Herod blogs!

Yee-haw, a new website!

Wait a minute. That means I’ve lost a key excuse for not blogging more frequently.

Rats!

Good-bye Gloomy Gus, hello Chatty Cathy.

Pardon the short, choppy sentences. But I’ve been tweeting a lot lately. An adjustment is in order.

OK, let’s move along here and start trashing a couple of people.

On Tuesday, the Region’s public works committee voted in favour of increasing the cost of putting out an extra container of garbage from $1 to $2. It’s the first increase since 1996.

I figure the boost will bring an additional $862 in revenue to the Region’s overall zillion-dollar budget, and likely deter no one from buying extra tags.

Whatever. The boost serves a symbolic purpose. I guess.

More illuminating, though, was the reaction of a couple of regional councillors.

Niagara Falls Coun. Selina Volpatti, who last year went into conniptions over unbagged grass clippings on lawns, took umbrage at the price increase.

“I have an issue with a 100% increase in any service to the taxpayer,” she thundered.

Say what?? It’s a buck more. The first hike in 16 years. Who exactly is she pandering to? The cheapest members of the Flat Earth Society?

Thorold Mayor Ted Luciani said he expects some people to respond to the increase by illegally dumping garbage to avoid paying more.

Really? What people? Let me guess. Right before dumping the garbage, these people will go to a variety store, pass on buying garbage tags, and opt, instead, to purchase $20 worth of lottery tickets.

File this cost hike under Non-Issues of the Year.

*****

What’s the deal with Toronto Maple Leaf fans?

I watched the last 10 minutes of the Leafs-Devils game last night. Toronto is a study in mediocrity this season after several years of outright stinking. Yet, when the Leafs scored in the last minute to tie the game, the fans, who paid ridiculous prices to  jam the arena, reacted as if their heroes had clinched first place. The look on their faces was one of pure euphoria and fawning adulation. Scary, really.

This is why the Leafs should never advance to the Stanley Cup finals, let alone win the Cup. The demands of Leaf fans would be too great: an annual national holiday on the date of the win; a series of parades in dozens of southern Ontario communities; a mandatory Leaf history course in schools; changing Canada’s flag from red to blue; a Dion Phaneuf statue at the Air Canada Centre.

Strike that last one. Phaneuf already is a statue at the Air Canada Centre.

Ba-dum, tssss.

Remember me?

Didn’t think so.

Can’t blame you, though. It’s been awhile.

But I promise to improve my blogging ways, at least from a frequency standpoint.

OK, my comeback involves commentary on a few municipal matters.

First, St. Catharines new parking garage.

Why is the city insisting on calling it the Carlisle Street parking garage? Bad decision.

Here’s why: It stands to reason a motorist going to something called the Carlisle Street garage would drive down Carlisle Street to get to the garage. Problem is, unless you’re one of 100 reserved parkers in the underground level, you can’t enter from Carlisle. Access for the other 500 parkers is from Garden Park, a width-challenged lane that runs between King and St. Paul streets.

When the original parking garage opened on Carlisle in 1976, it was called the Garden City Car Park. Given the new joint’s main entry point, it makes even more sense today to drop Carlisle from the garage’s name.

Also, it will be interesting to see how long it takes the city to revamp the aforementioned Garden Park lane. Currently, there’s two-way traffic between the garage exit and King, but only one-way between the entrance and St. Paul. In other words, motorists exiting the garage can’t turn left to get to St. Paul. Seems weird, although not as weird as the contractor installing a left-turn exit lane in the garage when you can’t turn left.

A couple of other garage notes. When I was there the other day, the top level was blocked off, as was the skywalk to the MTO building. Kris Jacobson,  the city’s transportation guy, said some minor cleanup work was taking place on the upper floor, and the MTO  and the city are working on some security issues re the skywalk. Both are expected to be open when the garage becomes fully operational (read: no longer free) on Feb. 1.

*****

Wrote a column recently that talked up the real possibility of having a skywalk bridge between St. Paul Street and the proposed new puck palace in the low-level parking lot.

