"WILLISTEAD GATE" AND MICELLI'S SECRET REPORT

By Harold G. LeBoeuf

Serpentine Locks of Medusa

The blatant arrogance of Miceli to the simple request of Howard Weeks asking to be advised of the content of a report Miceli says was requested by The Heritage Committee, apparently knows no bounds. Unquestionably, his ego has grown so large that he honestly believes that he is a member of hegemony and who, like Mayor Eddie, can force his agenda on any person who comes along and has the audacity to question him. He states that Weeks is “suggesting that I am denying the public’s right to know”; that Weeks demanded “that I provide you with a copy of a report that has yet to be made public.”  He accuses Weeks in words implying ignorance on the part of Weeks, and is “alarmed” that Weeks does “not seem to understand the severity of such a request…”  And he concludes with. “I ask you to please summarize what changes you are “alarmed” by at Willistead that were not addressed in the plan available for public review on the City’s website or what was discussed at the Public Meeting of the Heritage Committee held on the January 8th, 2014 whereby you appeared as a delegation?”

In truth, the bully type of ranting Miceli expressed in his reply constitute nothing more than a pitiful reply of a person who has been caught with his hands in the cookie jar, and whose only aim is to spring the plans of himself and Marshall on an unsuspecting public. Well Miceli, you are indeed denying the public’s right to know, and your condescending reply to Weeks speaks volumes against your managerial skills and diplomacy. Your attempts at putting Weeks on the defensive by asking him to enumerate problems not addressed or discussed at a Heritage Committee meeting and not having any knowledge of what is contained in your “secret report” only confirms that you may have something to hide or, at the very least, it is in your best interests for the public not to know prior to the November meeting of the Committee (Will you be there? If so, I want to challenge your standing to address the Committee when you are no longer an employee of, or resident of, the City of Windsor. Perhaps you should send Clement or Marshall.) Why do you find such a simple request for information “alarming,” or of a nature that any member of the public shouldn’t be allowed to ask?

Now I am in a position to discuss the content of your “secret report” with Weeks, with the other Ward 4 candidates, and with the concerned members of the public. Miceli, in an earlier reply stated that the report only dealt with seeking the approval for a pedestrian gate to be installed beside the main gate on Niagara Street. That is simply not a true statement and one that is intended to be misleading and put an end to the simple request. In fact, the “secret report”, while it does request approval for a new pedestrian gate, also includes approval to construct an “accessible route to be connected to the new pedestrian gate” and plazas at each of the other pedestrian gates. It may include, or a request will be withheld for a future presentation, elements such as benches and lighting for all of the serpentine locks of Medusa (instead of roadways, we may in the future have to refer to them as airport runways). Miceli’s henchmen will later have to request from council additional funding over the $400,000.00 already granted because, as he states in a report submitted to the Heritage Committee on January 8^th, the effects on the budget cannot be determined at this time. We can be reasonably satisfied that it has long ago exceeded the $400,000.00 approved due to the accelerated work to get the pathways done before Art-in-the-Park and the Beer Tent Festival; the extra trucks, extra labourers, and, oh yes, all of the rented equipment to get the job done.

Now here is where we get down to the nitty-gritty as to what was discussed or not discussed, and what was obscured from view unless you thoroughly examined the plan to determine what Miceli and Marshall had in mind (and we have absolutely no guarantee that the approval being sought at the November Heritage Committee meeting concludes what is in the Daring Duo’s proposed plans or for what approval will be sought in the months to come. What were not discussed in detail were the proposed pedestrian gateway and the accessible route to the manor. Was it included in the report and plan? – YES. Could those attending the meeting be aware of this if it wasn’t specifically discussed and if the details of the hidden aspects on the plan weren’t specifically discussed? – NO. Don’t forget, all of these features were deferred to a future meeting for discussion and approval. That meeting is in November; it wasn’t to be discussed on January 8^th.

