  Dinnc Member Username: Dinnc Post Number: 22 Registered: 08-2007 |
Can anyone give me an update on the clean-up of the Uniroyal site? Has there been a decision on who is doing the clean-up and how much its going to cost? Just curious. | ||
Pgn421 Member Username: Pgn421 Post Number: 197 Registered: 02-2005 |
lots of ••••••• probably Bobby Ferguson, Kwamis friend. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1630 Registered: 07-2004 |
Yeah, which should be a bonus. You can never find a contractor when you really need him. The fact that Ferguson is in jail most of the time will help. FERGUSON CONTRACTING The first pistol-whipping is free | ||
Iheartthed Member Username: Iheartthed Post Number: 2201 Registered: 04-2006 |
>The first pistol-whipping is free LOL. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1632 Registered: 07-2004 |
Thanks for the laugh, I<3. ;) | ||
East_detroit Member Username: East_detroit Post Number: 1252 Registered: 11-2003 |
Shouldnt BF Goodrich clean it up? | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1633 Registered: 07-2004 |
Did Goodrich buy Uniroyal? Anyway, before Uniroyal, it was U.S. Rubber. Before U.S. Rubber, it was a bicycle tire factory. Who gets dibs on the cleanup? | ||
56packman Member Username: 56packman Post Number: 1901 Registered: 12-2005 |
and it was a stove factory before that. | ||
Bearinabox Member Username: Bearinabox Post Number: 384 Registered: 04-2006 |
What is Uniroyal's connection to Detroit/SE Michigan? Just that they had a plant here that closed? | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 688 Registered: 09-2007 |
^^^I can't believe someone asked that. I thought that big tire out on I-94 made a big statement for the region and Uniroyal. Anyway, whoever owned the land lasted gets to clean it up. If it was Uniroyal, then Uniroyal cleans it. The city will just have to step up and force them to clean it. | ||
Bearinabox Member Username: Bearinabox Post Number: 385 Registered: 04-2006 |
Well, if you know so much about it, how about answering the question? What "statement" does the tire make? Should I revise my question to read "What is Uniroyal's connection to Detroit/SE Michigan? Just that they had a plant here that closed and that they plopped a big tire along I-94?" | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 694 Registered: 09-2007 |
They had strong ties with the Big 3, (and still technically do). | ||
Hamtragedy Member Username: Hamtragedy Post Number: 11 Registered: 10-2007 |
I thought it was a superfund site. Uniroyal was the first word I learned to spell. Drove by that plant every day, and it was dark under the conveyers, even when it was sunny. | ||
Durango Member Username: Durango Post Number: 35 Registered: 10-2006 |
The Uniroyal Tire on I-94 was actually a functioning Uniroyal sponsored ferris wheel from the 1964 World's Fair held in New York. Please see the attached link. http://www.uniroyal.com/about/ gianttire.html | ||
Hornwrecker Member Username: Hornwrecker Post Number: 1931 Registered: 04-2005 |
quote: If one had sufficient motivation, one could use the search function of this site for "uniroyal", selecting the "look in: the subject lines", and quite possibly find a few threads discussing the history of this site. But, alas, as I suspect, not many possess that. (Edited for poor grammar, by some self-correcting grammar nazi.) (Message edited by Hornwrecker on November 15, 2007) | ||
Detroitrise Member Username: Detroitrise Post Number: 703 Registered: 09-2007 |
LOL Hornwrecker. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1634 Registered: 07-2004 |
Gosh, doesn't seem fair or development-minded to saddle the last owner of a property with the cleanup costs. I wonder how they accomplish these sorts of cleanups elsewhere... | ||
Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus Post Number: 2761 Registered: 06-2006 |
"Anyway, whoever owned the land lasted gets to clean it up. If it was Uniroyal, then Uniroyal cleans it. The city will just have to step up and force them to clean it." Not quite...first, a major factor in who ends up paying is often whether the prior contamination could have been discovered by the subsequent party after a reasonable inspection... That aside, most statutes allow for Joint and several liability in such situations, which means that the Plaintiff (in this case, the MDEQ) can sue anyone who was responsible for any part of the contamination for the whole amount, and in turn the party they choose to sue can seek contribution from anyone else who was responsible to the extent those parties were responsible...and they often go after the tortfeasor with the deepest pockets In this case, the MDEQ has identified 4 companies that it believes are responsible for $20 million in cleanup costs: DuPont, Michelin, DTE and Enodis... However, last I read, Bettis and Betters were contesting the MDEQ's finding because they believe the cleanup cost will be much higher | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1635 Registered: 07-2004 |