It’s a necessary link, given the elevation change between downtown and the canal valley. And I think it’ll be a neat addition to the landscape.

But every time I get excited about the possibility, I find myself pulling back.

It’s the low-level parking  lot, for crying out loud! It’s cursed!

Sadly, I won’t believe the arena is actually going there until I see steel girders rising from the ground.

*******

As many of you know, Coun. Joe Kushner asked St. Catharines city staff the other week to investigate the possibility of creating an official song for the municipality.

The idea struck me as unnecessary and daft.

Fact is, though, I got two columns out of it, with more updates to come. And I had a lot of fun researching and writing them.

In other words, I reaped the benefits of past city attempts to get musical, yet I try to deny additional mocking opportunities for journalists in the future.

This is extremely selfish on my part. I withdraw my objections.

Bring on the official song contest.

Greetings!

It’s been awhile since I’ve entered the blogosphere.  What’s that? You hadn’t noticed?

Why, you ungrateful, uncaring … I mean, gee, that’s unfortunate.

Anyway, I got bogged down with the puck-palace debate the last couple of weeks. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another.

I’ve pretty much banned mention of the arena issue from my column the rest of the year. It’s what happens when you write about something 10 days straight.

But this isn’t my column. It’s my blog. Ergo, one last kick at the can.

I’ve been meaning to report this for some time. It’s a quote from Coun. Bruce Williamson on the night the puck palace was approved.

For the most part, it was an uneventful meeting as it was evident early on how the vote was going to go. Tension, there wasn’t. Minds were already made up.

With little or no chance of moving someone from their entrenched position, councillor debate was pretty blah. That said, Greg Washuta  provided an OK anti-arena rant.

But let’s get back to Williamson.

Up until he spoke, there had been a strong, passionate pro-arena sentiment expressed. The gallery was packed with arena supporters, and a number of Niagara IceDog players had arrived, sporting their practice jerseys.

Knowing he was about to speak against the arena and possibly incur the wrath of the many gathered proponents,  Williamson prefaced his remarks, thusly: “I hope the IceDogs don’t have their goon here tonight.”

I laughed out loud. Guffawed, in fact. It quickly dawned on me, though, that I was alone. Those in the gallery remained stone-faced. Tough crowd.

Cheer up, Bruce, it was a funny utterance. Still, you might want to wear a disguise next time you go to an IceDog game.

******

Channel-surfing last Saturday night, I stopped at the IceDog game on Cogeco. Saw the ceremonial opening faceoff. Taking part were a number of St. Catharines city councillors and Mayor Brian McMullan. They were being thanked in front of an adoring audience for agreeing to spend up to $50 million for a new IceDog playpen. This struck me as weird. We’re not talking a ground-breaking or a ribbon-cutting here. It was essentially a ceremony to pay homage to those voting in favour of a somewhat controversial expenditure.

So, what’s next? Since council voted this week to provide an hour of free parking at the new parking garage, will a bunch of councillors gather at the entrance gate on the first day of operation to acknowledge horn-beeping from appreciative motorists? Or the next time council votes to turn down, however temporarily, a condo project in a traditional low-density area, will members appear the following weekend at a barbecue in the grateful neighbourhood and be feted with hot dogs slathered in gourmet mustard?

The puck-dropping ceremony was made even odder by the attendance of councillors Len Stack and Dawn Dodge.

A couple of weeks ago, Stack was virulently opposed to spending that kind of cash of a new rink and saw fit to make his views known publicly in a news release. Scholars in heiroglyphics are trying to decipher the reasons why he changed his mind. As for Dodge, she declared a conflict of interest at the meeting because a family member works for the IceDogs and she’s a member  of CUPE. The family-member reasoning makes sense; the CUPE excuse is ridiculous. Whatever. She didn’t vote. Yet, she shows up to acknowledge the love of Saturday night’s fawning crowd. Consider this one of those cases where if you didn’t laugh, you’d cry.

