260 city services looked at in review
Spending $700K to find improvements
BY DAVE BATTAGELLO STAR MUNICIPAL AFFAIRS REPORTER
A list of 15 proposals to achieve cost savings or improved service for Windsor’s taxpayers will be presented to city council July 7, following a meeting Friday of the city’s service delivery review committee.
The city has hired an outside consultant, Chartwell Services, to oversee a sweeping review of every city service and department. A progress report on the first phase unveiled at the meeting showed a vast array of data gathered to date and best options for council to pursue.
“We want to demonstrate to the public, the City of Windsor is focusing on service excellence,” said Alan Mitchell, senor consultant for Chartwell.
Chartwell and the service delivery review steering committee have so far studied more than 260 city services.
Among the areas identified so far to best pursue for operational efficiencies or cost savings are: the city’s water management and governance; border infrastructure development; asset management; internal and external communications; human resources succession; street lighting; website design; and emergency management governance.
I'll take a stab at this:
1. City's water management and governance - stop paying Councillors for meetings. Savings: approximately $160,000.00 per year, not including the Mayor. If the Mayor and City Councillors want a pay increase, they should bring the issue before Council in public instead of backdooring roughly $16,000 per year through Enwin/Windsor Utilities
2. Internal and External communications - ah, the last gasp at implementing the Mayor's much vaunted Communications department at City Hall. Things will be much more efficient and cost-effective. Don't do it.Savings: $250,000.00
3. Border Infrastructure Development - stop hiring lawyers and consultants. Savings: $2 million per year.
That's $2.41 million. Take some of that money and get on with establishing the Auditor General as a truly independent, unfettered office.
Unfortunately, it's the City of Markham doing the hiring and not the City of Windsor.
In Windsor, we're still studying and planning on how to hire an Auditor General to maintain appearances while effectively neutralizing the critical independent aspects of the position.
Sounds like I missed all the fun at Monday's civic celebrations on the waterfront. Something about a gentleman, a sign and a Police escort. Rumour has it that there may even be a video surfacing soon.
Windsor Police Booty Call might get run for it's money on YouTube.
Welcome to the newest blog on the WE Speak blogroll, My Local Food - Buying Local Produce in Essex County, Ontario.
Actually, it was Victoria's presence at last night's Blogger meet that decided the topic for a new blogger initiative coming soon to a monitor near you. (although with WindsorEats.com to my right and the 200 Block of Ouellette to my left, I think the topic was unfairly biased from the get-go!)
Congratulations to Councillor Postma for moving the motion to allow these much needed projects to proceed. I missed the Council meeting tonight due to our monthly Bloggers Meet, but I heard about the approval soon after. I haven't found out what the actual vote was as yet.
This is the first sign that Council might actually consider taking control of an agenda that has been ceded to the Mayor's office and administration over the last several years.
As the Mayor is fond of saying, he's only awaiting the direction of Council. Now that they've had a taste maybe Council will be willing to start giving some more of the sought after direction in the future instead of auditioning for a trained seal act.
• Will we see an independent board appointed to the Windsor Airport before decisions are made for the next ten years?
• Will we see a functioning, truly independent Auditor General's office before the end of this Council's term?
• Will we see Ward re-districting before the next Municipal Election or is that project destined to be studied ad nauseum until it's too late?
• Facing a $1.5 million dollar lawsuit from George Sofos, protracted legal battles surrounding the Capitol Theatre and heavens knows what from the Bridge Company, will Council finally decide that talking is far more prudent than litigating?
• Expensive branding exercises and Communications departments seem to have given way to clean and green. Will Council finally decide that doing something positive has far more benefits than talking about it and telling people what we're going to do instead of doing something?
Those are a few issues off the top of my head. Is this Council ready to tackle them on their own? Maybe a few of our current incumbents are starting to realize the deep undercurrent of dissatisfaction that is running throughout the City. The next election may be over two years away, but that time will pass far faster than many would imagine.
Are we ready for some real debate and discussion at Council? Has a period of independent thought and action begun?
Time will tell - and more and more people are paying attention with each passing day.
PS. I'm off to Toronto for the day. Don't let the revolution start without me!
