ON THE AVENUES: His nose knows tolls and polls (2010).

ON THE AVENUES: His nose knows tolls and polls (2010).

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

Let's turn back that forever unforgiving stuck-in-the-70s New Albany alarm clock to October 21, 2010, and the following essay from the time of my employment (yes, they actually paid a few farthings) as pre-merger New Albany Tribune columnist. It has never appeared here previously.

Surveying the 2010 bridge tolling contestants, we see that Dalby, Price, Garry, Daniels and Grooms have long since swapped jobs, the latter now afflicting us with Chamber of Commerce envy in his second term as state senator, but either Chuck Freiberger or Jeff Gahan is going to take care of this in 2018 -- right?

Kerry Stemler, prime architect of the approaching bridge toll regime, remains in place as a well-groomed, obsequious and venerated regional figure of the country club set. His toll fetish is about to come to glorious fruition, but before this happens there'll be another potentially momentous event.

As readers already know, I'm a member of the current Leadership Southern Indiana class, and on the 19th is Economy & Commercial Enterprise Day. In the morning, we'll be touring the Port of Indiana, and one of our guides will be none other than Stemler, the gray eminence himself.

I'm giddy. Positively giddy. Now, back to the future, yet again.

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His nose knows tolls and polls.

October 21, 2010

Doublethink: A simultaneous belief in two contradictory ideas (Orwell).
-- Merriam Webster Dictionary

One Southern Indiana’s well-tailored chairman, Michael Dalby, stood before New Albany’s city council, a fractious and generally dysfunctional entity, one nonetheless transformed for the occasion into a veritable firing line of incisive questioning.

Huh? Evidently I’d missed a turn near Albuquerque.

At stake was payment to 1Si for vague economic development “services” previously rendered, for which Dalby advanced colorfully apocryphal claims, none accompanied by the slightest documentation, to the overall effect that without 1Si, New Albanians would be living in yurts on the Mongolian steppe, subsisting on fermented mare’s milk and, for entertainment, watching beetles copulate.

Eventually Steve Price zeroed in, embracing the campaign issue that seemingly came from nowhere this summer, but really didn’t, and asked (I’m paraphrasing): How can the current council financially support an organization that advocates tolling existing bridges to pay for the colossal Ohio River Bridges Project?

A well-rehearsed Dalby did not hesitate.

"We are not in favor of tolls. Nobody is in favor of tolls. That's not something we want to see happen."

A tremor ominously rumbled in all directions, and half a world away, a game of yak polo halted abruptly as the riders reached for their furiously stuttering BS Meters.

Back here in New Albany, after a hyper-kinetic bout of Duck Duck Goose, our council members approved a reduced stipend for 1Si and sent Dalby back to his executive suite. If I were Kay Garry, I’d stop payment on the check.

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I say this because Dalby’s miraculous election eve conversion to tender, merciful concern for the pocketbooks of Southern Indiana plebeians doesn’t just strain one’s credulity.

It splits, breaks, smashes, mangles, incinerates, lacerates and spits in the very eye of credulity. Let’s avoid that other nasty “L” word, and say merely that Liberties with the truth are being taken. As such, kindly permit me to provide the sort of forensic evidence generally lacking when 1Si’s dampened palm comes at you, outstretched.

Here’s Michael Dalby in a press release that was quoted on April 15, 2010, in “The Ville Voice” on-line blog. His memo extols the virtues of the ORBP, and devotes hundreds of words to buffing and polishing the act of tolling, just in case a stray, ordinary soul in Kentuckiana might somehow notice that tolls were being considered as a financing option.

“We support the process that has been put in place by both Kentucky and Indiana – the formation of the Bi-State Authority – and giving them the ability to review any and all funding options … If viable funding options emerge that don’t include tolling, we fully support that approach. Nobody wants to pay tolls. However, if including high-speed electronic tolling is the only way to fund the project and get it built in a timely manner, then we will accept a funding solution that includes tolling.”

It is doublethink, writ large. Dalby now asks us to believe simultaneously in two contradictory ideas: That 1Si is “not in favor” of tolls and also “supports the process” of the unelected Bi-State Authority, which has the unimpeded power to levy tolls on existing bridges to finance the monstrosity of the ORBP.

And from whom does this unimpeded authority’s unelected power derive? From Indiana’s and Kentucky’s elected officials, foremost among them Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who clearly indicated his bridges project position in a video interview with the Courier-Journal (August 25, 2010):

“I don’t think anybody’s got even a wildly unrealistic plan that doesn't involve tolls."

To enforce discipline as Bi-State Authority capo to the governor’s folksy star turn as Hoosier Godfather, Daniels previously anointed local businessman, 1Si shadow government stalwart and Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana theocratic apologist Kerry Stemler.

While customarily operating on the hazy periphery preferred by traditional regional power elites, Stemler appears in daylight every now and then to utter fearsome non-negotiable bromides, as in his most recent public pronouncement on tolling in a Tribune article by Braden Lammers on October 9, 2010:

“I’ve studied this long enough. Tolling, for this to get built, will be a part of the project.”

No wonder the equestrian athletes in Arvaikheer tugged at their mustaches as the word “tilt” lit up their bovine manure detection devices.

Daniels says, “Tolls.”

Stemler says, “Tolls.”

The Bi-State Authority appointed by politicos to make tolling decisions without that minor, nagging democratic principle of polling, say, “Tolls.”

1Si’s Dalby says, “No tolls” and “Tolls,” simultaneously, and expects us to buy it. Doddering old Geppetto, among others, knows exactly what’s about to happen. But what about the Jeffersonville councilman, Ron “Profiles in Abstention” Grooms?

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Grooms, also a candidate for District 46 Indiana Senate, gave us a valuable pre-election glimpse of his legislative prowess last Monday.

