Once again the people of Windsor are told that more consulting must be done in order for the stimulus projects to see the light of day. Consulting, consulting, consulting, it is the word that flows out of the mayors mouth almost daily. Windsor has earmarked $133 million for so called shovel ready projects waiting to get underway but none of these projects have gone to tender and no construction jobs have been created. In a city hard hit by job loss and unemployment, one would think that getting the shovels in the ground would be a top priority, but it is status quo at city hall with the mayor and council playing games.

Follow up:

Don't get me wrong, there are people actively working with the projects and those people are the consultants that the mayor seems to have on speed dial.

We are certainly hungry and anxious to get at those projects and while the consultants have them, we don’t, The timing couldn’t be any better to get them out. We just can’t get at them yet.

said Jim Lyons of the Windsor Construction Association.

Things are different in Essex County, where at least 14 stimulus projects with a value of at least $9 million have gotten underway. According to City of Windsor engineer Mario Sonego,

road jobs like those underway in the county can usually be tendered quickly, but that the projects for which the city secured approval are more complex and require significant engineering and planning.

Sounds like a copout to me, what do you think? Windsor has many projects already approved under the federal government’s Infrastructure Stimulus Fund, but here we stand, with nothing to show for it say for a bill to endless consulting. This is not progress and we are getting fed up with Eddie Francis and council spending money to hire consulting firms for everything. They can't seem to make up their minds unless an outsider holds their hand and tells them what to do. One must wonder how much of the $133 million will be left by the time all the bills are paid for these firms. 2010 Cannot come soon enough and hopefully most of these clowns will be tossed out on their collective asses and the city can once again turn around and heal after what Eddie Francis has done to it.

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