******

OK, one last nugget from Saturday night’s broadcast. The boys in the booth between periods noted that earlier in the week IceDog coach Marty Williamson called out his players “in the paper.” Cogeco then put two long quotes from “the paper” on the TV screen. More talk about what was in “the paper” ensued.

Hey, guys, they were quotes from The Standard. Common courtesy in the media is that you identify the source of the information on which you are basing your commentary, particularly when you splash that information on the screen.

Let’s be charitable and call it an unintentional oversight.

Hey, it’s been awhile.

Did anyone notice?

Just asking.

Anyway, I was golfing in the Blue Ridge Mountain foothills of  South Carolina a couple of weeks ago. Came back with a cold and was off sick for couple of days. I’m still coughing. Man, getting old sucks.

My most impressionable South Carolina moment, other than the sand save I made on the 18th hole of our last day to square a life-and-death grudge match?  We’re at some relatively low-grade family restaurant when I noticed some stickers on a pickup truck in the parking lot. One decal was an American flag with the words: Take Back America!; another stated Trust in Jesus . Then, on the back window, was a sign with the words: Warning: loaded gun in cab.

I’m sure they were nice people, though.

*******

How politically dysfunctional is Niagara? Very.

But then, you knew that, right?

In case you didn’t, though, last week’s regional council meeting would have set you straight.

The issue at hand was replacing a Welland seat left vacant when Cindy Forster was elected MPP last month. It’s regional council’s decision on how to fill it, but it looks to the local council for advice. For 40 years, local councils put in this position have always recommended an appointment, normally the person who finished in the runner-up position in the last municipal election.

Welland city council broke with tradition and asked that the Region hold a byelection. Let’s be clear here. Asking for a byelection was code for ‘we don’t like the runnerup, Damian Goulbourne.’ If any Welland councillor tells you differently, watch for their nose to start growing. That’s because the idea that any Niagara citizen other than holier-than-thou, head-in-the-clouds, self-appointed guardians of local democracy favour the idea of spending $100,000 on a regional byelection is ludicrous.

So, by a one-vote margin, regional council told Welland council to shove it. I suppose it had the right to do so since the Region is charged with paying the byelection bill. But why pretend to the local council that a byelection is an option if, in reality, the Region believes it isn’t.

The merits of denying Welland’s request are up for debate. What happened next isn’t. A number of regional councillors believed it was OK for them to take matters into their own hands. A motion was made to appoint Goulbourne as Forster’s replacement.

Unbelievable. A real slap in Welland’s face. The idea that elected officials from St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Grimsby, Fort Erie and elsewhere should determine on their own who should best represent Welland on regional council is patronizing and insulting.

Fortunately, the motion was defeated, although not, as it should have been, overwhelmingly. Council then rightly decided to toss the ball back in Welland’s court. It asked that Welland council recommend an appointment.

Convinced of Niagara’s dysfunctionality, yet?

So, there I am, primed to hand out goodies to cutely costumed kids on Halloween night. The first knock on the door comes a little before 6:30 and there’s a boy, aged 4-ish, dressed in a bunny costume.

I smile and hand him some candy. The boy then turns to his father hovering in the background and says: “All he gave me was a box of Smarties.”

Why, you ungrateful, little …

******

Wrote a column the other day about the conversion of the old Provincial Gas office building into a residential complex for boomers/seniors. Developer Moe Zadeh announced the project to great fanfare in mid-April. Construction was to start this past summer and be ready for occupancy in the summer of 2012.

It appears builders have run into some asbestos issues, and it’s unlikely the occupancy target can be met.

No big deal. These projects always take longer than anticipated.

What bugs me, though, is Zadeh’s refusal to provide a progress update. He was more than happy to crow when announcing his $20-million plan to create 120 suites in the building.  The media dutifully reported on the proposal, and included laudatory comments from city officials who praised Zadeh for demonstrating faith in downtown St. Catharines.

Fair enough. But given the reception and publicity the proposal received, it’s not unreasonable to expect the developer to respond to requests for updates. The community was rightly excited about the plans, and doesn’t deserve to be shut out now.

The same attitude seems to be in play with the Port Place development. Repeated calls for updates are not returned. Expectations have been created; the developer should pay more than occasional heed to them.

