Today's New Albany Tribune reveals what the bright yellow realtor's signs already have presaged: Another downtown New Albany commercial property is about to become vacant, with Smith's Furniture & Appliances soon to relocate from its location on Market Street to the Ceausescuesque Clarksville retail exurb being constructed around Veteran's Parkway.
Smith's defection follows that of M. T. Dearing, a floor coverings firm and a neighbor of Smith's across Market Street. The old drugstore at the corner of Market and Pearl remains moribund, as does at least three other locations on Market in the two city blocks between State and Bank.
With this news, the first year of the James Garner mayoral era grinds sluggishly and unresponsively to a close, his city's web site remaining as tellingly blank as its leader's ongoing inability to express any degree of coherence about downtown New Albany's lingering problems, much less begin to offer anything remotely resembling solutions.
The 'Bune's Kyle Lowry closes her story with a line worth repeating:
"Although the fate of the building is unsure, (store executive Jack) Kabazie said that the Smith's building would make an ideal apartment or business office complex."
Right - along with two dozen other buildings downtown.
While Mayor Garner gazes at the windowless second and third floors of New Albany's criminally under-utilized commercial buildings and sees people living there, the citizens of New Albany are beginning to look back in the Mayor's general direction to see a amateurish politician unable or unwilling to formulate strategy for making these dreams come true.
The 'Bune's article:
http://www.news-tribune.net/articles/2004/12/31/news/new_albany_tribune/news01.txt
For those baffled by "Ceausescuesque":
http://www.ceausescu.org/
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3 comments:
So Nicolae Ceausescu would be John Minta?
I can't decide how to connect Bass Pro Shop in Clarksville with the Palace of the Republic in Bucharest, but beer helps.
I totally disagree with that whole McCartin/Vet parkway area. Carolyn and I have watched this same thing happen in Mt. Pleasant SC where Craig lives and it has destroyed any kind of local commerce. When we first started going there in 1997 it was all about mom & pop shops and that is pretty much all gone now(in 7 years).
Good article about SaturnFest in the Scene today by Reigler. Also good to see Bob Capshew getting press in the LEO. Thanks for keep us a safe haven to go to.
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