Windsor As Detroit's Bank

I absolutely refuse to get all upset over this story.

It is so obscene, so ridiculous and so stupid that I cannot believe that anyone is serious. It has to be a joke. No one could actually support something like this from Windsor's perspective. Right Mr. Sutts!

The Detroit Free Press stated at first:

• "A big part of the deficit stems from Kilpatrick’s failed attempt to sell Detroit’s half of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel to raise $65 million, a proposal Cockrel said is dead. Cockrel said he has spoken with Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis about a modified proposal where the two cities would enter into a joint management agreement."

Then the story changed with this addition:

• “A big part of the deficit stems from Kilpatrick’s failed attempt to sell Detroit’s half of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel to raise $65 million, a proposal Cockrel said is dead. Cockrel said he has spoken with Windsor Mayor Eddie Francis about a modified proposal where the two cities would enter into a joint management agreement.
  
  Harris [Cockrel’s chief financial officer] said Cockrel has made him his point person on a new tunnel deal with Windsor. Instead of selling Detroit’s half of the tunnel, the Cockrel administration is exploring the idea of selling the rights to the tunnel fare revenue that the city receives -- $700,000 annually -- to Windsor in exchange for a lump-sum payout, the exact amount of which is unknown, Harris said. The City of Detroit would retain ownership of its side of the tunnel, Harris said.”

Then it changed again:

• “Kilpatrick had planned to patch about $65 million of that hole with a deal to lease out Detroit’s stake in the Windsor Tunnel, but that plan never got done. Cockrel, who voted against the tunnel deal as City Council President, confirmed Wednesday that it clearly won’t get done in time to fix last year’s budget."

Very peculiar don’t you think. There may be other changes but I can’t keep up with the Free Press.

And then to top it all off, the Detroit News had a completely different story:

• “Harris said he is recommending Cockrel freeze all non-essential hiring to save cash. And he said he'll try to restructure the deal to sell the city's share of the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel to make it a win for the city, in order to help reduce the deficit even more.”

Obviously there is conversation going on between the two Mayors. Why? Wasn't this all on hold here? Who give the word to permit it to go forward again?

There is a worldwide financial meltdown going on. The major banks and financial houses have to be saved by the Governments around the world. Loans even to some of the best customers are drying up. Why else is the US Federal Reserve Bank taking the drastic steps that they are taking to prevent a complete financial collapse.

Now it is being proposed that Windsor should effectively give the money to Detroit by buying a revenue stream of a declining asset! Is somebody mad? Windsor is not in the lending or factoring business is it. We are not a bank.

If we do want to get into lending or purchasing asset business, I can think of better risks to be blunt than a City like Detroit where its new financial boss states:

• “The city's deficit could range from $100 million to $150 million, the city's new chief financial officer Joe Harris said today.
  
  "The best case is $100 million," Harris said. "I really don't know."

Is Harris trying to bring back the old deal? The new Detroit Mayor had said:

• “Cockrel said he is interested in reopening talks on a deal with Windsor on the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. But he doesn't want to sell the city's half. Instead, he wants to work out a joint management agreement that could net the city revenue over the long term…”

Perhaps the word “restructure” in the News story means a totally different way of looking at the Tunnel deal.

The way Free Press story talked about the transaction it seems that we would buy a revenue stream. What good is that when the amount is fixed for a dozen years at $700,000 and after that who knows if the Tunnel will still be in business if the DRIC bridge is built.

That should not work for Eddie because Detroit could still sell the Tunnel to a private party who could cement up the Tunnel. Buying the revenue stream does not keep the Tunnel in "Public Hands" as Eddie claims is his interest.

It is a great deal for Detroit because there cannot be a default. We would be buying a revenue stream, whatever that amount is, with no repayment of the amounts given to Detroit. They sell revenues and we buy them. PERIOD! Windsor taxpayers bear all the risks. There are companies that do that...let Detroit go to them for money and not to the City of Windsor who can use the money for our own taxpayer purposes.

Why this desire to help out Detroit? Why this fixation on a Tunnel deal? I don't get it!

