| OUR VIEWS
Road critics should fall back in wake of edict
We hope CAUTION Macon will
let the state of Georgia and Bibb County quit spending our money fighting
its efforts to stop the five-laning of Houston Road.
The critics of the Road
Improvement Program had their day in court - actually, four days in January.
U.S. District Judge Duross Fitzpatrick held hearings on their request for
a preliminary injunction halting the bulldozers in their tracks pending a
decision on the suit they had filed in October. That suit sought to stop
federal funding for the $8 million project on the grounds that Georgia's
Department of Transportation had not adequately considered its environmental
effects.
State and federal highway
officials testified in the January hearing that their environmental assessment
projected no significant ill effects on surrounding neighborhoods. The CAUTION
Macon folks said this finding was arbitrary and capricious, the kind of
assessment a fox might make in the henhouse. But Monday Judge Fitzpatrick
ruled against them. He said the defendants had acted properly in making their
assessment.
The judge's finding on the
legitimacy of the environmental study suggests that CAUTION Macon is not
likely to win its broader case either - although it can appeal the injunction
decision and keep fighting its case as grading and widening follow the work
already done. The judge observed the courts "have a limited role to play
matters such as this."
It has been apparent from
the beginning that the Road Improvement Program saw Houston Road as its line
in the sand. On its behalf, the county has run up more than $63,000 in legal
expenses fighting the suit and the state attorney general's office has also
made a significant investment of taxpayer money.
We wouldn't call CAUTION
Macon's intervention frivolous; it raised genuine concerns which should have
been addressed earlier and more fully by the Road Improvement Program. But
the court has signaled, and the road's critics might as well fall back and
fight again another day, on another front.
Ed Corson/For the editorial
board
Go
To CAUTION Macon News
CAUTION Macon News Release: [not published]
Lessons from the CAUTION lawsuit against the Macon/Bibb
County Road Improvement Program.
The recent Federal court decision to deny CAUTION Macon's
request for a restraining order on Houston Road was an unfortunate decision
for our city. The judge limited the case to procedural issues, rather than
the substantive and very explicit requirements of federal law for effective
planning, cost-effective design, sensitivity to the social and environmental
issues, and effective public input. We as plaintiffs had the burden of
demonstrating that the required processes for proper conduct of an Environmental
Assessment were violated, and that the violation resulted in serious damage
to the plaintiffs.
The judge concluded that, due to the ambiguity regarding
Federal environmental requirements, interpretation of those requirements
is left solely to federal agencies. Logically, this ruling regards any "finding
of no significant impact" as indisputable. CAUTION Macon is currently consulting
with its attorney to determine the advisability of an appealCAUTION Macon
would obviously have preferred to win its injunction to stop the five-laning
of Houston Road. Despite the ruling we feel victorious in several ways:
-We have successfully influenced moderation of the
design of several projects.
- Federal and State DOT representatives appeared
embarrassed by the superficial and flawed analysis reflected in the Houston
Road Project's Environmental Assessment; we anticipate that future assessments
will not be so readily rubber-stamped by either agency. Hopefully, federal,
state and local agencies will realize that their omissions cause serious
harm to the citizens they are pledged to protect.
- We have made Bibb County citizens aware of the
heavy-handed and often poorly planned engineering guiding our road program.
- We as citizens are much more savvy concerning road
issues, and even more appalled at the serious failure of the Road Improvement
Program to protect our neighborhoods and quality of life. We have learned
what should be expected of road projects using state and federal funds; these
lessons will make us vigilant and effective in examining future road
projects.
It is a sad day indeed when citizens are forced to
turn to the courts as a forum for their input. We hope in the future that
there will be an open and frank exchange of ideas between citizens and officials
of the Road Improvement Program. We also hope and that community concerns
will be incorporated into the planning of future projects; the people who
live in the neighborhoods and use the roads are most intimately acquainted
with their usage patterns and problems.
In the meantime, we urge the Citizens of Macon and
Bibb County to be vigilant and be involved! Demand good government, proper
planning, and responsible use of our tax dollars! |
