Wednesday, July 22, 2015

WHEN IT ALL STARTED

In a recent opinion piece by Kris Dubé, the former editor of the Fort Erie Times, now working for the on-line Niagara Bullet, he talked about the "healing" taking place regarding Bay Beach as a result of the Bay Beach Study now being undertaken to plan the future of the publicly owned Bay Beach Properties. What the people will be treated to is a nice wish list that local residents helped create. Sure, the locals are happy: the early plans have all the factors that people have wanted since the property was bought in 2001. Too bad that there were two attempts to change the very nature of the property away from a public-friendly parkland and parking spaces to commercial/residential property. (It must be stated that the property, under the previous owners did contain residential units. However, those units were razed shortly after the property was purchased by the town.) 

In 2002, an attempt was made to sell off the north sections of the property that contained parking lots in order to fund a section of the Friendship Trail. That proposal was met with fierce opposition and it was eventually dropped as the Crystal Beach Neighbourhood Plan was being formulated. In 2005, council voted to accept the award-winning plan which stated that the whole property, save one tiny piece, be retained as public. A height limit of three stories for new builds was also included in the plan.

Well, a friend recently unearthed an interoffice memo from 2008 which contained the whole real agenda of the then town planner Rino Mostacci and the then town CAO Harry Schlange. 

WARNING: These two now hold similar posts at the Region after both bounced around in other communities, presumably waiting for the mess they helped create to settle down.

So, behold the beginning of the Molinaro Years:





17 comments:

  1. Corruption FighterJuly 22, 2015 at 2:20 PM

    Well done Madam Editor. 2 of the Dark Side's best storm troopers slamming you. Clearly you're doing something right and just.

    Strugar and Cashman both massively indicative of everything that keeps this town in the toilet. Huge self centered, self serving, non thinking bully boy egos hiding behind false "I love this town attitudes".

    Take a look FE, these 2 are shining examples of all that is wrong here.

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  2. (I moved CF's remarks over to this thread as they are very relevant to this discussion.)

    Every time I post a comment on the Niagara Bullet site, the usual trolls come out to attack me. They will do anything to distract readers from reading the truth. Notice they add nothing to the conversation; just insults. It shows that they have nothing to say and that their maturity level is that of tween.

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  3. Is Tom Villella still on staff, or was he let go?

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    Replies
    1. Villella is now working as a planner in Markham. Must have followed Mostacci there as part of the relocation service for principals in the deal.

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  4. I find it very interesting that this C of C inspired council, could spring $3 million dollars for a building to be added to the DSBN High School a multi-use building that will be owned by the DSBN and maybe available to groups in town to use, no guarantees on that.! Yet they didn't have money to develop Bay Beach. Harry Schlange would never answer to complaints from people in Black Creek about an illegal body shop operating in a residential neighbourhood , as that person had 3 close relatives on Town staff in charge of by-law enforcement, so written complaints never even got to Council or received a reply. The Ministry of Environment told the man to stop blowing his paint sandings into the air after working on painting autos, and use a shop vacuum, he still uses an air hose to blow the dust out side to land on neighbours property. This Town as "The Times "reported back in April , is not like other Municipalities., that is an understatement.

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  5. " Our Focus, Your Future " should say " Rino's Focus; Fort Erie's Future :

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  6. or, "Rino's Focus; Fort Erie's Failure". Expencive overpaid desk pilot for hire. Motto, "Take some advice, Im not using any of it".

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  7. I have followed this blog for several years now, in my opinion Sharon is Fort Erie's answer to Joan of Arc (Jeane de Arc) and her lance pierces the armour of the puffed up louts that run our Town , and I know many of the people who control our Town , J T and his phalanx of C of C member would like nothing better, than take our ( Joan ) and give her the stake burning treatment,

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    1. You give me far too much credit. I'm just a person who can't stand unfairness. Started when I was just a kid and I can't keep my fingers quiet when I feel that someone is being unfairly treated, hence my involvement in union organizing. I thought I put that behind me when I moved to Canada. I did keep quiet for a number of years, until our beloved Bay Beach lands were threatened with privatization. Then, I took up The Strand in 2002. I have not updated that much as it is time-consuming to do. The blog is much more immediate and it still gets a lot of hits daily.

      I do hope that people at least read what I've got to say and think about it - or check themselves. I do not lie. I do however, offer a rather different take on what's going on in Fort Erie.

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    2. view_from_the_beachJuly 24, 2015 at 8:37 AM

      The fact is "certain entities" have tried their damnedest to silence "The Strand".

