Canada may pay for US Customs Plaza for NITC Bridge. Expedite process

[Honky Tonk]

It's not that they're Republicans. Snyder is a Republican and he's the number one proponent of the bridge. It's that they're corrupt and Maroun shrewdly paid off Republicans because it's easy for them to pretend their opposition has something to do with government spending [[even though the bridge will cost Michigan taxpayers basically nothing...)

Also note that the Democratic White House/USDOT are dragging their feet on this project, which makes no sense whatsoever.

It makes sense because a Republican is spearheading the effort much to the dismay of his own MI Party.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

I've said before that any bridge blockage in the political process in DC, Lansing, Detroit, Windsor or Ottawa is not Matty Maroun's "fault." If politicians are elected who obey him, it is exclusively the fault of the voters who elect them, and generally reelect them. Matty might be distasteful to many people, but he is not actually running the government. He has a right to lobby for his interests [[he's hardly the only person or business or group with money throwing millions around to lobby on their behalf). What's worse than Matty lobbying to block a bridge? Teachers' unions throwing money at keeping poor black kids in terrible Detroit public schools. Less controversial, but far more evil. I am just saying that anger at MM is misdirected. If you hate Matty for blocking the bridge, I am curious as to whether you showed up to heckle the President or Vice President on their recent Detroit visits. They didn't fight to fund the bridge, and are not exactly leading the charge to fund the customs plaza. And they have more actual power on the issue the cranky 90 year old.

[That Great Guy]

If the Federal and State governments won't pay then we could have a County Property tax pay for this. It would only take about a 2.5 mil tax or about $180 per year per household to pay for this.

I think also we should have a write in ballot for the SMART August tax and cross out 1 mil and write 3 mil.

I'm very sure we can afford to pay more for SMART, the bridge, a water authority and other regional projects for maybe say another $500 per year more in taxes. And ya know $500 per year more in new taxes is cheap and I'm sure no one will protest this enough to get these jobs done.

Just imagine a great bus system, a new bridge and bringing back Detroit for such a small price.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

TGG, I don't see county voters supporting that idea at all. Many homeowners are loathe to increase their taxes at all, let alone to have one county foot the bill for something benefiting 2 large and affluent countries. Also, potentially problematic, is the fact that the powers/responsibilites for Michigan municipalities are limited by state law; although I can't say for sure, I would be surprised if those powers could be read to include building a federal customs plaza at an international bridge.

[That Great Guy]

There is a strong correlation between this and the SMART Property Tax.

That correlation is job growth and the strong majority of Wayne County voters wanting, willing, able and by necessity by means of force to raise property taxes for this and restoring public bus service.

Most of us know Property taxes in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties are low and cheap when we consider how much good services we get.So, we vote YES whenever we get the chance to raise them.

Please support the NEW campaign to raise the SMART tax to 3.0 mil by a write in vote. Cross out the 1 and write in 3. We did this for the mayor and YES we can do this for SMART, no matter that a NO vote caps funds. I'm very sure this will work to get the buses AND the bridge by freeing up more state money to get more federal grants and also raise local and sales taxes to secure more grants. We don't as a majority necessarily have to even enforce federal laws as proven by the popular SMART property tax.

[downtownguy]

What's worse than Matty lobbying to block a bridge? Teachers' unions throwing money at keeping poor black kids in terrible Detroit public schools. Less controversial, but far more evil.

You're right. Those teachers are sooooooooooooooooooooooo overpaid and underworked!

[canuck]

I just counted the number of daily crossings for the five bridges that span the St Lawrence river between Montreal and the south shore suburbs and eventually toward the USof A.

Not counting the Victoria Bridge, circa 1860 [[ I couldnt find statistics for that one.)

Champlain bridge; 159,000
Mercier Bridge; 75,000
JCartier Bridge; 115,000
Lafontaine Tunnel; 131,000 for a grand total of 480,000 daily crossings vs 26,000 for the Detroit Windsor tunnel and the Ambassador. So let Ontario build youse a new bridge.

[erikd]

I just counted the number of daily crossings for the five bridges that span the St Lawrence river between Montreal and the south shore suburbs and eventually toward the USof A.

Not counting the Victoria Bridge, circa 1860 [[ I couldnt find statistics for that one.)

Champlain bridge; 159,000
Mercier Bridge; 75,000
JCartier Bridge; 115,000
Lafontaine Tunnel; 131,000 for a grand total of 480,000 daily crossings vs 26,000 for the Detroit Windsor tunnel and the Ambassador. So let Ontario build youse a new bridge.

You are looking at the wrong statistics and arguing the wrong point. This isn't about the amount of commuter traffic, it's about trade volume. There is a big difference between processing cars through an international border crossing and customs facilities, and passing commercial semi trucks through.

The Ambassador Bridge is the busiest international border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume: more than 25 percent of all merchandise trade between the United States and Canada crosses the bridge.

The number of vehicles that pass over any other border crossing between the US and Canada doesn't mean shit, because there is no other border crossing between the US and Canada that even comes close to the volume of goods that come across the Ambassador bridge.

The new bridge has nothing to do with accommodating more vehicle crossings from Detroit to Windsor, and everything to do with the flow of commercial trade between the US and Canada.

[Bham1982]

The new bridge has nothing to do with accommodating more vehicle crossings from Detroit to Windsor, and everything to do with the flow of commercial trade between the US and Canada.

The bridge has nothing to do with either issue. There's tons of capacity for commercial trucks right now [[too much capacity, in fact). It's a Canadian jobs and economic growth project for Windsor, the weakest metropolitan economy in Canada.

[canuck]

The bridge has nothing to do with either issue. There's tons of capacity for commercial trucks right now [[too much capacity, in fact). It's a Canadian jobs and economic growth project for Windsor, the weakest metropolitan economy in Canada.

Yep, that's what it is as far as i can see.

[MikeyinBrooklyn]

You're right. Those teachers are sooooooooooooooooooooooo overpaid and underworked!

Surely, downtownguy, you realize that teacher's unions [[like most organizations with more than 2 members) are highly political groups whose agenda is not the same as individual teachers. Most teachers teach because they want to make a difference in kid's lives, share the love of learning, and work hard at doing those things. Those are the goals of individual teachers. Teacher's unions lobby strenuously for power and money in a gigantic industry. Radical change to the education industry- which is needed in places like Detroit- threaten the power and money of those unions. The interests of teachers and their unions often do not overlap. Of course, I would argue, that is true of most unions. Unions may have helped end sweat shops; but, they also stifle innovation, creativity and flexibility.

[erikd]

The bridge has nothing to do with either issue. There's tons of capacity for commercial trucks right now [[too much capacity, in fact). It's a Canadian jobs and economic growth project for Windsor, the weakest metropolitan economy in Canada.

Really? So if there is actually too much current capacity, and this is just some kind of Canadian jobs program, then why is Matty Maroun trying to build a twin bridge right next to the Ambassador?

The argument that this is some kind of unnecessary Canadian government project doesn't hold water because the owner of the current bridge also supports building a new one. He just doesn't want anybody else getting a piece of his monopoly.