Plaid Friday 1: Speaking of localism, remember when that paving guy launched his boycott of toll opponents?

Last week, an unexpected e-mail landed in my box.

Alas, when I followed the link, the request had disappeared. To be honest, it had been a very long time since I thought about Mr. Coe and his boycott. Let's revisit it. It was July, 2011, and the text of the original posting at NA Confidential appears in its entirety. There was a follow-up with Coe's reply: "If you’re going to argue 'no tolls' be fair and honest."

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At long last, an oligarch's toady who is honest in his vituperation.


All the digging credit goes to Curt Morrison and his Louisville Courant blog for uncovering these delicious gems of wisdom from Spencer Coe, Vice President at Gohmann "We Fought the Guvmint, and the Guvmint Won" Asphalt, which of course stands to reap vast and mind-boggling profits from various components of the bridges boondoggle.

Indiana businesses boycotted by VP of crooked contractor

Spencer B. Coe, the Vice President of Gohmann Asphalt, through comments on a Business First poll on the Bridges Project, has launched a boycott against toll opponents. Specifically, he's named businesses like Buckhead's, Rocky's, Clark County Auto Auction, that he believes he can do without.

Here's a Coe defense of his kneejerk boycott notion, which appeared as a comment at Louisville Courant.

I stand by my position, those who support the ORBP should not support the businesses of those who do not. I can choose where to spend my money and it will not be with businesses that actively oppose investment in the future of our region, I suggest the same for all ORBP supporters.

In the same comment thread, NA Confidential's Jeff Gillenwater answered.

If that's how Coe wants to play, then play.

What that means, of course, is that an overwhelming majority of people in the region would not do business with Gohmann Asphalt, including hundreds of area businesses and all the local governments who have issued statements, signed petitions, and/or passed resolutions against current ORBP plans.

Gohmann competes for local contracts worth hundreds of thousands in New Albany alone. Removing them from the bid list, though, is no problem if that's how their VP wants to handle it.

In an earlier comment at Facebook, Coe widened the geographic scope to include our own charming New Albany.

Please someone tell me how this will adversely affect Southern Indiana? Smooth flowing traffic on I 65 will adversely impact downtown New Albany and Grant Line Road businesses? The inability of some in Southern Indiana to see outside their "back yard" is frightening!

Impact? I'm glad he brought up that word, which has become a favorite of mine. I took a slightly softer approach in answering.

Spencer, what you might do is stand in my shoes for just a moment. As operator of a small independent retail business that does not derive governmental income for massive construction projects, but rather must convince diners/drinkers/shoppers to come to Indiana from Louisville to spend their discretionary income, I know how very hard it is to do just that. They don't have to come here; I must convince them. Charge them a fee to do it, and for many, game over. Until you and other toll proponents truly GET this reality, we'll continue being at odds.

Which reminds me, it is now 205 days since Jerry Finn of the Bridges Authority, in a conversation with me at the Muhammad Ali Center, conceded that no economic impact study on the effects of tolling on Southern Indiana small businesses had been done or even contemplated, but that he would henceforth urge such a study: Tolling Authority "input" session utterly without the redeeming presence of strong liquor.

Has he?

Have they?

Has anyone?

As for Spencer Coe, I'm sure he well understands the potential economic impact on Gohmann Asphalt if the company were to be frozen out of the bidding process for those huge infrastructure projects that constitute its bottom-line bread and butter. Alas, his boycott threat is hollow; Coe suggests "the same for all ORBP supporters," but since statistically, there are a few dozen such supporters at most scattered throughout the metro area, I'm not exactly set aquiver at the prospect of self-immolation on the Public House lawn.

Sadly and predictably, what Coe and other Ohio River Bridges Project proponents cannot seem to fathom, dazzled as they are by Ayn Rand's erotic attraction to steel, concrete, asphalt, and moreover, the velvety feel of crisp green slices paper pressed into one's hand in a One Southern Indiana conference room toilet stall, is that those of us down here in muddy bottom lands, rooting around for stray trickle-backs from the oligarchs, clearly see the economic impact of tolling because we live it, every single day.

We know that an economic impact study would amply illustrate tolling's obvious harm to small business in Southern Indiana, to our working commuters who must travel to Louisville and back, and to those Hoosiers least able to afford tolls, period.

At the same December meeting as my chat with Finn, David Nicklies wagged his finger at me and said that everyone must sacrifice to make possible the saving grace of the ORBP. What I asked him, and what I've continued to ask, is this: Why must residents of Southern Indiana sacrifice far more for less benefit?

It is a question that remains unanswered by Hoosier bridges fetishists, Spencer Coe now prominent among them.

