From WFPL:
Metro Council Members Consider Anti-Toll Resolution
More On The Tolls Resolution
It's surreal, but when it comes to the anti-toll backlash, New Albany's city council fired the first shot with its resolution two weeks ago. This fact undoubtedly disturbs some members of the community, who view themselves as the proper, official arbiters of leadership. They need to try to understand that sometimes they need to listen to broad-based public opinion, rather than dictate terms.
We now await word from Jeffersonville, where Mayor Tom Galligan might well be the single most vociferous Southern Indiana proponent of the bridges boondoggle, exceeding even One Southern Indiana in blind allegiance to what surely by now is revealed as a religious, not transportation, cause. Galligan needs to listen to his city's business owners along the river. They are not happy. I trust they'll be presenting the "no tolls" case very soon.
New Albany's mayor, Doug England, is on holiday. When he gets back, it will be City Hall's turn to sniff the air and reach a conclusion. Earlier today, in a press conference held to rebut abhorrent HRCC slime mailings, Shane Gibson identified potential bridge toll as one of the most important issues in the race for the District 72 seat in the House, along with education (in general), local school closings and jobs.
Although we have little in the way of public transport, the "no tolls" train is about to leave the station. So far, Kevin Zurschmiede and Bob Caesar are afraid to leave the waiting room and risk offending the likes of One Southern Indiana. It may take a bit longer, but we're going to find out who comes down, and where. Stay tuned.
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4 comments:
Galligan seriously has no place to support tolls. Downtown Jeff has experienced a wonderful revitalization in the last 10-15 years, and if tolls are put in place with his support, he'll basically be a party to killing that revitalization. Politicians who support tolling cannot say truthfully that they support their local community businesses, plain and simple.
It is becoming clear that at some level, the city council resolution was the shot heard 'round the region.
Like those shots at Lexington, Mass., it took awhile for word to spread, and they did not change the military odds appreciably.
But we all know how the whole thing turned out, don't we?
I'm awfully proud of a council that addressed the issue with some sophistication, and personally proud to have witnessed it. We can tell our grandchildren we were there when the shot was fired.
I have to say I was proud of our city gov't for the first time in 67 years.
I still can't help wondering, in my deep cynicism, if they aren't working behind the scenes to undo the resolution right now...
When New Albany leads, it does well. Thanks to the NA council for expressing the will of the people, something glaringly absent from most of the ORBP process even now.
With 17 co-sponsors among 26 Louisville council districts, it indeed looks like their council is headed that way as well.
I wonder at what point, if ever, the appointees on the Bridges Authority will acknowledge that the public doesn't support their viewpoint.
It's been both sad and entertaining watching authority members try to appease their own consciences by insisting that it's only a small minority who opposes their stances.
I don't mind taking shots from them at all, though, because each time they do it, any public credibility they may have had is reduced just a little more.
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