28
Dec 2003
Email attachment to thousands of
families.
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Don’t be fooled. IDOT”S “planners” must have sat around their big conference tables and schemed a long time to come up with the euphemistic appellation, Gateway Connector. I imagine it went something like this:
“What will we
call this highway so the public will be fooled into thinking it is a good
idea?”
“A connector
is a good thing.”
“Yeah. A connector brings people and communities together.”
“Who would complain about a connector?”
“So let’s not even call it a highway. People don’t like highways. Highways make you think of gridlock, noise,
air pollution, litter, urine bombs, that kind of thing.”
Well, two can play this name game. I’ve been thinking of some names of my own for the proposed highway 158. Here are a few:
Gateway Sprawler: for the
urban sprawl it will leave in its wake.
Gateway Fleecer: for the
fleecing of the taxpayers who will pay for a highway they don’t need or want.
Gateway 20 Year IDOT
Employment Security: self explanatory
Gateway Destroyer: for the open
land, farmland and homes it will destroy.
Gateway Sucker: for the
sucking sound of dollars leaving the core cities out to the “new” perimeter.
Gateway Developers Dream: for
the big money it will put in St Louis developers’ pockets.
Gateway Land Grab: for its
misuse of eminent domain and Tax Increment Financing.
Gateway Politician’s Folly: it’s
another great idea by the same folks who brought you “New Belleville” and the
Metro East Airport.
Don’t be fooled by its nice sounding name. The proposed highway from Columbia to Troy
is a bad idea.