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Sam’s Former Lieutenant Agrees Schwartz Is Dead
The Detroit River International Crossing
(DRIC) team will unleash its elaborate proposals for an expanded six-lane freeway down the Highway 3 and Huron Church Road corridor today.
Having traveled by van on Monday with DRIC operatives down this route to three proposed sites for a new international bridge in far west Windsor, I am expecting that all hell will break loose in the community when citizens, politicians and the media get a close glimpse at the five alternatives.
This massive undertaking through the heart of southwest
Windsor will impact up to 235 expropriated homes and businesses, tallgrass prairie, woodlots, wildlife, rare plant specimens, swampland and six parks.
The number one impact, however, is the estimated $3.78-billion cost of Alternative 3, constructing a cut-and-cover tunnel from the 401 to the new crossing. Despite widespread calls in the community for all-out tunneling, you can bet this alternative will not be chosen by the powers that be.
The other alternatives vary from an at-grade route, depressed roadway sections and a mix-and-match including three or four cut-and-cover tunnels of 200-meters in length at key intersections. The estimated cost of these alternatives range from a relatively modest $750 million to $1.36 billion
In the wake of this, there will no doubt be cries from some sectors to revive the proposed Schwartz bypass, which I declared dead a couple of weeks ago. With that in mind, I have interviewed Windsor native Marko Paranosic, former right hand man of Sam Schwartz and bulwark of the
Windsor office Sam opened in 2005.
Marko offered to go on the record to support my assertion that the Schwartz bypass is dead after I was quoted in the Windsor Star, and other Councillors disputed it.
Paranosic actually spoke with his feet in August when he took a job with Stantec Engineering in that company’s
Kitchener office. “As an engineer I have a limited shelf life (on projects),” says Marko. “I would not have left if I thought there was any hope,” for follow-through on the Schwartz bypass.
Paranosic traces the death knell to October, 2005, when Transport Canada hired the firm Cansult to attack Schwartz’s proposal for an eight-kilometer bypass of urbanized Windsor, running west of Huron Line at Todd Lane and touching the borders of LaSalle and the protected natural area called ANSI.
Paranosic says the proposed route, which looped around and connected back onto
Huron
Church at E.C. Row and then onto the
Ambassador
Bridge, made sense when it was hatched in a community where panic had set in with international trucks regularly lined up beyond E.C. Row and spilling onto city streets.
As the repercussions of 911 diminished, and the Bridge and Customs opened new booths, the trucks started flowing much more freely. This gave legitimacy to opponents of Schwartz who attacked the stupidity of an eight-km loop to avoid two km of
Huron
Church roadway between Todd Lane and E.C. Row.
The chief attackers were Save Ojibway crusader Alan McKinnon and Mike Hurst, former mayor and hired gun for the rival DRTP border crossing route.
Paranosic says he became frustrated with the city when “we were not allowed to defend ourselves against the McKinnons and Hursts of the world.” Instead of adjusting the plan to adapt to the changing landscape, the city continued to trot out Schwartz for “dog and pony shows.”
Sam Schwartz, when the “Schwartz is dead” article appeared in the Star on Nov. 24, claimed that there were other facets of his plan that have bogged down because of navel gazing on the bypass.
Paranosic agrees and identifies those dormant parts as expansion of the truck ferry service across the river, an inter-modal facility at
Windsor
Airport, a double-stacked rail tunnel at the end of the DRTP line and enhanced Intelligence Traffic Systems on Huron Line.
Mayor Eddie Francis has been pretty well mute on these components until recently, when he referenced development of
Windsor
Airport and an inter-modal terminal as a priority in his new four-year term.
Tellingly, the only part of the plan that has moved forward is improvements to Manning Road in Tecumseh, to be bankrolled by the senior governments. “Manning Road should not have been part of the mix, but was thrown in as a bone to former warden Mike Raymond to get buy-in from
Essex
County,” says Paranosic.
A key element of the city’s strategy was to delay Manning Road improvements until after the Schwartz bypass was built, to avoid pressure to extend Lauzon Parkway to the 401 and deny the dream of Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara – an international truck route down E.C. Row.
The fact that Manning has been approved and LaSalle has escaped unscathed from the current border plan is an indicator that it pays to kiss a bit of butt rather than take the city’s route – which to date has been to ramp up the rhetoric and ridicule DRIC and senior levels of government at every turn. Readers have left 9 comments. No.1 Untitled
I agree with your main point: the Schwartz Bypass is dead, and the "stupidity" of the idea you mention made it vulnerable to its critics.
While I am proud that you noted me as one of the bypass plans' "chief attackers", I must share credit with the unanimous collective of environmental groups in Essex County who spoke out against it early on, including the one you chair, but apparently could not sway : WECEC.