On colleague Keith Fetz’s compromise resolution, revised to specify the council’s opposition to tolls on existing bridges, as opposed to future tolls on freshly built ORBP bridges, Grooms heroically … abstained. The resolution passed.

On a motion requesting that the Jeffersonville city council attorney convey to One Southern Indiana the council’s concern with 1Si's partisan endorsements, and to request clarification of such political skullduggery in light of the council's annual $30,000 support level, Grooms courageously ... abstained once more, and the motion also passed.

Perhaps Grooms discerned a troubling conflict of interest in questioning the same ham-fisted political action committee that endorsed him. Fortunately for voters, divestment from 1Si and its hand-picked slate of candidates is a simple, elegant solution to doublethink in all its banality.

Isn’t there an election soon?

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September 29: ON THE AVENUES 3-PK, PART THREE: Survey says … Irv’s street grid agitprop won’t be putting Diogenes out of work any time soon.

September 29: ON THE AVENUES 3-PK, PART TWO: Inkem binkem notamus rex, protect us all from the city (still) with the hex (2014).

September 29: ON THE AVENUES 3-PK, PART ONE: Chocolate covered frozen banana republic, or "understanding" Harvest Homecoming, our peculiar institution (2014).

September 22: ON THE AVENUES: On two-way streets, a modest proposal for the consideration of my disoriented one-way counterpart.

ON THE AVENUES: Whips, chains and economic development (2010).

ON THE AVENUES: Whips, chains and economic development (2010).

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Here’s a flashback from August, 2010.

It’s been five years since this column appeared in the pre-merger New Albany Tribune, and it remains fairly topical, although both Michael Dalby and Steve Price are gone, to be replaced by Wendy Dant-Chesser and Greg Phipps, respectively.

NABC paid back the revolving Horseshoe loan on time, in five years. 

Jeff Gahan? He was elected mayor in 2011, and will leave office at the end of 2015 as the biggest-spending in New Albany’s history.

Late note to 1Si: We may need that $70,000 back, because eventually, the water park’s going to need scrubbing.

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Dear reader:

Recently I confided that city council meetings no longer were atop the “must do” list posted on the Baylor household’s refrigerator door. I remarked to one of my lawyer friends that since refraining from attending these tragic-comic legislative follies, my IQ was creeping back up.

He said, “Let me know when it gets to 80.”

Imagine my amusement upon learning that even when I’m not present to monitor the council’s shenanigans, my name comes up, as it did on August 2 when Michael Dalby of One Southern Indiana (1Si ) made his annual journey from the outer reaches of the Latino-manicured, McMansioned exurb to the council’s bilious, spittle-flecked rostrum, beige fedora in hand, to beg money from the perpetually cash-strapped body.

To Steve Price’s credit, he probably started voting “no” when he saw Dalby parking his car.

With the connivance of 6th district councilman Jeff Gahan, whose electoral acreage lies slightly closer to 1Si’s primary clients in River Ridge, Dalby came before the council with a sheaf of satellite photos showing formerly green Floyd County spaces that have recently been bulldozed and filled with concrete, all the better to claim credit and remuneration for 1Si as facilitator of economic development.

According to witnesses, and for reasons known only to the land developers who name their subdivisions for whatever physical feature they obliterated to build them, Dalby inserted my own Bank Street Brewhouse into a discussion with councilman Dan Coffey, evidently to refute the latter’s allegation that while 1Si may perform occasional good deeds, it secretively doles out largess without first asking for Coffey’s neo-papal stamp of approval.

Dalby responded by mentioning that even such a persistent blog critic of 1SI as Roger himself had come aboard the regional development machine to derive benefit from the affiliation. The presumption, whether stated or not, is that it’s never personal, just business, when it comes to turning a buck.

As usual, the truth is more nuanced than that.

It is a matter of public record that in 2009, Bank Street Brewhouse was approved for a piece of the Horseshoe Foundation’s revolving loan to business, which is only administered by 1Si. Breaking with longstanding precedent, and although not required to do so, we decided to join 1Si and see, for once, whether standing inside the tent might be useful.

Having done so, I can say that the area outside the tent is more to my liking, especially when nature calls.

Membership in 1Si has been a mixed bag, and I doubt we’ll remain when the next bill comes due. There have been a few good networking opportunities, and I’ve made the acquaintance of younger 1Si operatives who genuinely seem to “get it,” but 1Si’s overall position reflects an internal star chamber’s non-democratic advocacy of flawed positions reflecting old political power structure privileges and profits, rather than innovative solutions to regional problems.

For instance, there is the Godzilla-esque boondoggle of the Ohio River Bridges Project, which 1Si supports with a zeal bordering on the religious, and which will require tolls on existing bridges that plainly will discriminate against working Hoosiers while fatally impeding the flow of commerce into Indiana from Kentucky, all for the sake of a “fix” that will be outmoded long before completion.

Green, future-oriented, regional transportation alternatives, anyone? Don’t ask 1Si to espouse them. In a world of solar panels, 1Si is mining coal with pick and shovel.

Surprisingly, Coffey’s point was merited, if characteristically muddled. Yes, Bob Caesar’s vote surely was a conflict of interest, and legitimate questions of whether a governmental body should hand cash to any “economic development” entity without bidding the work were ignored.

Still, the question for Coffey (and you) to ask the five council members who voted in favor of $70,000 doled out to 1Si is this: Tolling to pay for the bridges disaster will disproportionately hurt Southern Indiana, so unless we’re all sadomasochists, why would we pay entities like 1Si to hurt our interests – to damage us?

Can’t we hurt ourselves without paying for outside help? Haven’t we, for years?

Conversely, if the council reverses field and decides to use its $75,000 economic development grant as it originally said it would, rather than as it voted to on August 2, I’d like to submit a bid, billable to my consulting company, Potable Curmudgeon, Inc.

I’ve already asked Pete at Digital Resource Center in downtown New Albany to help with the estimate.

