BY MATT HELMS

DETROIT FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER


Jobs for unemployed workers and an end to wealthy property owners leaving homes and buildings to rot in Detroit were the rallying cries of hundreds of people who gathered around noontime today on the city’s southwest side.

The rally, organized by community organizations and local church and labor groups, focused on help for a city ravaged by unemployment, blight and abandoned and foreclosed homes and businesses.

Speakers targeted Manuel [[Matty) Moroun, the billionaire waging a fierce battle against a second bridge over the Detroit River that would be jointly owned by the Michigan and Canadian governments and operate in competition with his Ambassador Bridge.

The rally was at a park near the Michigan Central Station, the Moroun-owned eyesore that’s become an international symbol of Detroit’s decline. The Moroun organization has pledged millions to rehabilitate the old train station, but organizers noted that Moroun is one of the city’s largest private landowners, controlling hundreds of abandoned homes and other buildings.

The group put together www.mattymoroun.com, a Web site they described as a virtual tour of the "slumlord billionaire's" blighted Detroit properties.

Moroun representatives couldn’t immediately be reached for comment this afternoon. They oppose a publicly owned bridge and instead want to build a second Ambassador crossing, saying declining commercial traffic doesn’t justify a public bridge.

Continued at: http://www.freep.com/article/2011060...3052/1001/news