The 'Ville Voice on the C-J's 8664 hatchet work.

Good stuff in Rick Redding's blog, The 'Ville Voice, reprinted in its entirety:

C-J Follows Pattern, Critiques 8664

It’s almost comical. Every time the 8664.org people make news, as they did this week with the launch of radio ads critiquing the creation of a tolling authority, the C-J editorial board lets loose with a stern editorial. You’ve got to at least admire the consistency.

And the argument the Courier always seems to make is that a bunch of politicians and their favorite civil servant, Jerry Abramson, are behind it. So the Ohio River Bridges Project, which is pushing for the tolling authority which could ultimately push for $5 tolls, must be the way to go.

It’s a good exercise for the editorial board to come up new ways to be critical of the opposition, painting 8664 as the bad guy attempting to thwart this fine two-bridges plan that everybody they think is important has agreed on.

From today’s piece:

“…the 8664 crowd has decided to run irresponsibly alarmist radio commercials, raising the possibility of $5 tolls.”

The C-J touts the technology of modern tolling, claiming that regular commuters won’t pay so much. But if you talk with Tyler Allen, the man behind 8664, he’ll tell you the math doesn’t add up, and 20 minutes later he’ll still be talking. Allen is continuing a tour de force of local organizations, telling his story to anyone who will listen. The C-J won’t, so radio ads might be a good way to go.