Friday, June 30, 2017
Grid Control, Vol. 11: HWC Engineering meets with St. Marks, city officials nowhere to be found.
Earlier today, John Manzo of St. Marks United Church of Christ indicated that HWC Engineering had contacted him and wanted to meet to discuss the church's thoughts about one-way civic communications.
Grid Control, Vol. 9: "This was supposed to be discussed with us," but Dear Leader doesn't ever discuss, does he?
As John reports, HWC followed through. Film crews from WDRB and WAVE were spotted downtown around lunchtime, having taken their news gathering cues from ... well, we know where this whole business started, don't we?
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So, in following up from yesterday, a couple of us met with the engineering firm, HWC today. To their great credit, they are NOT Ding and Bat. They seem to be willing to help at least not make this as bad as it is.
My annoyance is that we made a considerable investment to make the front of our building accessible. The money could have been used elsewhere but this is where we did it. Had we any clue of what being discussed, this project might not have taken place.
There are two things that disturb me greatly.
The first, is that the placement of the bus stop is in the worst possible location for us. While I know there is not a grand conspiracy against the downtown churches, if there was, they couldn't have pulled it off better. Again, I am not suggesting there is a conspiracy, it's just maddening on how this was planned.
Secondly, the lack of communication. Someone needed to talk to us before this transpired. Since my post yesterday, I greatly appreciate HWC's willingness to talk to us. The head of the company reached out to me yesterday and fulfilled the promise that their Senior Project Manager would come by church today to discuss it. This I greatly appreciate.
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Previously:
Grid Control, Vol. 10: City officials predictably AWOL as HWC Engineering falls on its sword over striping errors.
Grid Control, Vol. 9: "This was supposed to be discussed with us," but Dear Leader doesn't ever discuss, does he?
Grid Control, Vol. 8: City Hall characteristically mum as HWC Engineering at least tries to answer the cross-hatching question.
Grid Control, Vol. 7: What will the Board of Works do to rectify HWC's striping errors on the north side of Spring Street, apart from microwaving another round of sausage biscuits?
Grid Control, Vol. 6: Jeff Speck tweets about NA's grid changes, and those missed bicycling opportunities.
Grid Control, Vol. 5: Egg on HWC Engineering's well-compensated face as it botches Spring Street's westbound bike buffer cross hatching.
Grid Control, Vol. 4: But this actually isn't a bus lane, is it?
Grid Control, Vol. 3: TARC's taking your curbside church parking, says City Hall.
Grid Control, Vol. 2: Southsiders get six more parking inches, but you gotta love those 10-foot traffic lanes on Spring.
Grid Control, Vol. 1: You people drive so freaking horribly that someone's going to die at Spring and 10th.
Grid Control, Vol. 10: City officials predictably AWOL as HWC Engineering falls on its sword over striping errors.
You know, the striping errors first brought to the community's attention here at NA Confidential, about which we informed newspaper management, which might repay the favor by acknowledging the tip. If this blog and its friends hadn't been paying attention, would the newspaper?
I think you already know the answer, but small victories, people.
Holding contractors responsible for their work, if not a fluke in this instance, would represent a huge shift in the city's institutional monetization culture, but let's not forget that the design submitted by the engineers at City Hall's clueless direction is a colossal missed opportunity in terms of bicycling infrastructure.
Meanwhile, baseball Hall of Famer Jim Rice of HWC flails and prevaricates, but eventually settles into the litany. Oddly, as he focuses on a "particular location on Spring Street" near 10th, there is no reference to church curb striping controversies, as we referenced yesterday.
And the parking depth shortfall affects "five spots"? That's hooey. The disparity is consistent on the north side of Spring all the way all the way from Vincennes to State, albeit it with different defaults when the bike lanes cease at 4th.
And by the way, Jim, those traffic lanes outside my house are 10 feet, not 11. They should have been 10 feet throughout downtown, but Jeffrey's scared of the trucking lobby, isn't he?
Engineering firm to pay for, fix error spotted in New Albany street conversion striping, by Elizabeth Beilman (Mews and Tribune)
Mistakes affect Spring Street striping
NEW ALBANY — Engineers who designed New Albany’s two-way street conversion are paying for the likely more than $10,000 in costs to fix a striping error they made.
