At least the News and Tribune's second (third?) editorial team did find the best possible word to use: Stupid.
Curiously, tolling opponents were not accused of having mothers clad in army boots.
On the other hand, intellectual vigor is not exactly synonymous with the News and Tribune, is it? But boy, what a sports page.
JEERS
... to the resolution introduced by Jeffersonville City Councilman Dennis Julius — and eventually passed 7-1 by the city council — on Monday asking for a delay in the construction of the downtown portion of the Ohio River Bridges project. Really? As if we haven’t waited long enough already.
While it is responsible to recognize and be concerned over the possible impact the project and tolls could have on Jeffersonville it’s also important for the council to recognize its role in the process. — Which is basically to wait for it to happen like the rest of us.
I do not dispute the east end bridge is the most important part of the project. And I agree the east end bridge should have been built first, perhaps to the result that a downtown bridge isn’t needed after all. But those positions have been argued and a decision has been made.
The governors of two states, along with representatives from each state, have been responsible for working together to oversee and give authority to this project and its details. They have done that. I seriously doubt any scenario would be without some hesitation or potential drawback for some involved community or another. When you’re trying to accomplish something this big, compromise has to be part of the final solution.
The city council’s resolution is little more than posturing for some politicians who can tell their constituents that they tried to stop the bridge and tolls — all the while hoping the public actually believes the city council had any authority in the matter to begin with — which it doesn’t.
We’re far beyond the point for this now. It’s time to move forward with the project, embrace the enormous positive impact it will have on Jeffersonville and figure out a way to live with the rest and make the most of it.
JEERS
... to the Clarksville Town Council for passing a pretty much identical stupid resolution regarding the bridges project as the Jeffersonville Council did on Monday.
— Amy Huffman-Branham, Assistant Editor
While Amy may be correct about the inevitability, I remember the loyal opposition being told, quite definitively, that the original project absolutely could not be changed. No way, no how. Absolutely not!
ReplyDeleteThanks to the work and voices of many people, the project was scaled back. Not scaled back enough but it was, if memory serves, around 25%. That is not an insignificant amount especially considering that IT COULDN'T BE DONE.
Amy, go ahead and relax if you want. People like you are the ones who are going to be paying for this boondoggle a lot longer than I will.
You all are on it.
ReplyDeleteI submitted largely the same comment on the newspaper's site but Branham-Huffman's postion seems to be that they made the wrong decision to the tune of billions of dollars and decades of tolls but, hey, they made it, so...
Ignore the faulty data that justified the decision, ignore the lies that have been told since to defend the decision, ignore that the decision can be changed, and ignore that changing it would bring most of the benefits she seeks while alleviating a lot of the negatives.
Via the resolutions, the councils just reinforced what a majority of their constituents have already said via polling and public input periods for the purpose of providing information to the Federal Highway Administration. That sort of representation is their job, not a distraction from it.