Friday, 26 October 2012

Schiziod



Niagara winners Circle has been following the machinations of government policies particularly as they pertain to Industry, Commerce and Employment.
In this year of 2012 the NWC has been apprized of another classic example of our future under the current Regional Government Administration.
(Welded Tube of Welland)
It is interesting to observe the Niagara Regional Councilors as they struggle to come to terms with each agenda item, as if each separate agenda item has no relation or ramification to another agenda item.
As we tried to point out in our article Schizophrenic Conduct our Niagara Regional Council approved of the following disparate items;
Council approved increasing development fees on new and/or expanding Industry, Commerce and Employment from $2.20 to $5.16 an astonishing 134% or two and a third times higher.
Council approved an expenditure of nearly $1 million for our Economic Development Officer to attract new and/or expanding Industry, Commerce and employment.
Council approved an extra expense of $470K on top of $3.3million for 14 extra regional employees to assist Niagara’s tens of thousands of unemployed find work in our politically induced diminishing jobs market.
There is no doubt that the two and a third times increase in development fees will definitely bring diminishing returns in the form of less Industry, Commerce and Employment plus the impediment to success of the EDO’s effort to attract same with the nearly $1million wasted war chest.
While the expenditure to assist the unemployed is laudable and has even morphed into an expensive necessity, it is a short sighted solution that is guaranteed to fail in a politically induced and ever expanding downward spiral.
Higher Taxes and increased Fees means less jobs, elevated unemployed and even more abject poverty; a level of misery which will destroy everything that our collective governments profess it wants to achieve.
Whether good times or bad, Niagara’s Industrial, Commercial and Employment diminution can be charted over the last four decades from the inception of Niagara Regional Government to near bottom of most surveys!

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Welded Tube moves closer to a $50M Lackawanna project
Business First by James Fink

A Canadian firm has agreed to invest more than $50 million in building its first U.S. operations in Lackawanna, N.Y.
Welded Tube of Canada Inc. Cleared one of its final hurdles when the Erie County Industrial Development Agencies board unanimously approved an incentive package to advance the project.
Welded Tube is a manufacturer of cold-formed carbon and low-alloy tubular-steel products currently operating in Welland, Ontario.
Welded Tube is moving their operation to a 40 Acre site inside the Tecumseh Business Park in Lackawanna, N.Y.
Once fully developed, the property will generate an estimated $996,000 in property taxes and new JOBS for LACKAWANNA, N.Y.
Products made in the Lackawanna plant will be shipped to Welded Tube’s Welland, Ontario plant for finishing on a temporary basis. Once the N.Y. finishing plant is completed, EVERTHING will be processed in Lackawanna and then shipped to the Company’s clients.
Besides the ECIDA incentives, which include $6.8 million in property tax savings and $850,000 in mortgage and sales tax breaks, the company will be receiving assistance from the Empire State Development Corporation including utility breaks. 
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Monday, 22 October 2012

Investigative Reporting



News Alert Niagara operates as a more current dissemination of news and information for the quarterly Niagara Winners Circle newsletter. 
 
The Niagara Winners Circle is a quarterly publication first published in 2004 featuring news, commentary and opinions primarily regarding matters concerning The Niagara Region. http://www.niagarawinnerscircle.com/  


Investigative Reporting:

Broke the story on Niagara Regions attempt to muzzle the public from public forum;                 http://www.niagarawinnerscircle.com/Inventing-Darkness.html

Broke the 2010 Story on the ignored deterioration of Burgoyne Bridge; http://www.niagarawinnerscircle.com/

Broke the story on SECRECY at the Niagara Region; http://newsalertniagara.blogspot.ca/2012/09/malignant-secrecy.html
                                          

Broke the story on the Niagara Economic Development fiasco; http://www.niagarawinnerscircle.com/NEDCstrategicPlan.html
                                           And  http://www.niagarawinnerscircle.com/NEDC.html

Broke the story on our Culture Committee’s spending practices; http://www.niagarawinnerscircle.com/Culture.html

Broke the story regarding the condition of Niagara’s Roads;

Broke the story on ARMED building inspectors;

Panned the ‘Open for Business’ wish list;

May we point to our story ‘Responsible Vigilance’ January 2011; http://www.niagarawinnerscircle.com/Newsletter.html

Leading years-long fight against illegal Dumping in Niagara;
http://www.wc-info.com/Garbage.html
                                                    And; http://www.prestonhaskellphotographer.com/#/gallery/niagara/

Exposed shameful abuse of potential commerce and jobs for Niagara; http://newsalertniagara.blogspot.ca/2012/10/response-to-old-guard-regional-councilor.html

Exposed the Machiavellian 'Tim Lewis Story'; http://newsalertniagara.blogspot.ca/2012/12/the-tim-lewis-story.html

Exposed those responsible for convicted miscreants on our Niagara regional police; http://newsalertniagara.blogspot.ca/2015/01/here-we-go-again.html


Exposed the true character of The Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority;


Exposed the astonishing secrecy regarding extreme levels of toxic pollution and its disposal;

We offer continuous opinion and commentary on Niagara issues of public interest.