In any case, there are some things in this piece that are misleading.
For starters, let's not forget that that the Schwartz Bypass route would have had the same impacts on Talbot/Hwy 3 as any of the DRIC alternatives.
The expropriation numbers would have been just as high, and according to Schwartz, higher for the Ojibway/Spring Garden route than any other.
Lasalle has not escaped "unscathed". The west side of Talbot is Lasalle, Lasalle residents and businesses will be among the most heavily impacted/expropriated.
Turning EC Row into a provincial highway is not just "the dream of Gary McNamara"...in fact it was a logical and rather obvious idea, espoused by many in the City of Windsor's planning department, including very senior administrators, for many years.
Not only would the tremendous upkeep costs now paid by Windsor taxpayers be uploaded to the province, the Expressway was originally designed to be expanded, and indeed was designed to have a terminus at a new crossing. Is it a coincidence that the most likely new crossing site is exactly at the western end of EC Row?
Personally, I think DRIC erred when they took EC Row out of contention. And I think that the fear mongering by Windsor's mayor and council about EC Row has a lot to do with the fallout coming to Huron Church/Hwy 3 communities.
As for the bypass "navel gazing" delaying other parts of Schwartz's plan...any informed reader will know that those other elements are NOT original to Schwartz.
Many are part of the WALTS study. (like an expanded EC Row, as I recall) Schwartz trying to take credit for them is good ol' New York City hubris .
Considering your complete lack of concern for natural areas protected by the City's Official Plan, ERCA and the Provincial Policy Statement during the Bypass sales pitch, your newfound concern for "tallgrass prairie, woodlots, wildlife, rare plant specimens, swampland " that have no protective zoning rings a bit hollow.
Be that as it may, an opportunity to get "mitigation" funds from DRIC/TC to complete the Spring Garden acquisitions and fully protect all of Ojibway as called for in the City's official plan presents itself. Time is of the essence here as the OMB ruling on the Spring Garden ANSI has fast approaching acquisition deadlines.
By the way, I don't think Transport Canada hired Cansult to "attack" the bypass, they simply commissioned a peer review. No self respecting engineer would sign off on the bypass.
I would still like to see Sam's first draft that he presented "in camera" to council in Fall 04, the one that has never been made public. Of course, despite my Freedom of Information requests, that material remains hidden behind solicitor client privilege between Schwartz and Estrin. More of that "transparency" you spin so well.
I think the tragedy here is the lost opportunity to fix EC Row into a Provincial Highway. The burden of border traffic would be shared instead of just dumped on West Windsor/Lasalle and one of the biggest annual budget items would be removed from Windsor taxpayers backs.
Too bad no one on council had the courage to stand up to the bullying rhetoric of the Mayor and speak truth to power.
Alan McKinnon
Citizens Protecting Ojibway Wilderness
saveojibway@cogeco.ca
No.2 Too little too late
Mr. Paranosic should be ashamed of his lack of ethics in this matter. Obviously his feelings that the Schwartz report was dead in October of 2005 did not prevent him from attending or even running these "dog and pony" shows on behalf of Schwartz between October and August when you say he left, pulling down a nice salary no doubt and sucking taxpayer money on what he obviously feels was a project going nowhere. I distinctly remember him running the South Windsor Arena public meeting and speaking at the Ciociaro Club a few weeks later. He is a tremendous actor if he felt he was arguing on behalf of a "dead" report.
He should at least have a thief's honour and steal away quietly in the night to his new home in Kitchener rather than deliberately attempt his own Judas act and sabotage the mayor, council and Sam Schwartz's efforts to get trucks off of our streets. No.3 Untitled
To Alan McKinnon; One day you may realize your dream of being an elected official and discover that being part of such a body does not mean that you are privvy to all of the machinations that go on behind the scenes. If you become a Councillor you might also discover that you have no more rights regarding FOI or solitictor/client privelege than the guy or gal on the street. You can speak against or vote against information remaining private, but are then bound by the collective will of the Council. With that said, you make some excellent points in your latest diatribe, especially pertaining to the similaraties between Schwartz and DRIC on the Highway 3/Talbot Road section. You are, however, off base on my alleged attempts to "sway" the WECEC transporation committee. I made no such attempt and, in fact, took heat from my Council colleagues for allowing that report to come forward to the Council agenda. Let's keep sparring on this. We both may learn some things, as well as readers of this blog and, by extension, the general public. No.4 Untitled
Councillor:
While I appreciate the conciliatory overtones of your reply, I am irritated by your arrogance regarding
my "dream of being an elected official".
You are confusing your priorities with mine.
My only stake in this is trying to keep a road out of designated PROTECTED natural areas that I explored as a kid and that my own kids currently play in.
Ojibway has always been part of my life, and I think it is the very best part of Windsor/Essex County.
