City poised to sell land for new bridge

[BShea]

The bottom line is this: When traffic/trade picks up, we're going to need BOTH bridges. Not one. Not just one new one. Not just one new span. Both. Maybe not right now, or in 2013, but eventually. If boom times return, we're probably going to need a new tunnel, too.

If traffic and trade don't pick up, we have far, far bigger problems than bridges.

[ddaydetroit]

http://www.detroitblog.org/ just did a great but sad article on a holdout in this area called last man standing

[1KielsonDrive]

Bshea, I agree we'll need both bridges. In fact we need them now. An additional tunnel for truck and/or train traffic is also necessary for optimal transportation movement. It's a shame it's taken this long just to get in the planning phase. Yes, I do believe the news from the Canadian side is being withheld, but I've never known in my life, there to be an ongoing, interactive, communication from one side to the other. Occasional events, sports and bars, maybe. But I think Windsor and Detroit are as foreign to each other, except in a few cases, as are Cuba and the US. I still hear Canadians say, unintentionally mocking some American suburbanites," I haven't been to Detroit for 25 years" or, "We only drive through on our way to Florida". There's a huge chasm between our closest neighbor and us. All of that said, I used to spend a lot of time in Windsor, going as far as to stay on boats and with Canadian friends. I loved it. You can't go through the border anymore without the ?Homeland Security? guys treating you like s*+t. I know they have tough jobs, but I can't correlate lousy treatment with real security enforcement. Both sides suffer as a result.

[1KielsonDrive]

I forgot to add that the best case scenario for me would be to have King Manny out of the picture altogether. He's an arrogant, overbearing, secretive billionaire who cares nothing about anyone or anything except his power and fortune. He makes the Illitches [[uh, oh, another battle brewing here) look like tooth fairies. It's unlikely King Manny won't be involved, making it even more important we have a bridge built and administered by our national, provincial and state governments. It'd be a truly competitive situation, eliminating a private, corporate, monopoly.

[BShea]

It'd be a truly competitive situation, eliminating a private, corporate, monopoly.

Huh?

Competitive with what? The other government bridge? That's exchanging a private monopoly with a government monopoly. How is that competitive?

With one private bridge and one public one, then you have competition [[which the AB's owner doesn't like, understandably).

And I don't subscribe to the notion that government ownership makes something safer. Have you ever been in the military? LOL. And the big bridge that collapsed in Minnesota a couple years ago was a government bridge. Public ownership is zero guarantee of anything.

I'm typically called a Moroun apologist for this, but the feds already have control of the border. If they had a problem with the Ambassador Bridge, all they have to do is pull the Customs agents off of it -- boom! no more bridge for Moroun. The feds control access to the bridge, while Moroun owns the physical structure.

As a businessmen, it's in his best interest to maintain the bridge and not let it collapse or become otherwise unusable. That's simply good business, not any sort of defense of Moroun and his actions/policies. If you own something, letting it fall into ruin or become unattractive to users is stupid and a money-loser. Say what you will about Moroun but he knows how to make money.

In fact we need them now.

I disagree. The traffic doesn't justify two bridge right now. Eventually it will, and a second bridge needs built prior to that, but those numbers won't reach that level by 2013 [[although I wish they would). Matt Moroun expressed those very feelings to me: They don't oppose a second span in general, just right now.

If the traffic doesn't generate enough tolls on a new bridge, how will they pay off the bonds? Levy a tax on everyone? Raise rates? That'll drive down traffic more. And if traffic is sucked away from the AB and BW bridges, it further makes a mess, for both government and Moroun.

I do concede that the 2013 opening date for DRIC is pure fantasy. The Lions are more likely to win back to back Super Bowls before that happens. Red tape and bureaucratic boobery, not to mention the opposition in Lansing, will drag that timeline down. I'd wager on 2018-2020 for DRIC. By then, traffic had better be back up.

[kraig]

It'd be a truly competitive situation, eliminating a private, corporate, monopoly.

