Gifts to cover the steeple.

I'm mostly of the view that no city money at all should have been devoted to the refurbishment, but at least most of it is coming from private donations. In a city desperately in need to future thinking, it seems that historic preservation sentiments continue to exercise weirdly disproportionate weight in decision-making when it comes to big ticket projects. Meanwhile, there are a few hundred vacant lots.

Infill, anyone?

Steeple chase: Push is on to replace a signature piece of New Albany's Town Clock Church; Organization needs $150,000 to replace landmark steeple, by Daniel Suddeath (The Tifton Gazette)

NEW ALBANY — There’s light at the end of the tunnel.

Less than two years into the project, the organization Friends of the Town Clock Church has raised about $233,000 toward the rehabilitation of the building that is the namesake of the organization.

And the focus is on the former focal point of Town Clock Church — the sizable steeple that served as a sign of freedom to slaves coming from Kentucky during the Civil War era.

“We’d love to get a single gift to cover the steeple,” said Jerry Finn, a member of Friends of the Town Clock Church and one of the organizers of the refurbishment project ...

• To learn more about how to donate, visit the website townclockchurch.org