Dear
Editors,
As reported on the front page of Friday June 13th’s Times
Herald, MDOT has announced a new plan for our Blue Water Bridge Plaza. No substantive change in basic design, an
eight acre 12% reduction in size, and no mention of the relative merit of the
“no build” option. These are cosmetic
changes that spare only a few besieged homes and businesses. With recent Blackhawk helicopter rides for
government officials, and press releases, we are being prepared for the done
deal of our community torn in two by a probable billion dollar construction
project, with all profits going to outside contractors.
The Department of Homeland
Security/MDOT has strapped a fig leaf to the bulldozer, and its full speed
ahead. Yet we are still awaiting answers
to the many questions as to the basic need to do anything at all to the Blue Water
Bridge Plaza. Hopefully the environmental impact statement
will arrive soon, and directly answer the question of why this project is
necessary.
Hiring more customs officials to keep the booths open and the
traffic flowing is the only real practical need. The heightened security at the current plaza
over the past seven years has not been shown to make us one bit more secure. It has more than doubled delay times
on the bridge, discouraged commerce and tourism, and resulted in the armed
detention of innocent civilians. There
is no proof that a more military approach at the bridge, and a 300% increase in
size to fortress dimensions, can make us secure. That’s the discussion we should be having. How can this possibly help us in Port Huron, or add to the real quality of life for U.S. citizens?
Let’s consider a few of the possibilities. A friend of mine, whose home is directly in
the path of the project, hopes that there can be some collateral benefit to Port Huron business. Perhaps more people & commerce could be
channeled our way off this new “hub” on the NAFTA highway. But with all the local exits moved further
west of the Black River, more distant from central Port Huron, this seems unlikely.
A little recognized feature of the proposed “CBP/Homeland
Security Plaza” is a whole new corridor of “outward bound” inspection
booths. This means that in addition to
the current line that takes your toll, there will be a new booth barrier at
which questions and inspections may be made, as you leave our country
going to Canada. Just how this is to help U.S. security
has, to my knowledge, never been explained in any publicized MDOT meetings or
materials, or Times Herald reports. It
certainly will mean increased delays at the Blue Water Bridge.
As has been reported in the Times Herald, all Blue Water
Bridge traffic volume
lags behind the previous projections. Do
we need a bigger plaza, or more personnel in the existing booths? With an economy which has nationally tanked,
due to a hyper-liberal spending on war and homeland security, it’s time to step
back and take a good look. Are we
getting any real return on our dollars, or are the powerful few, just extracting
unprecedented profits, by spreading public fear and uncertainty?
Yours
truly,
Michael McCarthy
2714 Stone St., Port Huron, MI 48060
810 982 2870, mccpax@comcast.net