I'll take a look at Gord's column first. After reading the article I was wondering if Gord has upgraded to email yet, let alone the internet.
"So it doesn't surprise me in the least that Coun. Alan Halberstadt finds himself in his favourite place this week, up to his armpits in hot water, over potential conflicts between his day job, representing Ward 3, and his moonlighting as a journalist."Either Gord hasn't visited Alan's website or chooses to ignore most of what's there. Alan doesn't have a blog, he has a website that includes a blog as one of it's tools. That may seem to be splitting hairs to some, but there is a distinct difference between the two. Rather than "moonlighting as a journalist", the website represents an extension of his work as a City Councillor.
"And when a blog, the ultimate vanity exercise, has the potential to compromise negotiations involving billions of dollars and the city's very future, that's especially true."
I've listed some of the various features of the site previously, so I won't go into it again here. Suffice it to say that the blog portion of the site is but one of the many tools designed to reach out and communicate with the residents of Ward 3. As a journalist, Alan probably recognizes the value of this more so than the average Councillor. One key aspect - it doesn't cost the taxpayers a single cent. Stacked up against the proposed $250,000.00 dollar Communications Department for the City, that's a pretty good bang for the buck.
With declining voter turnouts and general apathy to all things political in Canada, we should be encouraging politicians at all levels to leverage modern communication tools, not trying to impose a gag on them. The Mayor promised a "fireside chat of the 21st century" email newsletter in his 2006 Inaugural Address (page 12), seven months later he doesn't seem to have found the "send" button yet. (I guess this was going to be one of the tasks for our new Communications department). Paul Martin Sr. was famous for his appearances at various barber shops and weddings throughout his riding when he represented Windsor. A website such as Alan's represents a modern online version of the barbershop. It's a place to interact with residents, hear their opinions and provide various services and information.
I guess Gord doesn't visit my humble blog too often or he wouldn't have needed to write the following
"I don't know how many regular folks read Halberstadt's blog."On Tuesday I reported 13,444 unique visitors. As of this morning that count stood at 14,177 unique and 31776 total visits. Last time I checked, that's a lot of regular folks looking for information.
The main editorial in today's Star presents a more even-handed look at this situation than that dished out by Gord Henderson. As a strong advocate for smaller/less government, there's not much I disagree with. On the other hand, I see the value of an Integrity Commissioner along with a Lobbyist registrar. In a city such as Windsor where transparency and open government haven't exactly become buzz words, a little growth can go a long way.
One last comment. If the City of Windsor border strategy hinges on parsing the various meanings of compromise then we're in far deeper trouble than I ever imagined.