******

Speaking of Port Dalhousie, there’s an information meeting tonight (Nov. 2) on a proposed 6-storey condo apartment next to Lakeside Park. This is the opportunity for citizens to express their concerns or delights with the project prior to the city’s planning staff forming their opinion on the developer’s rezoning application, which is scheduled to be heard by council early in the new year.

I’m guessing access issues and the building’s esthetic impact on Lakeside Park will be mentioned at the meeting. Sounds like fodder for an upcoming column.

*****

A column last week gave an early peek at how St. Catharines city councillors may vote on the puck palace when its approval comes up for debate either this month or next.

I conveniently had the result at 6-6, with Coun. Peter Secord having to break the tie. This was a fair assessment based on previous utterings and positions taken by the individual councillors.

I’m guessing, though, those positions will change at crunch time. Despite some misgivings about cost, I expect a couple of councillors will switch their ‘no’ votes to ‘yes’ votes.

Unless things change dramatically in the new few weeks, my sense is there’s more pressure in the community to replace the Garden City Arena Complex than there is to vote the required expenditure down.

I’ll have more on that as we approach D-Day.

*****

Devoted blog followers — hello, HELLO, anyone out there? — take note: I’m away next week and, thus, won’t be blogging.

I’ll be golfing in the Blue Ridge Mountain area of South Carolina.

Or maybe I should just go for walks in the Blue Ridge Mountain area of South Carolina.

Whatever. I’m bringing shorts.

The Standard’s newsroom Tea Club has been halved to one — me.

Pity.

The reduction in membership resulted with the departure of reporter Peter Downs last week. Downs has gone over to the dark side, choosing to engage  in public relations black magic.

A soiree for Downs was held last Friday at the Merchant Ale House  during which I trounced him in darts. Not that such a drubbing means anything.

Anyway, the new p.r. consultant probably should have remembered his tea-drinking roots that night. Instead, he imbibed in other liquids, the effects of which caused him to leave his going-away gifts in the bar at the end of the festivities. Fortunately, they were later recovered.

Remember to hold high your pinkie finger, Peter.

*****

Who says a report on economic development departments can’t be funny?

Well, OK, almost everyone does.

But the recent such report discussed by St. Catharines city council this past Monday night contained one guffaw-inducing moment for me.

It came in a section detailing all the fine work the city’s economic development does. This was important to express because there was a Niagara Region movement afoot to promote the wisdom of having a single such agency in Niagara, overseen by the gals and fellas at the Region.

In addition to other points, the city report made the case that St. Catharines’ biz office does more than just beat the drum for local businesses. This is true. It has proved to be a valuable resource in seeking senior government grants and has done plenty of heavy lifting on the performing arts centre and puck palace files.

But the staff report also felt obliged to note the department is responsible for organizing a number of events at Market Square.

“These include the Santa Claus parade,” stated the report.

There you go, folks. A single economic development agency for Niagara would mean St. Catharines children would no longer find presents under the tree at Christmas.

******

Had a fun time writing a column last week on Port Weller East neighbours who cheer for polar-opposite sports teams (Leafs-Habs; Dolphins-Bills.) Of equal interest, though, was talking to Elizabeth Marcheterre, the wife of the Habs/Dolphins fan. As noted  in the column, her father, Robert Hunter, was the last owner of the old Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team before it folded in 1967. I fondly remember going to a few of their games as a kid. The stadium was by the lake, next to the old TipTop Tailors factory.

Needless to say, Elizabeth is a real baseball fan and follows the Boston Red Sox religiously. The Sox were the parent club of the Leafs. She remembers when Sparky Anderson and Dick Williams did managerial stints with the Leafs. Both went on to considerable Major League glory. Indeed, Williams managed the Red Sox club that went to the 1967 World Series.

I said I remembered quite a few of the Leafs from that era graduating to the Sox.

“Eleven of them,” Elizabeth responded quickly, “and six played on the World Series team.”

See, I told you she was a real fan.

