Windsor - What a deal!

[Thruster315]

Tunnel
Windsor to Detroit - $4.50 CDN - $4.00 U.S.
Detroit to Windsor - $4.75 CDN - $4.00 U.S.
Bridge
$4.75 Cdn.
$4.00 U.S.
Port Huron
CDN $2.75
USA $ 2.50

Niagara Falls
$3.25 CDN
$3.25 U.S.
Algonac/Walpole Island Indian Reservation
$5.00
CDN or U.S. or a combination of both , indians [[who run/own the car ferry's) don't do exchange rates

Interesting. Who sets these rates? Why are we [[Detroit/ Windsor) so expensive compared to the other ports? It just made me think of why is there such a disparity amongst rates all along the border. I wouldn't be asking this if there was one universal rate for toll for the entire border. Is it just because Manny Maroun owns the bridge here? This just seems so wild west-ish here where one can charge whatever they want without any sort of regulation or rationale other than sheer profit. Shouldn't a border crossing be considered more of an infrastructure thing than a full blown business venture for a private citizen?

I ask because I have no idea so forgive my ignorance here.

[DetroitPlanner]

Detroit is the most important border crossing in terms of trade that the US has.

There are only two crossings in Detroit, so there is little competition. Buffalo/Niagra has about Four if I am not mistaken. We have one privately owned bridge that controls the market. The tunnel follows the market because it can. Niether crossing is federally or state owned. If the third crossing ever gets built one of its primary features is that it will be state owned. This means that the State will set the prices in a way that encourages trade. The others will have to lower thier fares to adjust for this. This is why Matty is fighting this new crossing tooth and nail and doing everything he can to increase capacity at his bridge so he can get the weak politicians to back down. The courts have told him to tear down his illegally built part of the bridge, his liqour store/gas station, and build what the EIS had told him too, but yet all of it still stands. Why?

The crossing at the Soo is $4.80 CAN and $4.50 US.

[professorscott]

Interesting. Who sets these rates? Why are we [[Detroit/ Windsor) so expensive compared to the other ports?

Detroit-Windsor is expensive because of the most basic reason: the law of supply and demand. There are more people who want to cross here than at other places, so it costs more.

That has nothing to do with who sets the rates. We are popular, therefore costly.

[Thruster315]

Detroit-Windsor is expensive because of the most basic reason: the law of supply and demand. There are more people who want to cross here than at other places, so it costs more.

That has nothing to do with who sets the rates. We are popular, therefore costly.

So we fall prey to Manny Maroun. I was hoping that somehow that this was a governmental border, it'd be regulated by them down the entire stretch. I know I'm asking the obvious question [[and not expecting much of a rational response) but why couldn't it be a flat rate like what the government charges for passports, stamps, etc.?

Instead I find out that it's as loose as it gets when it comes to setting rates. Even if it was a state mandated rate I could almost live with that.

The joys of being popular... yippee.

[softailrider]

Totally agree.

X2............I won't go there. If I want to lose money, there's 3 perfectly good casinos over here. On second thought, maybe I'll keep my money instead.

[Khartoum]

The only thing that Detroit trumps Montreal or Vancouver on is population, and maybe major league sports [[assuming that Canadians are engrossed enough in American based sports leagues for it to matter). Otherwise, Detroit is a far cry from offering the global city lifestyle that can be gained from residing in Montreal or Vancouver. And that's a shame considering Detroit's history and unique geography.

The Canadians I know are 100x more engrossed in American sports leagues than Canadian. They would need free tickets to go see the Montreal Alouettes, but they'd pay $75 for Red Wings tickets.

[iheartthed]

The Canadians I know are 100x more engrossed in American sports leagues than Canadian. They would need free tickets to go see the Montreal Alouettes, but they'd pay $75 for Red Wings tickets.

Yet Canadian cities often have trouble supporting major league franchises that aren't in the NHL.

[canuck]

The one thing that fucked baseball in Montreal was Jeffrey Loria's episode of flipping the club with the usual bullshit about building a new stadium downtown or else... There was a rush to propose a new stadium with Labatt's as a major backer but it soon became clear that Washington was beckoning with its lack of a major ball club,etc... But to be fair, apart from the reviled Loria, the "Big Owe" Olympic stadium has been a major thorn in Montreal's side since its inception. I witnessed the construction of it, I used to go to high school not far from there, the site had a hundred cranes going and of course, the meter kept turning. Sherbrooke street; the main east west thoroughfare in the city was closed for the length of two city blocks for three years at least. The french architect was a buddy of mayor Drapeau's and without bidding he got the commission to build the stadium with adjoining velodrome; and the olympic pool. But the stadium itself has cost us 1.5 billion and 500 million to maintain with a huge deficit since it is used for car/home shows the odd concert or soccer, or sports event. The retractable kevlar roofs had three overhauls folowing tears in the fabric form heavy ice and snow. There is talk about a new investment this week to add a new roof with new technology. One opposition party is calling for a public debate on the question. Some folks want to demolish it, others convert it to god knows what. Demolishing it would cost a hell of a lot. In spite of the love/disgust relationship folks have with it, it is a great feat of engineering. But as a stadium for baseball or football, it wasnt all that great. . But they built this guy's enormously complex fantasy complete with a 575 foot dong and we paid big time for it.

