Land sale may complicate plans for the bridge [[DRIC)

**kraig** · January-07-10, 10:26 PM

January 7, 2010

Land sale may complicate plans for bridge
By JOHN GALLAGHER
FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER
Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel [[Matty) Moroun has acquired a big parcel of land in southwest Detroit in a move that could complicate plans to build a rival bridge project there.

Morounâ€™s Central Transport has purchased the former Yellow Freight truck terminal at 7701 W. Jefferson, Moroun spokesman Phil Frame said today.

The site covers 42 acres and includes 185 loading bays. Moroun bought the land for an undisclosed price from YRC Worldwide, a company formed by the recent combination of Yellow Freight with the Roadway trucking company.

The approach ramps for the planned Detroit River International Crossing bridge project between Windsor and Detroit would cross one corner of the parcel. DRIC is a joint project by the governments of Michigan, Ontario, the United States and Canada to build a new publicly owned bridge from Detroitâ€™s Delray district to Windsor.

Moroun bitterly opposes the DRIC plans because it would siphon traffic and toll revenue away from his bridge. With Moroun now owning the Yellow Freight land, the DRIC coalition would have to resort to a government taking of the property, or at least the corner of it. That could lead to a court fight.

Bill Shreck, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation, said Morounâ€™s purchase of the parcel shouldnâ€™t hold up plans for DRIC. Noting that governments have the right to seize property for public uses under eminent domain, he said the only fight would be over how much the state had to pay for it.

Frame said Moroun plans to move trucking operations into the Yellow Freight site beginning Friday, transferring operations from a smaller facility in Romulus. Initially about 100 workers will transfer to the southwest Detroit site, but ultimately hundreds more could make the move.
Moroun is best known for owning the Ambassador Bridge, but his business includes a network of trucking companies that is among the largest in the U.S. The Yellow Freight site is ideal for those operations, Frame said.
â€œThere is a tremendous business case for doing this,â€ Frame said. â€œIt wasnâ€™t DRIC that drove us to do this. The facility was perfect for Central Transportâ€™s business.â€

MichMatters · January-07-10, 10:40 PM

Reading the actual article, this doesn't sound like it'll effect DRIC much at all. DRIC can outlast Matty, to put it bluntly, and without Matty, Stamper's can be rolled. Let's be clear, Matty's presence in Southwest Detroit has never been about his business it's been about his ego, even more so now than ever. When he's gone, the DIBC [[and even Central Transport) will get back to being an actual business that can be fairly negotiated with and reason with instead of what has been nothing more than a front for one billionaires uncontainable ego.

**Gsgeorge** · January-07-10, 11:00 PM

moroun should trade his bridge and train station for a full monopoly on the trucking industry. he is almost there already, and it would be more beneficial for the people and the state... more jobs, less rampant slumlording and bridge trolling.

**detroitsgwenivere** · January-07-10, 11:02 PM

The only thing I see complicating the DRIC as far as Matty is concerned is his knack for operating his business around other peoples sh*t, making it harder for them to operate. I can absolutely see him using sabatoge tactics to try and hamper traffic going in and coming from that bridge, affecting the neighboring residents and businesses. Lets hope we and MDOT have a good stomach for court, cuz I see this turning into an unnecessary legal nightmare that will be on the front pages of the paper for years to come.

Does anybody reading these posts actually live in Delray? If you do I'm interested in what you think about all this.

**kraig** · January-07-10, 11:16 PM

Originally Posted by detroitsgwenivere

The only thing I see complicating the DRIC as far as Matty is concerned is his knack for operating his business around other peoples sh*t, making it harder for them to operate. I can absolutely see him using sabatoge tactics to try and hamper traffic going in and coming from that bridge, affecting the neighboring residents and businesses. Lets hope we and MDOT have a good stomach for court, cuz I see this turning into an unnecessary legal nightmare that will be on the front pages of the paper for years to come.

Does anybody reading these posts actually live in Delray? If you do I'm interested in what you think about all this.

Let's be honest here. There are no good guys in this fight. The DRIC is definitely planning on screwing over the people in Delray.

