Rails, trails, holy grails: "That's why we're here," babbles Gahan about yet another once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to economically develop others at his own city's expense.

This one is bizarre even by News and Tribune standards: New Albany mayor, redevelopment official debate benefits of Rails to Trails project (see excerpt below).

The header suggests an actual debate between public officials, but it isn't really a debate, which as we know Jeff Gahan avoids like the proverbial plague, and seeing as Gahan and Scott Stewart weren't actually in the same room.

Can you even begin imagining how intimidated the small town huckster Gahan is by Stewart's career and life experience? The mayor probably keeps a voodoo doll of Stewart in his municipal-issue SUV.

Stewart patiently makes actual arguments about costs, benefits, wants and needs, while Gahan repeats his painstakingly memorized "gotta act fast right now" mantra, over and over, which reminds me of a story about Joe Stalin's parrot.

Stalin was so paranoid he suspected his pet parrot of deviant tendencies when it imitated his crude spitting; he purged it with a death blow from his pipe.

Morris' piece comes off as a reluctant cut 'n' paste job, with the critical question yet again going unasked:

Why these pyrotechnics about a vague rails-to-trails pointed at Bedford when job one for New Albany should be connecting the Greenway to the North Side, which would be a project benefiting city residents and not outsiders?

Fortunately the article includes inadvertent hilarity.

Ever diligent when it comes to preserving his lifetime sinecure, John "Pinocchio" Rosenbarger falls over himself to effusively agree with the mayor, and yet it is Rosenbarger himself who has spent years making n excellent case for the potential usefulness of a link from downtown to IU Southeast using the CSX rail line -- which interests Dear Leader not one jot.

For Rosenbarger to be absolutely right about anything occurs once "every three or four lifetimes," and yet his long-term point about connecting downtown and the north side is spot on. Now he has abandoned it, tossed right down the toilet in his eagerness to bow in the general direction of whomever signs his paychecks.

We mustn't forget: Whenever the mayor opens his mouth, follow the money -- and, perhaps in this instance, his ambition. If we are to take the most optimistic scenario, Gahan's rails-to-trails fetish would leave the city of New Albany with 2-3 miles of a campaign talking point in the form of a pathway to elsewhere, with elsewhere and others paying most of the costs. 

Thus far, Gahan has expended more hyperbole on the rails-to-trail's benefit to the region than his own city, as if he is playing to a larger audience, seeking to be the Mayor of Southern Indiana.

Cash and ego? That's why he's here. We can do something about that.

#FireGahan2019

New Albany mayor, redevelopment official debate benefits of Rails to Trails project, by Chris Morris (Tom May Biblical Odyssey)

NEW ALBANY — Scott Stewart said the Rails to Trails proposal sounds intriguing, and admits the idea looks good on paper.

However, as a member of the New Albany Redevelopment Commission, Stewart voted no on hiring Indianapolis law firm Faegre Baker Daniels (FBD) to assist with advancing the Rails to Trails project. The measure passed 4-1 recently with FBD being paid $125,000 for its services.

The Rails to Trails initiative would replace abandoned CSX train tracks that run 63 miles — starting just north of the new Sazerac facility (at the former Pillsbury Plant) in New Albany and ending near Bedford.

Stewart said there are only so many redevelopment dollars available, and he would like to see the money used to benefit New Albany residents. He said connecting neighborhoods and making them more walkable is something he supports.

"When you look at New Albany, we have wonderful neighborhoods and downtown, there is the Greenway .... there is a lot to build on," he said. "I would like to see safe pathways for cyclists and walkers."

Stewart said developing Rails to Trails would cost millions and while FBD may help secure some state funding, those dollars will be capped leaving the city and other communities along the trail responsible to foot the bill.

"It faces immeasurable challenges. The financial commitment is significant," Stewart said of the idea. "It just didn't makes sense to me.

"Where does it go from here? There is a much bigger potential to distract scarce resources from our neighborhoods and business districts. I am interested in taking care of New Albany first. This is a discussion of a difference in priorities."

The Urbanophile nails it: "Louisville Bridges Project Is the Biggest Transportation Boondoggle of the 21st Century."