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Monday, 15 October 2012

Schizophrenic Conduct



'Response to 'Old Guard Regional Councilor'

Sir, are you saying that we wasted our votes predicated on your concept that these new Regional Councilors including Councilor Kormos ‘won’t go along to get along’?
Sir, we expect our councilors to aggressively raise questions on any matter. The voters sent these councilors to help clean up Niagara Regional Government and stand up for their constituents; not to please the ‘OLD GUARD COUNCILORS’ or the unelected commissars!
Sir, yes Councilor Petrowski says the Region has a ‘Culture of Secrecy’, which is quite self-evident and very many people believe, including many councilors, that his opinion that the ‘Region is Broken’ is accurate. http://newsalertniagara.blogspot.ca/  
How about that secret ‘CORK’ committee, which was formed to permanently ban the public from ever presenting their views and/or opinions in ‘THE CITIZENS PUBLIC FORUM’ commonly known as Regional Council.
Sir, you said, “As published, I do not know two better councillors than Brian Baty and Bill Hodgson to sit on the hiring committee. They are very sincere and methodical individuals”. They do not in my experience “hide anything.”  
Really Sir!  
Both Councilor Baty and You Sir sat on the secret Cork committee! Still I will take your word for it that Baty and Hodgson are suitable for the vetting of a new clerk, but why then did they hide the fact, even from their fellow councilors, that they had been chosen for this obviously secret committee? http://newsalertniagara.blogspot.ca/2012/09/malignant-secrecy.html  
I’m sorry Sir, but I respectfully disagree with your dismal assessment of Councilor Volpatti asking if there is an “A” team and “B” team? You answered her query with a blunt ‘Staff and Council’. However, Councilor Volpatti was observing the antics and disparity between what is becoming evident as to ‘The old guard councilors’ and the fresh new faces that are valiantly trying to move Niagara forward. 

Sir, according to you it is the antics of council that are a big reason Niagara cannot attract new business. How about our Regional bureaucrats who refuse to respond to correspondence on very important matters or even refuse to inform our Councilors that correspondence has been received on very import matters. They repeatedly display their character by refusing to even acknowledge receiving correspondence from citizens or even groups of citizens and even more egregious, not to recognize receiving correspondence from Industry and Commerce! So much for the full-council governance meeting’s resolution of ‘Communication & Co-ordination’!  

Sir, much of the Regional Government’s visible conduct flies in the face of Chairman Burroughs’ 2012 State of the Region Address. http://www.niagararegion.ca/chair/state-of-the-region-2012.aspx#comm

Fees of Deception
Please note Sir that in the Regional Government’s attempt to attract new commerce and jobs to our beautiful Region they have agreed to spend (Invest) nearly $1million for our new EDO to TRY to attract new Commerce and Industry with their inherit JOBS while all the while they have decided to jack-up development FEES a whopping ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FOUR PERCENT or from $2.20 to $5.16 per square foot.
Could this type of schizophrenic conduct be one of the BIG reasons that we have difficulty attracting commerce, expansion of commerce and jobs? Or is this another effort to hide their failures, their spending activities, or just to be able to brag about how they are keeping the property tax down? It appears that our local governments raise fees wherever and however they can to save their own backsides so they don’t have to face the electorate with unpopular and in many cases unnecessary property tax increases!
Sir, perhaps there should be a series of public debates on the conduct of the regime currently governing Niagara. We could ask if increased secrecy might lead to fascism or if the Regional Government’s so called ‘Partners’ are more closely matched to an ‘Oligarchy’ of self-interested and self-serving groups?
The Niagara Winners Circle asked the fatal question of the failed Niagara Economic Development Corporation, which was allowed to waste over thirty million dollars! Predicated on its history the Niagara Regional Government should also justify its own existence!
As much as I respect you Sir, it is my opinion that the greatest success this Niagara Regional Government and its partners has achieved in its forty year history, is to expand its regime and multiply costs on the backs of the Niagara Taxpayer!

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