Or are we now in the money speculation game as a new business venture? I don't even know if the City is legally able to do this and frankly I'm not going to check right now and see unless someone is serious and wants to do this transaction.

However, dear reader, do not worry. Something is going on. The legal fees that Windsor has to pay for the Tunnel deal are just starting up again. The clock has started to run and the cross-border trips are going to take place.

Am I worried? You bet I am. If this is the kind of deal that people are talking about in this kind of a financial environment then the Ontario Government better start considering whether or not they should take over the operation of this City. I hope the fellow at Standard & Poor's doesn't get a heart attack when he reads the story as well.

However, the real reason I am very upset about all of this is what Gord Henderson signalled in his recent column:

• "Instead of plummeting from $230 million in 2002 to $158 million this year, Windsor's debt would be nearing $300 million, with punishing interest rates crippling the city's capacity to respond, including investing in labour-intensive capital projects."

Investing.... taxpayer money... deals like this ... Councillors...HHHHEEEELLLLPPPP!!!!

One more question finally. Where is Infrastructure Ontario in all of this? On hold still too?

Hello Eddie's City

I did not hear the show live but just the clip on the CKLW website so perhaps there was an explanation about Eddie's new theme song.

However, I am pretty upset. Out of the dozens and dozens of songs that I and my readers picked for possible selection for Eddie’s new theme song for his interview show on CKLW not one of them was chosen.

Instead, it looks like someone decided that the song would be “Hello City” by the Barenaked Ladies. Or were they just doing a trial balloon?

At the least, they are a Canadian group. However, someone at the radio station has a very strange sense of humour or did not vote for Eddie at the last election as you shall see.

Moreover, I am afraid that Eddie is working too hard. As a micromanager par excellence who is in total control of everything, how could he have let this one go by? How could he let this song be picked as his possible theme?

Champion Naysayer of Windsor… after this song, Eddie is the winner by far. Just check out the lyrics:

• Hello city ...
  
  Another night at the palace cause there is nothing else to do.
  The same people, the same drinks and the same music, the same quicksand.
  I think this harbour town is waist deep and sinking fast.
  
  Chorus
  Hello city, you've found an enemy in me.
  Hello city, hello city.
  
  Second night at the warehouse,
  And my mock turtleneck just reeks.
  From the liquor room to the changeroom,
  To the doom and gloom of the hotel room.
  I wish this seaside beerhall would sink into the bay.
  
  Chorus
  
  Maybe I caught you at a bad time.
  Maybe I should call you back next week.
  Maybe half the fault was mine that
  The sun didnt shine on barrington street.
  
  Its three oclock in the morning,
  And Im hungry so lets eat.
  Climb down three flights to the streetlights,
  And the bar-fights, we're just taking in the sights.
  I hope tomorrow that I wake up in my own bed.
  
  Chorus
  
  What a good place to be.. dont believe them, cause they speak a different language
  And its never been happy for me.
  Its happy hour again.
  Hello city..hello city..

"Absolutely, he is working for us right now -- on all files,"

I definitely want back my $25 now as my pro-rata legal fee refund!

Every day when I wake up I wonder what I should BLOG about. Fortunately, I live in the City of Windsor. There are so many stories from which to choose that I just cannot believe it. They are limitless.

Take the border file for instance, please. Okay, okay… enough of the Henny Youngman jokes. One would think after writing so much about the subject for so many years that I could not possibly say anything new.

If that’s what you think, dear reader, then you are wrong. I have given up trying to figure out what is going on with this file. There are so many twists and turns. I just go with the flow.

Seriously, I don’t have the imagination to make this stuff up. It seems that something new and bizarre takes place so often, something unexpected. I just sit back in amazement and awe and wonder. Is someone actually masterminding all of this stuff or is it completely and totally out of control? Are we all being played in some master scheme or are we like the ball in a pinball game?

