Does it seem like it is too important a crossing to be privately owned?
July 14, 2020 4:42 PM Subscribe
How One Man Turned The Busiest International Border Crossing In North America Into The Centerpiece Of His Empire : “Manuel “Matty” Moroun died on Monday at 93 years old. That name might not mean much to you if you’re not from metro Detroit or Windsor, Canada, but around these parts, he was known mainly as the billionaire who owned, among other things, the Ambassador Bridge, which just happens to carry roughly 27 percent of all merchandise trade between Canada and the U.S.” - Erin Marquis tells the story of the Ambassador Bridge for Jalopnik
Later in the article, it addresses why he might have such good access to this resource:
In only his second interview ever (a 2018 interview where his son Matthew Moroun helped moderate his father’s potentially incriminating comments) Moroun told the Detroit Free Press:
The Canadian government demanded a 50% stake. Moroun balked, taking the Canadians to court. The Canadians struck back, launching an investigation into Moroun, intimating he had ties to organized crime.
“I knew the Teamsters pretty well; I was close with Jimmy Hoffa, since he used to buy gas from my father’s station” Moroun recalls. “I knew the heavy Italian guys pretty well. I went to (grade) school with them in the Depression. They were all family to me. I was welcome with them wherever I went.”
“That’s enough, Dad,” his son interrupts from the corner of the office. “Let’s leave it there.”
Later in the article, it addresses why he might have such good access to this resource:
In only his second interview ever (a 2018 interview where his son Matthew Moroun helped moderate his father’s potentially incriminating comments) Moroun told the Detroit Free Press:
The Canadian government demanded a 50% stake. Moroun balked, taking the Canadians to court. The Canadians struck back, launching an investigation into Moroun, intimating he had ties to organized crime.
“I knew the Teamsters pretty well; I was close with Jimmy Hoffa, since he used to buy gas from my father’s station” Moroun recalls. “I knew the heavy Italian guys pretty well. I went to (grade) school with them in the Depression. They were all family to me. I was welcome with them wherever I went.”
“That’s enough, Dad,” his son interrupts from the corner of the office. “Let’s leave it there.”
I am sorry that Moroun has died in these times that I will not be able to jeer his funeral in person.
posted by Etrigan at 5:07 PM on July 14, 2020 [15 favorites]
posted by Etrigan at 5:07 PM on July 14, 2020 [15 favorites]
It's a Fucking Public good that should have never been allowed to pass into private hands!.
Cap tolls, mandate fixing the thing, or cede partial ownership & profits to enable this if you can't.
If refusal after a certain amount of time, RICO act, and if that doesn't work, eminent domain at gunpoint is what was needed.
This can be applied to much of "private" business that leeches off the public.
posted by lalochezia at 5:08 PM on July 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
Cap tolls, mandate fixing the thing, or cede partial ownership & profits to enable this if you can't.
If refusal after a certain amount of time, RICO act, and if that doesn't work, eminent domain at gunpoint is what was needed.
This can be applied to much of "private" business that leeches off the public.
posted by lalochezia at 5:08 PM on July 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
I honestly didn't know you could own a bridge.....
posted by aclevername at 5:14 PM on July 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by aclevername at 5:14 PM on July 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
Well, he tried to find a buyer, but when you say, “I’ve got a bridge I want to sell you,” people tune out for some reason.
Me, I’ve been trying to give away free cruises for years now.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:19 PM on July 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
Me, I’ve been trying to give away free cruises for years now.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 5:19 PM on July 14, 2020 [7 favorites]
I used to live close enough to the Ambassador Bridge (on the Canadian side) that my windows would rattle from the constant stream of transport trucks illegally jake-braking their way down.
The Jalopnik piece is a great roundup of this sordid history, and links to this 2017 Metro Times piece from Rashida Tlaib that's worth a read on its own:
I actually met with him once. I told him, “I get it, Mr. Moroun. You are protecting your business interests, but can you please apply for the permits first?” Get this, Warren. He responded with, “I don’t come and tell you what to do in your backyard.”
Of course, I didn’t blink. (I had some strong elders in my family who taught me never to get bullied.) My response was, “But Mr. Moroun, it is my backyard.”
You don’t know me. (In short, I am a funny, passionate, justice-seeking mama in Detroit). We should grab a milk or tea one day. (You can have a beer, but I don’t drink.)
What I have to ask is important and it’s on behalf of thousands of families who live in the shadow of the Bridge — families that often don’t have a voice and families that are struggling to be heard over the lobbying and PR efforts of Matty Moroun. You can help us and make a point to the world that not all billionaires are like Matty Moroun. They don’t close city streets illegally, defy court orders, and end up in jail for a day — nor do they pay residents in cash envelopes from cars parked in nearby gas stations or attempt to fund “other groups” to testify in support of their proposals. Well, you get the point. He is kinda different. (Understatement!)
