two submissions that have been sent in:

From Chris Schnurr, Ward 2

What is confronting Windsor, at this point in time, is not isolated. Throughout Canada and the United States, the manufacturing sector has been displaced to India, Asia and Mexico – where labour is plentiful and, comparatively inexpensive. To truly reverse this trend, it would require the co-operation of our Federal Government and the United States, for a complete reversal of current economic development policy.

What is happening is the manufacturing/production sector is being replaced by low-paying service sector jobs (i.e. call centers) throughout Canada and the US. To reverse this trend, significant dollars need to be invested in infrastructure (fibre optic, transportation, alternative energies, research and development). We need to modernize our rail network. We must reverse the shift in employment, away from income-levels which can not support a family, back to emphasis on forms of employment which are productive, not virtually unskilled services employment. To do so, requires co-operation with labour and government.

We must target firms in the “new” economy – alternative energies, transportation, and seek investment in our research and development facilities in the city (the University). We must lay the “infrastructure” groundwork fibre optics, satellite communications, high speed rail and begin moving towards a regional approach, to become a “global” city capitalizing upon the globalization of our markets.

As an example of research and development that Windsor could capitalize upon, is this article here: http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/2006/2006_40-49/2006-42/pdf/54_642_torch.pdf

Or this article:

Plasco is in the final stages of starting up a large-scale “Energy from Waste” plant in Ottawa. The plant will be able to process 85 tons of municipal solid waste daily. Using a plasma gasification process, the plant burns solid waste and converts it to gas. The gas is then used to power turbines that not only fuel the waste disposal process, but also generate residual power that can be sold back to the grid.

Gasification is a closed process that produces extremely small, manageable amounts of waste. The inert solid matter it produces can be used to make ceramic construction products or can be added to road asphalt. Waste from burning the gas to power the turbines measures well beneath all Canadian and European emissions standards.

But this will require several steps:

1. Competitive corporate tax rates
2. Development and servicing of industrial parks
3. Greater regional co-operation regarding economic and infrastructure planning and development
4. Directing our economic development commission to focus on these areas of development/production/manufacturing
5. Focusing upon new technologies versus automotive industries

The new medical school and engineering facility at the University of Windsor provides an opportunity for the city to capitalize upon health science industries, pharmaceuticals, as well as research and development for alternative energy fuels and automobiles.

From Alan Halberstadt:

" If re-elected, I plan to test the waters again with this bylaw on the new Council. I would also push another idea of mine, the hiring of a full-time anti-graffiti co-ordinator under the Crime Prevention Committee umbrella. Crime Prevention has done a good job, but has a lot of other duties such as Neighbhourhood Watch, and needs a strong extra hand to do more.

The job description of a co-ordinator would include monitoring graffiti locations, organizing volunteer clean-up crews, supervision of perpetrator clean-ups, hounding Canada Post to keep its boxes clean and making impact statements on behalf of the community at the court appearances of vandals who are caught.

The co-ordinator would also deliver an enhanced eduction progam in our schools and convene meetings with police, crown attorneys and Crime Stoppers to solidify a strategy for sentencing of vandals. The goal would be to compel them to clean up their own graffiti.

Costs of fighting graffiti need to be tracked, including police investigation time, clean-up expenditures by parks and traffic engineering crews, Crime Prevention budgets, ward funds etc. The co-ordinator can use the total cost as an argument for more accountable courts and stiffer sentencing.

And what of the cost of paying the co-ordinator? I suggest it come out of the ward funds of all five wards. The last time I checked, these funds had built up a surplus of $285,000. "

What can I say...

The 2006 Windsor Municipal Elections officially jumped the shark last night.

It can only get worse from here.

That being said, make sure you check out yesterday's " People Platform ". I've received several submissions along with some in the comments.

I'll be posting updates later in the day.

Riverside Drive Vista Improvement Project

Who's for or against it? (H/T Voice of Windsor)

Voice of Windsor also has details of the "Ride for Riverside" held this past weekend, sponsored by the Windsor Cycling Committee. Some great video from the event on the site.