      From Thibert's half baked "legal" maneuvers to some even goofier hacking attempts Bowers has taken a lickin' but kept on tickin'

      Additionally, over the years some very nasty smear campaigns have been directed her way through social media posts and even a few dedicated websites.

      Obviously NONE of these attacks have been successful and have only shown just how "ON POINT" her articles really are !

      Fortunately The Crystal Beach Strand and it's companion Strand Blog have passed both the test of time and tribulation with flying colours.

      In a town whose "newspaper" has been so severely subverted and is controlled by a small group of vicious Little Pricks we are lucky that Bowers has the balls to keep on keepin' on.

      Without The Strand & Strand Blog not only would we be subject to the insulting editorials from the likes of Dube' and his buddy Bonito WITHOUT ability to counter their childish musings, we would have NO OTHER public forum to collectively discuss the dis and mis-information presented so regularly by same bunch of Little Pricks that control "The Fort Erie Crimes" toilet paper.

      Especially today, "Judgement Day" for Timmy & Dougie & all their Special Friends, let us be thankful for..

      "Whacky, tin foil hat wearing, wonderfully talented, old broads"

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    3. couldn't agree with you more "View....."...thank you very much Editor Bowers.

      Few have your very large strength of character to continue to tell the real story of why this town is in the toilet. It certainly isn't the conventional press who is either directly complicit or just plain scared to relate what could not only turn this cesspool of graft/greed around but sell papers as well.

      If the larger public knew what really goes on over drinks at the club etc, there would be a few quickly leaving(Harry n Rino hmmm) and a lot trying to cover their tracks. Maybe a few charges as well.

      The FE ol boys club, screwing the town for $$$ for decades.

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  8. There has been a delay in the court proceedings re: The Four. All costs were to be submitted to the judge by today but there is a possible request for a "brief extension." Let's hope that all parties get their information in ASAP so The Four can get on with their lives by clearing up the huge personal debt they had incurred in order to defend themselves from this malicious lawsuit.

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  9. Just hearing so much positive news from efforts across the river in Buffalo to make the city more friendly to visitors and improve access to the waterfront in a number of locations. Some of the upcoming generation are seeing the damage that has been done by elected officials working in interest with developers to make themselves wealthy, and want a change. Shopping and driving everywhere just doesent do it for a lot of people anymore. A move to improved greenspaces and smarter spending of tax dollars is what we see in a lot of communitys outside these town limits. At least as some sort of token effort in this direction lets hope the Bay Beach area gets a little respect. What if someone had bought the Palmwood and ajacent lands for development? Wouldnt even have that ONE boat launch in a town of over 30,000, for the entire coastline. Nada, zilch, zero. Protect that last remnant at Bay, of what used to be, as parkland. Most would agree, the rest of the coast has been run over by housing and private property signage.

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    Replies
    1. And it was a fight to get Waterfront Park constructed. Some time when you're visiting the park, take a look at the plaque at the entrance. It is to those whose names are listed there, that we owe a sincere debt of gratitude.

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  10. view_from_the_beachJuly 25, 2015 at 9:54 AM

    Their at post.. Their "off"

    Watching last nights film report of the Prince of Wales post positions draw on Buffalo channel 7 was more than a little disturbing.

    For what is billed as such a "royal event" I was amazed at just how cheesy it all looked.

    With a backdrop of low end prints of generic jockeys to the "positions board" that resembled something from a church bingo tally sheet I can't imagine anyone being wowed by this "media event".

    Of particular note in the report, standing in the background was none other than JT, looking to all who watched exactly like the "walking erection" he so expertly portrays.

    While we can certainly hope that this yearly hoop-da-doo delivers a return on OUR investment for local businesses I suspect that only a select few will see any benefit from the millions of public dollars handed over to the "UN-stable boy" and his horse ball buddies.

    The only surprise was no sign of "The Passero"


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  11. The Tacky Draw was the only photo op the Pissero has ever ever missed...Rumour has it he left the home stable and was busy establishing himself elsewhere. It worked for Clinton but alas we fear FE will not be as forgiving.Not setting an example worthy of any admiration or trust.

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  12. What is this prince of whales we hear of. Are they selecting a whale at Marineland to be the prince? Would be a great publicity stunt. How do they tell a male from a female? Maybe a prince and a princess whale would sell more tickets. We are in no position to tell them how to run that business. We heard it is up in Fort Erie. Do they have a big cement pond for the whales up there? There are some horses there that have to run in a panic for the amusement of onlookers, and thats bad enough but whales? Where does this thing stop? Is money involved?

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