Marra Confirms City Broke

By Robert Tuomi

(WINDSOR, ON) – It’s over for Windsor city councilor Biagio Marra. It has to be. He has to be honourable and do the right thing. He has reached the point of no other option. No longer can he look taxpayers or their children, particularly their children, in the eye.

Marra, who also chairs the transit outfit, has admitted defeat and shown himself to be not only a sycophant but a councilor with a limit on his concerns for city children. That is not good enough for the downtrodden taxpayers of Windsor who deserve full representation on council.

Marra is picking his issues and showing himself to be a total hypocrite and not a pro-Windsor councilor. This is no surprise given he hangs out in a windowless chamber that is stuffed with selfish inwards.

As recent as July 23, 2012 he was railing against the fact that there are not enough bus bays at city schools. These bays create islands of opportunity for buses to offload and load children in a safe area.

Get this, according to Marra’s assessment this is a safety issue and is quoted by CKLW that morning as saying “it’s important to deal with the issue before someone gets hurt.”

In the same morning newscast he says he has four schools, a scant four, on a list he has put together of schools that could use these bus bays. The broadcaster reported that there is $100,000, probably burning a hole in his pocket, that has “been set aside for bus bays at 4 schools – Forest Glade, Vanier, Roseland and Monsigneur Jean Noel.”

Then, as unbelievable as this sounds, he turns around and tells everyone, or everyone listening to the broadcast, and probably caused many a jaw to drop in disbelief, that the city has no money to do this at any other school. He has no shame as he boasts that he could easily “quadruple” the list but this is nothing if not him exposing a very sad cavalier attitude, his own lack of diplomacy and interest in fighting for what is right.

It is unacceptable that the city has no money to protect children at the city’s schools, or has only enough money to play Russian roulette with children’s lives and put in bus bays at a few select schools.

Marra must accept that if something happens at one of the schools he does not favour – and he gave no reason why he picked the four he did – it will be on his conscience.

How can his care be limited to four schools when he claims that this is something that needs to be done before someone gets hurt?

This is particularly egregious given Marra and his fellow inwards have millions upon millions to lavish on elites with a monumental swimming pool being built without a business plan, no market study and way too few seats to make it a world competitive venue. The surprising fact in this is that a goodly number of the elite swimmers don’t even live in the city. Marra had no concerns in subjecting the city to this expense but when it comes to the health and safety of local children he says he has money for only four schools.

Marra is the same councilor whose lack of diplomatic skills were exposed when he presented a motion to keep the position of auditor general at city hall. He failed to win the support of his fellow inwards. He should have quit that night but, as a double dipper, he probably likes the extra income he gets for meeting occasionally at city hall with his inward buddies.

Of course the inwards want no truck with an auditor general with special powers who could scrutinize why Marra thinks only four schools in the city are considered worthy enough for bus bays.

Definitely, no way would the inwards want any messing around with its plans as it builds monuments to itself and shows no concern about the safety of its roads on which the buses carrying school children travel and which are in a deplorable state.

Ironically, the pool could have been a joint venture with a number of community organizations, the risk could have been spread and the costs could have been shared thereby freeing up money for bus bays for all schools. But no, the city had to go it alone. It could be that the mayor is a control freak and needed to control the project so taxpayers and now children have to suffer at the hands of Marra.

Marra must show he has convictions. If he thinks bus bays are needed he must step up and demand the city serve all schools. If he is not willing to stand with such convictions, then it is clear he must resign.

If he does the right thing and resigns a pro-Windsor person could replace him and start the process of getting the city back on track and cleansing city hall of the inwards who care more for swimmers from the county than they do for city children.

Of course, you can bet the cabbage growing in your backyard that Marra will still be a sitting councilor after the next council meeting seen as how it is questionable that he will ever stand for anything.

Marra should take the words of Detroit lawyer Geoffrey Fieger to heart, “If you don’t stand for something, you end up standing for nothing.”

Or he can just continue to sit comfortable in his nice cushy inward chair paid for by the parents of the city’s could be at risk children.

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