No Brainers

Saturday night my wife and I went to a wonderful movie, The Railway Man, and on the way home we decided to walk across the Big Four Bridge, since it was recently opened on both sides. Out of habit, we headed toward River Road in Louisville to our normal point of departure for such walks. At the Vernon Lanes I suggested that we should go instead to Jeff and ascend there, and we did.

While on the circuitous ramp up to the bridge itself, we were both amazed at how many people were taking advantage of the beautiful evening to explore this new addition to the Falls Cities. Once on the deck of the bridge I thought, turning this relic of the heydays of railroads into an amenity for our communities has been a real smash hit. Now that it is obviously successful, some may call the bridge's repurposing a no brainer.

This successful, concrete, example of a community-wide reach beyond our pre-constrained vision of the place we live, made me think of what other no-brainers, perhaps obscured by the darkness of our self-imposed limits, simply wait for a light bulb to click on to bring them into view.

Then, upon reflection, I thought, we are awash in a different kind of no-brainers as well, and it is those people that block out  the light, whether for budgetary, or cognitive-comfort reasons. Or is it simply because they are, themselves, dim bulbs?

The no-brainers, however, that most interest me here are the ones which, if brought to life, would be widely recognized as positive additions to our local scene. Of course, the list here is by no means exhaustive.

Heading up the list is, of course, the missing link to a pedestrian/bicycle loop between the Falls Cities--the K & I Bridge. If the intransigence of the Norfolk Southern bureaucracy maintains, and the railroad's no-public-use policy stays in place, then we, as a community, need to find a way to circumvent that stubbornness. Perhaps the railroad would permit use of the bridge's existing piers so a relatively lightweight structure of cantilevered design could be added to the bridge, independent of its functional aspects. Keep in mind that about $20 million of the total cost to transform the Big Four was eaten up in the approach ramps to that bridge. The K & I approaches are at ground level already, so we're ahead of that project by a huge amount.

Another no-brainer is a comprehensive reclamation of Falling Run Creek as a meandering park throughout much of our city. The current state of the creek in many places is shameful. And yet, it is a diamond in the rough which could be a walking/biking/jogging path through the city. Since Falling Run feeds into the Ohio, a reasonable case could be made that it should be part of the Ohio River Greenway.

New Albany is perilously close to losing its freight rail capability. Freight that is not shipped by rail will, by default, be shipped by truck, and those trucks will travel on city streets. A goal of economic development staff should be to provide incentives to make rail freight more feasible for local manufacturers. Globe Mechanical, QRS Recycling and the City's own waste water treatment plant could possibly become customers on the rail line running practically through their properties. Any additional freight shipments by rail help to strengthen that vital element of our infrastructure while keeping heavy trucks off city streets.

A local look at light rail, unfortunately, brings up one of the other kinds of no-brainers. Several years ago, Louisville appeared poised to head toward a light rail system. With little explanation, Mayor Jerry Abramson nixed the tentative move toward that sensible mode of transportation. It was a loss for Louisville for sure, but it was also a setback for the region, its environment, and its air quality. Had a viable light rail system been in place, would we still be building toll roads today?

Today's edition of the Moyers and Company show featured Joseph Stiglitz. The economist discussed the inequality of today's tax system which unfairly burdens the middle class, while rewarding large corporations with the lowest taxes in modern US history. Those large corporations often make money outside the US, and to avoid taxes if returning the money to the US, they simply leave it in foreign banks and foreign countries. It does nothing to improve the quality of life for our own citizens. These  expatriate corporations drive down the wage structure of this nation and rob the country of the necessary tax money to invest in infrastructure, education, health care, technological innovation and many of the other things we've ransomed to right wing, anti-tax, ideologues. How's this tie into no-brainer's?

Just this, if we stand any chance of holding onto democracy in this country it will be because we have bought into and nurtured the trend of buying local. Just as Tip O'Neill said, "all politics is local", in light of extra-national corporations driving down wages, the quality of life, and substituting jobbettes for good jobs, union jobs, in this country, we need to recognize that all prosperity is local. Every policy of our local government needs to favor locally owned businesses, whether in purchasing on the basis of local ownership over price, or in clearing hurdles for new local businesses starting up. If a policy or rule is found to favor national companies over local companies, that rule must go.

If we focus on building a strong local economy, and do things that make our city innovative, sustainable, safe, and inviting, we'll find we have a better community to call home. Some might call that a no brainer.