Ward 1
Greg Baggio, (519) 972-6061 - no response
Dave Brister, (519) 250-7960 - no response
Drew Dilkens, (519) 969-3739 – YES to RDVIP
Mohammad Khan, (519) 969-0786 – not definitive
Ed Kobrosly, (519) 972-6111 – no response
Henry Lau, (519) 817-8761 – not definitive
Tom LYND, (519) 999-3130 – not definitive, though supportive of bike lanes
Alfonso Teshuba, (519) 259-9322 – not definitive, though supportive of bike lanes

Ward 2
Gail Growe, (519) 254-0639 – not definitive, though supportive of bike lanes
Ronald (Ron) Jones, (519) 252-1005 – YES to RDVIP
Tom Livingston, (519) 567-0973 – NO to RDVIP
Dan Petoran (519) 254-5135 – no response
Caroline Postma, (519) 971-0728 – no response
Chris Richie, (519) 253-5677 – not definitive, though supportive of bike lanes
Chris Schnurr, (519) 256-0246 – YES to RDVIP

Ward 3
Anthony (Tony) Blak, (519) 254-8202 – not definitive, though supportive of bike lanes
Alan Halberstadt, (519) 971-8989 – YES to RDVIP
Fulvio Valentinis, (519) 977-9367 – no response

Ward 4
Dave Cassivi, (519) 251-4614 – not definitive, though unsupportive of bike lanes
Ken Lewenza. (519) 818-1286 – no response
Bill Marra, (519) 948-0900 – not definitive, though supportive of bike lanes
John Middleton, (519) 256-0606 – YES to RDVIP
Ed Sleiman, (519) 999-6161 – no response

Ward 5
Frank Batal, (519) 948-4021 – NO to RDVIP (Windsor Star, 11/03/06)
Stéphane Beaudin, (519) 974-6107 – not definitive, though supportive of bike lanes
Steve Farrell, (519) 735-2664 – NO to RDVIP (Windsor Star, 11/03/06)
Jo-Anne Gignac, (519) 948-9805 – not definitive
Percy Hatfield, (519) 982-1202 – not definitive
Bill Kachmaryk, (519) 254-4195 – NO to RDVIP
Irene Taylor, (519) 974-2807 – not definitive, though supportive of bike lanes
William (BJ) Taylor, (519) 948-2921 – not definitive, though supportive of bike lanes

Mayoral
Mohamad-Ali Beydoun, (519) 819-3226 – no response
Mohamed Chams, (519) 250-4055 – no response
Eddie Francis, (519)969-1700 – no response
David Wonham, (519) 255-0707 – not definitive

For full candidate responses on the RDVIP issue, visit www.citizensenvironmentalliance.org

The People's Platform

Since it seems to be hard to get politicians in this race to talk about policy, ideas, platforms etc. for the next four years, I thought we'd take a stab at doing it ourselves. We've heard everyone tell us what they're against and some general pablum on what they would like to do for their term, but no real concrete plans or ideas.

What are we going to do to diversify our economy? (pointing to the "new" development commission isn't going to cut it here)

Everyone talks about the "knowledge economy". What are some specific ideas to advance Windsor's transition to one?

Armouries?

Chimczuk Museum? What is it now, 10 years and $2 million dollars?

Old Salvation Army building downtown? How long are we going to let this sit idle?

City of Windsor Lobbyist Registry - who's lobbying who for what in Windsor?

Inter-modal transportation system - can Windsor build a world-class system (air, rail, truck). Should we be preparing for this in concert with the border process?

Specific goals for increasing infrastructure spending - 5 - 10% by end of term? More? Less?

These are just some of the things off the top of my head. Have you heard any of your candidates discussing these or other issues? Are we running an election or a popularity contest?

Email me your thoughts and ideas for the city's future, or you can post them here in the comments. You can do so under your own name or anonymously.

I'll throw out one idea to start things off.

The University of Windsor is one of Windsor's greatest strengths. They need an artificial surface for their new stadium, Windsor could use a first-class field for various high school, college and amateur events. Negotiate a deal with the University for naming rights. Say $2 million over 5 years. ( I haven't really investigate this, just coming up with an example).

The City gets naming rights for the stadium and access to a world class facility. The University gets funds to improve the stadium.

As a related item, the City should be using every resource possible to assist the University in attaining funding for the stadium from other levels of government. London received funding for their stadium as well as similar stadiums in Quebec and New Brunswick. Why not Windsor? We have two Provincial Cabinet Ministers and two Federal MPs. Hold their feet to the fire. It's a win win for both the City and the University.

