First, tonight’s main event: The New Albany Inner-City Grid Transportation Study Public Meeting, 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. at the Calumet Club (1614 E. Spring Street, New Albany).
Read the Tribune’s preview: New Albany downtown traffic forum set for Tuesday.
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Through the good offices of the diligent Graham Phillips, here’s a brief update on the current health status of your friend and mine, Lloyd “Highwayman” Wimp, who has been hospitalized since February 20 for cancer surgery, and has had a couple of unexpected complications along the way.
According to Graham, Lloyd is mostly untethered, weak but up and walking, and cantankerous overall. That’s great news, seeing as feistiness and a taste for dark ale are Lloyd’s most endearing qualities. Perhaps he can indulge in the latter soon, as it appears his release date could come as early as this week.
Graham adds that Lloyd remains ensconced in Room 577 at Jewish Hospital. Let’s hope he’s back home by the weekend.
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Turning to politics, there’s much to report. First, there’s a new candidate blog from council hopeful John Gonder, and it’s very encouraging:
Gonder for New Albany At-Large
The things we do on a daily, local basis have the cumulative effect of steering our nation in a certain way. In many ways, the place we have arrived as a nation is not acceptable. I hope to look for ways we, right here in New Albany, can make small changes that resist unwise national trends or, better, begin the positive change we need today and tomorrow.
Note also that another council at-large candidate, Shirley Baird, was the first to go on record as supporting a rental property inspection program:
I posted a comment on the New Albany Eyesores blog that it will take the cooperation from the Administration and the City Council to create a rental inspection program. It won't be easy but it must be done.
Shirley’s commendable lead was followed yesterday afternoon – we think – by 3rd district candidate Charlie Harshfield. In his newly released platform statement, Charlie writes:
GOAL: Enhance and expand Code Enforcement in all areas, including a Rental Inspection Program.
Owing to the fact that a rental inspection program currently does not exist, we’re not sure how it might be expanded and enhanced, but almost certainly this is intended to convey that Charlie is “for it,” and that's welcome news.
Meanwhile, incumbent Steve Price’s second opponent in the primary, former councilman Maury Goldberg, has promised a statement on rental inspections by Tuesday, March 13. We’ll link to it when it appears.
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A brief note to all candidates: I have a lunch slot open this week -- and you know how much I like my lunches. If anyone can make it, please give me a shout and I’ll offer a full public disclosure, because as fetishistic (obsessive?) has it may seem, some folks in New Albany are morbidly fascinated in my eating habits – “fed up”, even.
Back to Gravity matters.
Responding to a request by Chris, I've posted my position on code enforecement/slumlords at awakennewalbany.blogspot.com. Feel free to link, paste, or comment. Thank you for adding the blog link to your site.
ReplyDeleteLet me know when your available for lunch!
I apologize for the vagueness of the statement in my Platform pertaining to a rental inspection program. I wholeheartedly suppoert the creation and implementation of this much needed program. If the present ordinances on the books cannot be adapted to a program like thee city of Kokomo uses then we scrap what is there and start all over. What ever it takes to stop the abuse that presently exists for the tenants of these deplorable situations.
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