[Blitz]

Citizens Oppose Twin Span

Protesters Gather in Detroit

The Windsor Star
June 27, 2009
By Donald McArthur


DETROIT -- Politicians and neighbourhood groups from both sides of the border stood united in the shadow of the Ambassador Bridge in southwest Detroit Friday and condemned as destructive a proposal to construct a twin span.

“We have so many things in common and we will fight this fight together,” Ward 2 Coun. Ron Jones told a crowd of about 50 people outside St. Anne Church. “I’m going to say to you hold on and don’t get tired. Walk that final mile together. Don’t allow them to divide and separate your community.”

Michigan State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat, said the bridge company “couldn’t care less about protecting our families and our children down the street,” who live in a culturally-diverse area where one in five kids suffers from asthma.

She accused company officials of circumventing the environmental approvals process by building a twin span in increments without obtaining federal permits.

“The bridge company has attempted to sidestep this process by segmenting their project, by cutting it up into small components in order to avoid the cost of mitigating the impact their project would have on our environment,” she said.

A message left for Ambassador Bridge company president Dan Stamper Friday was not immediately returned.

Grassroots organizations from southwest Detroit and west Windsor attended the small rally and carried signs reading “We have the right to breathe” and “Twin Span = Double Trouble.” They pledged to work together in opposing a twin span.

“On the Canadian side, our problems are the same as your problems. We’re all in this together, ” said Sandwich Towne activist and bakery shop owner Mary Ann Cuderman.

“Wars last for years but they’re never won until the final hours. We’re down to the final hours and if we stand united we can beat this thing.”

Michelle Martinez, of southwest Detroit, said this sort of “binational grassroots mobilization” was a “powerful” new tool.

“We deal with these semi-trucks. We deal with pollution. This is real,” said Martinez.

“This isn’t a small community isolated in southwest Detroit standing on their little pedestal and waving a flag. This is an international issue.”

Martinez expressed fears that legislators might be too hasty to support a twinned bridge because of concerns with the sputtering economy.

“We want jobs, we want good jobs, but we don’t want to sacrifice our communities anymore for those jobs,” she said. “Our community suffers with asthma and heart disease and multiple respiratory problems because of air pollution.”

NDP MP Brian Masse attended the news conference and assured U.S. residents that the bridge company had miles to go to secure the necessary approvals in Canada.

“A border shouldn’t be a burden in your community,” said Masse.

“We have two vulnerable communities that should be enhanced by a border crossing, not decimated by it.”

Jones told the crowd a twin span would cut Sandwich towne in half and “we’re not going to allow it to happen.”