New Albany's City Council meets tonight, but first, an evening on the hustings

Last evening at dusk we were strolling down East Market Street, and passed Hugh E. Bir’s Café.

The door to the bar was wide open, and the highly amplified sounds of karaoke cascaded across the street and collided with the tight hiss of a garden hose being used to wash down an engine block in one of a half-dozen autos in various states of disrepair, all parked in the in the side yard of a weather-beaten house.

“Hello Dolleeee,” croaked an elderly chainsaw of a voice.

“It's serrrrneestahavooorightbockwhrrryoubelonnne,” bellowed the besotted, Lite-soaked entertainer, as somewhere riverfront coordinator Bob Trinkle’s infallible instincts for white bread quivered eagerly at the prospect of another namesake Dome booking guaranteed to cure insomnia.

We hurried along to the east … and found that a full three blocks away, the savage musical beating continued with no apparent improvement in morale.

Fortunately, a brace of motorcycles topped by hairy men in identical cute black costumes came roaring past, and the whiskey-barrel voice disappeared along with every other springtime sound as their engines revved the sweet melody of mechanized tumescence.

But we’re not here to count lost votes – it’s time again for an evening's worth of governance.

As it is traditionally announced, “The Common Council of the civil city of New Albany, Indiana, will hold a regular council meeting in the third floor assembly room of the City/County Building on Thursday, April 21 2005, AT 7:30 P.M.”

Earlier this week, some members of the elected body met for a work session, a prime topic of which was New Albany’s budget. Read about the April 19 work session here: New Albany budget woes may grow; official says 2006 forecast not good, by Ben Zion Hershberg of the Courier-Journal (limited shelf life on C-J links).

Volunteer Hoosier provides this commentary on the Tuesday work session and the city’s budget woes: Wake Me Up, Before You Go Go.

Incidentally, staying abreast of City Council proceedings just got much easier, thanks to the hard work of Marcey Wisman, City Clerk of New Albany.

Marcey seems determined to drag an analog municipal apparatus into the digital age in spite of the desperate protests of New Albany's barbecued bologna lobby, and consequently the complete minutes of City Council meetings from January 2004 through March 2005 are now archived at a spanking new web site: City Council minutes.

Council agendas also are posted, with April 4 being the most recent.

You can read about Marcey’s new site, http://newalbany.in.gov/, in the New Albany Tribune: City clerk hopes new Web site opens up city government, by Amany Ali, Tribune City Editor.