FIRST, A WORD: I've managed to get myself a little confused about what I wanted this site to be. In a nutshell, I want to take what's going on out there, local to me or nationally or even internationally, and throw my opinion out there. Notice I said "my"; I'm going to stop acting like this is something bigger than a one-man operation, although I will admit to being inspired by those big-time websites that started off as small-time operations. Anyways, I'm no fan of partisan rhetoric, so I try to keep it down the middle, the way a centrist/independent would. There are things I believe in that I will openly support--gay marriage, for example--but I will try my best to keep it right down the middle. I'll crack on everything; no political inclination is safe from my opinion. And that's why I'm taking it a little easy today, so I can take half a step back, look at what's happening out there, and prepare an opinion on it.
So with that being said, let's talk about a bridge to nowhere (so far)!
WE'VE HEARD THIS BEFORE: So the city of Jeffersonville is shooting to open their end of the Big Four walking bridge in May--just in time for my birthday, perhaps?
Here's the thing: as the title implies, we've heard this before.
Originally, the opening of the Indiana side was set for April. That got pushed back because the city had to install special-made LED lights in the handrails, to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, a requirement that has to be met because eighty percent of the funding came from federal funds. Except the lights originally weren't going to be in the handrail--the Jeffersonville Historic District had kittens when the original light design, which would have more closely mirrored the lights on Louisville's side of the bridge, were unveiled. They complained of light shining into the windows of the houses near the Jeffersonville side. Not an invalid complaint, but, there are these contraptions called curtains. . .so the city compromised, and put the lights in the handrails. That way, the ramp can be ADA compliant, the people can keep their curtains open, and all can be well in the area of Market and Mulberry.
Except that threw the initial schedule off. So now, we're looking at the ramp opening over a year behind schedule. To be fair, there have been other complications--a design flaw was discovered in the steel box girders on the underside of the ramp, requiring some rework, and the guardrails themselves needed a little longer than anticipated to put in. Naturally, the city and the Indiana Department of Transportation are pointing fingers at each other, with Mike Moore blaming INDOT and INDOT blaming the city. Here's a thought: how about blaming the city AND INDOT, and the historic district while we're at it--their bellyaching over the lights is a big reason why we're looking at the THIRD "target date".
Meanwhile, the park at the base of the Jeffersonville side isn't even close to being done. So once this thing opens--assuming it opens in May, and prior history doesn't give me a reason to cheer--people are going to walk across and see. . .(crickets). . .but at least they can walk a block and take their pick of umpteen taphouses. . .
David Karem, the president of the Waterfront Development Corporation, the entity that designed Louisville's Waterfront Park and led the charge to convert the 119 year old former train bridge to a walking bridge, was quoted in the Courier-Journal as saying that over 500,000 pedestrians used the bridge in its first year (the Louisville ramp and bridge itself opened last February). That is an impressive--and quite realistic--number. Mr. Karem is also quoted in the News and Tribune article about the new opening date that Jeffersonville stands to benefit more from the bridge than Louisville does--and they do, because there will be umpteen businesses within a short walk of Chestnut and Pearl, where the ramp is coming down at. If Jeffersonville had gotten their end open sooner, they would have had nearly a year to reap the benefits.
This thing could have, and should have, been planned a lot better than it was. The city and INDOT should have anticipated needing the lights. They could have worked closer with the Historic District to keep the light out of their eyes--or could have bought them curtains. The city and INDOT could have coordinated better with their Louisville contemporaries.
The seven P's surely apply here: Prior Proper Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance. It was--and still is--a great idea, but it could have been a lot better thought out.
LEE HAMILTON: I was going to sign off with the Big Four Bridge item above, but I just caught Lee Hamilton's opinion piece in the News and Tribune, and think it's worth discussing here.
Mr. Hamilton represented the Ninth District of Indiana, which includes my neck of the woods, for over 30 years, and was known as a Republican who was willing to work with whoever he needed to--Democrats, independents, squirrels, birds, you name it--in the name of making America a better place, and I personally think that all of America, not just the Ninth District, has been made a little better by his gracing the halls of Congress.
