Monday night Council meeting

Off to Toronto today, so not too much time to blog about tonight's meeting.

Take some time to read the Council Communications , Order of Business, and Council Agenda.

No lack of interesting items in this weeks agenda. Lots of info in there for the eagle eyed readers.

Loved the Transit Company lawyer's letter to the Heritage Committee. Heck, even the In-Camera minutes are interesting for a change.

Ward 3 Fund - August 2005 to November 2006

Were you a lucky winner of the "Ward 3 Fund Lottery" in 2005/2006?

Get your tickets early for the 2007 edition of the lottery.

This year's prize pool estimated to be $53,788.00 .

Click one of the images below to qualify for an entry in the 2007 Ward 3 Lottery.
(some restrictions may apply. Awards subject to Councillor's sole discretion. No rules or regulations required or desired)



Chance #1



Chance #2

Below are the Ward 3 Fund expenditures for 2005/2006.
(click on the pic for full size)




Don't miss out on your chance for fund tickets - only two more wards to go!

Now that last Monday's Council Minutes are posted, I see the Ward Fund got the usual 1-2-3 (don't blink) vote, that issue's done with treatment. Note and file.

The report contained a recommendation for semi-annual reporting. Since the minutes don't mention any specific direction from Council on this issue, I can only assume we're going to keep the traditional " we'll report this when we think about it or someone asks about it" approach.

Municipal follies

No matter how much I may agree/disagree with the Mayor and City Council - at least we don't have this bunch.

I look forward to the Province's reaction next year as the City of Toronto contemplates filing for bankruptcy.

Put the "Royal" back in the Navy and Air Force

H/T Beaverbrook at The Torch

Sign the Petition

Spread the word

Edmonton Centre Conservative MP Laurie Hawn has agreed to sponsor the petition in the House of Commons.

Ward 2 Fund - August 2005 to November 2006

Were you a lucky winner of the "Ward 2 Fund Lottery" in 2005/2006?

Get your tickets early for the 2007 edition of the lottery.

This year's prize pool estimated to be $55,174.00 .

Click one of the images below to qualify for an entry in the 2007 Ward 2 Lottery.
(some restrictions may apply. Awards subject to Councillor's sole discretion. No rules or regulations required or desired)



Chance #1



Chance #2

Below are the Ward 2 Fund expenditures for 2005/2006.
(click on the pic for full size)

Ward 1 Fund - August 2005 to November 2006

Were you a lucky winner of the "Ward 1 Fund Lottery" in 2005/2006?

Get your tickets early for the 2007 edition of the lottery.

This year's prize pool estimated to be $59,669.00 .

Click one of the images below to qualify for an entry in the 2007 Ward 1 Lottery. (some restrictions may apply. Awards subject to Councillors sole discretion. No rules or regulations required or desired)


Chance #1



Chance #2

I received an email yesterday from one reader indicating some difficulty downloading/opening the .pdf of the Ward Funds report. I'll post pics of each individual Ward's spending over the next several days. (click on the picture for full size)

I apologize for the size of the pictures, not much I could do. (you'll have to speak to your individual councillors about that. Maybe they could do something in the future to help reduce the size).



One other question comes to mind today. If council did approve administration's proposal for semi-annual reporting, does that mean we will see a report in June/July for the November to June timeframe or will we have to wait until November for our next "semi-annual" report?

I'm not holding my breath. It's kinda like waiting for that "21st century fireside chat email" we've all been anticipating.

Ward Funds - lets compare

Unfortunately, due to work commitments I was unable to watch last night's council meeting to see what, if any, decisions were made with regard to the Ward Funds. The report contained a proposal from administration that the funds be reported semi-annually. At the very least, I hope this proposal was adopted.

Personally I'd like to see this fund disappear. If we are going to keep it, a good time to report it would be quarterly, along with the "Sunshine Bylaw" report on Council meetings. In an election year, the fund should be reported for the entire year just prior to voting day, including any future commitments for fourth quarter funds.

In an effort to see what other municipalities are or are not doing with regards to Ward Funds, I've begun to inquire of Sarnia, London, Kitchener and Guelph to see if they have similar practices.

Specifically, do they:

1. have a program similar to Windsor's?

2. what is the program's spending criteria?

3. is there an application process for these funds?

4. what is the selection process for fund recipients?

4. how and when are these funds reported?

5. does the City have a Charitable Giving policy?

Ward Funds - a long overdue report

Anyone who follows politics closely probably knows of the time-honoured practice of releasing reports on the Friday before a holiday break or long weekend. I suppose it's still tried because it sometimes works. A cynical person might think that this weeks Communications Agenda is one such case. Good thing I'm not cynical.

(although not the subject of this blog, the 6 new applications from Boardwalk REIT for condo conversions are interesting to note)

On this week's Communication Agenda we find a report on Ward Funds. This is the first report on these funds since August 2005, the date of the last report to Council.

Anyone wondering why an incumbent Windsor City Councillor is hard to beat in an election should really take a close look at the report. I've cut out the particular report from the Communications agenda so that readers don't have to wade through everything.

Ward Fund Report (.pdf)

Let me say at the outset that I'm not alleging that anything illegal or unethical is happening with these funds, simply that they should not exist. They are nothing more than Ward Piggy Banks to be doled out at the Councillors discretion. There is little transparency in these funds and virtually no accountability. Where is the criteria and application process for these funds? How is the existence of these funds advertised to residents in the various wards? How do Councillors in each individual ward decide the winners of each year's allocation - flip a coin, draw numbers or throw a few darts?

I'm sure CUPE Local 543 President Mark McArthur would be interested to learn of the application process after his request for matching funds from Council for Brentwood was turned down.

The majority of the expenditures listed are arguably for worthwhile causes, although one exception in my mind is the $5,600.00 spent by Ward 2 Councillors Jones and Postma in 2005. "Flyers and Postage for Ward 2 Mailings to keep residents updated on Ward issues" Quite frankly, I get enough of this self-serving crap from my MP and MPP, I certainly don't need more from my Councillors. I don't have a bird cage or litter box so it all goes directly from the mailbox to the recycling bin.

The criteria for spending these funds is woefully inadequate:

Ward Fund Policy
On May 2, 2005, Council rescinded CR272/2004 and approved the following policy:

* Ward Councillors are authorized to spend ward funds at their discretion within their own wards;

* Notice of the use of ward funds including details of how the monies are spent must be reported on a public agenda, but Council approval is not required;

*If the two Ward Councillors cannot agree on the use of their ward fund, no monies will be expended;

* Monies must be spent on identifiable projects or undertakings having a specific purpose and objective.