Go there and read all about it. The Urbanophile is remorseless.

I differ with only one point.

By rights I should be writing this for a major national publication instead of putting it on my personal web site. But I love Louisville and Southern Indiana (my hometown) and don’t want to create negative press for them. I just want it known for the record that this did not have to happen.

Without negative press -- without floggings, scourging and negative feedback in every known public configuration, right here in Louisville and all across America -- these imbeciles will do something just as stupid, yet again.

Louisville Bridges Project Is the Biggest Transportation Boondoggle of the 21st Century, by Aaron M. Renn (Urbanophile)

I have been a steadfast critic of the project to build two new bridges across the Ohio River in Louisville for over a decade. In fact, my first critical post on the bridges proposal was put up in 2007 less than six months after starting my original Urbanophile blog.

The end result was even worse than I anticipated. The project has proven to be a money waster of the highest order, and in fact by far the biggest American transportation boondoggle I can identify in the 21st century so far.

Part of the agreement between Indiana and Kentucky to build the bridges was that they would do official before and after surveys of traffic to determine the impact of the new bridges on traffic flow. The study was published in August of this year.

The result? The two states spent $1.3 billion dollars to build a parallel I-65 span in downtown Louisville that doubled the capacity of that crossing. After spending that money, traffic fell by 50%.

Let me repeat that: Indiana and Kentucky spent $1.3 billion to double the capacity of a road while traffic levels were cut in half ...

ORBP: "Massive expense, big tolls, fewer cars than ever. Even if way down the road these bridges fill up, this project is a financial boondoggle of epic proportions."

From 2011.

I'll lead with Aaron Renn's answer to a question asked in the comments section.

The toll revenue from the system is being split 50/50 between Indiana and Kentucky. Previous analysis indicated that 80% of the tolls will be paid by Indiana residents, so that’s who is paying for the project, ultimately.

One Southern Indiana is delighted. Evidently not a single humanities major was consulted.

Conversely ...

Louisville Spent $2.4 Billion on New Bridges While Traffic Fell Sharply (Urbanophile)

The initial figures are in and the new Louisville bridges are on track to be as big a failure as predicted.

"Study: States wasting billions on highways."

In New Albany, the builders, pavers and excavators tithe back to the politicians who funded them with public money.

Gee, you don't think there's a connection, do you?  

Study: States wasting billions on highways, by Keith Laing (The Hill)

State governments are wasting $24 billion on highway projects that are unnecessary, according to a new study released Monday by the United States Public Interest Research Group Education Fund.

The study "details how despite America’s massive repair and maintenance backlog, and in defiance of America’s changing transportation needs, state governments continue to spend billions each year on new and wider highways," according to the group, which typically pushes for more transit investment.

“Many state governments continue to prioritize wasteful highway projects that fail to effectively address congestion while leaving our roads and bridges to crumble,” John Olivieri, the national campaign director for 21st Century Transportation at the United States Public Interest Research Group Education Fund, said in a statement.

Orwell somersaults as tolling becomes a "brand," with or without Astroglide.

NAC's Jeff Gillenwater has posted a tolling compendium. We hate to say it, but we told you so.

Bridge Toll Rates

With a transponder
• $1 for frequent users in non-commercial vehicles.
• $2 for passenger vehicles.
• $5 for a medium truck.
• $10 for a heavy truck.

Registered video of license plate
• $3 for passenger vehicles.
• $6 for a medium truck.
• $11 for a heavy truck.

Unregistered video of license plate
• $4 for passenger vehicles.
• $7 for a medium truck.
• $12 for a heavy truck.

These are one-way prices, folks.

Meanwhile, WFPK surveys the carnage here, but the News and Tribune's Elizabeth Beilman has a better sense of the pure, irony-free sleaziness involved with today's revelation of tolling details.

'RiverLink' unveiled as new bridges tolling brand

RiverLink is the brand Ohio River Bridges Project officials created for the Louisville and Southern Indiana tolling system, narrowed down from a list of hundreds of names and logos.

"The RiverLink brand is what will bring our communities together by bringing a stronger link," said David Talley, innovative finance manager for the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.

McLaughlin: It's far too early to do the math on the water park. Come back in 2034, will ya?

