If you live or own a business downtown and along Interstate 65 in Jeffersonville and don’t want to be placed in a special canal district, speak now or forever hold your peace. Grand visions go from being an idea to what we’re doing awfully fast around here.

There has been talk of Jeffersonville needing a water feature for awhile now. There is a practical view that says if we’re going to have to put in some huge pipes to channel water through the city, we might as well just build an aesthetically pleasing ditch and call it a canal instead. The canal, all by itself, is pretty simple and benign. The creation of a district is a different thing.

On Jan. 25, the city council was publicly introduced to the “Canal District,” a comprehensive plan, or “enormous project” as described, for the area of Jeffersonville mentioned above. Peggy Duffy, of Construction Solutions, presented the plan, and some of her language really struck me.

The presentation began and ended with what would be the first required step in the plan, delineating the borders of the district, and why it would be a good idea. Because, “everything inside becomes one big project.” They can create “guidelines” for “how things will look, who we want to be a part of it. This is one of the ways we have control.”

There was specific mention of dictating the color of street signs, for example, and dealing with “blight.”

Given that the suggested boundaries of this special district take in my home, I began getting uncomfortable in my seat listening to someone describe how my neighborhood was to become one big, cohesive, all-the-signs-matching project. It’s the same feeling I get anytime I hear some people talking about what they need to get everyone else to do.

The plan as described would cause several adverse effects, namely a loss of diversity, harm to the poor and a loss of liberty.

The primary positive anyone hopes to see from this is economic. If it works as envisioned, there will be a flurry of economic activity surrounding the canal, a planned convention center and hotel. Jobs will be created, the area will become desirable and property values will rise.

If we’re slaves to money, I guess this sounds great. If our family manages to keep our property, it will be more valuable. Given that my husband’s trade is directly related to large commercial construction projects and that my kids will need jobs, our family is likely to come out ahead.

However, a rise in property values coupled with strictly enforced rules for the appearance and upkeep of property will price many people out of their own homes. Driving poorer businesses and residents off of their property clearly diminishes economic diversity.

“Diversity” was one of several buzzwords passed around during the recent city council retreat. Does anyone know how you get the opposite of diversity? With central planning with the goal of cohesiveness and control. With rules that say being diverse is against the rules, which is exactly what is being planned.

I’m sympathetic to the idea that if, and only if, you must build several large structures, like a pedestrian approach to a bridge, a convention center and a hotel and a major sewer project, it does make sense to coordinate that planning so that you don’t have to dig the same holes twice. I have no sympathy for the idea of people deciding what others must do to their property.

Making some people, the ones “we want to be a part of it,” some money and creating something that some people find attractive does not justify the real costs and wrongness of this concept. The object is control, pure and simple.

There is no governmental imperative to make other people make their homes pretty to visitors’ eyes. There is no justification for turning people’s neighborhoods into tourist attractions.

Just as the recently annexed didn’t choose to live in Jeffersonville, I didn’t choose to live in Gatlinburg or San Antonio or along a Strip, Strand, Fill-in-the-Blank Mile or Row, or any other tourist area.

If anyone else feels similarly, I suggest clearing your Monday nights for awhile and getting your council person’s contact information. This will be a done deal unless someone objects. Fast and loud.



Jeffersonville resident Kelley Curran sometimes digs holes she can’t get herself out of. Ending the previous sentence with a preposition is just one example. Write her at kelinawriterhat@aol.com