This is beyond belief…
So, what the heck happened last night in council chambers?
Despite having months to prepare to make a decision regarding the redrawing of our ward boundaries, council chose to do nothing. Even worse than their ultimate decision to sit on their hands was them trying to make it out that they didn’t have enough time to consider the options.
It seemed there was only one councilor last night who didn’t stumble from one option to the other in an attempt to confuse. Ward one’s Drew Dilkens (and I’m not siding with him because we both favoured the 10 ward option) seemed to be the only councilor who actually read and understood the report before them.
When ward three’s Fulvio Valentinis made a motion early in the proceedings to favour a plan NOT drawn up by the $20,000 consultant, I thought the meeting would be priceless. Sure, Fulvio, I know that there was extensive public consultations and an expert consultant hired to put together the options before you, but why listen to him? Simply because he stuck by the terms of reference CITY COUNCIL gave him when he started this process (identifying not only current population disparities, but taking into account future population growth) YOU chose to disregard his work and put forth some unvetted plan that could have be drawn up by a 12 year old in his parents basement for all we know! It was when Valentinis did that, that I knew tonights meeting would be a fiasco. Poor Dr. Williams!
Yes, there were about 12 motions that came and went (I documented most of the votes and will post a little later) each showing that these councilors had no clue as to what was going on. Early on I saw Postma mouth the word “five” to her wardmate (indicating, I am assuming, her preference for the status quo five-ward system) across the room even before the bulk of the debate started, so at least she didn’t waver from her desire to stick with what doesn’t work for the city (but works for her, though. How many elections has she profited from the two-member system, with challengers splitting the vote and seeing her sail up the middle? That strategy would be gone in a single-member ward system.)
You’re going to be hearing a lot more about this very soon, but I made a promise that I wouldn’t spend much time devoted to this today, as I am headed for the wilderness for a few hours.
Check out Alan Halberstadt’s blog for his take on the evening, plus some valuable timelines (SURE - you didn’t have time to consider the options, councilors!) over at Chris Schnurr’s blog. Options for the future? Paul Synott is working on those as well. A little SD history on the process is available here.
Like I said - this is far from being over, folks. The embarrassment that is our civic leadership must be called out on this!
Tags: City Council, OMB, Ward Boundary Review
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I unfortunately didn’t meet the deadline to sign up as a delegate, which was frustrating because it was my own fault, but also because work’s been so busy. However, it was much more frustrating reading this morning’s newspaper and seeing that things turned out exactly how Chris warned they would. I feel horrible for not being there like I’d hoped to.
This is an issue that should have gone to the voters. No one is going to vote themselves out of a job. If half the effort of Greenlink had gone into informing the voters and organizing a binding vote by the public perhaps things may have turned out differently.
James it was an issue that went to the voters. With three open houses, there was more than ample opportunity to have your voice heard by the consultant. However the three open houses attracted less than 50 people total, so I assume most Windsorites could care less.
The last election had a 38% voter turnout. 62% of eligible voters couldn’t take 5 minutes out of their busy days to go vote for our municipal leaders.
That number alone proves that Windsorites could care less.
I think we need to have a frank discussion about governance for the entire Windsor and Essex region. There is some hair-raising-goings-on here lately. We need to all sit down and look at the governance of our region. There is certainly something rotten in the state of Denmark and the end of the CUPE strike is not going to get rid of it. Let’s have a do-over and this time let’s look at the entire region.
No, this should have gone through a Committee comprised of good old regular citizens (chosen at random from potential candidates). Dr. Williams report would have been vetted through the committee who would then forward their recommendation to Council, who if they were smart, would have approved the recommendation of the Committee.
Instead we are left with the typical “Made in Windsor” solution: Do Nothing.
There is a job posting for a librarian in a one library town in northern Ontario, I think I will apply after Monday night and all the other Monday nights in the last six years!
Mark, a one library town in northern Ontario will likely not be any better. I think, we need to have everyone at the table. We need to look at all the issues. And then have a frank dicussion and define some common goals. That is the only way to fix this for good.
The the provincial government could do this, if they wanted. They have the power to squeeze some heads and help us powerless citizens.
I agree James and nobody is going to vote themselves out of Post Retirement Benefits either but taking the ward boundary issue as a single issue vote to the citizens in this city is another futile attempt. Everybody wants to rant on the online opinions in the Windsor Star but it seems that none of them want to put their money where their mouth is in this city.
Maybe the best option would be for the Corporation of the City of Windsor to go into Government-backed Bankruptcy Protection. That way, they can re-examine the contracts with labour and elected officials, and emerge as a leaner, more competitive city. Sounds like crazy talk, but why not? Auto companies did it… Maybe it will be a new trend for cities across the globe. Besides, with politician wages too high, it will attract greedy people, we need a system that attracts people that WANT to do the job well, and will truly look after the best interests of the citizens and region as a whole. Not just people that have nothing better to do. Maybe then there will be some sort of unwritten minimal standards for education and/or experience… or maybe councilor pay scales can be adjusted according to their training in topics such as urban-planning, transit, etc etc.. (Teachers have to go through certification courses to keep up with material, why not elected officials?)