The DRIC may not be able to afford to fight Matty on this. With his resources, a court battle can last for years. Years that will only make the DRIC more expensive to build. How long will M-DOT be able to go without providing matching funds for the roads that see millions of drivers a day while wasting money on a bridge that will only see about 10,000 drivers a day? With Granholm on her way out after not blowing us away for eight years, the next governor is going to have a lot of pressure put on him/her to actually get something done, roads included.

**Gistok** · January-08-10, 12:07 AM

IIRC, Matty played a trump card on some riverfront land downriver a few years back. It had something to do with old archaic federal railroad laws [[still on the books)... but it did the trick, and he got to keep the land that was trying to be taken from him by some downriver community. Don't recall the details....

Are there any railroad tracks on this newly purchased land? If so... beware!

**barnesfoto** · January-08-10, 02:51 AM

Maroun, [[Vampire), is a master at playing land chess. Nobody does it better. No matter how repugnant one finds his behavior, one can't help but admire how well he plays this part of the game.

MichMatters · January-08-10, 03:27 AM

It's too late for Matty; he's won plenty of little battles, but he's lost the war. What he's doing now is further positioning the DBIC and Central Transport in such a way to cause MDOT as much annoyance as he can. The only thing capable of downing the DRIC is a change of leadership [[the political party, at least) in Lansing, which is entirely possible. Matty can't stop the DRIC and he knows it.

He got outmanuevered, period, and it happened years ago. Particularly, the nail in the coffin was when Kilpatrick and Cheeks didn't come through on the plan to essentially give him the entire west riverfront between downtown and the bridge for an "access road" so as to prepare the way for the DBIC bridge "expansion" project.

Matty playing revenge, now. He better admit that MDOT had his number, and try to salvage the inkling of a legacy before he expires. But, I get the feeling that he's petty and spiteful enough that he doesn't at all mind leaving the repurposing of the MCS open-ended, and doing everything he can to be a thorn in the sides of the citizens of Detroit and the people of the state of Michigan. It'd be just like him to pass away leaving frayed and loose ends untied out of little more than spite.

MDOT may be no angel, but Matty is most certainly a devil.

**kraig** · January-08-10, 11:38 AM

Originally Posted by MichMatters

It's too late for Matty; he's won plenty of little battles, but he's lost the war. What he's doing now is further positioning the DBIC and Central Transport in such a way to cause MDOT as much annoyance as he can. The only thing capable of downing the DRIC is a change of leadership [[the political party, at least) in Lansing, which is entirely possible. Matty can't stop the DRIC and he knows it.

He got outmanuevered, period, and it happened years ago. Particularly, the nail in the coffin was when Kilpatrick and Cheeks didn't come through on the plan to essentially give him the entire west riverfront between downtown and the bridge for an "access road" so as to prepare the way for the DBIC bridge "expansion" project.

Matty playing revenge, now. He better admit that MDOT had his number, and try to salvage the inkling of a legacy before he expires. But, I get the feeling that he's petty and spiteful enough that he doesn't at all mind leaving the repurposing of the MCS open-ended, and doing everything he can to be a thorn in the sides of the citizens of Detroit and the people of the state of Michigan. It'd be just like him to pass away leaving frayed and loose ends untied out of little more than spite.

MDOT may be no angel, but Matty is most certainly a devil.

Lost the war? Outmanuevered? It looks to me as though he just landed a knockout punch on the DRIC. If I'm not mistaken, M-DOT has to fight this with state money. The Feds can't get involved. What is M-DOT going to fight with? A lack of non matching funds?

No matter how anyone feels about Matty. He's showing the smarts that made him a self-made billionaire. He outmanuevered the City, State, Feds and Canada on this one. He may not get his new span, but, he's put a stop to the DRIC.

**Detroitnerd** · January-08-10, 12:02 PM

Speaking of YRCW: http://www.counterpunch.com/andrew01082010.html

Saving 30,000 Jobs

How the Teamsters Beat Goldman Sachs

By ANDREW COCKBURN
Among the causes of the ongoing financial meltdown, many experts cite the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, smuggled through Congress late on a December evening in 2000. The law exempted Credit Default Swaps [[CDS) which are essentially bets on the value of securities from all regulation, including state gambling laws. This allowed Wall Street to conclude that any risk could be hedged with a bet. The result, of course, was disaster, with economic consequences that we will be feeling for a very long time.