Based on the above policy, where a proposed expenditure meets the above criteria, the funding shall be issued in accordance with normal City procedures.

The annual allocation to the Ward Fund was $40,000 per Ward through 2005. In 2006 the total amount was reduced to $30,000 per Ward and further reduced to $27,000 per Ward in 2007

Not mentioned in the above is the fact that unspent monies rollover to the following year. A handy thing leading up to an election year. A further amendment was passed in 2006 to address what happens when Councillors can't agree on how the funds are to be spent:

Moved by Councillor Zuk, seconded by Councillor Lewenza,
M106-2006 That the Ward Fund policy (M73-2005) BE AMENDED to include a provision that in the event that the respective ward councillors cannot agree on the use of their ward fund, that the funds be split 50-50, and to be used at their own discretion, and that the details of how the monies are spent continue to be reported on a public agenda.
Carried.

The chart below summarizes the spending. Interesting to note that not a single ward spent only the minimum of $30,000 in 2006 leading up to the election. (click on picture for full size)








So not only does Windsor feed it's Councillors well (Food for thought, Windsor Council Essex County's Gastronomical Winners, Eat hearty, it's only tax money) , it gives them a nice allowance of $15,000 to spend as they see fit.

Ward Funds should be abolished. People wishing to receive funds should be required to appear before Council as anyone else. Councillors wishing to spend funds should have to justify their decisions in an open public meeting.

More apartment related stuff

It's a good thing Council decided to provide some tax relief to the multi-res sector after all in the latest budget, otherwise this report would have been like throwing gasoline on a fire.

If a federally supported and subsidized housing complex is having financial difficulties, is experiencing a 5.8% vacancy rate and in tax arrears - how do you think the rest of the city's apartment owners are doing?

Some stray thoughts

From the Mayor's "State of the City" address

1. If we as Canadians have this visceral hatred of all things associated with American politics, why then a "State of the City" address? Nice PR exercise. (I wonder what St. Clair charges for rent on it's new theatre?)

2. Once in a while I'd like to hear what our current debt is, how much we're paying this year and what it's projected to be next year. You know, just in case I'm not around to celebrate in 2011.

" Before our debt reduction plan was approved by city council, our municipal debt was to have grown to $245 million by 2011.

Thanks to our debt reduction plan, Windsor’s municipal debt is projected to be only
$155.7 million by 2011.

It will then further be reduced to $128 million by 2012."

3. "We asked the people of Windsor about their priorities. And we were told to focus on the
basics – renew our roads and sewers." So where does the rebranding, marketing and imaging as a priority keep coming from? (along with the associated budgets)

4. In a word - NO!

"Today, we have independent communications functions in Social Services, Building,
Planning, Transit Windsor, Public Works, Parks and Rec, Windsor Police, Enwin,
Windsor Public Library, City Clerk’s, and the Fire Department.

All of them undertake independent initiatives. That means we don’t have a coordinated message, and common approach to communicating our city’s identity or resources.

Imagine bringing them all together under one communication umbrella. Don’t you think that by focusing and streamlining their activities, we will be able to deliver a better service, at a lower cost?

If there is a lack of "coordinated message, and common approach to communicating our city's identity or resources" then the fault lies with the appropriate management directing these resources. Anyone who believes that this "focusing and streamlining" is going to save the city any money now or in the future should run out real quick and buy some of those Ambassador Bridge ownership certificates being hawked at the corner of Riverside and Ouellette.

5. Forgive me if I don't break out in a verse of Kumbaya:

" We need to put narrow interests aside – and promote the greater good.
We need to think about the long-term, and not get distracted by arguing with one another over small, petty and personal issues in the short term.
We need to end the fragmentation – where narrow interests compete with one another within Windsor.
We need to recognize and sideline the special interests that seek to divide us.
And we need to stop distorting our Windsor in the name of advancing other agendas – political or otherwise.
We need to unite in the cause of promoting the benefits of our city and our region to one another … and to the world.
We need to tell our story.
But before we do … we need to accept responsibility.
And realize that every action, every word, every report, every headline, or news story…"

Welcome to Windsor where any critics of the Mayor and Council are classified as petty, personal, narrow special interests. Apparently the situation is so critical we have to spend close to a million dollars in the capital budget over the next two years to develop a "brand" for Windsor. How - " The funds will be spent on consultants, advertising, promotion and a public consultation process as they are available." More PR.

BTW, I sit in vain each night, beside my fireplace, waiting for the Mayor's 21st century "fireside chat email" that was going to keep us all in the loop. That must have been part of the new $250,000.00 dollar communications department.

More on water

As a quick follow-up to my earlier post on Windsor water usage, I did some quick number spinning.

0.70 megalitres = 700,000 litres (1 million litres = 1 megalitre)

700,000 litres = 700 m3 (cubic metres - how Windsor measures it's water for billing purposes)

2001 Census lists 95,049 households in Windsor.

If each household was able to reduce their usage by 100 m3 per year, the City would stand to lose roughly $7.4 million in revenue.

If by some miracle we were able to reduce our usage to something like .30 megalitres (still above the Provincial median and 4th highest in the Province), the City would stand to lose $29.5 million in revenue.

With the sewer surcharge at 190% of the water rate, approximately $4.8 million and $19.2 million would represent the reduction in sewer surcharge revenue from the above numbers.

Lots more to come on this issue.

More AM800 polls

From the AM800 archive of recent polls:




Let the sun shine in say respondents!










Not too many pats on the back to go around here.











People are a little more willing to speak their mind in an anonymous poll.

Windsor Water Usage

While I was researching info on water and sewer rates across the Province, I came across this startling piece of information in a City of Toronto report. Windsor residents use water at an alarming rate when compared to the rest of the Province. (click on image for full size)



Edit: second chart added to reflect first comment

Are Canadians ready to pay for climate change?

A continuing theme by Dr. Suzuki and others is that Canadians are telling him that they are willing to pay the price to meet Kyoto.

I found these two polls from AM800, our local news station, interesting. Yes, they're Internet polls, but they certainly provide an eye-opening snapshot of local public opinion on the issue. The polls were posted one after the other, on two successive days.

You'll have to excuse me if I don't buy into the rhetoric that "Canadians are willing to pay the price" of Kyoto.

They're willing to pay, as long as it's someone else doing the paying.

Doing everything possible to improve the environment is a good thing. Doing everything possible to meet Kyoto targets is just plain ridiculous.

