Saturday, September 6, 2014

PASSERO TAKES SELF-PROMOTION TO A WHOLE NEW LEVEL

Leave it to Fort Erie's own Eddie Haskell to promote and host a public information meeting about the Kinsmen Pool during an election. Especially when there is no real news coming forward about the now-closed pool.  To many, this is merely a campaign stunt, using a town facility to advance his mayoral hopes while leading people to believe that major advances have taken place in the fight to reopen the forty-five year old open air pool in Fort Erie.

The truth is that the Underwater Recovery Unit that Passero claims is still in negotiations with the town to take over running the pool is far, far away from reaching any kind of agreement. Of course to Passero, who knows all, this is already an almost done deal and he goes on to expound on the advantages of the pool being run by a not-for-profit organization in a recent article in the Fort Erie Times.

He's already hoping to have the pool open by next summer. In his dreams.  He forgets that in October, 2011:

A feasibility report presented to council Monday night had most agreeing none of the five options available to rebuild or renovate the historic aquatic facility are anything the town can afford.
To build a new facility would cost about $2.5 million, and to keep it open for the 2012 season, the town would have to set aside at least $180,000 to fix safety problems.

Later in the article, Stephen Passero

"asked staff to prepare a report explaining the budgetary impact should the town pitch in $1.5 million, leaving his fundraising committee to find the additional $1 million through grants, community sponsorships and fundraising."

Even Ward 2 Councillor Rick Shular concluded that it was too expensive and suggested a splash pad with a revisit to the pool issue in three to five years. Council finally voted to no open the pool for the 2012 season and it has been closed ever since.

And, leave it to Passero to link the restoration of a National Historic Landmark (The Point Abino Light House) with the refurbishment of the Kinsmen Pool.

Passero was disappointed in 2012 “when the majority of council decided not to replenish the facilities reserve fund that was used to restore the lighthouse.”

Back during budget deliberations in early 2012, Passero demanded that council put $378,000 in the facilities reserve fund for the pool for 2013.  The earlier feasibility study prompted council to close the pool for the 2012 season as it could not afford the $180,000 needed to fix necessary safety problems.  Council was already facing a possible 9% tax increase.

Add that to the statistics slowing a sharp decline in pool use over the past several years and the high cost of refurbishing the pool becomes even more problematic.

Note that Passero has donned a light blue shirt for his photo op, apparently eschewing his signature white shirt and black tie for less vampirish garb. His not-so-secret campaign manager is working hard to get Passero to look user friendly.  It's hard to disguise such raw desire for power; certainly a blue shirt won't do it.

And certainly a campaign stop, disguised as an informational meeting about a troubled public pool won't do it either.  Besides, isn't that against campaign rules? 

See for yourself by attending the meeting on Tuesday, September 9 at 7:00 p.m.at the Centennial Branch of the Fort Erie Library. 

27 comments:

  1. We must remember that Steve Pessaro was quoted to say that he is in favour of ALL Development, even BAD Development.

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  2. Stinky Steve at it again.

    I just predicted this recently but he certainly didn't get the idea from this blog as according to his sworn oath at the conflict of interest case he is unaware of such venues..... BS!! This guy is as transparent as glass.

    Watch out FE as he tries to come off as all for the town but the only thing he is all for is himself and using the pool to advance his naked agenda is loathsome to say the least. He has years to sort this out but was to busy WASTING TAX PAYERS $$$ on BS court cases. All that money easily would've fixed if not rebuilt the pool. Head of the Shorewalk but votes to give the beach away. Head of the Chamber of Commerce but has no real business. Pals with Dirty Doug then measures the drapes in his office. Hangs with THE FOUR initially until he sees there is nothing in it for him. Never stands up for anything until he checks which way the wind is blowing. Has been grandstanding and little else for 4 years now. Lies under oath.

    Plenty more blanks to fill in here, Anyone else want to expand?? The stench of this guy has me wretching . If this is the best FE can put in office we deserve all we get.

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  3. the mayor has been successful spewing that The Four are against Development. Wasn't it he who shouted out, along with the Economic and Development Corporation manager that FORT ERIE WAS CLOSED FOR BUSINESS?

    All that The Four spoke against was one Privately Owned Condo on land given to the developer on a Public beachfront. The best beachfront in Fort Erie, by the way.
    Aren't The Public taxpayers?

    Us taxpayers are also Voters!

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  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    1. he is a strange one for sure and most normal people know it .

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  5. How in the world could it cost that kind of money for an pool?

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    1. Too bad people did not notice how poorly maintained the pool was over the years. There are pools elsewhere older than the Kinsmen Pool still being used and kept up-to-date. Look at who was in charge of parks and recreation years ago and you might find the answer. The decline of the pool did not happen suddenly.

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  6. I removed Royal Greer's information. I think my point has been made. There are many, many people who have stories of his bullying and harassment. He is clearly deranged.

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  7. Thought I comment about another mayoral candidate. Anne Marie Noyes is having her campaign open house located on Garrison Road ( right across the street from Garrison School, Yes it is the same place as four years ago) Saturday September 13 from 10 AM to 3PM. Everyone welcome, pass the word.

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  8. Get ready everyone, election signs are allowed this Friday, September the 12th, 45 days before the election.

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  9. Yeah. McCooey is out and another clown steps in. Toronto has nothing on Fort Erie now. A very often publicly drunk asshat is running for mayor. Dougie's favourite newsman - Mike Cloutier.

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  10. I would guess that there has to be comic relief in this election for every voter in the town. Let the crazy games begin.

