Peter Park says: "The reality is all freeways in American cities will come down."

When Job One is fluffing your fellow River Ridge oligarchs, then anyone in Kerry Stemler's position need not be concerned with building communities and cities. By supporting Stemler and these very same oligarchs, entities like One Southern Indiana clearly indicate where their priorities lie -- at the perceived source of operating funds, and not in the notion of building communities and cities. This is the root of the tragedy, with well-meaning indies and small businesses joining One Southern Indiana in the mistaken notion that they're helping to build something, when all they're really achieving is to perpetuate the fluffing.

Meanwhile, those not in Stemler's and his ilk's pockets are trying to determine what to when the freeways come down.

New Urbanism: Overcoming an Overpass, by Ian McNulty (MyNewOrleans.com)

The freeway overpass on North Claiborne Avenue has dominated the downtown landscape for so long it’s hard for some people to imagine the area without it, much less remember how that part of the city functioned before it was built. But as the idea of removing the aging overpass continues to make the rounds among planners and community advocates, an expert with unique experience in urban freeway removal shared his perspective.

“This isn’t about tearing down a freeway, this is really about building communities and cities,” says Peter Park, former planning director for Denver and Milwaukee, where an overpass was removed beginning in 2002. “The reality is all freeways in American cities will come down. They’re not the Roman aqueducts. The question is what to do when they come down.”