Blair: Parks spending up, but so is revenue from fees

For someone fancying himself an independent, Scott Blair runs a great deal of interference for Jeff Gahan, doesn't he? Perhaps this owes to a shared suburban subdivision view of governance.

Meanwhile, there's a $9 million outlay for the water park, 32,000 visitors without sufficient parking owing to the absence of advance planning, a neighborhood street network snarled, and a parks budget in excess of $2 million.

According to my Texas Instruments Abacus, that's $448,000 in admission fees assuming each of them came at the top rate of $14.00, which means the real total is far less. Throw in some chips and soda sales, and the full-time salary for a part-time facility.

Oops -- now it's flashing different numbers: TILT.

New Albany council members positive about city's budget, by Daniel Suddeath (Pop-Up Cornucopia)

NEW ALBANY — More will be known about operating expenses for River Run Family Waterpark once the aquatic center has been open for a full season, New Albany city officials said Wednesday.

But while there may be some unknowns in terms of expenses, City Councilmen Pat McLaughlin and Scott Blair said they feel confident the New Albany Parks Department, and the city as a whole, are on solid financial ground.

If the ORBP is bringing "$87 billion into the region over the next 30 years," then why are we paying tolls to use them?

One is compelled to be fair, and so I must recognize this article for capturing some of the most stirring examples of Usual Suspects Boondoggle Speak yet recorded.

I'll merely note that auto-centrism is cancer, and leave it at that.

Ohio River bridges hailed as economic leader in infrastructure projects, by Elizabeth Beilman (News and Tribune)

... United States Deputy Secretary of Transportation Victor Mendez on Tuesday called the Ohio River Bridges Project a "perfect example of what is needed throughout this country."

" ... At the end of the day, we all go home, and we go home to our community," Mendez said at a news conference at Waterfront Park in Louisville. "And that's what this [project] is all about — improving our communities from an economic standpoint and really just from a quality of life standpoint."

I'm delighted to eavesdrop on today's Indiana Regional Cities Initiative session.

I very much appreciate Wendy Dant Chesser, One Southern Indiana's President and CEO (and online.org/web-pages/professional-development/certified-economic-developer-accreditation/">CEcD), writing to invite me to Regional Cities Initiative discussion this afternoon.

The other candidates for mayor have received this invite because they already hold office. You are welcome to attend, as well.

I'll certainly be there this afternoon to learn more, although my level of skepticism is extremely high, because from what I've seen from this so far, it's classic bait 'n' switch boondoggle.

Council Night 3: The Regional Cities Initiative's bait 'n' switch comes to a Greenway near you.

 ... Here was the mayor himself, spending half an hour describing the Regional Cities Initiative, a strictly "might be" iffy proposition, tantamount to time spent allocating future lottery winnings to the background noise of a Disney soundtrack instead of counting the change actually occupying the jar. If only someone other than a dissident like me would have said: "But if it would help businesses downtown, couldn't we change the streets (to two-way) next week?"

I believe it is a mistake to become enamored of supposed windfalls and panaceas when we can't even keep the storm drains clear or design streets correctly. Fundamental infrastructure comes first, then afterward, whatever emanates from getting the basics right. Basketball players are advised to dribble first, then practice slam dunks.

Even if the Regional Cities plan weren't a probable funding chimera, somewhat similar to economic planning according to a random spin of the wheel, it would make no sense to speak of any other application in our immediate vicinity than some configuration of enhanced multi-modal transit options.

If we've spent a couple billion on roadway expansion via the ORBP, can there be a bus or two traveling between New Albany and River Ridge as a corrective?

Indiana Secretary of Commerce to speak Monday on Regional Cities plan, at N and T

Regional Cities Initiative 1: Cooperation inducement, or bait 'n' switch?

There's an emerging mantra in my world.

Every day, not every now and then.

"Day in, day out" encapsulates my preferred tactic to achieve progress. Speaking for myself as the owner of an independent local business, the daily business climate almost always trumps special, one-off events. It is the undertow, and the cash flow.

