Two instructive events took place in New Albany last night. One was a meet the candidate affair sponsored by the Uptown Neighborhood Association to better facilitate communication with District 72 State Representative candidates Ed Clere and Bill Cochran. Cochran was reportedly a no show.
The other, a not well publicized meeting at the Library to discuss the future of riverfront land including Main Street and the levee from the Sherman Minton Bridge to East Sixth Street. (Thanks to those who emailed.) A September Tribune article by Daniel Suddeath provides some background on the plan for a masterplan.
The bluegills were busy installing an exhibition of blind and visually impaired artists sponsored by The American Printing House for the Blind and weren't able to attend either one. It opens today at the Seelbach at 1:00 pm and runs until noon Saturday in Mezzanine Salon D.
Now would be a great time for a singalong, assuming someone out there knows the words from the meetings. The comments floor is yours.
Strike one (?) for Bill Cochran. He must be feeling awfully confident.
ReplyDeleteLloyd: No regrets from Cochran? No stand-in?
ReplyDeleteNot a syllable! Although to be fair, the lack of interest of some candidates to be met is surpassed only by the lack of interest from the public to meet them.
ReplyDeleteChange?? What change??
As to the Riverfront Plan, I caught the tail end of that meeting but the meat & potatos had already been consumed.
I got there in time for introductions all around.
I did get a brief look at the visual graphics of the proposal but the library personell declared the building closed for business before I could make heads or tails of it.
As a sidebar, perhaps if we have a city owned/operated/controlled facility with an assembly room equipped an audio/visual system dated somewhere in the post-WWII era and large enough to accomodate more than 20 live lifeforms we could actually become an informed public. (Oooops! I've been watching too many science fiction movies again!)
Rumor is, although I can't personally confirm it, that Mayor England made an appearance at the outset to promote the idea.
He then handed it over to Deputy Mayor Malysz to moderate the rest of the meeting as he (Doug) had other obligations to attend to.
And the beat goes on...
Was the meet the candidate event only for the District 72 candidates or was it for all candidates? I took it as a Bill Cochran and Ed Clere event.
ReplyDeleteLarry,
ReplyDeleteYes it's true that the District 72 candidates were invited to speak.
I sent you the info in the off chance that you may have wanted to come just as a citizen/voter to (a)hear what your prospective State Reps had to say and (b) gain a posssible perspective of what's on the minds of your voter pool.
Right or wrong I don't care if one lives in a particular neighborhood or not.
When the agenda items affect the city as a whole the doors are open for all.
I had an event scheduled in Greenville yesterday. I just thought I wasn't invited, and I was going to pout--I'm just kidding. Seriously, I just wanted to make sure I didn't miss an event I was invited to without giving notice and a reason why.
ReplyDeleteOk, I read the tribune article. Nothing wrong with a "master plan" but I'm smelling something stinky here. Like, this is all driven by one development group? 4 people with the "intention" of building a mixed use development. If I say I have the "intention" of developing something downtown, will I receive my own "commission" to assist me? Will the town pay for studies to make sure my investment is protected? Oh - I'm already an investor as I live on Main St. So is the city able to protect my investment now? NO. Do we need to a study to tell us the infrastructure is shot? NO. Etc.
ReplyDeleteI'm also not impressed with the other "investments" downtown by this particular group of "developers". They own several of the most impressive historic buildings on Main ST. One is up for auction, one across from me is really in need of some exterior restoration, and another one - the old Maytag laundry has struggled to keep tenants. I do mean to be snarky, but what exactly has this development group done so far that would warrant the town spending this sort of effort on making them feel good about their "intentions'?
Sounds like more hi-jacking of government for private profit.
Not taking a side, but the extent of the study area is far larger than the parcel that the development group in question has announced plans to develop. There are other proposals for different parcels, and the idea is to do some advance planning to coordinate efforts.
ReplyDeleteSo, I've heard a rumor of a Whole Foods Market downtown..any truth to that? Any ideas of what businesses are talking with New Albany?
ReplyDeleteGina: Thanks for the excellent points.
ReplyDelete