[Relayer76]

The Canadians I know are 100x more engrossed in American sports leagues than Canadian. They would need free tickets to go see the Montreal Alouettes, but they'd pay $75 for Red Wings tickets.

That may be the Canadians you know. Baseball is not big here and most of the Canadians I know stop watching hockey when Canadian teams are eliminated.

[GOAT]

Relayer nah we just stopped watching hockey because Bettman fucked the whole game up.

The CFL [[yes I know...) is getting good attendance and baseball in T.O. usually does decent numbers as does the Raptors. Other than that? We could give a flying fart ; )

[canuck]

Baseball in Montreal sort of fizzled out for a number of reasons; the main one was I think the size of the Big "O". The old Jarry stadium is missed by those who went to the Expos games there. Baseball was fairly important, especially among french canadians as opposed to football. Jackie Robinson was the first black player to play in the majors, and the Montreal Royals were the farm team of the Brooklyn Dodgers where he first played. I guess they had to choose this very liberal city to launch black players in professional sports. There is a statue of him at the Big "O". In any case the idea of professional baseball is still alive and will be for a long time.

http://encorebaseballmontreal.com/cg...0&section=home

[tallboy66]

I always liked Windsor it's like living in a big city but it's actually small. Sweet bike trail and easy bike riding streets all the way out to Lake St. Clair, and a great view of the Detroit skyline.
They have the e-z pass in the tunnel for commuters that work in Michigan

[Lowell]

I should add, in fairness, that Montreal and Vancouver top us in curling.

[Goose]

Why would you ever want to live in a city where you have to go to special stores called "The Beer Store" that are very limited in locations to get your brew, not to mention the inconvience of obtaining liquor....

Here in Detroit a party store is like lakes in Michigan, you are never more than 5 blocks away from getting a case of beer.....

[CorktownPaddy]

Used to be cool heading over to Windsor getting $1.25 Canadian for $1 US [[might have been even better than that a few times)

[txlady]

<<Sweet bike trail and easy bike riding streets all the way out to Lake St. Clair, and a great view of the Detroit skyline. >>
Last time I visited home I drove over to Windsor to take a few pics of the skyline. Coming back I stupidly answered the truth to how long I was in Canada and said "about 30 mins". I thought the agent was going to pull my car apart looking for contraband. It would have been 15, but I went in search for Coffee Crisps and MacKintosh Toffee bars.

[canuck]

Curling not that great around these parts, but that other sport on ice got us 24 cups in the cupboard. You can also try the skiing here which is pretty good, a lot of champion skiers to prove it.
The Grand Prix, the new Nascar race. The Rogers Tennis Tournament. Maybe a game at the Royal Montreal Golf Club, North America's first Golf club.

Lowell, what cultural and art assets in Detroit could possibly be superior to Montreal's?

Film production here is not only international but the local filmmakers garner a worldwide audience and awards and have for a long time, in fiction, documentary and animation. Some of the first high-end visual effects software [[Softimage) was designed here and there are a lot of studios creating effects for blockbusters. The video games industry is huge in Montreal as well as Vancouver.
Film festivals; there are about thirty in Montreal of which maybe ten have an international reputation. Fantasia Film Festival is amazing. This week opened the Montreal International Black Film Festival.

Museums. DIA is amazing I'm sure but so is MMFA and the Musée d'art Contemporain de Montréal. Montreal; Shitload of museums.
What's with the shoebox Detroit Museum of Contemporary Art?

My favorite of all institutions; The Montreal Botanical Gardens; The second largest in the world after Kew in London.

I also like the sidewalk cafes, the restaurants which dont all serve Michigan Hot Dogs, our version of your Coney Island, but nevertheless tantalize. Few cities on the continent have as robust appetite for ethnic fare and authenticity from Africa to South America, from Greek Pikilias to good old Montreal Kosher Smoked Meat sandwiches. Quebec cuisine is pretty interesting too, you know when Cadillac and Champlain and De Maisonneuve got here, they made sure they planted some nice veggies and herbs and organized banquets from the get go; epicures. Check out Jean Talon and Atwater and Maisonneuve Markets. I like the easy pace, the beautiful stylish women, and I like my booze. I like that my kids will be treated like adults when they are 18 and drink a few pints with me or their buddies. I appreciate that while the rest of North America had its nose buried in a paper bag, Quebec didnt suffer the ignominy of prohibition. I like the fact that we dont have the beer store thing they have in Ontario and the bottle depot. I like the fact that unlike Toronto where thirty years ago, you couldnt get a cup of coffee on a sunday morning, much less a pint past eleven p.m. Montreal was always this side of fun.

