The 2013 NAC Person of the Year vote ends in a tie!

For the first time ever, we have co-winners in NAC’s Person of the Year voting, which ended in a tie.

Person of the Year is an annual selection by the readers of the NA Confidential blog, spotlighting a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse ... has done the most to influence the events of the year" in New Albany.


Generally, I’d merely break the tie and cast a deciding ballot. However, because the results seem deeply symbolic -- reflecting our hopes as well as our screams -- it seems appropriate to declare co-winners … and here they are.

Houndmouth ... Four youthful musicians possessing consummate skill and a collectively precocious sense of irony, such that their city benefits immensely from the band's mere existence without ever really grasping why this might be the case. Long may they wave.

And …

Quality of Life ... Or our seldom-urban priorities here in the city. As we've come to grasp throughout the year 2013, "quality of life" as a pretext for spending money invariably reflects a mayor or council person's subconscious suburban mores first and foremost, because these leanings are safely white and mostly understood, whereas urban living suggests racial diversity, social chaos and rampant book reading. In addition, "quality of life" always applies far more to the area just around an elected official's home, and might be subtitled “automotive only”; far less importance is accorded those areas located even a short walk away. Because, of course, none of them ever walk or bike, do they?

Here are the other nominees for 2013:

NA’s small business entrepreneurs
Private planning and design firms
Dr. Thomas "You're My Inferior" Harris
Our errant Bicentennial
Dan "I'm with Jeff" Coffey

Previous winners:

2011: The Sherman Minton Bridge
2012: Bill Allen's dilapidated paint job