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Governor
and
local
businesses
campaign
hard to
derail
Moroun
Bridge
project
DETROIT
(Tell Us
Det) -
On
Thursday
afternoon
the
Society
of
Hispanic
Business
Owners &
Professionals
(SHBOP),
held a
community
briefing
about
the New
International
Trade
Crossing
(NITC)
with
Michigan
Lt.
Governor
Brian
Calley.
The
briefing
took
place at
Mi
Pueblo
Restaurant
in
southwest
Detroit.
During
the
presentation
Calley
shared
more
information
about
the
bridge
project
and the
lasting
impact
it will
have on
Southwest
Detroit,
the
State of
Michigan
and
International
Trade.
Last
month
the
Governor
and the
Canadian
Government
signed
an
interlocal
agreement,
authorizing
the NITC
(http://buildthedricnow.com).
The
SHBOP
Board of
Directors
voted
unanimously
to
support
the NITC
and to
encourage
the
utilization
of
Small,
Minority
and
Women
Owned
Businesses.
While
there
are
still a
few
steps
that
must
take
place
prior to
construction,
the
briefing
will
provide
an
opportunity
to learn
more
about
the
impact
on the
Business
Community
and what
is in
store
for
Southwest
Detroit.
Speaking
to about
fifty
residents,
community
leaders
and
business
owners
Calley,
joined
by
Canadian
Consul
General
to
Detroit,
Roy
Norton,
together
criticized
Moroun
for his
multimillion-dollar
ad
campaign
against
the
proposed
International
Trade
Crossing
project
with
some of
the
strongest
language
heard to
date.
Calley
said,
“We have
somebody
that is
interested
in
protecting
a
monopoly”.
“They
are
operating
with
complete
and
total
reckless
disregard
for
truth.
The
people
of the
state of
Michigan
deserve
the
truth,
and we
will not
be shy
in
sharing
it.”
Lydia
Gutierrez,
a
southwest
Detroit
business
owner of
Hacienda
Mexican
Foods,
told
those
attending
the
meeting,
“If I’m
going to
trust
somebody,
I’m
going to
trust
the
State of
Michigan
and the
government
of
Canada
on air
quality
issues
before I
would
trust
somebody
who has
shown to
us that
he can’t
be
trusted.”
(Photo
by
Thomas
Richardson/Tell
Us
Detroit)
Last
month
the
Governor
and the
Canadian
Government
signed
an
interlocal
agreement,
authorizing
the NITC
(http://buildthedricnow.com).
The
SHBOP
Board of
Directors
voted
unanimously
to
support
the NITC
and to
encourage
the
utilization
of
Small,
Minority
and
Women
Owned
Businesses.
While
there
are
still a
few
steps
that
must
take
place
prior to
construction,
the
briefing
will
provide
an
opportunity
to learn
more
about
the
impact
on the
Business
Community
and what
is in
store
for
Southwest
Detroit.
“We have
a lot of
work to
do in
terms of
communication,
and
that’s
really
what
something
like
today is
all
about,”
Calley
said,
adding
that in
coming
weeks
and
months
he would
be
“speaking
to
different
groups
all
across
the
state
every
day.”
Roy
Norton,
representing
the
Canadian
government,
was
eager to
criticize
the
Moroun
plan
saying,
“The
Ambassador
Bridge
owners
can buy
the
airways
but they
cannot
buy new
facts.”
“There’s
been
something
like $10
million
spent on
advertising
and it’s
not yet
bought
one word
of
truth.”
In a
statement
released
to Tell
Us
Detroit,
Mickey
Blashfield,
director
of The
People
Should
Decide,
a local
citizens
group
opposed
to the
state
owned
bridge
said,
“We hope
Michigan
taxpayers
view Lt.
Governor
Calley’s
remarks
today
for what
they
are: the
announcement
of
Governor
Snyder’s
statewide
campaign,
paid for
courtesy
of the
taxpayers
of
Michigan,
to
promote
his
government
bridge.
Add that
to the
tab of
the cost
to
Michigan
for a
government
bridge.
"Ironically,
the Lt.
Governor
is
chastising
us, a
privately
held
company
for
using
our own
after-tax
dollars
to
present
our side
of
border
issues
to
Michiganders.
Yet he
has
announced
his own
campaign
that
will be
bought
and paid
for by
the
taxpayers
of
Michigan,
regardless
of if
they
support
the
Governor’s
bridge
or not,"
Blashfield
said.
Members
of the
audience
pressed
the
speakers
for
greater
guarantees
that
construction
jobs and
other
benefits
of the
bridge
project
would
help
residents
of
southwest
Detroit,
one of
the
poorest
areas in
the
region.
Solid
answers
to those
questions
went
unfulfilled.
"This is
exactly
why the
people
should
decide.
And so
far,
609,000
people
agree
with
that
rather
than a
single
bureaucrat
going
around
the
legislature.
This
administration
cannot
have it
both
ways –
either
the vote
of the
people
doesn’t
matter
or the
people
should
decide.”
Many in
the
audience
seemed
to share
Calley’s
distrust
of the
Ambassador
Bridge
owner.
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