Our own Greg Roberts, president of the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association, leads a story in today’s Courier-Journal by praising the new Spring Street Professional Office Building, which is being built at the corner of E. Spring and Thomas, and describing other positive growth along the E. Spring corridor.
East Spring Street Construction: New building highlights what may be on the horizon in New Albany, by Ben Zion Hershberg of the Courier-Journal (short shelf life on C-J links).
Here’s an excerpt from Hershberg’s article:
"Julian King, who is a partner in the construction company building the Spring Street Professional Office Building, said he believes the time has come for growth in both the city's Spring Street corridor and downtown New Albany.
"'With many vacant buildings in the city, particularly downtown,' King said, 'I think there will be a lot of room for growth.'"
“He thinks that growth will be driven by the Scribner Place complex, planned for a site at Main and State streets, that will include a YMCA and an indoor municipal swimming complex. Construction is expected to begin by the end of the year.”
Wait – a developer stating for the record that he believes “growth will be driven by the Scribner Place complex?”
That’s positively subversive, and sure to send the Brambleberries scrambling for misinformation to post over at Laura’s Trog Blog.
Also in today’s Courier-Journal, staffer Alex Davis chats with Maury Goldberg and discusses the place of prayer in public meetings.
Local governments to keep prayer; ICLU challenging practice in House, by Alex Davis of the Courier-Journal (short shelf life on C-J links).
http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050602/NEWS02/506020390/1025
Davis notes:
“The New Albany council is far from the only government body in Southern Indiana to open its meetings with prayers.
“For example, the Jeffersonville City Council and Harrison County Council do the same thing.
“And officials said yesterday that they don't expect to change the practice anytime soon, despite a lawsuit filed Tuesday against the speaker of the Indiana House over the use of prayers to open its sessions.”
Here’s the Indiana Civil Liberties Union press release:
ICLU and Indiana Citizens Challenge Sectarian Prayers in State House.
If memory serves us, New Albany’s ordinances state that meeting shall be opened with a prayer offered by clergymen in attendance, and on a rotating basis so as to include all denominations. Understandably, this has been simplified in practice to a rote recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.
Maury Goldberg, who is Jewish, tells the Courier-Journal that he has no problem with standing with the rest prior to City Council meetings and reciting his own prayer in Hebrew. As an atheist, I remain seated during the prayer, but rise during the pledge in honor of my late father, a veteran of WWII.
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8 comments:
Apologies for the appearance of the preceding; I simply could not get Blogger to accept a hyperlink for the second article, as it would result in text disappearing prior to posting.
Glad you brought it up, Gene.
Davis's quote is grist for the mill ... just not today.
I work with people who think everyone should be required to be Christian.
One co-worker used to work at the Jewish Community Center daycare and was talking about the Kosher kitchen. One of the people she was talking to said, "They shouldn't be allowed to do that." (regarding keeping a Kosher kitchen)
Same person also thinks that several co-workers who are Hindu should be made to celebrate Christmas.
Maybe I have led a sheltered life but it seems that this intolerant attitude is increasingly common.
Freedom of religion shouldn't be taken for granted.
Can't say I'm thrilled with the "Christian" in YMCA, but just because I'm an atheist doesn't mean I'm not capable of prgamatism.
prgamatism???? Does that make you pragmatic? Defined as concerned with the facts. This doesn't quite fit with what I've read of you or by you so far.
I also see that not allowing you to be rude and obnoxious on my blog does not prevent you from doing so on your own.
Nice remark about the "Trog Blog".
As for the East Spring Street contruction, does anyone know who will be occupying it?
Also, if this is a victory for Downtown development, why are they building a new building (in a highly congested residential area) when so very many unused ones are already available downtown?
I actually shed a tear at the loss of the green space. Would have rather seen more houses go up there.
prag·mat·ic, adj. - Dealing or concerned with facts or actual occurrences; practical.
I have no way of knowing the actual religious beliefs of the people who attend meetings and rise to recite the Lord's Prayer. In all likelihood, most of them don't, either.
Consequently, such an exercise in rote recitation -- insupportable, but ingrained -- is not the sort of threat to me that requires the investment of valuable time to challenge.
I'd like to see it ended, but it can be deferred to another time, and until then, I merely sit and ignore it.
That's pragmatism.
It's really no different when it comes to the YMCA, which has entered into a partnership with the city to construct a facility that -- to my knowledge -- will not have faith-based requirements for membership. Compared to the YMCA's investment, the city's is small, and will be beneficial to me as an atheist.
Had the YMCA entered into a partnership with obvious Christian fascists -- say, Pat Robertson -- then I'd obviously not be as sanguine about the whole matter.
To me, pragmatism implies making the best of circumstances, while not causing a crisis of conscience.
Laura wrote:
Nice remark about the "Trog Blog".
Thanks. Reclusive, reactionary, brutish ... yes, certainly seems to fit.
I also see that not allowing you to be rude and obnoxious on my blog does not prevent you from doing so on your own.
Laura, there is nothing more rude and obnoxious than the enabling and encouragement of anonymous posting, which you celebrate as some essential component of free speech, when in fact, in the vast majority of cases, anonymity is to free speech what spray paint is to a stone wall.
Most of what has been termed rude and obnoxious by you and your fans were legitimate questions by people like Bluegill, or simple disagreements between diverging viewpoints.
If somehow neither of those, it owed to an utter inability to comprehend elements of legitimate style when it comes to writing of this nature, a misunderstanding of irony, or an aversion to satire.
Agreed, it is a shame that there aren't more green areas downtown, but recall that the Council's Gang of Four wants to cut parks and recreation funding for the ones that are already there.
By the way, how'd you like the interview with "Anonymous"?
For the record, I am a Christian, an evangelical one at that, although apparently not an Evangelical (case specific).
As a Baptist, I believe in historic Baptist principles as laid out in the Baptist Faith & Message of 1963. Baptists filed friend of the court brief (amicus curiae) in the 1962 case that ended government-led prayer in schools - on the side of the atheists.
When I attend City Council meetings, I, too, remain seated, on principle, even though when it comes to religion, NA Confidential and I have divergent views.
The dominant culture should not impose its views, particularly in religious matters, and public prayer is as religious as can be, even when recited without import or meaning.
Frankly, I think Maury is nuts to be so accommodating to the majority opinion, but his remarks are welcomed as a breath of tolerance in an increasingly intolerant world.
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