Moroun will never understand that our community is not his playground. We are living and breathing next to his decaying Ambassador Bridge (yeah, concrete actually falls down from it) and the thousands of trucks that pass over it everyday. All we want is respect for our community and responsibility for not harming our quality of life at the expense of making money.
The Ambassador Bridge is part of the neighborhood. Moroun treats our neighborhood as a dumping ground for old toll booths and all kinds of construction material. He treats it as a dumping ground for old, decaying properties that he has purchased for speculation. The exterior of Moroun’s operation is ugly — cheap fencing with weather-torn black tarp flapping in the wind that in no way should pass muster with Homeland Security.
But I digress. Here is the real reason I am writing — the ask. Matty Moroun somehow manipulated his way to leaders at the Archdiocese of Detroit to get more of their land and support for more city street closures. This means that his trucks will get closer to our homes. They already line up behind one of our densest residential streets, St. Anne Street. Matty already got tons of street closures and a major expansion to his bridge plaza just a few years ago.
He manipulated them with trinkets. Offered them a donation of $400,000 to pay off the debt of our beautiful historic Ste. Anne Church. It wasn’t given out out of love. You and I know that. They deserve it without giving up anything. They have to endure all the noise and pollution. Moroun doesn’t live in our neighborhood, nor do we ever see him.
One down, but unfortunately, Grosse Pointe was a breeding ground for another generation of Marouns.
Just last month the Morouns were back in court losing yet another fight against the Gordie Howe bridge.
Here's some more background on that whole bit of fuckery.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:41 PM on July 14, 2020 [21 favorites]
The Jalopnik piece is a great roundup of this sordid history, and links to this 2017 Metro Times piece from Rashida Tlaib that's worth a read on its own:
I actually met with him once. I told him, “I get it, Mr. Moroun. You are protecting your business interests, but can you please apply for the permits first?” Get this, Warren. He responded with, “I don’t come and tell you what to do in your backyard.”
Of course, I didn’t blink. (I had some strong elders in my family who taught me never to get bullied.) My response was, “But Mr. Moroun, it is my backyard.”
You don’t know me. (In short, I am a funny, passionate, justice-seeking mama in Detroit). We should grab a milk or tea one day. (You can have a beer, but I don’t drink.)
What I have to ask is important and it’s on behalf of thousands of families who live in the shadow of the Bridge — families that often don’t have a voice and families that are struggling to be heard over the lobbying and PR efforts of Matty Moroun. You can help us and make a point to the world that not all billionaires are like Matty Moroun. They don’t close city streets illegally, defy court orders, and end up in jail for a day — nor do they pay residents in cash envelopes from cars parked in nearby gas stations or attempt to fund “other groups” to testify in support of their proposals. Well, you get the point. He is kinda different. (Understatement!)
Moroun will never understand that our community is not his playground. We are living and breathing next to his decaying Ambassador Bridge (yeah, concrete actually falls down from it) and the thousands of trucks that pass over it everyday. All we want is respect for our community and responsibility for not harming our quality of life at the expense of making money.
The Ambassador Bridge is part of the neighborhood. Moroun treats our neighborhood as a dumping ground for old toll booths and all kinds of construction material. He treats it as a dumping ground for old, decaying properties that he has purchased for speculation. The exterior of Moroun’s operation is ugly — cheap fencing with weather-torn black tarp flapping in the wind that in no way should pass muster with Homeland Security.
But I digress. Here is the real reason I am writing — the ask. Matty Moroun somehow manipulated his way to leaders at the Archdiocese of Detroit to get more of their land and support for more city street closures. This means that his trucks will get closer to our homes. They already line up behind one of our densest residential streets, St. Anne Street. Matty already got tons of street closures and a major expansion to his bridge plaza just a few years ago.
He manipulated them with trinkets. Offered them a donation of $400,000 to pay off the debt of our beautiful historic Ste. Anne Church. It wasn’t given out out of love. You and I know that. They deserve it without giving up anything. They have to endure all the noise and pollution. Moroun doesn’t live in our neighborhood, nor do we ever see him.
One down, but unfortunately, Grosse Pointe was a breeding ground for another generation of Marouns.
Just last month the Morouns were back in court losing yet another fight against the Gordie Howe bridge.
Here's some more background on that whole bit of fuckery.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 5:41 PM on July 14, 2020 [21 favorites]
It's a Fucking Public good that should have never been allowed to pass into private hands!
It never was in public hands, it's been privately held from the start. The governments didn't want to pay for it so they let the private sector build it instead since there would be a long term profit on tolls. Once it was built it's hard to get control back unless you buy it at market rate.
