A YES Vote for Riverside Park is a YES Vote for Detroit

by Richard Clement

"Mayor Duggan, Detroit City Council and The Moroun family push for peace on the Riverfront".

The vote to accept the land deal with the Morouns is a positive benefit to the Citizens of Detroit and Windsor Canada.  This investment trade off will give the City of Detroit an additional Boat Launch new playing field and a larger area to host neighborhood jazz concerts and other events.  The fishing is awesome at this location and to that effect investment in park infrastructure will increase opportunities for fishermen and fisherwomen.  This vote puts the Department of Natural Resources and the US National Park Service on notice that Detroit is ready to get to work right now instead of later. 

These two governmental agencies have known about the situation at the park for years. Both of them should not have any problem finding old paperwork to create an approval letter.  DNR’s objection to the vote is the kind of butt dragging bureaucracy that City of Detroit is eliminating from its vocabulary through; sound decision making and leadership by Mayor and City Council. The resulting development of the Park will create a new play field for Baseball and Soccer. On certain days, the river is full of people trying to catch fish and this will give the Michigan Department of Natural Resources opportunity to sell more fishing licenses

The Morouns have committed land and resources to make the park a viable park once again without the drama.  While the park issue is being resolved, the entrance ramp to the Bridge from W. Grand Boulevard and the Fisher Service Drive is suffering from poor road sign markings by the Michigan Department of Transportation. (View the Site)

Some of our American Citizens are forced to go across the Ambassador Bridge because they made a turn thinking that they were getting on the freeway.  No American leaving the park should be subjected to a full body strip search by the Canadian Border Security Agency and US Customs Agency for having “contraband” that is otherwise recognized as legal to have. To fix this situation we are strongly urging the Morouns to direct MDOT to place eye level signs at this Entrance with the Canadian Flag emphasizing that a driver will be leaving the Country if they turn, instead of the big green overhead sign that they have now. Some drivers have thought that this overhead sign is a part of the freeway and ignore it. Other driver's GPS units have told them to make a turn here to get on Interstate 75. This is a small fix from the State of Michigan that can easily resolved.

It is now time to get shovels into the ground and start getting to work on improving one of Detroit’s hidden assets on the Riverfront. The leadership of Detroit has clearly stated this is what we want for our citizens. All the Moroun haters out there will be happy once the Gordie Howe International Bridge is finally up and running. While truck traffic will decrease, personal car, bike and walking traffic will increase on the Ambassador Bridge.

(Request for Qualifications (RFQ) – Gordie Howe International Bridge Project)

Eventually, the old span has to be replaced by a new one. Before that new span is built, the old one has to stay open until the new one is completed. We anticipate that The Morouns will hire local labor because they want to come right to the City of Detroit after all of the conflict.  They have to live here like everyone else and we foresee a peaceful accord will be reached between the dissenters like Attorney Rashida Tilab and supporters like Malik Shabazz.  When this bridge of understanding is reached between the parties, there will be peace, profits, and prosperity on both sides of the Bridge for years to come.