We’ll be publishing a couple hundred glossy ringed binders filled with testimonials, pie graphs, statistics, and artfully retouched 1Si press releases. Sleekly professional, though not ostentatious, their design will befit the buttoned-down aspirations of self-respecting Southern Indiana CEOs, each of whom can be counted upon to strategically place the unopened binder on one corner of their desks, where its multi-colored ubiquity will attest to the veracity of the contents.

The beauty of Potable Curmudgeon Inc.’s plan, which we’re calling “Res ipsa loquitur, Southern Indiana,” is that its existence is definitive proof of its value. The binders will serve as unimpeachable evidence of economic development success. Why? Because the binder says so.

Can we prove any of it? Of course … you DO have a binder in your hands, right? What more proof do you need?

If the city council acts today, Potable Curmudgeon Inc. will extend a remarkable 50% reduction to just $35,000 for regional economic development, renewable each and every year, and with binders available in a wide range of different colors to satisfy the interior décor of local corporate headquarters.

Except green.

For some reason, it’s just not a popular color around here.

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Recent columns:

August 20: ON THE AVENUES: In the groove.

August 13: ON THE AVENUES: It’s time to purge two-party politics and tie the community together.

August 10: ON THE AVENUES SPECIAL EDITION: When it comes to the RCI, can the RDA opt out of the RFRA?

August 6: ON THE AVENUES: Money is the ultimate bully.

July 30: ON THE AVENUES: Homegrown New Albany, but not in a good way.

July 23: ON THE AVENUES: A citizen's eloquent complaint about the parking debacle at River Run reminds us that planners and brooms go hand in hand.

ON THE AVENUES: 1Si, Kerry, ROCK and the gays.

ON THE AVENUES: 1Si, Kerry, ROCK and the gays.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Remember back in 2007, when One Southern Indiana was tying itself in church/state/oligarchy enrichment knots by ineptly seeking to bind itself to the Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana cabal?

Boy, do WE remember it here at NA Confidential. Never, ever has it been any more fun ripping down statues of idols than when 1Si was thrashing in self-Stemler-inflicted Neanderthal agony over Theatair-X.

Great moments in silent film: Michael Dalby throws Kerry Stemler a lifeline.

Did anyone notice that in the end, when it came to clarifying the relationship of One Southern Indiana with Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana, Michael Dalby duly took responsibility for acknowledging the slippery slope that 1SI chairman of the board Kerry Stemler, not Dalby himself, originally commenced sliding down at the ROCK press conference?

Eminences seldom get grayer than Kerry Stemler, nor logic fuzzier than when refracted through the immaculately laundered linen of his privileged white Wonder Bread mind.

In 2007, Stemler was 1Si's Big Chief Tablet Chairman of the Board, and he had decided one morning over Pop-Tarts and Sanka that it would be a great idea to hop into bed with the meddling theocrats and scripture-quoters at ROCK, because doing so might end the vile threat to regional economic development posed by a solitary smut shop in Clarksville -- this being the same Stemler (and the same 1Si) who were conspiring at the very same time to toll those few precious Kentuckians choosing to cross bridges to come to Indiana and spend their money.

Go figure the economic development merits of THAT strategy ... but I digress. We asked:

What does ROCK's theocratic advocacy have to do with economic development, and why is Stemler giving 1SI's imprimatur to a very specific and exclusionary Christian advocacy group?

As soon became hilariously clear, Stemler's choice of churches had been made without the knowledge of 1Si's then-president, Michael Dalby, who in the end was compelled to take the responsibility hit and control the mayhem as Stemler retreated to the board room for another round of Champale and Chef Boyardee, a pairing of champions.

Now the topic is HJR-6, Indiana's lamentable attempt to fuse reactionary clergy with constitutional amendment, and thus stem the tide of rampant buggery and same sex marriage. The organization calling itself Freedom Indiana explains the basis of opposition to this sheer lunacy.

Freedom for all Hoosiers!

We are a statewide bipartisan coalition of businesses, faith leaders, civil rights and community organizations, and individuals united to defeat HJR-6.

This anti-freedom amendment duplicates existing law and would permanently ban all protections for same-sex couples and their families and remove existing protections for unmarried Hoosiers.

Stand with us, and sign the petition to defeat HJR-6!

As documented daily by reputable news organizations across the state, and others with metered paywalls, the momentum against HJR-6 is building quickly, and as the bookseller pointed out earlier in the week, the dominoes continue to fall against the amendment.

INDIANAPOLIS CHAMBER OF COMMERCE COMES OUT AGAINST ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE AMENDMENT

"Indiana's struggles to retain its college graduates are well documented and often acknowledged in the state legislature. Its necessity to ease this "brain drain" by attracting talent on a national scale would be inhibited by adopting an unnecessary, discriminatory amendment with fading support from younger generations.

"As the only potential marriage amendment up for consideration nationwide in 2014, it is important to be mindful of the conspicuous part HJR-6 would play in portraying Indiana as a state that welcomes some, but not all, talented workers."

Forever eager for clarification, I've gone to One Southern Indiana's Facebook page twice in recent weeks to ask whether the organization had yet lifted its quivering finger to the winds of modernity, and as yet, no reply has been forthcoming. It's no wonder, given that 1Si possesses the quaint view of social media wherein communications always are a top-down, one-way street. No doubt such an attitude was copped from the likes of Kerry Stemler himself.

It's an institutional thang, tantamount to a human stain. Nowadays Stemler seems to believe he is the chairman of the board of Southern Indiana as a geopolitical entity, and not just calling plays for 1Si. As such, will he be interfering in this great drama?

Indeed, what happens next?

Will 1Si do the right thing?

Will it do anything at all?

If 1Si actually decides to queue for once on history's correct side, will ROCK subsequently gather its members into a tight circle outside 1Si HQ, douse themselves with petrol -- and then both of them catch on fire?