Cross posted from Blue Blogging Soapbox

Sandbagged in Windsor...

... and most of them probably don't even know about it yet.

Council reversed itself last night and cancelled a five year plan to reduce the rate for multi-residential buildings. I found the quote from the Mayor in the Windsor Star that this was "unfair" to the other tax classes rather ironic.

Where is the fairness in multi-residential owners paying 2.74 times the residential rate? Most buildings use less services and pay almost 3 times the rate? Where's the fairness in that? I wonder what the the extra 1.74 works out to in dollars for an average $700 or $800 dollar a month apartment. What many people may not realize is that the owners are only allowed to keep a certain percentage of any tax relief, the remainder must be passed on to the tenants.

Many apartment dwellers don't think that they pay Muncipal taxes, they just don't realize that it's part of their monthly rent.

It looks like the multi-res sector is going to have to learn to get better organized. Involve local tenants associations and groups in their fight for tax fairness. What is the tax burden for apartment dwellers as opposed to condominium and home owners? What percentage of services are available to apartments as opposed to homes?

Some other things to consider on this subject are how many condo conversions are we going to see now? What is the impact to the tax base of those conversions? If the city tries to halt the conversions, what are the legal costs associated with that decision such as OMB battles? With Windsor's aging stock of apartment buildings, what is the likelihood of new multi-res units being built in the next 5 to 10 years? I've noticed a lot of new condos being built, not too many apartment buildings.

I've included a graphic of GTA rates as a quick comparison (click on the graphic for full size). It will take a little longer to compile stats from other municipalities in Ontario. Probably a good project for a public Google Spreadsheet.

Update: more info in a blog by Councillor Halberstadt - A Stunning Betrayal

Arts Community - warm up your keyboards

Here's an opportunity to weigh in on the Capitol Theatre issue.

Guest Blog - A Model for the Capitol

I know there's a lot of energy and talent out there, just waiting to be tapped. My fear is, if this doesn't stay on people's agendas we will end up being presented a fait accompli by the City.

Speak loudly and speak often. Sometimes that's the only way politicians can hear you. (unless it's election time of course)

What a great idea

As someone who lives downtown, the new Farmer's Market at Park/Pelliser will be great. The report says target opening is June 1st. Running 7 days a week now instead of just weekends.

Love it.

Farmers Market (video)

Quick hits

1. And people wonder why Windsor is considered "anti-business"?

Coun. Ron Jones said he's "disappointed" with the way Shoppers has dealt with this issue and what I find absolutely appalling is that they will not sell the building to a competitor."

Such an evil company Shoppers, not wanting to hand over their hard earned market share to a competitor. The audacity is amazing.

2. February sales numbers are out from Stats Canada, showing vehicle sales down 3.7% in February, following a 4% decline in January. Preliminary March figures appear to be holding at the February level.

New motor vehicle sales

3. Just checking to see how that commitment to open government is doing.

There are 13 days left in the month before the City must pass the budget as required by Provincial law. What surprises are in store for the taxpayers of Windsor?


4. Contrary to popular belief in some circles, there is a thriving community of blogs in Windsor covering a diverse selection of interests. While politics is at the forefront for some, there are blogs on arts, social justice, education, tech, personal blogs, special projects and neighbourhood issues, just to name a few. Take a look and see what your friends, family, co-workers and neighbours are saying.
(Note: WE Speak is my initiative to form a voice for the diverse group of Essex County's online citizens.)

5. Some inspiration for our Mayor as he contemplates his "fireside chat of the 21st century" email newsletter to the citizens of Windsor. We wouldn't want the Mayor to become demoralized after demise of Windsor's proposed quarter million dollar communications department. Here's the fire - where's the chat?

Quick hits

republished above due to technical difficulties

Those lazy downtown businesses

Google Alerts are a fantastic tool. Just enter your keyword(s) and let Google monitor the net for any mention of that word. That's how I found this article.

Windsor struggles with 'perfect storm'
By PREMA OZA

Gordon Orr, managing director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Windsor Essex County and Pelee Island, said it's exactly that kind of self-help that will allow businesses to ride the tide of economic uncertainty until better days arrive.

"You just can't leave the door open and expect people to come," said Orr. "I think that it's up to the property to position themselves to try and capitalize on the visitation that's coming to Casino Windsor."

I don't know about anyone else, but if I was a downtown business owner, I'd be pissed to be reading a quote like that. I'm sure we'll shortly be hearing the "out of context quote" explanation.

As I live downtown, I've been taking a keen interest in the plight of business owners down there and the last impression I get is they are just "leaving the door open and expecting people to come". The DWBIA has to be the most active and pro-active BIA in Windsor. On top of the normal cost of doing business the DWBIA is investing significant sums of money to improve streetscaping, initiate/ support various events and festivals to draw people downtown and subsidize parking, just to name a few.

From what I understand, they are still waiting for an RFP to be issued by the City for the "Urban Village" project. Taxes are slated to increase, City reserves are dangerously low, the streetscaping project is rumoured to be running over-budget, the Health Unit has been targeting struggling smokeshops, the Casino and bingos are enjoying an exemption from the new smoking laws not offered to restaurants and bars, City licensing costs are increasing - just to name a few things off the top of my head.

What amazes me is that Downtown owners continue to stay downtown. Owning a business is a risky venture in the best of circumstances, downtown businesses seem to operate with one leg and one arm tied behind their back.

For the Convention and Visitor's Bureau - if you want to talk about just leaving a door open and expecting people to come - look no further than home. This door looks like it was opened in 2000 and promptly forgotten.

Liberty Summer Seminar

Mark you calendar - August 18th and 19th, 2007 - Orono Ontario. Watch the Institute for Liberal Studies website or the ILS blog for further details.

Canadian musician Lindy has come up with a fantastic theme song for the seminar.

That Council food budget thing...

I was just scanning the AM800 recent polls page when I noticed the poll pictured to the left.

It's always nice to know there are plenty more like-minded people out there. Hopefully a few Councillors were made aware of this poll. Contrary to popular belief in some circles, it's not just a few people that care about these things.

HMCS Halifax Great Lakes Tour 2007

I caught an item in yesterday's Windsor Star mentioning that the Halifax was going to be in Windsor on the Victoria Day weekend so I decided to do a little surfing for info.

If you live close to one of these locations, it's worth a visit. See how the men and women of the Navy live and work.

I was lucky enough to do two Great Lakes trips when I was on HMCS Saguenay in 1983 and again in 1986. These are fantastic, albeit expensive trips for the crew.