In terms of small business, the main point is determining what can be done to improve quality of life every single day, rather than hope a one-off festival or recurring special event attracts "new" and potentially returning customers. If the festival or event is of sufficient gravity to attract a crowd, it stands to reason that most attendees are coming for the music, art or beer -- not to take note of the surroundings. Some surely will, but spreading the risk and the reward throghout the year, every day, is the better formula for ultimate success.

It is uncommon for me to reprint an article so soon (below), but with New Albany having so many "micro" issues going chronically unaddressed, the randomly "macro" aspect of Indiana's Regional Cities Initiative has struck me as a red flag (or more aptly, red herring) from the very start.

More succinctly, when One Southern Indiana starts getting giggly and giddy over the Regional Cities Initiative, it meant we should be getting very cautious. As we'll see in part two, Clark County's council already has.

I'm not entirely rejecting the Indiana Regional Cities Initiative.

As the Indy Star noted recently, it might have genuine merit. When a WDRB reporter asked me what I thought, we had a long conversation, and I said that in the end, whatever compels adjacent communities talking with each other probably is a good thing.

Conversely, we could be talking regionally right now, and working on smaller projects right now. There is a "win the lottery" aspect of the Regional Cities Initiative that is worrisome, and the involvement of the same old regional suspects who brought us the Bridges Boondoggle is even more alarming, owing to yet another loss of local planning sovereignty (see part two).

Might we finish a project first, before embarking on a moon landing?

The following was posted on January 5, 2015.

---

Council Night 3: The Regional Cities Initiative's bait 'n' switch comes to a Greenway near you.

Before tying things into the council meeting tonight, let's catch up.

The most recent downtown merchant "mixer" meeting was held on December 16 at Strandz & Threadz, and weirdly enough for a group that seldom attracts more than a dozen attendees, and is routinely ignored by the city's ostensible "economic development" officials, the chat was attended by both State Representative Ed Clere and Mayor Jeff Gahan.

They were there to inform struggling downtown merchants about the potential sheen of the Indiana Regional Cities Initiative, which at first glance appears to be one of those world-classic, chamber-endorsed, bait 'n' switch ideas designed to divert attention from the mundane daily grind of the here and now (which abjectly terrifies City Hall) and instead, to fix all our gazes toward a bountiful harvest ... a coin flip to be determined some day, down the road.

I was fascinated by the spectacle. In November, David "Industrial Park First" Duggins had dominated the merchant meeting as visiting enforcer, there to silence me and gloweringly assure shop owners that they didn't want to hear about the potential for two-way streets to improve their businesses quite soon, in the short term.

Then a month later, here was the mayor himself, spending half an hour describing the Regional Cities Initiative, a strictly "might be" iffy proposition, tantamount to time spent allocating future lottery winnings to the background noise of a Disney soundtrack instead of counting the change actually occupying the jar. If only someone other than a dissident like me would have said:

"But if it would help business downtown, couldn't we change the streets next week?"

The fact is, the missed opportunity cost of Jeff Gahan’s present-day neglect of small business is irrefutable, and the evidence to support my position is overwhelming, but I've already made these points.

Back to tonight, when a council currently configured to do quite little will listen as the Greenway explains its place in that future largesse from Big Daddy Pencebucks.

McLaughlin to seek third term as Mayor Gahan's pliant boy (News and Tribune)

 ... Though there’s only one voting item on Monday’s agenda — a final reading on a road salt purchase appropriation — the body is slated to hear a report on a potential expansion of some of the features of the Ohio River Greenway.

After holding public meetings on the idea in Clark and Floyd counties, representatives of the Paul Ogle Foundation will detail their plan to assist the Ohio River Greenway Commission to “possibly elevate the Greenway to the next level in both scope and scale.”

The Ogle Foundation hopes to pair its plan with the Regional Cities Initiative to be considered by the state legislature this year. The legislation could leverage up to $1 billion in public and private investment for infrastructure and quality-of-life projects around the state, as communities would compete to garner those funds.

Right now, we have a few hundred thousand dollars worth of bigger fish to fry, and so at least it's encouraging to hear Scott Blair publicly question the latest unelected back room board diktat, this one being last week's behind-the-council's-posterior decision by the Board of Works to fund an ill-considered farmers market buildout and a bizarrely situated dog park, three miles out of town on Budd Road.