Taken the latest shock as far as I am concerned:

• “Windsor is keeping Toronto environmental lawyer David Estrin as its legal expert on border issues, despite a lawsuit by the Ambassador Bridge's ownership claiming he and his law firm have a conflict of interest…
  
  "Absolutely, he is working for us right now -- on all files," said Francis afterwards.”

I have to admit that I am surprised by that. After all, the US Court of Appeals stated:

• "There are some conflicts of interest to which a client may not consent. Thus, the district court was only partially correct when it stated “that a client may impliedly waive its consent to an attorney’s conflict of interest,” J.A. at 589 (Order at 6), because it ignored the question of whether Gowlings’s simultaneous and adverse representation of CenTra and Windsor was in fact a conflict to which CenTra could consent. We hold that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to whether Gowlings’s conflict of interest with regards to the Bridge Plan was one to which CenTra could consent...”

Moreover, the Court stated:

• “If the vague and general information that CenTra possessed regarding prior, different conflicts was enough, then the client would bear the burden of identifying and understanding the full scope of any conflict of interest. It is not the client, however, to whom the various codes of conduct have given this responsibility; “[t]he affirmative duty here rests not with [the clients] but with [the law firm] and its attorneys.”

Maybe I am missing the point but combined, these two statements suggest to me that there is a real question whether Gowlings should be acting for the City. Given what the Court of Appeals is saying, it may well be that Gowlings has a professional duty not to be acting for any of the parties. Accordingly, they should be resigning from acting as counsel for the City.

After all, the Trial Court stated:

• “Defendants do not dispute that they entered into a conflict of interest by representing Windsor and Plaintiffs with regards to various parts of the Bridge Plan and that any conflict check that Defendants undertook did not discover the adverse representations.”

Even Estrin stated:

• “Every firm tries its best, but sometimes the conflict screen breaks down," Estrin said.”

It was also said that:

• "The search did not reveal Estrin's representation of Windsor adverse to CTC because, when Estrin's general representation of Windsor on border crossing matters gradually turned adverse to CTC in 2003, he did not amend his initial conflict filing to add CTC as an adverse party."

The issue seems very simple to me. The firm has admitted that their conflicts system failed initially and that Estrin failed to change his initial filing. Accordingly, they did not pick up a conflict between the City and the Bridge Company. Whether this is negligence of their system or Estrin’s negligence in not amending his filing, it does not matter. The firm has admitted that there is a conflict.

The debate now is whether that conflict can be waived. The Court of Appeals has very much put in play whether or not the adverse relationship between the Bridge Company and the City would permit a waiver. It may be one of those instances that cannot be waived.

Given the fact that our Mayor IS a Lawyer, he ought to be concerned about this and whether or not Estrin and the firm can continue to act for the City. The point is why do we want to be involved in all of this.

It is not as easy as Eddie is trying to make it. He is positioning it so as not to accept blame if this falls apart since we may have wasted millions on legal fees:

• “this is a matter between Gowlings and Centra [Ambassador Bridge]."

Wrong. It is much more than that. The concern is the proper representation for the City of Windsor in this most important matter. Are we getting it?

Obviously, one of the things on Eddie's mind, as he said before is:

• “Mayor Eddie Francis called the timing of the lawsuit "predictable." He said the border crossing debate is at a critical juncture, with the city ramping up its opposition in recent months to the bridge company's bid for a twin span.
  
  "The timing on this speaks volumes," Francis said. "It also speaks to the effectiveness of our strategy to protect residents of Windsor. When people resort to these type of tactics and setting up roadblocks, it's an indication we are being effective.
  
  "The reason (the bridge company) is attempting to do this is they want the city and law firm to be distracted away from what they are trying to accomplish."

That was a reasonable position to take at first IE the Bridge Company does not want a major law firm acting against them.

However, that argument loses its force based on what is going on in the US Court system. I do not understand Eddie in this case when there is an admission of the conflict. Why would Eddie want to continue using Estrin? Eddie now has to bear the risk on behalf of the City of Windsor that Estrin will win. What if he does not? What happens then to the City’s position? Will citizens be prejudiced and how?

