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Title: To Build A Bridge Or Not To Build A Bridge
Tags: Michigan, bridge, lansing, nitc, gov rick snyder
Blog Entry: Governor Rick Snyder returned from Washington after a trip to confirm the 550 million dollars we will receive from Canada for the new NITC bridge construction will count towards the funds we would normally raise to match as a state to receive federal funds for our road repairs. The more money we match the more money we get.  The importance of this is it frees up all the money we would have had to come up with to get the money originally.  Michigan has struggled every year to raise enough money to match funds needed to get the full federal funding and has resorted to cutting other programs or shifting money around. Due to the lack of funding 80% of our bridges are in desperate repair status or have failing grades. Our highway and byway infrastructure is in desperate need of repair.  The funds received will help to put thousands of Michigan workers back to work again. From steel companies, asphalt companies, construction crews, surveyors, landscapers, drainage and sewage specialist, electrical workers, engineers and so many more. We could be on the way to being the state known with the best roads and newest bridges. We would then have the Mackinaw Bridge, Ambassador Bridge and now the new NITC Bridge all of which help to promote tourism through out the state and improve Michigan's economic status. If our infrastructure continues to deteriorate, Michigan will fall so far behind competing states that we will never attract new companies and technologies of the future to our state. These future companies are not going to build big beautiful buildings or relocate hundreds of employees to depressed areas with crumbling roads and highways. Infrastructure is the key to attracting new business to the state and new jobs being created not recycled as they currently are at this being at this time. The billionaire owner  Manuel Moroun  of the Ambassador Bridge has spent 5 million dollars of his own companies money to slam Governor Snyder's plan to have a bridge built for free, to the Michigan tax payers. Governor Snyder said from the beginning he would not run a smear campaign and will only continue down a positive path over this matter. The Governor is laying low and allowing Moroun to waste millions of dollars on his negative and unjustified smear campaign while he continues to lay the foundation for this exciting project..  Snyder was not elected to make friends or win a popularity contest.  He was elected to turn this state around after being sucked dry by numerous parties in the past. This state has continued to mortgaged the future of it's children for many years to come and now that someone has no political interest except to turn Michigan around they want to recall him for it. This tells you that Snyder is shaking things up and making things happen. These choices are not easy but they have to be made or we will be a bankrupt welfare state for another 20 years like we have been since 2001 or longer. For the first time in American history our kids will grow up graduating from school making less money than us, receiving a lower standard of education than us, hold more debt for a longer time, have no careers to hire into, drive a less expensive car, live at home with their parents, will not be able to buy a house like we were able to do and the list goes on. Our education system is a failure and has become so bad that middle class America now has to pull our kids out of the public school system and pay $500-$1000 a month out of our own pockets just so our kids can receive an education equal to that of our own. Then after graduating our kids will have a slim chance at success in life with no guarantees and a very bleak, pessimistic outlook on life over all. Without the bridge money the future in Michigan looks even bleaker for our kids education. Pretty soon there will be no schools left to educate our kids.  Maybe we could just keep them at home all day and let the TV or internet teach them. Now that would be streamlined! The Ambassador bridge was not originally built to handle the kind of traffic it now is required to hold, is crumbling apart, has become outdated and in need of repairs exceeding cost of usefulness. The Ambassador bridge owners claim the traffic count on the bridge has dropped by 45% since it's peak according to their paid analysts yet they want to build the same bridge themselves and have promised to do so for more than 10 years.  They know if the new bridge is built they stand to loose millions of dollars in revenue and your tax dollars that normally go to road projects would also not end up in their pockets. However Manuel Moroun at this time claims he will pay for their bridge with their own private funds. This is an example of the same corporate greed continuing in America today. This is the whole reason for the marching and protesting that is currently taking place in New York City on Wall Street right now. The movement is in it's third week and building momentum. These greedy billionaires want to keep all the money for themselves and pass on the construction contracts to all of their buddies. They claim it is unfair to compete against them in business.   Isn't that what a free economy is all about? Eliminating monopolies and strangleholds on companies and the products or services they provide.  Try telling Walmart they unfairly compete against other local stores and see what happens.  Do you think for one minute I could sue my competitors to keep them from opening up shop right next to me? Absolutely not. This is totally ridiculous.  Think about this when in the last 60 years has there been a massive, grand building project in Michigan? This bridge will put us on the map center stage. We will receive economic trade benefits with Canada that we currently do not have. We can not sit back and wait for the federal government to fix the failing economy. They have tried everything in there power and even things not in there power and the economy is still going backwards. We are now in a global economy and Michigan can not get out of this by ourselves. We have to partner with other countries to bring in trade, technology, infrastructure and new private partnerships that will drive us forward and on our own two feet again.  The NITC will write up a contract that allows Canada to loan Michigan 550 million to build the toll section of the bridge.  The contract also has language written guarantees that make it against the law to put tax payers on the hook for the bridge. There is also talk that by 2014 which is when the bridge is scheduled for completion that Michigan road fund could be $125-370 million in the hole . The only way to cover it would be to raise the gas tax or make further cuts to education and other government programs to make up for the lack of funds needed to match the federal monies needed. So how rosy does that picture look now?  So the final question becomes will the Federal Government come through with the 2.2 million dollars we need to pay for the project? With the current deadlock in Washington and the complete failure to pass a  budget or cut a measly 1.3 trillion dollars over 10 years leads me to believe we are in for a fight.   Here is the NITC website that shows hundreds of Michigan companies, associations, manufactures and all the past Governors who support the bridge project.  http://buildthedricnow.com/ Here is a basic breakdown of where your 2011 tax dollars are going. 2011 State Spending Total 44 billion - Energy 1.4 billion-Healthcare 14.3 billion- Education 13.4 billion-Tech .75billion-Protection 2.0 billion-Transport 2.0 billion-Treasury 1.7 billion-Human Services 7 billion 2011 Local spending and deficit in billions Total 55.8 billion- Pension 1.5 billion-Health Care 3.8 billion-Education 20 billion- Welfare 1.5 billion-Protection 4.7 billion-Transport 4.1 billion-Deficet= 48.4 billion Last but not least….. A fun fact How much does it cost to build a new highway? Answer: A mile of freeway through an urban area costs approximately $39 million, while a mile of freeway through a rural area costs approximately $8 million. If you would like to learn some of the very informational history of the Mackinaw Bridge check out this website  http://hunts-upguide.com/st__ ignace_mackinac_bridge.html