Aesthetics -- or Molotov cocktails?

By using the very word "aesthetics", Rob Waiz ensures a glazed-over, exurb-induced stupor on the part of bridges project inseminators like Kerry Stemler.

We might also plausibly inquire as to how many current Jeffersonville city officials, now grievously appalled to learn that the bridges project will be shortchanging them just as precisely as planned all along, gave downtown business men like Mike Kapfhammer and Wes Johnson the time of day when they tried to point out such realities?

Jeffersonville officials say Indiana being slighted by bridges aesthetics; $10 million budgeted for Kentucky portion; nothing in Indiana, by Matt Koesters

... The redevelopment commission agreed to send a resolution to state officials, including the governor, expressing their disappointment in the plans proposed. Waiz added that he will be urging other area agencies to pass and submit similar resolutions.

“It’s disappointing to me that Jeffersonville is in this defensive situation to try and protect some aesthetics and some economic development opportunity, when the state of Indiana should have done this from the get-go,” said Redevelopment Commissioner James Lake. “It’s a real shame that the city is not only doing the battling, but the state of Indiana is not only not leading it, they’re not assisting.”

59 feet of dumbass, at least when it comes to the Indiana side of the Big Four bridge.

The reporter begins his account with massive understatement (italicized below).

Big Four Bridge backers pin hopes on stimulus grants for Indiana ramp, by Ben Zion Hershberg (Courier-Journal).

Tucked along Kentucky’s Ohio River shoreline, the 1,700-foot concrete ramp spirals up to meet the Big Four railroad bridge — a four-year, $8 million project to transform the aging trestle into a cross-river recreation trail for pedestrians and bicyclists.

But across the river in Jeffersonville, the Big Four remains untouched, ending abruptly in a sheer 59-foot drop to the shore below — a product of stalled plans and a lack of funding that officials concede has put it years behind Kentucky’s progress.

Think about that. Years behind Kentucky, although looking on the brighter side, the Commonwealth's Republicans just elected extremist nutjob Rand Paul to run for Senate, making it far easier for Jack Conway (D) to win the seat in the fall. Might Mitch Daniels devote a buck or two from Major Moves to a project that caters to wheels not powered by internal combustion engines?

Meanwhile, unintended irony abounds in the C-J piece, as with this passage:

They’re also seeking to pull $25 million from the Ohio River Bridges Project, arguing it would be less expensive and more pleasant for pedestrians and cyclists to use the Big Four than a proposed pedestrian and bicycle lane on the new downtown bridge.

Of course, absolutely the least expensive and most pleasant solution for a number of problems would be to scotch the planned downtown automotive bridge and use a fraction of the expense to improve bicycling and pedestrian infrastructure everywhere in Metro Louisville. Because it makes the most sense in the current age, it's naturally the least discussed option. Turns out that former Jeff mayor Rob Waiz never grasped it, either:

Waiz conceded (the Big Four) wasn’t a high priority. “Trying to bring in new businesses and jobs was my priority,” he said.

As Brendan Behan once loudly proclaimed, "JAY-sus."

Reams of evidence from across America and the planet point to just such projects as the Big Four as impetus for business and job creation, assuming your're trying to send the right message to the right people running and creating the right jobs. In the face of this, inert politicians like Waiz can do no better than mimic the provincial dullards who populate this area, scratching their heads, peeling another banana and decrying the theory of evolution as their prospects steadily dwindle.

Come to think of it, they might be on to something about evolution. It doesn't seem to evolve all the time ... by maybe it's just something in our (storm) water.