May 26, 2010

After another delay vote on DRIC bridge and 10,000 Michigan jobs expected today

LANSING -- Well, here we go again.

The Michigan House, again, failed to take up House Bill 4961 on Tuesday that would authorize Michigan to enter into a public-private partnership with Canada and a private sector developer/financier to build the much needed Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) bridge over the Detroit River between Detroit and Windsor and create and save thousands of Michigan jobs, but the word is it will be taken up today.

The vote was also supposed to be taken up last Thursday, and again on Tuesday. Employees and lobbyists of the Detroit International Bridge Company (DIBC) and Grosse Pointe billionaire and Republican benefactor Matty Moroun have been thick as flies in Lansing, and this morning House Republicans – who are blocking the bridge on behalf of Moroun - are expected to hold a press conference.

Evidence and pressure have been mounting to build the DRIC bridge that will save and create 10,000 Michigan jobs, and the bridge already has all the required permits and approvals.

Even the conservative editorial page of the Detroit News is, reluctantly, supporting building the DRIC bridge with an editorial on Tuesday called “Time to build the Detroit-Canada bridge.”
“Very important to Michigan's awakening economy are the 10,000 construction jobs the project would create during the four years it will take to build the bridge, and the tens of thousands of jobs the international traffic flow will continue to support. These are benefits we should reap now, while trusting there'll be room for an entrepreneur like Moroun to continue to prosper as well.”

Lawmakers gave themselves a self-imposed deadline June 1 to vote DRIC up or down, and that deadline is next week.

Call or email your State Representative and tell him to vote for the bill and 10,000 Michigan jobs.

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