Will Hundreds Be Made Homeless By DRIC Plan

Nice headline eh (huh for my US readers).

We have read about the problems DRIC routes will cause to local homeowners and businesses on this side of the river depending on final location. The numbers are large too but I would suspect that most will get a perfectly adequate sum of money to let them buy a new home given where they live or to re-establish their business. The Star reported:

• "The number of households to be displaced by access roads ranges from 125 to 220, depending on their alignment and location. The tunnel alternative generally results in fewer household displacements than the other alternatives.
  
  - Between 25 and 45 businesses along Talbot Road-Huron Church Road will be displaced. Other remaining businesses will likely be disrupted through property infringement and/or by a reduction in traffic access or visibility.
  
  - The displacement and disruption of commercial businesses in the Huron Church corridor will result in a loss of revenue of approximately $10 million and 100 jobs.
  
  - Industrial economic impact near each of the potential locations of the crossings and plazas (in Sandwich or Brighton Beach) from displacement/dislocation could result in approximately 100 job losses and nearly $100 million in lost revenue. "

Well if you think that is bad, take a look at the Detroit News story below. I am sorry, but how can our West End activists and politicos be so quiet? How can the Delray activists and politicians for the area remain so supportive of a DRIC process that is destroying them.

The alternative that does not destroy either Community----well not one of them dares mention it since it might spoil their agenda. Not one of them has the nerve to utter "Ambassador Bridge Enhancement Project." They are too hung up over their personal animosities to look to the good of their communitities.

Think you could find a new home for $10,000 or would you join the ranks of the homeless. Read what I wrote to my US friend and then the news story!

• Ask your leaders to justify making about 400 families homeless!
  
  The Governor has to be put under pressure since how can people find a new home if all they get is $8,000 or even 125% of that!
  
  This surely is all the excuse she needs to kill DRIC ie why should Michigan suffer again.
  
  The Mayor should also come out screaming today at those numbers. Why should Detroit lose 150 acres of land for another plaza
  
  
  Bridge plan cuts swath in southwest Detroit
  Andy Henion / The Detroit News
  
  A binational proposal to add another Canada-U.S. border crossing to ease traffic on the Ambassador Bridge, left, targets the Delray neighborhood and would involve demolishing hundreds of homes and businesses and closing up to 30 streets.
  
  As many as 384 homes and 56 businesses in southwest Detroit would be razed to make way for another bridge to Canada, according to the latest plan from a binational commission.
  
  The blueprint also calls for closing as many as 30 streets and demolishing the Beard early childhood center and a handful of churches, including the Religious Society of Friends' modest facility on Fort Street.
  
  "It would be difficult to leave our meeting house, but it would not be terrible," said Margaret Walden, clerk of the 15-member church. "Quakers are not, as a general rule, tied to a specific location."
  
  The plans, unveiled at a public meeting this week in Detroit, propose 13 alternatives for an interchange, plaza and bridge across the Detroit River. All alternatives focus on Delray -- one of Detroit's poorest neighborhoods -- with the bridge crossing from either Post or Junction Street.
  
  Mohammed Alghurabi, senior project manager with the Michigan Department of Transportation, warned that the plans are preliminary and will be adjusted over the next year. The commission of United States, Michigan, Canadian and Ontario officials already has spent about five years studying the issue.
  
  Some say they can't get clear answers on the project.
  
  "They'll tell you one thing in one meeting and the next meeting it will change," said Delray resident Steve Toth. "I think the state of Michigan has lost control of this thing."
  The crossing -- which would cost the United States an estimated $700 million to $1.2 billion, is expected to alleviate congestion on the Ambassador Bridge and boost the economy. Without it, officials say, Michigan and Ontario will lose nearly $29 billion annually and 49,000 jobs by 2020.
  
  If approved by both countries, the bridge would open to traffic by the end of 2013. Work -- drilling to check for underground caverns that could wreak havoc on pillars -- could start in the Delray area next month, officials said.
  
  On the United States side, the interchange and plaza are bounded by Interstate 75, Jefferson, Dearborn and Clark. In that general area:
  
  Between 18 and 30 streets would be closed.
  
  Between 189 and 384 homes would be razed.
  
  Between 37 and 56 businesses would be demolished.
  
  John Nagy, a lifelong Delray resident and chairman of the Delray Community Council, said his biggest concern is fair compensation. Homes in the area sell for as little as $8,000.
  
  "In other words, don't take their property and give them next to nothing," he said. "I would like to see them get substantially above market value."
  
  It's unclear whether the project passes muster under Michigan's eminent domain law, which voters approved Nov. 7. Under the law, if a property is taken to eliminate blight, it requires a higher standard to demonstrate the acquisition is for public use.
  
  The law also mandates owners be paid at least 125 percent of their property's fair market value.
  
  "We are going to do everything we can to minimize the impact and protect the community," Alghurabi said.

If this is what MDOT thinks minimizing impact is and protecting the community, I would hate to think of what they would do when they do not care. Environmental Justice anyone?