ON THE AVENUES: We cannot let this window close.A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.
When it comes to presumed birthrights, absolute freedom of mobility ranks somewhere near the top of the bucket list, at least to American eyes.
In theoretical terms, this can be a positive trait. Even a hardened cynic like me must take note of the possibilities for personal development and realization inherent in greater mobility, as compared to the limitations of hidebound social castes and conventions in other sectors of the globe.
However, in this sense we’re speaking more of social mobility than physical transportation, which moves us from one place to the other.
Arguably, the intrinsically American solution to the problem of social mobility has been to strive toward an untrammeled state of purely physical movement. The earliest settlers may well have come here in search of social, religious and economic freedoms, but once landed, the first imperative for many was to race toward wherever the land stopped and the ocean resumed.
From dirt trails to plank roads, and from Conestogas to Chryslers, we’ve concluded that freedom of movement is synonymous with economic freedom, and the freedom to accumulate wealth is the sole key to upward social mobility.
The problem: As decades pass, it becomes increasingly hard to avoid the certainty that future generations will look back on what we Americans have accomplished in the cause of unshackling humanity from its roots, and judge it to have been wasteful, unsustainable and perhaps even tragicomic.
---
Here in New Albany and Southern Indiana, at least for the moment, posterity is of far less concern than posteriors, or those appendages resting atop car seats stuck in traffic, slated for transfer to office chairs once newly sticky rush hours are transcended, and ultimately destined for plopping down in sofas later that evening, when television, radio and Internet pundits comprise our Greek chorus: “Woe is to us, and how will we survive this disastrous catastrophe!”
Pfui!
Now that we’ve lost the Sherman Minton Bridge for an indefinite period of time, until its steel cracks are repaired or the entire structure replaced with Minor Moves bucks, there seems to be a prevailing temptation to parlay annoyance and self-pity into the sort of hyperbole that has become the modern world’s substitute for reasonable thought.
It’s too bad, because if we as a community conclude that the absence of immediate mobility gratification dooms us to irrelevance and impoverishment, we’ve lost the fight before the first bell is even rung.
Disaster? Hardly. Tsunamis, wars, earthquakes, plagues and famines are examples of genuine disaster, as is the collapse of a bridge carrying traffic, and in our local instance, potential disaster has been averted. This is to be celebrated, not unfairly characterized out of shapeless pique.
While it may be the first time in the lifetime of many readers that a functioning Sherman Minton Bridge has not been something to be blithely taken for granted, it also is the case that with the bridge’s sudden closure, a window has opened, and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities have arisen.
I may be guilty of over-simplification, but to me the concept of localism is, at root, the operational converse of sprawl, not in any sense of localism replacing all aspects of accepted civilization in the short term, but gradually swinging the pendulum back from the extreme unsustainability of the far-flung exurb to the greater utility of sacrificing a mere jot of absolute, unrestrained mobility to gain some of the economic and spiritual benefits of community rootedness.
We’ve not always been able to articulate the tenets of localism. Now, amid the inevitable snarl of transport in the opening stages of bridge deprivation, there is the chance to illustrate localism to Hoosiers by means of shared experience. Business owners in New Albany and environs will be grasping this brave new paradigm shift, and getting it fast, or else they’ll be swept away.
For a length of time yet to be determined, we’re no longer an afterthought. Rather, we’re the very best, most efficient option for Indiana residents accustomed to using the bridge(s) for purposes of discretionary spending. We may not be able to solve the perennial metropolitan Louisville employment quandary – yet. However, we can provide most of what one needs, and do so right here.
Think of it not as a captive market, but as a soon-to-be savvier market. The game board has been upended, and the pieces are scattered across the table. The beauty of this immense opportunity is that New Albany and Southern Indiana need not re-arrange the match under the rules previously handed us. We may now rewrite the rules, or play an entirely different game.
Perhaps, in the end, the greatest freedom of all stems from seemingly narrow options.
---
One last thought.