Seriously, could the continued representation by Estrin be made part of a bad faith claim by the Bridge Company against the City like the failure to allow them to tear down homes on Indian Road and the Heritage Plan? Is this just making it easy for a major punitive damages claim to be made that taxpayers would have to pay if the Bridge Company is successful? Who needs that risk!

But there is more. As I have pointed out before, Gowlings acted for Borealis, one of the owners of DRTP, and also for DCTC, a competitor of the City with respect to the Windsor/Detroit Tunnel. Why did Eddie want to use Estrin and Gowlings in this situation that started even before Estrin was first retained?

If. L. Brooks is correct, and there is a competition between Buffalo and Detroit for the next crossing, then why would Eddie use the environmental lawyer for the Peace Bridge, David Estrin?

Again, as a citizen of the City of Windsor I have to ask the question about whether the City has been well served by Gowlings given all their relationships. Were those relationships disclosed to the City in the first place and if so to whom? How can a law firm act for all these parties at the same time when it can be argued that the interests of the parties are not necessarily the same and are conflicting?

To be blunt because this is a question that needs to be asked… to whom does Gowlings owe their main loyalty? All of their clients, some of their clients and if so, which ones? How can they act for everyone vigorously and to the best of their abilities if there are so many potential and real conflicts?

Are there potentially other conflicts that we do not know about yet given the problems with the Gowlings conflicts system. Has that been looked into?

Lets take one example:

• “Although a different law firm prepared the memorandum, CenTra provided to Gowlings the Goodman Legal Memorandum and all of its supporting documents. This collection of materials, according to CenTra, is very similar to the research that Estrin described in his letter to the U.S. Coast Guard…
  
  CenTra questions whether Estrin used CenTra’s Goodman Legal Memorandum in preparing Estrin’s letter on behalf of Windsor to the U.S. Coast Guard in opposition to CenTra’s Bridge Plan.
  
  For his part, Estrin denies that he used any confidential information from CenTra. “The letter that I sent to the United States Coast Guard on September 14, 2006 is not based on confidential and/or privileged information that was supplied by Centra to Gowlings. I have never had any such information in my possession.”

How many other similar situations could take place as the fight with the Bridge Company is being pursued and why does the City need to be put into this kind of position?

The CBA Conflicts Report of which Estrin’s partner, Scott Jolliffe, was the Chair made this their test of conflicts:

• “The principle is that there is a conflicting interest when there is a substantial risk that a lawyer’s representation of a client would be materially and adversely affected by the lawyer’s own interests or by the lawyer’s duties to another current client, a former client, or a third person.”

You can decide as well as I can about how this applies in the City/Gowlings relationship considering all of the parties for whom the law firm acts.

All of this is much too confusing. There must be some method in all this madness but it escapes me.

What is also interesting is whether or not Council has had a role in this. Was there a vote on Monday night at the in camera session about whether to retain Estrin? It does not appear to be so since it seems to have been more of an information item. I would have thought that Eddie’s use of the word “absolutely” suggests that Council is on side. Yet, it seems clear that Council has specifically not supported the use of Estrin recently.

Is Eddie afraid to put this to the vote of Council because he might lose?

There is no doubt at all now that the front-page story about the Bridge Company’s “right” and the Estrin praise by Henderson were designed to keep Estrin on. So far at least, the tactic seems to be working.

As is usual, I am sure that there is more to this story than meets the eye. This is Windsor after all where nothing is simple.

Stories You Have Never Read Before

Oh you might have read the stories or heard about them. However, did you have time to think of the consequences? Probably not since you have so many other matters that occupy your day.

Isn't that why you read the BLOGs in town? We BLOGGERs just love to analyze some of the issues for you. Take these stories as examples:

HOW THE CANAL DEAL WILL BE SOLD

Or perhaps it will be the shovel ready lands at the Airport or maybe even {shudder, shudder} helping to pay for Son of Greenlink.

You see we are in economic distress in Windsor because of the loss of manufacturing jobs, especially in the automotive industry. Not only Windsor but a good part of Ontario is in such a mess.

