"New Albany has a long way to go on street safety," says Broken Sidewalk in an understatement for the ages.

From Broken Sidewalk,  the grim aerial view of Mr. Naps' pride 'n' joy.

I just can't wait until Tuesday morning, when the Board of Public Works and Safety will meet and say absolutely nothing about any of this. There'll probably be a gag order, so as to suppress the gag reflex.

In point of fact, the three members sitting on the board should immediately offer their resignations to the mayor, who should refuse them and accept personal responsibility for this inescapable fact (emphasis mine) quickly grasped by Broken Sidewalk ...

But the city should have seen this one coming. Back in 2014, urban planner Jeff Speck issued a report on the streets of downtown New Albany in which he identified Vincennes Street as “clearly oversized for its traffic” ... He recommended a reconfiguration to improve safety.

 ... because you see, that's what leaders do, as opposed to empty suits. Accept responsibility, and tell us how this is going to be improved.

Too bad the pages of Speck's report have been misused, one sheet at a time, for succor in the mayor's executive washroom. Too bad incessant warnings about safety are dismissed by the very people who are supposed to be monitoring such issues.

Too bad City Hall is dysfunctional, and too bad this thoughtful observation on Fb is true.

While I am glad to see another voice in the discussion, everything stated by Broken Sidewalk was already known, and you have been beating that drum for years. As I said before, I have no expectation that the current administration will do anything.

Now, about those towels ...

Woman killed by motorist in New Albany, by Branden Klayko (Broken Sidewalk)

Chloe Allen, 83, is dead after being struck by a motorist in downtown New Albany over the weekend ...

... While a great deal of information was rendered by an investigation, it’s unfortunate that for the sake of a catchy acronym, the unit is labeled the Floyd County Combined Accident Reconstruction Team. As we have discussed many times, crashes and accidents are very different things and should not be mislabeled.

All of the local news reported that the pedestrian was struck “by a vehicle” rather than the driver of that vehicle. Cars and trucks don’t drive themselves—people crash them into things. Both WDRB and WHAS11 labeled the crash an accident, with WHAS11 going as far as to include a large “Accident” graphic complete with cracked windshield illustrating its report ...

... New Albany has really let itself go at this intersection, allowing an anti-urban Walgreens, White Castle, and Rally’s to be built behind moats of parking that make walking unsafe. Low visibility crosswalks are clearly worn away by vehicle tires, compounding the walkability issue.

But the city should have seen this one coming. Back in 2014, urban planner Jeff Speck issued a report on the streets of downtown New Albany in which he identified Vincennes Street as “clearly oversized for its traffic.” Speck wrote of the three-lane street: “At no point do car accounts approach the number that would require a third lane. This condition is supported by the fact that the third lane, rather then (sic) being striped for left turns, merely provides northbound redundancy with no southbound counterpart.” He recommended a reconfiguration to improve safety.

R.I.P. Chloe Allen.

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