Have A Great 2018!

Whew!  I made it, at least so far this year. 

Yes, dear reader, I wasn't as worried now as I was previously but I still was concerned during the time period between Christmas and New Year's this year. If you recall, that was the time when I came down with an unknown at the time health problem that almost resulted in my death at the end of  December, 2014 and in the first few days in January, 2015. 

No, I am not going to go through again what happened other than to say that I was so fortunate in having medical action taken that resulted in me getting much better since that time. Of course, I am not able to function as completely as I did before. Nevertheless, I have recovered reasonably well from what I suffered with all the care that was given by various medical people and assistance given by family and friends. 

I am certain that you know now, after reading my articles, how dramatically my life has changed from the past. I believe that the life I am leading is an important one now although, to be direct about it, I am not sure exactly what it is supposed to be.  To be honest, that really does not bother me. I just live day to day with the role of carrying out whatever task I am supposed to undertake on that day. 

Yes, I agree with you, dear reader, it all seems rather strange. Nevertheless, I just have that sense that there is something going on that, hopefully, will cause some positive actions to take place. I believe that I have a role to play in achieving that result. 

Clearly, my writing of articles in my website, TecumsehCityBlog, may well be an important part. I hope so. I express my opinion as clearly as I can to give you, dear reader, a position that you might agree to support or even to oppose so that you can offer something even better. It is just my way of letting you know what is going on in our area that may well have an impact on us and giving you the opportunity to react in the best way that you think that you can. 

Let me talk to you about several matters that have happened recently. 

JANUARY 1: THE START OF OUR ELECTION/RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGNS 

For this article, I am just going to talk now about our local locations in this region. 

It should be interesting to see what happens between now and October, 2018 when the election takes place. Of course, no one really expects anything to happen until May 1 given the following that I just saw on the Ministry of Municipal Affairs website: 

"Changes to the election calendar reflect recommendations from the public, municipal councils and municipal staff to shorten the election campaign period. The first day that nominations can be filed for a regular election will be May 1st. Nomination day (the deadline to file a nomination) for a regular election will move to the fourth Friday in July (July 27, for the 2018 election)." 

Oh sure, it means we should have such a wonderful election and that those who are running for election have such a good opportunity to do so.  NOT in my opinion! 

Naturally, nothing that you are going to be learning about now or in the next few months introduced or commented on by elected politicians that are positive about your City or Town and what may happen has anything to do with the election coming up.  Of course, the reality is that politicians will be carrying on business but the business that they carry on will help them get re-elected. That's my opinion anyway. 

Anyway, I will be writing about various political matters as I have in the past and will comment on them. What should be interesting to see is what "non-elected politicians" who will run for office will do over the next few months to help them out but not break any political election rules. 

WHO WON OR LOST 

It was a very interesting article that I read in the Windsor Star. It was by Sharon Hill, and published on January 1, 2018. The title was "Windsor heritage winners and losers in 2017." 

It really would be interesting for you to read this article to find out who these winners and losers are. Just guess now and see if you are right or wrong in your assessment. I know that I was not correct in what I thought the story was all about. 

No, I am not going to go through all of the article because I want you to read it yourself. Here though is just one part of it that you may find interesting: 

"The year ended with promising heritage news. Windsor city council decided in December to renovate a 96-year-old fire hall in Sandwich to become a new library even though the estimated cost had more than doubled to $5.5 million. 

“If the city isn’t prepared to step up and save historic buildings, particularly in Sandwich Town, why would we expect others to do the same?” Mayor Drew Dilkens said Dec. 18 in a clear vote for local heritage buildings." 

Pshaw, spending money may no longer be a City problem.  Can you imagine the kind of deals, and their numbers, that you are going to see before the election! 

It just might become very difficult I would think for those who are going to cast a ballot to vote against presently elected people isn't it. 

DELAYED GARBAGE PICKUP 

I really don't understand why the Town of Tecumseh where I live had difficulty picking up garbage from houses in my area. Apparently, it was due to how much snow fell. I know that there was a fair bit but surely could it have been that horrific so that a big percentage of the population of Tecumseh, including my area, should not have the pickup: 

"WDS was also unable to complete its runs in LaSalle on Saturday, reporting that about 75 per cent of trash was collected." (Brian Cross, Windsor Star, December 31, 2017)  

This was originally posted by the Town: 

"Please be advised that due to high volumes and snow along the streets, garbage pickup is taking longer than usual this week.  Crews will be out again on Saturday to finish." 

Then the following was posted: 

"WDS was unable to complete their routes today for garbage collection.  Now, due to the holidays and  closure of the waste transfer station, garbage pickup will not resume until Tuesday January 2." 

It will be interesting if the Town advises us what happened after their meeting with the garbage collector "to find out where things went wrong and ensure the situation doesn’t happen again." (Mark Brown, Blackburn News, December 30, 2017) 

I expect it to be an interesting story but whether we find out about it or not, I do not know.