Protesters, politicians condemn twin bridge

City of Windsor Coun. Ron Jones joined a binational coalition hoping to stop the construction of a second Ambassador Bridge at a press conference at Ste. Anne Church located just east of the Ambassador Bridge Friday, June 26, 2009. MP Brian Masse and U.S. State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, both behind right, and State Sen. Hansen Clarke, left, also addressed the crowd of about 50 members.Photograph by: NICK BRANCACCIO, The Windsor Star
DETROIT -- Politicians and neighbourhood groups from both sides of the border stood united in the shadow of the Ambassador Bridge in southwest Detroit Friday and condemned as destructive a proposal to construct a twin span.

“We have so many things in common and we will fight this fight together,” Ward 2 Coun. Ron Jones told a crowd of about 50 people outside St. Anne Church. “I’m going to say to you hold on and don’t get tired. Walk that final mile together. Don’t allow them to divide and separate your community.”

Michigan State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat, said the bridge company “couldn’t care less about protecting our families and our children down the street,” who live in a culturally-diverse area where one in five kids suffers from asthma.

She accused company officials of circumventing the environmental approvals process by building a twin span in increments without obtaining federal permits.

“The bridge company has attempted to sidestep this process by segmenting their project, by cutting it up into small components in order to avoid the cost of mitigating the impact their project would have on our environment,” she said.

A message left for Ambassador Bridge company president Dan Stamper Friday was not immediately returned.

Grassroots organizations from southwest Detroit and west Windsor attended the small rally and carried signs reading “We have the right to breathe” and “Twin Span = Double Trouble.” They pledged to work together in opposing a twin span.

“On the Canadian side, our problems are the same as your problems. We’re all in this together, ” said Sandwich Towne activist and bakery shop owner Mary Ann Cuderman.

“Wars last for years but they’re never won until the final hours. We’re down to the final hours and if we stand united we can beat this thing.”

Michelle Martinez, of southwest Detroit, said this sort of “binational grassroots mobilization” was a “powerful” new tool.

“We deal with these semi-trucks. We deal with pollution. This is real,” said Martinez.

“This isn’t a small community isolated in southwest Detroit standing on their little pedestal and waving a flag. This is an international issue.”

Martinez expressed fears that legislators might be too hasty to support a twinned bridge because of concerns with the sputtering economy.

“We want jobs, we want good jobs, but we don’t want to sacrifice our communities anymore for those jobs,” she said. “Our community suffers with asthma and heart disease and multiple respiratory problems because of air pollution.”

NDP MP Brian Masse attended the news conference and assured U.S. residents that the bridge company had miles to go to secure the necessary approvals in Canada.

“A border shouldn’t be a burden in your community,” said Masse.

“We have two vulnerable communities that should be enhanced by a border crossing, not decimated by it.”

Jones told the crowd a twin span would cut Sandwich towne in half and “we’re not going to allow it to happen.”

© Copyright (c) The Windsor Star
http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Protesters+politicians+condemn+twin+bridge+plan/1737671/story.html

Todays press conference with Members of City, State, and Canadian government

State Rep. Tlaib, Parliament Member Masse, Senator Clarke, and Windsor Council Member Ron Jones
Photo by Steve Palackdharry

I am creating this page so that anyone interested in joining Bridge Watch Detroit or anyone just interested in the issue can get the facts about what is happening with the Ambassador Bridge Enhancement Project, The Illegal seizure of 23rd street, The Illegal Seizure of Riverside Park and the pending law suits filed at the Federal, State, and Local levels so that they can make informed decisions on what stand they would like to take.

This site is meant to be an informational tool and I will do my best to provide as many of the recent stories as possible...

Thanks,

Bridge Watch Admin

State sues bridge firm over contract

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20090625/METRO/906250412/1016/State-sues-bridge-firm-over-contract

Bridge Company Accuses MDOT of Misconduct

Bridge boss irate over blocked ramp

Pictures From the Liberate Riverside Park Event!

