At this very moment in some far corner of Canada (like Mud Lake, Labrador or Inuvik in the Yukon) someone is sitting on his or her Al Bundy Special Ferguson reading about Windsor's now famous "FLUSH" protest. Windsorites were, and still are, mad as heck about being ambushed with an 86% and counting water and sewage rate hike. Our Civic leaders and utility commissioners thought it worldly-wise to lie and number fudge hoping that their factory mentality electorate couldn't catch the play. Their ploy and perception couldn't have been more badly conceived. On Tuesday, August 7, 2007 between the hours of 12 and 1 PM citizens of Windsor organized to fire a "three flusher" right across their bow. The WUC might have been successful in diverting the flow of it's citizen's bile and effluent on that day but the real gush is just hitting the fans now.
Canadian Business Magazine Reports
on Windsor's FLUSH Campaign
If our flush was thwarted at the Lou Romanow waste treatment facility it didn't go unnoticed elsewhere. Jeff Sanford of Canadian Business Magazine happened to be working on an article about infrastructure in Canada and the "FLUSH" protest in Windsor caught his attention. The Cameo spot in his piece goes to Windsor and is entitled "Things Fall Apart". For fancy coloured pictures you can pick up a copy of Canadian Business Magazine at any Shoppers Drug Mart or you can read the electronic version here:
So...As of last week, word of Windsor's now famous civil disobedience is parked on the desks of business people, utility bosses, civil servants and politicians right across Canada. What is wrong with Windsor's civic leadership, the WUC and Fortress Enwin is out there for scrutiny. One thing certain to be learned by any politician or civic leader who reads the article: How not to handle your infrastructure costs. You can bet that this blogger will be sending copies of Canadian Business Magazine to the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and to the Auditor General of Ontario.
More Flushed Out
Our story was only the beginning and end of Jeff Sanford's article. The real meat was about how governments are embracing P3s (Public Private Partnerships) which will serve to limit the accountability of elected officials, as they can no longer be held responsible for the day to day operations of utilities like WUC and Enwin. Politicians have already been flaunting P3s as the panacea so rate payers have to sharpen up with savvy and pronto.
The bottom line is that the financing of municipal infrastructure has little to do with availability of funds or the cost of borrowing as governments can easily borrow funds at better rates than the private sector. The only reason that a government would get excited about a P3 partner is because they have insufficient municipal revenues. Such is the case with the City of Windsor and the WUC. One very important question remains: Why?
More about the perils P3s later.
7 comments:
I guess their coming to yank the chicken out of our pots.
P3partnership kinda reminds me of the subprime mortgage disaster. A risky financing scheme thats sure to blow up sooner or later. No competent city government would consider it.
The WUC screwup and the justifiable national exposure is sure to cripple diversification efforts. Next election a lot of utility commission members will be looking for jobs. Considering the wide circulation of Canadian Business magazine; they sure won't find a job in the private sector.
Why does Windsor have any debt incurred when it has revenues from the Raceway slots, tunnel, Yacht Club, Roseland Golf course...
Most city's do not have that kind of revenue at their disposal but they are not floundering like Windsor has been for the last 20 years.
So your question of why is great. But will anyone answer it?
Mismanagement from all levels are the reason but this apathetic city keeps electing the same damn fools in again. We are our own worst enemy.
THEY...are trying their damdest not to answer it as is obvious by the section 9 audit which the Mayor demanded against the wishes of citizens. His is only going to be a rehash of the WUC's financials and to further slap his constituents in the face; at a cost of $156,000.00! The Mayor, council and WUC officials are scared crapless of a section 10 audit which delves into the operational aspects of WUC and Enwin. And they should be. Where did all the money which was supposed to have been earmarked for maintenance go? Toronto, a city seventeen times the size of Windsor with the same infrastructure problems has just announced a 9% rate increase over five years. The fact that these local crooks want an 86% rate hike effective immediately with more increases scheduled tells us there is something grossly wrong in the candy factory. I'll not vote for a single one of them next time around.
The Star finally reported the audit news today. Should take 3 -4 months to complete at a cost of $157,000.00. It is not however the audit which ratepayers asked for. It is only a redundant financial audit which I'm sure the city administrators will spin out as a "see I told you so". The problem isn't how well the public can see but how poorly our mayor and council can hear. We've been asking for an in depth operational audit since day one and repaeating over and over again that a mere financial audit will accomplish nothing. What a sick joke.
...and here I thought King Eddie wanted a "quick" response to this issue. Funny, the Auditor General would have already been investigating now instead of taking 8-10 weeks to start and at NO COST to local taxpayers.
Hey Eddie, Sandra and Dwight, thanks for nothing! You are all useless and the rsidents in this area have no one to blame but themselves.
I agree with Dave. Why do we keep electing these people? I know when I go to vote in my ward FV defiantly out. I think AH has a little more ground to stand on but FV does absolutely nothing on council. As far as SP and DD. I can't believe we just voted them back in.
FV & AH you want to get votes ask for the proper audit NOW !!!
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