Mass exodus to Birdseye; little people evacuate New Albany in search of cleanliness, lower educational standards.
Them relocated little people are going to need Regressive Pints, hence the town's heated courtship of yours truly. I'm not sure how much longer we can hold the line here. In fact, about $70K in grants and loans should do nicely to make us feel more welcome, and if the UEA's once again tapped out, can't we just bond some TIF or something like that? Isn't it time to reconsider NABC's Riverview Brewing Towers idea?
C'mon, people, is there anything more "quality of life" than craft beer? Room temperature sarsaparilla may have been enough for your great-grandfather, but he went out with the Charleston, Maalox and ordinance enforcement.
I shall submit NABC's terms via carrier pigeon, or Shirtless Marvin. You have been warned.
Quills among New Albany UEZ grant recipients; Collections were up 175 percent in UEZ last year, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)
Over the past year, the New Albany Urban Enterprise Zone Association has handed out facade grants for 34 properties totaling more than $70,000.
A sizable chunk of that total was recently granted to Quills Coffee in order for the business to expand and remodel its Market Street location in downtown New Albany.
Quills garnered a $16,000 grant and also received an $8,000 loan from the UEZ.
1 comment:
Unfortunately, the News and Tribune article misses the major point of the story.
The facade grant program has existed for a long time, with matching funds available to any zone-located business who makes exterior improvements based on clear guidelines, thus improving the physical environment of the zone for all.
The funding of Quills, however, is an unprecedented move in which the UEA gave a single, private business competitive advantage over other businesses, including other zone businesses, with no explanation of common good.
This article is the first public mention that such grants and loans were or are even possible. Other businesses didn't know they could apply. Such a program was never announced and, unlike the facade grants, there are no shared or known guidelines. It was a random gift based largely on whim.
If NABC or any other business were to apply for individual funding, what are the criteria? Is it fair that such an award was made to an individual business without notification, awareness, or some sort of competition for limited funds? Are all zone businesses eligible for such funding or, as Roger mentions, does one have to mention a potential move away from the city as Quills did? How could the UEA say no to anyone else without creating obvious inequity?
I really, really wish we'd stop spending money to create rather than solve problems.
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