Redevelopment Commission on traffic studies, and why YOU NEED TO GET INVOLVED with this.

Apologies for yelling.

It isn't splitting hairs to remind readers that the city council voted 4-3 on the third reading in favor of a traffic study. Two members were absent, and so the required five-vote threshold was not reached; had John Gonder not switched his "yes" to "no" at the last moment, for reasons that remain obscure ... well, I persist in thinking that no study is needed, and that action is preferable, but if it's the only way to get something done, I shan't oppose it.

People, it's time to get real.

If you believe that (a) New Albany cannot address its tolling-era needs within a principled context of two-way street conversions, traffic calming and complete streets, and (b) that either way, yea or nay, all of this can play itself out successfully WITHOUT you making your views known, then the conclusion is obvious: You're plainly acquiescing in the passive, reactive encouragement of New Albany dooming itself to a future NOT of renewal, but of renewed futility.

The way to fight back against the oligarchic imbecility of the tolling project is to immediately re-occupy our streets for our own stated aims, in forward-looking and creative ways that encourage indie economic development and neighborhood stability, as proven all across the country. We need not be lackeys to the Stemlerites. We merely need courage of conviction, and JUST DO IT.

BUT YOU -- that's right, YOU -- need to take part in this. Take my word for it: City government believes that most residents don't care about this issue ... and when they care, what the city hears is old-fogey negativity.

If you don't make your opinion known, it is highly likely that New Albany's default patterns of timidity, self-loathing, foot-shot conservatism and general dunder-head-in-the-sand-edness will carry the day, and we'll find ourselves five years from now with the worst of all possible worlds: Overwhelmed one-way streets, repellant pass-throughs, monster trucks, continued neighborhood blight and shrinking prospects downtown ... and palms out-turned: Gee, what could we have done?

Because that's the way it always happens around here, isn't it?

Sorry to be a nanny and a bearer of bad tidings, but you'l have to get involved with this. You'll have to get educated, get involved, follow through and do something. If you don't (surprise), you'll surely get nothing.

Bearing the load in New Albany: Traffic study issue resurfaces; City Council defeated ordinance to appropriate funding on Nov. 7, by Jerod Clapp (Paywall Picayune)

NEW ALBANY — If the City Council won’t pay for it, the Redevelopment Commission might.

Redevelopment commissioner Dan Coffey suggested reviving the idea of a traffic study in New Albany to see the impact of bridge construction and tolls after completion in late 2016. The City Council defeated an ordinance to appropriate $30,000 for the study on Nov. 7.

“We need a traffic study for this town,” Coffey said. “Especially with the fact with the bridges going in the way they are, I assume we’ll have more traffic coming into downtown.”