Bay City motorists, and visitors, could face a daunting scene like this every time they come across the Saginaw River. This is the approach to the South Norfolk Jordan Bridge put up by United Bridge Partners.
TOLL BRIDGES? More Thought Needed Before Hasty Vote on City Plan
Have the City and County Convened a Committee to Consider Options?
December 17, 2017
By: Dave Rogers
New County Executive Jim Barcia is probably right when he opines that a city bridge bond proposal would not get voter approval.
Not only that, as some of the 83 percent of voters polled have indicated to The Bay City Times, it may cause an un-repairable rift between residents on both sides of the Saginaw River that would take us back 115 years when we had separate cities. West Bay City and Bay City. Thankfully, with the leadership of lumberman and banker Spencer O. Fisher, a merger vote was approved in 1903 and Bay City sailed gloriously into the future as one of the top state cities in population and economic vibrancy.
Traffic now flows placidly from east to west sides, unencumbered by extra costs and hassles that toll bridges would inevitably create.
What would happen to the USS Edson, perhaps our top tourist attraction, if motorists have to pay an additional toll to access the ship? How many towns have a patriotic draw like the Edson? Do we enhance it, or restrict access by a toll bridge?
But, we do have a model of a city-county bridge improvement plan that worked nearly half a century ago that might save Bay County from a potentially disastrous privatized toll bridge plan.
Bay County leaders of the past stepped up, purchasing the Third Street Bridge in 1883 and the 23rd Street Bridge in 1886, ending the tolls and making them free bridges. Ancient times, yes, but an example of leadership that we need today.
In 1970, the city and county collaborated when the old Belinda Bridge was falling in. Leaders crafted a $9 million bond proposal that included a new Independence Bridge replacing Belinda and eight other crumbling bridges, all in the townships.
There are plenty of needed projects in the townships that could be packaged with a city bridge plan. The Bay Area Chamber of Commerce has a goal of reopening public access to Saginaw Bay at the foot of State Park Drive that will provide huge benefits for tourism. Among other projects, redevelopment of Paraleon Park is an idea whose time has come and needs to be pushed over the top for public benefit.
Why not package a deal with the state to allow access to the Bay and dedicate some funds from a bond issue to create a new tourism draw at Paraleon, that is located in Bangor Township?
In 1970, truck drivers who would have been forced to divert their routes by rumbling through city streets to Veterans Bridge led the way, plastering their vehicles with "I'M A BRIDGEBUILDER" stickers.
That "something for everybody" plan passed easily, setting us up for a period of good feeling between the city and county that has carried us into the 21st century.
What voters can see clearly today is a lack of leadership in both the city and county toward solving a common problem.
Have there been joint meetings of the city and county leaders to discuss the bridge issue and the privatization proposal?
Has any effort been put toward countywide polling to determine just what voters would approve?
Has a citizens' committee been convened to consider the question, make recommendations and provide leadership that public officials obviously are not going to provide?
And, what happened to State Senator Mike Green's offer to get the state to put up the cash to help a struggling city maintain or replace its bridges? These bridges serve the state highway system, don't they? We pay lots of state sales taxes, don't we? Wouldn't it seem that the state has a big stake in keeping the highway system free of encumbering tolls that would hamper traffic from the North and the Thumb both ways?
Are there any other toll bridges on the state highway system? I can't recall any?
What do we hear from Lansing? Has the State Highway Commission been consulted, its opinion sought. Does the state want to avoid toll bridge jams at Bay City? How much is the state willing to pay to avoid that?
Due diligence requires a much closer look at this plan and how it came about, and why it is being rushed along. Who is really behind it? Is there a hidden agenda?
Every journalist covering this area has a duty to dig into this plan and expose its flaws before any vote is taken.
This is way too serious to rush to judgment some profit-oriented boondoggle by corporations without thinking it through, considering all options and obtaining input from all quarters.
Any City Commissioner who votes for such a travesty will surely face tough re-election opposition, and surely should.
We already know most voters are vehemently opposed even as the City Commission rushes to hand over our future to corporations whose main purpose is profit, profit, profit.
Do we really want a city fractured -- rather than united -- by spans over our greatest asset, the Saginaw River?
The public has already told through the Bay City Times poll they don't like it and think it will divide the town, perhaps kill our growth forever.
It's high time for leadership, citizen, political and journalistic, to meet this crisis with all the facts we can garner. A hasty vote Monday at City Hall may spell doom for more than just the officials who vote without proper consideration of the consequences.
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