Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Hagiography, Gahan-style: "We blacktopped a lot of the alleys this year."


The News and Tribune sent its very best hagiographer to interv ... what's that, Shane?

Really? Okay, okay. Here it is. A hagiographer is a practitioner of hagiography.
hag·i·og·ra·phy
/,haɡēˈäɡrəfē,ˌhāɡē-/

noun
the writing of the lives of saints.
derogatory
adulatory writing about another person.
biography that idealizes its subject.
plural noun: hagiographies

As I was saying, Chris Morris interviewed the mayor, and it was painful reading.

While it is true that Morris selected newly elected councilman Dr. Al Knable to offer a handful of quotes in "rebuttal," Hizzoner generally was allowed to spin the usual Disney tales without the pesky annoyance of follow-up questions.

To even the most casual of readers, follow-ups proliferate faster than rabbits.


  • If splitting the park system was a priority, why didn't you mention it during the 2011 campaign?
  • What do you mean by "some" one-way streets?
  • Was the ill-fated Phipps rental housing ordinance in December your own trial balloon?
  • Can you point to the clamor from your citizen "bosses" for a dog park?
  • Are new sidewalks alone enough to encourage "walkability," another word you haven't mentioned at all?
  • Can you explain why the "business of residency" requires TIF bonding?


And on, and on, and on.

Feel free to append your own follow-up questions, as destined to be neither asked nor answered by media or mayor, to the comments here and at Fb.

New Albany's Gahan looks to next four years; Housing, code enforcement, one-way streets top list for mayor, by Papa (Clark County First)

 ... Knable said a decision needs to be made on the one-way street debate sooner rather than later.

"I think another priority on the 2016 agenda is where do we go with two-way streets downtown. I think we owe it to the independent business owners, the people who live downtown and the citizens of New Albany," Knable said. "They deserve an answer."

Knable also said the council's other top priority in 2016 is to find a new tenant for the Pillsbury factory, "so that area doesn't deteriorate further."

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