Don Lajoie, Windsor Star
Published: Saturday, May 17, 2008
Absentee landlords who "herd students like cattle" into overcrowded, substandard and often unsafe housing are causing a rapid deterioration in neighbourhoods surrounding the University of Windsor, says Coun. Ron Jones.
Reacting to neighbourhood concerns about unkempt properties, trash, fire hazards and declining property values, the Ward 2 councillor said university administrators and city hall officials must sit down with the residents to find solutions.
"We've got kids living in cellars and attics being gouged $300 to rent places not fit to live in," Jones said. "Over the last four or five years we've had a proliferation of really bad landlords."
One interesting thing to note about the above article is that the timeframe cited by Councillor Jones of "over the last four or five years" happens to coincide with his and Councillor Postma's tenure on Windsor City Council. Speaks volumes as far as I'm concerned.
By continuing to support the Interim Control By-law preventing demolition or construction in the Sandwich area, Councillors Jones and Postma are as much a part of the problem as they want to be part of the solution.
Buschante Development Group is now seeking a building permit after 591 St. Joseph, previously denied a demolition permit, suffered vandalism and was ultimately destroyed by fire. They have already constructed 3 4-plex units in other areas of the West End, providing housing for up to 36 students. They want to construct another 4-plex at 591 St. Joseph, providing another 12 units. The recommendation from administration is to deny the building permit under the terms of the Interim Control By-Law. If past history holds true to form, Councillors Jones and Postma will vote to deny Buschante Development Group their building permit.
At 2919 Donnelly, administration is again recommending against allowing demolition of the property. I checked the City's Heritage inventory and this house is not on the list. There is no reason to deny this permit other than not wanting to set a precedent that the Bridge Company might be able to use to demolish their homes. The fact that this house is located on the corner of Indian Road probably doesn't help the owner, Mr. Flood. On hold at this location is a five unit townhouse.
That makes 17 units on hold, possibly forcing 17 students to utilize the sub-standard housing Councillor Jones is so adamant about dealing with. If higher quality accommodation is available, then many of these landlords would be forced to improve their holdings or face losing needed income.
Councillor Jones rails against "bad landlords" while he makes good landlords like Mr. Flood and Buschante operate with both hands and one foot tied behind their back. By the time the Interim Control By-Law expires and these two gentleman finish navigating the bureaucratic nightmare called the City of Windsor, it will be close to three years before they can complete their projects. Watching this process unfold, why would any landlord or property developer in their right mind wish to do anything in Windsor's West End?
You can click on the image below for a quick slideshow of the properties in question as well as an example of the type of building that the Buschante Development Group wishes to build.
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While there are many issues surrounding student housing in the West End, boarded up homes and stalled development only make a bad situation worse. The Interim Control By-Law is doing nothing but contributing to the deterioration of neighbourhoods throughout the entire area.
Some recent headlines you may have missed in the last few days.
At a time when Windsor should be fielding the leanest, meanest, most agressive Development Commission in the Country, we have a rudderless ship drifting in the night.
We've spent a fortune over the last few years to get our "governance" right, creating a secretive board and commission that is now virtually unaccountable to the public that funds it. The commission has been reorganized and shuffled so much that there is little institutional memory left. To add a little salt on the wound, we recently discovered that we also have the only Development Commission in the Province (the country ?) with a paid board. We don't know how much they're being paid, because that's a secret us lowly taxpayers don't deserve to know. European jaunts, Windsor Club buffet spreads and generous stipends while Windsor struggles against the perfect storm. At least everyone in Windsor now knows where the money cut from the Library has been going.
The WEDC has managed to deliver a new website and I hear some brochures are on the way. While we spend money on feel good marketing campaigns and expensive initiatives to lobby ourselves (Greenlink), former Mayor John Millson is out there doing what needs to be done.
How about this? Cancel the rest of the Greenlink marketing, W.E. Can campaign, suspend the WEDC board for the remainder of the year, forget about the $900,000 dollar branding exercise and shelve any other big-buck plans that may be lurking in the background. Hire John Millson and give him all the money. Tell him to hire ten more people just as effective and aggressive as him and don't come back until the contracts are in hand.