If you go to the following website, and I quite strongly urge you to do so because what I am about to tell will be revealing and even fun, you will see the plan of the proposed changes to Willistead (Don’t forget, Miceli says this was all available to the public for almost a year now. Would you know how to navigate your way around the cryptic website to see this document?):

http://www.citywindsor.ca/residents/parksandofrestry/Parks-Development/Documents/Proposed_Pathways.pdf

Here is where the fun comes in to play. The plan consists of many “layers” on top of each other until the desired final drawing is completed. To the left of the colourful plan you will see a legend which sets out the identity of each and every layer. And, to the left of each layer’s description, there exists a check box. You can click on any of the layers, the mark will disappear, and that layer will be “dropped” from the plan. To some of you, like David Hanna, this is old hat. Here is what you do:

Step 1: Identify the legend and various layers of the plan;

Step 2: Click to the left of “tree” and “hatch”. All trees should have disappeared and you will have a clear view of the broken red line;

Step 3: Click on “accessible route” and the broken red line will disappear showing what has been hidden underneath;

Step 4: Click again on “tree”, “hatch”, and “accessible route”. The plan will once again appear as when you first saw it.

When you first open the plan you will see a broken red line which leads from the proposed new gateway all the way to the parking lot, the manor, the circular sidewalk at the south end of the parking lot, then in front of the Coach House to the pathway leading to Chilver Road, and finally out the Chilver Road gate. What you are looking at is nothing more than a broken red line showing how people can walk around the park from the proposed gateway. This is the only view of the drawing available and the one presented to the Committee on January 8^th. Believe me when I say that members of the Committee didn’t have at hand the necessary computers, and certainly persons from the public didn’t have them, to play around with the legends aspects. And Miceli certainly didn’t explain what the dashed red line hid. You, almighty sages and seers, are attributed the ability by Miceli to have x-ray vision to see what’s under the broken red line and to know what lay in the mind of both he and Marshall. Yet he dares to tell you and Weeks that it was all presented over a year ago. Was it?

If you have done what I described above, then you probably have guessed what I am going to tell you the “secret report” contains. For those of you who have not gone to the site, you will now find below three versions of the proposed plan. The first shows the plan as presented on the website with the dashed red line; the second shows the plan with all of the trees and obstructions removed; the third shows the plan with the dashed red line removed.

Plan as it appears on the website and presented to Committee

Same plan without the trees and clutter.

Same plan without the dashed red line.

Voila! Do you see the pad at the proposed site of the new pedestrian gate? Do you see what else is being sought approval for – a new asphalt path of similar width to the others leading from the gateway pad to two of Methuselah’s serpentine locks; and do you see what appears to be an narrower (don’t count on it because we have seen in the immediate past how proposed pathways to be between six feet and ten feet wide became ten feet to twelve feet in width) new walkway to the east side of the driveway leading to the Manor’s Courtyard? Do you remember any of this being explained in detail to you at any of the public meetings or at the January 8^th meeting of the Heritage Committee? Of course you don’t because it wasn’t. It was deferred to a future time (November).  And by telling you that all of this was available then, it is a deliberate attempt on the part of Miceli to direct attention away from a simple request for information and to keep secret from the public what is contained in his secret report (By the way, I don’t believe for one minute that the Heritage Committee ever requested Miceli to prepare such a report. He had to prepare the report to get approval.).

Do you see the small flared out sections at the other pedestrian gates? These are the concrete plazas that no doubt approval is being requested for in the “secret report.”

Do you also see the semi-circular bumps in the serpentine locks of Methuselah? No, they are not warts; I am guessing that these are concrete pads upon which future benches will be placed. These may or not be included in the report (If you recall, Miceli has stated that the report only concerns the pedestrian gates.). But don’t be surprised if they are included.

Miceli may have also contained a request for approval to replace the main gates on Niagara Street so there is the ability for them to be securely closed and locked. More public control! And why do I say that you may ask. Here’s why. Have you ever seen or tried to close and secure the main gates? I have closed them and the gates cannot be secured; they don’t even meet in the centre because there is a significant gap between the two sections of approximately 21.2 feet as I measured it. Take a look below:

Main entrance gates closed.

