Mrs. Baird poses in updated Delacroix painting, embraces Highland Oaks People Power Revolution.

Just once more, let me get this grassroots democracy thing straight.

When neighborhood residents flooded the Plan Commission to demand autonomy over their street, council person Shirley Baird looked in the mirror, saw Corazon Aquino staring back, felt the People Power Revolution rush through her soul, and declared the victory of the ochlocracy:

The residents of Highland Oaks overwhelmingly opposed the road extension; therefore, Baird voted for the amendment.

All right; it's a deal. I bring a couple hundred Midtown residents to the council chamber to demand two-way streets and an end to the vehicular reign of error at our front doors, and you'll cave on demand.

I'm glad we are clear on this point, Shirley. I feel better, so much so that I'll skip tonight's council meeting to devote time to collating my collection of tiddlywinks.

New Albany council gets vote on road connection, by Daniel Suddeath (All About Jeffersonville)

New Albany City Councilwoman Shirley Baird believes there will be enough votes to remove a required road connection for a property projected to be used for baseball fields and a community park.

The council is scheduled to vote this evening on a resolution to amend its comprehensive plan. The amendment would abolish a portion of the plan that calls for Highland Oaks Drive to be completed to connect from Kamer Miller Road to Charlestown Road.

Baird flips, connector road flops, and the ochlocracy rules.

This happened Tuesday.

Here's the plan commission's climbdown ...

New Albany commission amends plan, removes controversial road from park project, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

New Little League fields and a Floyd County park are closer to becoming a reality; however, more hurdles will have to be cleared before the joint project comes to fruition.

But there won’t be a road in the middle of the park ... The New Albany Plan Commission voted 6-4 Tuesday to amend its comprehensive plan to remove the section that called for the completion of Highland Oaks Drive from Kamer Miller Road to Charlestown Road.

 ... and here's the explanation proffered by a crucial "swing" voter.

Councilwoman Shirley Baird, who is also a member of the commission, voted against the variance for the park in April. She said Tuesday the residents of Highland Oaks overwhelmingly opposed the road extension; therefore, Baird voted for the amendment.

Mrs Baird may have been right as to the specific merits of the non-road, but I doubt she'd apply the same logic to a human rights issue, i.e., 9 out of 10 New Albany's supposed "Democrats" oppose same sex marriage, therefore ... well, you get my drift, even if they don't.

So, refresh my memory: First the Mt. Tabor roundabout, then Highland Oaks Drive. How many residents of the Spring, Elm and Market corridors have to fill a meeting to get two-way streets?

Or does "quality of life" even apply to us?

Ochlocracy ... from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ochlocracy (Greek: ὀχλοκρατία, okhlokratía; Latin: ochlocratia) or mob rule is the rule of government by mob or a mass of people, or the intimidation of legitimate authorities. As a pejorative for majoritarianism, it is akin to the Latin phrase mobile vulgus meaning "the fickle crowd", from which the English term "mob" was originally derived in the 1680s.

Ochlocracy ("rule of the general populace") is democracy ("rule of the people") spoiled by demagoguery, "tyranny of the majority", and the rule of passion over reason, just like oligarchy ("rule of a few") is aristocracy ("rule of the best") spoiled by corruption, and tyranny is monarchy spoiled by lack of virtue. Ochlocracy is synonymous in meaning and usage to the modern, informal term "mobocracy", which emerged from a much more recent colloquial etymology.