And another final thought from me.

Dear every board and commission member and elected and appointed official in the city:

If you repeatedly witness abuse and say nothing out loud to try to stop it, you're acting in service to the abuser, helping to perpetuate the abuse. Time and personnel changes won't change that. Your voice, however, can.

Had a newspaper reporter been at the special UEA meeting on Friday, they would have heard a remaining board member (other than Dan Coffey and former board member Roger Baylor) confirm that the England administration used highly politicized, high pressure tactics to influence UEA funding decisions on behalf of Develop New Albany and Indiana Landmarks. And they would have heard it far too late. Another former board member was described as having recently resigned as he was "tired of all the crap". And, yet, as a resident of the zone directly impacted by his decision, I can't recall a single instance in which said crap was brought to light by him.

How would this story have read differently if a majority of the UEA board at the time would have publicly stood with what they knew to be true? How many other stories would read differently as well, if members of other boards did the same?

It's a shame that so many of our ongoing community building difficulties can be traced back to the unwillingness of those in positions of leadership to simply acknowledge the truth as they know it during times of duress.

Money changes hands, people get hired and fired, and we roll on through the darkness acting as though we just don't know what to do. Unburden yourselves, people. Please.