Does Anyone Trust Moroun?

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Ambassador Bridge wants to improve west Windsor
Bridge company president Dan Stamper says he wants to discuss improvements to west end

CBC News

The Ambassador Bridge company wants a meeting with Windsor mayor Eddie Francis and city council.

The bridge company owns more than 150 properties in the city’s west end and it says it wants to discuss improvements to the neighbourhood.

Bridge president Dan Stamper said in a letter that he’s tired of fighting and thinks it’s possible to put down “the swords” and accomplish good things for Windsor.

Francis said the only way a meeting will happen is if the bridge executive agrees not to talk about building a second span.

“It’s the Ambassador Bridge doing what the Ambassador Bridge does. It says one thing and does and acts completely opposite of what they say their intentions are,” Francis alleges. “The ball is in their court. We got a number of other priorities on out list that keep us busy and focused but we are going to continue to protect the interests of this community and we are going to continue to ensure that the public interest is maintained.”

Francis said he will not formally respond to the letter.

He and Stamper did meet earlier in the year, but there was no agreement.

Coun. Ron Jones, who represents the west end, doesn’t believe the bridge will ever get the necessary permits to build a second span.

He said any type of meeting would have to involve the community in a public forum.

“I want to discuss the boarded up houses in west Windsor. I want to talk about routes, about hazardous materials, there’s a pile of things we can talk about at that meeting,” Jones said. “But the public has a right to know.”

Editorial: State must continue fight for bridge

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Detroit-Windsor crossing vital to economy

Now that Michigan has received a needed federal permit to proceed with the New International Trade Crossing, one point cannot be more clear: Those who care about the state’s economic future must fight valiantly to assure this project is successfully completed.

The NITC is the name for the proposed new bridge between Detroit and Windsor — a new bridge that many analysts consider essential to the state’s future prosperity.

Gov. Rick Snyder has worked tirelessly on advancing the new bridge, carving a deal with Canadian authorities that will allow the much-needed project to proceed despite objections from Manuel Moroun, owner of the Detroit International Bridge Co. which operates the existing Ambassador Bridge.

The Ambassador has been a privately owned bridge since its construction in the 1920s. Moroun, like any good business man, is defending his interests as he fights to block a competing crossing. But the interests of one billionaire and his family are not the interests of Michigan’s people — no matter how many millions he spends trying to thwart the effort with advertising campaigns and constitutional amendments. (A ballot proposal he sponsored in an effort to block the bridge was wisely and soundly defeated by Michigan voters last November.)

Recall, the bridge is considered so vital by Canada that it has signed on to lend Michigan the $550 million share of the construction costs, to be paid back by future tolls.

Taxpayers will not be on the hook for construction costs, except to the extent that some federal money will be spent as the bridge is, after all, a vital international trade crossing.

Canadian officials say that one-quarter of all trade between the two nations passes through Detroit and Windsor, which is the busiest crossing between the two nations.

Snyder predicts bridge construction could create 12,000 direct jobs and 31,000 indirect jobs. Southeast Michigan economic development officials project the new bridge could help add 66,000 additional jobs to the state and increase its prominence as a logistics hub.

The Morouns will keep fighting; they already have one federal lawsuit filed. Snyder, the state’s congressional delegation and its business leaders must keep their eye on the prize. To have a thriving future, Michigan needs the new bridge.

An LSJ editorial

A Bridge to Somewhere

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metrotimes

By Jack Lessenberry

The other hero is a retired Free Press investigative reporter and blogger, Joel Thurtell, who first brought this story to my attention in 2008, after he discovered Moroun had seized portions of a city park and posted phony “Homeland Security” no trespassing signs.

When Thurtell went there, a shotgun-toting Moroun goon drove him away. The reporter posted pictures and a story. Soon after, I wrote about this. Eventually, the “mainstream media” started to.

It isn’t over until it’s over. Expect more dirty tricks till, someday, they close the lid on Matty.

But there really will be a new bridge.

Southwest Detroit contractor pipeline for New International Trade Crossing being established

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By David Muller | MLive.com

DETROIT, MI – The Southwest Detroit Congress of Communities has announced that it will be assessing which local contractors can qualify for Michigan Department of Transportation contracts for work on the New International Trade Crossing.

On Friday, Gov. Rick Snyder and federal officials announced the U.S. State Department has issued a permit for construction of the NITC, a $3.5 billion bridge that will connect Detroit to Windsor, Ontario.

The Congress of Communities said that it is looking for pre-qualified contractors to do road and bridge construction and repair, concrete or hot asphalt mixing and paving, pavement marking, concrete curb and sidewalk work, street lighting, sewer installation, signing and landscaping.

At the same time, the Southwest Detroit Business Association and Pure Michigan are partnering to hire a full-time staff member to help local contractors get pre-qualified with MDOT and then to assist them with the bidding process.

“This is simply an assessment of contractors in a our community, not a guarantee of pre-qualification,” Congress of Communities said in a statement. A spokeswoman for the program could not immediately be reached Tuesday morning.

