Detroit EM To Go Ahead With Land Sale For New US-Canada Bridge Despite Objections
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) - The Detroit City Council might not like a proposal to sell 301 city-owned properties to build a new bridge between the U.S. and Canada -- but that's not going to stop state-appointed Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr.
The council on Tuesday unanimously rejected the $1.4 million deal to make way for a new commuter bridge to Windsor, Ontario, saying the proposal did nothing to protect the Delray neighborhood or its nearly 900 residents who would be forced to move.
Orr is expected to push the deal through, anyway.
Under Michigan state law, Orr has the power to veto council's vote and go ahead with the sale. Otherwise, the council would have until Sept. 16 to submit an alternative plan. A state emergency loan board would then decide between Orr's original plan and the council's counter-offer.
The U.S. State Department approved the bridge project last year, but construction hasn't started yet. Canada is paying most of the $2 billion project's cost on both sides of the border and plans to recoup the money through tolls.
The new span would cross the Detroit River about two miles south of the Ambassador Bridge, from the Brighton Beach neighborhood in Windsor to the Delray neighborhood in Detroit. Officials say they hope to open the bridge in 2020.
The project is opposed by the owner of the existing Ambassador Bridge, Manuel "Matty" Moroun, whose family wants to build its own second span. Records show the Moroun family has spent over $1 million since 2009 in their fight to stop a new government-owned span.
An estimated 2.7 million trucks pass through the Detroit-Windsor crossing, carrying $120-billion worth of goods annually.
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