If nothing else, this does give credence to Miceli’s statement that a pedestrian gate did historically exist and that it was removed when the driveway was widened. My guess is that the original gates had a gate similar to, and built into the gates. By the way, see the four pillars. Micelli is on record stating that these will not be removed or altered in any way.

Miceli complains that pedestrians walking on the driveway pose a risk both for them and motorists. This is how he justifies the addition of the new asphalt walkway on the east side of the driveway leading towards the Manor.

The driveway measures twenty-five feet in width at this point and generally except for where it meets the parking lot which branches out in westerly and southerly directions (it is twenty-eight feet in width there). By comparison, Chilver Road, Devonshire Road, and Niagara Street, also measure approximately twenty-five feet in width. Where allowed, the streets have the capacity for a row of parked cars along a curb and ample room left over for two passing automobiles. Parking and or “standing” is specifically not permitted on the Willistead driveway; it is a designated fire route. Now correct me if my calculations are wrong, but by comparison, the driveway is wide enough for two automobiles to pass leaving a car’s width free. Couldn’t part of that free space be delineated for pedestrians such as the city delineates bicycle paths on roadways instead of constructing a further ugly, black tentacle to the east of the driveway? Here’s how it looks now:

Southerly view from the proposed pad at new gateway.

If you are familiar with the present walkways as I am certain most of you are here is how the existing walk looks:

View looking north from Manor Gates.

This cobbled stone section might have been intended as an area for disembarking from vehicles and its surface is primarily level with the surface of the parking lot. There is nothing to suggest that vehicles cannot park on this surface and there is ample evidence soiling the stones to suggest that it has been done. There is no reason why parking cannot be prohibited along this section. Also, I cannot find evidence that Miceli intends to suggest that this cobble stone area be removed and supplanted with more black gunk. But who knows? See below:

Tour bus parked on cobble stone path.

This cobble stone pathway terminates at a point where the driveway meets the parking lot. See below:

Terminus of cobble stone path.

In the unadorned picture of the plan, you will see that there exists a “break” in the curb line. That may be simply an anomaly in rendering the layer, or it possibly could indicate change that approval is being sought for. In other words, does the accessible route from the tentacle directly across from the Gate House to that “break” represent a further construction of an asphalt walkway to the point where the cobble stone portion ends, or does the “secret report” contain other yet to be identified recommendations. Miceli won’t tell you. He’s keeping that a secret even though he blatantly states that all proposed changes have been obvious for almost a year now. Sure they have!

Important: From all of the changes that Miceli states were so patently obvious for the past year or so, where is it that I can find the requests for, and the approval for all of the electrical facility that has been added to the park such as the four electrical stanchions strategically placed around the park, and the 220-240 volt electric outlet installed in the main east pillar to the main entrance. For what use and purpose do you intend that? And why was it necessary to unbolt the small section of fence located in the space between the two pillars on the east side of the driveway? And why haven’t the bolts been replaced? What does your “secret report” have to say about that?

I have covered the proposed new pedestrian gateway, the accessible route and what you intend to do so that a path extends from the proposed pad at that gateway to the two tentacles of Methuselah, the concrete plazas to be constructed at the other pedestrian gates, the semi-circular concrete pads upon which you eventually (oh, I forgot, you won’t be here will you) intend to place benches, lighting for the airport runways, the missing section between the main gates which doesn’t permit the gates to be closed and secured (Giovanni, I have a feeling that the 220-240 volt electrical circuit and the controlling device already installed may be intended to control automatic gate closures for when the main gates are replaced. Is that in your report?), and I previously discussed the two very large sections of fencing that have not been replaced on Devonshire Road and Chilver Road.

Now what Mr. Miceli was so patently secret about what may be in your report that you couldn’t have conveyed it to Howard Weeks and the candidates for Ward 4. Now everybody knows (or do they?).

Miceli, have I missed anything? Oh yes I have! Where is your recommendation that someone goes on top of the Gate House to remove the tree growing out of the chimney (do they still call them smoke stacks?)?

 Tree growing out of chimney flue.

I wish you God speed to your next job, John. I mean, hurry up and go!