I wonder how DuPont and the others are responsible. And, uh, DTE? It seems far afield for a rubber and stove site. BTW, grampy detroitnerd worked at U.S. Rubber. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 3679 Registered: 10-2003 |
Why so rude to Bear? Used to be if someone posted a question about Detroit history on these forums, people fell over themselves to share their knowledge. | ||
Thejesus Member Username: Thejesus Post Number: 2762 Registered: 06-2006 |
"I wonder how DuPont and the others are responsible. And, uh, DTE? It seems far afield for a rubber and stove site. " Not sure about DuPont, but DTE operated a natural gas plant either on the site or adjacent to it (not sure which) from the last part of the 19th century up until the 1940s | ||
Rjk Member Username: Rjk Post Number: 946 Registered: 11-2003 |
Is anyone familiar with this type of cleanup and what is involved? I'm curious as to what the bulk of the aforementioned $20M will be spent on. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1637 Registered: 07-2004 |
That makes sense, TJ. In fact, it lends credence to an old story that pop detroitnerd was allowed to go down into the place where the water came into the "powerhouse" and saw a bloated body had blocked the intake. Of course, he was like, 7, and totally fascinated. Ah, the good old days. | ||
Jiminnm Member Username: Jiminnm Post Number: 1513 Registered: 02-2005 |
US Rubber, and likely a predecessor, operated the tire plant. They became Uniroyal, who later merged with Goodrich. In the late 1980s, Michelin acquired Uniroyal-Goodrich. MichCon's predecessor operated a coal gasification plant next to the stove co. and, later, the tire plant (starting in the 19th century). DTE acquired MichCon a few years ago. I think DuPont is the successor (some companies removed) to chemical facilities that were either on those parcels prior to the other works, or adjacent to them, or maybe even the former stove works. The parties have been in negotiations with the City on site cleanup site for at least 10 years. If the city would have gotten out of the way, the site would have already been cleaned up. | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1638 Registered: 07-2004 |
This is from the Detroit News "Rearview Mirror" piece on the stove and the tire. A looming gray fortress of concrete and brick across from Belle Isle on the Detroit River, Uniroyal's Jefferson Avenue plant had been another local landmark for 73 years. Construction on the first buildings in the riverfront complex began in August 1905. Completed in October 1906, the plant housed the Morgan & Wright Bicycle Tire Co., once the world's largest marker of bicycle tires. Morgan & Wright had migrated from Chicago to link up with Detroit's developing auto industry. In its early years, the tire plant housed several of the annual Detroit Auto Shows. Initially the 750 people who worked there produced 350 tires daily. In 1906, company President Samuel P. Colt commented on the auto-rubber connection: "Judging from the past, the growth of the automobile tire business will be of momentous importance in the future. Ten years ago, rubber tires were not important. Now they consume one-half of the raw unprocessed rubber product." In 1906, the complex started with 900,000 square feet of floor space; by 1929 it grew to 2.5 million square feet. By the 1980s the complex included 20 buildings on 20 acres with 3 million square feet. In 1914, U.S. Rubber Company acquired and expanded the firm which later became Uniroyal. In 1929, the company decided to concentrate its auto-related production in the city. The Detroit facility brought new efficiency to the tire-making industry in the early '30s. A new process nicknamed the "merry-go-round" introduced the efficiencies of assembly line production which substantially reduced material handling and dependence on skilled labor and training. | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 1025 Registered: 11-2005 |
Old postcard of the Morgan & Wright plant: http://i152.photobucket.com/al bums/s164/rhymeswithrawk/Detro it%20postcards/Buildings/morga n.jpg | ||
Detroitnerd Member Username: Detroitnerd Post Number: 1641 Registered: 07-2004 |
That's a beauty, Rhymes. Thanks for posting! | ||
Rhymeswithrawk Member Username: Rhymeswithrawk Post Number: 1078 Registered: 11-2005 |
Another M&W plant postcard. Note the sign: "United States tires are good tires." http://i215.photobucket.com/al bums/cc280/buildingsofdetroit/ Postcards/morgan.jpg | ||
Lefty2 Member Username: Lefty2 Post Number: 799 Registered: 07-2007 |
On cleanup sites the costs can go back and back and back to prior owners. Even lenders and current owners can be held liable. Basically anyone associated with the property. Est. 20-25 Mil. to cleanup the toxic waste. I wouldn't want to live around there when they start digging that crap up. | ||
Gsgeorge Member Username: Gsgeorge Post Number: 478 Registered: 08-2006 |
I love that the "US Tires are Good Tires" sign faces Canada. I'm sure they REALLY appreciated that. |