However, since the Mayor and Council have kept our taxes so high so that they could pay for extravaganzas such as the 400 building and the East End Arena on a pay-as-you-go basis, and taken about $100 million out of our economy, we can now afford to borrow tons of money for the new extravaganzas that the Mayor is dreaming up. As Gord wrote,

• "Instead of plummeting from $230 million in 2002 to $158 million this year, Windsor's debt would be nearing $300 million, with punishing interest rates crippling the city's capacity to respond, including investing in labour-intensive capital projects."

Just think of how well off we would have been

• had our debt been reduced,
• the debt reduction Levy not been used for other projects but rather for the purposes for which it was taken,
• if we were only at risk for $15 million for the Arena, and
• if our tax and water rates were lower.

Imagine how well off our City would have been had we not squandered the tax money and how we could have confronted the miseries we are going through and which will get worse.

But it is all right. It is only taxpayers who have been punished.

GUERILLA DRIC WARFARE

Interesting news item by Daryl Newcombe of EH NEWS the other day. Something about the DRIC engineers missing some lighting requirements that will cost an extra $60 million or so and that they are looking at slurry walls, something that the Greenlink engineers considered, whatever the significance of that means.

I wonder who gave him that information. I hope no one at City Hall leaked it. That would be irresponsible wouldn't it.

Obviously, we are seeing the beginning of the campaign to discredit some of the work that DRIC has done so that our Mayor can rise up in anger and demand that there be a compromise solution between the City and DRIC with respect to the road. Eddie does hate to lose don't you know.

I expect that we will see more leaks of DRIC problems, probably in a gigantic Henderson column, so that Eddie can demand in another in camera meeting that David Estrin be used to threaten litigation again. I expect that Eddie will keep on doing this until the Councillors agreed to do what he wants. He does not intend to take NO an answer.

In passing, Dave Wake needs to be much more outspoken when being interviewed. I know that his hands are tied by our Liberal Cabinet Ministers but seriously, he came across very poorly by not answering relatively easy questions properly.

JOYS OF COMMUTING

I once spent about 18 months commuting overseas on a major project. It lost its novelty quickly.

I can remember how difficult it became as time went on to adjust to the time-zone differences. Just as I recovered when I came back home, I had to leave again. It became a physical and mental strain. How some people can thrive on that kind of a life is beyond me.

I expect that part of the problem was that I could not sleep on the plane even though I travelled through the night. After all, someone had to stay up all night long to help the pilot fly the 747.

I have to admit it, I envied the people who could fall asleep just as we took off and would wake up just as we were about to land. Just like this fellow in the picture on a flight between Windsor and Toronto.

Say, doesn't he look familiar, even from the back! He looks like a guy who would have "frequent airport encounters with people who are leaving the area for jobs in the West."

Let's hope that we can create some jobs here soon so that people will not be forced into that kind of a life-style. It is not good for the individuals and certainly is not good for families!

LOVE MEANS NEVER HAVING TO SAY YOU'RE SORRY

There certainly is no love lost between the Mayor and Council and the Ambassador Bridge Company. After all, when the City calls one of its largest taxpayers and one of the reasons for its success its “enemy,” then one wonders how this relationship can ever be made good again.

I happened to see this statement in an article dealing with the David Estrin lawsuit that should trouble a number of people in Government and I do not mean just in the City of Windsor:

• “the lawsuit will resume with the bridge company seeking “extensive discovery” before it goes to trial.”

After reading that, I would have a cold chill going down my spine. Yet, until now there was nothing that our Mayor and Council could do to try to make friends again. If they said “sorry” or tried to apologize, then that could be deemed an admission of liability and huge damages would have to be paid.

However, and I don’t know if it is because of this situation or not, the Ontario Government has come to the defence of people like the Mayor and Council. Here is what is being done:

• “Ontario to make it easier to apologize for mistakes with new bill
  
  TORONTO — It will soon be easier to say you're sorry in Ontario.
  