It certainly can't be any worse than the current clusterf*#k we have operating now.
Up a winding road off the Trans-Canada Highway, then down a hill and tucked into the corner of a Sudbury industrial park, is a mining-equipment plant where a city's boom flourishes.
About 725 kilometres to the south, near a service road in east-end Windsor, is an old tool shop where a city's bust lingers.
This once-mighty industrial city survived ups and downs for decades, but now it's staggering under hits that just keep coming
May 17, 2008 04:30 AM
Tony Van Alphen
" ... these jobs are going boys and they ain't coming back ... "
– Bruce Springsteen, "My Hometown"
WINDSOR–Gerry Farnham saw the pain and despair in the worker's face as the man sat across his desk at the local union office last spring.
A word to the wise to our current Council. Now would probably be a very good time to re-visit Councillor Dilken's motion to deliver all the minutes from our arms-length agencies to Councillors. In the future, claiming you "didn't know", just won't cut it. You've already demonstrated that you didn't want to know.
Happy Victoria Day! Let's take a pause from politics and look at the life of Victoria Alexandrina, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Empress of India (she was also the first Monarch of Canada). Many people don't know enough about Victoria herself and only think of Victoria Day as a holiday from school or work and one out of two days where it is legal (the other is Canada Day) to use fireworks.
Victoria was the daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent (son of George III) and of Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg. She was born May 24, 1819, at Kensington Palace in London. She was crowned Queen of Great Britain and Ireland in 1937, at age 18. She soon learned how to take the matter of state in hand and in 1840, she proposed to and married her cousin, Albert (1819-61) who was son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, her uncle. (Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is the real family name of Queen Elizabeth II. The family changed its name to Windsor from the German name during the First World War). With Albert, she raised nine children and had a happy marriage. She died at on the Isle of Wight, on Jan. 22, 1901, after a reign which lasted almost 64 years, the longest in British history.
NATIONAL HOLIDAY
Victoria Day is celebrated in Canada on the Monday prior to May 25. It is the official celebration of the birthdays of Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth II. Victoria Day was first established as a holiday in Canada West (now Ontario) in 1845, and became a national holiday in 1901. Before Victoria Day, Canadians celebrated Empire Day.
Canada's latest blogging Mayor is Ottawa's Larry O'Brien. Following in the footsteps of Dawson City's pioneering Mayor John Steins (First Mayoral Blog in Canada) and Guelph's Karen Fairbridge, Mayor O'Brien can't claim to be the first but he does capture the award for first bilingual blog by a Mayor.
The Ottawa Sun has also just launched a City Hall Blog called Sun & The City. The Windsor Star has had two very short-lived attempts at a City hall blog by Roseann Danese and Dave Battagello. Both disappeared after showing great promise.
All four of the blogs above, along with the rest of Canada's blogging municipal officials, can be found on MUNIBlogs.com .
An interesting article from the Oakland Press on the great border crossing debate. A good synopsis of where things stand today, without all the usual rhetoric we have to wade through in the Windsor Star. Despite the millions of dollars Windsor is spending on this issue, there is no guarantee that simply becasue DRIC announces a crossing and plaza location that that is where it's going to happen. The reality is that various levels of government in the US have a stake in this proces as well, and where they stand is far from clear.
If it comes down to simple dollars and cents on the American side, the Ambassador Bridge will win hands down. Windsor's absolute refusal to deal with the Ambassador Bridge in any way is shortsighted and ultimately damaging to this region. If the business case is there for two bridges, then two bridges will be built. There is no reason that the Ambassador can't proceed with their twinning project. If the City is worried that the Bridge is going to keep both bridges open, then make it part of the terms and conditions of approval that the original bridge will be mothballed once the second one is completed.
A new bridge crossing linking Detroit and Windsor appears likely at some point, but whether additional capacity is needed is hotly disputed.
The answer to that question will essentially determine whether there will be additional crossing or just a replacement for the 80-year-old Ambassador Bridge.
Amherstburg's police "poison pill", as described by the Windsor Star, would seem to be an insurmountable barrier to exploring other policing options. Seem to be are the key words.
