Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Let the lobbying begin: Neighborhood Forum favors full-time city attorney for New Albany.

Last night's Neighborhood Forum at the White House Center in downtown New Albany was well attended. Here's a view from meeting's end, as a near unanimous accord was reached to the effect that research should commence toward weighing the options of a full-time New Albany city attorney as a possible first step toward redressing the city's culture of ordinance non-enforcement.


Representatives from all of New Albany's neighborhood groups were on hand, along with five council persons (CMs Kochert, Price and Schmidt -- as pictured below -- and also CMs Messer and Crump). All of them spoke and took part in the conversation. City Hall was not represented.

Indiana University Southeast's Dr. John Newman served as moderator for the two-hour meeting, and he did a wonderful job of keeping the discussion moving.

I'm facing big time constraints tonight, and there's simply no time to go into great detail other than to express appreciation to the organizers and everyone in attendance.

Readers, here's the tip-off for an open thread: What were your impressions of the Neighborhood Forum?

See you in a couple of weeks. Ciao.

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3 comments:

  1. Highwayman10:40 PM

    I think this one one of the most productive meetings of this type that I've ever attended.

    Having Dr. Newman as moderator was a stroke of genuis as he has no dog in this hunt and as such was able to guide the proceedings around the few potholes that developed without causing or allowing chaos to insue.

    I was pleasantly suprised to see so many of the city council members in attendance. Although a few of them still cannot wrap their minds around the concepts that were proposed, let alone admit that they have any chance of being implemented, they never the less heard in mass what our collective goals and ideas for the future of New Albany are. They can no longer say they weren't made aware!

    Without a doubt, the most impressive part of the evening for me was the fact that inspite of the varying views that were voiced over the two hour+ meeting, in the end the vast majority of those present agreed on a single issue to move forward.

    We also agreed to have another meeting in the near future to plan how to best implement that issue, which is to hire a full time city attorney so as to put some teeth in our enforcement ordinances.

    Another big piece of the puzzle was put in place this evening.

    Let's keep it going!

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  2. All4Word10:41 AM

    Ali - I particularly liked the part where they said Delay had "traduced" the rules and decorum expected of anyone in Congress. Aren't words fun?

    And isn't it nice to be able to express an opinion openly? We look forward to your contributions to our forum.

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  3. Highwayman6:03 PM

    Brandon,
    I agree wholeheartedly! I think the talent at IUS, both faculty and student body, is a resource for this community that has been overlooked far too long!

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