Detroit’s Riverside Park: a symbol in a much larger conflict

State Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a first-term Detroit Democrat, is determined to prevent the Detroit International Bridge Company from taking permanent control over any part of its next door neighbor, city-owned Riverside Park.

And while the litigation over the small park in the shadow of the privately-owned Ambassador Bridge is only one of many lawsuits currently playing out with the bridge company as either plaintiff or defendant, it’s as good a symbol as any for how personalized the overarching conflict has become.

“It’s all about what’s in his pocket and keeping that safe,” Tlaib said in an interview about the bridge company’s owner, controversial businessman Manuel “Matty” Moroun.

Criticism of Moroun is nothing new, of course, including the criticism the private ownership of such vital public infrastructure can foster predictable business decisions clearly at odds with the public interest. (See this recent column by the Detroit Free Press’ Brian Dickerson for a fine example of that.)

According to Tlaib, an attorney and ex-community organizer of Palestinian descent, part of the problem with Moroun is that he views the immediate surroundings of his bridge as his own “backyard.” She relays a rare encounter with the billionaire to make the point, which began with her asking Moroun whether or not his proposed second span to the Ambassador Bridge needed air quality permits to proceed.

“When I asked Moroun, ‘Don’t you need permits?’ he goes, ‘I don’t come and tell you want to do in your backyard.’ So this is the mentality. That’s exactly how he said it to me. ‘I said, ‘This is my backyard.”

Asked if the wealthy Moroun has helped the neighborhoods she represents, Tlaib concedes that he has – but just barely.

“They’ve helped little organizations here and there,” she said, later describing the gifts as “trinkets.”

“And I know which ones, because they’re the quietest” when it comes to raising any objections over the bridge company’s business practices, she added.

Tlaib tells one last story about a separate encounter with Moroun’s son, Matthew Moroun, and what sounded like an attempt from the younger Moroun to seek common ground.

“He came up to me and said, ‘Let’s pretend the bridges don’t exist. What can we do together?’ And I’m looking at him, ‘I said, well, CHASS clinic is this amazing unsung hero in my district. If you don’t have insurance, it’s a wonderful clinic. They’re doing a capital campaign to raise money. But they’re still short for their expansion…’ And he looks at me and says, ‘What’s CHASS?’ So I’m like, it’s less than a mile down from your bridge. It’s a clinic in the community.”

If it sounds like Tlaib and the Morouns will always be opposing one another, perhaps it’s because Tlaib has strongly endorsed the Detroit River International Crossing (DRIC) project, a proposed publicly-owned bridge that is seen as a mortal threat by the owner of the bridge company. If it actually happens, DRIC would be a $4-billion-plus public works project, employing more than 20,000 workers.

“There is going to be another bridge,” Tlaib said confidently. “There is a great need for it.” Not only is there a need for more jobs in the short term, she explained, but also for more crossing capacity in the long term as demonstrated by recent studies.

She’s quick to point out, however, that community support for the DRIC bridge is contingent on a “community benefits” package including job training, housing assistance, and in a nod to the fight over Riverside Park, “more green spaces for a better quality of life.”

Two other parts of the community benefits Tlaib is pursuing with regard to DRIC, according to a Southwest Detroit Community Benefits Coalition flyer she handed me at her Fort Street office last month, are sure to be opposed by Moroun: “community representation in bridge oversight” and “a fraction of tolls for a fund to address concerns and sustainable development into the future.”

However the many lawsuits are resolved in the months (years?) ahead, Tlaib is clear about her job going forward.

“My job is to continue to fight for transparency. The more I know, the more my community knows, the more the government entities involved know, the better,” she said.

Transparency is, of course, another rub when it collides with the interests of private ownership.

That’s why following all of the appropriate processes mandated by the city of Detroit, the state or the federal government, is crucial, Tlaib said — following them to the letter.

“My job is to make sure that every ‘t’ is crossed, every ‘I’ is dotted, that my community is engaged and participating in the decision making,” she said. “This is our backyard.”