Hannum, Wagle & Cline Engineering is evaluating ways to correct bicycle buffer lanes between the vehicle lane and parking spots on the north side of Spring Street ...
... (Rice) said an HWC technician simply drew the lines in the opposite direction — and it was missed during reviews.
“If we design something and we make a mistake … we want to fix it,” Rice said, adding a few people with the firm “feel terrible right now.”
Engineers are evaluating whether to modify the width of some parking spots along Spring Street, as well. Drivers of some cars and trucks have been unable to fit their vehicles inside the spots, wheels parked over the marked line on the pavement. Rice said it affects about five spots.
In that case, contractor Ragle Inc. didn’t follow design plans properly, Rice said.
When the reporter Beilman tried to get a comment out of Jeff Gahan's City Hall, the spokesman (Mike Hall?) referred her to HWC. That's chickenshit, isn't it? Then again, when your own people missed the errors, too ...
Small victories. Microscopic, but still.
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Previously:
Grid Control, Vol. 9: "This was supposed to be discussed with us," but Dear Leader doesn't ever discuss, does he?
Grid Control, Vol. 8: City Hall characteristically mum as HWC Engineering at least tries to answer the cross-hatching question.
Grid Control, Vol. 7: What will the Board of Works do to rectify HWC's striping errors on the north side of Spring Street, apart from microwaving another round of sausage biscuits?
Grid Control, Vol. 6: Jeff Speck tweets about NA's grid changes, and those missed bicycling opportunities.
Grid Control, Vol. 5: Egg on HWC Engineering's well-compensated face as it botches Spring Street's westbound bike buffer cross hatching.
Grid Control, Vol. 4: But this actually isn't a bus lane, is it?
Grid Control, Vol. 3: TARC's taking your curbside church parking, says City Hall.
Grid Control, Vol. 2: Southsiders get six more parking inches, but you gotta love those 10-foot traffic lanes on Spring.
Grid Control, Vol. 1: You people drive so freaking horribly that someone's going to die at Spring and 10th.
Check it out: Carnegie Center's 22nd Annual Taste for Art and History is Friday, September 8.
All the way through 2014, the Carnegie Center's annual fundraiser was held in and on the museum's grounds, constantly evolving into one of the fall season's signature happenings. In 2015, the event moved to The Grand, and this year it shifts to the Calumet Club.
P.S. Lots of you have been asking about Indie Fest's hiatus in 2017. I've drawn those red arrows on the postcard's back side for a reason. One thing Indie Fest did not have was city support.
Just the facts, ma'am.
Two way communications: Marcey explains why there'll be no Indie Fest in 2017, but leaves open the possibility of a comeback.
Thursday, June 29, 2017
Spare us: Both Grooms and Gahan, putting themselves and corporate interests ahead of Hoosier Families.
There assuredly are a few local Democrats who can write, but unfortunately, they're not writing on the DemoDisneyDixiecratic Party's website or social media pages.
Rather, we get by-the-numbers political template drivel, which might have been composed by a DNC Bot rather than a human being, such is the sad absence of a pulse.
Still, let's take a look at two sentences, beginning with the header.
Grooms out of touch as he seeks third term
Fair enough. It's true that Ron Grooms' record is dismal. He's never met an oligarch he wouldn't fluff, or a theocrat he'd fail to enable. Local, state and national chambers of commerce undoubtedly will see to it that Grooms never pays, ever again, for his annual suite in Branson.
It's the subheading that matters.
Record reflects putting himself and corporate interests ahead of Hoosier Families
Remember this sentence should Jeff Gahan reverse course and decide to challenge Grooms.
Also remember it if Gahan chooses to run for a third term as mayor.
Has any local politician in recent decades been more aptly summarized by party scribe Dickey's "putting himself ahead" than Gahan? Grooms may be a corporate shill, but so is Gahan, and at least Grooms doesn't have his portrait in every barber shop.
The chairman's batting below the Mendoza line. Doesn't this mean it's time to be called up to the big leagues as shoeshine contractor for Tom Perez?
"10 Steps to Fix a City," including axing anyone on staff who believes the fixes are unworkable.
