Coast Guard tells bridge company to halt work on second Detroit River span

[kraig]

"She also wrote in the Freep, in an oblique way, that the bridge and its traffic cause cancer, asthma and prostitution [[never mind the hundreds of smokestacks within site of the bridge). "

i guess you have to be here to see it. Trucks in large numbers draw prostitutes to fort st and Junction Ave & all around. Deisel pollution causes asthma and heart disease.

It hasn't been fun to be here with the Ambassador Bridge.

As for Tlaib - she continues to be hugely supported by her constituents [[envious Kraig notwithstanding) and she does seem to have a large number of heavy-weight allies on both the State and Federal level who don't appear to have backed away at all. Can you provide an example of any "catcalls."

I'm not envious, I'm just not sheep to be herded to a particular position. If you think she's so great, let me pose this to you.

If your house is on fire, I'm sure it would be comforting if your neighbors stood with you during your time of suffering.

But, what if the fire fighters did the same thing? Wouldn't you want them to actually do something about the fire since it's their job?

So I'm not impressed by a one issue politician that pretends to empathize with the community's suffering. I would be impressed by one that actually does something.

If you're so impressed, name five things that she's done for the Southwest side that doesn't have anything to do with the DIBC. I understand that she's only been there for six months, so I'll tell you what, name five things that her mentor Tobaccman did in six years that benefitted the Southwest side that didn't have anything to do with the DIBC.

[professorscott]

I'm with Bill: in the unlikely event I ever make an error, I'll admit it

I'm kinda surprised about the current flame height on this thread, though I guess I shouldn't be. The only thing I have against Mr. Maroun, whom I've never met, is that he behaves as though he doesn't think our human rules apply to him. That's why I poke at him, here.

I've met other wealthy businesspeople who stay within the rules, and frankly, that doesn't prevent some folks on blogs such as this for blasting away every chance they get. [[In fact, I thought about naming a few such businesspeople, but this fire has enough gasoline on it anyway; I'd have indirectly started a thread-jack.) But I respect anyone who plays fair. Mr. Maroun, at least with his dealings regarding the bridge, does not seem to be playing fair. If you or I decided to fence off a public park or a public road and shoo anyone who came, I doubt we'd be treated the gentle way his company has been.

Regarding Mr. Stamper's comments: Of course, telling the newspaper that the policeman who arrested you was obviously mistaken is one of the oldest and shabbiest tricks in the book. It almost never works in the long run.

[kraig]

I'm with Bill: in the unlikely event I ever make an error, I'll admit it

I'm kinda surprised about the current flame height on this thread, though I guess I shouldn't be. The only thing I have against Mr. Maroun, whom I've never met, is that he behaves as though he doesn't think our human rules apply to him. That's why I poke at him, here.

I've met other wealthy businesspeople who stay within the rules, and frankly, that doesn't prevent some folks on blogs such as this for blasting away every chance they get. [[In fact, I thought about naming a few such businesspeople, but this fire has enough gasoline on it anyway; I'd have indirectly started a thread-jack.) But I respect anyone who plays fair. Mr. Maroun, at least with his dealings regarding the bridge, does not seem to be playing fair. If you or I decided to fence off a public park or a public road and shoo anyone who came, I doubt we'd be treated the gentle way his company has been.

Regarding Mr. Stamper's comments: Of course, telling the newspaper that the policeman who arrested you was obviously mistaken is one of the oldest and shabbiest tricks in the book. It almost never works in the long run.

The City of Detroit had given the DIBC permission to fence off Riverside Park.

[SWMAP]

Tobocman; The Michigan Immigrant Consumer Protection law; the State Administrative Hearings Bureau law that helps fight blight; eminnent domain protections for property owners in eminent domain takings; the regulation of tax refund anticipation loans from usurious rates; the plan to regionalize Cobo Center. I don't think that any other member of the Detroit delegation so distinguished herself/himself in may years. Steve was a top-drawer legislator.

[kraig]

Tobocman; The Michigan Immigrant Consumer Protection law; the State Administrative Hearings Bureau law that helps fight blight; eminnent domain protections for property owners in eminent domain takings; the regulation of tax refund anticipation loans from usurious rates; the plan to regionalize Cobo Center. I don't think that any other member of the Detroit delegation so distinguished herself/himself in may years. Steve was a top-drawer legislator.