This spring, between April 20 and May 28, Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship HALIFAX will visit many cities along the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes.

Tour schedule

Montreal April 20 – 24 Vieux Port, Pier 12
Open to visitors: April 21 – 22 1 – 4 p.m.

Kingston April 25 – 26 Anchored near port
(By invitation only) April 25 – 26

Toronto April 27 – May 1 Queen's Quay
Open to visitors: April 28 – 30 1 – 4 p.m.

Oshawa May 1 - 3 Port of Oshawa, West Jetty
Open to visitors: May 2 1 – 4 p.m.

Hamilton May 3 – 7 Pier 8, Catherine St. wharf
Open to visitors: May 4 - 6 1 – 4 p.m.

Port Weller May 7 - 8 Wharf 2
Open to visitors: May 7 3 – 5 p.m.

Thunder Bay May 11 – 15 POOL 6 Dock
Open to visitors: May 12 - 14 1 – 4 p.m.

Windsor May 18 – 22 Dieppe Park, Ouellette Street
Open to visitors: May 19 - 21 1 – 4 p.m.

Quebec City May 25 – 28 Pointe-à-Carcy, Pier 21/22
Open to visitors: May 26 - 27 1 – 4 p.m.

For complete details on the tour and other Navy related info visit Experience the Navy. They've also got Navy Screensavers, Yahoo Widgets and other tools for download at this site. Navy Recruiting has definitely gone hi tech. No more "There's no life like it!".

Cross posted from The Torch

Council Communications

A worthwhile read every week.

Council Communications for Tuesday April 10, 2007

Item 6 From the General Manager of Corporate Services - Legal and Consulting Fees - Border/Interim Control By-law Files

4. As at February 28, 2007, a total of $1,856,185.71 has been spent on the border file and $1,186,686.34 on the Interim Control By-law/OMB Hearing file. The total for these files is $3,042,872.05, current to and including February 28, 2007. Of the border file expenditure, approximately $195,400 is out of the most recent budgeted amount.
(Ed. Note: I believe the "most recent budgeted amount referred to here is $400,000, approved on October 10th, 2005, but I still have to confirm this)

7. Conclusion - The response of the City Solicitor with respect to border and interim control by-law files Fees and disbursements is submitted for information. The City Solicitor is requesting that Council consider requiring the report on a quarterly basis. (Ed. Note: last report was January 8th, 2007)

"City Time" certainly is a strange animal. This monthly report covers until February28th. The previous report was dated January 8th and the last report I could find before that was November 9th, just prior to the election.

The total reported in November of 2006 was as follows (current figures/difference in brackets):

Border File - $1,690,380 ($1,856,185.71 - $165,805.71)
Interim Control By-law/OMB Hearing - $1,067,946.13 ($1,186,686.34 - $118,740.21)

If the $400,000.00 amount mentioned above is correct, then there is only another $115,454.19 to go before further expenditures are authorized - that is, if further expenditures haven't already been authorized in-camera and we don't know about it as yet.

Recycling Police

This one struck me as strange for some reason:

More Recycling Urged (SEE VIDEO)
Dozens of apartment buildings still not following three 'R's'

Apartment building bad. I think this is going to be a theme over the next several weeks in Windsor.

Just a guess, mind you.

Windsor Airport

With the Airport takeover in the news recently, I thought it would be worthwhile to post this related video from Alan Halberstadt's blog. This is one of his Council Chat videos filmed in February of this year.

The Shadow Theme

It took some diligent Google searching, but I finally tracked down "The Shadow" theme




PS - City Hall readers might want to turn their speaker volume down a bit in case someone is listening!

Windsor Time Machine

Then Councillor Eddie Francis campaigning, circa 2003:

# The budget process needs to be open and transparent.
# Participatory budgets allow for sharing of information and create new avenues of consultation and greater citizen input.
# Pre-budget meetings will be held with community groups.
# A call for input from taxpayers, business, labour and community groups at the beginning of the process - not a week before the by-law is to be passed.
# Budget details to be posted prior to council deliberation for pubic comment.
# Taxpayers will have a clearer idea of how their money is utilized by the City.

Mayor Eddie Francis finished campaigning, circa 2007:

Municipal Election Financing

With yesterday at 5pm being the deadline for all candidates to file their election returns for the last Municipal election, I was expecting to see at least a paragraph or two in the Star today. There I go with that "assuming" thing again. With roaring Grand Prix engines in one ear and revving tunneling bores in the other I must have got distracted for a moment.

Bring your marshmallows

At the rate this seems to be going, I've got a funny feeling some local arts groups are going to be burning someone in effigy soon. No snowplows to offer for this event - it could get costly.
I hear the North American Frog Jumping Contest is coming to Ypsilanti soon. We better hurry up before we miss the boat.

After years of lawyers fees (ongoing) , consultants (long gone) , PR glitz and glam(gone with the consultants hopefully) we finally draw a line in the sand - choosing the most expensive option that neither level of government is likely to choose. The new council passed Councillor Marra's tunneling motion without even needing a strategic planning session (open or closed), consultants report, engineering studies or failing everything else, a report from our own administration. Amazing. It begs the question - What the hell have we been shoveling money out the door for all the preceding over the last several years?

Now everyone can safely point and say - "We did everything we could, it's (insert name of choice here) _________________ [Stephen Harper] [Dalton McGuinty] [Sandra Pupatello] [Dwight Duncan] [The Tooth Fairy] ' s fault!" If I were DRIC I would endorse the Schwartz Plan now. That would be an interesting scramble to watch.

On a final note, I was happy to see the Mayor being as magnanimous in his praise for Festival Epicure as he was in providing support and leadership in helping find a new lead sponsor.

Mayor Eddie Francis applauded a new sponsor stepping up to keep the festival afloat — despite the strange partnership of two competing border traffic proponents.

“It’s great Festival Epicure will continue,” he said. “We mentioned to organizers they had to approach things in a different way. They were able to reach out to other corporate sponsors and keep the festival going.

“It’s one less festival the city will have to support.”

Asked for reaction about the Ambassador Bridge-DRTP marriage to run the food festival, Francis said: “That’s for them to have to explain.”

I may have mispoke in the first paragraph. I think some business owners may soon be joining the arts groups.

Pass the hotdogs please.

Shadow Poll #6 - Results

I left this one up for a while longer than usual in order to get as wide a range of opinions as possible. While it didn't spark too many comments, I did get a fair amount of emails.

