Superbowl and politics (en francais)

Local blogger WindsorCityBlog has some interesting questions for the Mayor and City Council relating to Windsor's Superbowl participation and the eventual costs:

"I wonder if any of the Councillors will demand an audit of what the real costs to the City were, the amount paid by sponsors and any shortfalls. It looks like the policing costs alone will be around the $250,000 mark.

I wonder who received tickets to the events during the week. Politicians got some freebies I know (and which they deserve for taking all the crap we give them all the time) but did Administrators get something for nothing too? I gather that some but not all attended the super-secret VIP party at the Armouries as an example. And how many Super Bowl tickets did we get and who got them?"

Add to that the $250,000 USD it cost Windsor to join the Detroit Superbowl committee. I've also heard that local hospitals all had extra staff on for the festivities, twice what would normally be scheduled. My source wouldn't tell me who won the Euchre tournament.

If the City of Windsor received free Superbowl tickets, why were they not offered to the public to benefit a local charity? A raffle or some other event would have been appropriate. The taxpayers of Windsor paid for these tickets, not the Mayor or his guests?

By the way, who did the Mayor take to the game?

I would hope that the Councillors don't have to demand an audit. A full and detailed report should be provided by the City without prodding and without all the usual delays.

I have no problem with the Mayor representing the City at events such as this. That's his job. But when additional perks such as event tickets, Superbowl tickets and the like are available as a result of large expenditures of taxpayers money, I certainly don't expect these to be used as a reward for already well paid city staffers or thank-you's to political cronies.