Ludicrous ORBP, Volume 763: "Kentucky: Where designed obsolescence is boss."

Give 'em hell, Curt ... then again, just tell the truth about the Ohio River Bridges Project and they'll think it's hell.

'We'll take two Tunnels of Death with a side of tolls'- says the Ohio River Bridges Project

Each proposed East End tunnel is planned to be 40' wide.

There is a curious detail hidden in the tunnel construction plans for the Eastern connection of the Ohio River Bridges Project. 

Brownsboro Road diet: Greg Fischer gets one right.

Two accounts of a positive resolution to the mildly controversial Brownsboro Road "diet", as noted by The Ville Voice and Louisville Courant. The latter's piece a few days back was mentioned here: Road diets: Abhorred from Indian Hills to Karolus Magnus. Is anyone in New Albany city government following this issue? We need major road diets right here, and right now.

The White Flighters Lost On Brownsboro Road

June 1st, 2012 by jake · 2 Comments

Just like that, the white flighters lost their battle to drive 900MPH on Brownsboro Road:

JUNE 1, 2012

Mayor Greg Fischer does right thing, gives Brownsboro Road Diet green light!

Compliments of CART

ZOMG. SOMETHING GOOD HAPPENED! 

Dealing from a stacked Bridges deck.

Courier-Journal reporter Marcus Green begins the deconstruction of Louisville and Southern Indiana Bridges Authority Chairman Charles Buddeke's conflicts of interest...

Potential bridges contractor looking at using Buddeke land, by Marcus Green, Courier-Journal.

A construction firm angling for work on new Ohio River bridges wants to locate a building and shipping yard on property owned by the family of the chairman of the agency that will select the project’s lead contractors.

Greenville, S.C.-based Fluor Enterprises is negotiating to use land along River Road controlled by a Buddeke family company, according to a June 28 letter from Fluor’s business development director, made public as part of an effort to change the property’s zoning.

Paul Buddeke is president of the Buddeke Co. and its subsidiary River Road Terminals. His brother Charles is chairman of the Louisville and Southern Indiana Bridges Authority, which is in charge of financing and constructing the Ohio River Bridges Project.

and Louisville Courant's Curtis Morrison provides further documentation, rightfully asking why Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear would appoint such a conflicted person in the first place.

Watch to see Charles Buddeke resign , at Louisville Courant.

Considering there are over 4 million people in Kentucky who do not stand to directly profit from the project, it is a testament to Beshear's resourcefulness that he was able to find an appointment who would.

My own joy comes from Buddeke himself who, when asked about the conflict, says “if that becomes a problem I can just...recuse myself from the process.” After years of insisting sans evidence that the Bridges Project has majority support and lying about both the number of jobs the project will create and the inability to make changes to it without starting from scratch (you know, "the process"), Buddeke says, "It's OK, just trust me."

As Morrison suggests, Kentucky gubernatorial politics may make questions of a possible Buddeke resignation from the Bridges Authority more prominent in local news. My question, though, given the level of purposeful misdirection prominent throughout "the process", is why that resignation call shouldn't be aimed at all Authority members.

At long last, an oligarch's toady who is honest in his vituperation.

All the digging credit goes to Curt Morrison and his Louisville Courant blog for uncovering these delicious gems of wisdom from Spencer Coe, Vice President at Gohmann "We Fought the Guvmint, and the Guvmint Won" Asphalt, which of course stands to reap vast and mind-boggling profits from various components of the bridges boondoggle.

Indiana businesses boycotted by VP of crooked contractor

Spencer B. Coe, the Vice President of Gohmann Asphalt, through comments on a Business First poll on the Bridges Project, has launched a boycott against toll opponents. Specifically, he's named businesses like Buckhead's, Rocky's, Clark County Auto Auction, that he believes he can do without.

Here's a Coe defense of his kneejerk boycott notion, which appeared as a comment at Louisville Courant.

I stand by my position, those who support the ORBP should not support the businesses of those who do not. I can choose where to spend my money and it will not be with businesses that actively oppose investment in the future of our region, I suggest the same for all ORBP supporters.

In the same comment thread, NA Confidential's Jeff Gillenwater answered.

If that's how Coe wants to play, then play.

What that means, of course, is that an overwhelming majority of people in the region would not do business with Gohmann Asphalt, including hundreds of area businesses and all the local governments who have issued statements, signed petitions, and/or passed resolutions against current ORBP plans.

Gohmann competes for local contracts worth hundreds of thousands in New Albany alone. Removing them from the bid list, though, is no problem if that's how their VP wants to handle it.