Councilman Scott Blair said he would like to see the city’s dog park, which is slated to be constructed at Cannon Acres, moved near the Greenway to further bolster the usefulness of the walking and biking path.

“We need to add amenities along that facility,” Blair said.

What we really need to do is finish the Greenway's decades-long first phase, don't you think? After all, Silver Creek might as well be Puget Sound for all the good an unbridged Greenway in pieces does us.

Must read by Joe Sonka: "Tolling body approves low-income mitigation plan following minimal public comment on report few have seen."

There's a temptation to view this selfishly, in that any help at all given to low-income metro residents might alleviate New Albany's anticipated pass-through problems once tolling begins.

However, we mustn't lose sight of the bigger picture. Put simply, these measures are insufficient, as necessitated by a colossally expensive solution to a problem that didn't exist, and have been contrived just as non-transparently as the boondoggle they pay less than lip service to "mitigate."

Jeff G points to this instance of ROTFLMAO, as reported by Marcus Green at WDRB:

The states promised other steps, such as establishing one “walk-up” center for managing toll accounts on each side of the river; allowing two vehicles to register under a single account; and erecting signs in some poorer neighborhoods showing how to get to toll-free bridges.

But here's the part that should resonate for New Albanians already disturbed by the Gahan administration's disdain for transparency, as relayed by Joe Sonka at Insider Louisville and signposted by the Bookseller (italics ours).

Tolling body approves low-income mitigation plan following minimal public comment on report few have seen

After one minor question and little discussion, the tolling body of the Ohio River Bridges Project today unanimously approved a mitigation plan for low-income and minority commuters who will be disproportionately affected by tolls on two new bridges set to be completed within two years.

The plan — based on a report that was not made public until just before the vote, and only reported on in the media over the last two days — was approved after a single citizen made a public comment on the plan, which she had not yet had the chance to review ...

... (Cathy Hinko of the Metropolitan Housing Coalition) took great issue with the fact that the report was not officially released to the public until just before the tolling body voted to approve it, noting that she had only read about it in the media the day before.

“My comment was made based on a news article,” said Hinko. “So after my comment, I read (the report) and listened to their presentation at the same time to figure out what’s going on. And think about the hundreds of thousands of people that this affects… You had to be very tuned in to even know about this, and it seems important enough for people to have been shown it.”

Hinko also criticized the optics of the meeting, noting that an all-white board was voting on something that will greatly affect minorities, while they made no effort to give those communities access to the meeting so they could give their input.

“They are so out of touch with the whole concept of serving people, that although the only thing on the agenda was how to deliver services to people who they call the ‘E.J. (environmental justice) community,’ they put it out on Westport Road where no one can come,” said Hinko. “They are blind to the optics of even making sure that there was at least one person of color in the room. They don’t even think about convenience for people. They don’t even think about how this report should have been out with people being able to review it earlier, where people had two weeks notice. Where they might have had the meeting at 5:00, at a site where anyone across the river could come.

“That’s how out of touch they are. They don’t even think that way. That’s what makes it so sad.”

Watch as this bumbling sidewalk superintendent oversees Main Street pavement repairs.

Move along -- nothing to see here. Just mass-scale repairs of shoddy pavement. Scram, kid. Get lost, already.

Wait, that guy yapping into his cell phone and gesticulating... he looks like ... could it be ... I think it's John "Rasputin of Re-dishevelment" Rosenbarger. He doesn't seem to be paying much attention to that big roller thingy. Careful ... your Main Street mashup was supposed to make the street safer for pedestrians.

Just another few feet forward, and there it is ... watch it!

Thanks to M for the tip.

The Raw Black photo essay: "Main Street: New Albany's Multi-Million Dollar Boondoggle."

Civic activist and cyclist Raw Black asked that these photos and comments be published: "This was such an opportunity lost, on the most significant stretch of roadway in New Albany. Just makes me sick ... either a paucity or malice of forethought."

We agree.

"This makes me safe."

"Reduced emergency vehicle access."

"Nice work, MAC."

Council Night 3: The Regional Cities Initiative's bait 'n' switch comes to a Greenway near you.

