Imagine a city with overt future vision and walkability goals, but not in Jeff Gahan’s New Albany.

Time and again, we’ve been told that Mayor Jeff Gahan favors the street network reform proposals proffered by consultant Jeff Speck.

We’re told he solicited them, he understands them, and that City Hall “gets them.”

Of course, these reassurances come by underground carrier pigeon from anonymous backroom sources in the dead of night during a blind drunk, because heaven forbid the mayor might openly lead on such a project. We must wait … and wait … and wait, as ground is steadily lost.

As such, we’re compelled to draw obvious conclusions: If Jeff Gahan can’t or won’t speak openly with force and passion, doing what a political leader is supposed to do by advocating a position to advance the city’s prospects, shaping consensus, and leading (that word again) the debate, then he cannot possibly be “for” complete streets. This is why I’ve used the word cowardice, and will continue using it.

Cowardice is the correct word, as it applies to a political hologram commonly seen exhibiting it.

Consider the epochal contrast with the hitherto unknown city of Tigard, Oregon (population 48,035). Like New Albany, Tigard is bringing Jeff Speck and his walkability ideas to town, and unlike Jeff Gahan, the city of Tigard begins with a specific vision and a willingness to advocate it openly, because it aims to become “the most walkable community in the Pacific Northwest where people of all ages and abilities enjoy healthy and interconnected lives.”

Back here in New Albany, Speck’s downtown street network proposals are designed to propel our city into a position of being the most walkable city in the Louisville metro area, and perhaps regionally.

Consequently, we’re operating strictly on the down-low, with no stated vision and no public objective, and with a mayor cowering in his command bunker as minions rush to reward the usual suspects at the expense of the city.

Tigard in the vanguard, New Albany in thrall to the Democratic monetization machine. Time for a change, folks.