More Stories Coming

It was early in May this year.  I had just come back from a walk early in the morning of just over an hour.  It was somewhat cool and a bit windy when I left the house but was it ever warm when I returned. The temperature was supposed to rise quite dramatically that day to a very high temperature compared with what the highs had been over the past little while. Mother Nature just acts so differently these days.

I can remember the temperature a few years ago when it was so hot in the summertime. There were many days when the highs were over 90°.  Can you imagine what can happen if our temperature now goes from its lows for such a long winter until the very high numbers for what could be a very long summer.  I may never be allowed to leave my place to enjoy the outdoors, in walks for example, for such a very long period of time if that happens!

Oh well, perhaps that way of living really won't bother me all that much. I don't mind going for a long walk early in the morning in the summer while staying in the house and exercising in the winter to stay fit.  I will just have to adjust to enjoy my life if that happens.

A NEW "GROUP" RUNNING FOR OFFICE IN WINDSOR

Well, well, well. To be honest, if I was a citizen of Windsor, I would be rather disappointed about what has just been announced.  Is the election in Windsor now going to be completely different? It sure looks that way based on this comment in the Windsor Star article:

"Just two council candidates file on first day, but entire slate is on the way

Hensel said he's part of a slate of candidates running in 2018. "We're calling the campaign 'Fresh Start...'" 

“We’re calling the campaign ‘Fresh Start,’” he said, suggesting his group will be mounting campaigns against the mayor and current councillors who tend to side with the mayor on contentious issues.“If you were to draw a little map, you could see how we fall pretty clearly on the side of the four,” he said, referring to the four councillors — Chris Holt, Rino Bortolin, Irek Kusmierczyk and Bill Marra — who tend to vote together on contested issues that end up in 7-4 votes. The slate will also include a candidate in Marra’s Ward 8, Greg Lemay, because Marra has announced he’s not running for re-election." (Brian Cross, Windsor Star, May 1, 2018) 

Interesting that Mr. Hensel has a rather unique career:

"Hensel, who has a law degree from York’s Osgoode Hall but has never practised as a lawyer."

It should be very interesting having Hensel and his colleagues forming a unit and running together:

"He said he and fellow members of the slate have been talking for years about trying to improve their city. “We just got tired of walking on broken sidewalks and driving on roads with potholes,” he said, adding he wants to present an “alternative vision” for the city, “and take us in a different direction.”

Are they all a "political party" for this City?  Are they part of a much larger group throughout the Province?  Who knows.  Maybe this is the start of something completely new.

I wonder if another group will be formed to oppose them, especially the Councillors who seem so friendly now together and who may run again. More importantly, I wonder if Windsor citizens will support such a new political group being formed without knowing all that much about them until now. It certainly will be interesting to see which other members of the group will be running for office and what their background is to see if one ought to support them or not.

HOW TO MAKE MONEY IN THE TORONTO REAL ESTATE MARKET

And it certainly may be the way to make lots of money around here if circumstances are similar.

I just saw this story telling us that, in the Toronto area at least, house prices are increasing dramatically and not just because of what is going on in the marketplace:

"Government costs and charges on homes have gone up significantly since 2013, and account for nearly a quarter of the price of a new home in the Greater Toronto Area, according to a report published this week.

The report, commissioned by the Building Industry and Land Development Association, showed average cost from government charges on a new, single-detached home in the GTA was approximately $186,300. This accounted for about 22 per cent of the price of an average home.

The fees include development charges such as property taxes, utility costs and building permits." (Financial Post, May 1, 2018) 

I have to admit that I never knew this. Moreover, I cannot believe it! I must admit that I never took into account Government costs that are so high when thinking about new house costs.  It is just incredible to me.

The change in fees, as the news story suggests, could prevent young people being able to afford to buy a new home:

"Rising prices have been hitting new homebuyers particularly hard, as these increasing charges add yet another challenge in a housing market burdened by high property costs and lack of supply, said Sherwood. With nearly a quarter of housing costs from government charges, young buyers will suffer in particular if the prices keep going up.

“Affordability is going to continue to be a challenge in the GTA, and young families are going to get priced out of the market,” he said."

Effectively, the market may change pretty drastically. Younger people may be cut out from it but I don't see it killing the market. All it means is that they will not be able to afford on their own getting into a new home at all. What it means though is that they will be looking for homes that have already been built in and are now listed in the Real Estate Market for resale.

In my view, what it means is that the new house market may be slowing down dramatically in the next while. However, older homes will continue to increase dramatically in price because people are going to be forced to look to buy them whether they really wanted to do so or not before.

I must say that I wonder what the pricing of houses is in our area and are we going to be impacted in a similar manner in the new house market.

MAYORS ALREADY RUNNING FOR RE-ELECTION

I have to tell you that I was rather surprised to see news stories already being published telling us how many of the existing Mayors in the area are running again for office.

A whole bunch of them have already announced they are going to be running:

"The municipal elections aren't until the fall, but several Essex County mayors are already divulging their plans...

Tecumseh Mayor Gary McNamara confirmed Tuesday [he] will be seeking re-election." (CTV Windsor,May 1, 2018) 

A big number of other Mayors also have announced that they are running for office as well.

Of course, I am interested in Mayor McNamara running because I live in Tecumseh. However, I am a little disappointed that he is doing so because I expected that he would be announced shortly by the Provincial Government of being appointed as the "Metro Chairman" of the new Corporation in which all of the towns in this area and the City of Windsor are joined together. It would be similar to what happened in the Toronto area many years ago between the City of Toronto and all of the smaller municipalities around it.

Of course it probably will still happen but after the next election has been completed and McNamara re-elected as Tecumseh Mayor. It is probably too early right now to let everyone know that we are going to have an amalgamation in this area. Once it is announced, then I expect that Gary McNamara will be appointed to the new position.

No, I do not expect it to be Mayor Drew Dilkens who will have that position. He is very cautious and made this comment because obviously he is not sure what the new Provincial Government may want to do and what his role will be:

"Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens says he won’t state his intentions until after the provincial election in June."