Casino Expansion Update

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• It is coming along nicely but I have to wonder about the $400 million price tag. With the smoking ban and passport regulation due in 2009 I think there will be another declinein attendance at the Casino.
  On a side note, I find it interesting that the city closes streets arbitrarily (Dougall between Chatham and Pitt) but to get an easement is takes time and time and time and money and money. How convenient?

• What's really sad about this site is how long it is taking. If this were Toronto or New York, it would be done in one to two months. In China, it would be built in weeks. This is not that big a building compared to metropolitan cities. When the government puts up the money and doesn't give a crap about interest and carrying costs, it takes forever. I've seen how fast some of these condo highrises in Toronto are being built. On the portion that's completed, a private developer would be paying at least 10% interest with mezainne financing. That is a lot of interest payments to be accumulating. And, it's the taxpayers who are paying that for those carrying costs and it's gonna be another government project way over budget again. What is with this city??

• With the rumors of the Apartment building on Riverside Drive being demolished to accomodate the sightlines of the hotel, this picture is an interesting view. Notice the Apartment building still shown, but very, very transparent.
  http://www.harrahs.com/casinos/casino-windsor/casino-misc/caesars-canada-detail.html

• What is with this city? Unions and an "entitlement" mentality because of it.
  I understand this strike was province-wide but anything that needs to be built in this city takes forever. It takes forever to come to a conclusion just to build it and then it takes forever to get the thing built.

• As far as I understand the apartment on Riverside isn't going anywhere andytime soon.

• It makes me sad sometimes to be a Canadian living in Windsor. Whatever happened to volunteerism and the idea of making the world a better place in this city?? Whatever happened to the idea of doing things for the greater good?? What ever happened to JFK's words, "Ask not what the country can do for me, but what you can do for the country?" Granted, it was a US President who said that. But, why can't we have that kind of mentality of doing things for the greater good in this city??

  Isn't it bad enough that the unions in this city have to have this what's in it for mentality so destructively that we have the highest unemployment rate in the country and scare off all the entrepreneurs who once believed in this city. Who's gonna want to build another commercial building in Windsor after seeing it only get this far after a year a half?? It's gonna be another year before it gets done. How about the unions set by example and show what they can really do by getting things done faster to encourage other investors to invest in construction projects in this city instead of thinking about what's in it for me and I need another $10 an hour salary increase so I can booze it off.

  Then, we have greedy lawyers thinking about their pots of gold trying to cash in on public goods with useless litigation over things like the Capital, destroying the community and the feeling of doing things for the greater good.

  It's all about what's in it for me in this city.. How about unions think about the greater good for once and stop being so damn fu-cken selfish and start giving back to the public good to make this city great.

• I'm not a huge union fan, and always ready to jump on the union slamming bandwagon when it's called for, but I gotta call b.s. on this account. Have you seen what the CAW membership has given to the United Way alone (nevermind their other charitable endeavors such as Habitat). The Windsor locals alone break records every year. The big unions are far from perfect, but when it comes to charity they do dig deep. Whether it's altruism or just the unions trying to look good in the public eye is another matter, but they do give generously either way. Can't take that away from them.

• OK, so the union takes membership dues and gives it to the United Way and this somehow magically makes them good in the public eye when we have the highest unemployment rate in Canada?? Fact: GM and Ford are packing their bags and whatever's left of their operations in Windsor because they are fed up with unions in Windsor. Fact: a lot of auxillary union manufacturers like Hallmark have folded. Non-union Toyota has already claimed #1 in World auto sales. They build them in Canada, but I doubt Toyota would ever consider building an assembly plant in Windsor because of this cities reputation.

  Are you saying that people who work in non-union factories like Toyota don't give to charities? Nonsense. A lot of non-union companies and employees give to the United Way and a whole lot of other charities and will continue to do so whether the CAW exists or not. Not to mention that fact that the government is already funding a lot of the social programs like welfare and healthcare to a much higher level than the United States.

  If you choose to keep ignoring the facts, it's your choice. But, accepting the status quo will never change the problems this city is facing. I would like you to explain to me how we could lower Windsor's unemployment rate by accepting the status quo. Somebody's to blame for this unemployment rate. Cambridge Ontario with their Toyota Assembly plant has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Canada. Other cities are booming. Yet, you feel the blame for Windsor's woes lies with BIg 3s management? If the CAW were generous to this City, it wouldn't be scaring off Ford and GM other companies from Windsor. What about Lewenza shutting down Chrysler for a day several months ago for concessions? That really paints the CAW in a positive light, considering our unemployment rate.

  I think you think you've somehow painted the CAW in a positive light with your rhetoric. Give me a break!

• Please don't hesitate to put words in my mouth or to draw conclusions on my behalf that were never made. I worked in a non-unionized position in a union environment with CAW members all around for ten years. I saw some things that disgusted me, people getting away with shit they shouldn't be because of the power of the CAW. Even that was sometimes a matter of the union acting in fear of being charged for Failure to Represent. But then I also saw their generosity, both monetary and with their time. We're not talking a few bucks off their pay - we're talking about almost a million dollars to United Way from the CAW, events like the Easter Seal walkathon, participation in Habitat for Humanity, just to name a few. You call that rhetoric? No, those are facts. What you have offered is your opinion - which you are entitled to - but no facts or logic to back it up. That is what I call "rhetoric". For example, you blame the unions for the woes of the Big Three. While the CAW shoulders part of the blame, so does management, engineering, marketing, the dealer network, and even consumer buying habits alone that are not always controllable. You also need to take into consideration also that Toyota doesn't have a buttload of retiree pensions to pay. In 20-30 years, things will change for them and their overhead on pensions will be more on an open playing field with the Big Three. Life isn't always black and white, and neither is the effects, some good and some bad, that unionism brings to the workplace.

• I doubt that Toyota will ever have it as bad as the Big Three. The pension is only part of the equation. A recent Canadian Chamber of Commerce study found that unions add 30% to the cost of labour for manufacturers because they have to hire additional staff like shop foremans and deal with more red tape and entitlements . So, if a non-union plant such as Toyota is paying $30 an hour and Chrysler is paying $30 an hour, Chrysler is really paying $39 an hour. How can Chrysler of the Big 3 for that matter compete?? Then, you have all the red tape and entitlements. How can the Big Three compete against that?? Unless they move all their manufacturing operations to Mexico and China, they can't. And, then that brings up the question, why would I want to buy a foreign car when I can buy a car made here in Canada like Toyota. Oddly enough, I drive a Chevy Cavalier made by GM. Later, I found out from the serial number that it was made in Mexico. Had I known it was made in Mexico and not Canada, I would have bought Toyota.