Before tying things into the council meeting tonight, let's catch up.

The most recent downtown merchant "mixer" meeting was held on December 16 at Strandz & Threadz, and weirdly enough for a group that seldom attracts more than a dozen attendees, and is routinely ignored by the city's ostensible "economic development" officials, the chat was attended by both State Representative Ed Clere and Mayor Jeff Gahan.

They were there to inform struggling downtown merchants about the potential sheen of the Indiana Regional Cities Initiative, which at first glance appears to be one of those world-classic, chamber-endorsed, bait 'n' switch ideas designed to divert attention from the mundane daily grind of the here and now (which abjectly terrifies City Hall) and instead, to fix all our gazes toward a bountiful harvest ... a coin flip to be determined some day, down the road.

I was fascinated by the spectacle. In November, David "Industrial Park First" Duggins had dominated the merchant meeting as visiting enforcer, there to silence me and gloweringly assure shop owners that they didn't want to hear about the potential for two-way streets to improve their businesses quite soon, in the short term.

Then a month later, here was the mayor himself, spending half an hour describing the Regional Cities Initiative, a strictly "might be" iffy proposition, tantamount to time spent allocating future lottery winnings to the background noise of a Disney soundtrack instead of counting the change actually occupying the jar. If only someone other than a dissident like me would have said:

"But if it would help business downtown, couldn't we change the streets next week?"

The fact is, the missed opportunity cost of Jeff Gahan’s present-day neglect of small business is irrefutable, and the evidence to support my position is overwhelming, but I've already made these points.

Back to tonight, when a council currently configured to do quite little will listen as the Greenway explains its place in that future largesse from Big Daddy Pencebucks.

McLaughlin to seek third term as Mayor Gahan's pliant boy (News and Tribune)

 ... Though there’s only one voting item on Monday’s agenda — a final reading on a road salt purchase appropriation — the body is slated to hear a report on a potential expansion of some of the features of the Ohio River Greenway.

After holding public meetings on the idea in Clark and Floyd counties, representatives of the Paul Ogle Foundation will detail their plan to assist the Ohio River Greenway Commission to “possibly elevate the Greenway to the next level in both scope and scale.”

The Ogle Foundation hopes to pair its plan with the Regional Cities Initiative to be considered by the state legislature this year. The legislation could leverage up to $1 billion in public and private investment for infrastructure and quality-of-life projects around the state, as communities would compete to garner those funds.

Right now, we have a few hundred thousand dollars worth of bigger fish to fry, and so at least it's encouraging to hear Scott Blair publicly question the latest unelected back room board diktat, this one being last week's behind-the-council's-posterior decision by the Board of Works to fund an ill-considered farmers market buildout and a bizarrely situated dog park, three miles out of town on Budd Road.

Councilman Scott Blair said he would like to see the city’s dog park, which is slated to be constructed at Cannon Acres, moved near the Greenway to further bolster the usefulness of the walking and biking path.

“We need to add amenities along that facility,” Blair said.

What we really need to do is finish the Greenway's decades-long first phase, don't you think? After all, Silver Creek might as well be Puget Sound for all the good an unbridged Greenway in pieces does us.

Farmers Market expenditure: Nash, Board of Works rubber stamp flat Duggins "wait" lie.

If David Duggins denies telling me that the city would wait on the controversial farmers market expansion project until the Speck street study was completed, then he is lying.

Because he did tell me this. Period. It came up at this meeting, and for all I know, others may have heard him say it, too.

The city council knows it. Will it have enough cojones to say so?

New Albany Farmers Market project not high on priority list, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

Posted: Wednesday, September 17, 2014 8:15 am

NEW ALBANY — Plans to expand the downtown New Albany Farmers Market are on the back burner, though city officials said they remain open to improving the existing facility in less expensive ways ...

... David Duggins, director of economic development and redevelopment for the city, said the $270,000 budgeted for the expansion this year hasn’t been spent. But the price tag for what had been proposed led to sticker shock among many officials.

“We’ve had some discussions on it, but the bids came back so high,” Duggins said ...

