December 7, 2020
City Council Meeting
Additional Information – Item 7.4

From: Nick Varacalli

Sent: Tuesday, December 1, 2020 11:26 PM

To: Toldo, Beth < toldob@citywindsor.ca >

Cc: mayoro < mayoro@citywindsor.ca >; Morrison, Jim <jmorrison@citywindsor.ca>;Tatiana Denisova; Tony Varacalli

Subject: Re: Windsor City Council meeting - December 7, 2020 at 10:30 am

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Hi Beth,

I would like my note to be made as a public note on the agenda to council and the Mayor as well as documented on the meeting minutes please.

First and foremost, I want this to be noted that in no clear communication to the constituents was made of the permanent removal of the playground until this year in Feb. just before the start of construction. 5 yrs of discussions and studies performed and not one courtesy letter in this time. I'd like to also note that a petition was signed by the surrounding constituents that they agree with this statement.

Second point, many attempts since Feb. 2020 to reach out to the Mayor and the administration to have questions answered were completely ignored regarding this issue.

This clearly is a dictatorship type of leadership that is being run within city council and the Mayor. This type of leadership should not be accepted by hard working tax payers. What kind of leadership ignores questions from constituents who are concerned. these are concerns that point out things that have been overlooked or not considered. The report clearly surrounds cost savings on spending, but the long term cost the tax payers will be forced to pay was never considered, or was it and that was the plan all along?

Two very important questions I would like to have answered first are as follows:

  1. Why wasn't the property tax increases for the surrounding constituents not considered when the study was made to remove the playground, did city council just figure that the rise in cost in homes would just be a distraction for the increase in property taxes due to the removal of the playgrounds? I contacted MPAC and they clearly stated that if the playgrounds are removed and not replaced there will be a property tax reassessment with an increase. Thank you very much!

  2. Why isn't the request to revisit Covid 19 and possibly other pandemic situations for that matter being addressed in terms of social distancing aspect?