  The government plans to adopt an act that will allow everyone to apologize without having to worry about being sued. Sources say Attorney General Chris Bentley and Health Minister David Caplan will on Tuesday announce the adoption of the Apology Act, initially introduced by Liberal backbencher David Orazietti.
  
  Orazietti tabled his private member's bill last April, saying he hoped to encourage more people to offer sincere regrets for their mistakes.”

I think that I will bring my camera and post the photo on my BLOG when I see Mayor Francis on bended knee in front of the Dan Stamper saying:

• “I want to offer you my sincerest apologies. I am sorry for all of the inconvenience and the extra millions of dollars in costs and the worry that I and City Council caused you. What can I do to help build your Enhancement Project and the road to your bridge?”

Happy Birthday and Retirement!

A reader requested I post the following. Happy to oblige:

Ed

If you would like to mention to-day Justice Saul Nosanchuk will officially retire from the bench, and being to-day is his 75th birthday, a few of us are going out to dinner with a beautiful man, and major giver in the community.

We have been good friends for a number of years , and believe it or not he has kept me out of jail all these years...NOW IT CAN BE TOLD :-)

God Bless him and his wife Nancy.

MDOT Embarrassment

It must be tough being the Director of MDOT.

It is bad enough when your employees and your FHWA partner mess up badly in front of a Michigan Senate hearing and you have to come in and try and salvage it. However, when the Senator claims that your Department has said that a bridge is not needed now and may not be needed until after the DRIC study time period in 2035, then it makes your pro-DRIC position seem totally ludicrous!

• “DRIC's traffic projections are inflated and unrealistic. Border traffic at the Blue Water Bridge in Port Huron, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel and the Ambassador Bridge has fallen every year since 1999. Counter to DRIC projections, traffic has declined from 1999-2007 by 52% at the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, by 26% at the Ambassador Bridge, and by 12% at the Blue Water.
  
  If DRIC cannot accurately predict traffic levels from 2004-08, then its 30-year projections are completely baseless. Even with these inflated traffic projections, MDOT testified before my committee that a new span would not be needed until between 2025-35. This gives us plenty of time to address border bridge capacity in the future if the situation warrants it.”

But if that is not bad enough to make you want to gag, then there are all kinds of interesting documents they are buried in the MDOT archives that can come back to haunt you. Here is one that I found. It was prepared by the Corradino Group Inc., URS Canada Inc., the US and Canadian DRIC consultants and a Michigan Department of Transportation employee. I cannot tell exactly when it was prepared but it would have been prior to March 2003 I believe.

• The Detroit-Windsor border
  
  As the saying goes, “There’s good news and bad news.” The good news is that the Detroit Region benefits enormously from having good connections to Canada, its No. 1 world trade partner, by way of the Ambassador Bridge and the Detroit-Windsor tunnel. The bad news is that these crossings have reached a point that congestion, of trucks in particular, has become a major problem on each side of the border…
  
  The four governmental entities responsible for surface transportation across the border between Southwest Ontario and Southeast Michigan -- Transport Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Transportation, the U.S. Federal Highway Administration and the Michigan Department of Transportation – created a Bi-National Partnership to jointly fund and oversee a study to determine if, when and where a new crossing is needed and, if so, to define the type of crossing, i.e., bridge or tunnel, and the number of lanes that will be required to support traffic in 2030 and beyond.
  
  In the first phase of the bi-national study, all modes of surface transportation were evaluated, including marine, rail and transit. While these latter modes can provide border-crossing capacity, none can provide enough capacity to put off the need for a new roadway crossing.
  
  The initial feasibility study concluded that at least four additional lanes for roadway traffic will be needed by 2030 and that six lanes should be constructed to accommodate traffic through at least 2050. It also said the crossing should be built as quickly as possible within the constraints of the laws and regulations of the two nations. And, while there may be some debate as to just when the existing roadway system will reach a level of congestion so critical that cross-border travel will be unacceptably slow, especially for trucks, there is no disagreement that dependence upon two crossings, each 70 years old, is unwise. The need for another crossing is further accentuated when issues other than congestion, like safety and security, are considered…
  
  It is likely that a new crossing recommended by the study will be operating by 2012 or before…
  
  In the meantime, there are a number of opportunities to address the near-term congestion-causing issues:
  
  · The Ambassador Bridge Gateway Project to improve the U.S. connection between the bridge and I-75.
  
