Are you happy now, Leon? You win. You’ve succeeded in stalling the construction of the Eastern Parkway until you got your “Road to Nowhere.” It is even scheduled for construction next month, before the Eastern Parkway.You have held up economic development in the rest of the county out of your own selfish concern for motels, strip malls and gas stations as well as a two-mile spur to the doorstep of your friend’s subdivision at a cost to the taxpayer of $8.5 million. He must be a very good friend indeed.
In the meantime, who knows how many real economic development opportunities we have lost because we couldn’t show interested developers a road, or even tell them when one might be coming? We’ve even had the money the entire time. It was never a question of funding, just some good ol’ boy politics.
Since 1998, the state Transportation Department has sat on the $65 million for the Eastern Parkway while you played your political games and prevented the road from being built. In the meantime, the cost of building the Eastern Parkway has ballooned to $89 million.
So, it seems a bit hypocritical when you say, “If you have industry come to the community, I think everyone benefits one way or the other.”
Don’t you mean; “If you have industry come to Oxford, I think my friends benefit one way or the other”?
Certainly your shenanigans haven’t helped to bring industry to the rest of the “community” that has worried about when they might get the Eastern Parkway and a chance at economic renewal. Little did we know that you were scheming to get the road built to your liking.
You tried unsuccessfully to get the interchange at U.S. 78 and Golden Springs Road built to your specifications. You lost that fight, but you held up the construction of the parkway nonetheless. You showed them not to tangle with Mayor Leon Smith — and you still won your “Road to Nowhere.”
Meanwhile Calhoun County has waited… and waited… and waited for that 8-mile strip of pavement to come coursing through the McClellan property. The former fort has seen suitors come and go, all asking when they could expect the Eastern Parkway. They couldn’t move here until they got that road. How could they move their goods without it?
Maybe we should have referred them to you. You could have told them about your friend’s new subdivision and his need for a road, too.
You know, economic development is more than just junk food restaurants and shopping malls. Those people in those new homes will need a place to work and sorry, but Burger King doesn’t cut the mustard. They will need good-paying jobs at major companies, such as those that could be attracted to McClellan. Hopefully the Eastern Parkway can get there before the interest goes cold.
So congratulations on your “Road to Nowhere.” You may have earned it, but you certainly don’t deserve it.
