Friday, May 08, 2009

Ladd: Community Development Course and Tribune column.

From Mike Ladd, Executive Director of the New Albany Urban Enterprise Association, comes this notification of interest to more than a few readers:

There are so many people interested in community development in New Albany, I thought you might like to post this: Community Development Course at Ball State University, June 1 - 3. They'll need to get registered fast. I'm going to try to go.

Mike also had a column in the Tribune on Tuesday:

Mike Ladd offers New Albany ideas for using EDIT funds
Models abound across Indiana for the successful use of EDIT funds. Why not consider borrowing one or more of those models and implementing them here?
Don't worry, Mike. NAC can help clear up your confusion.

If the question is "why not?", the answer is easy: Because destructive, short-sighted city council/Coffey/reactionary politics comes first -- always and forever.

That's why not.

8 comments:

Jeff Gillenwater said...

I agree with Mike in the general sense that we should consider successful efforts in other communities. I disagree with his particulars, in that they tend to narrow rather than broaden the possibilities of who and what may be funded.

Limited matching funds to officially designated economic development groups only? No thanks. That's historically been a significant part of our problem.

Iamhoosier said...

Those were exactly my thought when I read his article. Wow, I agree with Jeff.

The horror.

Iamhoosier said...

"thoughtS"

Jeff Gillenwater said...

You've obviously been entrapped in some sinister conspiracy, Mark.

Before we even realize what's happening, you'll no doubt be caught supporting something.

Iamhoosier said...

Nice punch. I probably deserved that. Not all, but most of it.

Jeff Gillenwater said...

Just a general statement about the state of affairs, Mark, that I think falls neatly under the umbrella of the reactionary politics that Roger mentioned.

The public reward for supporting something is often suspicion and innuendo. More often than not, that innuendo is based on ignorance. As long as that sort of populism is rooted in ignorance, the populace and those that represent them will remain ignorant in search of rewards.

Iamhoosier said...

I support fairness, openness, logic, and knowledge. I also support idealism and pragmatism, which, unfortunately, are often at odds with each other. It's a battle that I fight daily.

Jeff Gillenwater said...

The conflict between idealism and pragmatism is a legitimate one.

It's unfortunately made more difficult with the knowledge that many one has to deal with care little about either.