bNA update, downtown odds and ends, and pity for the tone deaf.

According to “the Daves” at Bistro New Albany, their first week in business has been gratifying – and that’s a relief. There was little advance publicity outside of a Tribune article and this blog, and an opening the week before Derby guarantees a flight well beneath the radar.

My customers at the Public House have been offering unsolicited testimonials all week. Congratulations, guys, and best wishes for the coming weeks as the evening ramp-up commences.

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Recently a native New Albanian returned to the municipal fold after many years living elsewhere. Gina Coyle has purchased a home on Main Street, and she is returning it to single family use after a long period of neglect as a triplex.

Gina’s experiences are being documented at her Letter from New Albany blog, where a recent entry reminds us of another longstanding downtown New Albany institution:

Honey Creme

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Two fine ideas for the enhancement of downtown revitalization are offered in NA Renewal:

Dining Downtown

Bread and Milk

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More downtown news from a revitalized Tribune:

A long wait at the bar; Liquor licenses for downtown restaurants will take months to process, by Eric Scott Campbell (News-Tribune).

The city council enacted a law Monday night to allow unlimited liquor licenses for restaurants in a segment of downtown, but the average proprietor’s paperwork odyssey may take four months, said Economic Development Director Paul Wheatley.

True, but as NAC reminded readers prior to the approval of the development area, nothing about the process for obtaining a three-way permit is altered except for the provision allowing applicants within the project boundary to avoid the existing quota.

It’s not an easy task to get an alcohol permit of any sort, and it never has been so. It’s also a laborious process to get the other permits and licenses mentioned in the Tribune article. But at least now prospective investors and businessmen have an incentive to set up shop.

I’ve been out on the street all week long, and instead of indulging in the empty calories of idle political gossip, I’ve been eying the diners at bNA, studying the urban landscape and talking to people involved with the revitalization effort.


It’s simple. If you aren’t currently aware of the growing buzz, you need to turn down the volume on your creaking Victrola, ditch the scratched 78 r.p.m. rendition of “New Albany Just Can’t Do” by the Siamese Councilmen Doo-Dah Kazoo Band, and listen instead to the new tunes being busked on the avenues by people who are taking an increasingly dim view of failure as prevailing local motif.

It’s sweet music … but you have to want to hear it, don’t you?