New Albany’s municipal elections approach, and while Facebook is not the ultimate arbiter of such matters, a cursory review of the 24 candidates who have a Facebook campaign presence (roughly half of them) reveals that as this monumental paradigm shift explodes in all directions through their neighborhoods, they remain primarily concerned with endless recitations of yard sign plantings and fundraisers.
Really?
Democratic council candidates John Gonder and Doug England (our current mayor) stand out as major exceptions. Republican mayoral hopeful DM Bagshaw at least seems to have noticed. Of those candidates not on Facebook, Dan Coffey is displaying a deep interest in the situation (trust me). Readers and candidates, you may enlighten us as to anyone I’ve missed.
We’ve long lamented the absence of platform content on the part of mayoral and council aspirants, but it simply beggars belief that at this juncture, they’re still prattling on about 4-by-4 monster signs and golf scrambles.
I’m not suggesting candidates panic, or rush to conclusions that cannot yet be determined. At the same time, isn’t showing the slightest semblance of recognition that the Sherman Minton’s condition is (a) not a disaster, but (b) an enormous and probably unprecedented opportunity the barest of minimums we should expect from New Albany’s slate of leaders?
In theoretical terms, this can be a positive trait. Even a hardened cynic like me must take note of the possibilities for personal development and realization inherent in greater mobility, as compared to the limitations of hidebound social castes and conventions in other sectors of the globe.
However, in this sense we’re speaking more of social mobility than physical transportation, which moves us from one place to the other.
Arguably, the intrinsically American solution to the problem of social mobility has been to strive toward an untrammeled state of purely physical movement. The earliest settlers may well have come here in search of social, religious and economic freedoms, but once landed, the first imperative for many was to race toward wherever the land stopped and the ocean resumed.
From dirt trails to plank roads, and from Conestogas to Chryslers, we’ve concluded that freedom of movement is synonymous with economic freedom, and the freedom to accumulate wealth is the sole key to upward social mobility.
The problem: As decades pass, it becomes increasingly hard to avoid the certainty that future generations will look back on what we Americans have accomplished in the cause of unshackling humanity from its roots, and judge it to have been wasteful, unsustainable and perhaps even tragicomic.
---
Here in New Albany and Southern Indiana, at least for the moment, posterity is of far less concern than posteriors, or those appendages resting atop car seats stuck in traffic, slated for transfer to office chairs once newly sticky rush hours are transcended, and ultimately destined for plopping down in sofas later that evening, when television, radio and Internet pundits comprise our Greek chorus: “Woe is to us, and how will we survive this disastrous catastrophe!”
Pfui!
Now that we’ve lost the Sherman Minton Bridge for an indefinite period of time, until its steel cracks are repaired or the entire structure replaced with Minor Moves bucks, there seems to be a prevailing temptation to parlay annoyance and self-pity into the sort of hyperbole that has become the modern world’s substitute for reasonable thought.
It’s too bad, because if we as a community conclude that the absence of immediate mobility gratification dooms us to irrelevance and impoverishment, we’ve lost the fight before the first bell is even rung.
Disaster? Hardly. Tsunamis, wars, earthquakes, plagues and famines are examples of genuine disaster, as is the collapse of a bridge carrying traffic, and in our local instance, potential disaster has been averted. This is to be celebrated, not unfairly characterized out of shapeless pique.
While it may be the first time in the lifetime of many readers that a functioning Sherman Minton Bridge has not been something to be blithely taken for granted, it also is the case that with the bridge’s sudden closure, a window has opened, and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities have arisen.
I may be guilty of over-simplification, but to me the concept of localism is, at root, the operational converse of sprawl, not in any sense of localism replacing all aspects of accepted civilization in the short term, but gradually swinging the pendulum back from the extreme unsustainability of the far-flung exurb to the greater utility of sacrificing a mere jot of absolute, unrestrained mobility to gain some of the economic and spiritual benefits of community rootedness.
We’ve not always been able to articulate the tenets of localism. Now, amid the inevitable snarl of transport in the opening stages of bridge deprivation, there is the chance to illustrate localism to Hoosiers by means of shared experience. Business owners in New Albany and environs will be grasping this brave new paradigm shift, and getting it fast, or else they’ll be swept away.
