Jackie Green on the ghettoization of independent candidates for Louisville mayor: "A form of media censorship — not censorship OF, but censorship BY the media.”

Before stealing a glance at the exclusion of independent candidates from the final Louisville mayoral debate, I'm turning to Jeff Gillenwater to articulate the crux of it.

I’ve spent decades now watching more thoughtful, compassionate people attempt to run for office under the Democratic banner in local, state, and national races. Over and over and over quite consistently, party officials at all levels have intervened, using the full force of their financial and political clout to defeat those candidates, to weaken those voices, and to make sure that their discourse and concerns, no matter how well documented and supported by evidence, do not become the center of policy debate, do not become a legitimate choice that voters can make. The idea that the Democratic Party in this country is an eager and effective agent or vehicle of significant social change simply isn’t true. When you donate to the party, you’re supporting the silencing and defeat of more thoughtful, compassionate voices. There’s no way around that so, if you’re going to do it, you need to own it and call it what it is.

It needed to be said. Now, let's look at yet another way media reinforces the two-party duopoly.

Independent candidates won’t share stage with Fischer, Leet in final mayoral debate, by Joe Sonka (Insider Louisville)

Independent mayoral candidates Jackie Green and Chris Thieneman say they were surprised and disappointed to learn last week that they will not be allowed to participate in the final televised mayoral debate next week, as only Mayor Greg Fischer and Councilwoman Angela Leet have been invited to participate in the live broadcast.

Pat Murrell, the president of the League of Women Voters of Louisville, told Insider Louisville last week that while all nine candidates for mayor were invited to its candidate forum to be broadcast on WAVE3-TV on Oct. 16, organizers recently decided to split the forum into two: one aired live on television and WFPL at 7 p.m., with the second one at 8:15 p.m., which will only be livestreamed on wave3.com and archived online on wave3.com and wfpl.org.

Only Fischer and Leet will participate in the forum that is broadcast live, while the independent candidates will participate in the second forum.

Jackie Green: 'I am not a scofflaw.'

Face it, Jackie; all of us who dare to challenge the established disorder are scofflaws.

scoff·law

ˈskôfˌlô,ˈskäf-/

noun

NORTH AMERICANinformal

1. a person who flouts the law, especially by failing to comply with a law that is difficult to enforce effectively.

Speaking only for myself, I embrace it. In fact, just last week I contested a parking ticket for blocking the street non-sweeper.

The Resistance, Jackie. The Resistance.

Biking advocate: 'I am not a scofflaw', by James Bruggers (C-J)

If there's a bike lane, bicyclists better use it, or they may find themselves in jail.

That's the message a Louisville Metro Police officer gave to bicycling advocate and former mayoral candidate Jackie Green on Friday in the form of a double citation for blocking traffic and running a red light.

Police spokesman Dwight Mitchell said bikes are expected to follow traffic laws and that means respecting stop lights and stop signs. He also said cyclists in Louisville generally must use bike lanes when they are available unless they need to be in another lane to make turns.

Jackie Green on Louisville AND New Albany: "We need to address the real problem in any (traffic) lane: mass and velocity."

Holy One Party Hegemony, Batman -- you mean a candidate for mayor can speak openly about such matters?

Chairman Adam wouldn't DREAM of allowing it here in Nawbony. The funding grandees would shut THAT mother down faster than Harvest Homecoming chokes off independent business activity on Market & Pearl.

You see, Jackie Green gets it: Public safety isn't entirely about demolishing as many houses as possible. It's also about how people get back and forth on city streets running from one vacant, weed-covered lot to the next ... but try telling that to the current regime in New Albany.

By the way, wouldn't it have been a better idea to slow those massive heavy trucks by design  BEFORE diverting them from Main to Spring?

Or would that have required advance planning beyond the capability of salaried staff?

On second thought, ignore the last question.

Self-incrimination, and all.

Louisville should move beyond bike lanes, by Jackie Green (Insider Louisville)

Editor’s note: Jackie Green is a Louisville businessman who owns Bike Courier Bike Shops and is a candidate for mayor.

Louisville cannot readily change the mass of vehicles on the road. Louisville, however, can limit the velocity of vehicles traveling surface roads inside the Watterson Expressway. Slower, calmer traffic gives travelers more time to assess, more time to decide, more time to react. Slower, calmer traffic diminishes stress. Slower, calm, safe streets benefit the community of pedestrians, wheelchair users, young children in strollers, joggers, skate boarders, cyclists and motorists.

Drivers are also more likely to embrace slower speeds for the benefit of the broader community than they are to embrace the loss of travel lanes to cyclists.