24 out of 28 people gave the Windsor and Essex County Visitors and Convention Bureau website a grade of 5 out of 10 or less. In terms of "branding" for the City of Windsor, this is not very good.

The site is so outdated it's painful. Microsoft Frontpage code, scrolling galore, no keywords, most of the content is displayed in frames which prevents linking to pages other than the homepage. To borrow a phrase from Ronco, the website looks like a "set it and forget" site.

I posted a few sites for comparison before and I'll list them again. We're not even in the same league let alone the same ballpark.

Canada

London

Kitchener-Waterloo

Durham Region

Barrie

Ottawa

Kingston

Hamilton

Sarnia-Lambton

Toronto

Vancouver


United States

New York State

Las Vegas

Toyota and Honda at the University of Windsor

The University of Windsor certainly seems to be hosting all the "must attend" events lately:

UPCOMING EVENTS

Monday, April 2, 2007
Stephen Beatty
Managing Director of Toyota Canada
"Redefining 'Canadian' in Today's Auto Industry."
Odette Building - Room: Basement “06”
5:30 p.m. - 6:50 p.m.


Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Jim Miller
Vice-President of Marketing for Honda Canada
“What’s Hot with Honda”
Odette Building - Room: Basement “06”
5:30 p.m. - 6:50 p.m.


RSVP: Seating is limited
Barbara Barone
519-971-3678 or bbarone@uwindsor.ca

In terms of future high tech R & D investments, Ford, GM and Chrysler are not the only game in town. Windsor has a excellent School of Engineering that we should be doing everything possible to promote. Toyota Hyundai and Honda require research as much as any other manufacturer not to mention Tier 1 giants like Magna. We have the Ford Centre for Excellence in Manufacturing at St. Clair and Chrysler Research at the University of Windsor, why not a Magna University or Hyundai Tech Centre?

Eat hearty, it's only tax money

From today's Star article on Weekly Meetings:

COUNTING COSTS OF WEEKLY SCHEDULE

In 2006 there were 44 council meetings, which occurred weekly, with the exception of the summer months, when meetings take place every other week. The bi-weekly approach adopted for the entire year would result in a cost savings of $46,500.

Here's how it would break down:

Closed Captioning, $10,000

Catering, $28,000

Council services staff overtime, $2,000

Information Technology staff overtime, $3,500

Agenda delivery, $3,000

Anyone besides me still amazed at what the single biggest cost is? The savings in catering from changing to bi-weekly meetings is more than every other category listed.

From a comment on Alan Halberstadt's site, I learned that unionized employees are entitled to a $12.00 meal allowance when required to work over. What wrong with Council actually leading by example for a change?

$12.00 x 30 (10 Councillors, 1 Mayor, 19 staff) = $360.00 per Monday night. 44 meetings x $360 = $15,840.00 for the entire year. Hell - increase it to $15.00 and we'd still have a bargain.

In case anyone has forgotten or didn't hear, right about the same time as the story came out about Windsor's catering budget Toronto Council had a similar dilemma. The Mayor and 49 Councillors voted for a $20,000.00 catering budget for City Council in Toronto and the media and people went crazy.

It really makes me wonder what the taxpayer is paying for catering at other public institutions like Hospital Boards, Local Health Networks and EnWin to think of just a few.

What is the Institute for Liberal Studies?

After the recent Windsor Liberty Seminar, I had a chance to sit down with the Institute for Liberal Studies Executive Director Peter Jaworski.

Cross Posted from Blue Blogging Soapbox

Budget Updates

Whittling Down Windsor's Budget (SEE VIDEO) - A Channel

2007 Budget Process - City of Windsor

Pay-As-You-Eat Plan Rejected - Windsor Star

Bi-weekly Council Meetings - AM800

Council Meal Ticket Questioned - AM800

Around the City - Quick links

Talk of the town today

Keep up the good work. (subscribers only)
"It's never an easy exercise," Gignac said. "Probably with this department more than any other, I find myself torn." Gignac said she cannot continue to accept the downloading of social service costs from the province. She voted against funding some programs, like counselling services and job training programs, because she feels they should be the province's responsibility.

What speaks louder - a $250,000.00 dollar spin doctor communications department or reality.

No need to "Wrestle" with tunnel traffic.

Let fly the Red Ensign - it's the right thing to do.

Take a few minutes to let everyone know your thoughts on this weeks poll (righthand sidebar). Look at VisitWindsor.com then register your vote.

211 a reality

The tax and spend crowd won last night.

Councillors Jones, Postma, Hatfield, Marra and Valentinis voted to take on this new service. Councillors Dilkens, Gignac, Brister and Halberstadt were opposed with Councillor Lewenza and the Mayor not present.

We've just downloaded a new service onto the City with no long term funding available from the Province and an inequitable cost sharing agreement with the County. (The City/County split of the costs does not take into account the large amount of Windsor funds that have gone into the establishment of the current 311 service. )

We've added 3.5 full time equivalent positions to the city with all the associated long term pay, benefits and pension requirements. I'm really looking forward to seeing the cost sharing agreement that will guarantee these costs will continue to be shared between all three funders into the future. (Windsor/County and the United Way).

Things to watch for in the near future:

1. no infrastructure costs to the City as a result of adding 211? (outside of the one-time provincial funding of $200,000)

2. call volume projections - will probably be found to be too low

3. staffing projections - too low requiring the addition of 1 to 2 more staff

4. Database maintenance/upkeep/upgrading - more difficult/time intensive than projected, requiring further staffing/IT resources

5. 24 hr service will require the contracting out of after hours calls to another 211 Call Centre in Ontario. Yet another long term cost that appears rather fuzzy. This cost must be at least on a break-even basis for the other call centre, if not at a profit. Going forward we will be at the mercy of the other centre's funding decisions. Don't like it? Then we will have to in-source that capability. 168 hours in a week, 311 currently operates for 83 hours. We must contract out 85 hours per week.

One other thing, while not directly related, is worth noting. I was quite surprised at some of the cheap political shots that occurred during this debate at council and at several other times during the evening. It has certainly motivated me to move forward with something that I have contemplated for a while - digitally recording Council meetings. Thanks to a snazzy PC TV Capture card, a little bit of software, a few clicks and some hard drive space that task has now been completed.

Discover Windsor Part II

Related to this week's poll question and a post from last week - Discover Windsor, regarding our local efforts at a Convention and Visitor's Bureau website.