*****

From the small-item-that-may-grow-into-a-column-some-day department: Last week, I went to Brock University’s open house at which final schematic drawings for its new school of fine and performing arts were unveiled. I was particularly interested in the planned retrofit of the old Canada Hair Cloth textile factory.

Long story short, attention was drawn to the building’s not particularly historic or attractive chimney. One guy at the open house said he had heard Brock might be obliged to retain the chimney, despite its uselessness and unattractiveness. What gives with that?

Turns out chimney swifts operate out of there, and ruining their habitat might be a violation of some sort.

There’s no “conclusive answer” yet to the dilemma, open house attendees were told.

Note to self: check into this.

Still beaming that the provincial election is over. It’s got nothing to do with the results. Just happy I don’t have to endure any more campaign commercials.

Interesting, if depressing, to see that Dalton McGuinty plans to retain the not-so great Canadian tradition of ruling like a dictator because his party won the most the number of seats in the election. He’s calling it a major minority by virtue of the fact the Liberals came within one seat of an actual majority. Conveniently missing from the premier’s interpretation of the results is the popular-vote breakdown. In achieving the major minority, the Liberals captured 37.6% of the vote; the Conservatives 35.4%; the NDP 22.7%; others 4.2%. In other words, 62.4% of people who bothered to get off their butts to vote didn’t want McGuinty and company returned to power, yet he figures he should stay the course.

Then again, maybe the tough-guy stance is all posturing.

Politics, you gotta love it?

******

We run the occasional knee-slapper story  in The Standard, but it’d be hard to top the one this week out of Fort Erie for giggles.

Some company with no track record of accomplishment states it’s ready to build two factories in Fort Erie and create up to 340 jobs, but only if it gets $5 million each from the feds and the province by the end of the month.

The company called GreenSafe Demanufacturing would break down “white goods” such as refrigerators and dishwashers to a new product that can be recycled into other forms such as copper and steel.

Upon reading the article Monday, I announced to the newsroom I would eat that day’s 28-page paper if GreenSafe ever employed that many people in Fort Erie.

In a follow-up story, it was reported GreenSafe had plans a couple of years ago to open a similar facility in Caraquet, New Brunswick. Ground was broken in December 2009 for a 100,000-square-foot facility, but construction never took place.

Town officials said problems within the company led to the project’s breakdown; GreenSafe said the province wouldn’t give it the rezoning it needed.

I’d like to amend my initial vow regarding GreenSafe’s job pitch. If the company ever employs 340 people in Fort Erie, I will eat a Sunday edition of the New York Times.

By the way, Fort Erie dreamers, how’s that proposal to build a 60,000-seat motor speedway going?

*****

To no one’s surprise, except neighbourhood residents, St. Catharines city council blinked in its staring contest with the developer intent on building a small housing tract, including a four-storey condo apartment, across from Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School.

The development will have a larger and better landscaped buffer zone between it and its neighbours, but the project’s density and condo height – the two major irritants for area residents – remain the same.

I suppose there’s nothing wrong with the city attempting to play hard ball with the developer. The city was never really serious about taking this to the Ontario Municipal Board where it would have suffered a quick, merciless beating. Strategically, though, it did bring into play the possibility of a compromise with the developer. In the end it wasn’t much of one, but something’s better than nothing.

Problem is, some residents may have naively thought the city was serious about fighting the developer to the end. As a result, membership in the local Society of Cynics should grow.

But enough of that. What the impending approval of this rezoning  brings to mind is this: when will one of the touted new apartment condo projects in St. Catharines actually be built?

In play are the one we’ve just talked about; Port Place; the Yates St. project;  the recently unveiled one next to Lakeside Park; the phantom condo development that’s been hinted at on the city-owned Lake/Wellington parking lot.

My apologies if I’ve missed a proposal.

I say the city should hand out an award for the first of these private projects that rises two storeys above ground. Give ‘em 10 free parking spots or something.

Wrote an editorial for Wednesday that supported Niagara regional council’s decision not to re-schedule its meeting on Oct. 6, the night of the provincial election.

