In the first of several ruminations, let's begin with background. It started yesterday, with the unexpected.
Tunnel beneath the paywall and reflect: Will Jeff Speck be able to tunnel around time-honored Rosenbargerian urban obfuscation?
... Having Jeff Speck within the city limits elevates New Albany's urban IQ ... this would be a good first step, and it's just that: A baby step.
The C-J's coverage unearths a few tasty morsels.
New Albany hires urban planner, author on walkability for study of street, traffic flow, by Grace Schneider (C-J)
The city of New Albany has enlisted nationally known city planner and walkability advocate Jeff Speck to conduct a traffic study of its downtown streets.
The $75,000 agreement approved Tuesday by the city’s Board of Public Works and Safety is expected to lead to a broad set of recommendations to re-cast the current pattern of one-way and two-way streets in the central business district — a controversial proposition among city council members.
I seem to recall more disagreement over funding a traffic study than the broad tenets of two-way thinking ... with one notable exception (Bob "My One Way or the Highway" Caesar) and another far more inexplicable one, council kingpin Pat McLaughlin, who seems to have been airing his doubts fairly often, albeit in private. Have you read Speck's book, Pat?
King Larry's only a malignant ghost if you believe him to be.
Speck will also offer guidance to modify the downtown street network and traffic signals as the city braces for a drastic increase in vehicle traffic flowing around the Sherman Minton Bridge after the Ohio River Bridges open in late 2016.
New Albany also has lined up a $2.5 million matching federal aid grant to implement the recommendations after the review is completed in late August.
Did you hear that? The "we can't afford it" argument just returned to room temperature.
Speck tweeted Tuesday morning that he’s excited to work in New Albany and that his work “won’t be a ‘traffic study.’ But traffic will be studied.”
Since one of Speck's best lines compares traffic studies to "bullshit," we're scrambling for adjectives and new buzz phrases, and that's fine, although chillier words were voiced by David Duggins.
Duggins said the city would not implement any recommendations that would reduce traffic capacity.
It's the Rosenbarger smoking gun, which I've asked Duggins by e-mail to clarify.
Paraphrasing Bluegill: If true, what's the point of bringing Speck in and paying him $75,000?
Part Two, today
Part Three, today
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