... A committee consisting of council members Diane McCartin-Benedetti, Scott Blair, Shirley Baird and Gonder met once this year after the initial project was delayed. Benedetti said council members generally expressed that they wanted to wait until after planner Jeff Speck completes his New Albany street study to move forward with any project regarding the farmers market.

Suddenly, with one day remaining in 2914, and with the Speck study nowhere in sight, City Hall simply had to push forward with the farmers market project, which will tie up some of downtown's most valuable future infill property to send money out of town to rural vendors, and not only that, the long-discussed dog park will be located so far out out of the city that its incorporation into any urban walkability plan is impossible, and it's prime usefulness will be to suburbanites and county dwellers.

As if we don't have numerous useful parcels for it near the urban core. Is this how you pander to Mark Seabrook, Mr. Mayor?

Note that none of these projects have been the recipient of public input to any degree whatever, and understand that the rule of the C and D students has reached its apogee.

Dog Park, farmers market overhaul on tap in New Albany (Suddeath)

NEW ALBANY — Mayor Jeff Gahan’s administration believes farmers and canines won’t be the only ones to benefit from two substantial projects set to begin in the next few months.

Bids for a revamp of the downtown Farmers Market as well the construction of a dog park at Cannon Acres along Budd Road were approved by the New Albany Board of Public Works and Safety on Tuesday.

At a cost of $238,700, the New Albany firm Upton Pry submitted the low bid for the farmers market project, which has been dubbed as a “city square” improvement by the administration.

David Duggins, director of economic development and redevelopment for the city, said the project will include a resurfacing of the parking lot, the addition of a second pavilion and a canopy to form a U-shaped structure ...

... The project was put on hold earlier this year after a low bid for the work was submitted at $319,000. The council had only reserved $270,000 in Economic Development Income Tax funds for the work. After review, the administration elected to remove some components of the work. By eliminating the additional storage and bathrooms called for in the initial plans, Duggins said the city was able to curb some of the costs of the project.

"The Indiana Toll Road and the Dark Side of Privately Financed Highways."

The legacy of Saint Daniels stretches on, and on, and on ...

The Indiana Toll Road and the Dark Side of Privately Financed Highways

by Angie Schmitt and Payton Chung

This is the first post in a three-part series on the Indiana Toll Road and the use of private finance to build and maintain highways. Part two takes a closer look at how Australian firm Macquarie manages its infrastructure assets. Part three examines the incentives for consultants to exaggerate traffic projections, making terrible boondoggles look like financial winners.

Ooh, ooh ... Main Street also needs some gold-plated spigots for watering the flowers in the median.

As the Main Street project nears completion, we finally can see certain, er, embellishments which weren't often mentioned in the run-up to the deforestation boondoggle with 13-foot-wide traffic lanes -- like these nifty engraved sidewalk house numbers (above).

Why stop there? Here are two other affordable additions to make property values climb even further.

Oops.

That view of Commodious Rex comes not from the Main Street project, but the plans for a new city hall in the Reisz Furniture Building.

Still, we're pleased as punch with these harmonious Main Street upgrades, as financed with Indiana state monies ostensibly intended for the long-term maintenance of the street, where the planner fellow lives who designed them.

As for the rest of us ... we just make do with spray paint.

Because, as Jeff reminds us: "The original, arguably more effective proposal for correcting traffic problems on Main Street was a paint-based $5,500."

Silly boy. Political paybacks aren't made with pragmatism.

As the farmers market follies morph into farce, City Hall just stands there. Why is that?

It ain't rocket science.

lead·er·ship
ˈlēdərˌSHip
noun
1.
the action of leading a group of people or an organization.
"different styles of leadership"
synonyms: guidance, direction, control, management, superintendence, supervision

Everything about the current farmers market expansion discussion is spasmodic and misdirected. It came surreptitiously from the crypt to the Board of Works last fall ...

Budgetary back alley to the Farmers Market? Let's face the music and dance.

 ... and managed to arouse in council person John Gonder and a handful of others that singular quality always guaranteed to  arouse suspicion and bile amongst the fogies -- namely, daring to think outside the box -- and in turn, this provocation sent the oft-indemnified farmers market queenpin into a tizzy ...

The farmers market discussion to too important to be left to the Marktmeister alone.

