New road planned just to tear down housing project

Have you ever heard of building a road for the sole purpose of depriving public housing residents of their homes?

Well, you have now. And it's happening in Newport.

For years, an extension of KY 9 through Newport has been discussed. It was unclear why it was needed, but now the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has released the plans for the new highway. The road accomplishes one thing only: tearing down most of the housing project south of 4th Street.

For starts, you know damn well that if rich people were living there instead, they wouldn't put the road there - no matter how badly the road was needed. (Just look how I-471 avoids Highland Country Club while destroying several working-class neighborhoods.)

The real purpose of the road is obvious just looking at the map of it. The proposed road includes a roundabout that takes up an entire block. And the road barely even scrapes a huge vacant area to the north.

And why is that area vacant? It too was the site of public housing - until several years ago when the city allowed it to be torn down and sold to a developer that has let it sit empty ever since.

The only conclusion is that the government tears down public housing just to be tearing it down. This is obvious because they don't build anything else useful in its place. In Newport's case, they tore down one project and replaced it with empty space that's now overgrown with weeds - and now they're tearing down most of another project to build a road that's not even needed.

When were the residents of either housing project even asked what they thought about these land grabs? The government just stomps along and does their thing without even asking. For as long as the KY 9 extension has been in the works, this is the first time anyone has seen the planned routing. Transportation officials didn't seek input from the housing project's residents. Instead they planned a route behind closed doors and then told everybody this was their plan, and if they didn't like it, too bad.

Now here's the real outrage. Officials now say the new road will open up the vacant area for development - of luxury residences. If Robin Hood lived on Bizarro World, this would be his finest hour.

It isn't too late to prevent the road from being built there. But if we want to stop this road, we can't do anything short of scream until we're satisfied. Naturally, the Tea Party isn't doing shit to halt this road, even though it costs the taxpayers tens of millions of dollars.

If we want to keep this road from uprooting hundreds of residents, we need to fight like it's going out of style. That's because the city, the county, and The Media don't listen worth a damn. They'd rather listen to developers and tell everyone else what to think.