NA Confidential had a prior commitment last evening, enjoyed it thoroughly, missed the city council meeting entirely, and went to sleep without a single discordant thought of the sort customarily engendered by listening to CM Steve Price embarrass himself and his district again ... and again … and again.
Others weren't as fortunate.
Randy Smith of Volunteer Hoosier provides this account of the council meeting, surely with more to come later in the day: Full Moon Over N.A.
As has become the norm, the Courier-Journal focuses on the banner headline best suited for tittering at Highlands wine and cheese tastings:
New Albany council blasts plan for garbage, by Ben Zion Hershberg bhershberg@courier-journal.com (short shelf life for C-J links).
Obviously disoriented by last night’s non-events, New Albany’s Luddites are reduced to making the usual anonymous accusations about bond kickbacks and gangland threats, while giving The Random Objection Generator a healthy heave and coming up with a bold new shrill demand that ordinance enforcement must wait until we find someone sufficiently apolitical to do the job.
We’re told that Diogenes has a slightly used lamp, if that helps the naysayers to navigate the dank and narrow confines of their spitwad blogyard.
Links to the Tribune's coverage will be added if and when they're posted.
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5 comments:
You rightly divined that the Hershberg Effect is at play here. Ben must have been at another meeting.
"Blast" they might in private, but last night's discussions were not substantial, but symbolic with regard to the sanitation question.
It's an empty threat, but one much appreciated by the workers, apparently. If the administration signs the contract with ID, the council proposes to allow all and any hauling company to roam the byways of NA scavenging for customers.
Naturally Tim can't tout competition without advocating the retention of city-run sanitation, which is the proposal of HIS hero, Steve Price.
Wrong Marx.
I'm a Marxist of the Groucho variety.
Because it annoys the hell out of people like concern(ed) taxpayer and various right wingers.
According to Dr. Christian Weller at the Center For American Progress, between 1998 and early 2004, the U.S. lost 3.3 million manufacturing jobs with 2.6 million of those losses coming between March 2001 and February 2004.
As of February 2004, the U.S. had only 14.3 million manufacturing jobs, the lowest number since 1950 when the U.S. economy had one third the number of jobs it has now.
Between 2001 and 2003, manufacturing states (those states that had a manufacturing employment share in 1997 that was greater than the average employment share for all states by 0.25 times the standard deviation) experienced a net loss of jobs while non-manufacturing states had a net gain in jobs, even during the recession. More recent increases in manufacturing productivity have not been accompanied by corresponding job gains, hence our jobless recovery.
Compund that information with numerous local examples (ammo plant closure, Robinson Nugent closure, Ford lay offs, Jeff Boat lay offs, near miss at Colgate) and that adds up to Dan Coffey's economic development plan for New Albany:
University scholarships for lower income residents to help make them more competitive in a 21st century economy? No.
Work force redevelopment program for blue collar workers who've lost their jobs? No.
Increased city ammenities and communications infrastructure to attract technologically savvy residents and companies? No.
Subsidized entrepreneurship program to encourage local business development and investment in the city? No.
Dan says the only way things will improve is if we get, you guessed it, a manufacturing facility to locate in New Albany.
Apparently, New Albanians would be happy to work fulfilling Wal-Mart contracts at a much lower wage than East Europeans, Central Americans, or the Chinese.
I don't suppose it much matters though because, after more than a decade on the council, Dan doesn't have a plan for that, either.
Ms. Bolovschak's gift to the council of Robert's Rules of Order was cute. Maybe next time she'll spring for a calendar for Dan.
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