Despite all the talk about the auto moguls, the bankers and the Wall Street manipulators, the real cause of the worldwide recession was the incredible jump in oil prices. High fuel prices kept people from buying cars and trucks, put many airlines near bankruptcy, brought the trucking industry to its knees, caused a big jump in consumer prices because of shipping costs, led to layoffs that led to housing mortgage problems, etc. And the oil tycoons' greed is showing up again with gas prices once more climbing while ships loaded with oil sit offshore for lack of on-shore storage space. It's the energy issue, stupid!
Robert M. Lee,
Rapid River
Thank Sheila Cockrel
Kudos to Detroit City Councilwoman Sheila Cockrel! As a metro Detroiter who is a great believer in Detroit and the region still having a bright future, I want to express sincere thanks, admiration and appreciation for all that Cockrel has contributed to progress that has been made, often in very difficult circumstances. I hope that she will, in some capacity, continue to contribute to the future of this region.
Richard Thibodeau
Waterford Township
Delray threatened
When I read the May 5 letter "Don't let bridge harm Windsor neighborhood," I wondered why the writer was not pleading to stop the construction of the governments-financed bridge that was going to destroy the Delray community in southwest Detroit and force hundreds of home owners and businesses to relocate. All he was doing was worrying about his side of the river.
Perhaps one should consider, instead, that the Detroit International Bridge Co. proposal will not require the taking of property on either side of the river and will not require U.S. and Canadian taxpayers to spend billions of dollars that could be used for other projects to boost the economy.
Doesn't that make a lot more sense, especially when traffic volumes have collapsed, the whole reason for building the Detroit River International Crossing bridge in the first place?