Huh?

Competitive with what? The other government bridge? That's exchanging a private monopoly with a government monopoly. How is that competitive?

With one private bridge and one public one, then you have competition [[which the AB's owner doesn't like, understandably).

And I don't subscribe to the notion that government ownership makes something safer. Have you ever been in the military? LOL. And the big bridge that collapsed in Minnesota a couple years ago was a government bridge. Public ownership is zero guarantee of anything.

I'm typically called a Moroun apologist for this, but the feds already have control of the border. If they had a problem with the Ambassador Bridge, all they have to do is pull the Customs agents off of it -- boom! no more bridge for Moroun. The feds control access to the bridge, while Moroun owns the physical structure.

As a businessmen, it's in his best interest to maintain the bridge and not let it collapse or become otherwise unusable. That's simply good business, not any sort of defense of Moroun and his actions/policies. If you own something, letting it fall into ruin or become unattractive to users is stupid and a money-loser. Say what you will about Moroun but he knows how to make money.

In fact we need them now.

I disagree. The traffic doesn't justify two bridge right now. Eventually it will, and a second bridge needs built prior to that, but those numbers won't reach that level by 2013 [[although I wish they would). Matt Moroun expressed those very feelings to me: They don't oppose a second span in general, just right now.

If the traffic doesn't generate enough tolls on a new bridge, how will they pay off the bonds? Levy a tax on everyone? Raise rates? That'll drive down traffic more. And if traffic is sucked away from the AB and BW bridges, it further makes a mess, for both government and Moroun.

I do concede that the 2013 opening date for DRIC is pure fantasy. The Lions are more likely to win back to back Super Bowls before that happens. Red tape and bureaucratic boobery, not to mention the opposition in Lansing, will drag that timeline down. I'd wager on 2018-2020 for DRIC. By then, traffic had better be back up.

How dare you look at this objectively. You must be on Matty's Payroll. Just kidding. It's funny that you would mention the bridge in Minnesota, while MDOT is putting a lot of its resources into the DRIC project, there are hundreds of bridges/overpasses in the state of michigan that are in the same condition or worse than the bridges in Minnesota and Atlanta that collapsed. I would hope that MDOT spend more of its time and resources repairing the bridges/overpasses that its michigan taxpayers are paying our taxes on.

[1KielsonDrive]

Huh? Whhhat? There's not likely any objective discussion with Bshea about this. Are you one of those, 'The government is all bad' guys, citing your negative military experiences as a rationale to indict the government for every perceived injustice, excluding them from doing anything? Ronald Reagan, George Bushkin and their ilk, implicated the government in every failure known to man, purposely running up HUGE deficits, so they could "drown it in a bathtub", to paraphrase their acolyte, Grover Nordquist. Geez, how'd the Interstate get built? Who was behind the railroads? I guess it was private corporations who put a man on the moon. A private/public partnership might be the best case scenario. Governments could engage the private sector to build, and possibly run, a bridge with proper oversight. That might be ideal. The problem with that scenario is the private sector would have the government conceive of something, engage a private corporation to build and run it, with cost plus contracts and no oversight. Executives would make huge bonuses and the workers and maintenance would suffer. After it was depreciated for years, the corporation would be rid of it. It'd fall back in to the hands of taxpayers, to be rebuilt under another non-compete, cost plus, no oversight, contract. All the while they'd lobby for tax breaks and subsidies. The whiz kids of Wall Street and private, free enterprise, would surely do much better than government. Look around you, I'm sure you see plenty of evidence of the wonders of Wall Street. Whatever happens, I don't want King Manny and another ruthless corporation running another business around here. Certainly not a monopoly.

[kraig]

http://www.detroitblog.org/ just did a great but sad article on a holdout in this area called last man standing

The guy at the store said that if you don't know where you're going, you could wind up on the bridge. If anyone thinks he's exaggerating read the following.



