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Take a bite out of the Core |
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Written by Alan Halberstadt
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Friday, 03 July 2009 |
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The best news story I have heard in a long time is the return of the Downtown Farmers' Market tomorrow -- 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the old Greyhound Bus Station, 44 University Ave, East.
"This market is going to showcase local growers and artisans, benefit downtown residents and attract families," says Gail Growe, co-chair of the farmers' market subcommittee of the Downtown Residents Association (DRA) "We've been amazed by the positive response we've received from the community."
The pilot venture, running every Saturday from July 4 to Oct. 10, represents a ground-breaking partnership -- between the newly minted DRA, the City of Windsor and the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association (DWBIA). The city threw in $6,000 to remediate the dormant property and the DWBIA has tossed in $10,000 to cover promotional and other operational costs. The small but passionate group of volunteers from the DRA is providing the sweat equity.
Other partners include the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, which will be offering a 20-minute concert after the opening ceremonies at 10 a.m. by its woodwind quartet, as well as two growers associations from Essex and Leamington in the county.
"The interest in buying local is really heightened right now," says John Sheridan, the Framers' Market co-chair along with Growe. "Our timing for this project couldn't be better. When the Essex County Federation of Agriculture published its local food map in May, we could see that there would be interest in the market, and it helped us find some amazing vendors."
Speaking about flawless timing, readers of the Windsor Star should turn to Page B3 today where you will find a story about Author Michael Pollan, who has written a book titled: "In Defence of Food: An Eater's Manifesto."
Pollan condemns the North American diet. "The chronic diseases that now kill most of us can be traced directly to the industrialization of our food, the rise of highly processed foods and refined grains, the use of chemicals to raise plants and animals in huge monocultures, the super abundance of cheap calories and sugar and fat produced by modern agriculture," he says in the book.
Pallan is advocating the return of "Grandma Food, the simple, unadultrated food made of vegetables, fruits and grains."
Grandma's Food, produced by Essex County growers, should be in abundance tomorrow. Be there or be square! | | No comments for this item 
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Written by Alan Halberstadt
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Thursday, 25 June 2009 |
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It seems I missed a couple of long-in-the-tooth Transit Windsor strikes in my previous posting that highllghted the 99-day Ford strike of 1945 and the 88-day Vancouver municipal strike.
It now unfolds that Transit Windsor had a 17-week strike in 1981. This has been confirmed by present bus company management. According to a Windsor Star letter writer, there was a 21-week Transit strike prior to that. If anybody has the exact year of that 147-day marathon please post it in the comments section below.
I have my doubts that the current CUPE City Hall strike will reach those proportions, so critics who are accusing me of wishing for a record-breaking strike can cease and desist. What I do fear, however, is that CUPE leaders have no strategy to end the strike other than to wait for Toronto to be legislated back to work and hope that Queen's Park will toss Windsor into the mix. Bringing the legislature back, I understand, will cost Ontario taxpayers well over $1 million.
It has become clear now that the infamous "leak" (to the A Channel) of the bargaining positions of the city and CUPE was perpetrated by CUPE National. Details were perhaps verified by one or more people on the city side. Whatever the case, the leak was a red herring to dismantle the talks since CUPE National wanted no part of a Windsor agreement to set a pattern with a Toronto walkout only days away.
For readers of this blog, this is what I have been saying all along about Sid Ryan and his bullies. They have used Windsor's CUPE leaders and innocent membership as pawns in a much grander scheme. How anybody on the picket line can cheer this master of nose stretchers when he comes to town boggles my mind.
As for those who are willing to wait out back-to-work legislation and give local CUPE leaders a pass, instead of pressuring them to negotiate a deal, be careful what you wish for. If a provincial arbitrator does set the final terms, that individual cannot be deaf or dumb.
By now it is apparent that the public strongly favours the municipalities in their bids to eliminate unsustainable employee benefits. In Windsor, it's retirement benefits after 65 for new hires. In Toronto, it's banked sick leave, a perk that was capped long ago in Windsor.
