Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Council Monday: But first, how ‘bout a number?

The Highwayman hath spoken: Run Forest Run!! The Inmates Have Escaped!! Perhaps Bluegill will also contribute to the festive, gratuitous atmosphere. What we needed last night was some dance music with a nice beat, not too loud, but firm. We didn't get it.

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You put your right foot in,
You put your right foot out,
You put your right foot in
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey
And you turn yourself around,
That's what it's all about.

But what you don’t bother putting in, Ward Churchill, is the time to actually read the text of the downtown resident parking ordinance being proposed, so that the three consecutive questions you asked aloud about the ordinance wouldn’t have been necessary, seeing that each was answered in the document itself – had you so much as glanced at it beforehand.

You put your left foot in,
You put your left foot out,
You put your left foot in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey
And you turn yourself around,
That's what it's all about.

Then there’s Steve Price, who waved his arms and warned that this is a depression, not a recession (well, having him as a council representative certainly is depressing), that we’ll have to choose between pavement and children like those exploited in rental properties like the ones he owns, and then tabled a resolution to buy new police cars pending further data, to include a complete list of cars, who drives them, how many miles they’ve traveled, and the exact number of Neil Young songs played on the car radios.

You put your right hand in,
You put your right hand out,
You put your right hand in
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey
And you turn yourself around,
That's what it's all about.

If you’re city hall, you demand that the council submit a detailed plan for paving.

You put your left hand in,
You put your left hand out,
You put your left hand in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey
And you turn yourself around,
That's what it's all about.

If you’re the council, you demand that city hall submit a detailed plan for paving.

You put your right shoulder in,
You put your right shoulder out,
You put your right shoulder in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey
And you turn yourself around,
That's what it's all about.

If you’re Kay Garry and Shane Gibson, you patiently explain to the council what the differences are between bonding, appropriations, allowances and hot fudge sundaes.

You put your left shoulder in,
You put your left shoulder out,
You put your left shoulder in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey
And you turn yourself around,
That's what it's all about.

If you’re Dan Coffey, you categorically (and publicly) rule out any bonding mechanism for street repair that might give them people satisfaction, even if it means denying satisfaction to his own voting bloc, whatever that is, given that it seems to exist anonymously. Are the occupants of graves still allowed to vote in the 1st district?

You put your right hip in,
You put your right hip out,
You put your right hip in
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey
And you turn yourself around,
That's what it's all about.

Ever notice how the anonymous comments on Mrs. Baird’s blog cease during council meetings? Cappuccino, where are you?

You put your left hip in,
You put your left hip out,
You put your left hip in,
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey
And you turn yourself around,
That's what it's all about.

Does any council member currently urging the use of EDIT monies for paving and street repair know how much of these funds we pour down the dank sewer rate subsidy sinkhole each year? Has he or she stopped to calculate the impact of these wasted monies on the potential for (gasp) economic development? Are you like me, and unwilling to extend any such council member the benefit of the doubt until he or she explains how sewer rate subsidies are the same thing as economic development?

You put your whole self in,
You put your whole self out,
You put your whole self in
And you shake it all about.
You do the Hokey Pokey
And you turn yourself around,
That's what it's all about.

No, we didn’t last until the end, either. I can remember few city council meetings when so many council members seemed so unprepared for the agenda items. Perhaps it was two weeks of derby mayhem. Perhaps it was the fierce determination of Coffey and Price to score partisan points at the expense of the commonweal. We needed a drink just as much as Lloyd. We got them.

So it ends.

20 comments:

  1. Nicely put.

    It took Kay Garry about two sentences to show Mr. Coffey that his "plan" for paying for paving(PFP) would not work. The amazing thing was, he understood immediately and looked like he had just been tasered. Perhaps a little discussion by the Council President with someone beforehand would have saved a whole lot of time.

    I'm not at all sure, but it appeared that there may be some compromise coming between the Council and Mayor concerning PFP. At least they ended up talking to each other(more or less)instead of at each other. We'll see.

    I also have to agree with Roger on the lack of preparedness by most members of the Council. It was shameful.

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  2. No IAH, it wasn't shameful. It was incomprehensibly mind boggling!!

    Did someone spike their Mint Juleps' with too much flouride?

    Was there a solar flare event that I missed?

    Or (gulp/choke/@#*&^%) are these their real colors that are just now bleeding thru?

    "Well it doesn't matter right now as we have two more readings on this issue."

    No Jeff, it's a Resolution! This is the only reading!!

    "I want to know individual car #"s, the mileage of each, and the individual who drives them!!"

    News Flash Steve!!

    The insurance company has threatend to cancel the departments insurance if we don't get these unsafe vechicles off the streets!!

    OK then. Just how long do you think it's gonna take an officer on foot to get from Grant Line to the Swifty on Spring & Pearl the next time a gun toting drug dealer shows up?

    Or the straw that broke the camels back so to speak; "What happens with parking permits as more people choose to live downtown?"

    Answer from the bill's sponser; "We hope they don't!"

    Perhaps I misheard that quote and if so someone please verify that for me but nontheless I could take no more.

