Local activists focus on the current and in many cases the ugly issues. Seldom do we take the time to look back and appreciate just how much progress has been made. We don’t do a good job of defining the outcomes desired either. I will endeavor to help change that.
As I related to a large group of people recently, the quality of life here has improved here. While I have no data to support this, I do believe the image for the area is changing in a positive way. And this is being done without any coordinated strategy whatsoever. Just imagine if we tried?
Perspective from 2005, Downtown New Albany
Well stated, Ted. While there's certainly much work left to be done, there's scant doubt its worth (and ours) will be measured in the achievement of positive outcomes rather than the persistence of woebegone wails.
Perhaps readers can lend some perspective of their own. Why is it so difficult for some to see the improvements that have already taken place? Why is it so daunting to state what we want?
eh, because for the three years I've been a resident of downtown I've never been able to secure my families personal safety because of the slumlords and their criminal tenants?
ReplyDeleteGina,
ReplyDeleteThat withstanding, things ARE better.
Even the cities ands are fairly well tied when it comes to dealing with this issue.
Sometimes, though, it requires that you are as dogged in advocating change with the slumlords, as they are determined NOT to change.
I sympathize with Gina. The building next to hers is pretty bad. I recall not too long ago seeing the prostitute lounge along E. 7th Street, waiting for customers. However, I live just one block and one house down the Street from Gina. In my two and a half years as a downtown resident I’ve not yet been a victim of a crime. I’m fortunate. I am surrounded by good neighbors on all sides. Maybe it’s because I came from Old Louisville, but when I think of challenges to downtown living, crime is not on my short list.
ReplyDelete(Furiously knocking on wood)
On Sunday, I had an occasion to drive around the Germantown/Schnitzelburg neighborhoods of Louisville. New Albany is often compared to these neighborhoods. Other than closer proximity to the Highlands, I didn’t see anything that would temp me to move there over NA.
ReplyDeleteI think, even if by market forces alone, New Albany has definitely improved in the last few years. We’re starting to have enough critical mass of lifestyle amenities to temp some folks into moving into and hanging around the city. I know my wife, son, and I have no trouble having fun in and around the area or showing our out-of-town friends and family a good time.
A longer-term problem is convincing people who can choose to live anywhere in the metro that New Albany is a good place to raise a family and send their kids to school. My wife and I love New Albany and strongly support public schools (wife was a teacher for 6 years), but we are still undecided about what to do about our son’s education, and it weighs on our choice of where to live in the future.
If my wife and I are having this discussion, I imagine those less inclined towards urban living will find it difficult to consider New Albany.
The school corporation certainly needs to become a better informed part of the revitalization conversation. Hopefully, recent neighborhood advocacy will help that happen and communication will continue.
ReplyDeleteB.W. You nailed it. If children are not safe on the streets and the schools suck, amenities are lipstick on a pig - IMHO.
ReplyDeleteEven if the schools don't suck (Silver Street, for instance) and it is safe (which it is in most of NA) we will still have a long way to go to change the perception that the schools suck and the streets aren't safe.
ReplyDelete*tempt - and I can't blame NA schools for that one.
ReplyDelete"...still have a long way to go to change the perception that the schools suck and the streets aren't safe."
ReplyDeleteThat certainly won't be accomplished by consistent attempts to make people feel pathetic and powerless for having chosen to live here while offering no positive alternatives.
It's sad when the default response to obstacles is self-pity and hopelessness. In fact, it's that attitude that's created and helps sustain a host of the problems we're trying now to solve.
It's also the exact opposite of what I hope any children perceive about their own community. Of course, it takes committed, responsible adults to change it.
Jeff,
ReplyDeleteLately, you have asked Gina and me to quit being so negative. To support something. To offer positive alternatives. Any one or some combination of the three. Basically correct?
You make a good point. It is all too easy to make everything seem so bad. We all need to be reminded, at times
I would ask that you turn inward, just a bit, concerning the council. I mean, if we want to talk about a tsunami of negativity...
Gina,
Even though I think Jeff and others have been somewhat lenient on the executive branch, I do not believe for a moment that they have sold out.
The council supplies the hammer to build something. The hammer, without energy, does no good. The executive branch is the energy for the hammer to drive the nail which accomplishes something. They are wanting to accompish something and the executive branch is where it is at. Not just here, everywhere. It's the nature of the beast.