Can we throw Stemler on that same fire and make it a threesome? Hasn't he done enough damage to the regional societal fabric (as opposed the profitability comforter) for one clueless lifetime?

Let's just say that while hopeful, I'm not holding my breath.

ON THE AVENUES REWOUND: The unelected Mr. Dalby’s bridge politicking (2010).

ON THE AVENUES REWOUND: The unelected Mr. Dalby’s bridge politicking (2010).

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Yesterday the junta of stooges handpicked by the region's oligarchs revealed the starting toll of the Ohio River Bridges Project, at least in terms of what we're expected to pay in order to divide the region ... and don't forget, there's a built-in annual increase.

At a future juncture, we'll begin in earnest the task of discussing civil disobedience strategies. For now, here's a look back at my "Beer Money" column of August 26, 2010, as published in the newspaper, and followed below by three comments appended at the time. 

Note those New Albany city council persons just as confused then as now, as well as other elected "leaders" who advocated for the approaching tolling madness. Recall the cyclical nature of politics, and the possibilities afforded by recurring elections. Think about these matters, and how abysmally these advocates of boondoggling will be gauged by posterity ... and please, mark those ballots accordingly.

What of the departed Dalby? These days, he advocates elsewhere for precisely the sort of public transport and urbanist planning that his former Southern Indiana paymasters reject. Verily, there's nothing worse than a shill without core beliefs ... unless it is his pimp.

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BAYLOR: The unelected Mr. Dalby’s bridge politicking

SOUTHERN INDIANA — When urging a presumably beaten and battered foe to throw in the towel, proponents of questionable positions often cite “inevitability” as the crux of their argument, usually falling prey to flights of derisory condescension, as sprinkled throughout Michael Dalby’s essay in Sunday’s Tribune, titled “There is no ‘highway fairy.’”

Seemingly exasperated, Dalby characterizes opposition to the Ohio River Bridges Project as “demonstrably small” and “delusional” in scope, transfixed by “pretty pictures,” and stubbornly unwilling to accept the irreproachable certainty, the inviolable necessity — the sheer inevitability — of the Ohio River Bridges Project’s two spans, concurrent remaking of Spaghetti Junction, $4 billion price tag, and literally, whatever is required (read: tolling) to facilitate funding for what oddly resembles the totalitarian scale of a Chinese dam project more than transportation solutions for 2060.

Never mind that polls consistently show a majority of respondents on both sides of the river rejecting the “all or nothing” bridge project in favor of an East End bridge. Forget transportation studies contradicting Dalby’s glib factoids on congestion, bottlenecks and toll payment rates. Ignore the reality of Portland, Ore., which looked into a different mirror, eliminated its riverside expressway, installed light rail and now represents palpable reality, demonstrably illustrating 8664’s platform as workable, and not at all “delusional.”

When it comes to mass transit and light rail as options for efficiently moving people in urban areas, Dalby chortles as he proposes someday using automotive traffic lanes on bridges as places to accommodate light rail and bicycles — although only for those sissies who insist on seeking green and healthy alternatives to the real, red-blooded American’s doctrine of one man, one car — forever and ever, amen.

Naturally, the ridiculously inflated price tag for the Ohio River Bridges Project has rendered moot any conceivable plans for sensible mass transit options. Dalby doesn’t mention that. Rather, he deposits all of it into 1si’s exurban landfill, because hey, didn’t you hear it the first time? The Ohio River Bridges Project is inevitable.

You needn’t be a philosophy professor to grasp that Dalby’s argument from inevitability is a form of intellectual bullying. The forces of economic “good” are righteous and immense, conveying iron certainty and superior strength, in this instance not with tanks or guns or fighter planes, but through the massed weight of 1si’s nattily attired cadres of movers and shakers.

If these many bankers, power company executives, realty magnates and construction company owners are united in this faith-based belief of nirvana as added capacity of automotive traffic lanes, who dares stand in their celestial path?

Certainly not you, a nominal plebian, one so far removed from these seats of legitimacy and authority as to have no fundamental concept of such matters as “modest” tolls, which truly successful people should have no trouble paying, especially if they live in the proper gated community and worship at the correct church.

Rather, malcontents like you need to accept wise counsel from your societal elders, line up at the trough when commanded and do as you’re told. It’s a scenario eerily reminiscent of medieval Europe (or Monty Python’s Holy Grail), when flesh-and-blood working men — not gods from afar — built huge, towering cathedrals in the sky, and then watched as their leaders pointed to the very immensity of these structures, to their own handiwork, as irrefutable evidence of a higher power’s inevitability.

How could mere stone cutters and brick layers fathom such grandeur without supernatural sanction? How can mere Hoosier working people driving across the Ohio River to be taxed yet again in Kentucky argue with “modest” tolls to enable the sheer scale of the Bridges Project? How can they disagree with plans conceived and consecrated by the shimmering exurb’s best and brightest?

And why does it matter that the people giving these tolling orders never once appeared on a ballot?

If it was good enough for Charlemagne, it’s good enough for Dalby and 1si’s chairman, Kerry Stemler, who also serves as co-chairman of the extra-governmental, unelected bi-state authority established to foster inevitability by regularly proclaiming it, and who recently responded to tolling reservations on the part of Louisville mayoral candidates with this gem of an all-for-one, one-for-Jonestown thinking:

“This project is too big and too important for any one individual to stand in his way.”

It’s doubtful that Bob Knight knew he was providing a bullet point for Stemler, but when Knight expressed those famous sentiments about the doctrine of inevitability — suggesting that prospective rape victims relax and enjoy the experience — he was giving knee-jerk supporters of the Ohio River Bridges Project an attitude to cop, one sadly endorsed by New Albany city council members Bob Caesar and Kevin Zurschmiede at last Thursday’s meeting.

Both argued that the bridges project is so big, so impressive and so very irrefutable that smaller minds like theirs could have no place in the discussion even if they, not Dalby or Stemler, were elected to do precisely that.