**DetroitHabitater** · January-08-10, 12:06 PM

It would be even sweeter if his corner was taken by eminent domain.

**Gistok** · January-08-10, 01:04 PM

Originally Posted by kraig

Lost the war? Outmanuevered? It looks to me as though he just landed a knockout punch on the DRIC. If I'm not mistaken, M-DOT has to fight this with state money. The Feds can't get involved. What is M-DOT going to fight with? A lack of non matching funds?

No matter how anyone feels about Matty. He's showing the smarts that made him a self-made billionaire. He outmanuevered the City, State, Feds and Canada on this one. He may not get his new span, but, he's put a stop to the DRIC.

I have to concur... and with MDOT not even being able to do fix all of the state roadway infrastructure that is already falling apart [[due to lack of funds)... where are they going to get the money for the new bridge, let alone the legal fight that Matty will protract??

In a game of Chess between Matty and MDOT... Matty just did a "Check".

**Detroitnerd** · January-08-10, 01:14 PM

The old game of privatize the profit, socialize the loss. The government [[us) has to build the roads, the trucking companies [[Matty?) get to run very heavy freight over them, destroying them year after year. The government [[us) has to rebuild them at tremendous cost. Meanwhile, the money-making bridge gets held privately [[Matty?), and the justification for not building public [[us) competition to Matty is squelched because of the government's [[our) road-paving responsibilities. Check. Checkmate.

**BShea** · January-08-10, 01:19 PM

Phil Frame explains the business case for the land purchase and says the DRIC implications are a side benefit.

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/shea

**kraig** · January-08-10, 01:53 PM

DetroitNerd and BShea. Your links actually complement each other very well. Thanks, that was good stuff.

**BShea** · January-08-10, 02:07 PM

Aren't the federal taxes applied to fuel for commercial and private vehicles designed to fund road construction and repairs? The trucking industry has been pushing for increases in those fuel taxes, too, to expand the repair the roads.

**Detroitnerd** · January-08-10, 02:21 PM

Originally Posted by BShea

Aren't the federal taxes applied to fuel for commercial and private vehicles designed to fund road construction and repairs? The trucking industry has been pushing for increases in those fuel taxes, too, to expand the repair the roads.

Yes, but it's also a question of balancing the public good and the private profit. Restrictions on loads are much tighter in Ohio, which has much better roads. In my opinion, all it takes is a little skewing of the rules to beggar our governments, even as profiteers get so say they "pay their share."

**BShea** · January-08-10, 02:25 PM

The quality of Ohio roads has a lot more to do with that state's spending priorities and its weather, from my experience as an Ohio native and from covering that state.

**Detroitnerd** · January-08-10, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by BShea

The quality of Ohio roads has a lot more to do with that state's spending priorities and its weather, from my experience as an Ohio native and from covering that state.

Maybe so, and maybe the weight restrictions just correlate to that. But the fact of law is that we let much heavier trucks on our roads year after year. And they fall apart. And then we have to pay for them all over again. Try instituting those same weight restrictions in Michigan and I wonder who'd complain.

**BShea** · January-08-10, 02:46 PM

Sure, I agree Ohio has stricter limits, but it's also true the trucking industry has been pushing for the fuel taxes to be increased so that the roads can get fixed.

It's in their best interest to have good roads, and the industry groups are lobbying for the tax increases -- which would be on themselves, too.

There are problems with the funding formula, as we all know.

**Detroitnerd** · January-08-10, 03:10 PM

That said, I'm not too encouraged by the ATA's stance. If we all pay more in fuel taxes, it could be a way of ramping up subsidies for heavy trucks. I tend to think that even though trucks burn through more fuel, they do more damage per gallon than my little Volks. And what did their white paper call for? Some good things, but also increasing the size of heavy trucks. We shall see ...

**jtf1972** · January-08-10, 03:54 PM

Sounds like a perfect case for eminent domain to be put to use! Condemn the property, give the owner pennies on the dollar and build a bridge for the public benefit!