Here are a few other websites to compare Windsor's with:

Canada

London

Kitchener-Waterloo

Durham Region

Barrie

Ottawa

Kingston

Hamilton

Sarnia-Lambton

Toronto

Vancouver


United States

New York State

Las Vegas

Shadow Poll #5 - Results

Pretty much a slam dunk for last week's poll. The entrepreneurs win.

Whatever happened to the review of City assets?

Windsor Council Essex County's Gastronomical Winners

Noun

• S: (n) gastronomy (a particular style of cookery (as of a region)) "New England gastronomy"
• S: (n) gastronomy (the art and practice of choosing and preparing and eating good food)

Take-out bills for most town councils are modest

Amherstburg spent about $5,000 feeding councillors and staff
By Roberta Pennington, Windsor Star
Published: Thursday, March 15, 2007

Windsor councillors weren’t the only ones to have dined at the expense of taxpayers in 2006.

Rural municipalities in Essex County reported spending up to $5,000 in taxpayer dollars to feed councillors and bureaucrats last year, according to a survey conducted by The Star.

Amherstburg spent the most, about $5,000, on take-out food from restaurants such as Naples Pizza and Pasta, Pronto Delicatessen, Papa Paninis Pasta and Sandwich Shop and Sobeys last year, its CAO Frank Pizzuto said.

Spread the news

Help the City of Windsor spread their message of positive news. You can include this widget on your blog or website - FREE!

The code is available here. Just a simple cut and paste to include on most sites.

Quick hits

Reality, not spin

The real price of a Capitol bankruptcy

This page will be updated in the near future -

When? 2008?

211Service - can the City afford yet another expansion of services?

Your own comments/links in the comments section if you so desire!

Discover Windsor

Speaking of branding...

Is the budget at the Convention and Visitor's Bureau that small?

Microsoft Frontpage and scrolling iframes?

Nothing a stick of dynamite and some professional TLC couldn't help.

Budget rhethoric

It's budget time - time to roll out the same old rhetoric. If you want to save money, the only way to do it is to cut services.

CITY BUDGET PROPOSES A 2.6% HIKE
Windsor City Council will have a tough time deciding whether to settle for a 2.6 percent tax hike this year or try to lower it and abolish programs or positions. City administrators have handed in their tentative budget proposals that would see a 1.6 percent hike in operating costs and a 1 percent capital levy. Mayor Eddie Francis says councillors may object to some of the proposals that are recommended. In past years, administration has recommended closing Atkinson pool and the Lanspeary rink to save money. City council voted to keep those facilities open.

rant

The never ending mantra of City Hall at budget time.

This is what the Modified Zero Based Budgeting was supposed to eliminate - Administration presenting budgets as a fait acommpli. "This is the budget and if you want to save money then you must cut this, close this and reduce that"

The Mayor can spin it any way he wants but this year's budget process is not the Modified Zero Based Budget process that was followed in recent years.

What happened to starting at ZERO on all discretionary items and requiring each department to justify each expenditure? It's now March 14th and to my knowledge, Councillors have not received the budget documents as yet. The public certainly hasn't.

We're back to a closed door process.

What ever happened to the monthly departmental reports that were supposed to be presented to Council? This was to assist Council in tracking individual departments performance vis a vis their budget. The end of the year is not the time to find out about increasing overtime costs, the impact of fuel prices on budgets, absentee rates etc.

There are many tough questions that should be asked each and every year at budget time, especially on the operations side.

The City opened 4 more Service Centres last year. Was staff shifted from the Clerks Office or other City Departments to fill these positions or did we simply hire more staff?

What is the City's absentee rate? What steps are being taken to achieve the lowest rate possible?

What is the City travel budget for conferences and such? While items like this are often defended as being very worthwhile, educational and a relative small amount in the overall budget - look at it another way. Reducing the Council food budget from $35,000.00 to $10,000.00 would produce $25,000.00 in savings. Ten $25,000.00 dollar reductions equals $250,000.00. Ten $250,000.00 dollar reductions equals $2.5 million.

The answer is not "cut this entire program" or "close this facility". This is the standard administration tactic of providing Councillors with politically unpalatable choices in order to reduce spending.

/rant off

Shadow Poll #4 - Results

I must admit, I was surprised at the results of this week's poll. Either I have less small c and more arts readers than I thought or there's simply stronger support for the Capitol than most imagine.

This week's poll will be posted later today.

Ouch!

Too many idle leeches (subscription required)
Gord Henderson, Windsor Star
Published: Tuesday, March 13, 2007

It would be less costly and more productive to shovel $300,000 in small bills off the city hall roof than to set up a public relations office that would become one more leech permanently mooching off Windsor taxpayers.

I nearly fell off my chair when I returned to the city on the weekend and caught up with the appalling news that city bosses are proposing to squander up to $260,000 annually, plus startup costs of $47,500, to create a communications office with seven employees.

It should be interesting to follow the Letters to the Editor over the next few days. Budget Season is looking lively this year.

Gord - loved the egg salad dig. Classic.

The Mayor and Blogs

Just listened to the story on AM800 regarding the proposed Communications department at City Hall. Certainly sounds like Mayor Francis doesn't care for blogs in general and Councillor Halberstadt's in particular.

REPORT SLAMMED
2007-03-12 06:26:51

Criticism of a report from city hall administration by some city councillors has left the mayor shaking his head.

The report calls for the creation of a communications department of up to seven people at city hall.

Ward 3 Councillor Alan Halberstadt slammed it on his online blog, calling it an "embarrassing proposal."

But, Mayor Eddie Francis says it was council who directed administration to prepare the report.

The report has been deferred to an ad-hoc council committee for discussion

This would be the same report that the Mayor was defending last week as being a more efficient approach - spending $250,000.00 more.

His comment on " politics being played " was priceless. Apparently Mayor Francis is the only politician in Windsor who doesn't practice politics. His altruistic motives leave me almost speechless.

Almost.

They must be selling pieces of that bridge again today.

Update: here's the clip from AM800

Layoffs at the Star

The story virtually every media outlet in the City is covering - except the Windsor Star.

Windsor Star Layoffs
30 part-time employees at the Windsor Star will be laid-off in May. The company says the reader sales and service jobs will be outsourced to a call centre in Winnipeg for efficiency reasons. Union Chair Jim Angus says C-A-W Local 240 will fight hard to save the jobs and continues to talk with the company. The layoffs take effect May 18th.

Although this is tough in a city that is facing an uncertain future, it's what rational corporations due when faced with tough times.

Hopefully the City Council can be inspired by CanWest for this year's round of budget deliberations. Now is not the time to be expanding services and staff.

