Sunday, April 17, 2005

The time is now for New Albany's Constituency for Progress

The people in Madison, Indiana, don’t look any different than the people in New Albany.

Madison surely has the same problems as New Albany, the same social ills, meth labs, serial ordinance violators, under-funded services, decaying historical properties, absentee landlords, thieving state legislative nabobs, and local politicos barely fit to profitably operate a slushy machine in July, much less a city year round, and who are afraid to urge their constituents to obey the law lest they lose votes.

And yet, there we were on a Sunday afternoon, downtown in a small Indiana city, fairly clean and tidy considering there’s a weekend-long “Madison” movie release party under way, with shops and eateries open for business in historic commercial buildings, a lovely river promenade, and at least two wineries, including the great Thomas Family Winery on 2nd Street.

Our day visiting Madison was depressing, indeed.

Everywhere you look in a place like Madison, you see creative ideas applicable to New Albany.

Everywhere you look in New Albany, and especially when you look into the eyes of the political, civic and business “leaders” over a period of forty years, you see an utterly laughable inability to even begin fathoming the meaning of the word “creative.”

That’s because in New Albany, we coddle the anti-social dim bulbs and purge the creative, bright lights.

Decades pass. Our worthiest sons and daughters – the bright, capable and eager future leaders of the city – get away from New Albany as fast as they can, far away from institutionalized slum lord debasement not just tolerated but welcomed over a period of four or more decades, away from the overcrowded and trashy Harvest Homecoming that is our sole and only claim to infamy, away from a place where any good idea, any sign of intelligent life, any revolt against the lumpy mashed potato norm is dismissed and derided as craziness emanating from a book-reading, un-American faggot who can just move the hell out if he or she doesn't like it here.

Do you think this characterization of traditional New Albany is somehow unfair? If so, we submit with all due respect that you have a strong coffee, look around you, and face the unpleasant facts of the matter.

All of it is true, it’s inexcusable, it's embarrassing, and the inescapable conclusion is that we’ve been purging the wrong elements all these years.

NA Confidential has concluded that all those who share our disgust with New Albany’s sadistic status quo must unite around a single sustainable issue, lavish all our efforts toward achieving results, and begin the grassroots adjustment in attitudes that will be necessary to awaken the city.

As Randy Smith of Destinations Booksellers has aptly coined us, the Constituency for Progress begins now.

What should this defining issue be?

Remember, we’re looking for something that can be achieved empirically at a fundamental level of everyday life throughout the city, something that can be measured and quantified, and something that can unite those of like mind.

And, punish those opposed. If this elusive “something” also costs our current crop of politicians votes, then that’s even better.

NAC’s answer will come later this week. First, we want to hear yours.

6 comments:

All4Word said...

Greg, before we jump, let's check the depth of the water. The weasel word in that story was that it relates to the "owners of abandoned property." Unless the statute allows a city to declare a constructive abandonment (and it MIGHT) or the law is drawn broadly enough to include non-abandoned properties, this won't apply to the bulk of the eyesores in town.

I'm checking the statute to be sure, but if it is as you believe, then we are being jacked around by the city or the city is ignorant of this development.

Did you know the legislature created a right of action for tenants a couple of years ago that would allow the tenant to sue for specific performance. The only problem is the tenant might be fearful of retribution, rent increases, constructive eviction, or other consequences or might lack the knowledge or resources to enforce his/her rights.

Can the ESSNA and other neighborhood associations help?

The New Albanian said...

Joe, I must share with you the topics discussed by the 'Bune's current publisher, Mr. Esposito, and I last week.

All4Word said...

We are confronted with insurmountable opportunities. - Walt Kelly

I am of an age to remember Garry Trudeau's predecessors, particularly the satirical cartoonists Walt Kelly and Al Capp.

Capp's fearlessness contrasts favorably to Kelly's conservative approach to satire. Kelly, by taking the safer route, survived longer, but arguably, had a lesser impact on public affairs.

I mention these legends of cartooning after logging on this morning and reading a reaction to the call to arms made in the last 36 hours by The New Albanian on his NA Confidential Web log.