Or maybe I'm just flapping my jaws(fingers), as usual.
Point taken, Mark, though I'd honestly quibble with the overall similarity of the situations.
ReplyDeleteAnd to be clear, I haven't asked Gina or you to do anything. This isn't about any particular individual, regardless of how much of their own sniping is personally directed.
Okay.
ReplyDelete"That certainly won't be accomplished by consistent attempts to make people feel pathetic and powerless for having chosen to live here while offering no positive alternatives."
ReplyDeleteTesty, testy... god forbid, who or what is making people feel pathetic or powerless?
Lots of people.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTommy - you are welcome to buy the house if you think you can do it better. Or just continue to complain and do nothing. I have spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours working on that house. You didn't have anything to say when I installed a new roof, windows, floors, furnace, central air, water heater, paint and trim. You didn't have anything to say when thousand of dollars worth of my tools were stolen from that house. You didn't have anything to say when I removed dumpsters full of filthy carpet, trash and bugs from that house. To compare me to Mr. Gregory is ignorant and ridiculous. Adam
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteTommy, when you called and told us about the neighbors carrying on in the middle of the night we asked you and everyone else that called us if you called the police. We asked that so we would have a police record to assist us in evicting the problem tenants. NONE of you would call the police. When we explained to you and the other neighbors again why you needed to call the police about the fighting (and we knew NOTHING about the destruction of your property) so we would have a legal means of eviction (since there is no legal basis to evict because the neighbors don't like tenants,) the reaction we got was, they don't know the law and even if they find out that you evicted them illegally they won't follow up on it.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame that because you have a personal issue with a tenant that you have opted to label us as poor landlords and property owners. We do run background and credit checks on all of our tenants. However there is no jerk background check.
Is that why you feel we're bad landlords? Because we rented to people you didn't care for? Or because we haven't rehabbed the house in the order that you would have liked?
We have also explained to you and others that we are working to scrape and paint the original wood siding on the house. With a limited time and fixed budget we opted to spend that money on the inside of the house, where the tenants live, which is what we felt would be the most important thing to get done first.
If we're not moving fast enough on the paint perhaps you'd rather just have us slap some siding up, aluminum maybe?
Yes, rental properties are a business, but we also choose to do this and pick the houses downtown so we can try and turn them around.
Once again, of course the time frame isn't as fast as anyone would like, hell the same can be said about our own house, but why don't you ask your neighbors across the street how long its taking to rehab their house, or how about Mr. Fulmore on Cedar Bough. I know they've been working on their respective properties for years now.
It is a shame that you chose this public forum to air your ignorance about this issue. However, I will ask you to stop with the name calling.
Courtney,
ReplyDeleteI know what kind of a property owner you and you husband are, and I know you guys are far and above anything closely resembling a "slumlord".
Between promotions and deployments your husband has been away with the military (protecting our country), and you have the kids and the business to run.
I, for one, will ALWAYS be willing to help out anytime at all as much as I can.
If your husband and you, and family are willing to continue to make the sacrifices needed to be a "military family", My scraper, paint brush, wire brush, ect are yours!
Courtney and Adam,
ReplyDeleteI know that you're both good, conscientious, decent people. Labelling you otherwise is completely wrong and untrue.
Ann Streckfus
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt's a shame this dispute had to spill over onto the public forum.
ReplyDeleteI do, however, feel compelled to post that I know Courtney and Adam personally, and they are great people and excellent citizens. I wish we had at least 20 more families like them in the urban core. Slumlords they are not.
It is a shame neighbors have to fight like this here. But it makes the case again for a functioning local government. Heck, I'd be happy for a functioning local tribal council! So I'll make another pitch for taking a hard look at what are supposed to be the (democractic)venues for the establishment and enforcement of community standards. Local government, law enforcement and the legal system, with the help of a free press. Anyone else notice we only have 1 out of 4 here? As a direct result we are forced, just like in third world countries, to fight it out ourselves. Hence my ongoing and resource depleting battle with my anti-social neighbors at 703 E Main. Hence good residents fighting here over their property issues. I'm going to say it again at the risk of Bluegill flaming me - where is the administration of elected and well paid individuals who's job it is to provide these basic government services?!
