Letter to US Dept of Transportation re: Smart City Challenge

by | Feb 15, 2016 | Advocacy

9 February 2016 DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx US Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Ave SE Washington DC 20590 202 366 4000 anthony.foxx@dot.gov smartcitychallenge@dot.gov Re: Smart City Challenge Dear DOT Secretary Anthony Foxx: Louisville, Kentucky could be a great city if we correct the local land use and transportation mistakes of the past 65 years.  Unfortunately, Louisville’s Smart Cities Challenge application and plans will only postpone the day we take remedial action crucial to our sustainable future. The Smart Cities Challenge application submitted by Louisville is itself being challenged by local citizens and organizations that find the application to be unrealistic, undemocratic and unambitious. Undemocratic because the application has had no broad public input. Local transportation voices of dissent (voices which advocate more transportation equity, greater public transit, greater CBD and transit corridor density, fewer one way streets, slower traffic, fewer surface parking lots, and a protected tree canopy) have been excluded from the process. Undemocratic because Louisville’s transportation plan, Move Louisville, is years behind in it’s unveiling. It remains a secret kept from the public, though it is cited as a driving force behind Louisville’s Smart Cities proposal. Unrealistic because Louisville, under the excessively lauded leadership of Mayor Fischer, has recently violated the most simple principles in creating a transportation system worthy of a “Smart City”. Though promoting Louisville as “moving forward”, this administration has repeatedly undermined the community by encouraging new exurban development, at the expense of Louisville’s urban core.  This includes: · allowing WalMart to steamroll over our land use guidelines in a neighborhood having the lowest number of drivers per capita. At an intersection where...