The poster, who styles himself as emersonlives, and the posting induced in me first a quiver, then a twitch, and finally a full-blown knee jerk. "Em" contributes yeast to the loaf that is New Albany's most widely read blog by posing as an equal opportunity balloon-puncturer and his "view askew" is most appreciated.

But this morning's reading forces the judgment that his cynicism has, this time, overwhelmed his reasoning.

"Em" sees the Constituency for Progress as a movement marred by a "tincture of egalitarianism" and as a prime example "of tyranny of the intelligentsia."

Way to jump on the bandwagon, "Em!"

But first get your facts straight. Were the intelligentsia and the egalitarians join in this movement, they would be welcome. But the CFP is as working class a movement as you'll find in this post-industrial age.

I'm a merchant, toiling 14 hours a day in a job I enjoy and that rewards me in many ways beyond the norm. I am of a generation taught that even in one's work, one can find fulfillment. Our parents and grandparents would have found that premise laughable. Work, to them, was nothing more than a means to an end, a necessary evil to put bread on the table.

I know I am fortunate to have found a vocation I enjoy. But there is nothing in my background or belief system that merits calling me egalitarian or dismissing my efforts as a tyranny of the intelligentsia.

I am a country boy, a scholarship kid, a confirmed member of that large fraternity known as GDI's in college, a scrambler for work however I could get it, including decades of working for myself before creating a small, independent bookstore in a small Indiana river city.

Neither I nor any of my friends, family, associates, or acquaintances have ever taken up a verbal cudgel to diminish the value of another, particularly because of a lack of education. Your frame is bent, "Em." Valuing knowledge and education is not an elitist enterprise. But devaluing it, treating anyone who has sought knowledge as being an elitist, is the domain of the demagogue.

Pick a side, "Em."

Any place that anyone can learn something useful from someone with experience is an educational institution. - Al Capp

It is not good enough for things to be planned - they still have to be done; for the intention to become a reality, energy has to be launched into operation. - Walt Kelly

The New Albanian said...

Marvelous - two days in, and already we're in full-purge mode. We should be able to seize power next week.

all4word noted:

"Em" contributes yeast to the loaf that is New Albany's most widely read blog by posing as an equal opportunity balloon-puncturer and his "view askew" is most appreciated."

Indeed, and in my view it should be understood that Joe Emerson asks a pertinent question: What is comfort as defined by the natives (Joe) and longtimers (Me)?

Actually, an efficiently run city that promotes progressivism and seeks not to devour its young should be very comfortable for law-abiding, working people, who in effect are being asked only to vote for a level regulatory playing field and allow the creative elements to raise property values and overall prosperity.

They don't have to lead, just vote for the good of all and continue doing just as before ... perhaps a bit more cleanly.

All4Word said...

Concerned Citizen: Are you advocating the reelection of the mayor?

Tim: The mere fact that you feel diminished by my words is not evidence that my words seek to belittle you. And yes, I am a Gentile, but I do have Jewish friends.

Although we clearly disagree about many issues, you will note that I have never snubbed you in public as you did to me on Saturday at the Falls of the Ohio. The appropriate response to "Hello, Tim" is "Hello, Randy."

When you insist that black is white and white is black, it is not a sign of disdain for me to point out the error. It is a matter of correcting the record. Feel free to hold me accountable for what I say and do.

I do not diminish persons, though they may feel diminished. I will confront wrongheadedness as I see it and if your feelings are hurt, maybe you'll find a way to state your case without twisting the truth. I will confront injustice, I will refute those who seek to mislead.

You and your band of brothers and sisters, if they aren't in fact one of your multiple pseudonyms, seem to be obsessed with this word "pseudo-." I welcome your analysis but I cannot for a moment begin to understand where you're coming from unless it's simply that anyone who disagrees with you is wrong.

If you want to say I'm pseudo-insightful, pseudo-perspicacious, or pseudo-loquacious or pseudo-voluble or pseudo-eloquent, I'll accept your critique, for it is self-evident that I love the word and believe I have something worthwhile to say.

But to say I am pseudo-intellectual would first require that I hold myself out as being intellectual, but fail in the pursuit. Since I have not done so, it follows that there is no falsity in a pose not taken.

All4Word said...

Genteel.