Amherstburg should immediately begin exploratory talks with LaSalle and Windsor regarding the formation of an Essex County Regional Police force. As it's been reported, the "poison pill" only applies to a transfer to the OPP. If this is actually what is spelled out in the agreement, then switching to a Regional force should be a legitimate way of avoiding a clasue that should never have been agreed to in the first place.
Regional Police and Fire Services are long overdue in Essex County and this situation may be just the impetus required to begin talks. If an initial agreement could be reached by these three municipalities, then Tecumseh and Lakeshore could also be encouraged to join in.
Situations like this are where leadership counts. Do we have any leaders out there?
Best wishes to all the Windsor entrepeneurs heading into the Dragon's Den. Fourteen participants from the Windsor area speaks well of the can-do spirit in Windsor.
I wonder if there's some way we can lock up the Windsor Essex Development Commission and Windsor City Council in a room each week and ensure they watch each and every episode.
Ted Whipp, The Windsor Star
Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008
Call it Dragons' Den -- The Windsor Quest.
Fourteen area businesses expect to pitch their plans to the CBC national network TV show's panel of fiery financial executive dragons who decide whether to invest.
Windsor should be tripping over themselves to provide entrepeneurs of this sort every assistance possible. The future of Windsor is here, not in some pot o' gold at the end of a Federal or Provincial funding rainbow.
I've said it before and will continue to say it. The 400 City Hall audit and any others completed by former Auditor Mike Dunbar will be devoid of any value by the time the City finishes putting them through multiple spin cycles.
The real battle is ensuring that Windsor implements the office of Auditor General as Council has approved. We must keep an eye out for any effort to place restrictions on the office that would compromise it's independence or in any way subject it to control and direction by City Council beyond what is already allowed for in the legislation.
The second thing we must push for is the establishment of this office as soon as possible. My guess is that Council will drag out this process into late 2008 or early 2009 before beginning a search for the postion. By the time the Auditor General is finally in place and begins audits it will be 2010. The first audit reports will probably start being released in November or December 2010, right AFTER the next municipal elections.
Hopefully I'm wrong, but I'm not holding my breath on this one.
That's funny, why do they have to travel to Toronto to "sell city" when, judging by the comments on the article below, our elected representatives long ago sold us out.
Your housing affordability is great. You compare that to Toronto or Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, where people are paying obscene amounts for a house and taking on 40-year mortgages for half a million dollars or more."
Windsor did well in terms of average house price ($162,400), the number of new cars on our streets (15 per cent are 2004 models or newer), and our average household income ($79,135).
"If you look at some of the underlying numbers, Windsor has a lot more to be proud of than I think people realize," McGugan said.
The current Mayor and Council will eventually wake up and realize that it is their own actions creating "naysayers" in Windsor. My fervrent hope is that this realization happens the day they wake up and discover they no longer hold elected office.
The Windsor City Council Voting Database is online, but still under development. Right now I'm working on front end display and search issues as well as some back end organization.
Once I have the format completed I will enter several weeks of meeting data to test with. When I reach that stage I will be looking for a couple of people willing to do either data entry or data verification. My goal is to have every record entered by one person and verified by someone else in order to ensure the integrity of the data.
There will be a special meeting of Windsor City Council with representatives of DRIC scheduled for:
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 beginning at 6:00 p.m.
Council Chambers, 3rd floor, Windsor City Hall.
TV Cogeco Cable 11 has agreed to broadcast this meeting LIVE.
I think that might be a good time to schedule that root canal I've been putting off.
The Motor City Mini-MouthTM with yet another shining example of why Ward 4 will be in play next election.
As I've stated here many times before, those wishing so much for an Integrity Commissioner should be careful what they wish for. There's no lack of interesting information bouncing around in the public domain for the Integrity Commissioner to sink his/her teeth into. I guarantee the target won't be what everyone thinks is the obvious choice.
When Good News Windsor started blogging I welcomed the blog to the blogroll at WE Speak, no different than any other blog.
While I'm a proud charter member of the "naysayer" crowd so reviled in the inner circle of happening Windsor, I was interested in seeing a "good news" Windsor blog come to the fore.
On the other hand, what does it say for Windsor when the good news can't last more than a month?
