In times like these, it’s worth remembering that on July 26, 2011, councilman Bob Caesar actually gave his qualified approval for a two-way street conversion in New Albany. Not only did he say these words aloud, but he gave me explicit permission to record and publish them.
“I am for change. Change every street to two way (but) not Pearl Street. Pearl Street will NOT be two way. It’s more convenient for people to park without having to drive around the block.”
It happened at the infamous merchant mixer meeting, and the context comes in this excerpt. We join the meeting at the point when Caesar quotes numerous studies that he has yet to produce in more than two subsequent years, and just before he explodes into his most quoted tirade ever.
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Two-way streets: John Rosenbarger explained that the city has procured a Federal street conversion grant subject to various Federal restrictions, which must have a 20% match from the city: $1.6 million from the Feds, and $400,000 from the city. Mayor England volunteered that while it’s “no slam against the council,” it would be the council’s job to find the money, which might come from EDIT.
Councilman, jewelry dealer and part-time Roman centurion Bob Caesar responded by defending the council, and added (italics mine): “One-way is the way to move traffic through a city; it is proven by numerous studies all across the country.”
The discussion continued, with the owners of Preston Art Supply joining Caesar in defending the inviolable sanctity of Pearl Street’s one-way flow, and this led to Caesar stating bluntly, unprompted and aloud:
“Pearl Street will NOT be two-way.”
I asked him how he could say this; he looked away and did not respond, but after the meeting, he walked past me and we had one of the most useless discussions in recent memory. If I were to have stated that 2 + 2 = 4, I’m certain he would disagree.
In short, after I asked him why he invariably opposes change and new ways of thinking about downtown areas, Caesar denied it, and explicitly permitted me to divulge this exact quote:
“I am for change. Change every street to two way (but) not Pearl Street. Pearl Street will NOT be two way. It’s more convenient for people to park without having to drive around the block.”
Don Preston added that all police departments support one-way street grids. Previously, Kathy Brennan had warned that if streets are two way, big trucks will park in traffic lanes to unload … and what then? Throughout, listening to it, you’d think that cities are scary places, indeed, and meant for dashing into and away from as quickly as possible, in a car … always in a car.
I realized (yet again) how so many of the older generation of merchants sincerely believes that whatever works out yonder in the soulless exurb should be implemented downtown, whereas the way I see it is that whatever can be done to create the polar opposite atmosphere downtown – including people-friendly, slower-moving traffic to accommodate humanity, and alternative modes of transportation apart from the automobile – should be the desired goal.
NAC has extensively and exhaustively made the case for two-way streets: Two-way traffic: A city permitted to function as designed is good for business.
All Bob Caesar and a handful of downtown reactionaries can offer in response are “numerous” studies, which he has so far failed to produce, and the admittedly honest (and I believe amazingly self-serving) stance that because he personally regards a one-way street as critical to his business (as though people cruising past a jewelry store are slamming on the brakes when they decide, spur-of-the-moment, to park next to the Endris front door and buy some bracelets), he will damn the torpedoes and impede potential two-way solutions in the same manner as he denounced the aborted proposal to divert the Harvest Homecoming Parade down Pearl Street.
Sometimes, as in the case of the usefulness of two-way streets, the future indeed is the past. A few questions occur to me:
Exactly when was Bob Caesar awarded veto power over the 21st century?
Is it true that Caesar, the most nominal of Democrats, is supporting Jameson Bledsoe, a Republican, in the 3rd district council race?
Am I the only one who cannot wait to see how Develop New Albany manages to avoid takng a position on two-way streets?
And: Why is rationality such a precious commodity ’round here?
