Hose me down to a boogie-woogie beat.

Wait a minute. 

You mean in Jeffersonville, they have public meetings BEFORE deciding what they're going to do?

Jeffersonville schedules public meetings to discuss new bicycle, walking paths (at the C-J)

Meanwhile, at Monday's city council meeting in New Albany, Mike Hall routinely rose to speak for the mayor. As he concluded his remarks, councilman Bob Caesar -- who recently voted with the majority to approve as a presumed no-brainer up to $19 million in bonding for projects without substantive public input or plans -- abruptly became fixated savant-like on two words.

Spray parks. 

According to Caesar, his constituents peskily keep mentioning the idea of "two or three" spray parks scattered throughout the city. 

Not that the idea had occurred to him or anyone else on the council prior to endorsing a megabucks aquatics center, one with a projected entry fee beyond the means of many children targeted as patrons, except that's probably okay, seeing as CM Caesar's general starting point in such matters is finding the right kind of customer ... who apparently prefers spray parks ... which is why it might just be handy to ask before rubber-stamping the bond. 

Not that I'm trying to be a stick in the mud, or any such thing, but that Ohio River mud comes right off at a spray park, even for a non-swimmer like me.

Yes, it's New Albany's 200th birthday, and Dave Thrasher is right: We're all here because we're not all there.