The city must aggressively invest both time and money in our University and College if we expect other businesses and levels of Government to do the same.

What ideas do you have? (PS. candidates are welcome to join in - even anonymously if they don't want to be publicly associated with an idea)

Edit 1:
From Chris Schnurr, Ward 2

What is confronting Windsor, at this point in time, is not isolated. Throughout Canada and the United States, the manufacturing sector has been displaced to India, Asia and Mexico – where labour is plentiful and, comparatively inexpensive. To truly reverse this trend, it would require the co-operation of our Federal Government and the United States, for a complete reversal of current economic development policy.

What is happening is the manufacturing/production sector is being replaced by low-paying service sector jobs (i.e. call centers) throughout Canada and the US. To reverse this trend, significant dollars need to be invested in infrastructure (fibre optic, transportation, alternative energies, research and development). We need to modernize our rail network. We must reverse the shift in employment, away from income-levels which can not support a family, back to emphasis on forms of employment which are productive, not virtually unskilled services employment. To do so, requires co-operation with labour and government.

We must target firms in the “new” economy – alternative energies, transportation, and seek investment in our research and development facilities in the city (the University). We must lay the “infrastructure” groundwork fibre optics, satellite communications, high speed rail and begin moving towards a regional approach, to become a “global” city capitalizing upon the globalization of our markets.

As an example of research and development that Windsor could capitalize upon, is this article here: http://www.larouchepub.com/eiw/public/2006/2006_40-49/2006-42/pdf/54_642_torch.pdf

Or this article:

Plasco is in the final stages of starting up a large-scale “Energy from Waste” plant in Ottawa. The plant will be able to process 85 tons of municipal solid waste daily. Using a plasma gasification process, the plant burns solid waste and converts it to gas. The gas is then used to power turbines that not only fuel the waste disposal process, but also generate residual power that can be sold back to the grid.

Gasification is a closed process that produces extremely small, manageable amounts of waste. The inert solid matter it produces can be used to make ceramic construction products or can be added to road asphalt. Waste from burning the gas to power the turbines measures well beneath all Canadian and European emissions standards.

But this will require several steps:

1. Competitive corporate tax rates
2. Development and servicing of industrial parks
3. Greater regional co-operation regarding economic and infrastructure planning and development
4. Directing our economic development commission to focus on these areas of development/production/manufacturing
5. Focusing upon new technologies versus automotive industries

The new medical school and engineering facility at the University of Windsor provides an opportunity for the city to capitalize upon health science industries, pharmaceuticals, as well as research and development for alternative energy fuels and automobiles.

From Alan Halberstadt:

" If re-elected, I plan to test the waters again with this bylaw on the new Council. I would also push another idea of mine, the hiring of a full-time anti-graffiti co-ordinator under the Crime Prevention Committee umbrella. Crime Prevention has done a good job, but has a lot of other duties such as Neighbhourhood Watch, and needs a strong extra hand to do more.

The job description of a co-ordinator would include monitoring graffiti locations, organizing volunteer clean-up crews, supervision of perpetrator clean-ups, hounding Canada Post to keep its boxes clean and making impact statements on behalf of the community at the court appearances of vandals who are caught.

The co-ordinator would also deliver an enhanced eduction progam in our schools and convene meetings with police, crown attorneys and Crime Stoppers to solidify a strategy for sentencing of vandals. The goal would be to compel them to clean up their own graffiti.

Costs of fighting graffiti need to be tracked, including police investigation time, clean-up expenditures by parks and traffic engineering crews, Crime Prevention budgets, ward funds etc. The co-ordinator can use the total cost as an argument for more accountable courts and stiffer sentencing.

And what of the cost of paying the co-ordinator? I suggest it come out of the ward funds of all five wards. The last time I checked, these funds had built up a surplus of $285,000. "

Hello? Anybody home?

Note to Eddie: the World Series is over.

Note to Dave: You've got mail! (since last Friday, November 3rd at 3:24 pm)

Windsor's Mayoralty candidates - Working Hard to Ignore You!

