WEST-ENDERS SEEK ANSWERS
Residents worry about bridge impact
West-end residents who fear the devastating effect a new bridge could have on their lives want to know why the decision to approve the bridge was made quietly behind closed doors.
“More than quiet, it’s under the table,” Frank Butler, a west-end resident and president of the Citizen’s Environment Alliance, said Wednesday night during a townhall meeting at the Fogolar Furlan Club in Windsor.
“Certainly it didn’t follow the process that we’ve had for the other crossing or the parkway where you had community input to some extent — I would have preferred even more. But here, this is all under the radar.”
MP Brian Masse, the NDP member for Windsor-West, gave a presentation and took questions from about 100 concerned residents facing a new international bridge in their neighbourhood.
They peppered Masse and others on the panel — including MPP Lisa Gretzky and Chamber of Commerce CEO Matt Marchand — with dozens of questions.
People also wanted to know what will happen with the Indian Road blight. They had concerns about more pollution and noise vibration and the declining values of their homes. They were also worried that the Ambassador Bridge company could drop toll prices to undercut the publicly owned bridge.
The company that owns the Ambassador Bridge made the surprise announcement Sept. 6 that it had received cabinet approval in Canada to build a new span between Windsor and Detroit.
The permit was the last major hurdle for billionaire bridge owner Matty Moroun to build a new six-lane span to replace the 87-year-old Ambassador Bridge and compete with the yet-to-bebuilt publicly owned bridge.
The approval comes with a long list of conditions, which include demolishing the existing bridge within five years of the replacement span opening to traffic. The bridge company must also demolish all buildings on Indian Road and nearby areas within the new span’s corridor and create parkland between Wyandotte Street and Riverside Drive.
Masse said representatives of the bridge company and the federal government were invited to the meeting but did not show up.
“Transport Canada has been abusive in this process, is the only thing that I can say,” said Masse. “Doing this through a press release, not being available to answer questions to the press and the public, not sending a representative.”
He said Windsor residents, especially those who will live in the shadow of the new bridge, deserve better. Masse said the government should have been more forthcoming about the decision, the next steps and what it all means for residents.
“It’s half a billion dollars at the very minimum, it’s a new border crossing next to our most important trading partner in the United States,” said Masse. “I’ve seen them come down here to re-announce a veterans office opening several times. Meanwhile they don’t want to be available even for comment on this one.”
Most people in the crowd shared that opinion.
“I’m concerned because the border issue has been something that has taken a very long time to get this point, and now for some reason it seems to be getting rushed through,” said Richard St. Denis. “I’m concerned with why the change has happened so suddenly where we’re getting this pushed through quickly.”
He said it is upsetting that the decision seemed to come out of nowhere without consultation from residents.
“I think the people that live in that area need to have more of a say,” said St. Denis. “I think they’re being left out.
“The people that live right near the bridge are impacted the most and they’re the ones that really need to have a voice in their process, and their voice doesn’t seem to be heard.”