Green: "Committee seeking to re-open K&I bridge needs to get moving."

To open a week that will see Jeff Speck visit New Albany, causing acid reflux amid the barren intellectual worldview of Bob Caesar, Jackie Green inflicts heartburn, too, with the recipient being Louisville's mayor Greg Fischer. As the K & I foot-dragging continues, Jackie insists on asking those difficult questions:

Let’s hope great things are happening behind the scenes. If not, the mayor needs to make the K&I bridge a higher priority. A phone call from the mayor to the city offices responsible for creating the document should assure the work would be done well and quickly. Is the mayor committed to sustainable transportation enough to make that phone call? Or, does the mayor not have sufficient influence over city offices? Or, are great things happening behind the scenes (if so, what happened to transparency)?

That "T" word: Transparency. The quality they talk about, but shirk from implementing. Here on the Right Bank, we know all about it. Take it away, Jackie.

A tale of two bridges: Committee seeking to re-open K&I bridge needs to get moving, learn from Big Four mistakes, by Jackie Green (guest blogger at Insider Louisville)

... A K&I bridge committee comprised of representation from mayors on both sides of the river, two U.S. congressional offices, Louisville Waterfront Development, Indiana Greenways Commission, Jefferson County Attorney’s office, planning and design offices, local citizen groups, etc. has met several times in recent months. The needed local parties seem to be at the table.

The committee’s plan has been to produce a document addressing every possible concern that Norfolk Southern might have regarding opening the K&I bridge to human-powered transportation. The planned document is also to address the Kentuckiana River Trail, K&I bridge history, endorsements of opening the bridge, examples of other rail/trail bridges running parallel and harmoniously, the Big Four Bridge success, etc.

Despite months of meetings, the committee has produced nothing more than a one-sheet outline of the document. The committee met on Nov. 1 and established a self-imposed (but long-overdue) deadline of Dec. 2 for unveiling the presentation to the group. It also established a goal of Dec. 16 to present the document to the CEO of Norfolk Southern. The Dec. 2 meeting was cancelled. The 16th is past. Nothing seems to be happening.