The following is a non-comprehensive, off-the-cuff listing of big stories in New Albany during the past year. I intentionally avoided combing the archives, so feel free to offer your own, along with comments and discussion.
What have I missed?
---
Council president Gahan commandeers the body’s troglodyte faction to urinate on redistricting and the U.S. Constitution.
YMCA opens to rave reviews and flagrant (but typical) Kocherto-Schmidtian hypocrisy.
A Chicago newspaper helpfully outs a New Albany racist, inspiring other local racists to side with Kentucky in opting for John McCain, while Barack Obama captures both Indiana and the presidency.
Greenway work and downtown beautification make things look better even if too many windows remain covered in buildings owned by people who know better.
Veteran Indiana representative Bill Cochran is defeated by political newcomer Ed Clere with the help of a controversial ad campaign.
In rare legislative triumph, New Albany’s city council unites to ban novelty lighters for fear that one might be lit near a meth lab.
Developers continue to show interest in downtown despite a bad economy and the best efforts of Dan Coffey to scare them away.
Hurricanes and earthquakes added to the usual local weather threats of flooding and tornadoes, as global warming continues to be a myth among non-readers.
With dozens of pressing matters left unexamined, the city council wastes an entire month enacting an indoor smoking ban that bitterly divides an already dysfunctional city, and is eventually vetoed by Mayor Doug England.
Third district uncouncilman Steve Price declares Grandma’s cookie jar to be empty, flies white flag, and advocates a mix of wood shavings and potato peelings as a viable coffee substitute.
Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaign in New Albany, and as opposed to the time that George W. Bush came to town, One Southern Indiana refrains from choosing sides.
Classy II Horseshoes titty bar embarrasses the mayor and exposes city’s non-enforcement regime to renewed public scrutiny, while the city attorney continues to search for one enforceable statute among the thousands in the book.
Accordingly, slumlords yawn more loudly than usual as code enforcement continues to languish on the eternal backburner at City Hall.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
15 comments:
-non-local-
* The photographing in visible light an "exo-planet" some 15 light years away, the first time a planet has been actually viewed outside of our solar system.
* The discovery of the enzyme that is directly related to the mutation of a gene responsible for up to 60% of lung cancer cases.
-Local-
* The establishment of the Market Street Fish House, Conners Place, river city winery, Rogers new brewery, scribner place, a new and improved music center, and to having a hard time finding a place to park downtown!
* The natural re-establishment of Eagles around here. A healthy population of Osprey along the Ohio River, and the documentation of a juvenile bald eagle at an undisclosed location in New Albany City limits.
-In not good news-
* New Albany being one of the highest crime rate per capita cities in the state
* The damage and subsequent removal of the St. Mary's Steeple in the wind storm
A recent hardware store conversation while standing in the checkout line:
Mrs. Bluegill: Hey, look, lighters made like fishing poles. Aren't those supposed to be illegal?
Cashier: I think they banned them in Kentucky or something.
Me: They banned them here, too. It has something to do with how they're displayed...
Mrs. B:...so that kids can't reach them until they get home.
Cashier: Really? No one told us anything.
Me: I don't remember the details. It seems like the law's oddly worded, so that selling them a certain way is illegal but that it's OK to buy them.
Guy behind us: I wouldn't worry about it. It's completely unenforceable. It's not like they enforce anything anyway.
Cashier: That sounds like a waste of time.
Guy: Yeah, they do that a lot. Kind of like the smoking ban.
Cashier: We have a smoking ban?
Guy: No, the Mayor vetoed it. It was unenforceable, too.
Cashier: Jeez.
Not sure of the story of the year, but I just figured out that I am a racist (according to Roger) if I didn't vote for Obama. That is certainly big news to me.
Not at all, Daniel. I merely suggested that local racists would be emboldened to do so. I did not number you among them.
Ok, thanks for the clarification. I will put my vote in for Scribner Place and a close second is the council's non-redistricting (is that a word?).
Locally, Hurricane Ike has my vote.
Community Members join together to help save a historical neighborhood icon: Silver Street Elementary.
Don't be modest: Fringe Fest should be on the list.
As funny as it was, listening to all-day attendees trying to describe where they were to third shift cab dispatchers shouldn't be discounted in the long march.
Erik comes out of the closet.
Fringe Fest and Save Silver Street - also high notes.
How about some predictions for 2009?
Daniel Short said ...
How about some predictions for 2009?
Good one. Tomorrow I'll do another open thread with this idea.
Didn't mean to steal your thunder. I will dust off my crystal ball tonight.
The biggest local story is a story that is being played out elsewhere as well. In this past year the poverty level in downtown has grown exponentially. If our Soup Kitchen is a barometer we have pretty much doubled the number of people we serve each week. There are also significantly more children at this. This is the untold story of our fair city, I'm afraid.
I know it's a little late, but someone just reminded me of the Yvonne and Frank Luchesse's drug bust. That was a big story!
Post a Comment