And so we cower in awe as Dalby admonishes us for thinking independently. We humbly bow in simplistic terror as the earth is moved around the river banks and millions of cubic yards of concrete are poured, and we dutifully lower our trousers as we smile and grin at our good fortune to have lived (and most of us surely died) only slightly prior to the happy day when the bridges are finished, and we have achieved the solution to the problems of 2010.

Except that it will be 2060, and for our grandchildren, still dutifully queuing to join 1si and network their way to well-scrubbed success, it’ll be a whole new round of inevitability as our communities rewind, tax, toll, lube and go through the whole shortsighted boondoggle yet another time.

That’s the reality. It is far from inevitable.

Who decides?

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Jeff Gillenwater wrote:
Anyone concerned about public decision making processes having even a modicum of integrity should have been up in arms about the Ohio River Bridges Project years ago regardless of which transportation options they personally favor.

To see so many so-called leaders support assertions that can't stand up to the most basic intellectual rigor is highly symbolic of what the major obstacle to a more successful region really is: a good old boy and gal network that eschews talent and knowledge in favor of maintaining their own privileged positions.

That type of attitude is why people leave for college and never come back. That type of attitude is why it's more difficult to get $50K to start a plumbing company than it is for a developer to get $5 million in government subsidy.

The money goes up and the only thing that trickles down are decisions requiring more money that don't serve the public.

Liberal or conservative, it's time we had more of a say in what's happening to us.

David Mosley wrote:
Thank you Mr. Baylor for this column. In St. Louis they are building an interstate bridge (with comparable interchange challenges) for an estimated $667 Million. (as opposed to our supposed 4.2 Billion dollar price tag.) Google newriverbridge.org/overview and you can find the facts.

We 'plebs' are being sold a bill of goods.

Shawn Reilly wrote:
It is becoming clear that Michael Dalby does not care about this community and is only interested in making money for his Wall Street banker buddies.

Tolls are a regressive tax that will burden the working family of this community and result in billions of dollars in debt to Wall Street Bankers. Tolls will also restrict our communities growth and economic development.

The design and scope of the Ohio River Bridges Project must be reduced to a scale that can be financed without tolls and connects our community in a reasonable and affordable way.

2011 Highlights & Lowlights: Dalby on a bike, somewhere else.

On August 28, Bluegill caught up with our old friend Michael Dalby, who earlier in the year had decamped to Columbus, Ohio -- back when St. Louis was still a glimmer in his GLI counterpart Joe Reagan's overpaid retinas.

Two in the eye for 1Si.

Jeff found Dalby, the former 1Si advocate of our hideously autocentric ORBP, now "out from under the regressive 1Si thumb (and) in Columbus, celebrating a Bike to Work day in support of 2 BY 2012, an initiative whose slogan is 'Change your commute. Change your life. Change your city.'"

As soon as we see Reagan urging the folks in St. Louis to get aboard the city's nice light rail, it will be proven that it's all in the water 'round here.

Two in the eye for 1Si.

Does the man on the left look familiar? It's One Southern Indiana's former president Michael Dalby, who now holds the same position with the Columbus (OH) Chamber of Commerce. Out from under the regressive 1Si thumb, the photo shows Dalby in Columbus celebrating a Bike to Work day in support of 2 BY 2012, an initiative whose slogan is "Change your commute. Change your life. Change your city."

As explained on the Consider Biking web site:

The goal of 2 BY 2012 is for each citizen of central Ohio to bicycle to work 2 days per month by the Columbus bicentennial in 2012.

2 BY 2012 is both a challenge and a movement. If we can rise to the challenge of changing how we get to work, we can start a movement that will significantly benefit our lives and our community.

And it all begins with you: the individual. Whether you are already a cyclist, or are interested in using cycling to improve your health, choose now and join 2 BY 2012.

We can achieve this goal! And when we do, it will mean that Columbus successfully increased its green transportation by 300% — and Columbus would surpass Portland, Oregon as the greenest transportation city in the U.S.

And as noted on the Two Wheeling blog whence the photo came:

It speaks volumes for our CEOs to get out on a day like today to show their friends, families and colleagues that it's not only ok to bike to work, but that biking is a viable, even preferable, form of urban transportation in the 21st century. We all love our cars, but we don't need to use them for short urban trips of 2-5 miles. The Columbus CEO community knows that biking to work and other forms of active transportation are good for their employees and their companies' bottom lines--studies show that employees who bike and walk to work are healthier, happier, more productive and miss less work. Check out http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2010/08/20/walk-cycle-obesity.html. And new economy workers, and the companies that wish to employ them, are increasingly attracted to cities with vibrant, active transportation systems--that's why 2 by 2012 is important to the economic development of our region.

Of course, Dalby's path to such an encouraging stance was smoothed by other civic groups in the region like the League of Women Voters and other Columbus Chamber folks, who facilitated and released a transportation study a little less than a year before he took his newfound reins:

Mobility is a growing priority for consumers—and a growing source of frustration.

Ideally, people should have at least five choices as to mode of transportation: feet, bike, transit, taxi, and private vehicle, along with the ability to mix and match them. It was recommended by Ohio’s 21st Century Transportation Priorities Task Force to “give Ohioans more options for getting where they want to go...by developing a balanced and efficient system that ensures connectivity among all modes of transportation.” The Ohio Department of Transportation website is currently featuring ODOT’ s 2010-2011 Business Plan, which is a follow-up to the task force report.

Steve Tugend of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce told members of the committee that the economic advantages of transit are: 1) It attracts business to the area, 2) It helps retain and grow business, and 3) It builds the capacity for growth by attracting skilled young people to the area. A survey was conducted for the Chamber that found that a good transit system, especially one with fixed guideway, is an important factor in attracting young workers to an area and in keeping them there. (A “fixed guideway” refers to any transit service that uses exclusive or controlled rights of way or rails, entirely or in part. The term includes heavy rail, commuter rail, light rail, monorail, trolleybus, aerial tramway, inclined plane, cable car, automated guideway transit, that portion of motor bus service operated on exclusive or controlled rights-of-way, and high occupancy vehicle [HOV] lanes.)