In the past, SDBA president Kathleen Wendler has said the organization was working to ensure that work on the new bridge would come from the area that it is impacting the most, namely the Del Ray neighborhood and Southwest Detroit – where the foot of the structure will land in the U.S. – rather than from out-of-state contractors.

The Congress of Communities said it will later pass local contractors’ information on to the SDBA and Pure Michigan. The process is expected to begin in about six months.

Here we go again

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The Windsor Star

Anne Jarvis

And you thought the epic battle for a new bridge was over.

Oh no it’s not. Wake up. Another one just started.

The day after Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announced that U.S. President Barack Obama had signed the permit for the new government bridge between Windsor and Detroit, a draft report on the Ambassador Bridge’s planned new crossing was released. Make no mistake: the Ambassador Bridge is hell-bent on keeping its lucrative truck route. And like the decade-long battle over the new government bridge and the Herb Gray Parkway, this will be another epic struggle to protect Windsor.

The Canadian Transit Company wants to build a six-lane cable-stayed bridge 30 metres west of the Ambassador Bridge. That’s bigger than the existing span, which is four lanes. Over and over in the report, the new crossing is called a replacement span. But it’s not. When it opens, the existing span will be fixed and maintained. So instead of one bridge with rumbling trucks spewing diesel particulate, dividing the city like a virtual wall, there will be two – 10 lanes of traffic.

These trucks will go to a 19-acre expanded customs plaza on the southwest corner of Huron Church Road and College Avenue. There are a lot of houses south and west of there. Do you want to live next to 19 acres of trucks? The University of Windsor’s 2,000-seat stadium is across Huron Church from the proposed plaza. Do the Lancers want to play next to 19 acres of trucks? Assumption College School is south of the stadium. Do you want your children going to classes next to 19 acres of trucks?

It’s not clear how trucks will get to the new bridge, but under the proposal, Huron Church would be “realigned” around the plaza. The city suspects the bridge wants to close Huron Church to local traffic north of College and make it a truck route.

Didn’t we just spend 10 years fighting to get trucks off city streets? And now we’re considering putting them back on Huron Church, roaring and puffing past homes, schools, businesses, the university and Assumption Church. The city would lose part of a major north-south artery and access to the downtown we’re trying to revitalize and the riverfront.  (Remember the bridge blocked access to northbound Huron Church five years ago.)

The company says it will landscape a five-acre strip west of Huron Church between College and Mill Street to provide a buffer for Sandwich. Will this be landscaping Detroit style? Look at the bridge’s property there. There’s no landscaping. There are acres of pavement and a massive wall. Look at the current plaza on the Canadian side. See any landscaping? It’s not their forte.

The report, prepared by Transport Canada and the Windsor Port Authority, examines 17 potential ways the new crossing could affect Windsor, from air quality to noise and vibration to cultural heritage. It reaches the  same conclusion every time: “Taking into account the application of all appropriate mitigation measures…the project is not likely to result in significant adverse environmental effects…”

Particulate in the air will be higher than it should be, but it will be monitored. Noise will be louder than it should be, but noise barriers will be installed, as high as 5.5 metres along west side of the plaza. How would you like to look at that while you barbecue? To minimize vibration, already perceptible, the surface of the road will be smooth – until spring, when the potholes appear. Rest assured maintenance will be a priority, just like landscaping. No heritage buildings will be demolished or moved, according to the report, so that’s not a problem

Who writes these reports! The bridge already cuts off historic, colourful Sandwich, where the city is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to revitalize its birthplace. Ten lanes? Just amputate the entire west end.

The report spends pages outlining how it will require the bridge to submit detailed plans to monitor and report on the effects of its new span yada, yada. The bridge had plenty of legal obligations in the infamous Gateway Project  in Michigan. Bridge owner Matty Moroun was finally jailed for refusing to comply.

And don’t forget, Michigan is recommending that hazardous materials – radioactive, poisonous and flammable stuff – be allowed to cross the bridge.

We just spent 10 years and what will be billions of dollars for a new bridge, inspection plaza and highway where they should be: away from the city’s core. Now, as Mayor Eddie Francis summed it up, “we’re talking about building a brand new bridge with a brand new plaza next to an existing bridge in a very dense urban setting with an established culturally significant neighbourhood.”

Why?

Francis will ask council Monday to approve spending up the $150,000 to hire environmental lawyer David Estrin, the city’s former counsel on the parkway, to respond to the proposal for the latest new crossing. Bring him on.

Building a bridge to somewhere

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The Washington Post

By Al Kamen

Is the Obama White House media-shy these days?

Seems the State Department granted a permit last week for a major U.S.-Canada construction project.

(Rebecca Cook/Reuters) – Michigan Governor Rick Snyder announces that the U.S. State Department has issued a key permit allowing Michigan and Canada to proceed with constructing a new bridge over the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

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No, not that project, but a big one nonetheless: a $1 billion bridge over the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, to relieve congestion and build trade over the most heavily used trade portal to this country. (There’s now only one bridge, privately owned and 80 years old, over the river.)

