UPDATED: On leadership, communication and the perils of non-enforcement.

Wednesday update: New Albany neighbors show frustration -- Their problem: Lack of resources to enforce building codes, by Eric Scott Campbell (News-Tribune).

In the spring of 1989, ranking officials in Hungary unceremoniously declined to renew a border enforcement pact with the country’s fraternal socialist nations. The USSR under Mikhail Gorbachev did not intervene.

The significance of this decision was unclear until some weeks later that year, when one or more East Germans – their identity lost to history – crossed the formerly sealed Iron Curtain into Austria without being apprehended or shot by the Hungarian guards, as would have occurred six months before.

They proceeded to West Germany and phoned home with the good news.

By autumn, the socialist bloc was no more.

In like fashion, New Albany’s city court reportedly was dissolved in the 1970’s during one of several Bob Real administrations. Undoubtedly the decision was motivated by politics, money or quite possibly both; whatever the rationale, at some point thereafter it became evident to growing numbers of city residents and outlanders alike that a fine might go unpaid, and a ticket uncollected ... and there would be no day of reckoning.

Needless to say, this fact did not go unnoticed – usually by the wrong people.

Time passed, life in America became increasingly mobile, and New Albany gradually became a very different place. An older generation died or moved, and their homes went up for sale.

A succession of poorly educated public officials, both elected and appointed, pursued their unimaginative traditional agendas of petty glad-handing, ward-heeling and palm-greasing, unimpeded by vision or purpose … and the city continued to become a very different place.

More and more of the rules violations went unpunished. The culture of non-compliance came to seem perfectly normal, especially for those who had never known another way. Numerous unscrupulous people were able to profit from the expanding attitude of Third World laxity, and just as many time-serving politicians became accustomed to catering to the whims of these fine folks who, while leeches, voted according to the largesse they were granted.

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Indeed, we see that non-enforcement has certain consequences, some predictable, and other unforeseen. Some times, it causes systemic geopolitical change in far-off places.

Other times, it abets a fracturing of society at the neighborhood level.

It was a good thing for Hungary that non-enforcement led to something positive -- freedom.

It’s a very, very bad thing for New Albany that non-enforcement has led to something negative – freedom from responsibility. It has fostered an acceptance of under-achievement, and a failure to meet minimum standards taken for granted in other cities near and far.

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Yesterday morning, a delegation representing the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association (of which the blogger is a member) attended the weekly meeting of the Board of Public Works and Safety.

Here are excerpts from the manifesto that was read to the board by Greg Roberts, ESNA’s president:

As a courtesy to the City, we are here to inform you of our impressions and our response to the lack of hope presented by the city body …

… in the present concern of 1018 E. Spring St., this collaborative effort is demonstrating no results. At this time, dealing with our city is not providing hope that there will be a resolution.

We are not here for an update. We are here for action. Downtown New Albany is 51% rental and 10% vacant (residential figures). It will only get worse if the city does not stop it now …

1. It would appear to be in your best interest to protect the rights of the disadvantaged, i.e., renters in subsidized housing, renters in low-rent or weekly rentals.

2. One would imagine that it is vital to protect the children from these substandard properties, both the ones they inhabit and the empty ones where they explore, as with 1018 E. Spring. They do not have a voice. We hope that you will be their voice as you should be.

3. It only makes sense that it would be in your best interest to protect the health & safety of other neighbors from loose parts of buildings, glass, trash, rats & roaches …

4. You may consider it is in your best interest to protect the financial investment of the individual homeowners and the city …

5. One would presume it would be in your best interest to promote fairness in enforcing the city codes. If you require some to comply, you must require compliance from all …

6. It is our understanding that enforcement of the laws is your job. Enforce the law. That’s all that the neighborhood associations want.

As motivated citizens we are willing to offer our assistance in anyway to support the city in its efforts of revitalization and hope that we can continue to strengthen our relationship with you. However, as with the issue of 1018 E. Spring St., we fear we have to explore every option available to us, beginning today, to resolve this issue without your assistance.