In an earlier comment at Facebook, Coe widened the geographic scope to include our own charming New Albany.

Please someone tell me how this will adversely affect Southern Indiana? Smooth flowing traffic on I 65 will adversely impact downtown New Albany and Grant Line Road businesses? The inability of some in Southern Indiana to see outside their "back yard" is frightening!

Impact? I'm glad he brought up that word, which has become a favorite of mine. I took a slightly softer approach in answering.

Spencer, what you might do is stand in my shoes for just a moment. As operator of a small independent retail business that does not derive governmental income for massive construction projects, but rather must convince diners/drinkers/shoppers to come to Indiana from Louisville to spend their discretionary income, I know how very hard it is to do just that. They don't have to come here; I must convince them. Charge them a fee to do it, and for many, game over. Until you and other toll proponents truly GET this reality, we'll continue being at odds.

Which reminds me, it is now 205 days since Jerry Finn of the Bridges Authority, in a conversation with me at the Muhammad Ali Center, conceded that no economic impact study on the effects of tolling on Southern Indiana small businesses had been done or even contemplated, but that he would henceforth urge such a study: Tolling Authority "input" session utterly without the redeeming presence of strong liquor.

Has he?

Have they?

Has anyone?

As for Spencer Coe, I'm sure he well understands the potential economic impact on Gohmann Asphalt if the company were to be frozen out of the bidding process for those huge infrastructure projects that constitute its bottom-line bread and butter. Alas, his boycott threat is hollow; Coe suggests "the same for all ORBP supporters," but since statistically, there are a few dozen such supporters at most scattered throughout the metro area, I'm not exactly set aquiver at the prospect of self-immolation on the Public House lawn.

Sadly and predictably, what Coe and other Ohio River Bridges Project proponents cannot seem to fathom, dazzled as they are by Ayn Rand's erotic attraction to steel, concrete, asphalt, and moreover, the velvety feel of crisp green slices paper pressed into one's hand in a One Southern Indiana conference room toilet stall, is that those of us down here in muddy bottom lands, rooting around for stray trickle-backs from the oligarchs, clearly see the economic impact of tolling because we live it, every single day.

We know that an economic impact study would amply illustrate tolling's obvious harm to small business in Southern Indiana, to our working commuters who must travel to Louisville and back, and to those Hoosiers least able to afford tolls, period.

At the same December meeting as my chat with Finn, David Nicklies wagged his finger at me and said that everyone must sacrifice to make possible the saving grace of the ORBP. What I asked him, and what I've continued to ask, is this: Why must residents of Southern Indiana sacrifice far more for less benefit?

It is a question that remains unanswered by Hoosier bridges fetishists, Spencer Coe now prominent among them.

Trust, verification and whether we'll see an economic impact study on tolling.

Yes, it's true: I was prodding. Curt seems always to notice such behavior ...

Several of us were briefly acquainted with Vaughan Scott some years ago, when he did a productive turn as Bluegrass Brewing Company's general manager. A few lifetimes later, he's the new 1Si chair, I'm a habitual provocateur, and we're trying to work through what might politely be termed habitat issues (his and mine are not exactly the same, although not completely different, either) as part of a conversation about Russian and Soviet history, leadership, reform and the topic of mobility solutions.

Mayor Fischer lobbying River Fields? /Economic impact study on tolling?, at Louisville Courant.

... And the 2nd drama I noticed unfolding today, on twitter no less, is also Ohio River Bridges Project-related. The incoming One Southern Indiana Chair, Vaughan Scott has expressed, at Roger Baylor's (@newalbanian) prodding, that he's calling for an "economic impact study" on how tolls will effect our regional economy. This study, if commissioned soon, would not hold up the project, but could be completed while we await the results of the environmental study currently underway:

From Louisville Courant: More on "Benny Breeze" and the backtrackin' Vaughan Scott.

It didn't require Hercule Poirot to sniff a connection between Vaughan "1Si Values" Scott, the fictional "Benny Breeze", and Greater Louisville Inc.'s Joe Reagan. If you believe in following the money all the way back to the oligarchs, then keep an eye on Kerry Stemler, too. Just wait for it; it'll come.

Thanks to Curt Morrison for keeping this ball in the air.

Benny Backtrackin' Breeze

Earlier in the week, this blog highlighted two peculiar aspects of the bizarre "Benny Breeze" campaign.

(Fictional character, Benny Breeze created with undisclosed funding source, to manipulate public)

Benny Breeze proposes a pro-bridges pogram, but at least No2BridgeTolls is still fighting the idiocy.

