More On MDOT In Port Huron

Sorry, I could not resist posting this! Another Port Huron Times Herald columnist view of what is going on there. Does this kind of activity go on everywhere and not just Windsor on big international bridge projects?

No, I promise that I did NOT change what is going on in Windsor and change the names so that you would think it was Port Huron. But look at the words I emphasized in bold as you read the column. I could not believe it.

No wonder the 1999 Port Huron-designed arena fits in so well in Windsor. WE ARE PORT HURON:

• "Council should clarify what it knew about bridge plaza plan
  
  The new Blue Water Bridge Plaza and the Thomas Edison Inn Casino projects are just two large local examples of your elected leadership’s inability to perform at any level that should give you comfort.
  
  The $300 million Thomas Edison Inn Casino is so desperately needed here in River City with the collapse of the local economy and one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Sadly, the project has languished in Congress for going on five years now while the politicians play games with our future and our ability to support our families.
  
  And, now there is the infamous new Blue Water Bridge Plaza expansion. The Michigan Department of Transportation pretty much admitted that this very expensive plaza is needed because the agency really screwed up the design when it built the second bridge span.
  
  Hey, it’s just taxpayers’ money! Now, MDOT officials again want us to trust them with all that money — about half a billion dollars. How does that go again? “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice …” Well, you know.
  
  Ex-Port Huron City Council member Z. Kris Wisniewski has stepped down as the project’s manager. MDOT, again without the completion of its “Holy Grail,” the Environmental Impact Study, still is moving forward with the Port Huron Alternative. The state agency is buying up property — even outside the project’s footprint. The talk in Washington is MDOT will be taking a lot more land than it’s telling us.
  
  So who is in charge? Who is the decision- maker? It appears no one is. It’s just a “half-billion-dollar parking lot,” as Times Herald columnist Mike Connell calls it, running amuck. Just keep talking and holding meetings while “super fast tracking” the project so it quickly reaches the point of no return.
  
  Here’s the real kicker: While the City Council plays at being shocked about the decision to build the plaza in Port Huron, I was told by a Port Huron Township official, weeks before MDOT’s announcement at last month’s televised City Council meeting, that the decision had been made to build the plaza in Port Huron.
  
  I was told city officials attended those previous meetings with MDOT had to be aware for weeks, if not months, ahead of time that the Port Huron plan would be implemented. I thought the township official was putting me on. Boy, do I wish I’d followed up on that lead.
  
  Why did the mayor and City Council sit on this information? Why were you not told? Were City Council members really misled and as shocked as they claimed or just misleading you? Makes you wonder who to trust.
  
  No matter how they try to bury us with their rhetorical garbage there is hope. Under the talented leadership of Citizens First Savings Bank’s Marsh Campbell, Randy Cutler and Co-chairmen Art Smith and Robert Funk, the “Bridge Plaza Business and Community Coalition” has been formed. This is a group less about talk and more about action.
  
  There is a 10 a.m. meeting today... This is your chance to be part of the solution.
  
  Here’s one thing your elected officials need to understand: We don’t like being played, and we don’t like being lied to. As Americans, we know how to stand up and fight for our children and our community. If they doubt that, just watch."

Sure sounds very similar to Windsor to me