For a length of time yet to be determined, we’re no longer an afterthought. Rather, we’re the very best, most efficient option for Indiana residents accustomed to using the bridge(s) for purposes of discretionary spending. We may not be able to solve the perennial metropolitan Louisville employment quandary – yet. However, we can provide most of what one needs, and do so right here.
Think of it not as a captive market, but as a soon-to-be savvier market. The game board has been upended, and the pieces are scattered across the table. The beauty of this immense opportunity is that New Albany and Southern Indiana need not re-arrange the match under the rules previously handed us. We may now rewrite the rules, or play an entirely different game.
Perhaps, in the end, the greatest freedom of all stems from seemingly narrow options.
---
One last thought.
New Albany’s municipal elections approach, and while Facebook is not the ultimate arbiter of such matters, a cursory review of the 24 candidates who have a Facebook campaign presence (roughly half of them) reveals that as this monumental paradigm shift explodes in all directions through their neighborhoods, they remain primarily concerned with endless recitations of yard sign plantings and fundraisers.
Really?
Democratic council candidates John Gonder and Doug England (our current mayor) stand out as major exceptions. Republican mayoral hopeful DM Bagshaw at least seems to have noticed. Of those candidates not on Facebook, Dan Coffey is displaying a deep interest in the situation (trust me). Readers and candidates, you may enlighten us as to anyone I’ve missed.
We’ve long lamented the absence of platform content on the part of mayoral and council aspirants, but it simply beggars belief that at this juncture, they’re still prattling on about 4-by-4 monster signs and golf scrambles.
I’m not suggesting candidates panic, or rush to conclusions that cannot yet be determined. At the same time, isn’t showing the slightest semblance of recognition that the Sherman Minton’s condition is (a) not a disaster, but (b) an enormous and probably unprecedented opportunity the barest of minimums we should expect from New Albany’s slate of leaders?
An alternative view would be that city candidates have next to nothing to do with the solution to the immediate emergency and that only the most cynical would use it as a campaign nostrum. Perhaps you should submit a question to the arbiters of the Sept. 22 mayoral debate to see where each candidate stands on promoting local, independent businesses and how they have gone about demonstrating that support.
ReplyDeleteThis from Gahan for Mayor on FB yesterday:
ReplyDeleteNow more than ever we need to support our downtown merchants. The closure of the Sherman Minton threatens all the hard work and progress we have made over the last few years. Our patronage is vital during this time to keep our city strong. We are working on a plan to assist.
Wow - there are so many points wrapped up in these three paragraphs:
ReplyDelete"Arguably, the intrinsically American solution to the problem of social mobility has been to strive toward an untrammeled state of purely physical movement. The earliest settlers may well have come here in search of social, religious and economic freedoms, but once landed, the first imperative for many was to race toward wherever the land stopped and the ocean resumed."
Perhaps, but aren't we at the heart of things simply very curious animals? We say to ourselves (or folks standing next to us: "I wonder what's over that hill? - What's it like over there?" Is curiosity a character flaw?
I will admit, the single most "American" invention is probably the rocking chair - a chair that moves and yet goes nowhere.
"From dirt trails to plank roads, and from Conestogas to Chryslers, we’ve concluded that freedom of movement is synonymous with economic freedom, and the freedom to accumulate wealth is the sole key to upward social mobility."
It's not that we have come to that "conclusion" - we've forgotten that the internal combustion engine was first an elegant substitution for horse and ox power.
We still brag about "horsepower" but have forgotten why. I don't know how many of your readers have plowed behind a horse; I have, and it beats you up. You'll sit down mighty tired after you turn a garden, let alone a field with a horse (or a team) and a plow.
The ease that a tractor or truck brought created time and often a little additional wealth through your capital expenditure. Replacing draft animals with engines didn't create slothfulness or waste.