Before turning to the meeting announcement from No2BridgeTolls, kindly take note of this story, as broken at Curt Morrison's blog, Louisville Courant.

Fictional character, Benny Breeze created with undisclosed funding source, to manipulate public

Curt's post details the Benny Breeze project, a surprisingly semi-literate effort given the artistic qualifications trumpeted by its creators, although as this passage amply illustrates, the theme behind Benny Breeze is just as anti-democratic and strong-armed as one might imagine simplistic propaganda from Stemlerites to be:

Our team respects and appreciates other people's opinion's; however, we believe that the risks given the current condition of the bridges too high at this juncture to discuss and debate alternatives, that cannot be incorporated swiftly and efficiently with the current plans. We believe that as a community we must work collectively and swiftly to eliminate this threat as promptly as possible. Along the way we would hope that other opinions and ideas would be considered so long as the overall process is not delayed by unnecessary debate.

Echoing Curt, clearly note that in this phrasing, opinions are just threats, which not unlike termites, need eliminating. Debate is unnecessary, especially in a state of emergency. Presumably, Constitutions and other restrictions are not relevant at such times.

If this isn't fascism, I don't know what is, and the relative youth of the project's progenitors surely cannot be cited as an excuse for displaying historical ignorance of this magnitude. What's next, Vaughan Scott? Perhaps a nice Kristallnacht for tolling opponents? We do have it coming, right? After all, we keep asking questions, and behaving like vermin.

Meanwhile, and fortunately given the passage above, No2BridgeTolls keeps on trucking.

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No2BridgeTolls Plans Strategic Public Meeting June 21, 2011

6 PM Buckhead Mountain Grill, Riverside Drive in Jeffersonville

No2bridgetolls.org founders and supporters are hosting a public meeting on June 21st at Buckhead Mountain Grill on Riverside Drive in Jeffersonville to inform supporters of strategic initiatives in advance of the upcoming June 27 and 28th Bridges Authority public meetings. The No2BridgeTolls.org meeting will start with networking at 5:30 and the meeting will begin at 6 p.m.

"We feel that we have made progress in our efforts to stop tolls on the I-65 Kennedy Corridor, but the fight is not over,” said No2BridgeTolls.org co-founder Paul Fetter. The purpose of this meeting is to bring supporters up to date on our efforts and to prepare the public for the Bridges Authority June 27th and 28th meetings which will be held on both sides of the river,” Fetter added.

“Tolls are bad for families and businesses and we are calling on elected and appointed leaders to continue efforts to pare down this project to a reasonable and affordable plan that does not require tolls. Specifically, we are asking Governors Daniels and Beshear, as well as Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer to find additional or alternative funding to take tolls off the table,” said Fetter.

“The logical answer would be to reduce the project cost,” said Co-Founder Wes Johnson, Jr. “We know that the project can be changed based on recent announcements, despite the original Record of Decision, and we urge elected officials to prioritize this issue and take a stand for the working people who have to cross the river daily,” said Johnson. "Our group formed because tolling our existing infrastructure and transportation routes would divide our river city, and we have thousands of people who support our position,” he added.

About No2BridgeTolls.org

We are a broad-based coalition of businesses, organizations and private individuals who are opposed to tolls on the I-65 Corridor/Kennedy Bridges System. We have formed under the entity of “Organization for a Better Southern Indiana, Inc.” (OBSI.) Our purpose is to educate the public of the true impact of the current proposed bridge toll on both sides of the river. We are a 501-C6 non-profit organization that has been formed for the purpose of disseminating information. We are not against the bridges—just tolls or user fees on the I-65 Corridor/Kennedy Bridges System, which will divide our community, be a regressive tax that our citizens and businesses cannot afford, and will adversely affect the local economy, disproportionately affecting Southern Indiana.

For more information, contact Paul Fetter (812) 283-5555, ext. 27 or Chris McCarty (502) 419-3135 ... No2BridgeTolls.org

Pots and kettles throughout Kentuckiana quiver as Kerry Stemler sneers: "Uninspired, uneducated, non-committed people."

Nice cameos, Curt; NAC appreciates it. Louisville Courant has the whole story here: "...uninspired, uneducated, non-committed people"- Kerry Stemler.

At Thursday morning's Tolling Authority meeting, the finance committee delivered to all the Authority members the draft of the proposed financing plan, that I guess they aren't planning on revealing to us until the December 13 public meeting, just 3 days before they vote on it.

Of course the most annoying question asked to the Authority members was a result of a press release sent out earlier Thursday morning: Say NO to Bridge Tolls calls for Tolling Authority to comply w/ Beshear's ethics order before December 16th vote approving tolls.