Explain how any of those actually helped. You do realize that the Cobo Center stuff didn't go through. It was in the papers and on TV. You might have been too busy following a Border Collie out to the pasture at the time.

[SWMAP]

Sorry, I do know that the Cobo deal didn't go through - but that doesn't mean it wasn't a great deal for the city and the region and a very respected, good attempt to make a good thing happen.

As to the others - maybe you had to be a victim of emminent domain [[like many residents of Detroit have been) or an immigrant re-building our city or maybe want to have some recourse against corporate blight, to know how these things worked out.

The bottom line is that Tobocman was a fine, fine representative for our neighborhood and you appear to be envious of his accomplishemnts for some unknown reason - else why do you harp so much without substance?

[Detroitnerd]

As a person who thinks that the only honest politician is usually one with a gun to his head ... I must say that Tobocman deserved the excellent reputation he has. Sorry if I sound a little deflated about it, but ... my cynicism is a little wounded.

[kraig]

Sorry, I do know that the Cobo deal didn't go through - but that doesn't mean it wasn't a great deal for the city and the region and a very respected, good attempt to make a good thing happen.

As to the others - maybe you had to be a victim of emminent domain [[like many residents of Detroit have been) or an immigrant re-building our city or maybe want to have some recourse against corporate blight, to know how these things worked out.

The bottom line is that Tobocman was a fine, fine representative for our neighborhood and you appear to be envious of his accomplishemnts for some unknown reason - else why do you harp so much without substance?

It appears that you aren't a fan of eminent domain. I know that I'm not a fan of eminent domain, it's never worked in the City's benefit. Yet, you feel the need to heap praise on one of the biggest backers of the DRIC project which is going to feature eminent domain. I think that's being hypocritical, I was a victim of the most recent case of eminent domain in this city, Graimark. Which is why I try to warn the people of Delray about the DRIC every chance I get.

If you want to praise empty legislation that hasn't yielded any real results go right ahead. The reason that you couldn't indicate what practical impact any of the things you pointed out had on the Southwest Side is because there wasn't any, and you know it.

[Gsgeorge]

There is no excuse for unapproved bridge approach construction, neglecting to build the truck ramp, and blockading Riverside Park, and Maroun should be punished & fined for this. But twinning the Ambassador Bridge will be good for us all. The destruction of Delray, while admittedly far along already, is only more of the same. An ingenious and seemingly simple solution is to build a second span.

Sometimes the simplest answer is the right one. Should we really through a lengthy and expensive process of acquiring land, demolishing a neighborhood, building a brand new bridge? -- it all seems like a waste of money at a time when money should not be wasted. Or, instead, twin the current bridge and expand its freeway & approach ramps to keep cars & trucks off the surface streets. Seems simple enough to me.

The DRIC & DIBC should be working together, not fighting, to solve a problem that will only continue to get worse.

[MIRepublic]

Until he cleans up the issue with the city over the park, this isn't going anywhere, and that's a good thing. And, Canada long ago ruled out the twinning. Matty's running out of both allies and options. At the moment, his last hope is Bing because both municipal legislatures, and state, province, and federal transportation listend to their citizens and deemed the scheme [[and all of the tactics use to bring it about) unfit. BTW, let me just say I'm so proud of those that have yet to scream "socialism".

[Warrenite84]

Why hasn't there been any talk about the risks involved with a terrorist attack on two adjoining bridges? I know there was much talk about this early on when [[Batty) Matty decided he wanted to build this new span. This alone should have killed his twin bridge plans long ago.

Yes, there are two spans close to each other in Port Huron, but the second was built before 9/11. Do we want to make that mistake twice?

IMHO, this is reason enough to support the Downriver Span.

[izzyindetroit]

Why hasn't there been any talk about the risks involved with a terrorist attack on two adjoining bridges? I know there was much talk about this early on when [[Batty) Matty decided he wanted to build this new span. This alone should have killed his twin bridge plans long ago.

Yes, there are two spans close to each other in Port Huron, but the second was built before 9/11. Do we want to make that mistake twice?

IMHO, this is reason enough to support the Downriver Span.

LOL, why hasn't there been any talk about a terrorist attack on one span. Let's not live our life in fear.