Liberate Riverside Park Event 6/24/09

Bridge using freeway linking project to advance twinning plan, lawsuit says

http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Bridge+using+freeway+linking+project+advance+twinning+plan+lawsuit+says/1729472/story.html

Coast Guard tells businessman to halt new bridge

By TODD SPANGLER • FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF • June 15, 2009
Updated at 12:17 a.m.
WASHINGTON – The Coast Guard is telling Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel (Matty) Moroun to halt work on a second span, at least until the agency is certain he has all the property rights he needs to build a new bridge and concerns raised by the Michigan Department of Transportation are addressed.
The Coast Guard was expected to issue a news release this morning announcing the letter of abeyance to the Detroit International Bridge Co., which is owned primarily by Moroun and operates the Ambassador Bridge – the busiest crossing between the U.S. and Canada.
Moroun has been working to secure permits to build a second span adjacent to the 80-year-old Ambassador Bridge while officials on both sides of the Detroit River have been pushing another publicly owned span about a mile downriver.
Ambassador Bridge officials, meanwhile, have said that proposal is an attempt to siphon traffic – and revenues – away from their span, even though they maintain traffic figures don’t warrant a new bridge at all.
The Bridge Company has even filed suit against the federal government, saying its process for an initial approval of the rival span – known as the Detroit River International Crossing or DRIC – was hopelessly flawed.
The Coast Guard abeyance is essentially a stay, and the Bridge Company needs the Coast Guard’s approval to continue work on a second span. At issue apparently is whether the Bridge Company has acquired the necessary property rights for Riverside Park – owned by the city of Detroit – which is impacted by the construction. Another issue involves the MDOT and its concern that work at the Gateway Project linking the bridge to I-75 isn’t proceeding as agreed to by the two parties.
Once those and others issues are worked out, the Bridge Company could ask the Coast Guard for the permit to continue its work, and there were indications today that Bridge Company officials were meeting with the agency. But it also could be a significant hurdle, with the city and the Bridge Company fighting over rights to Riverside Park and roads around the new bridge project.
http://www.freep.com/article/20090615/BUSINESS06/90615036/Coast%20Guard%20tells%20businessman%20to%20halt%20new%20bridge

DIBC is trying to take business away from the Truck Ferry

Looks Like DIBC is not that concerned with Homeland security after all....
EXCLUSIVE: Ambassador bridge urges MDOT to lift hazmat limits
06/12/2009
DETROIT -- The privately owned Ambassador Bridge is trying to siphon cross-border hazmat business away from the Detroit Windsor Truck Ferry. But it'll need help from the Michigan government first.
According to documents obtained by the truck ferry's owner Gregg Ward through the Freedom of Information Act, the Detroit International Bridge Company is requesting a change to the National Hazardous Materials Route Registry (NHMRR), to allow certain flammable, corrosive, and explosive materials to cross between Canada and the U.S. via the 75-year-old Ambassador Bridge. Many of those materials are currently barred from the bridge.
FOIA documents also reveal that the State of Michigan initiated a review of the NHMRR earlier this year, which includes reassessing the non-radioactive aspects of the rule. It's unclear, though, where the Ministry of Transport is in the process.

The Windsor Detroit Truck Ferry is the only
transporter allowed to carry hazmat material
across the border. That could change.
Although the Truck Ferry is the only mode designated to transport hazmat trucks across the Detroit River, several media -- including todaystrucking.com -- have reported that the bridge (which has complete autonomy over its own operations) routinely allows such vehicles to cross anyway, via special permit that it writes for select fleets. Some of those passing trucks belong to carriers controlled by the bridge's owner, Matty Moroun.

It appears, then, that the private company is seeking to more openly accommodate all types of hazmat transporters.

According to documents obtained by todaystrucking.com, Ambassador President Dan Stamper wrote to The MDOT last fall officially requesting a change to the NHMRR. He suggested that the state relax restrictions so that they're more in line with allowances given to the Blue Water Bridge in Sarnia-Port Huron.

In addition to the security issues "these dangerous trucks would pose" to what is currently the only major span at North America's busiest trade gateway, Ward also points out the "obvious detrimental impact" on his business.

Furthermore, the loss of the truck ferry "would eliminate the primary crossing for very large shipments of oversize, overweight trucks, which are essential in support of manufacturing and energy projects," says Ward. "Repeatedly the ferry has played an important role in keeping manufacturing facilities open when there has been severe delays at the bridge."

Signs in Windsor direct hazmat truckers to the ferry.
Curiously there are few, if any, such signs in Detroit.
Not only would such a move "strengthen the bridge's monopoly on cargo traffic," says Ward, but it would also eliminate any crossing redundancy, which is essential in the event of a major hazmat-related accident or terrorist attack on the privately owned bridge.

"I do not think people really appreciate the danger of allowing Moroun as the owner of a private bridge to be in total control of the border."

Not too long ago, Ward wrote to authorities asking them to do a better job enforcing the hazmat restrictions outlined in the NHMRR.

Officials on both sides of the border promised to investigate, but according to Ward, not much has changed.

6/10/09 Metro Times Cover Story: Taking a Toll

Metro Times Follows the Moroun Family Campaign Contributions!