"The problem: As decades pass, it becomes increasingly hard to avoid the certainty that future generations will look back on what we Americans have accomplished in the cause of unshackling humanity from its roots, and judge it to have been wasteful, unsustainable and perhaps even tragicomic."
Again, driving 10 miles round trip back to Kroger if you forgot something is wasteful.
On the other hand, why do you assume the worst for humanity's future? We actually have it within our grasp to feed the world, if we'd eliminate the greed that allows Americans to be obese while we Americans understand and know there are fellow human beings starving to death RIGHT NOW, AT THIS SECOND.
Our roads and cars and tractors and 747s are actually tools we can use to lift the world into fair fellowship and safety.
It's just that we choose to fly shoelaces in from China via UPS, instead of giving a family in India a small solar cell that can trickle charge a cell phone and allow the children to read and study at night with LCD lights. Education is the real tool to increasing wealth.
Technology will be the tool that allows humans to learn and succeed in ways we can't imagine.
There is a child alive right now, and he or she can cure cancer someday, and sadly, we are probably not feeding him or her, and that child may die - but it's not because Americans chose to build highways.
Randy and Jeff: My hope is to locate signs of a pulse in the Matt Oakleys of the world. I spoke to Jeff and Jack over the weekend at the art events.
ReplyDeleteAsking the debate question strikes me as a good idea. I'll get Andy right on it (giggling).
It figures that I'd look at the Gahan page just before something was posted.
Well stated, Bill.
ReplyDeleteBill's point is indeed well taken. I'd add that we not only sometimes use tools in misdirected ways but also choose the wrong tools for legitimate work, which seems more in tune with what Roger wrote. Both are true, I think.
ReplyDeleteIt's a huge topic, but I think at root we're talking about redefining economic freedom. Reformed tool usage will follow. We just haven't collectively figured out yet that that redefinition is an actual necessity, though a failing bridge is a more jarring, unavoidable hint than we usually get.
Jeff - I think the current world economy has the potential of actually being the very tipping point you refer to when you discuss "redefining economic freedom." Personal fredom as well.
ReplyDeleteWe are on the cusp of monumental change. I really feel devices like Steve Jobs' iPad have the potential of being the next Model T from Henry Ford.
It will soon be possible for the whole world to communicate with and learn from each other - and just like mindless cruising in cars, there will be a lot of mindless surfing on these devices - but, soon, people everywhere will be able to look up facts, processes, ideologies - and they will be able to use the new information to transform the world.
I do worry that the current world economy is also a great platform for a very large fascist movement that plays on fears and promises people "the world will be a better place, if you join with me and together we get rid of them."
It's the old Chinese curse come to life: "May you live in interesting times..."
Andy won't be in attendance at the mayoral forum because we're hosting an independent business seminar that evening at NABC-Grant Line Road...someone else will have to ask that question.
ReplyDeleteLots of comparisons this week between the Minnesota bridge collapse/rebuild and the Sherman Minton.
ReplyDeleteIn Minnesota, everyone was on board to quickly rebuild the bridge. Local politicians, Congressmen, Democrat, Republican. Will happen here? Absolutely not. Unlike Minnesota, we conveniently already have another bridge project in the works.
Instead of a Minnesota-style rebuild, everyone here will be jockeying to present the Sherman Minton situation as proof that they were right all along. Besides, why rush building a new bridge when you already have two all planned out? The closure merely ratchets up the heat. Some have an incentive to make it as big a crisis as possible to keep the heat on.
Don’t be surprised if you see special legislation and/or earmarks in Congress in the next few weeks to clear the way for ORBP. Heck, they may even give it special immunity from River Fields lawsuits. Then whatever political decisions is made on how to repair the Sherman Minton will be an after thought.
On another note, a past New Albany police chief once said he could cut New Albany crime “by 90%” if only he could close the Sherman Minton.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know where month by month crime data for the city is available? At the time, I didn’t think the 90% figure was meant to be taken literally. Still, I’d like to parse the next couple months’ data once it’s available.
Bill, it's no doubt an exciting and scary time. I don't think we've really begun to understand how and where networks and communities will operate. As a very smart professor friend reminded recently, we get so caught up in the mechanisms that we forget about the validity of underlying assumptions.