I have no interest in politics per se, in fact, part of the reason I love to escape to the woods is to get away from all the bloviating machinations of you political movers and shakers. If you think your position on council is some kind of brass ring that we mere civilians pine for, you are badly mistaken.
In any case, I do appreciate that you have shown the courage to say "the Schwartz Bypass is dead" .
And I appreciate your recent public call for a more reasonable approach by council to the senior levels on the border file.
Better late than never, and I wish you every success in
getting Marra, Hatfield and Dilkens on side, as I suspect you are quite isolated from the mayor and council incumbents on these matters.
Alan McKinnon
CPOW
saveojibway@cogeco.ca
No.5 Untitled
I am called an actor, thief and Judas... I didn't know my father-in-law even surfed the internet, never mind post comments on blogs.
I responded to a line of questioning on my PRESENT opinion of the CURRENT state of the Schwartz Report and I answered honestly. How that is construed as a lack of ethics is beyond me.
Despite receiving a couple of calls and emails expressing their disappointment in me and attempting to lecture me on professional conduct, I do not regret telling Councilor Halberstadt my thoughts. No.6 Cut and Cover
I am not as aware of this file as I probably should be but I find some tunnelling arguments to be decieving.
1. If its true that any tunneling option would need several exhaust towers like our current detroit tunnel then aren't we kidding ourselves that they would be accepted?
2. Isn't cut and cover an ideal way to create a partnership with lasalle?
Couldn't we have the covered areas be great parks and bike/pedestrian links to Lasalle? Strategically locate 3 covered areas by St. Clair College Cabana and the West End? No.7 Untitled
To Alan McKinnon: I will cease and desist in questioning your political motives, although I have heard ruminations about you and the Green Party. You are, however, quite the wordsmith. I have never before heard of the word "bloviating." With regard to DRIC's recent report on impacts to the environment, and your downplaying of those, I am curious why an environmentalist would have no apparent problem with destruction of woodlots, wetlands and tallgrass just because they are "not protected" by a designation of one or more of those despised "governments." I would hope you become just as outspoken in defending the natural areas of the Huron Church corridor as you have been in crusading to preserve your own turf.
No.8 Untitled
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source blo·vi·ate (bl?'v?-?t') intr.v. blo·vi·at·ed, blo·vi·at·ing, blo·vi·ates To discourse at length in a pompous or boastful manner: "the rural Babbitt who bloviates about 'progress' and 'growth'" (George Rebeck). Bloviate is from blow + a mock-Latinate suffix -viate. Compare blowhard, "a boaster or braggart." Hope this helps. To be fair, this word doesn't apply so well to you, I was thinking more of the mayor and some of your fellow councillors. Common sense dictates that we have a better shot at protecting those natural areas with designation than we do for those areas without designation. As a member of Windsor council, do you recognize the opportunity to fufill the vision outlined in the City's official plan for a community park and woodland in the Spring Garden ANSI? The particulars of this vision were created with extensive community, agency and expert consultation, and if realized we would look back in 30 years and thank mightily those that had the foresight to protect this beautiful forest. Funds to complete and possibly expand the Spring Garden acquisitions would be an incredible silver lining to the obvious impacts an expanded Huron Church corridor will have. I would be more than happy to have your help lobbying DRIC to recognize their responsibility to not only "mitigate" but to improve and compensate for impacts on natural areas in their corridor. But don't blame Ojibway defenders or even DRIC for the Huron Church corridor being the only one being studied. Blame the municipal leadership who used every in camera tactic, every public snub of senior levels, and many millions of tax payers dollars to keep EC Row out of consideration. Had Windsor ever allowed for a completely objective analysis of EC Row to occur, the border road project could be well underway by now. No doubt it would be a massive headache during construction, but it would be "duty now for the future" just like fighting any effort to encroach on designated protected natural areas is a duty now on behalf of our children and grandchildren. Re: Mark Boscariol's comments For someone who says he isn't as aware of the border file as he should be, he has a pretty finely tuned awareness. The tunnel arguments being put forth are incredibly deceiving. Just like the Schwartz Bypass there is a big element of the Emperor's new clothes. What is surprising is the number of people who accept it as some miracle cure without question. Gord Henderson's screeds this week are a big tip-off. You'll note he doesn't actually advance any factual or reality based arguments, just more bloviating.javascript:ac_smilie(' ![[smiley=tongue]](http://www.alanhalberstadt.com/components/com_jreactions/custom/templates/balloon/smileys/smiley_tongue.gif) ') No.9 Untitled
To Alan McKinnon: I'm starting to like that word bloviating. I think I'll put it in my arsenal. For your info, City Council will be discussing border strategies this week (Monday and Thursday) at strat planning sessions. Stay tuned.
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