We still have nine departments that haven't had the benefit of our new (old) modified modified zero based budget process.

Time for a good line by line examination of those departments, as well as all the others.

Find the (in)efficiencies.

What do Windsor Council meals look like?

I wonder if the Windsor Council is as camera shy as their counterparts in Toronto?

Toronto, with a Council 4 times the size as ours, has a budget of $20,000.00 for Council meals as opposed to our Council's $35,000.00 spent last year on the same.

An interesting discussion has developed on Alan Halberstadt's blog regarding this issue. Make sure you stop in and let your views be heard.

Dinner's on us

It seems some councillors were a bit sensitive last week about chowing down on their first free meal -- taxpayer-paid -- as part of their new, shorter dinner break.

A Toronto Sun photographer was barred from shooting the politicians at dinner, despite an invitation from councillor Rob Ford (Ward 2, Etobicoke North), who vows to put no free food to his lips.

Meanwhile, a Globe reporter -- interviewing willing councillors on another matter -- was first told to leave the council chamber and then ejected from the lounge where members enjoyed their buffet.

Council speaker Sandra Bussin (Ward 32, Beaches-East York) loudly summoned the sergeant-at-arms, after just seconds of discussion.

Perhaps the lefties running city hall are now taking media-relations tips from Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who has clashed with the Parliamentary Press Gallery since his election?

Smart business

How can someone resist a good beverage and a FREE movie or two?

The present future at Milk Coffee Bar

On Monday and Tuesday nights, the venue’s proprietor, Angelo Marignani, rolls out the projector, drops a large screen over the front window and plays old and new classics like “Blade Runner,” “Bram Stoker's Dracula” (can you believe it’s been FIFTEEN years since that film came out??) and “Aeon Flux,” to name just a few titles. Best of all, tickets are free. And, on any given movie night, at least two films — but usually three — are screened back-to-back beginning at about 6:45 p.m.

Monday and Tuesday have to be tough nights downtown. I think this is a great idea to drum up some business.

End of an era

A friend of mine emailed me a story link yesterday that made me feel both nostalgic and very sad. A Halifax icon, the North End Pub, otherwise known as "Joe Comeau's" was destroyed yesterday in a fire. Thankfully, no one was injured.

Fire guts popular pub
North End Diner and Beverage Room goes up in flames

JENNIFER TAPLIN
The Daily News

HALIFAX - It looked like the aftermath of a war zone.

Debris fell, a pile of timbers and a crooked power pole burned in the street, and a loud bang startled a crowd of hundreds of onlookers. Firefighters battled not only an out-of-control blaze, but also a -25 C wind chill. It froze their equipment. It even froze the water they pumped, creating an ice hazard.

The North End Diner and Beverage Room went out in a flourish of flames yesterday, creating a spectacle that kept people watching for almost two hours in sub-freezing weather.

I looked around the net for a history of the pub, but couldn't find anything. I know it goes back to before World War II.

The pub was located on Gottingen Street, across the street from Stadacona.

I've a lot of good memories of that place, a few not fit for publishing here!

Great times spent at Joe's as a young Signalman on my TQ5 course. Nothing like a few pitchers of draft and a bunch of glasses to practice your Fleet Maneuvering! Formation Foxtrot's were especially dangerous to accomplish - too much spillage.

No more sliders at Joe's.

Update: just another quick memory. General John Cabot Trail of the Cape Breton Liberation Army and his regular bits from Joe's - Priceless!

Cross Posted from The Torch

Start adding it up

Clock ticking on 211 service (subscription only)

Should the partnership be approved by Windsor council, the city will be required to pay $112,639 of the 211 system's annual operating cost.

The County of Essex, which already approved the plan, would also pay $112,639 for the service, and the United Way would pay $96,548.

According to the story, the Province is supposed to kick in $200,000 for this venture. The problem is, how long will that Provincial funding last? When it disappears, will we reduce the service accordingly or simply increase the amount required by Windsor and Tecumseh?

Hasn't the Province downloaded enough services to the City already without appropriate funding? Now we're actually looking for additional services to download ourselves, with no long term stable funding in place.

Not now, not in Windsor.

If the Province wants cities to provide a 211 service then they should fund the entire service. Period, full stop.

It doesn't sound like much, but these new expenditures are beginning to add up now and will continue to add up in the future. Don't forget, the salaries attached to these positions will all become part of the " non-discretionary increases " that the budget is subjected to each year due to increased wages and benefits negotiated.

$112,639.00 - 211 Service
$259,427.00 - PR Office
$47,500.00 - PR Office startup
$250,000.oo - Environmental Coordinator and staff
$35,000.00 - City Hall meeting catering
??????? - Sewer Surcharge increase
??????? - Water Rate increase

Total so far - $704,566.00 and we haven't even seen the budget yet.

What else is lurking in the unseen budget documents?

Ultimate Spin

City needs $260,000 PR office, study says

As it stands, every city department, including the library, parks department and police service, does its own communications with the public and media, said Mayor Eddie Francis. The proposal is simply to consolidate communications, he said.

“You could deliver it more effectively and cheaply if it’s consolidated,” he said.

If this was so efficient and cost effective, why doesn't the report detail the number of positions that will be reduced across the city administration and the total amount of money saved?

I guess they really do need some Professional PR help at City Hall if this is the type of “bureaucratic bafflegab,” they actually expect people to believe.

H/T to Alan Halberstadt for helping bring this issue to the fore:

1. High Cost of Propaganda

2. Propaganda Spending Deferred

This had nothing to do with being "efficient and cost effective". I blogged about this just recently in Budget Blues. The Mayor talked about it in his Inaugural Address:

" commit the significant funds required, to the development and implementation of a comprehensive marketing strategy that will showcase Windsor to investors and decision-makers around the globe."

" It will be expensive, but by marketing ourselves properly, we can – and we will – achieve results."

Whatever happened to that " fireside chat of the twenty-first century " email newsletter that Mayor Francis promised us? " ... it will provide you with a direct update from me, on the progress we are making and the key issues facing our city."

Now THAT would be efficient and cost-effective! Walk before you run.

(Pssst - blogs are free too!)

Back to the Future

Anyone know what the definition of "near" is in Windsor?

Food for thought

I guess when they were talking about cutting last year's budget to the bone we didn't realize Councillors were talking ham bones, T Bones or TBQ bones! H/T Roberta Pennington



Windsor Star blogger Don McArthur takes a bite out of the Capitol Theatre.