We can either continue to fool ourselves with big bucks "feel good" marketing campaigns or face the reality of our current situation and deal with it.
Unfortuantely, the "feel good" crowd, led by Mayor Eddie Francis, is still winning the day. Local marketing firms and the Windsor Star are reaping the rewards of Mayor Francis's largesse, while Windsor taxpayers are left to deal with the bill.
I still hold out hope that our current Windsor City Council will one day discover a spine, but that hope fades with each passing day.
With a pending Ward re-districting happening before the next election, I hope none of the current chair warmers are getting comfortable. It may still be two years from now, but if any of them think it will be the same old, same old of past Windsor elections, they're in for a shock.
His past endorsement of the staus quo regarding the re-election of Pupatello and Duncan last October is nothing more than a speed bump on the road to self gratification.
The old adage "you reap what you sow" comes to mind.
I've been wanting to move to a domain for a while now but didn't quite have all the pieces in place. One thing I wanted to do was ensure that I moved all my posts from Blogger to the new site. Until recently that proved to be a problem, but last week I found a backup tool for Blogger that exported all the posts in XML format. Once the data was in XML I could then use the same program that powers WE Speak to import everything. The only downside it that all the posts were imported under the same date. I will have to go back and manually change the dates to organize everything. Over the next couple of weeks I'll be working away at that so I can bring the complete archive of posts online.
Blogger was a great place to start blogging, but eventually it becomes limited. With my own domain I can now accomplish more. Over the next several months I'll be adding some new tools and resources that I've been working on such as a database of Council votes and a City Council Meeting Calendar that's iCal and RSS enabled.
I don't have a big budget for a launch party like the guys over at Scale Down Windsor, but if you show up at the Kildare House later on this eveing (anytime after 9pm), there's a good chance I'll buy you a beer! PS. If you come across any bugs in the site, please let me know. I've tried to test everything amongst a wide range of browsers, but there's always something that slips through.
If you want a cool avatar for comments, visit My Gravatar and setup an account. It's quick and easy to do. Gravatar allows you to setup an avatar and tie it to a specific email address. Whenever you post on sites using that email, the site will automatically pull the appropriate avatar for your post. It works here, in Blogger, Wordpress and most other blogging platforms.
Candidate for city council, Ward 2, Chris Schnurr is officially kicking off his “Time for Action,” campaign on Tuesday, September 19th, 2006 at 6 p.m. at the Coffee Exchange located at 343 Ouellette Avenue, downtown Windsor.
“The next four years are critical to the City of Windsor, and I do not believe incumbent Ward 2 councilors are meeting these challenges. I intend to offer voters a clear choice: more of the same, or a reasonable, conciliatory approach to foster improved relationships with government, industry, labour and the residents of Ward 2.”
Everyone is welcome to attend, share ideas and ask questions. Free refreshments will be available. For more information please contact Jason Silvert, campaign manager, at 519-551-2420 or email
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A Campaign Kick-Off Dinner was held Monday September 11th as Kim McKinley announced her candidacy to run for election as a trustee for the Greater Essex County District School Board Wards 1, 2 and 3. The Kick-off was a huge success with nearly 100 tickets sold in advance. The Kick-Off Dinner doubled as a fundraising event and was held at the beautiful St. Angela’s Hall at 750 Erie Street in Windsor.
Wendy Cunningham of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Windsor/Essex office introduced Kim and spoke to the guests in attendance of Kim’s commitment to education for the past 13 years. Kim shared with everyone how she came to make her decision to run for trustee over this past year. She also thanked the many people and businesses that contributed to the huge success of the evening.
------------ Editors Note: emailed from McKinley Campaign
I was born in this community and have a Master’s of Business Administration and Honours, Bachelor of Commerce Degree from the University of Windsor. I work in the Financial Services Industry and happily live in South Windsor with my wife Rita.
I understand the needs of this community having been raised with family that has sweated to contribute to the very fabric that many other proud citizens have. Realizing that our diversity is the backbone that has made us what we are, I also know that this is the same driver that will provide future opportunity to our children.
I want to be the voice for the southwest area of Windsor to freeze inflated property taxes and foster a more controlled spending behaviour. I have a plan to help our community see the same growth much of the rest of Canada has enjoyed in the past 5 years.
