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• >the cities that is less impacted by the recession. These secret meetings >had put into place some policies and deals that are the best for the >overall good of the city in question. Why would the mayor and council do >otherwise? If they do something for personal gain, they will go to >prison for it. I hope they understand these consequences. Eddy has >certainly not done everything perfectly, but he has done some good >things. One of which is standing up for the CITIZENS of Windsor against >CUPE.

  Nice troll work.....I hope!!

• JP - That's your opinion and you're entitled to it, but as a taxpayer, when my tax dollars are being spent, I can't see any reason why I can't know what my government is up to?

  Take the arena, $65 million tax dollar spent for what basically amounts to a new home for the Spitfires, and the tax payers who built it don't know the details of the true cost and the lease deal the Spitfires signed...

  Nothing about the arena should be secret IMO. If it's a deal that could be negatively affected, that's fine, but once the deal is done, so should the secrecy.

  You stated:

  This city is now one of the cities that is less impacted by the recession.

  How so? We've got the highest unemployment rate in Canada?

• Andrew, sorry, when I said "this city" I was referring to the city that I mentioned above about the 'secret meetings', not Windsor. sorry for the confusion.

  http://thelondonfog.blogspot.com/2004/04/more-dirty-dealings-in-london-ontario.html
  In London, ON, 1994, 60% of meetings were in private. The public was pissed, but I think much of those meetings had to do with buying property to revive downtown and build their downtown arena. I think Londoners are happy now.

  -ps. I agree that the council should be more transparent, especially after these in-camera meetings. (and i do wish the arena was downtown... they let us down on that one)
  I'm just saying that in times of transition, sometimes things need to be out of the public eye. Public meetings often hurt the city's negotiating position.
  And, yes, i know this is my opinion, and not necessarily yours or others, but that's why I like blogs, its a chance to voice all opinions.

• I couldn't have said it any better myself Andrew.

  The 7% labour cost to auto's is a fallacy. It is much higher when added into the larger equation of costs in vehicles. As a person who is deeply involved in this sector I should know. But I will leave it for another day.

  What is galling to so many of us is that not only do they make a good wage. There is little to this contract that is reducing anything they have other than legacy costs to the very employees who want the golden pensions for their future brethren. Much like Sid Ryan has stated to the mayor about why he is in arms over something that will impact us in 30 years and therefore to the councillors who won't even be here in 30 years. The same can be said about his own members.

  The truth is legacy costs are killers to cities especially one's that are in dire econimc times. As it is, public sector employees on average make 36% more than the private sector workers. So why the fuss. They already have a leg up on most workers in this city. Add in some of the best pension plans in the world (compare to employers who were polled that showed 88% will be reducing and/or removing pensions from their companies altogther in the next few years) these people really have it good.

  For those who say Manager's got a 15% raise. Well, they also had a pay freeze as well as reduced pensions. Plus I think it was mistake in the first place, should the city make a second mistake just because the first was made? What kind of union logic is that?

  Sorry but some things need to be privatized especially in a city with such high taxes and high unemployment.

  As a last idea, I think we should bring back residency requirements; these same workers who demand, demand, demand the majority (as indicated by city hall) don't even live within the city boundaries. They are not even affected by their own strike! It is wasn't for weak-kneed liberal judges this would still be in effect. The problem is the city is too chicken to challenge it in court!

• If you ask me, CUPE is getting off easy with no wage cuts. The city should be adding asking a cumulative 1% reduction per day for each day CUPE is on strike.

  Do you know how Windsor fares in property taxes with other cities?

  Res. Multi-Res Commercial Industrial
  Brampton 1.195419 1.852070 2.762082 3.150304
  Toronto 0.8528434 2.3521901 4.0932775 4.3692841
  Richmond Hill 1.023412 1.023412 2.409507 2.701276
  Mississauga 1.002521 1.577668 2.595117 2.941159
  Milton (Urban 0.913584 1.733293 2.320775 3.462572
  Markham 1.020416 1.020416 2.405891 2.697160

• Res. Multi-Res Commercial Industrail
  Windsor 1.741741 4.179205 4.731402 7.888734

  We have the highest property tax rates in Windsor. We also have the highest unemployment. Do you think this has any corelation? Where do you think the money goes? CUPE?

• A new report out of Edmonton shows that Toronto takes the dubious honour for having the highest property taxes in Canada.....

  Toronto ranked first with the highest taxes paid at $3,912, followed by Brampton at $3,826. Ottawa was third at $3,532; Hamilton and London were fifth and sixth at $3,305 and $3,078 respectively. St. John’s Newfoundland deserves credit for taking last place with the lowest average tax at $1,540, and Surrey, BC was second last at $1,814....

  When paying taxes one cares less about the rate paid or the details of the complicated formula used. Instead, one cares about how much money is being taken year over year. That is the only comparison relevant to a taxpayer, not whether the rate is 0.82 in one city versus 1.15 in another city.

  The rest of the article is here: http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/1517

• Bullsh-it. You think if the Chrysler plant in Brampton is paying a property tax rate of 3.15% and the Chrysler plant in Windsor is paying a property tax rate of 7.9% that what each plant pays in property taxes won't play a factor on which Chrysler plant to shut down if it comes down to getting a negotiated settlement on payroll, but there still being too much production in Canada? Multi-res, commercial and industrial rates are based on the gross incomes of what's coming out of these plants/businesses. It's the same with any private sector industry in Windsor. You're cutting your own throat when you're here implying that Windsor has competitive rates when it comes down to the property taxes it pays to Windsor to support CUPE Windsor's payroll.

• I just read that report Guido. It only talks about the residential property tax rates, not multi-res, commercial, or industrial when it says Toronto is the highest, and it's also saying Toronto's residential rate is highest overall because of value of houses in Toronto. Windsor has high end housing too. I can find you $2million home neighbourhoods on Victoria near Cabana or Riverside Dr in Windsor. Sure we have cheap pockets of old housing. But, we also have high end housing and they're getting raped by Windsor's residential property tax rates.

• I think Garbage collection in Naples is private!! Careful what you wish for.