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'Lost' border runner gets 90-day term







By Sarah Sacheli, The Windsor StarMay 1, 2009




A Detroit man was "lost in construction" when he drove onto the Ambassador Bridge in a stolen car and under gunfire ran the border into Canada, Ontario court heard Thursday.
Deandre James, 25, was sentenced to 90 days in jail for possession of stolen property, dangerous driving and failing to present himself to a customs officer. Once he is released from jail in Windsor, he'll be handed over to U.S. authorities who will prosecute him in Michigan.
On April 7, James drove a stolen 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix onto the Ambassador Bridge. He was driving the wrong way and narrowly missed bridge employees directing U.S.-bound traffic. U.S. border guards fired shots at the car and James sped into the on-coming lanes, missing Canadian Customs booths by driving the wrong way in the truck lane into the U.S. He continued down Huron Church Road, driving against traffic and forcing other cars and pedestrians out of his way. Windsor police arrested him at gunpoint in the city's west end.
"It was never his intention to cross the bridge into Canada," defence lawyer Maria Carroccia told the court. "He got lost in construction..... Then he got shot at by U.S. Customs."
Until that day, he'd never been to Canada, Carroccia said.
Court heard James is on parole in Michigan for a 2006 conviction for carrying a concealed weapon. It is one of six convictions on his criminal record.
He is wanted in Michigan for a parole violation.
Justice Guy DeMarco gave James the standard two-for-one credit for the 23 days he has already spent in custody, sentencing him to a further 44 days in jail. Carroccia said James will likely be released after serving 30 days of his sentence.
Immigration officials will then hand him over to police in Detroit where he is wanted for carjacking.
"There is an allegation that the vehicle was stolen in Michigan at gunpoint," she told the court.
DeMarco told James that once released from jail, he is banned from Canada. He also ordered James to provide a blood sample for the police DNA databank.
© Copyright [[c) The Windsor Star

[BShea]

If you like wasting your time arguing with grossly biased and compromised shills and disingenuous and intellectually dishonest hacks who have no real intention [[regardless of what they portray) of dealing in honest debate.

LMFAO ... somebody need some Midol?

Let me know when the honest debate is going to begin .. I mean, aside from the "Moroun's bridge causes cancer, asthma and prostitution and he's a dirty slumlord [[[[[[, so he couldn't possibly do anything that's not illegal and evil" narrative so many around here seem to enjoy.

[kraig]

If you like wasting your time arguing with grossly biased and compromised shills and disingenuous and intellectually dishonest hacks who have no real intention [[regardless of what they portray) of dealing in honest debate.

LMFAO ... somebody need some Midol?

Let me know when the honest debate is going to begin .. I mean, aside from the "Moroun's bridge causes cancer, asthma and prostitution and he's a dirty slumlord [[[[[[, so he couldn't possibly do anything that's not illegal and evil" narrative so many around here seem to enjoy.

Don't be so hard on MIRepublic. I need his help. I want to build a taxpayer paid for, publicly owned incinerator where the MCS is. I need people like MIRepublic that will only focus on the fact that Matty Maroun won't like it in order to get approval.

[1KielsonDrive]

If anyone here wants to duke it out - meet at high noon this coming monday, the 11th, at whatever that place is called where cars drive around in circles and try to run people over by the coneys, hard rack and compuware. We'll have a canvas ring set up and plenty of oversized boxing gloves. We got some girls and boys from Michigan avenue to carry cards and strut their stuff between rounds. This is an unofficial DY sponsored event.

[kraig]

If anyone here wants to duke it out - meet at high noon this coming monday, the 11th, at whatever that place is called where cars drive around in circles and try to run people over by the coneys, hard rack and compuware. We'll have a canvas ring set up and plenty of oversized boxing gloves. We got some girls and boys from Michigan avenue to carry cards and strut their stuff between rounds. This is an unofficial DY sponsored event.

Stop it, my entire office is still staring at me wondering what I'm laughing about. That was good.