The Kwame – Canal Link and Canal Plan Resurfaces

The Canal Resurfaces

Despite repeated promises by Mayor Francis to conduct widespread community consultations, the canal proposal had all the appearances of disappearing into the depths of the Detroit River.

In fact back on August 18, 2009, the Mayor stated community consultations would begin within a month:

Haffner and Francis said such a facility could become a major new draw for visitors to Windsor. With the city catching up on its operations following the long civic strike, Francis said he hopes to start the community discussion on a proposed downtown canal project within the next month, and GLIER’s aquarium proposal could become part of that discussion. He said a stand-alone aquarium would not work.

That was until I got a call from Doug Schmidt of the Windsor Star last week asking me, as President of WEACT, whether or not the canal proposal would be good for downtown.

But I guess what I said didn’t fit with the official city line because my comments did not appear in the story.

I told Mr. Schmidt the canal proposal was “interesting,” but from a taxpayer’s perspective, I would be more apt to support the proposal if private landowners who stand to financially benefit from the construction of the project (through possible increased land values) contributed significantly towards the costs of the project in addition to securing any grants from the Southern Ontario Economic Development Fund (administered by the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario).

Particularly considering the lands in question also have potential incentives for developers to begin construction as per the City Centre West Community Improvement Plan.

Apparently, according to the Star, it will be discussed in 2010 capital budget deliberations.

Mayor Eddie Francis said he hopes council will be able to get it by January and that the development can be dealt with as part of the 2010 capital budget deliberations.

Community consultations will therefore be a joke since the Mayor wants it as part of the capital budget deliberations.  The issue has already been decided.

I also stated to Mr. Schmidt I had concerns over what the business case study stated (See May 13, 2009 blog) - in that the canal of itself will not be a draw and would require further investments to essentially make the canal work – a point reiterated by Councillors Marra and Brister:

Coun. Dave Brister shares Marra’s caution. Without a “destination attraction” such as an aquarium, a canal alone won’t do it, he said. Absent of such a big new draw, Brister said he’s concerned that the canal development simply risks displacing existing investment in the downtown.

Yes – add that to the cost of the canal project – a destination attraction or the displacement of existing investment – otherwise known as the total economic cost as opposed to the accounting costs. 

This has all the makings of a repeat of the 2006 municipal election – particularly with respect to the forever promised but never produced RFP for the urban village dangled before Ward 2 residents.

By potentially including it in the capital budget it will now become an election issue – an issue incumbents will frame as the pro-downtown versus the anti-downtown candidates. 

If the proposal is so wonderful – I expect to see significant contributions from the private sector for all aspects of the project.

Especially considering all the arguments made by the council “hardliners” in the CUPE strike about the city’s precarious financial position – even though the final contract resulted in higher operating costs for the city and zero savings for decades in post-retirement benefits.

The Kwame – Canal Link

What is it going to take to have a response to my own integrity commissioner complaint filed back on May 4, 2009? 

The clock is ticking since Earl Basse’s contract expires on December 31, 2009 – or is that how the game is going to be played?  Oops – my contract has expired no time to complete any reports.

Upon further research I have learned my complaint with respect to the City Clerk is beyond the jurisdiction of the Integrity Commissioner who can only investigate elected officials, the complaint against Mayor Francis’ actions in circumventing the authority of councillors with regards to the canal proposal earlier this year, as per the Municipal Act, I maintain is a valid complaint.

Especially considering an admission by the Mayor in a Gord Henderson column - just days after I filed my complaint – that he could have handled it better:

“I concede I could have handled it better. I thought I was informing them, but I’ve clearly got to do a better job,” confessed Francis. “My biggest mistake was that I wanted a perfect package that addressed all concerns. In wanting the perfect package, it created this problem and I take full responsibility for that”  (Gord Henderson, Wake Up Call for Gang of Six, Windsor Star, May 9, 2009).

But wait, recent comments made by Mayor Francis to the Windsor Star regarding  Mr. McLeod’s complaint raises some interesting questions:

“You know when the Integrity Commissioner first raised the issue and it was, I think during the CUPE strike, when he indicated that he had to investigate as it relates to the first investigation that he is going to have to talk to me about it, the complaint that came in as it relates to the meeting with Mayor Kilpatrick, I thought that it was frivolous”  (Windsor Star Video, November 28, 2009).

The short timeline:

Complaint filed on May 4, 2009

Quasi-apology issued by Mayor Francis on May 9, 2009

Integrity Commissioner first meets with Mayor Francis “during the CUPE strike.”

Was the meeting with the Mayor before his pseudo-apology in the Windsor Star?  Was he informed that he had a complaint with respect to an alleged code of conduct violation in submitting the canal proposal to the Federal Government 6 weeks before city councillors had even seen or approved it?

Was that the rationale for the Mayor’s apology? 

If so, what’s the hold-up in the investigation of my complaint? 

OH!  I get it – it is because of the international press coverage of the allegations leaked by some city councillors linking Mayor Francis to former Mayor Kilpatrick that prompted the oh-so-quick response by the Integrity Commissioner 14 months after Mr. McLeod’s complaint was made.

Perhaps then, the Integrity Commissioner should also consider Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s trip to Niagara Falls as it relates to Mayor Francis’ canal proposal.

Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was spotted poolside in his swimming trunks at a Niagara Falls water park just two days before the visit across the border to Windsor that landed him in jail, The Star has learned…

…The local businessman said Kilpatrick informed him during the chance encounter that he was in Buffalo for a speech and thought he would cross over the border with his two boys to visit the water park.

What does Mr. Kilpatrick’s trip to Buffalo have to do with Mayor Francis and the canal proposal?

Perhaps Mr. Kilpatrick was conducting research on behalf of Mayor Francis for the downtown Windsor canal proposal by visiting the Love Canal in Niagara Falls, New York:

Love Canal is a neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York, which became the subject of national and international attention, controversy, and eventual environmental notoriety following the discovery of 21,000 tons of toxic waste that had been buried beneath the neighborhood by Hooker Chemical…

…Unfortunately for Love, his plan was never realized. He was barely able to start digging the canal and build a few streets and homes before his money ran out.[2] Only one mile (1.6 km) of the canal, about 50 feet (15 m) wide and 10 to 40 feet (3 m to 12 m) deep, stretching northward from the Niagara River, was ever dug.

I mean really – did we ever learn what was discussed between Mayor Francis and Kwame Kilpatrick in that meeting back on July 23, 2008? 

Were they talking about the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel or were they really sharing information about the Love Canal considering just a few weeks earlier the city’s lawyer, Cliff Sutts, stated they were backing off from negotiating the tunnel deal until the controversies in Detroit subsided:

“We understand there are a lot of problems in Detroit and it’s a tense situation,” Sutts said. “We want to remain outside that. We don’t want to get involved in the controversies that exist there” (July 11, 2008, Windsor Star).

Oh my goodness – considering this information, the Integrity Commissioner has no choice but to complete the investigation of my complaint – and hold a press conference to boot – and fast.

Now that, dear council leakers, is how, in the words of Mayor Francis,  you “manufacture a political issue” (Mayor Francis, Canadian Press, November 27, 2009).

Jeesh - do I have to do everything?

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