Councillors have an obligation to put Niagara residents first, I thundered, noting there will always be some conflict or another with regional meetings.

Afterwards, I remembered the provincial election also conflicts with my regular Thursday night basketball game.

Drat! I’d rather play hoops than cover the election.

Stupid provincial scheduling.

I’ll try not to be bitter that night.

******

Interesting political posturing at St. Catharines city council Monday night. It concerned the puck palace. The unintended victim was John Bragagnolo, a founder of the New Garden City Complex Advocacy Committee.

I say victim because Bragagnolo was simply there to give a routine, predictable speech urging council to approve the hiring of  an operations consultant to help move the spectator-facility process forward. Such a hiring had been the city’s plan for months.

Anyway, a number of councillors took the opportunity to grill Bragagnolo on the fundraising intentions of his committee. The councillors intoned that the ability to attract non-taxpayer money will help sell the project to the public. I refer to this as posturing because councillors are living in la-la land if they think substantial amounts of private cash will be there to offset the capital cost.

In its report to the city last year, consultants Deloitte noted the market for sports facility naming rights had gone soft the past few years. It estimated the city might be able to get $1.5 million over 10 years for naming rights to the puck palace itself. But that’s seen as operating money, not capital.

Bragagnolo deflected the calls for fundraising commitments by arguing councillors were putting the cart before the horse. Let’s see if the project proceeds before getting to that step, he said.

The grilling of Bragagnolo reached new lows when the hapless Len Stack entered the picture. The Port Dalhousie councillor suggested Bragagnolo had stated the new area would cost taxpayers little or no money.

“I never said that,” abruptly retorted a perplexed/startled/upset Bragagnolo.

Oh, well, that’s what I thought I heard you say, countered Stack.

In fact, what the advocacy group spokesman had said was that the decision to hire an operations consultant, SMG group, would initially cost the city little or no money.

My guess is the next time the New Garden City Complex Advocacy Committee is scheduled to make a presentation to city council, Bragagnolo phones in sick.

*****

I’m scheduled to be on Tim Denis’s 610-CKTB radio show Thursday circa 7:20 a.m. Topics for discussion include the aforementioned puck palace and the performing arts centre design. As many of you know, more pretty pictures of the design are being unveiled at a public meeting Wednesday afternoon/evening on the St. Paul St. site. Last week, I said the rendering of the art centre used to promote the meeting looked liked a 1970′s-era high school. Thank goodness, artsies and architects have good senses of humour … right?

*****

The United Way croquet tournament is going well so far this week. Thanks for asking. Standard managing editor Wendy Metcalfe and I crushed Mayor Brian McMullan and city CAO Colin Briggs in an exhibition match Monday. Cop reporter Peter Downs and I defeated a tough HUB International insurance team Wednesday. If we go on to win the tournament, I’ll let you know in my Saturday column. If we lose … hey, I’ve got bigger fish to fry.

Herod Blogs! is back by popular demand! Would you believe my city editor expressed interest? Um, how about the night cleaning guy?

Whatever. I’m here. Ruminations will ensue.

******

Read on Twitter that a number of St. Catharines local politicos were at an event to show support for Dominic Ursini, the provincial candidate in Welland. The gathered forces included St. Catharines city councillors Len Stack, Matt Harris and Mat Siscoe, and regional councillor Andy Petrowski.

Note to Ursini: you might not want to ask these guys for campaign financing advice.

*******

Noticed there’s yet another new name for the bar on the King Street side of the old Welland House, known in more modern times as a downtown student residence. The previous incarnation was the Pig&Poacher, or something like that. It lasted mere months. Indeed, no bar has enjoyed much success in that spot.

The new name? Lucky’s.

It’ll need to be.

*****

OK, I’ve been sitting on my Lloyd Robertson story for some time.  As I presume most everyone knows, the longtime news anchor for CTV and a grandfatherly type figure finally packed it in a couple of weeks ago. Yeah, I know I’m late with this, but I was on vacation when he left.

