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”.
It was the City of Windsor who spent years expropriating land for which they had no signed plans for, destroying a community already in place;As much as everyone wanted to see the University to locate the Engineering Campus downtown, the reality has been that it was never really in the cards. Tuesday's DWBIA forum was more about what should and needs to be done in the future to accommodate either the University, the College or any other group that wishes to take advantage of the City Centre West lands.
It has been the City of Windsor who has failed to deliver on a single plan for these expropriated lands in the last twenty some odd years, despite millions of dollars in taypayer funded studies and consultants, including the latest City Centre West plans;
It's the City of Windsor who refuses to move forward with even the RFP that they themselves spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer's dollars developing;
the City continues to look for one single "silver bullet" solution that will fix all that ails in the area, instead of looking outside the box.
Top 3 reasons to read “The Warhol Economy”
Preliminary thoughts on Elizabeth Currid, The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art and Music Drive New York City (Princeton University Press, 2007). A more formal review will follow in a few days.
Planners, economists, urban politicians, and anyone interested in how cities work — and how the arts work in a city — will find something fascinating in Elizabeth Currid’s new book. Here are three reasons to pick up a copy:
1. To understand the place of New York’s artistic culture in the city’s economy and society.
Currid makes a compelling argument (in Chapter three) that New York’s national and global pull as a city does not come from its finance and business management cluster. Using location quotient methodology and other evidence she illustrates that other cities easily rival New York in their concentrations of management talent. By contrast, New York is unmatched is in the concentration of artists, musicians, fashion industry specialists, and the media industry (writers, illustrators, editors, publishers), what she collectively calls the cultural economy.
She also offers an interesting urban history lesson, illustrating how during times of recession and decline in other areas of the city’s economy in the 1970s and 1980s generated space for artists. Rent became cheap and creativity boomed as artists could live more cheaply. Eventually this outpouring of creativity fostered a vibrant economy that now sets music, art, fashion trends for the world. More recent real estate price increases and gentrification is making it more challenging for the New York arts scene as many cannot afford to live in the city.
Life on Tour's Don McArthur wins 17 to 9 over Vanderblogger's Chris Vander Doelen.
Cuts loom at deficit-plagued StorybookWindsor started the ball rolling by getting rid of the Cleary. We need to finish the job by selling the Marina and Golf courses.
Mon, November 5, 2007
City staff seek a new, more realistic business plan as the theme park posts a $250,000 loss.
By JONATHAN SHER, SUN MEDIAA $7-million investment that was supposed to return the glory days to Storybook Gardens has instead produced a loss that this year will total $250,000.
Character: a prominent downtown landmarkWhen the contest first began the expectation was that around 8 to 10 teams would enter during this first year. I was quite surprised to find out last night that 26 teams had successfully entered and attended the kickoff. That's over two hundred people who are going to be somewhat sleep deprived this weekend! Given WIFF's inventive selection of Character and Dialogue, we should be seeing quite a few cameras in the Downtown core this weekend.
Prop: A WIFF T-Shirt
Line of Dialogue: "Sorry Mama, you can't park there"
Urban Renaissance Through Campus Location:
Canada October auto sales rise led by Detroit 3
"The reality is that prices have been coming down across most models all year and lower prices have resulted in a much stronger market," said Dennis DesRosiers, president of DesRosiers Automotive Consulting Inc.General Motors of Canada (GM.N), the country's biggest automaker, said its October sales rose 13.2 percent from the same month last year to 30,327 vehicles.Ford Motor Co. of Canada (F.N) moved 16,902 vehicles off its lots in October, up 6.2 percent from the same month last year. Truck sales rose 15.1 percent to 13,020, while car sales slipped 15.7 percent to 3,882.Chrysler Canada sales rose 2.6 percent to 15,411 vehicles in October, which marked the automaker's 15th straight month of higher sales.Toyota Canada Inc. (7203.T) said its October sales totaled 14,484 vehicles, down 9.5 percent from a year earlier.The automaker said sales at its Toyota division dropped 11 percent to 13,358 vehicles, while its luxury Lexus division sales rose 13.4 percent to 1,126 units.Honda Canada Inc. (7267.T) said its October vehicle sales fell 9 percent to 11,377 units. Its Honda division sales fell 6 percent to 10,123 units, while its Acura division sales dropped 28 percent 1,254 vehicles.
Strike at Sarnia border crossing could create traffic chaos
JAMES RUSK
November 2, 2007
It is not clear how much chaos would result if the workers strike. In addition to the trucks, the bridge is used by 8,000 to 9,000 cars a day, and industry sources said the alternative crossings are already operating at capacity.
The union will ask unionized truck drivers not to use the bridge, but the critical issue would be whether Canada Customs agents and immigration officers would honour picket lines, which seems likely, as they are also PSAC members, one industry official said.
Steve Whitter, director of garbage transfer, processing and disposal operations for Toronto, said that if a strike were to slow operations at Blue Water, across which the city's garbage passes on the way to Michigan, "it will slow us down, probably, but certainly not stop us."
He said that the city would be forced to send transports carrying its waste over the Ambassador Bridge at Windsor, Ont. Only empty garbage trucks are now routed there.
"for every $1 invested in the audit process the return on this investment has been $5.02."Auditor Generals have extensive powers when it comes to studying spending, programs and policies. Virtually nothing can stand in their way. When it comes to the actual reporting though, the only power they have is that what politicians fear most - public exposure.