  · Increased education and use of the NEXUS and FAST processing systems.
  
  · Additional border processing staff and facilities.

There are a number of comments to make but one other item was also mentioned that bears a remarkable resemblance to the DRIC road/Greenlink/Windsor WALTS road/Schwartz Road:

• “Ambassador Bridge Parkway -- This proposal is for a separate controlled-access road connection along Essex Terminal Railway right-of-way between Ambassador Bridge and a new border processing area at E.C. Row Expressway/Huron Church Road; this proposal also includes improvements to the Huron Church/Talbot Road corridor from E.C. Row Expressway to Highway 401; this proposal is located within the Twinned Ambassador Bridge corridor.

DUH…it’s the way to connect the DRIC road to the Ambassador Bridge today in case Eddie forgot!

Just look at some of the things that were said back then and compare with today. It is obvious already that in this short period of time that the DRIC comments with respect to the border crossing are very suspect:

• These crossings have reached a point of congestion.... not since the Bridge Company opened up new booths



• DRIC's time period is 2030 and yet MDOT says the new bridge may not be necessary until 2035


• It is completely absurd to argue that the DRIC Bridge should start operating in 2012 if it is not needed until 2035. It and other border crossings could go broke requiring massive Government subsidies


• what the Enhancement Project offers meets the requirements until after 2050


• if four or six lanes are all that are needed and what was this nonsense at the Cropsey hearing about 14 or 15 lanes


• a big point is made about the age of the Bridge yet impediments are being placed to build a new one


• security and redundancy are eliminated as issues if the Enhancement Project is constructed.

The point that I am making is that the anti-Bridge Company story keeps changing and the MDOT Director is stuck trying to support it. Every time the Bridge Company proves something that is said by DRIC is wrong, the MDOT/DRIC story changes to something more extreme.

In fact, based on the Cropsey hearing, a strong argument can be made that the three "near-term" solutions make the building of a DRIC bridge absurd. It is not the number of lanes that is the issue but rather Customs clearance. There seems to be little recognition of how technology will allow the processing of vehicles much more quickly to effectively increase capacity at a minimal cost.

In the end, does it really matter what the facts are. It's politics. It is money. And definitely it is lawsuits.

I am still waiting to see what Senator Cropsey's cryptic statement means. I wonder if the MDOT Director is waiting too:

• "He claims agreements from previous decades -- that precede the DRIC study -- called for joint completion of the state's ongoing $230-million gateway project in Detroit to improve access to Moroun's bridge, completion of the twin span and improvements to Huron Church Road.
  
  "What we are saying is let's just finish what's been started -- and everybody agreed to -- and then look at the traffic flow and see if the capacity is there in earnest before we get into a new (DRIC) crossing," Cropsey said."

Public Versus Private, Again

I thought you might be interested in reading this story from the Detroit News about changes at the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel. Or rather, on the US side of the Tunnel.

To me, it shows the difference about how private enterprise and the Government run a business.

In passing, if Alinda, who operates the Detroit half under an agreement with Detroit for about a dozen more years, is going to be spending all this money, what does it say to a Tunnel deal between Windsor and Detroit? Alinda, as the operator on the Detroit side is not giving up in its fight to maintain its operation of the Tunnel is it.

As you may recall the private enterprise Owner of the Ambassador Bridge has added Customs booths on both sides of the river to help speed traffic through. By adding only four booths, he was able to eliminate most of the truck backups on Huron Church Road. I wrote:

• “In fact, with the new booths opened recently, the Bridge Company has added in almost the equivalent number of booths as are located at the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel. In other words, we have a new crossing already!”

