By Joel Thurtell
Matty Moroun's shotgun totin goon. Photo by Joel Thurtell
The Occupy Wall Street people got the boot.
After a scant few weeks taking over a privately-run public park, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said enough was enough.
Out you go.
Can’t steal a public park.
Ditto for the Occupy folks in Oakland, California.
Vamoose, trespassers!
Funny thing.
The logic that says squatters get the bum’s rush from public parks doesn’t work in Detroit.
Forget security! We flew over Matty's bridge in a blimp! Photo by Joel Thuirtell
Manuel “Matty” Moroun put padlocks on the public boat launch at Detroit’s (I repeat, PUBLIC) Riverside Park and installed a chain link fence with phony Homeland Security signs on the portion of the park he needs to build his fantasy, a new bridge to replace the piece-of-0crap Ambassador Bridge. Then, he assigned shotgun totin’ goons to harass people who tried to use parts of the park he hadn’t fenced off or padlocked.
When did that happen?
Why, that was 10 years ago, soon after 9/11/01.
TEN YEARS!
Took seven years for the city to wake up and try to kick the poacher out.
That is not quite fair.
What it really took was first, putting the felon mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, in jail, and finding law-abiding mayors to replace him.
Then, it took shining a light on Matty’s squatter status in Riverside.
That job was done on September 22, 2008, when one of Matty’s special heroes, a shotgun totin’ goon, tried to arrest me for taking pictures in Riverside Park, a city-owned PUBLIC park.
What I didn’t realize when I posted my report on Matty and his goon was that there has been a not-often-visible, but simmering anger in Detroit — both in the populace and in city government — at the bullying, exploitative behavior of Matty Moroun.
At the time, I made a recommendation to the city: Send a SWAT squad to seize the park, which belongs to the city, anyway.
Give Matty the bum’s rush.
Ain’t that what Mayor Bloomberg did in Manhattan?
If it’s right to kick the Occupy Wall Streeters out of a New York City park, it should be equally right to run Matty out of a Detroit park.
No reason being polite.
One squatter is the same as another squatter, right?
Yet three years after Detroit attorneys filed a motion to evict Matty from Riverside Park, the case is still in court.
Why don’t the rules of logic apply to Matty?
Drop me a line at joelthurtell@gmail.com
You ask: “Why don’t the rules of logic apply to Matty?”
The rules don’t apply to Matty because he is a law unto himself — with Matty, it’s MY WAY OR THE HIGHWAY (or The Bridge) — the rest of us must obey the laws or suffer the consequences.
Now DIBC pres. Dan Stamper announces with great triumph that the repairs to Lane 3 of the Ambassador are finished — ta-da! And in advance of the scheduled conclusions. Ta-da! Ta-da!
Interesting that a commenter on the Click-On site posts the following about the bridge repairs:
Just went across it on thursday. Didn’t seem too “Done” to me. Still only had one lane each way, and they zigged and zagged back in forth around big frickin holes in the deck in spots…….then all “fixed” the very next day??????? Thats some fine repair work.
All those who believe in the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy and the truth of DIBC statements line up to the right . . .
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