Fire engines aren't everyone's shtick, but it's worth remembering that the impetus for what is now a Vintage Fire Museum as situated in Jeffersonville came almost entirely from New Albanians, from the Conway collection's inception straight through to the museum's brief residency in the Coyle showroom.
As the corporate welfare housing project at the former auto dealership has unfolded behind Jeff Gahan's perennially closed doors, it has become far easier to understand the reasons for the shabby treatment accorded the fire museum's stalwarts by Gahan and his economic dishevelment chief David Duggins.
They had a two-for-one TIF/sewer waiver deal to be completed just in time for the 2015 political calendar, and so the fire museum was given the bum's rush. The museum may or may not have been a good fit at the Coyle site, but what's clear now is that it did not fit into Gahan's governance-by-monetization worldview -- after all, how on earth could a handful of geezers ever kick back campaign finance to the tune of fat cats like Flaherty Collins?
I'm happy to see the Fire Museum's ongoing progress in Jeffersonville, and even more delighted that Rick, Kim and the crew at Donum Dei stepped in to help with an event that I wasn't able to organize. Thanks, guys.
'Chili, Brats & Brew' celebrates Jeff fire museum, by Jenna Esarey (C-J)
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