The follow on bridges and tunnels were all either owned by Canada, Canadian Provence and/or a US state to avoid this in the future.
posted by jmauro at 6:06 PM on July 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
It never was in public hands, it's been privately held from the start. The governments didn't want to pay for it so they let the private sector build it instead since there would be a long term profit on tolls. Once it was built it's hard to get control back unless you buy it at market rate.
The follow on bridges and tunnels were all either owned by Canada, Canadian Provence and/or a US state to avoid this in the future.
posted by jmauro at 6:06 PM on July 14, 2020 [2 favorites]
Moroun made a play to take over the Windsor-Detroit tunnel as well, but that didn't happen, luckily.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:11 PM on July 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:11 PM on July 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
The follow on bridges and tunnels were all either owned by Canada, Canadian Provence and/or a US state to avoid this in the future.
Yep! About an hour away, the Blue Water Bridge is operated jointly by the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Canadian Federal Bridge Corporation.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:31 PM on July 14, 2020
Yep! About an hour away, the Blue Water Bridge is operated jointly by the Michigan Department of Transportation and the Canadian Federal Bridge Corporation.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 6:31 PM on July 14, 2020
Good.
posted by dudemanlives at 8:02 PM on July 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by dudemanlives at 8:02 PM on July 14, 2020 [1 favorite]
The Omnibus Project Podcast did a great episode on this: The Ambassador Bridge
posted by Perplexity at 8:14 PM on July 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
posted by Perplexity at 8:14 PM on July 14, 2020 [3 favorites]
I'm from Michigan, and yeah, we all hated Matty Maroun. His son is better in the same way MBS was for about 10 seconds before Jamal Khashoggi.
It's symptomatic of the political dysfunction in this part of the country that billions of dollars of trade has been run through a privately owned bridge.
posted by axiom at 11:36 PM on July 14, 2020 [5 favorites]
It's symptomatic of the political dysfunction in this part of the country that billions of dollars of trade has been run through a privately owned bridge.
posted by axiom at 11:36 PM on July 14, 2020 [5 favorites]
If refusal after a certain amount of time, RICO act, and if that doesn't work, eminent domain at gunpoint is what was needed.
Pointing out something we all know and acknowledge, except getting the facts that were in the article wildly wrong and doing it aggressively is childish and unpleasant, lalochezia. We're adults here. We know we have to understand the specifics of each wrong in order to take it down.
posted by ambrosen at 1:18 AM on July 15, 2020
Pointing out something we all know and acknowledge, except getting the facts that were in the article wildly wrong and doing it aggressively is childish and unpleasant, lalochezia. We're adults here. We know we have to understand the specifics of each wrong in order to take it down.
posted by ambrosen at 1:18 AM on July 15, 2020
How the Morouns became Detroit’s least trustworthy billionaire family
Lots of blood on that coffin. Shame the deeds don’t die with him.
posted by skookumsaurus rex at 2:29 AM on July 15, 2020 [2 favorites]
Lots of blood on that coffin. Shame the deeds don’t die with him.
posted by skookumsaurus rex at 2:29 AM on July 15, 2020 [2 favorites]
He certainly knew how to lobby. As long as it benefited M. Maroun. esq.
A decade or so ago, we started getting polling calls at home (in Toronto, so ~3½ hours from Windsor) seemingly about the Gordie Howe Bridge, but the questions were a bit off, seeming impossible to support the government option. After going through the prompts a couple of times and waiting until the end contact details (and there may have been a Bell "hang up" beep before it so it wouldn't be recorded on answering machines) I found the sponsor was some oddly-named group like Ontarians for Transport Choices or similar. A few minutes on search engines turned up that it was a Maroun company front trying to claim support for his private second bridge.
posted by scruss at 8:15 AM on July 15, 2020 [5 favorites]
A decade or so ago, we started getting polling calls at home (in Toronto, so ~3½ hours from Windsor) seemingly about the Gordie Howe Bridge, but the questions were a bit off, seeming impossible to support the government option. After going through the prompts a couple of times and waiting until the end contact details (and there may have been a Bell "hang up" beep before it so it wouldn't be recorded on answering machines) I found the sponsor was some oddly-named group like Ontarians for Transport Choices or similar. A few minutes on search engines turned up that it was a Maroun company front trying to claim support for his private second bridge.
posted by scruss at 8:15 AM on July 15, 2020 [5 favorites]
The Bear Mountain Bridge over the Hudson River in New York was privately built and operated that way for about 16 years before being acquired by the state.
posted by leaper at 4:41 PM on July 15, 2020
posted by leaper at 4:41 PM on July 15, 2020
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