Estimates are that the project will cost $3.5 billion and create about 12,000 jobs directly and 31,000 indirectly (cement, steel and so forth) in the two countries, according to Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R).

The jobs would be split between the United States and Canada, but even at that, the total might be about what the controversial Keystone XL project would produce — depending on which of the wildly varying estimates is correct.

Even better, the Canadians are committed to paying Michigan’s half of the bridge’s construction cost, with future toll revenue paying off that debt.

So, let’s see, you’ve got: (1) a major infrastructure improvement project; (2) increased international trade; (3) bipartisan support; and (4) 20,000 American jobs being created.

To paraphrase Vice President Biden, seems like this is kind of a big deal. But only the Canadian and Michigan media paid much attention to the permit grant, which is the final go-ahead move. Media (including The Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and so on) wrote short items Friday and Saturday based mostly on wire reports.

The State Department issued a statement last week noting the permit, but, best we can tell, the White House, perhaps focused on guns, nuclear threats, immigration and so forth, was quiet.

Well, Obama won Michigan and Ohio last time, so…

Suits seen as unlikely roadblocks to bridge

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Permit in hand, but fight continues

By Bill Shea and Dustin Walsh

Crain’s Detroit Business

Legal challenges thrown up to block a second Detroit River bridge are more speed bumps than roadblocks, at least according to Gov. Rick Snyder.

The state “has a winning track record” in defeating such lawsuits, he said Friday after announcing the U.S. Department of State had approved the critical presidential permit needed to advance the $2.1 billion New International Trade Crossing linking the highways in Detroit and Windsor. And they won’t halt its construction.

TRADE CROSSING FAQS

• The New International Trade Crossing is estimated to cost $2.1 billion. The I-75 highway interchange was predicted in 2010 to cost $385.9 million, and the U.S. plaza, $413.6 million. The nearly $1 billion bridge itself would be financed by Canada through a private-sector concessionaire, and the remainder of the $2.1 billion price tag is on the Canadian side of the project.
• Canada has pledged to cover any construction and operational deficits. It also will cover all capital costs on the Michigan side of the project, including $264 million that project organizers want the U.S. government to pay for. If Ottawa and Washington can’t reach a deal on that cost, Canada will pay it.
• Under a deal reached in June 2012 among the Michigan, Ontario and Canadian federal governments, a Canadian company called the Crossing Authority will be in charge of the design, construction, finance, operation and maintenance of the six-lane bridge, which it is expected to bid out under public-private partnership deal to a private company for a 40- or 50-year concession.
• All of Michigan’s share of the crossing tolls will go to Canada to pay back its costs. The state will not receive any toll revenue until that money is paid back and after the concession agreement ends in four or five decades.
• Tolls will be determined by the private-sector concessionaire during the bidding process. However, the models used by MDOT to justify need for the new span are predicated on using the same toll rates as the Ambassador Bridge.
• The Crossing Authority will fall under a joint authority, and half the bridge will be owned by Michigan and half by Canada.
• The deal was swung by Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder with Canada to bypass the Michigan Legislature, which balked at approving any money for the bridge project because of concerns about its necessity — border traffic has declined since 2001 — and whether it would unfairly affect the competing privately-owned Ambassador Bridge.
• Backers tout the new jobs and increased trade they predict the span will fuel. Snyder said the project will create 12,000 direct jobs and as many as 31,000 indirect jobs.
• Supporters also say the bridge will eliminate a traffic bottleneck at the border, and provide redundancy for the Ambassador Bridge two miles away.
• The Detroit-Windsor border — which encompasses the bridge, a tunnel and ferries — is the busiest in North America and carries a quarter of all U.S. trade with Canada, which was $120 billion last year.

Source: State of Michigan, Crain’s research

“I view (such lawsuits) as unfortunate because it takes away resources from the state,” Snyder said after a news conference in Detroit at which he and others touted the permit and bridge project.

The leading opponent of the project is Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel “Matty” Moroun, the commercial trucking industrialist who has said the new span will bankrupt his bridge by taking lucrative commercial truck traffic. He’s owned the bridge since 1979.

Moroun’s Detroit International Bridge Co. and Canadian Transit Co. in February filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., against the U.S. and Canadian governments and other agencies, arguing they don’t have the authority to approve the bridge permit.

Mickey Blashfield, the DIBC’s director of governmental relations, declined to comment Friday.

Also suing to halt the project is State Rep. Fred Durhal, D-Detroit, who is challenging the state’s right to create the agreement it has with Canada that governs how the span will be built, owned and operated.

Durhal has links to Moroun: He previously received $7,000 in campaign contributions from the Moroun family, and his attorney, Godfrey Dillard, used to work for the Ambassador Bridge owner, MLive.com reported on April 9.

Observers say the lawsuits are last-gasp delaying tactics that have little hope of postponing the inevitable for more than a few months.

Click here to read the full story.