And when some of you complain that Administration lacks direction, be sure to remember the lack of decision and direction we receive from Council.
I am hopeful that with the voices I’m seeing on the blogs that even those of us with dramatically different views can come together when we see the SOB’s that did this.
I am writing councillors now to express my outrage. I hope to have the petition available at our restaurant to the public at 255 Ouellette to sign by Thursday.
Other than Councillors Drew Dilkins and Alan Halberstadt, (Alan’s recovery is only based on the support for the petition) DAMN THEM ALL TO HELL!!!!
Chris, I really want to see those motions and votes.
I believe the blog municipal shadow also has a petition. I favour the 5 ward system with re-drawn boundaries myself (whcih Coun. Postma might have referred to) but to not do anything else it just well….typical of this city.
Vincent Clement is correct, though administration has it’s warts a lot can be said about council’s inaction on a lot of studies conducted over the years (CIPs anyone?).
Is it any wonder Windsor still resembles a 1960s city both both figuratively and literally?
Much like the “silver” medal new fire station where Coucn. Gignac stated (I paraphrase) “the silver status of this new station is good enough because the cost of the gold level and the return on investment isn’t there”.
O.k. I understand watching how taxpayer’s dollars are spent is a good thing but it sure isn’t when she voted to spend lots of $$$ on Greenlink advertising or on her taxpayer funded dinners.
Heck she couldn’t support the arts or the Farmer’s Market!
We either lead or get the hell out of the way! Because in this globalized world the progressive politician will not wait to be outdone by another.
Someday Windsor will welcome the 21st century. I just hope it isn’t in the 22nd century.
Typical council decisions.
Talk.
Pay for a study.
Talk.
Do Nothing.
It just follows the pattern they have followed for years.
Dave the 2 ward system is the real flaw that has been exposed. Think about it, next election would be a lot better if nominees went “mano e Mano”. No sliding up the middle by becoming everyone’s “2nd choice”. By only being responsible for 1/2 the area, you will have that much more opportunity to get to know your individual candidate, this will allow judgement less on platitudes and more on substance.
Not only that, right now you need $15,000 to run a proper campaign with lawn signs and flyers, this will reduce that cost in half making results rely less on money and more on substance
Your ward undergo more changes than most and it will probably be the most exciting one to be in election time.
P.S. I’m at 30 signatures and counting. It was a very slow lunch today so it wasn’t easy. The frustrating thing is that every signature requires a 15-20 minute explanation. I thinking I’ll lose my voice before this is over.
Has anyone found a faction or group that wants that status quo???
Windsor star has been a big help. Tomorrow I’m just going to hand people their editorial and Chris Van der dolen’s column
Mark, I am still not a fan because the 10 ward system, in my opinion divides the city too much. I would rather more cohesion of different wage earners then perpetuating more low income areas to go it alone. Plus the downtown will only have 1 rep VS 9 reps. Good luck with getting downtown back on triack when all other reps will be looking at their backyard only.
That being said I would take the 10 ward option as a second to the re-jigging of boundaries and keeping 2 reps/ward. The re-jigging of the boundaries should be made by a third party (Dr. Williams perhaps?) and NOT by council who will only do what is best for THEM.
All red herring arguments.
Low income households are well represented by a myriad of organizations and various municipal, provincial and federal departments that purport to aid them.
The downtown is well represented through the BIA, various resident associations and Mark Boscariol.
Every special interest group is well represented.
If every Councillor is “looking at their backyard only” then nothing will ever get done, because, by your logic, they would only vote for something that is to their ward’s benefit.
In theory multiple councillors are supposed to be better for the downtown. In practice, I would be hard pressed to see a successful example. Every action step (whether you like it or not) for downtown was with a consensus of support by most councillors or mayor driven. Bus Depot, Streetscaping, College/Cleary Deal, red bull, street closures.
Actually, one criticism leveled at council that I found interesting was made by former councillor Joyce Zuk who observed the end of the 8-2 vote where councillors who were solely looking at the self interest of their ward at the expense of the city got overrulled. This ended because now made so many horse trading deals they were never overruled. This could signal the return of the 9-1 vote. as horse trading would get that much more difficult.
Lets have council contests become “Mano e Mano” I think you’ll see far more analysis on the positions of the candidates. You’ll also stop seeing debates where ward partners defend each other and pretend to have a love in at election time. How often do ward mates make unholy deals to provide a united front?
Well I’ve just motivated myself to get more signatures today.
Think about it, you have people on these blogs who disagree and dislike each other as much as possible and they all agree on this issue
If anyone wants to help out gather signatures at the market tomorrow, I would appreciate the help!
We are about 33% of our way towards our goal, with dwindling time left to collect them. If you are able to print off the Citizfaction petition yourself and collect some signatures, your help would be much appreciated.
I just made some buttons as well, so that’s the only bribe I can offer you besides deep satisfaction.