To contact all media, including TV, newspapers, internet; State & Federal agencies, State Dept. of Health, Child Protective Services, HUD, and our other legal options.

Please let us know if there is anything we can do … it’s time to break the cycle of inaction.

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What followed was an impassioned 25-minute dialogue between members of the board and citizens in attendance, one at first punctuated by palpable tension and obvious stress.

However, the impromptu discussion concluded in a conciliatory fashion, with most parties agreeing that elected and appointed public officials must be provided with the resources – including a city court -- to do a good job of enforcing the law, and city residents must be prepared to continue their grassroots work toward revitalizing their neighborhoods.

Processes were explained. Grievances were aired. There was speaking, and there was listening. Roadblocks were noted. Volunteer opportunities were mentioned.

There was communication.

Will there be more?

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All for the good, but there’s still no municipal mission statement. Who are we? What are we trying to achieve? How do we do it? Where do we start? What’s the game plan?

And why is it that so many of these questions are being phrased, debated and vetted by those who live, work and play outside the confines of the City-County Building? It’s tantamount to the signals being called by hot dog vendors and cheerleaders, not the coaching staff and the quarterback.

Since my early doubts were dispelled, I have been, and I will remain, broadly supportive of the sitting mayor and his immediate team. They have responded remarkably well to numerous crises beyond their control. To talk with them privately or in small groups is to come away impressed with their grasp of the issues facing New Albany.

But maddeningly, and for reasons that remain elusive, little of this has been translated into effective communications with the public at large. Worst yet, given the absolute and undeniable link between the self-interest of the city and the self-interest embodied by the members of the delegation of neighborhood association members present at the Board of Public Works meeting yesterday, is that the neighborhood leaders were there at all -- seeking action, answers and some evidence of leadership on the most fundamental questions we face.

Is this inability to communicate another manifestation of a lack of resources, in the sense that the mayor needs an administrative assistant?

Or, have we passed into a post-modern era (debatable, given New Albany’s considerable developmental issues) where effective communication as a component of leadership is no longer a marketable attribute, either because no one’s disposed to listen, or they’re getting it from their evangelists, iPods and credit cards, instead?

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Leadership in this context certainly must have at least something to do with actively motivating and inspiring ordinary people to seek out the best and to believe at a basic level that the best is still possible, and if there’s any single legacy of the detestable New Albany Syndrome that taints each new day in this city, it’s the received “wisdom” that we’ve somehow forfeited the ability to fathom being the best, much less actually striving for excellence.

That’s bunk, plain and simple. It’s nothing you’d want to teach your children, and yet it has been accepted as perverse and self-defeating gospel by generations of New Albanians, including a few too many of the city’s elected and appointed officials.

The words “Gang of Four” spring clearly and continuously to mind.

At the same time, I’m absolutely positive that City Hall doesn’t feel that way … and we need City Hall to say so, now – loudly, unequivocally, and without us first being obliged to ask the right questions or find the proper code to make the current administration open up.

As was proven yesterday at the Public Works meeting, there are numerous people who are willing to help, and who will act irrespective of party affiliation and other convenient and sadly common arguments against unity. They will proudly refuse to withhold their assistance out of the stale pettiness and practiced spite that has characterized past failures.

Many – perhaps most -- of those who are prepared to become part of the solution to New Albany’s problems will be in attendance next week at the Neighborhood Forum announced for Tuesday, April 4th.

Wouldn’t it be nice if City Hall beat us to the punch, and came with its own mission statement … its own plan … its own marching orders? Flashed some passion, said here’s where we are, and here’s where and how we’re going – and although we know that money’s tight, sometimes it isn’t about money. It’s about will, and pride, and wanting to learn, to work, to get better, and to succeed.

And without us having to ask, first?

It’s all there. I know it.

How does it get out, in the open ... where it can lead?