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  11. How can so many people run for mayor?? The vote will be so diluted the winner might have less than 15% of the popular vote!! Lets hope they make up for it by electing a strong focused council. It will be our only hope under these strange circumstances. I gues its true, "dilution is the solution to polution". The dilution of the popular vote might just help to rid some of the political pollution at that big aquarium looking structure they call town hall. Less bottom feeding fishies ? We could only wish for such a change. Or I should say vote for such a change.

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  12. I am really pleased to finally see some action happening along Schooley Road with the proposed townhouses and I hear wonderful news that the Marz Development is selling well.
    We just didn't want a 12 storey condo on our Public beachfront. We in Crystal Beach are and never were against development, even though our mayor says we are!

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    1. Well-designed tow houses and those like the Marz homes are exactly the type of development perfect for Crystal Beach. A twelve story condo tower was never right, especially on public limited waterfront land. That's what we stood up against; never the others.

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  13. While on one hand it's nice to see so many candidates, I fear that we will end up with a mayor with 25% support and further division. It's (just about) anyone's race to win and the majority of voters are not going to be happy with the result.

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    1. I give the voters credit for having enough smarts to see through the spoiler candidates and the serious candidates.

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  14. Do you expect to see a winner with anything close to a majority? I don't.

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  15. I wonder how Pessaro's meeting is going? Even if a small number attend, he won't really care. I think with him, it is smoke and mirrors and so what if the Underwater Recovery Group are not interested in taking on such a large responsibility of debt and commitment to fix the pool, as long as Pessaro gets his picture in The Times again, he is campaigning.
    How many picture ops does he have planned?

    Are his financial backers the same financial backers as for the mayor last time?

    A reminder, this is the same mayor who testified at The Conflict of Interest hearing that Heather Salter didn't have grounds for a law suit for harassment, yet said she did.

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  16. MIKE CLOUTIER FOR MAYOR !!

    really folks Rob Ford has nothing on this guy. He could make it on Late Nite TV and really put us on the map(as if we are not the butt of jokes already). Lots of people would travel from all over to see firsthand what little nuggets he might spew next and we all could benefit from the spin off business(Chamber members now cheering). On top of that we could close town hall saving at least half the budget and Mayor Mikey could hold court from his favourite watering hole. Anyone without a job could bartend, sing, dance, park cars (no comic relief please there would be enough of that already) whatever to keep all the tourists amused. The possibilities are endless.

    Mayor Mikey will get us out of this mess and the entertainment value would priceless!!

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  17. ain't seen nothing yetSeptember 9, 2014 at 9:12 PM

    HAHAHAHA...town staff must have had trouble keeping a straight face when they took his money! Kind of scary that all it takes is a hundred bucks to run...and not much else...

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    1. I beg your pardon. It costs $200. To register for mayor. I can see it now: Mike's Campaign Bike. Campaign Headquarters at The Plaice. Signs made of old copies of his news rag. If he drops out before Friday, he will get his money back and then he'll really par-tay. Hope he doesn't wet his pants this time. LOL.

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  18. In Toronto Ford and Smitherman were the 2 front runners. Smitherman is openly gay and Ford looked like the kind of political fool that was so entertaining when Mel Lassman was mayor. People voted for the entertainment value of the Rofo as mayor might bring. Boy, were their hopes fufilled. In by quite a wide margin too. Maybe all the candidates here are too bland. We were kinda expecting the horse dude Jim might run and put the wind up the back of Dougs castle. 60 grand per year doesent look so good when hes getting twice that already. Will be interesting when the vote totals are published. We used to think the rest of the region wasnt laughing at Fort Erie, now the Mayoral election is starting to look like an episode of Corner Gas, with the cement hole next to the library as some kind of comic relief. Maybe Rofo should run here. It would put this place on the map. Maybe even sell a few more of those cookiecutter leave it to beaver style Marz crackerboxes to niave out of towners, at the same time.

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  19. Pessaro is already taking swimming registrations, BUT the meeting to determine if there is even a miniscule chance that the pool will EVER get re-opened is not for TWO MORE MONTHS.

    Gooly geah, that's AFTER THE ELECTION!

    I was in Council Chambers when senior staff explained that the pool has to be practically demolished to even fix the drainage problems. The conclusion then was that it was unreasonable to put more money into that structure. If I remember correctly the thinking was to consider an entire new upgraded facility had more merit.

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    1. From what I hear, the Underwater Recovery Group (which meets tonight to decide) will not go for it because they don't want to have to pay for the expensive upgrades. Passero timed the meeting to the day before the UR group meets to get maximum mileage from the issue before it fails. Then he'll blame four members of the current council for the failure. I understand that all members of council except Martin were in attendance as well as many other candidates. One lady called Passero out at the meeting. Said she was proud of the group trying to save the pool, but not Passero. How true is that?

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  20. Well Berry is backing out now in his run for Mayor. Who will he support in their efforts to lead this great town. Cloutier maybe? Redecop or Passero? Doubt those two wont be backed by Berry.

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  21. Maybe Ms. Noyes? Those two certainly have somthing in common when it comes to the type of treatment those two received from sitting mayors and council members. I hope he comes out in favor of somone and uses the small but loyal following he has. Already heard from someone who hasent voted in years but said he would get down there and register to make sure he could cast a vote for R. Berry. Hope he backs Noyes, at least we would have one small alliance to look to in that huge field of potential mayors, and as a public endorsement it might set an example to those others who would depend on backroom comments, quiet chamber gossip or snyde remarks from the old boys network to find their core support. May show others it is possible to have a little class.

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