I-69

Column: July 18, 2004

Code Compliance

Pat Andrews, Vice-President of McANA, wrote the following article for a special Indianapolis Star Focus on Neighborhoods.

Over the last decade, southwest Perry Township has been evolving from an agrarian to a suburban landscape and culture. Subdivisions of starter homes for young families and upper end homes for the well off are filling in the countryside at an accelerating pace. Multi-story apartment buildings are rising in topographic contrast to fast-disappearing bean fields. Shopping and dining amenities are locating in response to increased number of rooftops and rooftops are increasing in response to the growing number of amenities. From Grumpy Ed’s at lunchtime, to live jazz at Pauley’s, southwest Perry has awakened. Rosa Parks Elementary School draws students from all across the Township. New places of worship have opened their doors. There is even a championship golf course. Growth is such that the mind’s eye can fill in the remaining farm scenery to glimpse a community just catching its stride. Neighborhood life flows east, west, north and south, with SR 37 a vital component of an emerging rhythm.

That rhythm is in peril.

Residents along SR 37 have begun to stand up and speak up about the looming threat to build I-69 through the heart of this burgeoning area. John and Jan Braun, Jim and Peggy Flickinger, Kathy Peterson, Greg Dixon, and Mike Wadsworth, to name a few, are all reluctant heroes doing everything they can to turn back a grave threat to the promise of a great community.

In a refreshing twist, their Township officials have rallied to support them. Assessor Kathy Price and Trustee Jack Sandlin have stood shoulder to shoulder with their constituents to do the hard work that must be done.

The route proposed for I-69 was chosen by a handful of well placed powerbrokers, for closely held reasons. INDOT Commissioner J. Bryan Nicol has relentlessly rebuffed overwhelming public condemnation of this route. Mr. Nicol desperately wants you to believe this is progress. Not true. Growth in Perry is progress. I-69 represents only destruction.

An 8-lane freeway would devastate this community just as Fountain Square was devastated decades ago. It would plow under about $100 million in Perry’s tax base, expose central Indiana’s drinking water supply to unnecessary risk, and cost hundreds of ‘little guy’ families a huge chunk of the value of their homes. It might as well be a wall reaching a hundred feet in the air for the effect that ribbon of concrete would have. The entire rhythm and flow of southwest Perry would be disrupted.

All this destruction so we get from Indy to Evansville 12 minutes faster than if I-69 were built on I-70-US 41. All this destruction so we can spend $2 billion, when $1 billion will do the job.

This is David vs. Goliath. This is the little guy stepping up and standing tall to protect his community from politicos who just don’t care. This is a bit of what is best about America pitted against a bit of what is worst about America. This is a battle that deserves to be won by those reluctant heroes.