If one has something negative to say about New Albany, broadcasting it to a large swath of the exact demographic we're trying to attract to the city isn't a good idea.
One might temporarily feel better, but we all look worse.
Louisvillians don't vote in Southern Indiana. Hoosier political battles will not be won or lost in the Louisville media. Economic ones might be.
Please refrain from negatively impacting our investments with one's words. Barring that, please refrain from words.
What's this refer to--the State of Affairs show where New Albany's mayor said the Daisy Lane Project was taking so long because nobody had the sense to put utility providers using the ROW on notice?
ReplyDeleteDirectly, yes, but the public officials, even with their gaffes, did a better job than the callers.
ReplyDeleteYesterday's State of Affairs could have and should have been an hour-long infomercial for the metro about all the positive improvements occurring in Southern Indiana.
The very people who would benefit the most from such a thing, though, helped keep it from happening in order to score political points. With an audience who largely votes with their wallets rather than Indiana ballots, what good did it do to give them a negative impression?
I've been guilty of the same judgment lapse myself in the past but it's poor strategy and a habit we need to break.
How's that tourism story about all the sewer problems in Jeffersonville coming? Oh...
I'm as guilty as anyone on this count.
ReplyDeleteWhen I look in the mirror, I see Gene Kelly playing the Mencken character in "Inherit the Wind," the thinly fictionalized Scopes Monkey Trial movie, and I think he's me.
It's so easy to explicate Steve Price's shortcomings and send up the troglodytes that I forget to espouse the many good things here, even if I work daily to expand upon them.
On an up note, it was nice to see the latter volunteered during the recent neighborhood voting.
Does this mean I'll change? Not sure. For now, I have some damned heavy lifting ahead today.
As for my own question, I felt like I was serving up a softball question designed to give Mayor England an opportunity to announce to a wider world that it's going to be easier to do business in New Albany when the traffic calming effects of two-way streets are implemented.
ReplyDeleteBut then, you and I have never spoken the same language, so if you objected to anything I had to say...sorry.
Actually, R, I wasn't referring to you. I agree with your assessment.
ReplyDeleteThat last "R" was directed at Randy, by the way. I just realized there were two possibilities. Speaking of minding one's words...geez.
ReplyDeleteGina's reality check of the Day:
ReplyDeleteWhat i learned from listening to the program was:
1. Our Mayor knows this about Economic Development - he's not personally getting any.
2. Our only option for Riverfront development is to turn it into a mini-Vegas, cause "you'll never get a fry fish place down ere"
3. Our Mayor must be the last person in town to know Pam Badger has submitted her resignation because the job is overwhelming her.
4. Nobody told our Mayor we were getting any stimulus money, till one of the callers you are trashing called to let us all know that's not true.
5. The Mayor undermined our shared economic development by once again broadcasting to the entire region that New Albany is still "run" by a bunch of clue-less idiots. That alone is one of the biggest reasons we have little economic development, and what value we have left is being destroyed daily while our Mayor shops for Festival Tenting.
Beautiful summary, Gina. You reminded me that his description of the Greenway included "you'll be able to go walk all the way to the power plant". That also struck me as some block-of-lead-marketing.
ReplyDeleteThe guy from KIPDA was great. He had news about stimulus funding for projects none of the town leaders seemed have a grasp on.
I did like one mayor's reference to the K&I bridge being opened to make a loop trail back to the Big Four. It echoed a comment by a U of L grad student I met at the Bank St. Brewhouse last week who said he's crossed it on his bicycle 100 times during the last year and heard it would be open in about three years.
Unfortunately, the guy from KIPDA wasn't accurate and was in need of correction himself. Our requests for transportation stimulus money were given *preliminary* KIPDA approval in February as he mentioned.
ReplyDeleteSince then, the package has been amended, opened to public comment, forwarded to a technical committee who suggested removal of some of Floyd County's stimulus money just last week, and will be back before the KIPDA policy committee, who has the final say, on April 23. In short, the decision making process isn't over.
What happened, though, was brilliant. Whether intentional or not, Doug got a KIPDA spokesperson to guarantee on-air that money designated toward New Albany's two-way street conversion is forthcoming. If I were Josh from KIPDA's boss, we'd be having a fairly serious conversation this morning.
The power plant comment came from Galligan.
There's no doubt that Southern Indiana is being run by old school politicians. What's happened, though, is that their language is changing drastically. With the bridges being an exception, there were many mentions throughout the on-air conversation of concentrating on downtown redevelopment, amenities, and quality of life issues.
A short time ago, that wasn't the case. That's substantial progress.
no - it's called "hot air" not progress...
ReplyDeleteBut Gina, now it's "hot air" about issues we care about. Five years ago, most of these issues weren't even part of the conversation. There's some actual value in that.
ReplyDeleteAnd I must be the last person in town to know Pam Badger is quitting her C.E. job. Really?
Granted, much of the credit for fund availability goes to the federal government but, if the England administration is successful in its multi-pronged pursuits, approximately 20 million reinvestment dollars, aimed largely at the inner city, could be secured by the middle of 2009 with the possibility for more.
ReplyDeleteI'd take that seriously and try to help if Mortimer Snerd were mayor.
You and me, Randy.
ReplyDelete"but, if the England administration is successful in its multi-pronged pursuits..." bluegill
ReplyDeleteBut then we'll be in deeper doo-doo, is one perspective I guess.
Until we can pick up the trash, enforce codes, and instill basic public safety, in other words, take care of what we already have, $10 billion in paving or festival doo-dads won't impact long-term economic development.