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

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.

**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.