Considering the manner by which Kerry Stemler’s Oligarchic Benevolent Society rammed tolling up the community’s collective bunghole sans lube, believing anything might change in the attitude of the area’s overlords has less chance of fruition than a tooth fairy’s visit to your dentured grandfather.
Merely note that only now, with the boondoggle underway, comes ephemeral (and entirely phantom) “concern” on the part of the leading element over the economic impact of tolling, whereas the economic impact study on small business given lip service by certain bridges junta members two years ago has … wait for it … never, ever materialized. Never even been mentioned since then. Done gone and disappeared, not unlike the credibility of the junta’s membership.
From New Albany’s perspective, a platoon of cloned Einsteins aren’t necessary to gauge the likely impact of tolling, whether pertaining to low-income and minority users or higher-income majority users. The bridge with no tolls (Sherman Minton) will become the chosen means to give tolls a miss, with the likely consequence of rendering the city’s already indefensible one-way streets into choked non-arteries filled with pass-throughs, whose only objective is traveling elsewhere.
And yet still there is no plan for adapting the street grid to fast approaching realities. Instead, we seem intent on spending money on every other conceivable “lifestyle” project except the chief means of accessing them.
New Albany’s never been a paragon of priorities, but really?
First of two open houses held on tolling, by Braden Lammers (N and T)
Residents again came out to voice their opinions at a meeting to collect public comments on the Ohio River Bridges Project, but few believe anything will change.
More than 120 people attended the public open house held to gather comments on the economic impacts of tolling for the bridges project on low-income and minority users.