Daily News - Mayor's Race

On This Day in History, October 17th, 2006 - all the "latest information and happenings in the City of Windsor".

Shhhhh! Don't make too much noise or you might wake someone up.

EXCLUSIVE!

A confidential source has just forwarded some TOP SECRET photos of the Wonham and Francis campaigns hard at work formulating their platforms for the next four years.

(click on image to reveal the TOP SECRET photos)

Upcoming All Candidate Events

Ward 1:

1. CKLW AM800 show - 11:00 am to 12:00 noon, Friday November 3rd.

2. Roseland Golf and Curling Club, Sunday November 5th
Location: downstairs Windsor Room
1:30 pm to 3:30 pm
Moderated by Rick Limoges
Hosted by Frank White and Helga Wintal

3. Vincent Massey Secondary School, Tuesday, November 7, 2006
Location: School Cafeteria.
4:00 pm to 5:45 pm
Open to the public

4. TESHUBA/FEELGOOD’S Ward One Candidates Border/Infrastructure Challenge
Feelgoods -2960 Huron Church Road
Friday November 10th,
6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Complete Details

5. Roseland United Church Basement - Breakfast Meeting
Sunday, Nov 12th
10:30 am
3919 Howard

Public School Trustees - Wards 1,2,3
Location: Oakwood Elementary School - 2520 Cabana Road
Thursday, November 9th, 2006
6:30 pm to 7:30 pm

If anyone knows of any other events - drop me a line at bluebloggingsoapbox@gmail.com

Democracy Costs

Ward 5 Candidate Stephane Beaudin is holding a fundraiser for his campaign:

You Are Invited...

Pasta Benefit Dinner

for Stéphane Beaudin

Ward 5 City Council Candidate

Where: Place Concorde, Richelieu Hall

When: Tuesday November 7, 2006

How much: $17 each, $30 per couple

Please contact Megan or Stéphane for tickets at campaignbeaudin@cogeco.ca

or (519) 974-6107

Your support is greatly appreciated.

Warmest Regards,

Stéphane Beaudin

Your RSVP would be appreciated before midnight Friday November 3rd

When in Rome...

Since Freedom of Information Requests seem to be all the rage in Windsor lately, I thought I might as well join in.

(click on image for full size)

Round-up

Call off the search parties - Bio found! Congratulations. Considering the speed with which this website was researched, planned, prepared, studied and finally constructed, you have demonstrated your capability of being a Windsor city councillor.

Move along folks, nothing new to see here. Move along!

Still no signs of the great " splurge ". Note: For those of you not sure what was meant by "splurge", I put the Windsor Municipal Campaign Blog Research staff to work:
Splurge

Noun

* S: (n) splurge (an ostentatious display (of effort or extravagance etc.))
* S: (n) orgy, binge, splurge (any act of immoderate indulgence) "an orgy of shopping"; "an emotional binge"; "a splurge of spending"

Verb

* S: (v) splurge, fling (indulge oneself) "I splurged on a new TV"
* S: (v) splurge (be showy or ostentatious)


Note: in case anyone hasn't noticed yet - "Latest News" sections tend to be a pet peeve of mine - especially when the last news posted is about as current as " Noah's Building an Ark!".

They are probably the best way to ensure that people never return to your site.

It's big, it's bold...

It's Live from Ward 2

If someone can find Dan's bio information, ( Bio Informtation Here), be sure to forward it on to the webmaster as soon as possible.

A free spell-checker probably wouldn't hurt.

Quick Hits

In honour of Halloween: the past will always come back to haunt you

"Mykytyshyn wondered why ancient history involving a now non-existent federal party was being brought up in a city municipal race. He suggested the statute of limitations for murder was less than having to account for what he said back in 2000. "

(Pssst - I would find a better analogy to use. It would probably help)


For all the latest news - look no further!
(just don't look too hard for a platform)

I do not need this job, the job needs me
"I am willing to put my full effort, as Mayor, to put an end to the empty words and broken promises of the last 3 years, and bring some hope to a worsening situation, and act to reverse our downward spiral."

(Not that I'm one to throw stones - but - I would sugggest he leave some time for extra-curricular activities)


Google Analytics, Sitemeter, StatCounter are just some examples of free, reputable website traffic monitors.

This - - only encourages Spam sites to flourish.