 ... leading us now to yet another repulsive example of Develop New Albany's amazing inability (read: unwillingness) to decide what "non-political" really means, and to apply the definition with consistency. Spin the wheel again, Vanna.

Develop New Albany's on-line farmers market "poll" is a reeking, juvenile cesspool of intellectual dishonesty.

So, I decided to give them a dose of their own shamelessly propagandistic medicine.

Yo, DNA: Here are some examples of OUR propaganda. You can have the hearts. We'll take the minds.

Then it occurred to me that perhaps the farmers location matters more in proximity to the Marktmeister's own building than the city as a whole.

Maybe the city could buy indoor space for the Winter Farmers Market. Would $108K do it?

Not really; I'd been holding on to that one for a while.

Back to the tip-off: Leadership.

Is City Hall exercising any of it as this annoying spectacle unfolds?

Or is the general idea to allow otherwise well-meaning people to metaphorically bash each other's brains in (speak for yourself), until none are left standing ... to demand a Speck study for the street grid but reject an economic development strategy for downtown ... to just stand there and be non-participatory?

One more time: The city needs to be stirred from its present somnolent resting place and take a share of the farmers market issue back into its possession. It is city property, and it consequently "belongs" to us all. What this looks like at present is a transparent payback to Develop New Albany's self-interested cadres, but the farmers market is far more important than just that, and its future needs to be studied with the city's active, directed, interested participation -- not the bizarrely detached passivity it has displayed thus far.

Beach Blanket Bridges Boondoggle: "Then they handed if off to the tolling authority."

Gotta quote Bluegill on this one:

"I and many others in that crushed grassroots have written about it extensively but, If you want to start getting a sense of our broader rep v.v. the bridges project, check the comments on this article."

But Nicolae Ceaușescu -- boy, wouldn't he have adored the Bridges Boondoggle?

Grassroots Efforts “Crushed” by Louisville’s $2.6 Billion Bridge Boondoggle, by Angie Schmitt (DC.STREETS.BLOG)

... This week, on short notice, state lawmakers approved $753 million in bonding for the Ohio River Bridges project, which they hope to fund partly with tolls. The bonds were rated BBB, just barely investment grade. The project also expects to receive a $452 million federal TIFIA loan, according to Business First in Louisville.

Yogi Berra to Kerry Stemler on tolling boondoggles: "It's deja vu all over again."

For New Albanian readers, consider what Daniel Borsch asks at Say NO to Bridge Tolls:

"If a wealthy area outside Washington, DC won't pay to use a toll road, what do you think is going to happen in Louisville?"

While reading Renn's article, pay special attention to the skewed traffic projections and non-transponder pay rates. It merely confirms that Kerry Stemler and his ilk have become human trick-or-treat costumes. Unfortunately, the penalty they'll be exacting from the metro area goes just a bit further than toilet-papering one's house.

This Is What a Boondoggle Looks Like, by Aaron M. Renn (Urbanophile)

I’ve recently reported on a couple of mega-bridge mega-boondoggles in progress in Louisville and Portland. But if you want to see a preview of how this might play out in real life when and if they are built, an example of this is in progress in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC with the Intercounty Connector.

And then the punch line, with audio clips of Stemler giggling:

So head’s up to local leaders everywhere. If the DOT and its allies cram a mega-boondoggle road or bridge down your throats, it’s your fault if it doesn’t produce the economic benefits they projected. Better buckle up. Because apparently being a boondoggler means you never have to say you’re sorry.

Renn: "Louisville Bridges Project Proceeds From Tragedy to Farce."

Just read it and weep -- not in sorrow, but at the sheer volume of the stupidity inherent in the Oligarch's River Bridges Project.

Bridges Project Proceeds From Tragedy to Farce

I’ve written a lot about the $2.6 billion boondoggle project to build two new bridges across the Ohio River in Louisville (see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). A new East End river crossing is without a doubt necessary and adds regional value, but the rest of the project is basically bad news.

But no matter how crazy this project is, it always manages to find ways to show that it’s even more wacky than I thought. The latest installment comes from the so-called “investment grade toll study” that was conducted in order to set toll rates and issue bonds.