It is estimated that every $10 million in capital investment for public transportation yields $30 million in increased business sales, and that every $10 million in operating investment for public transportation yields $32 million in increased business sales. Further, every $1 taxpayers invest in public transportation generates $6 in economic returns.

At any rate, it's refreshing to see Dalby advocating for something sensible for a change. Let's just hope the rest of us don't have to take jobs in other cities to experience the positive results.

Who'll darn Kerry Stemler's socks, dust his shelves and make decaf coffee?

It feels very strange, and also giddily liberating, to awaken on a Thursday morning and not immediately post a blog link to my Tribune column. As you know, it has been placed on a shelf in Limboland (a gated community somewhere within the Open Air Museum) while I “campaign” for a city council seat, which reminds me:

Has anyone seen my clown suit?

Speaking of One Southern Indiana, an as usual, my colleague (and campaign manager) Jeff hits the sweet spot over at Facebook:

"Irony Alert ... Columbus Chamber of Commerce study says downtown development and increased public transit are primary strategies to attract and retain talent. I wonder if Michael Dalby will call them delusional on his first day?”

One Southern Indiana chief to resign; Michael Dalby takes similar position in Columbus, Ohio, by David A. Mann (News and Tribune)

Michael Dalby, president and CEO of economic development agency One Southern Indiana, announced he is leaving for a similar position in Columbus, Ohio.

The fact is, he might not. When the symphony cuts your check, you play waltzes by Strauss; at Ryman, it’s the pedal steel.

Over the course of the past five years, as we've jousted early and often with 1Si's imported Texan, it has occasionally forgotten that professional front men are precisely that.

The problem here in Southern Indiana never was Dalby. It isn’t 1Si’s staff, either, many of whom know better. Rather, it was (and remains) the shadowy backroom oligarchs like Kerry Stemler, whose only known stock in trade is familiar, extractive strategies for wealth accumulation, which lead us to $4 billion bridges projects, municipalities footing air conditioning bills for billion dollar multi-nationals, and economic "development" interests playing footsie with the fundamentalist Ayatollahs at ROCK.

If ever there were a case to be made for people power, it is here and now in Southern Indiana. Unfortunately, Dalby used exactly the right word in the wrong context when he uttered his never-to-be-forgotten reference to "delusional." It's going to take a while for us to reason with the chickens who insist that voting for Colonel Sanders, Ron Grooms and Mitch Daniels is a good idea, but if I didn't believe it could be done, we'd be off for exile in Madison, Wisconsin. As the Edge once noted:

Now kings will rule and the poor will toil
And tear their hands as they tear the soil
But a day will come in this dawning age
When an honest man sees an honest wage

Or, as I wrote last night after four pints of progressive justice, bear in mind that the sad white men voting the fundamentalist oligarch's party line in Indianapolis will not succeed in reversing history. Demographics will out. Sorry Ed, sorry Ron. It's all over.

I'll say this for Dalby: Even when the rhetoric was at its most florid, I could always have a conversation with him. I wish him well in Ohio. Next time I’m in Columbus, I honestly hope it’s possible to meet with him and chat. He can even watch me drink for a while.

It’ll be fun, and maybe I won’t have to drive.

ROCK huffs and puffs as Dalby, 1Si hurriedly wash their hands of the Sellersburg Town Council's AEC.

That didn't take long. The story begins here: Juvenile or adult? Sellersburg Town Council sleeps with ROCK, awakes to fleas and incredulity. Thanks T.

As an added bonus, Evening News columnist Debbie Harbeson gets in on the ROCKin’ good time. Anyone seen Steve Burks?

From: Michael Dalby
Date: February 16, 2011 5:03:42 PM EST
To: Recipient
Subject: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

One Southern Indiana releases statement regarding Sellersburg, Indiana’s proposed Adult Entertainment Commission

NEW ALBANY, Ind. – (February 16, 2011) – One Southern Indiana is responding to reports the organization is slated to provide a representative for a proposed Adult Entertainment Commission in Sellersburg, Indiana. Prior to various news reports published on February 15, 2011, neither One Southern Indiana nor its representatives was aware of any plans for such a commission or any requirement that it provide representation.

One Southern Indiana was and continues to be uninvolved in the formation of this commission and cannot comment on how the Sellersburg Town Council determined the validity of this information.

About One Southern Indiana: (snipped)

Dalby panics: Help, I'm being muzzled ... Watership Down to Commandante Stemler ... HQ, they're not listening ...

On election eve, as Clarksville's town council emphatically said "no" to tolls, State Senate candidate, Jeffersonville city council member and 1Si endorsee Ron Grooms continued his campaign-long duck and cover on the topic of bridge tolls.

I've probably never enjoyed voting against someone so much, unless it was ... nah, never mind.

Ironically, Monday evening also proved to be the occasion for Jeffersonville's council to consider greasing One Southern Indiana's sweaty outretched and upturned palm.

Public policy committee apologist Michael Dalby was there to ask for continued payment for non-itemized "services rendered," and according to media accounts by the Tribune's David A. Mann and the C-J's Ben Zion Hershberg, several legislators weren't sounding all that eager to meekly pass the K-Y Jelly.

Evidently 1Si's devolution into political advocacy isn't playing well in Jeffersonville, either. Both media articles mention New Albany's "support" for One Southern Indiana, as described in greater detail in this bit from the NAC archive:

Caesar stars in "conflict of interest" night as council approves, but slashes, bucks to 1Si.