WEBSITE: www.geocities.com/votebaggio EMAIL:
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CAMPAIGN PHONE LINE: 519-972-6061
I've added all the registered candidates websites to the sidebar for Council and School Board races. If I wasn't able to find a website, then the link defaults to the Official City of Windsor Election page.
Here's the latest update for Council Candidates by ward. I will be including websites as well, as it seems like the City of Windsor website will not be listing them. If you know of any candidates websites, please post the URL in the comments or email
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Drew DILKENS 3125 Massey Court N9E 2Z6 (519) 969-3739 Email:
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Website: http://www.dilkens.com/
Mohammad Qayyum KHAN 3495 Huron Church Road N9E 5H5 Email: Website:
Alfonso TESHUBA 2619 California Avenue N9E 4L6 (519) 259-9322 Email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Website: http://www.alteshuba.com
Ward 2
Ronald (Ron) JONES 390 Randolph N9B 2T6 (519) 252-1005 Email: Website: http://www.ronjones.ca - not active yet
Leo PETRILLI 306 Partington Avenue, Apt. 105 N9B 2B5 (519) 253-4223 Email:
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Website:
Chris SCHNURR 804 Chilver Road N8Y 2K4 (519) 256-0246 Email:
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Website: http://www.chrisschnurr.ca/
Ward 3
Anthony (Tony) BLAK 2461 Lincoln Road N8W 2R6 (519) 254-8202 Email:
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Website:
Alan HALBERSTADT 2517 Gail Road N9A 2Z7 (519) 971-8989 Email:
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Website: http://www.votealan2006.com
Fulvio VALENTINIS 2173 Victoria Avenue N8X 1P8 (519) 977-9367 Email:
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Website:
Ward 4
Dave CASSIVI 4620 Riverside Drive East N8Y 1B8 (519) 251-4614 Email: Website:
Ken LEWENZA 1741 Tourangeau N8Y 4J9 (519) 818-1286 Email: Website:
John MIDDLETON 1691 St. Luke N8Y 3N4 (519) 256-0606 Email:
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Website:
I received an email today regarding a candidates website:
www.chrisschnurr.ca will be available shortly, in the meantime, there is a place-holder page. September 21 is the target, go-live date.
I've been searching for websites for various candidates in order to post a complete list. Anyone knowing of any sites, please drop me a line at
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Councillor Alan Halberstadt held a Campaign Launch BBQ at Optimist Park Thursday evening. Approximately 150 people were in attendance. Alan also announced at the event that there was word Tony Blak was registering for the Ward 3 Race of the 1st of September.
As we round off August and head into September things should start firming up in local municipal races. I'm looking for a few more contributors for this blog. Not really looking for partisan postings from different camps, rather some extra eyes, ears and hands to report on different events, especially ones that might not get covered in the mainstream media.
As it stand now, it doesn't look like there is going to be a race for Mayor, which tends to have a negative effect on the overall campaign. Not as much coverage and a lower turnout. In this situation many candidates will have a hard time raising their profile and getting the word out about themselves and their platforms.
If you're interested in blogging or even emailing in reports, drop me a line at
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Here's a rundown of the current School Board races for the Public Board and any related info that I can find.
TRUSTEE, WARDS 1, 2, & 3 (combined)
For this office you are entitled to vote for 4 (four) candidates.
Sabrina BASKEY-EAST 3157 Glenwood Avenue N9E 2X9 (519) 250-5388 Email:
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Beth COOPER (incumbent) 3494 Longfellow N9E 4C1 (519) 966-4114
Lisa GRETZKY 1618 Pierre Avenue N8X 4P8 (519) 258-9057
Tom KILPATRICK (incumbent) 1226 Devonshire Road N8Y 2M7 (519) 252-7065 Fax: (519) 254-6524 Email:
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Kim McKINLEY 2903 Randolph N9E 3E3 (519) 972-1035 Email:
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Here's a rundown of the current Ward races and any related info that I can find.