Imagine you attend a meeting of City Council, the Redevelopment Commission or the Board of Public Works and Safety, and as you're sitting there, expecting the same ol' same ol', an elected representative or appointed official begins explaining what he or she read at Strong Towns.
It's an old link, one worth viewing again.
It's also a list for comparing platforms in 2019. I've included explanations for some, though not all of the precepts. Give the website a click, and by doing so, pole vault to the head of the queue.
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10 STEPS TO FIX A CITY, by Andrew Burleson (Strong Towns)
1. Don't issue any new bonds until the city's current debts are fully paid off.
2. Don't accept unfunded maintenance obligations.
3. Throw out your parking ordinances.
No parking ordinance is better than no parking ordinances. Allow on-street parking everywhere, and use parking meters as needed to limit on-street congestion in high-demand areas. Let the market figure out the off-street supply and demand balance.
4. Don't permit greenfield development when existing infrastructure is highly underutilized.
Almost every city has a section of town with streets and sewers surrounded by vacant lots or abandoned buildings. As long as there are big chunks of your town like this, there’s no reason to issue building permits for new infrastructure.
5. Require buildings to front the street.
That means no parking lots in front of buildings. The ground floor has to be inhabitable, parking can be beside or behind the building, but there has to be a “front door” that lets pedestrians enter the building directly from the street / sidewalk.
6. Dramatically simplify your zoning.
First, just throw out your entire zoning ordinance because it’s surely horrible. Then try replacing it with just four zones: Heavy Industrial, Mixed-Use, Restricted Residential, and Restricted Agricultural / Natural. Read more about zoning.
7. Dramatically simplify your traffic hierarchy.
8. Stop building stroads.
In fact, it would be ideal if you could stop building any new roads until we, as a nation, came up with a better system for funding them.
9. Set a maximum block perimeter of 2000' and enforce it.
10. Fire anyone on staff who believes the above is unworkable.
In today’s municipal world the professionals are a big part of the problem. There are plenty of good people out there who could work well within the constraints above. If the people in your city staff don’t think that’s possible, then the city needs new staff.
ON THE AVENUES: Back in the USSR, with my old friend Barr.
A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.
Today's column is one in a linked series of narratives describing my 1987 summer in Europe. Previously, Good morning, Moscow. Next: A taste of Moscow, with occasional beers for sustenance.
28 June 1987
Just shy of midnight, my childhood pal Barrie “Barr” Ottersbach stepped off the elevator into the corridor running past the block of rooms reserved at the Hotel Molodjezhny for the use of Scandinavian Travel Service Tour’s SSTS S819, conducted in conjunction with Sputnik, the Soviet youth and student agency.
Three decades of campfire stories were about to break out.
I’d debuted earlier the same day, miraculously allowed to occupy a room without waiting for the group’s late evening arrival. As the Americans, Canadians and Australians who would be my travel companions for the next two weeks came trickling down the corridor, I grilled them.
“Did Barrie make it?”
“Barrie? Is he the crazy guy with the mustache? Don’t worry. He’s coming.”
As I was grinding out the endless miles from Budapest to Moscow to the rhythm of choo-choo wheels and the providential lubrication of Bull’s Blood wine, Barrie had flown from Louisville to Copenhagen, Denmark and spent a hotel night there prior to meeting the group at the pre-arranged location.
On the 28th, the tour group flew from Copenhagen to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), then switched planes for the late flight to Moscow, arriving at 22.30.
Barrie and I long had been keen on visiting the USSR as a team, and my brief weekend experience in Leningrad in 1985 inspired me to plot a return in 1987. He decided to go, too, and when the Soviet tour was over, we’d be continuing our journey into Western Europe. In the end, we spent more than six weeks carousing, with a great deal of learning as an added bonus.
Visiting the USSR meant finding a good tour package. During the Cold War, independent or otherwise unsupervised travel in the Soviet Union was problematic. It could be done, just not easily. Once on the ground with a group, there’d be nothing binding us to the daily schedule, and we could explore on our own, provided we remained within city limits and kept our tour leader informed.
Barrie and I discussed it at length, and took the recommendation of Let’s Go: Europe by opting for SSTS. I’ve never once regretted the decision. SSTS’s itinerary was designed for impoverished youth, and was as affordable as it got. While decidedly non-luxurious, it covered the high points and got us inside, through the gate.
