I know the urban planning site Urban Indy has been critical of the Rebuild Indy program for not so much as rebuilding and "transforming" infrastructure and transportation in Indianapolis. It's more like fixing it up with a fresh coat of paint. Curtis Ailes, one of the bloggers for Urban Indy, often refers to it as "Repave Indy".
I know some politicos out there think we should be thanking Ballard. After all, this was accomplished through his administration. I mean, the money just kind of fell from the sky, right???
I think Zach Adamson, one of the At-Large Council candidates on the Democratic ticket, put it quite well over at Paul Ogden's blog:
Make no mistake about this. Just because the mayors office makes a distinction between fine line that is tax payers and water/gas rate payer, you can be assured it is you and me who are paying for those streets. Water deal or not. Tax hike or rate hike. Take the money out of my left pocket or right pocket.. Its still my money. So if I thank anyone for the new streets and sidewalks.. It'll be in the form of a nice thank you note to myself.
As I biked downtown on Meridian St from Hanna the other day, marvelling at the new and silky-smooth pavement, I was stunned to find there already are lots of utility cuts that have been made in it -- after less than a year. I just had to shake my head in disbelief.
ReplyDeleteIf the people who do the patching could at least care a little more about making a smooth and level repair then it wouldn't be so bad.
Every once in a while you can find one that is done right and makes hardly a bump as you go over it. So I know it can be done.
Badly repaving indy's cow paths would be more accurate in much of the county.
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