Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Fear the gorilla: After all, Harvest Homecoming's business plan has never been designed for inclusivity.


Yesterday we recalled the wonderful annual experience of an alien spaceship landing in the middle of downtown, with nice orange-shirted functionaries showing us a book entitled, "To Serve Man".

Fear the gorilla: Harvest Homecoming's head honcho demands downtown merchants "understand what the festival is all about."


Following are selected comments from the Fb discussion that ensued. I've rendered names into acronyms and highlighted NAC staff comments.

DBR
Harvest is a great idea that could be a huge boon for local business if only those involved, or the city that sanctions it, would ask "how can we do this better," rather than stating "learn to like it our way" out of hubris and apathy.
22 hours ago · Like · 1

KC
Thanks Roger the gorilla made my morning. A few observations: 1. Loss of revenue for about a week for a small business is huge. 2. Why no effort to supply frontage for said businesses? Don't they bring in revenue year round for the city? 3. Why not move the whole thing over the flood wall and not block business frontage at all? 4. Why is it the cities responsibility to cover the nut of churches and non-profits? Churches and non-profits already get the benefit of not paying taxes and they are constantly having events for themselves. 5. Perhaps a weeks amnesty from taxes to compensate for loss revenue?
22 hours ago · Edited · Like · 4

MBW
Here's a solution, cut out all non-local, for-profit crap vendors, spread the festive out one more block down Market Street and 4th street, and leave openings along the way so attendees can shop in the local stores.
22 hours ago · Like · 4

TC
It is sad when non-profits forget what they are there for, and get too big for their own good. It would seem to me that the greatest good from having the event is to get people into downtown New Albany, and to see how things have positively changed, and to spend money in the local stores. If not, then why even have it?!
22 hours ago · Like · 1

TA
It’s not just four days of booths, its four days of miserable business, that drives my regular customers away. Four and 1/2 if you count the loss of Wednesday business after 5:00 when the streets are shut down. We have never made up any extra business during HH that offsets the loss of of regulars. We made a conscious decision to not get a booth this year. I don't think I should pay rent for the space in front of my store, and I don't believe access to my business should ever be cut off for the benefit of another business, whether they are for-profit or non-profit.
21 hours ago · Like · 6

Roger A. Baylor
MWB has it; that's basically my view, too. Reform, not eliminate. The problem with imposing an entirely different business model over the existing one is that they contradict each other. And make no mistake: Downtown businesses are not asked, and are not part of the conversation.
21 hours ago · Like · 3

KC
Honest the event has gone down hill greatly from what it was in the past. Booths in the past had handmade art, craft, goods etc. Now it's mostly junk that looks like it came from the dollar store.
21 hours ago · Unlike · 1

TA
Not to mention, you won't improve your relationship with downtown merchants by telling me to understand your point of view, with no concern for my point of view.
21 hours ago · Unlike · 3

Jeff Gillenwater
It would be interesting to see what would happen if downtown businesses ever organized.
21 hours ago · Unlike · 1

KC
To think that the City of New Albany is exempting their business owners from any input about the event just floors me. It's like calling up your neighbors and telling them your having a party and people will be parking in their yard, using their pool and bathroom facilities and sleeping over for a few days. Don't like it, screw you!
21 hours ago · Like · 1

Roger A. Baylor
Existing downtown businesses would benefit from a looser, more dispersed HH model. But HH benefits from a form of "monopoly" borne of concentration. It can't go on, but City Hall is terrified. Seeing a pattern yet?
21 hours ago · Like

KC
I know St. James Art Fair in Louisville has a board that qualifies booth applicants to see if they bring positive aspects to the event. New Albany apparently allows anybody with a check.
21 hours ago · Like · 1

MBW
When I was working in City Hall, or as I like to call it , the Portal to Hell, I learned very quickly that during Harvest time HH rules the city. All city officials are supposed to just step back and cater to their every need and whim. It even stated on vendor permits that the permits did not cover the booth days and that the permit holders would have to pay for a separate booth rental/permit from HH to ply their wares in the downtown area. Furthermore, HH never has to go to the Board of Works and Safety to have the street closures approved and permitted, they don't have to pay for any of the over-time for the clean-up or security provided by the City and they are allowed to hang street banners where other organizations are prohibited to hang them.
21 hours ago · Like · 1

Jeff Gillenwater
When citizens, businesses, or other groups go to the City to ask about using public space and are told they have to get permission from a private, non-elected, non-accountable, third-party, there are obviously issues. Eventually, someone is going to have to push the conversation along via civil disobedience. It would be helpful if the business/property owners most directly impacted would do it en masse. If HH doesn't have to go before the Board of Works to secure the space in front of your building for that time period, then neither do you, right?
21 hours ago · Like · 3

TC
Don't feel bad guys. It's not just downtown businesses, as they put off other local businesses as well. I work for New Albany Broadcasting, and not only do we not get any media buys to promote the long week of events, but we were not allowed last year to even have a float in the parade!! What the heck is that all about?
18 hours ago · Like

Jeff Gillenwater
That's a hoot, TC. 20 years ago or so when I worked for what was just transitioning from a local cable station, we used to shoot a bunch of the events and show them on the local access channel for free. But then a fledgling ProMedia contracted with HH to shoot some of those events. When we showed up in community service/journalism mode to do what we'd done before, HH honchos tried to kick us off public property claiming they had granted exclusive rights to ProMedia. This "authority from thin air" crap has been going on a long time.
18 hours ago · Like

There's a community dialogue about Harvest Homecoming's clash with changing times. Harvest Homecoming won't instigate it. The newspaper currently is cowering somewhere in Jeffersonville, and the city has shown that it is abjectly terrified of becoming involved with modernity in any form.

Jeff's right: Local businesses must be the agents of change. To do so, we must organize, reject the antebellum Bob Caesar mindset, and not be afraid to break a few eggs in pursuit of an omelette. I suspect we refrain because so many among us are hesitant to be viewed as radicals, but as we see in New Albany on a daily basis, conservatism merely yields the same tired results, over and over again.

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