Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Discussion of effective code enforcement to occur at ESSNA meeting on April 28; Constituency for Progress currently studying strategies

Yesterday in a comment in NA Confidential, Greg asked: “How do we get ordinance enforcement that is built to succeed, not fail?”

NAC thanks Randy Smith (
Volunteer Hoosier), who provides this response on behalf of New Albany’s Constituency for Progress:

The newly born Constituency for Progress has analyzed the recent City Council move to create and fund an ordinance enforcement officer and does not believe it will be at all effective.

In fact, we believe that the mechanism created is either so timid or so corrupt that it was never intended to be effective; rather, it was intended to placate groups such as the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association with a half-measure that would get us to shut up and go away.

Without casting blame, we believe a better solution exists. Our proposal will include procedures and a working document or draft ordinance to create an effective codes enforcement office that will accomplish the goals ESSNA seeks.

Furthermore, after much research and questioning of relevant officials, we believe that this plan will in fact generate enough revenue to fund itself and will not require appropriations from the general fund.

Members of the CFP will present their ideas during the latter part of the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association meeting on Thursday, April 28, in the hope that ESSNA will join us and endorse this bold, but achievable goal. If we fail, we still have the ordinance as it stands.

But if we succeed, the city will truly begin its renaissance.

Randy provides further information on the ESSNA meeting:

The ESSNA’s meeting on the 28th takes place at Muir Manor (corner of E. 13th and E. Spring), and includes a talk on civic activism by author and attorney J. Bruce Miller.

Miller’s book, “Airball: The Complete and Unvarnished Account of Louisville's 30-year Odyssey to Acquire an NBA Franchise” was discussed previously in NA Confidential.

He will discuss how to work with city officials and how to identify the big dreamers from the small thinkers. His talk will not be about basketball, the NBA, or metropolitan arenas so much as it will be a summary of the lesson learned in trying to move a city and state government to accomplish a desired goal.

2 comments:

edward parish said...

Miller involved in Metro Louisville's attempt to build a new arena?

The New Albanian said...

Ed - I haven't heard Miller's name mentioned in the context of the most recent arena discussion. In his book, Miller stated that he was finished (in the sense of an active role) after the unsuccessful earlier efforts.