Reducing the velocity of vehicles traveling surface roads inside the Watterson can be accomplished by eliminating one-way roads, lowering the speed limit inside the Watterson to 20 mph, and increasing speeding fees dramatically.

While D.C. has instituted a $500 fine for motorists who hit a cyclist, Louisville should explore a fine for hitting a pedestrian. Cities are for people. Our common spaces should be dominated by people, not cars, not bicycles.

Rather than calming traffic, current city leadership has chosen to take lanes away from motor vehicles and segregate cyclists in lanes that are not protected by big trees or bollards, are seldom cleared of debris, are covered with winter’s ice, are baked by summer’s sun, traverse treacherous pavement, do not serve destination needs, and pit cyclists against motorists and pedestrians. Louisville needs to get beyond bike lanes. We need to address the real problem in any lane: mass and velocity.

Jackie Green on Greg Fischer: "No, Greg, it is not about data ... "

So much for Billy "Oakland A's" Beane being an effective elected official, but Jackie is on point: Babbling about data sans context of vision has the net effect of nothingness. New Albanians know this all too well.

Local activist Jackie Green takes on Mayor Fischer’s data-driven approach, by guest blogger Jackie Green (Insider Louisville)

Governing magazine recently recognized several “Public Officials of the Year” — elected, appointed and career office-holders from across the nation.

Mayor Greg Fischer was one of those recognized. He was recognized as being “Data Driven,” praised for efforts such as LouieStat. “It all comes back to information.” The article ends by quoting him: “It’s data, man.”

No, Greg, it is not about data ...

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.

K & I as pedway? First it must be pried from the cold dead hands of the railroad.

Last week I received an e-mail from Louisville biking advocate Jackie Green, who has embraced the cause of K & I Bridge liberation. I'm certainly for it, and having pressure from the Louisville side of the river is absolutely necessary owing to the harsh reality of the subject heading. Before returning to Jackie's useful points, let's look back at the previous decade's worth of K & I coverage at NA Confidential.

August 10, 2012

Nash: "We need to ask the leaders of Norfolk Southern to take a closer look at this specific situation."

April 25, 2012

Nationalize the railroad = K & I problem disappears.

January 3, 2012

Serious mobility solution questions for Bridges Authority member Jerry Finn.

December 14, 2011

Thank you, John Gonder. That's exactly what I was thinking.

September 10, 2011

Norfolk Southern: Tear down this wall! Open this bridge!

October 31, 2005

UPDATED: Will the K & I Bridge link be restored? Can the Greenway be green? Why ask why?

February 10, 2005

Mayors united in support for K & I bicycle link

In Jackie's e-mail, he mentions the possibility of the monthly Louisville Full Moon Bike Ride morphing into a "protest" ride, and cites a developing coalition. Here are some of this goals:

- develop a wider email list of folk interested in seeing the K&I bridge open to the non-motorized public

- join forces with the Ohio River Greenway Commission

- work with Floyd County Council

- work with Portland Now

- explore an historical legal decision regarding the bridge with Louisville Metro Public Works

- build interest in the Full Moon bicycle ride as a monthly ‘protest’

- make plans for a community walk to the K&I from both sides of the river simultaneously

- etc.

More power to Jackie, and let's get it started.

Jackie Green might as well be referring to New Albany.

In large measure, Jackie Green's conclusion about Louisville is this blog's perennial prescription for the city New Albany. After all, with very little greenfield land left to develop, a platform of urban reinvestment is the very strongest and most feasible card to play.

Transportation and land use define a city and its health. Louisville is sick, very sick. And our leadership refuses to address the illness. We need more urban reinvestment, less greenfield development. We need more public transit, fewer parking lots, highways and roads. We need more walkable communities, slower moving urban traffic.

So, how much sense does it make to humor those among us here in the city who offer the precise opposite as the appropriate option? You know who I'm talking about, don't you?

Guest blogger Jackie Green: Louisville is planning for the future ... as long as you drive a car, at Insider Louisville

 ... Given the percentage of our population who do not own cars, Dan Jones’ statement – “Louisville residents benefit from a rich menu of public park experiences — for young and old, regardless of income” – not only rings hollow, but also insults those too young to drive, those too old to drive, those too poor to drive, those too ill to drive, those not permitted to drive and those who choose not to drive.

Kerry Stemler to Louisville mayoral candidates: "Pardon, but resistance is futile, and those bridges go through me. Got it?"

According to The 'Ville Voice blog, Hal Heiner, the Republican candidate for mayor of Louisville, has unearthed five big ideas, one of which addresses transportation:

Begin Construction on the East End Bridge by the End of the First Term: Facing uncertainty over whether Louisvillians will be asked to pay up to $3 in tolls to finance a “two-bridges” project, Hal is prepared to evaluate all options, including streamlining the project to an affordable level. The time has come to move ahead with the East End Bridge ...