ReplyDeleteAs long as you're including all elected officials, that's a good question Gina. The answer, though, lies with the citizenry, not some secret book buried at city hall. We are the government.
ReplyDeleteWhen that responsibility is taken seriously by enough citizens, things will improve. Until then, elected officials will continue to reflect the general attitudes and behavior of the community, just as they currently do.
And could you please cut the personal crap? It plays directly into the hands of those people and systems you claim to abhor.
I have to agree wit bluegill.
ReplyDeleteWe decry the foul stench being wafted out of the hallowed halls of the Administration Offices, yet we put the people there, either directly or indirectly, that we find ourselves infighting over, every 4 years.
Sadly enough, there is a small, but very vocal group of citizenry who gathers on sites such as these to discuss such issues, and for the most part that consists of two of the "tribal councils" previously mentioned, and we call them progressives and obstructionists.
Unfortunately, despite both of those tribes consistant efforts, nothing changes much other than minute shifts in "power".
And what can we learn from this? The ugly truth that tha majority of the vote carrying citizens in this city simple are not involved, will not get involved, with the exception of marking the box beside a familiar name every four years.
Remember I said real change takes 4 basic components, something along the lines of functioning civil society? Sure, participation is one part, but not the only part. I guess I don't subscribe to your local political organizing principle. Progressives vs. obstructionists, though certainly there is that angle. I think their are deep systemic obstacles here to accomplishing anything close to a progressive agenda. Methinks you make a straw-man of a handful of local obstructionists who are easy targets.
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone has ever really suggested that a few obstructionists are all there is to it. I'd note, though, they aren't straw men when they often stand directly in the way of what could and often should be labeled as progress, even if incremental.
ReplyDeleteA much larger overall obstacle is getting people interested enough to do their own work and get over the notion that government is going to somehow magically transform nothing into something and is solely responsible when that doesn't happen.
Outside of government, we have little capacity to accomplish anything and yet retain expectations that don't reflect that reality.
Government is best used as a partner when one can bring outside capacity to the table. In the relatively few instances when that's happened locally, positive things, though generally very small in scale, have occurred. I don't think we've done a good job of recognizing that.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI guess a clarification needs to made to my statement to note that the referrence to progressives V. Obstructionists relates to the blogsphere.
ReplyDeleteI agree though that too much expectation for change is placed on the shoulders of government.
How do we then move the community at large to overcome that expectation
We're spending lots of capital building democracy in Iraq, so the idea of functional civil democracy here...? I'm not talking about government taking the lead in visioning some new future. I'm talking about government providing basic community safety et al. Ideologically, I don't see progress without safety. Safety is a function of government.
ReplyDeleteAnd government is a function of the citizenry.
ReplyDeleteIf public safety is a primary concern for many, it's not, from my experience, been made into a primary issue for government consideration and/or action.
It would be interesting to see how many residents (and potential residents) believe lack of safety is a primary concern to be prioritized, for what reasons, and how those perceptions match actual data.
I don't discount your experiences. I've just not had them myself and therefore rarely feel unsafe in the city, especially compared to other urban areas where I occasionally spend time. Of course, my perception of those places could be skewed, too.
One thing I'd throw in is that safety, as an issue, reaches across many boundaries. I think we could do ourselves a world of good by proactively attracting a larger non-criminal element to town.
While we certainly need to address crime, we need to be careful not to give the impression that we're extremely crime ridden, especially if we're not, compared to other areas potential residents might consider.
Want to scare off the real estate market? Put up "crime watch" signs and bar the windows.
"If public safety is a primary concern for many, it's not, from my experience, been made into a primary issue for government consideration and/or action." bluegill
ReplyDeleteWhat is code enforcement but a public safety issue? I think people have been very vocal about it's need.
I know. I've made many arguments about code enforcement being synonymous with safety. It is.
ReplyDeleteConsider what I said as if "with the exception of code enforcement" was attached. I was just considering a larger context.
"Consider what I said as if "with the exception of code enforcement" was attached." no can do. That's the mindset that has slowly destroyed NA.
ReplyDeleteAcknowledging that code enforcement is one part of a larger issue isn't any particular mindset at all.
ReplyDelete