ReplyDeleteWhat is it that we're actually trying to achieve? What's the economy (or any other social construct) for? Why do we need to cross that bridge?
That's what I'd like to hear candidates talking about, as any specific strategies only make sense or not in context.
As you allude, if we think the skirmishes over transportation infrastructure have been something, trying to envision what they will look like over the infrastructure you're talking about is mind-blowing. The ability to move is one thing. The ability to "know" is a whole other level, potentially incredibly empowering via decentralization and democratization but fraught with control issues that will have impacts much more far reaching than what we now think of as a road.
Amen to your comments about political candidates - the public is currently acting as if they are just a throbbing, raw nerve, allowing candidates to attack each other.
ReplyDeleteAny candidate who honestly talks about his or her goals and how they would attempt to achieve them is a godsend to our city, state and nation.
Of course, when a candidate runs on slander and innuendo, they can't be held accountable for results.
On another note, the State Street Kroger stold me last night their sales were off this week due to a drop in Kentucky shoppers.
Why is now the open window to promote (and for convenience, I'll continue to use your word) localism? How is today any different from last week or next month?
ReplyDeleteEducating people isn't a one-off proposition. It's not a moment. It's a process of relationship building, of building trust and credibility and showing results.
Sunday's letter was one of the best things you've ever written. But now, after 5 days, you sound like the doomsayer, saying we'll never again have such an opportunity.
I disagree. Those who've championed this message for years don't need the hectoring. And those who would use this moment to greenwash themselves will just use you to, as one candidate has put it, "crush" out the buy local first message and messengers.
Enough already.
Randy, it's incredibly different than it has been and potentially will be. With all respect to you, I think that the bridge issue smacked the crap out of a large population that to this point was basically sleepwalking- and for this time where they're actually paying attention, and open to new ways of doing things, we need to bring options to the forefront (especially regarding localism) that they would have never been roused out of the fog to see.
ReplyDeleteWhat I see in Roger and others is the realization and the hope that comes with that realization is that it's a rare thing to rouse people out of the routine- very rare. Obviously this isn't a national or global issue, (nor did we lose lives) but the last time locally that I saw people shake the cobwebs off and reach out for a true common goal WAS ten years ago.
No matter whose hands ultimately wield the power to fix the problem or come up with new solutions it is, the game has changed for local politicians because people are now paying attention and there's a much higher expectation level than even a week ago.
Kate, I don't think it's incredibly different, and I don't think any windows have opened. There are no shortcuts.
ReplyDeleteNow, if you and Andy start seeing a significant number of new sign-ups, I'll defer.
No day, week, or month will provide the magic bullet. The shock is already fading. Such shocks in the past have rarely led to transcendant changes in attitudes, and I doubt this one will, either.
I share your desires, but pretending that this magic moment is anything other than a song is "all hat and no cattle."
What you (we) are about is the work of years and I simply don't think we've been given any significant boost on the timeline. We still have to do the work.
Ordinarily I would engage Roger elsewhere, but he seems to prefer online venues. A few more days of this may actually produce harm to the message, and that's what I want to avoid.
We're not debating the merits. We're debating the moment, and all I'm saying is that this is not the work of a moment.
What Roger wrote in his Sunday letter was perhaps the best thing he's written, and it was both necessary and well received.
Now it's starting to seem like DON'T PANIC! DON'T PANIC! It's a little too "Candide" for my tastes, a little too Panglossian.
Of course, I risk a hearty "fuck you, Randy," but it won't be the first time.
Randy, we can disagree without me giving you a big, hearty 'fuck you'.
ReplyDeleteI would hope that would be true of just about anyone on here.
What I hear a lot people saying is "This is a catastrophe, disaster, emergency, etc.". What I hear Roger saying is "Not if we handle it correctly".
ReplyDeleteWhy not use this opportunity as impetus for education? To ask better questions and perhaps develop better answers? A lot of people, both business owners and patrons, will have to make adjustments. Don't we all want them to do so in a way that will have the best possible long-term benefits?