The Greg Fischer (D) camp already has said something in nearly the same words. Evidently both Heiner and Fischer harbor the notion that the elected mayor of Louisville should have a part in the process, although this should not be confused embracing the correct position.

Predictably, independent Jackie Green is the only candidate having much of anything sensible to say about transportation (or, for that matter, anything at all). Green supports building world class public transportation first, and various bridges second, if at all, and probably never. Green's platform is fresh garlic to One Southern Indiana's ravenous vampire, and as such, the latter surely appreciates a river separating the two.

Meanwhile, WFPL reports that the Hoosier who hired Michael Dalby says that Louisville's mayoral hopefuls had best stay in their places.

Candidates for mayor of Louisville have expressed interest in controlling part of the Ohio River Bridges Project. But that may not be possible, as decisions about the project are made by the bi-state bridges authority.

Authority co-chair Kerry Stemler says the body will work with the new mayor to put together a timeline for construction that will affect tolls and the overall cost of the project. So calls for low tolls from Democrat Greg Fischer and Republican Hal Heiner can be heard.

Independent Jackie Green favors shelving the project to build better public transit. Stemler says that, or any other redesign, likely can’t happen at the mayor’s behest.

“This project is too big and too important for any one individual to stand in his way,” he says. “If an elected official in either state changes tomorrow or after the elections, then we’ll try our best to work with that particular individual.”

That's mighty gracious of Stemler, who's talking more like someone in charge of a military dictatorship than a construction project. Presumably, local elected officials in Southern Indiana should take the precaution of clearing their legislative initiatives with Stemler, and only after doing so, even remotely consider the wishes of the electorate.

If anyone can find the Courier's endorsement of Stemler for mayor of Southern Indiana or Louisville, or the election results that elevated him, please contact me. I can't seem to recall either occurring.

Previously at NAC: Jackie Green for mayor...of New Albany, if necessary.

Jackie Green for mayor...of New Albany, if necessary.

Green sitting for the C-J editorial boors is akin to Julian Bond keynoting a Tea Party convention but if he doesn't win over there, there's plenty of time to establish residency over here and we have a couch open.

Jackie Green in LEO: "Quit blaming cyclists."

While we're on the topic of foreshadowing, last week's LEO contained an excellent commentary by Louisville cycling advocate Jackie Green. It's valuable information for those who have undertaken the daily struggle to co-exist with America's "my car as extension of my phallus" mentality.

Just yesterday, I came close to an encounter that perfectly illustrates Jackie's point. I was riding through Coffeyville northbound on West 7th, and stopped at the Spring Street four-way. Two pickups were headed west. The first stopped as required ahead of me, and rolled on through. The second followed close behind with his blinker (how rare is that?) indicating a turn onto northbound 7th, and I could see from my vantage point that the driver was looking down and to his right (north), without once looking south to see if anyone else (me) was stopped at the intersection.

There were no other cars, so I eased slowly into the intersection. There was never a chance of contact because I was fully aware, but just the same, he never once looked up, and never once came to a full stop until he was within a few feet of me, at which point he finally glanced, slammed on the brakes and motioned at me to go ahead.

Duh.

I could see immediately that (a) he had been talking on the phone using some manner of headphones, and (b) his attention had been distracted by the gyrations of a miniscule dog. As I moved on, I said aloud, "I know," in the sense of yes, it certainly is my turn if you'd bother paying attention. Had I been another vehicle, he'd have known.

Of course, that couldn't be the end of it. He roared a few yards ahead of me, stopped, and began yelling: "You have a problem? I didn't see you! I told you to go on! What's your problem? People make mistakes!"

(yap yap yap, went the little dog/rat)

To Jackie's list of tips for survival on local roads, I'd add this: Learn to use a rearview mirror. I use one that clips onto my eyeglasses, and there are models for attaching to the helmet (wear one!) and the handlebars.

Bicycling safety and the law

Recent cyclist deaths and the newly launched “Street Sense” campaign — a city-backed program promoting road awareness — demand an alternative perspective.

Cyclists are threatened, injured and killed because:

1) Drivers drink; 2) car brakes fail; 3) roads are not always dry; 4) passengers, food, phones and on-board electronics distract drivers; 5) drivers are blinded by sunlight, car lights, and dirty, wet or icy windshields; 6) drivers lose control of their vehicles; 7) the medicated, the angry, the infirm and the stupid all drive cars.

None of the above is dependent upon “respect” commanded by the behavior of cyclists. Quit blaming cyclists.