More importantly, the tour led to an enduring friendship with Kim Wiesener, the Danish group leader for SSTS, and by extension, with his friends Allan Gamborg and Kim Andersen.
Kim was our age, but he was an old Soviet hand, with a Russian branch on his family tree. He had attended Moscow State University and spoke Russian. His gig for SSTS was part-time, and offered a working holiday every now and then.
The poor guy. He had no idea.
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Legend has it that Kim fell under Barrie’s spell (or was it the other way around?) during the apparently bumpy Aeroflot flights. It’s no surprise. Barrie was, and remains, a people person writ large. If you’re not his comrade, it’s only because you haven’t yet met him – as numerous Marxist-Leninists were about to learn.
By midnight we were drinking every beer we could scrounge from a relatively helpful restaurant employee downstairs, and catching up on things. Subconsciously, I began adjusting to the likelihood of vastly reduced sleep for the foreseeable future.
Next morning, the first of many boozy evenings behind us, tour participants met in the lobby for a breakfast the likes of which I can’t remember at all. As befits a budget tour of a Communist country, the food we’d paid to be fed was a bit of a letdown, rather institutional, and sufficient for sustenance but little else.
All the more reason to seek calories in alcohol.
As the group dined, Kim counted heads. On the very first morning of the tour, there already was one conspicuous absence, which was left for me to explain.
No worries, I told Kim.
Barrie’s with Bill.
Bill? What Russian is named “Bill”?
Yes, well … Bill. You know – from the Ukraine, not Russia.
Rather than the regularly scheduled orientation bus ride through Moscow, Barrie had opted to join the friendly neighborhood black market sales representative for an informative glimpse into the Soviet Union’s alternative underground “second” economy.
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| Bill was hesitant to be photographed. |
As Kim gulped and reached for the Danish version of Rolaids, I apologized. I’d been the one who had met Bill on the street the previous day, discretely changed money with him, and been treated to ice cream and a hot dog.
In fact, I was ready to pay Bill a high compliment; for a Communist all of 18 years old, he was a highly polished entrepreneur. Kim shook his head, perhaps glimpsing the sheer magnitude of the chaperone’s task ahead.
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| Red Square, SE view toward St. Basil's; Kremlin and Lenin's Mausoleum to the right. |
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| Changing of the guard at Lenin's Mausoleum. |
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| Red Square, looking NW. |
The morning bus orientation concluded, we returned to the hotel for lunch and found Barr waiting, bright and chipper following his appointment … and not coincidentally, brandishing a softball-sized wad of colorful Soviet rubles.
In effect, he’d laundered rubles into dollars so that Bill LLC could buy audio equipment at a Beriozka, or hard currency store where quality foreign items were sold for real money, not rubles.
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The Soviet Union may have appeared monolithic, though the country’s economy was anything but.
The second economy in the Soviet Union was the informal sector in the economy of the Soviet Union. The term was suggested by Gregory Grossman in his seminal article, "The Second Economy of the USSR" (1977). Economist Gerard Roland noted that as Grossman anticipated, "the logic of the second economy tended over time to undermine the logic of the command system and to lead to expanding black markets" … to a varying degree, second economy influenced all Eastern Bloc economies.
Grossman defines the concept of second economy with a two-prong test: it is the set of economic activities which satisfy at least one of the two conditions: "(a) being directly for private gain (b) being in some significant respect in knowing contravention of existing law."
The black market feature of this “second economy” existed to suit demand that the official economy couldn’t (or wouldn’t) fill.
As the joke went, Soviet citizens pretended to work, and the government pretended to pay them. In theory, the basics of life – food, shelter, medical care – were provided at little or no charge, meaning that there’d be ample leftover rubles for discretionary spending.
Except there wasn’t very much to buy.
Command economies in the Soviet Bloc were geared to produce heavy industrial articles -- steel, cement, tractors -- and not consumer goods. Consequently, everyday items westerners took for granted were generally scarce.
The common man’s solution was to stick the excess rubles into savings accounts or stuff them under the mattress, then dive headfirst into the “blat” economy of barter and favors in order to keep the household wheels turning.
Almost inevitably, this meant circumventing the law. The object of blat was to accumulate swappable chits, either tangible or intangible. As can be readily imagined, petty thievery and outright corruption quickly ensued.