... And then there's Bob Caesar, 1Si member, 1Si advocate, 1Si fan, and sometimes even playing at being a councilman in real life. After exercising the most blatant conflict of interest vote since Benedetti's decision not to absent herself from her brother's real estate zoning appearances, Caesar took advantage of a five minute recess (for the purpose of council members receiving their stipends?) to bound across the room, beaming, and land in Michael Dalby's lap. The last time anyone saw giddiness like that, it was probably the high school prom. Unlike the aftermath of the prom, someone in this instance "got some."

Appropriately, reporter Hershberg manages to locate Jeffersonville's own version of Caesar:

“They have been very good to Jeffersonville,” City Council member Ed Zastawny said of One Southern Indiana at Monday night's meeting. “They have brought a lot of jobs here, they have a right to endorse candidates.”

If readers detect anything approximating logic in Zastawny's jobs-to-endorsement linkage, please kneel in the direction of 1Si and chant, "Huzzah."

Meanwhile, there's the inconvenient matter of council member Grooms, seated on a body that considers monetary support for the organization that endorsed him in his bid for office. Seeing as Grooms' staff at Facebook is nowhere near as efficient with their stained cudgels as Rep. Ed Clere's, I actually was able to post this comment on Grooms' Facebook site:

"Thank you for ducking the tolling issue to the bitter end. Your paymasters at ISi deeply appreciate it. By the way, will you be voting on the council funding to the organization that endorsed you?"

Start your egg timers; I neither (a) expect the comment to stand, nor (b) believe there'll be an answer.

Finally, on the whole topic of 1Si's dizzying descent into a quivering, servile arm of Kerry Stemler's right-wing proclivities, here's my FB status for today:

"The corporate oligarchs and rabid theocratic fundamentalists who pull the Republican party's strings thank you for believing the propaganda and voting GOP. But why ruin a perfectly good day talking about One Southern Indiana?"

Today's Tribune column: "His nose knows tolls and polls.”

Meanwhile, there'll by no Tiger tanks for the Ohio River Bridges Project. Evidently Commandante Stemler had intended to use them to cower us, setting up a possibly wonderful photo op: As in Prague, circa '68, I'd already plucked flowers to stuff in their barrels ... or up their ... well, you know what I mean.

BAYLOR: His nose knows tolls and polls

... I say this because Dalby’s miraculous election eve conversion to tender, merciful concern for the pocketbooks of Southern Indiana plebeians doesn’t just strain one’s credulity.

It splits, breaks, smashes, mangles, incinerates, lacerates and spits in the very eye of credulity. Let’s avoid that other nasty “L” word, and say merely that liberties with the truth are being taken. As such, kindly permit me to provide the sort of forensic evidence generally lacking when 1si’s dampened palm comes at you, outstretched.

Fat Lip: "And the Texan just wasn’t going to have any of this journalism nonsense."

At LEO's Fat Lip blog, Jonathan Meador considers the Jeffersonville city council's no-tolls resolution, and recounts a surreal interview with 1Si's master of ceremonies, Michael Dalby. Is it just me, or are cracks in the pro-bridges contingent's demeanor becoming ever more obvious?

One Southern Indiana?, by jmeador on utter bullshit.

At any rate, here’s part of a transcript of a phone conversation I had with Dalby, which was painful but interesting in the sense that it shows the kind of temperament these pro-bridges folks bring to the table.

Dalby on tolls, tools, polls and fools.

Michael " 1(Semantics)i" Dalby answers Steve Price's question last night about One Southern Indiana and tolling:

"We are not in favor of tolls. Nobody is in favor of tolls. That's not something we want to see happen."

But ... the whole bridges project must be built "as quickly as possible" so money can be "saved" in the long run ... and "all options" being considered by the unelected bi-state authority must remain "on the table" ... and, well, one of those options is tolling existing bridges ... so, while Dalby states emphatically that they're against it, they're still for the authority's choice to impose it, and how 1Si can be both against and for a position at the same time is left unexplained, although noses were seen growing at an unprecedented rate just after the meeting.

To Price's credit, he wasn't buying it. Stopped clocks, and all that.

The 1Simpire strikes back.

Ostensibly, it's a kinder and gentler One Southern Indiana, with nary a reference to delusion in sight, as head man Michael Dalby extols the virtues of cooperation, in the process sticking 6th district council member Jeff Gahan with the blame for coming forward to ask 1Si if it might please, pretty please, find the time to bill the city for services rendered.

But Mr. Dalby, don't be too exact about the details of the work ... and by the way, can we do some HVAC funding, too? Just tell us where to lavish the subsidy.

What? You bill for simple directional slush? Hey, that's fine. Put it on our tab.

Dalby: Public, private sectors should work together

We did not request funding from the city of New Albany, but when council member Jeff Gahan approached us about New Albany contracting with 1si for economic development services, we were honored and encouraged by the council’s consideration. Community development works best when public-private partnerships are forged seeking to build up the economy and where the goal is to help businesses create jobs that help individuals and families prosper.

Even though Dalby apparently does not labor under the apparent gag order inflicted on Ed Clere and Ron Grooms by Saint Mitch, he conveniently fails to address the negative effect on small business, jobs, the economy and families posed by tolling existing Ohio River bridges to finance the elephantine boondoggle of the ORBP.

Rather, it would appear that a egregious charm campaign is gearing up. On Wednesday, Jerry Finn wrote a letter to the editor explaining the benefits of the Horseshoe Foundation's Small Business Revolving Loan Fund: Yes, and as I'd already pointed out in my weekly column of September 16, these benefits are quite real.

Unfortunately, in spite of the ongoing imperative to link them to 1Si, they have little to do with the administrator of the application process. Concurrently, 1Si's big business as usual ideologies (see: bridge tolls, exurban sprawl advocacy) Clerely hurt the prospects for small business just as much as the Foundation's monies assist them.

Meanwhile, Bluegill has more for you on the topic of Dalby's column. Wait for it ...