If it leads at all to a better understanding of local economic or transportation issues or both, or at least to more participation in dialogue about them, what's wrong with that?
I don't read any of this as being the only chance we'll ever have. I read it as the best, most acute chance we've had in a good while whether it lasts three days or three years.
And yes, from a purely political perspective, I think it's an excellent time for candidates to be talking about what should or should not be happening with transportation and/or economic planning and funding. As Dan mentioned, some folks in high places are already doing that but perhaps not in ways we'd prefer.
As also mentioned, those are ongoing efforts and the elected mayoral candidate in particular will have an impact in New Albany and regionally. Our mayors could have already had more of one than they have. What's the next person in that role going to do?
The only thing I'm reading from candidates who, in response to bridge questions, are saying "not my job" is "cop out". I don't expect them to single-handedly solve the problem but I do expect them to be able to articulate some thoughts about the overall planning/spending process and what could be done to improve it.
It's not as if expressing newfound interest in old topics is anything new for some of them. If doing so is cynical, then they already have big problems being cynics. People notice when candidates suddenly start showing up. May as well have something decent to add to the conversation. It might be the best way to avoid appearing as a simple opportunist.
Was all that true yesterday? Will it be tomorrow? Yes to both. But the microphones are in faces right now. What is it that we want to say?
Today, David Jones Sr. writes in CJ letter to build 6 lane EE bridge within 2 years, and use $10 million personal loan from him to start construction.
ReplyDeleteI presume this is a rhetorical question: By focusing on EE bridge only, will ORBP supports attempt to paint Humana's co-Founder as non-visionary or anti-business?
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEven if they could build the downtown Bridge next week, connecting it to existing roads is more difficult than doing the same with an EE bridge.
ReplyDeleteA new downtown bridge would require closing lanes on Spaghetti Junction and I-65 just as they’re carrying record capacity. While a new downtown bridge would alleviate Sherman Minton overflow, its construction would only make it worse, at least for a few weeks. With only an EE bridge, no construction is near the already clogged Kennedy.
At least in the short run, it’s in New Albany’s economic interest to see:
(1) either
(a) the EE bridge completed or
(b) Sherman Minton reopened,
before
(2) I-65 lanes are closed for downtown bridge construction and Spaghetti Junction redesign.
More succinctly:
ReplyDeleteThis is not the time to close I-65 lanes to build a new downtown bridge. Build a 6-lane East End Bridge NOW. Finish it and let traffic on the Kennedy return to normal before starting Spaghetti Junction construction.
"...will ORBP supports attempt to paint Humana's co-Founder as non-visionary or anti-business?"
ReplyDeleteDan - No, they'll call him an "outside agitator" though. You have no idea how Jones & Cherry were treated by the East End establishment when Humana first hit the big time back in the late 60's/early 70s. People have long social memories and I'm glad Mr Jones is personally willing to finance a road up the true elites asses. Go David! "Politics makes strange bedfellows"
Thank you Kate and Jeff. Your comments prove that reading comprehension is not dead.
ReplyDeleteThe changed variable v.v. localism is the strong possibility of greater receptivity on the part of those most in need of the message.
As for the spheres of politics and commerce, it strikes me as perfectly natural that someone like Troy Lancaster will ask: In the short term, having lost approximately 30% of the market, what do I do, and what might local government do to help me?
(His fried chicken is tasty, by the way)
In actuality, I want the effort to be grassroots and business-led. I'd prefer no politicians be involved, or if they are, at a minimum.
But if making a cogent statement at a time like this, even at the expense of triumphal announcements about sign plantings and golf scrambles, is not the very core of a politician's job description, then I'm not sure what is.
And that was my point.
Did the public pay any attention to the 2 bridge boondoggle until tolls were mentioned? To me, this is a similar situation.
ReplyDeleteOh, and the last two FU's that I've heard(actually read)were in 2 emails to me, 5 minutes apart. Pot and Kettle, Randy. Pot & Kettle.