In a BLOG that I wrote a few weeks ago, I asked when writing about the Bridge Company’s transponder system:

• “How can bureaucrats and a former young entrepreneur of the year who play with taxpayer money and not their own ever believe that they can defeat someone who puts his own bank account on the line every day with his border crossing…
  
  I'm sure that you read the Star story about the transponder that the Bridge Company is offering to speed people through tollbooths after they have used their Nexus card to speed through Customs on both sides of the river.”

I wrote subsequently

• “With a NEXUS card and a transponder or credit card, a bridge user barely needs to stop when crossing between Canada and the United States. If there is a stop, the amount of time needed for inspection is minimal since the person has been precleared.
  
  The more that people use this system, the more people that can be cleared using existing facilities. Explain to me again why we need a new border crossing.”

Now we see the private operator on the Detroit side taking some similar actions as well:

• “Detroit-Windsor Tunnel to roll out toll passes to save time
  Paul Egan / The Detroit News
  
  DETROIT -- Travelers crossing the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel next spring will be able to use wallet-sized cards to pay tolls electronically, saving time and easing congestion, officials said Monday. Neal Belitsky, the tunnel CEO and general manager, also said plans are in the works to revamp the cramped plaza on the Detroit side of the tunnel to add one more inspection lane for the processing of vehicles arriving from Windsor.
  
  Electronic tolls should be available for those crossing from Detroit to Windsor next spring; the change is also being considered by Windsor officials who control the Canadian side of the tunnel, though a date for implementation there has not been set, Belitsky said at a news conference.
  
  The toll cards will be read by an electronic scanner and should shave about 15 seconds per vehicle off the time it takes to enter the tunnel, he said.
  
  "When you multiply that by the total number of vehicles that go through, that's a real time saving."
  
  About 6 million vehicles a year cross the tunnel.
  
  Travelers will be able to put money on their cards using a Web site, among other methods, he said.
  
  The option of paying cash would still be available, though authorities will probably stop selling tunnel tokens within about six months, he said.
  
  Belitsky said tunnel authorities will soon detail plans to reconfigure the Detroit tunnel plaza and increase the number of inspection lanes for arriving vehicles to 11, from 10. Combined with other changes, the revamped plaza should increase the capacity for the handling of incoming vehicles by about 20 percent, he said.
  
  Construction should begin early in 2009 and be completed by the end of next year, he said. Work will be concentrated in off-peak times to minimize travel disruptions, he said.
  
  Also, starting this November, all lanes for arriving vehicles on the Detroit side will be able to perform electronic reading of cards such as Nexus, for frequent travelers, as well as new enhanced driver licenses and passports that can be read electronically.
  
  Officials at the Windsor Tunnel Commission could not immediately be reached to say when electronic toll paying would begin on the Canadian side of the tunnel.”

They are introducing a new electronic payment system similar it seems to the transponder concept and are improving the Detroit Plaza. If they can handle an extra 20% more vehicles, then I ask again why is a new bridge needed?

What is the publicly owned Windsor side of the Tunnel doing? Unfortunately we don’t know because they could not be reached to answer the question. We do know that the Tunnel Improvement Project has been put off for years and the cost of the Improvements have escalated dramatically.

A Crains Detroit article did not give us any Windsor information either but told us some more about the construction:

• "The electronic cards are initially for entering the U.S. side of the border, Belitsky said. Plans remain under discussion with Canadian authorities to implement the service in Windsor.
  
  
  
  The plaza expansion will include infrastructure improvements, a new U.S. Customs and Border Protection office, renovated roadway and implementation of dual-service booths."

Perhaps this is a P3-1 arrangement between Windsor and Alinda: public/private lack of partnership!

One point...people on the Star Forum about this story say that saving a few seconds at the toll booths means nothing when you have to wait an hour or more in the Tunnel to clear US Customs even with a NEXUS card. After all, there there is only one lane in the Tunnel and there are tie-ups at US Customs. Now perhaps you may understand why the Enhancement Project bridge is necessary. It adds a third lane in each direction so pre-cleared vehicles have their own lane for speedy Customs clearance.

And you want the Governments to build a DRIC bridge. You cannot still be serious about that!