Harbeson posits a "delusional" Dalby.

As the unelected bridges authority prepares to gather this morning, and Louisville Metro council member Jim King contemplates rocking the boat, here's the first worthwhile reading of the day, courtesy of Evening News columnist Debbie Harbeson:

HARBESON: Delusions of a grandiose bridges project

... If it can be considered delusional and lacking in reality for one group to claim that parts of the current project are unacceptable, then the same principle must apply to (Michael) Dalby and anyone else making claims of unacceptability — on any part of the project.

It’s sad that tolls are even a part of this discussion because it implies that tolls are not ever a good idea. But tolls would make perfect sense as a pricing mechanism in a competitive transportation market.

It's not as if delusions are anything new.

From 'One Southern Indiana names Texan Michael Dalby as CEO', Business First, Friday, May 26, 2006:

Kerry Stemler, president of New Albany firm KM Stemler General Contractors and chairman of the leadership transition team that is helping to shape One Southern Indiana, is confident that the nationwide search has led to the right candidate.

"I think he will be a consensus builder, a collaborator, a leader," Stemler said. "Michael Dalby can get us where we need to go."

Dalby's track record proves that he has the ability to assess the facts, develop a strategy and ultimately deliver results, Stemler said, adding that those qualities helped him stand out among a field of more than 100 candidates.

Another plus is that he understands the value of working together as a region, Stemler said.

Nash: "The Council ... approved the appropriation. That was before (Dalby) called them delusional."

Good work, Matt.

NASH: City council can send clear message

Mike Dalby, president of One Southern Indiana (1si), in his opinion column in the Sunday edition of The Tribune called the people who would like to re-evaluate the project delusional. I believe it is Dalby who is out of touch with the ordinary citizen with his unending support for the Ohio River Bridge Project. He either does not realize the impact this will have on the average commuter from Southern Indiana to Kentucky or he just doesn’t care ...

... I believe our city council must stand strong and vote against 1si’s funding request. This will send a clear message to those who believe the Ohio River Bridges Project is an all or nothing proposition. It makes no sense to stand firm against the project and then fund a group that so vehemently promotes it.

"I now ask that the council does not appropriate this $70,000 to 1si."

Straight and clean' just the facts, ma'am.

Good job, Amy!

Fairy tales and tolls: Dalby needs a ‘funding fairy’, a Tribune guest column by Amy Weatherford.

In Mr. Dalby’s column he indicates that anyone who opposes the Ohio River Bridges Project has lost touch with reality. 1si indicates that it supports small businesses and Mr. Dalby, the President of 1si supports the Ohio River Bridges Project as proposed and a “modest toll” is needed. To me tolling hinders the growth of small businesses in Southern Indiana.

Today's Tribune column: "The unelected Mr. Dalby’s bridge politicking."

Elsewhere, things are getting messy. More on that in a moment.

BAYLOR: The unelected Mr. Dalby’s bridge politicking

When urging a presumably beaten and battered foe to throw in the towel, proponents of questionable positions often cite “inevitability” as the crux of their argument, usually falling prey to flights of derisory condescension, as sprinkled throughout Michael Dalby’s essay in Sunday’s Tribune, titled “There is no ‘highway fairy.’”

Dalby's original column is here.

The guy gets one letter of endorsement from Dalby, and now Bruce Hibbard's acting like he was appointed to the Bridges Authority.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Kerry Stemler should be proud.

New Albany-Floyd County School Board code hits snag, by Harold J. Adams(Courier-Journal).

Several members of the New Albany-Floyd County School Board say they have problems with a proposal by Superintendent Bruce Hibbard asking all board members to pledge they generally “will accept the superintendent's recommendation on all matters that come before the board.”

The provision is part of a proposed Compact & Code of Ethics scheduled for a first reading at Monday night's board meeting.

Another provision says: “The relationship between the superintendent and board members is collegial not hierarchical, based on mutual respect for their complimentary roles.””

Like crumbs from a cocktail jacket, Dalbybuttals begin here.

Proponents of "inevitability" have always been prone to condescension, examples of which are liberally sprinkled throughout Chairman Dalby's essay in today's Tribune.

In such arguments, superior strength and iron certainty must be conveyed to the listener, the feeling that someone so far removed from the seat of power and authority essentially has no rational say in the matter.

Bob Knight expressed similar sentiments when he counseled rape victims to relax and enjoy the experience. It’s also reminiscent of medieval Europe, when flesh-and-blood men -- not gods from afar -- built huge, towering cathedrals, and then pointed to the immensity of these structures as irrefutable evidence of a higher power's inevitability.

How could mere mortals fathom such grandeur without supernatural sanction?

Supporters of the Ohio River Bridges Project now exhibit the same attitude, one unconsciously echoed by Kevin Zurschmiede at last Thursday’s council meeting: This project is so big, so impressive, so very irrefutable, that smaller minds have no place in the discussion. We can only cower in awe as the earth is moved, and lower our trousers while smiling at our good fortune to have lived and died only slightly before the bridges are finished.

Apart from a palpable irritation with area plebians for refusing to bow to the inevitable, as devised by extra-governmental functionaries who are not in any way answerable to voters, Dalby reiterates a familiar case for two bridges and a reworking of Spaghetti Junction.

However, precisely because the idea of tolling existing bridges to pay for the forthcoming boondoggle is the mother of all Achilles Heels for bridges project proponents, Dalby gives it short and dismissive shrift.

There'll be much more to say about Dalby's treatise in the coming days. In the meantime, cutting through the verbiage, the veracity of his position comes down to this single paragraph.

It is a delusional vision. They have missed a key element — reality. The reality is that to get a real transportation solution for the Louisville region that serves the needs of today and the next 50 years, we have to add capacity— and capacity comes in the form of highway lanes.

Is reality the addition of capacity, or isn't it? Let's discuss.