Universities? University of Michigan, Ann Arbor ranks fifteenth according to QS/US News and World Report's best universities in the world. Montreal's McGill U ranks 18th smack in our downtown at the foot of biootiful Mount Royal.

Detroit Symphony; superb. Montreal Symphony; superlative. A brand new 259 million$ hall is in construction. Our second symphony, the Orchestre Métropolitain, has a 35 year old director; Montreal born Yannick Nézet-Séguin who also directs the Rotterdam symphony and is the new musical director of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Robert Lepage, a famed local playwright theatre and film director just opened the New York Met's season with his direction of Wagner's Das Rheingold with another 2 of the Ring cycle to go. His debut is highly controversial, high tech scenery built in Montreal with computer-operated motion and a very contemporary interpretation with screen projections, etc...

Montreal Circus Arts; The Cirque du Soleil, Cirque Eloize and Cavalia. All world renowned, and very avant-garde. Apparently, Detroit and Montreal do share a lot of points in the electronic music scene. But I wouldnt know.

I do like that we went from a high of a hundred seven murders in 1975 to just thirty in 2009 for a million nine hundred thousand citizens.

[GOAT]

Goose, I like having stores only for beer and liquor. I don't need nor want a "party" store on every block. In fact having the LCBO [[liquor) stores is great because they are the largest purchasers of liquor in the world which means we also have some of the best selection available.
Many of the finer scotchs, whiskies, wines, ports etc are actually less expensive here than in the USA. The only issue is the price of standards due to our greedy provincial gov't. The other peeve I have is that they close a little too early. Other than that I will take them over independent shops any day of the week.

But like Detroit and elsewhere, I guess while in the USA I can buy crack on one corner, a gun on the other and then my booze. Par-tay!

[blackmath]

Goose, I like having stores only for beer and liquor. I don't need nor want a "party" store on every block. In fact having the LCBO [[liquor) stores is great because they are the largest purchasers of liquor in the world which means we also have some of the best selection available.
Many of the finer scotchs, whiskies, wines, ports etc are actually less expensive here than in the USA. The only issue is the price of standards due to our greedy provincial gov't. The other peeve I have is that they close a little too early. Other than that I will take them over independent shops any day of the week.

But like Detroit and elsewhere, I guess while in the USA I can buy crack on one corner, a gun on the other and then my booze. Par-tay!

I heard somewhere that Windsor has the largest LCBO in Ontario. If this is true, it should replace the "Automotive Capital of Canada" on the Welcome to Windsor sign

[Relayer76]

Lowell, what cultural and art assets in Detroit could possibly be superior to Montreal's? ......

Don't worry Lowell, these darned Montrealers think they have the best city in the world - they irritate us Canadians from other cities as well. Montreal has some great architecture and is a lively vibrant city but personally I find it too squashed together, not enough trees and green space and friggin cold as hell in winter. If I knew anyone in the area I would seriously be more interested in Windsor as a retirement community.

[canuck]

Don't worry Lowell, these darned Montrealers think they have the best city in the world - they irritate us Canadians from other cities as well. Montreal has some great architecture and is a lively vibrant city but personally I find it too squashed together, not enough trees and green space and friggin cold as hell in winter. If I knew anyone in the area I would seriously be more interested in Windsor as a retirement community.

If I lived in Ottawa, I would do the same.

[Lowell]

Montreal is very classy, no bout a doubt it, deep history, traditions, cross cultural setting and more. In my estimation it is every bit as good as Detroit, in many cases better, particularly for the things I appreciate.

I was just comparing the big city stuff, major league sports, huge metro population, major events and other fluff, even casinos, that along with cultural institutions that Mr. and Ms. Average moving to Windsor would have available that is not matched outside of Toronto.

[canuck]

Lowell,

What are the big city major events held in Detroit that you speak of that put you in a league with Toronto?

Montreal has one casino because folks here think one is enough. Our principle contribution to Casinos is entertainment. Many of the major shows in Las Vegas are designed and choreographed by Montreal companies and artists. A guy I went to National Theatre School of Canada; Dominique Champagne wrote the Beatles show Love. The Cirque du Soleil has 5 shows going at once and planning a Michael Jackson extravaganza I think. Céline Dion had a permanent stage built for her at Ceasars Palace. But I think that one or two more casinos here doesnt gel. They tried pushing a 1.5 billion dollar project and folks in southwest Montreal rejected it. The idea of turning this place into a city of casinos may happen in time, if we're desperate. As for mr and mrs Average, they might find Windsor's proximity to Detroit comforting. For the reasons you list of course.