If scarce shoes arrived at a shop, the employees would divvy them up before they were stocked in view of the public, because their value was higher in the informal bartering market than as a cash transaction – and if you couldn’t get a physical object in return for a pair of pilfered shoes, the favor you were owed could be saved and redeemed when necessary.
Perhaps the dentist given the shoes would fix your teeth off the clock ... "borrowing" workplace materials, of course.
Bill’s entrepreneurial career was little more than a logical progression from Blat 101. He recognized that the Soviet government was complicit in the black market, or else it wouldn’t have established Beriozka shops in the first place, filled with goods unobtainable without dollars, Deutschmarks or pounds sterling.
That’s because the ruble was not attached to the planetary capitalist economic system. Rubles had no value outside the Soviet Union, so the government needed hard currency just as much as Bill wanted audio equipment.
In turn, Barrie now found himself with several hundred rubles in a place where subway tickets were mere kopecks (or shrapnel, as Barrie referred to them) and a lavish restaurant meal with vodka, champagne and caviar might cost 10 – 15 rubles per person, or maybe $22 at the “official” exchange rate, but Barr’s black market rate was closer to seven rubles to the dollar, perhaps even more.
A fur hat of ordinary quality could be found on the shelf in a department store, for just a few of Barrie’s rubles. The better quality fur hats? They were in the Beriozka, and unavailable for purchase with rubles at any price.
So, how would Barrie's ruble windfall be depleted? Rubles couldn't be exchanged back into dollars without a bank receipt, and it was illegal to take them out of the USSR. Even if smuggled out, rubles were worth almost nothing.
But Barrie always has been an observant student of human nature, and he’d already considered the angles before joining Bill for a June morning’s foraging. He’d gleefully spend as many rubles as possible on meals, beers and commonplace (but atmospheric) souvenir trinkets to pack home.
As his chief accomplice, I’d be allowed to run a tab.
Barrie also would take a page out of Bill’s guidebook and accept a temporary position as financial consultant on the Anglophone fringe of the black market, profitably reselling rubles back into hard currency at a reasonable “favored customer” discount for those members of our tour group who were too cautious to trade for them on the street.
In the end, it all worked out just fine. In the coming days, I’ll do my best to describe these memorable times abroad.
Some of the stories might even be true.
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Recent columns:
June 22: ON THE AVENUES: Train Whistle Reds, or my journey from Budapest to Moscow by rail in June, 1987.
June 15: ON THE AVENUES: Hi there, NAHA wastrels. My name is Peter Principle, and these are my friends Deaf and Dugout.
June 8: ON THE AVENUES: Since 2004, "Two way, better way."
June 1: ON THE AVENUES: Take this cult of personality and shove it.
Grid Control, Vol. 9: "This was supposed to be discussed with us," but Dear Leader doesn't ever discuss, does he?
Last week we briefly surveyed the half-block-long yellow curbs.
Grid Control, Vol. 3: TARC's taking your curbside church parking, says City Hall.
... (Reporter Chris Morris said City Engineer Larry) Summers said that area is now for TARC buses to pull over and pick up passengers instead of blocking traffic to do so since Spring will just be one lane in each direction. He said he would look into it, but did not make any promises that changes would be made ...
I saw John Manzo's post at Fb just minutes after listening to the testimony of an attendee at last evening's Floyd County Democratic Men's Club quarterly meeting, where Mayor Jeff Gahan rose to announce that his many
Delusional or disingenuous? Pick one answer -- and you can't be wrong, either way. As a case in point, just this one little bit from the pastor's post:
"This was supposed to be discussed with us before all of these things happened."
Gahan?
Discuss things?
It's highly unlikely.
If the pastor insists on doubting Dear Leader, Gahan may become disappointed in such a lack of
Because: The solemnity of unity, and all the stakeholders obeying together. Here are John's words in cut 'n' paste format.
I would like to thank TARC and the City of New Albany. After (we made) the front of our building completely accessible to our church members and to the many people who utilize our church for all sorts of community services, the city and TARC have made the front of our building a no-parking zone and a bus stop.
This, of course, cannot be changed now because they already milled the road and it would be an additional cost and inconvenience. This was supposed to be discussed with us before all of these things happened, but the engineering firm seems to have approached its job like Ding and Bat.