A thoughtful resident offers some suggested dieting tips for the Mayor and Council.

At least now I understand the need for the Corporate communications department. Who better to help Windsorites digest our next tax increase?

Since Council will be off next week due to the March Break, I'll offer my services to collect menu suggestions and recipe ideas for the March 19th meeting. Email your tasty tidbits to bluebloggingsoapbox@gmail.com or just let 'em simmer in the comments.

A Capitol Opinion

I missed Craig Pearson's blog about the Capitol the other day. (I really wish the Star would add RSS to it's blogs!)

The Capitol conclusion

Protecting taxpayer dollars is an important role of elected officials. So is creating vibrant municipalities, which include cultural institutions.

That said, with a city this size, the Capitol simply does not attract enough business to survive on its own. Acting general manager Tom Lynd recently suggested the Capitol would need about $300,000 a year to thrive, roughly equal to the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, about 60 per cent of the Art Gallery of Windsor, and about 30 per cent of the what the Cleary International Centre received for years.

If councilors feel supporting the Capitol is too expensive, so be it.

They should hold an open discussion, however, and let everyone see who votes to save the Capitol and who votes to let it die, and then leave it to voters to decide whether they like the kind of community councilors are creating.

But making unrealistic demands for relatively small loans — when the Capitol clearly needs operating funds — and then saying, ‘Hey, we tried to help,’ seems unwise.

It likely won’t create a satisfying conclusion.

Craig's blog is a thoughtful and balanced piece. You should read the whole thing.

Shadow Poll #3 - Results

Well, at least I know that the majority of people who stop in my blog are of the fiscally conservative crowd.

Latest Shadow Poll is posted at the right.

Have your say! It's fun and FREE!

On "sharing"...

For anyone who watched Council last night, I' m sure they enjoyed Mayor Francis "sharing" his thoughts with Council as much as I did following the Riverside Vista vote.

He's just trying to keep politics out of the Council Chambers, don't you know!

645.17 Extra Large Tims Coffees

That's the price of a meal with "average, Tim Horton's guy Dalton McGuinty" at one of his intimate fundraising dinners. If you want to look at it another way, it's only 1.75 years. Considering I won't go 1.75 days without Tims, I wonder what Dalton charges for just dessert?

Dalton breezed through Windsor last fall, but stopped long enough for dinner. After wading through pages and pages of donation details, here's my best guess for his Windsor dinner dates.

Contributor	Deposit Date	Reporting Date	Contribution Amount	Aggregate Amount
Rosati Contruction Inc	11/30/2006	12/08/2006	1,700.00	1,700.00
Toldo, Tony	11/17/2006	11/22/2006	2,000.00	2,000.00
Canadian Transit Company Ltd.	11/10/2006	11/17/2006	5,600.00	5,600.00
Raymax Construction Ltd.	11/10/2006	11/17/2006	1,600.00	5,600.00
Valiant Machine & Tool Inc.	11/10/2006	11/17/2006	1,600.00	3,100.00

Source: Liberal Party Donations listed on Elections Ontario website. (11520 total donations for 2006)

There may be others that I missed considering the total number of donations that I reviewed to compile this list.

Cross posted from BBS

Quick Links around the City

The Mayor of Monmouth with a piece on graffiti.


Ambassador Bridge hosting another Community Forum.


Alan Halberstadt's latest "Council Chat" video is posted.


International Metropolis tracks the demolition of the old CAA building in photos.


Windsor City Blog with a blog on Heritage Buildings.


Thanks to the discovery of CanWest's new My Feeds Beta, WE Speak now aggregates the Windsor Star's daily Editorials and Opinion pieces.


Looking to promote your Community/Charitable/Non-Profit event? Submit your info here. Submissions generally posted within 24hrs. Note: link updated to new Event Calendar.

Evaluating Non-Profits

The Mayor had some good advice for local non-profits at last Monday's council meeting. Now is the time for a good honest look at the 400 some organizations in the city and what efficiencies can be generated.

Chris at Schnurr's Sound Off has blogged about this several times. I'd like to draw people's attention to one resource that Chris has identified - the Donner Canadian Foundation Awards.

Councillor Gignac's motion directing administration to carry out a study to put a dollar value on the services provided by local organizations fits perfectly with the Donner Non-Profit Performance Evaluation. By participating in the contest, organizations are provided with a free performance evaluation, assessing an organizations performance relative to their peers.

The Donner Awards application covers ten different performance areas:

1. Financial Management. Considers year-over-year financial management, cost containment, program spending and financial reporting.

2. Income Independence. Considers the level of diversification in an organization’s revenues.

3. Strategic Management. Considers the process through which resources are directed towards a common goal or objective.

4. Board Governance. Considers the independence, accountability, and effectiveness of board governance.

5. Volunteers. Considers the number of volunteers, their recruitment, management and development.

6. Staff. Considers the level of programming provided by staff, their recruitment, management and development.

7. Innovation. Considers the uniqueness of programs, how organizations innovate in response to change, and the use of new technology in program delivery.

8. Program Cost. Considers the per-hour cost of providing a program or service.

9. Outcome Monitoring. Considers the extent to which organizations assess their own performance in terms of achieving specific goals in their programs.

10.Accessibility. Considers the extent to which organizations assess need in making scarce resource allocation decisions.

You can view a sample Performance Report here. (.pdf )

If Windsor truly wants to begin leading the country, this is an excellent place to start.

If every non-profit in the city completed this assessment, not only would they qualify for the various Donner awards but we would then have a common base to begin a serious evaluation of our local efforts.

You want positive press for Windsor?

What kind of story do you think could be generated by every non-profit in the city participating in an effort to improve themselves and the services they provide?

Last year's Donner Awards attracted 600 applications from across the country. Windsor could almost double this amount in one year and vault itself into national prominence as a forward thinking city.

Participation in a program such as this would most likely have identified problems at local organizations like the Science Centre and Capitol Theatre long before they reached crisis status.

Strengths and weaknesses across various sectors can be identified. While funds may be the immediate problem for many, it is not necessarily the root cause of some organization's problems. Non-profits strong in governance may be able to offer assistance and mentoring to others that are struggling in this regard. Innovation leaders may be able to inspire others with their unique approach.

The Donner Foundation Award program is based on sound management principles and Windsor could only benefit by it's participation. Now, more than ever, Windsor needs to be agressive and proactive instead of reactive. We can't simply rely on other levels of government. Charity, as they say, begins at home.

Donner Award application Deadline: May 1st, 2007