Re: Historic Packard Bridge Collapses
Posted by Leeedy On 2019/1/24 9:52:35
Here is a link to the Hemmings Daily coverage of the Packard Plant bridge collapse.https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2019/01/24/packard-plant-production-line-bridge-collapses/comment-page-1 Several years ago I wrote a story for The Packard Club (in their Packard Cormorant magazine) about a drive along Grand Boulevard-back when it really was grand. Back when Packard was still making cars in the Grand Boulevard plant. I said that for Detroiters back then, it was almost like partaking of a sacrament or rite of passage to drive under the Packard Bridge. And it was.
My story about the Packard plant as I remembered it from my youth in Detroit, ended with a statement. In that statement I said that the mere thought of the Packard Bridge soon being gone would bring a stinging tear to my eyes. Some were quick to point out, that the bridge was still standing. But the wrapping of the bridge was just that. A false facade... a mask to fool the eyes into thinking the rotted ugliness underneath did not exist. Meanwhile. the bridge continued to deteriorate. And no one did anything about it, despite two entities who very well could have jointly saved this world landmark. Wishing about the bridge did zero to repair it. And the wrap just told people what they wanted to hear. It had nothing at all to do with reality.
The present statements that "the city is taking the lead in clearing debris and providing safety" are clear evidence of the moronic stupidity and greed that created this situation in the first place. The people running Detroit ought to be ashamed rather than boasting of taking any kind of "lead." Taking the "lead" would have meant getting a structural engineer in there YEARS ago and making a deal to sell the entire bridge, if not the south end of the complex rather than to let it all sit and rot over some imagined great fortune to come. SHAME ON THE CITY GOVERNMENT. SHAME!
The years have continued to click by and all of the stories about the comeback of the plant and renovation of the property and glowing reports of new tenants and re-purposing have come to... well I think you can see for yourselves. And now, as I feared, the magnificent Packard Bridge... an icon of old Detroit and the glory years of the American automotive industry is indeed gone. And I assure you... there ARE indeed stinging tears in my eyes.
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