Here’s the sketch:
In my last year at Western, I had to take a TV course as part of my journalism schooling. One day in the winter of 1977 we went on a field trip to CTV. Robertson, possessor of a milk-and-cookies image,  had recently left CBC to team up with CTV anchor Harvey Kirk.

Our group was sitting in a darkened area of the TV studio when Robertson and Kirk moseyed in to do the dress rehearsal for that night’s newscast. Oblivious to our presence, Robertson kibitzed with the technical crew, dropping  a barrage of F-bombs in the process. At some point, after presumably adjusting to the darkness, he noticed our group in the shadows and gave us a slight deer-caught-in-the-headlights look.

He then adopted his newscast voice: Oh, I see we have some visitors here, he said. Glad to have you and welcome. The salty chatter ended.

What can I say? It was funny.

And, please, no hiding in the shadows while watching me in private conversation.

*****

The prestigious Royal St. Catharines Croquet Club charity classic returns to the lawns of city hall next week.

Plant your chair on the sidelines early as organizers are expecting big crowds, particularly when the defending champs are playing.

Let’s see, who are the defending champs again? Hmm … oh right, it’s me and a cast of several from The Standard.

Key to a repeat: remaining humble.

So, St. Catharines city council passed a community sustainability plan this week.

That’s great. I’ll try to check back in 20 years to see how it panned out.

Oops, I forgot. I’ll have checked into the Retirement Home for Bewildered Journalists by then.

Oh well.

In other municipal news … wait a minute. There isn’t any.

Don’t get me wrong, this summer’s been great for sun and heat worshippers. But it hasn’t exactly been brimming with local government news. That’ll change quickly in the fall, a subject I’ll address in Saturday’s column.

Meantime, I’ll try to bone up on my sustainability duties.

*****

Went to the official opening of the Bridge to Somewhere in Port Dalhousie Wednesday morning. Given the amount of column fodder it has provided me lo these many months, I felt a certain obligation to do so.

As noted by Hizzoner Brian McMullan, there wasn’t a “straight line” getting to this project, which connects Jaycee Gardens to Rennie Island over a stretch of Martindale Pond..

It started out as a trail that would hug the Martindale Pond, then morphed into a floating bridge proposal before finally becoming a budget-busting fixed bridge.

Fortunately, St. Catharines MP Rick Dykstra was able to pry another $500,000 from federal coffers and the bridge proceeded without an infusion of municipal tax money or a bleeding of money from the Dalhousie House renovation project. Not, I hasten to add, that many people would mourn or notice a delay in the Dalhousie House project.

But enough about how much the bridge cost. Because it’s 90% federal dough, no one cares.

Sadly, I also have no smart aleck comments to make.

It’s a wonderful addition to the community’s recreational infrastructure. Kudos to Port Dalhousie resident Dave Bedwell for helping sell the project initially and to Dykstra for steering it through the federal government’s bureaucratic meat-grinder.

I better stop before I get overly sappy.

*****

We’re putting out a Grape and Wine Festival section in September to help commemorate its 60th anniversary. As one of the last remaining old farts in the newsroom, I’m trying to assist by going through library files, picking out photos and stories that might provide fodder for the section.

Leafing through the files brought back a lot of memories. A few stick out: the number of goofy events associated with it over the years (grape-seed spitting, greasy pole climbs, grape-wresting as opposed to mud-wrestling), the number of varied floats and large marching bands that used to routinely appear in the Grande Parade, and the storefront display contest.

I’d almost forgotten about the storefront display. That’s when dozens of businesses in downtown St. Catharines got into the spirit of things by decorating their windows or the inside of their buildings. Many of them were very creative. It added a nice touch to the festival.

Not sure when the contest ended, but it’s not hard to figure out why.

Retail stores started closing and local ownership or management of other commercial operations waned, too.

Can’t imagine there’d be much participation if the contest was resurrected. What do you say St. Catharines Downtown Association?

****

Herod Blogs! will take a not necessarily well-deserved break over the next few weeks as its purported author takes his annual late-summer sojourn from tapping on computer keys.

With any luck, there’ll be a part 17 in September.

Until then …