In his piece, Mr. Hamilton spoke of the "imperial presidency", one in which the president uses his powers to issue executive orders to enact policy in place of Congress. In his State of the Union address, President Obama threatened to issue executive orders to advance his agenda, completely bypassing a Congress that, honestly, isn't doing much these days. The president's plan is both understandable yet distressing--on one hand, he DOES have that authority, but, there is that whole separation of powers thing. So both sides, Republicans and Democrats, get a point on this one. He's being left with no choice but to potentially violate the Constitution just to get things done. Whether you agree with his policies or not, no president should be in this position.
But Mr. Hamilton points out that executive orders have been used in recent history to expand a president's power--and not just by presidents of one party. And Mr. Hamilton notes that it was done because we not exist in a world where decisions can't wait for 500-odd people on Capital Hill to act. In the business world, a president who consistently waited for the Board of Directors to act before making a decision would get run over by competitors. Hamilton goes on to throw out some examples of programs and policies started by executive order--the Emancipation Proclamation and the establishment of the Peace Corps, among others.
The reason Obama is resorting to executive order is because our Congress sucks. As I said above, it's distressing--and I'd say that regardless of who was in office, and have before, pre-TCKS--but can anyone really blame him? Surely someone in Congress has to understand that as long as they stay in their ideological trenches, demanding a laundry list of concessions from one side before they even think about discussing something, they're going to open the door for expansion of presidential powers through executive order. And yeah, those CAN be contested in court, and CAN by superseded by legislation, but there are enough judges out there who rule based on ideology, and not the rule of law and established precedent, to uphold a good number of those orders, and Congress isn't going to stop sniping at each other long enough to pass a bill overruling an executive order.
Recently, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) sat down and hashed out the recently passed budget deal. THAT was Congress at its best, finding consensus on what they agreed on and middle ground on what they didn't. Neither side got everything they wanted, but they got what they needed--an airtight spending plan--and more importantly, gave the American people a glimmer of hope that Congress can actually get something done. Unfortunately--and Mr. Hamilton touches on this, too--such bipartisan, cross-chamber wheeling and dealing is a rarity these days.
The Congress, that stately group who are supposed to provide an "independent voice" (to paraphrase Hamilton) to the President, is controlled by special interests. The Citizens United ruling essentially gave corporate and special interests free reign to spend loads of money on elections, at any level, ensuring that the candidates they donated to would vote their way. If Congress wants to try to keep in check a president's ability to govern by executive order, they need to start by enacting laws that restrict how much corporate and special interests can contribute to election campaigns. The second thing they can do is place limits on lobbying. And most importantly, the third thing they can do is remember that they serve WE THE PEOPLE, not corporate interests, or special interests, or lobbyists. And while they're at it, they can think back to the work done by Sen. Murray and Rep. Ryan; yeah, it was painful, and nobody got everything they wanted, but it's a lot better than what they had been doing--nothing. And as an aside, perhaps they ought to make it easier for independent and third-party candidates to seek office, and make it easier for them to function if elected--presently, third-party or independent members of Congress have to pick a side to caucus on, and that Republican-Democrat grip needs to be broken.
And those of us who elect these people need to remember that we need to do a lot more than just complain about the gridlock in Washington. We need to take a good, hard look at those we've elected and ask ourselves if they're actually doing the job we sent them to do. Don't look at it from a partisan standpoint. Leave political ideology out of it.
And in fact, I have a thought to go with that, too: we, too, have become quite polarized over the past few years, just like Congress has. Has anyone stopped to think that us becoming polarized might, MIGHT be exactly what the powers that be want?
If you would like to read Lee Hamilton's column, follow this link: http://www.newsandtribune.com/opinion/x2118241988/HAMILTON-An-alternative-to-the-imperial-presidency (be warned, the News and Tribune has a paywall; if you're not a subscriber, you only get a limited number of article views before you have to subscribe)
Rep. Hamilton makes reference to a Politico article regarding some upcoming executive orders. I'm going to look into that, and will bring you some thoughts tomorrow. Until them, thanks for reading, and have a great day!