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Sorry if I offended you guys up there. I do know y'all been working this issue in the past. I guess I said this out of disbelief of what happened. We down here in the Heart of Texas Packards do support the Packard proving grounds and Packard museum. You guys keep up the good work.

Hello Miller:

No, I did not take any offense to your comments. As I forewarned, I did not want to appear "snippy" because I did not mean to be. And we sincerely appreciate your continued support.

Everyone wants to make things better in the Packard world and together we can do that. By working together, on a cause bigger than ourselves, we can succeed in saving our history for future generation.

I welcome anyone willing to help save the PPG. Many hands make the work easier.

"The incompetence of the City of Detroit for allowing such a dangerous structure to exist over a city street is criminal. What if someone was passing under the bridge when it collapsed and were killed. "
Kinda wish my Clipper was under that bridge....
Anyone need a '55 Clipper?

A depressing update on the Packard Bridge. Friends from Detroit have been calling and emailing me steadily for the past few days. One of my friends went over to see the damage and says East Grand Boulevard hs been cleared of all debris. But he also said that the crew onsite had also pulled the poured reinforced concrete support towers down and was busy breaking them up. He said there is nothing left of the bridge as of today except two holes-one one the north building and one on the south building. So, dear Packard people, any notion of this bridge being re-built needs to be filed in the same folder with the shopping mall, gymnasium, apartments and condos.

The utter, agonizing stupidity here is that a simple resolution of ownership and a complete roof repair would likely have saved this most iconic part of the Packard plant and Detroit's history. But re-building that bridge in today's economy? Megabucks... and out of whose pocket? I'm sorry, but I don't see it happening and as much as I hate to say it, just another sad chapter in Detroit's history has come to a close. This as Detroit's automotive past is slowly lost in favor of sports stadiums and casinos. I think we've finally seen the reality of the situation.

Here's the "Gear Head Tuesday" post on the collapse of the bridge:

https://56packardman.com/2019/01/29/gear-head-tuesday-the-late-great-packard-plant-bridge/

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A false bridge could be built. That was built to support cars.

Depends on what going on with the buildings.

A walk way . but all depends on greed.. Cities throw millions at junk. They pay millions for work worth 10 thou to 500 thou..

It can be rebuilt. If only the Packard facade..and clock.

Hello Packard5687:

Read your blogpost and there are a few fine points I would like to add.

When Cristini was managing the PMCC Plant those 90+ small tenants reportedly earned him GROSS rents of $1.0 million a month - more than enough to pay the interest, principle, taxes and insurance to the seller he was buying the property from. Trouble was the seller did not pass on the tax payments to the City and the County - he pocketed the $$$ for himself. The City (without doing a title search) began foreclosure against the seller. Neither the seller nor City contacted Cristini to correct the problem in time. The City then brought in the gang squad to evict the rent-paying tenants and began to demo the property.

In you blog you mention that Palazuelo might be foreclosed by the City. That has not been confirmed. What has been confirmed is that the County may foreclose on him - you link to the newspaper article refers to the County. Meanwhile, it is plausible that he is also delinquent on City taxes, but that is unconfirmed.

Attached is a summer of 2018 aerial image (from Google) of the bridge. Note the collapsed roof over the northern part of the bridge - this is where the collapse occurred. Rain and snow fall past the missing roof and pool on the decking. Corrosion and freeze/thaw expansion allows the steel structure to crumble and there goes the bridge. Click onto the photo to enlarge.

--Roger--

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Hemmings article re unpaid taxes.

Quoting "Roger-Detroit":
<i>"Hello Packard5687:

Read your blogpost and there are a few fine points I would like to add.

When Cristini was managing the PMCC Plant those 90+ small tenants reportedly earned him GROSS rents of $1.0 million a month - more than enough to pay the interest, principle, taxes and insurance to the seller he was buying the property from. Trouble was the seller did not pass on the tax payments to the City and the County - he pocketed the $$$ for himself. The City (without doing a title search) began foreclosure against the seller. Neither the seller nor City contacted Cristini to correct the problem in time. The City then brought in the gang squad to evict the rent-paying tenants and began to demo the property.

In you blog you mention that Palazuelo might be foreclosed by the City. That has not been confirmed. What has been confirmed is that the County may foreclose on him - you link to the newspaper article refers to the County. Meanwhile, it is plausible that he is also delinquent on City taxes, but that is unconfirmed."</i>

Thank you for the additional information and for pointing out my error (writing "City" rather than "County"). I read it correctly and wrote it wrong! I always appreciate factual corrections.