New Albany’s city council meets again tonight, and apparently returning for possible second and third readings is Councilman Dan “The Wizard of Westside” Coffey’s purloined city attorney ordinance, which originally surfaced on April 20 and was immediately acclaimed as an example of world classic grandstanding by observers who had the misfortune to be in attendance.
Still, in spite of the palpable aura of insincerity exuded by its author, and based on a literal, word-for-word reading in the context of Indiana law, CM Coffey’s ordinance astonishingly proposes the addition of a full-time city attorney on top of the part-time corporate counsel currently serving.
Hmm ... the nickel-and-dime crowd is aghast, right?
Unsurprisingly, this particular notion of expanding the city’s legal powers as a means of enhancing its commitment to code and ordinance enforcement had to be ineptly filched from another – namely, the bipartisan neighborhood forum group whose research theme CM Coffey gracelessly co-opted even as he rejected the forum’s legitimacy – owing to the councilman's doctrinaire rejection of original thought.
Much as nature abhors a vacuum, our Cappuccino detests the realm of ideas.
Whether CM Coffey’s ordinance passes or fails tonight, the likely outcome of his characteristically self-serving and ham-fisted intervention in the ordinance enforcement debate is unlikely to result in any real progress toward addressing the most fundamental of questions facing us:
Why does the city of New Albany not possess a solitary office holder of either party who is willing to expend political capital to enforce codes and ordinances?
Until that existential question can be answered, all the rest is irrelevance – and that’s truly unfortunate, especially when considered from the broader interests of the citizenry as a whole, increasing numbers of whom do not agree with the prime component of New Albany's prevailing political dysfunction (we at NAC call it the Kochert Axiom) that holds, “An ordinance enforced is a vote lost.”
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Also up for second and third readings is the ordinance establishing a Riverfront Development Project Development Area, which is regarded by many front-line combatants as vital to the redevelopment of downtown.
Restaurant bill approved 8-0; Eateries would be exempt from liquor-license quotas downtown, by Eric Scott Campbell (News-Tribune).
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Meanwhile, partisan brows are fevered; there is an election tomorrow, and the Tribune’s John Tucker describes his newspaper’s coverage of the prelude to the balloting in this Sunday rumination.
Unfortunately, he does not attempt an explanation of why it was necessary for the newspaper to run a guest column penned by an obviously biased source hostile to sitting township trustee Tom Cannon in addition to its own staff coverage of the trustee’s race, an issue examined here in greater detail: Without proper disclosure, credibility is questionable.
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From the organizers comes this reminder that in addition to the election, other manifestations of local democracy will take place on Tuesday:
The next Neighborhood Forum will be held Tuesday, May 2 @ 6:30 pm at the White House Center in Downtown New Albany. We can't postpone this meeting because Dr. John Newman (moderator) is not available after May 2.
If you're not counting votes, come on down.
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Speaking of ordinance enforcement . . .
Do you recall that terrible house located on Culbertson that Maury originally blogged about, and then you featured here with photos?
I was driving by it yesterday, and there's a house almost as bad as it is, right next door, and whoever owns it is getting ready to put vinyl siding all over it to cover up the rotting wood, water damage, and even the crumbling foundation.
Then I guess they will sell it to some poor unsuspecting person, or hey, use it as a rental.
The cycle continues. Building Commissioner, where are you?
Yep, I rode past it moments ago on my way to work and saw the crew busily covering it with vinyl.
Unfortunately, my camera wasn't with me.
A little off topic, but may be not.
I see in the online Curious Journal, Indiana section, there is an article about Protecting Floyd County’s Streams. This very interesting article is about the counties new erosion-control inspector. In the article, a lady states that she was having a problem of mud run off from a nearby developing subdivision. In the article it was stated that he was on top of the problem all ready. What bothers me about that article?
I was in his office just last month, with photos of water and mud running on to my property from a subdivision being developed in my neighborhood, but there was nothing he could do for me! I remember several years ago, attending many planning meetings and city council meetings about this subdivision, and I remember I was told that this new subdivision was not going to change the amount of water that flowed on my property, that by law, the new developer must manage the storm water as not to degrade any of other local properties adjacent to his development. So, I am confused, I live in the city, and isn’t the city part of the county? I vote for county representation as well as city
representation, there fore I must be a citizen of the county as well as the city!
I ask, why then can the inspector take care of some problems but not others? Is my city property not worthy of attention of the newly established Floyd County Soil and Water Conversation District? Should I succeed from the city, declare war on the county, and then promptly surrender? Would that make my little acre or half-acre I should say a foreign county and eligible for aid?
Or is this whole mess for the code enforcement officer, lets see, these are new houses under construction not hundred year old dilapidated dwellings, there are no abandon cars in the yards of these new houses, so my guess is that this is not under jurisdiction of the code enforcement officer? Whom should I approach about my dilemma next? I know, I will throw a pot of barbecued bologna chunks on the grill and see what, if any help may manifest itself. Oops, I am in the wrong district for that!
Anyway, if your still with me thus far, sorry for the rant, I am just getting tired of every time it rains, which has been pretty gosh-darn consist here lately, having a small version of the muddy Mississippi River running through my yard.
Tomorrow is Election Day, remember vote early and vote often!
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