An Angus Reid poll in the Toronto Star (unlike the farcical CUPE poll out of Winnipeg, this one has credibility), 71 percent of Torontonians support the city's position on banked sick days. Fifty-three percent blame the unions for the strike and only 21 percent blame the city.
So Local 82's Jim Wood and Local 543's Jean Fox and their teams are playing a huge game of Russian Roulette with their members, keeping them out on the street for who knows how much longer while abrogating their own responsibilities. One thing is certain. When the dust settles on the historic strike of 2009, Wood and Fox will never be allowed to lead CUPE negotiations with the city ever again. | | This item includes 73 comments
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Written by Alan Halberstadt
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Tuesday, 23 June 2009 |
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Now that the CUPE strike has entered its 70th day, there can be little doubt that this labour dispute will take its place beside other doosies in the city's history.
My son is taking a course in local history at the U this summer, and is working off a book chronologizing the 99-day Ford strike in 1945. The 1919 SW&A bus driver strike is also part of the course. Things were much different in those days. Andrew tells me that the bus strike was settled when the government sent in the militia to drive the street cars.
In 1945. the Ford plant was located hard upon the Detroit River, and there were rumblings about bringing in the Navy to settle that dispute, which thankfully didn't happen.
On a broader scale, Windsor's CUPE strike still has a few more weeks to go to beat the 88-day Vancouver municipal stoppage a few years ago. The recent Ottawa Transpo strike ended after 51 days when the parties agreed to arbitration to avoid governement back-to-work legislation.
I don't see that happening here.
CUPE volunteers earned some kudos last week for cutting the grass at Forest Glade Park. A couple of details were left out in the Wndsor Star article, the most notable being how the workers left the grass clippings in the adjacent parking lot. The reporter also didn't inquire if any of the children of the grass-cutters were going to participate in an upcoming baseball tournament.
I understand the majority of baseball and soccer leagues around the city are playing their games despite the lack of CUPE grass cutting. At certain parks, the grass is being cut by league volunteers -- notably Optimist Park, Walker Homesites and Riverside. We are not sure when these cuts are taking place, but no doubt some of it has been done under the silvery moon.
Other baseball and soccer organizations have rescheduled their games in the county, at the college or university, Ice Park or on the fields of the private ethnic clubs.
To butcher an old bromide, necessity is the mother of ingenuity.
Council has thrown millions of dollars at a Service Delivery Review, conducted by a Toronto consultant and seconded city staff. That process is on hold during the strike, but the question is now being asked if this hopelessly bureaucratic excercise is even needed anymore.
The 70-day Windsor CUPE strike is the very essence of a Service Delivery Review, without the consultant. | | This item includes 19 comments
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Written by Alan Halberstadt
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Thursday, 18 June 2009 |
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I have my fingers crossed that the negotiations today go well.
As for the anonymous comments to my most recent blog on Councillor post-retirement benefits, fire away people. The blog was admittedly indignant. In this job, once in a while you get that way.
As for some of the more damning comments, as the saying goes, sticks and stones will . . . During this strike, I have been called a spineless worm and a reptile, among other things.
As for the person who suggested that Council received a $10,000 bonus last year, this is another one of those urban myths that are so plentiful these days. Council has not received a raise in its base pay since the first year of the current term, and that was after recommendations from a citizens panel.
Our salary does fluctuate depending on the pooled money from paid committees and commissions. In fact, two years ago, there were far less Enwin and WUC meetings than the year before, so Council actually took a $5,000 decrease.
As for how many meals Council has consumed on the taxpayer this year, the answer is one. Several weeks ago, an administrator ordered pizza for all when one of our meetings went into the wee hours.
For those who saw Mike Graston's cartoon in The Star today mocking CUPE's ignorance of a world with pay cuts, I understand The Star's parent company, Canwest, is pursuing five-percent wage cuts from its employees to keep its corporate ship afloat. It's my guess that City Hall workers looking for more money will not be getting any sympathy from the local daily, | | This item includes 20 comments
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