Yes, Jeff, we know you're The Luxury Mayor: "Working so hard, to keep you from the poverty."

Jeff Gahan and the local Democratic Party are really excited about subsidizing the construction of luxury apartments just a few blocks away from the city's most concentrated areas of poverty.

As New Albany Census Facts (2009-2013) readily attest:

NA median household income: $39,607 ($48,248 overall in Indiana)

Persons below poverty level in NA: 22.2% (15.4% overall in Indiana)

We all know the parts of town most affected by these numbers, so think about this.

Our Democrats are monetarily supporting Bocce ball, "Gigabit Internet access" and other upscale amenities for the few, as Gahan's campaign vows from 2011 (jobs and education) go entirely unmentioned. Even those whom we'd have expected to denounce such coded social engineering have fallen into line.

“When I came on the council, philosophically, I was opposed to ideas like this,” Phipps said. “I called it corporate welfare as well. For some of the naysayers out there that say this isn’t a thing for Democrats to do, I thought renewing urban environments, cleaning up blighted areas and bringing residents to the community so they can support locally owned business, is very much a Democrat thing to do.”
-- Greg Phipps (3rd district council) in supporting the Coyle site subsidies

But Greg: What about the message these subsidies send, not to just to the desperate and impoverished in our community, but also to working families just managing to get by, who are struggling with income inequality and low-wage jobs, and destined to be excluded by the ethos of privilege?

Can someone in the ruling elite explain to them how the "ripple effect" (Duggins' words) is going to lift them up?

What has Jeff Gahan, a supposed Democrat, done in four years for those most in need of hope, apart from hand them nicely suburbanized (and frightfully expensive) parks?

Now listen, I'm a proud man, not a beggar walking on the street

I'm working so hard, to keep you from the poverty

I'm working so hard to keep you in the luxury, oh yeah

I'm working so hard, I'm working so hard

Harder, harder, working, working, working

Insulating Democratic voters from the poverty isn't exactly what Mick and Keith had in mind, but that's how our governing clique rolls.

And that's why #gahanmustgo