    I absolutely hate to give any of them even a hint that they've finally got to me but having a mental breakdown and throwing chairs in a public meeting would not look good on my resume so I chose instead to vacate the premises.

    And yes Houston, I fear we have a problem!!

    Scottie, beam me up 'cause I need a fix and I mean NOW!!

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  3. What would it take to get Council meetings on local access television? Nothing would clean up the reprehensible incompetence faster than to know people were watching.

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  4. Mr. G,

    Easy answer. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$!

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  5. No, seriously. Couldn't WNAS be approached to do this as a class/community service project? And doesn't the cable franchise provide local access channels that need content?

    During my experience on public commissions, nothing got everyone to sit up straighter and pay attention better than a roomful of concerned citizens or the presence of TV cameras (even though they only came when they expected fist fights or similar drama).

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  6. Unless you count the school system channel, we don't have local access television and, thanks to state level "reform", we have very little chance of ever getting it as the rights and abilities of local municipalities to negotiate contracts with cable providers have been greatly diminished.

    All decisions as to who gets what access are now made by a committee in Indianapolis. I wonder if any of them have actually been to New Albany?

    We need an internet based solution and, as Lloyd mentioned, that takes money.

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  7. If I'm not mistaken, the school board said no the last time they were asked about using NAS to broadcast meetings.

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  8. Webcast....
    takes a laptop (probably have them)
    Webcam (cheap and easy)
    Internet connection (got it)
    Website (www.cityofnewalbany.com)

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  9. They all like to talk a good game about public participation. You are correct Christopher, it would cost next to nothing to webcast and archive meetings.

    But then, the microphones in the chambers don't even work anymore. Haven't for several weeks.

    I swear, a stopped clock in New Albany could manage to be correct only ONCE per day.

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  10. consider other towns are also building not only webcasts of city council meetings, but also building in interactivity. The goal being to get voting online eventually I think.

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  11. Internet video would be nice and is certainly doable, although maybe not quite as easily or inexpensively as suggested, depending on how people are defining those words.

    Of course, it would also be nice if real live bodies showed up in person for meetings every once in a while, too.

    Most people rarely take advantage of the public participation opportunities they do have and, when they do, it's generally linked to a very specific issue rather than learning about the process, players, and dynamics of local government in general.

    Council meeting attendance has opened a lot of eyes over the few years I've been involved. I think if everyone would pledge four or five hours a month to watching the game live rather than relying on second hand box scores, our situation could change for the better.

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  12. Ballpark guess on cost, Jeff?

    Basic, so as to get Mr. Price on board. ;-)

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  13. It depends on the quality you seek and how easy/labor intensive you want the process to be.

    As you know, a cheap used camera, basic software, and a free hosting site can put out poorly shot, grainy video with bad sound. That process takes about 5 hours for a two hour meeting. That could be cut down some with another type of relatively inexpensive camera.

    You could probably get decent quality equipment for good sound and video for three to four thousand. That still means someone would have to shoot it, possibly edit and encode it, and upload it, each time so add that labor cost.

    A better solution would be to buy permanently installable equipment and make the room function as it should for both live and web presentations. Then you're probably looking at something closer to $50K-$70K.

    And, yes, the equipment could be moved to another location when the time comes.

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  14. You can shop it out for about $10K a year, or you can do it yourself for something in the neighborhood of $4000 in equipment, plus 250 hours of labor.

    Sounds like something the taxpayers ought to pay for.

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  15. Economic stimulus money IS available sepcifically for projects such as this.
    As far as the civic investment of such an undertaking, there can be live link-ups with other communities with the same technology for joint meetings on similar issues.
    Works for our clinics

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  16. I must admit that I am somewhat surprised at the cost. Of course, I'm no computer guru like the Senior Editor of this blog who can hack into other people's computers.

    While obviously not "broadcast" quality, I would have thought that for well under $5k a decent camera, with decent sound, from a fixed location could be done. Very little or nor editing. I mean the do-it-yourself por... Oh never mind.

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  17. Besides buying video equipment, you might want a public Access government channel “PEG”

    PEG’s are controlled by The Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission’s (IURC)

    “While individual customers can also file a complaint with the The Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission’s (IURC) Consumer Affairs Division, the Indiana Office of Utility Consumer Counselor (OUCC) is the state agency specifically tasked with representing customer interests before the IURC.”

    If they won’t give you a PEG, join a civic org. that’s already working on the PEG problem in Indiana: http://www.ourchannels.org/?p=240

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  18. May I recommend:

    http://www.justin.tv/

    I've got a miniDV camcorder from 2002 that was advanced for its time that can stream via USB (nothing ever hits a tape).

    I'm willing to let someone borrow it long term (with conditions) for the cause.

    The only 3 things missing are an Internet connection (library?), tripod (I might still have one), and laptop.

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  19. The library connection has disappeared of late. It would be nice if the city made it's wifi available, wouldn't it?

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  20. Maybe if you offered them a nickle the city might give you the password to the signal. Those nickels and dimes add up, you know.

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