I Write So Much

I am sure that you recognize by now my writing technique when I produce another article for you. That's right, I am doing something similar almost every time I forward something for you, dear reader, to read.

I do that for a number of different reasons. However, the most obvious one is my desire to let you know what my personal feelings are before I get into writing about other matters that are taking place primarily in this region. I want to let you know about matters that I believe may be the ones that you will face in your life as well. No, I am not telling you what you should do. That is not my role. What I do is tell you how I handle a situation and give you an idea about what you may want to do in the future if something similar arises with you.

My personal feelings cover a number of different areas. Clearly, health issues are a large subject that I cover for the obvious reason of what happened to me slightly over 3 years ago when I almost died suddenly. I am sorry if you find it difficult to read more about this subject but it is something that I have lived through reasonably well and want to share with others who may experience something similar in their lives. I am not asking for anyone to follow what I have done but it is something for you to consider if you have a similar issue with which you want to deal.

I also talk to you about how our family acts with people especially when we may have a problem with them. I have written on a number of different subjects to show you what I and my family have faced and, generally, have been successful in getting a good result on a subject. Importantly, we set out how we accomplished our result. I tell you why we all act in the way that we do. You might find it difficult to follow along with us on our approach because we do things differently because of the ages of me and my wife. To be frank about it, I personally act much more quickly now than I have before because I want to achieve a settlement of whatever differences we might have as quickly as possible. I just don't have the time to sit around at my age and at my health waiting for someone to make a decision. I force a decision to be made as quickly as possible.

Some of my stories involve me only because I am so happy about how a person acts when I have an issue arising. For a very simple matter of looking for a standard product at a major grocery store, I told you about the wonderful person that I have met in the store that I go to most of the time and how he has been so friendly to me to help me accomplish my result.  I have told you about service reps from different companies who worked very hard not only to help me with the "standard" company matters for which they have come to my home but also to use their skills to help me out with other concerns that I have at the same time they have come to my place. It is amazing how they are prepared to help me out on some of these "non-standard" matters just because they can and because they want to do so.

As you can see, dear reader, I wanted you to know about a number of subjects that I believe may be well be useful in helping you in doing something which may arise in your future. It could well be something you know little about now but which you will learn about. No, I  am not telling you how to do things or even with whom to speak. All that I am telling you is about the wonderful things that have happened to me and my family, especially in the last few years, when we try very hard to get along so well with others.

Now let me tell you about the new stories that I found quite fascinating. I hope you will too.

SOME GOOD NEWS FOR WINDSOR

Finally, we reading some good real estate news for downtown Windsor. Hopefully these projects will actually start and then be completed in a relatively short period of time:

"A string of ambitious projects worth more than $100 million, including 400 new housing units and the rejuvenation of a vacant riverfront hotel, were enthusiastically endorsed Monday by the city’s planning committee.

Members of the committee voted unanimously to recommend four initiatives, including three applications to the downtown Community Improvement Plan that provides incentives to spur residential development and bring more people to the core." (Brian Cross, Windsor Star, May 14, 2018) 

Do you think that they will happen? Usually, one should say "yes." However, in this area, with changes that are made so quickly, who knows what will really happen and when.

WHY IS THIS PhD TASK BEING PUBLICIZED

I not going to do a very long story about this topic nor will I give an explanation about it because obviously I cannot. I just wanted to point it out to you, dear reader, because I found its publicity quite interesting.

Here is the beginning of the story of which I am speaking:

"What do women who work at the Ambassador Bridge understand about their risk of getting breast cancer?

Jane McArthur, a University of Windsor PhD candidate, wants to find about 20 women who have worked or are currently working in a bridge-related job in customs or at the duty-free shop for her sociology research study.

“If women know and understand what the risk factors are then I think we could prevent a lot of breast cancers that we’re seeing now,” McArthur said Monday.

She’s not saying the Ambassador Bridge is a bad place to work for your health. She picked it because it’s in west Windsor in an area with higher pollution, the bridge has high volumes of traffic and a past study that interviewed 2,000 women found women were more likely to have had breast cancer if they lived within a kilometre of the bridge or the Windsor airport, she said." (Sharon Hill, Windsor Star, May 14, 2018) 

I really am wondering about all of this. It just seems so surprising that it is being detailed now in the media. I must admit that I don't recall too many other scholarly studies being publicized like this before. I just am thinking about how involved the work might become in the controversies involving the Governments and the Ambassador Bridge Company especially after the work is completed. After all, its written result is supposed to come out in the fall of this year.

I will let you, dear reader, form your own opinion because I do not know anything more.

ANOTHER REASON FOR NO GOVERNMENT BRIDGE

I just thought I have to set out this point for you, dear reader, that explains why the Government will not build a bridge in this area. The Government just does not have enough staff today so do you really expect them to hire much more staff for a new bridge tomorrow if it is built.  Of course not:

"The Canada and Border Services Agency has issued a request for volunteers across the country to relocate to Quebec for a minimum of one month this summer and help out processing asylum seekers whose numbers are anticipated to skyrocket starting in June." (Dave Battagello, Windsor Star, May 18, 2018) 

What makes anyone think that the Government would be able to hire a huge staff for a new bridge in this area:

"The Customs and Immigration Union, which represents 6,500 officers across Canada — including more than 400 in Windsor — has been warning of the looming staffing crisis for months, said union president Jean-Pierre Fortin. There has been no response from the government.

Federal government cutbacks have aggravated the situation. The government announced five years ago the reduction of 1,200 customs officers through attrition, Fortin said."

It just makes a 2nd Government bridge a project that is not going to move forward at all.  After all:

"The bridge has 13 primary inspection lanes for trucks heading into Windsor. All the lanes generally are open during the heaviest periods of traffic each day, Korosec said.

Anywhere from 5,000 to 6,000 trucks are processed each day, with each truck spending an average of up to two minutes at a primary customs inspection lane, he said.

“If you go down to 12 or 11 lanes, you will quickly start to see a mile of trucks backing up on the bridge,” Korosec said. “We are hoping not to lose any officers.”