Ward One
Greg BAGGIO 3421 Maisonneuve Avenue N9E 1Y9 (519) 972-6061 Email:
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Dave BRISTER (incumbent) 874 Lounsborough Street N9G 1G3
Alfonso TESHUBA 2619 California Avenue N9E 4L6 (519) 259-9322 Email:
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Ward Two
Ronald (Ron) JONES (incumbent) 390 Randolph N9B 2T6 (519) 252-1005
Leo PETRILLI 306 Partington Avenue, Apt. 105 N9B 2B5 (519) 253-4223 Email:
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Caroline POSTMA (incumbent) 841 Bruce Avenue N9A 4X6 (519) 971-0728
ChrisSCHNURR 804 Chilver Road N8Y 2K4 (519) 256-0246 Email:
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Ward Three
Alan HALBERSTADT (incumbent) 2517 Gail Road N9A 2Z7 (519) 971-8989
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Website: VoteAlan2006.com
Fulvio VALENTINIS (incumbent) 2173 Victoria Avenue N8X 1P8
Ward 4
Dave CASSIVI (incumbent) 4620 Riverside Drive East N8Y 1B8 (519) 251-4614
Ken LEWENZA (incumbent) 1741 Tourangeau N8Y 4J9 (519) 818-1286
Bill MARRA 2475 Buckingham Drive N8T 2B4
John MIDDLETON 1691 St. Luke N8Y 3N4 (519) 256-0606
As we move into Municipal election season, I thought it would be worthwhile to start up a blog to track various events, stories etc, during the campaign. I will be searching for other bloggers to join in order to represent a diverse group.
Free Offer: I can send an invite for a Gmail account to anyone on Ken Lewenza's campaign team who wishes it. That way they can set up a Gmail account for campaign use instead of Ken's City of Windsor email address.
Edit 2: looks like Ken has his full website up now, complete with a non-City email address.
The Windsor Star has started an Election Blog - Election Notebook. "Roseann Danese follows this year's municipal election, and posts all the behind-the-scenes news and notes."
Unfortunately, CanWest seems to be the only paper left in Canada that hasn't clued into RSS feeds as yet, so there is no way at present to add the blog to the WE Speak page or in any other way syndicate the content. (Actually there are ways to scrape the content and syndicate it, but the time and effort involved for me just isn't worth it). I've added a link to the blog in the sidebar.
Hint for CanWest - if you want to drive more traffic to your website and therefore increase exposure and clicks for your advertisers - syndicate.
If you're a Windsor Star advertiser, you should encourage them to syndicate at least their blog content.
To further highlight Blogging Candidates, I have added a sidebar link list.
These candidates all have active blogs that are open to comment. You can visit and post comments or questions for all to see. These candidates have demonstrated a committment to open communication through their use of a new medium like blogs.
In times like this, when many people are cynical about politicians and the political process, they deserve some recognition and support for their efforts, regardless of the end results on election day.
All of the blogs listed have valid RSS feeds and have been added to the aggregator at WE Speak. If you click on the " Election " tab on the front page, you will get a summary of all the election related blogs.
If you don't see your favourite candidate listed, contact them and encourage them to blog.
Ward 4,5 Cheryl Lovell 3085 Wildwood Drive N8R 1S7 (519) 735-4101 Email:
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Steve Micallef 1703 Ford Blvd. N8T 2C9 (519) 944-2668
I read with interest today in the paper that the profits at Casino Windsor are expected to dramatically drop. The story is indeed news but unbalanced. In the story the Star quoted two councillors on the problem. Since we are going to the polls for the municipal election on November 13th, I feel the Star is not being fair, to the democratic process.
If indeed you want to get a quote from a councillor but do not want to get one from one of the people that is challenging that councillor, the councillor should go unnamed. It could be attributed to simply as a "member of council", and if more that one quote "another present member of council".
Alternatively you could give both sides of a debate the opportunity to express their thoughts. I noticed this not only in the story of the casino, but in the coverage of the bus terminal. Do not the readers of the Star deserve to read the whole story?
New Candidate Ward 1 Ed Kobrosly 2534 Dougall Avenue N8X 1T6 (519) 972-611 Email:
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New Candidate Ward 2
Gail Growe 742 Victoria Avenue N9A 4N2 (519) 254-0639 Email:
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