This, of course, is in addition to the too many times that access to downtown churches has become difficult because of Sunday morning downtown events that regularly block roads.
I have no idea why churches choose to fled the downtown (when) the city cherishes our presence so much.
Maybe, just maybe St. Marks can coax a statement of bureaucratese from HWC Engineering, as NAC has managed to do with regard to botched cross hatching on the north side of Spring Street.
But an admission of error on the part of City Hall?
Ain't happening. Gahan's toxic combination of agoraphobia and narcissism seldom produce repentance.
Previously:
Grid Control, Vol. 8: City Hall characteristically mum as HWC Engineering at least tries to answer the cross-hatching question.
Grid Control, Vol. 7: What will the Board of Works do to rectify HWC's striping errors on the north side of Spring Street, apart from microwaving another round of sausage biscuits?
Grid Control, Vol. 6: Jeff Speck tweets about NA's grid changes, and those missed bicycling opportunities.
Grid Control, Vol. 5: Egg on HWC Engineering's well-compensated face as it botches Spring Street's westbound bike buffer cross hatching.
Grid Control, Vol. 4: But this actually isn't a bus lane, is it?
Grid Control, Vol. 3: TARC's taking your curbside church parking, says City Hall.
Grid Control, Vol. 2: Southsiders get six more parking inches, but you gotta love those 10-foot traffic lanes on Spring.
Grid Control, Vol. 1: You people drive so freaking horribly that someone's going to die at Spring and 10th.
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
As Duggins juggles hats and pay stubs, Redevelopment seeks a developer to shower with largess.
When the newspaper reported this story several days after you read it here first ...
Public Housing Putsch '17: Gahan, Trump remain in lock step as sycophants queue after the NAHA's director of finance resigns.
... it was noted that David Duggins remains on the city's payroll. But can he be on the city's payroll at the same time as serving as interim NAHA director? Isn't this both a federal and state violation?
By the way, if anyone knows the identity of the new insurance carrier for NAHA employees, can you let the Green Mouse know? Seems the bobbleheaded board of sycophants tabled the vote at the last public meeting, then took it into a closed door meeting.
According to Gahanism, this suggests a successful bid by Bob Norwood, who also is seated on the board. But what do we know?
Oh, yes; there's this. Redevelopment is looking for someone to subsidize. Have I started inadvertently repeating myself?
New Albany officials ask developers for ideas on Market Boy, Tommy Lancaster properties, by Elizabeth Beilman (Gahan Fluff Monster)
Redevelopment commission hoping for mixed use developments
NEW ALBANY — The famous Tommy Lancaster Restaurant and Market Boy Grocery are only memories to locals now, but soon the empty properties could hold brand new developments.
The New Albany Redevelopment Commission is advertising a request for proposals for the Market Street properties, as well as a grassy lot along Bank Street near the Underground Station.
"They're properties that have been underdeveloped ... in the case of Tommy Lancaster and Market Boy, they were blights to the neighborhood," New Albany Redevelopment Director David Duggins said.
The commission is asking for mixed-use developments for both, a concept that involves first-floor retail and upper-floor residential space often seen in urban settings.
The proposals don't request anything more detailed than "mixed use," in terms of the type of development. The commission is asking developers provide specifics on construction timeline, funding and other matters.
"Basically, [the proposals] ask for a developer to come to us to say what they would do there," Duggins said.
30 years ago today: Good morning, Moscow.
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| Mr. Ottersbach, I presume? |
Previously: ON THE AVENUES: Train Whistle Reds, or my journey from Budapest to Moscow by rail in June, 1987.
I've been telling the story of my European travels in 1987. Trust me, I know that it's dry reading in places. You had to be there, right?
Still, this is a blog, and I'm allowed to create the equivalent of a lengthy post-it note before it all dissipates from memory.
It was June 28, 1987.
After 36 hours mostly seated on a train, confined to a stuffy compartment and the adjoining minimalist leg-stretcher of a corridor ... having consumed enough Hungarian salami and Soviet hot tea to last through Thanksgiving, this being a holiday unheard of in the nominally atheistic USSR, there was something highly liberating about finally bounding out onto a sparsely populated platform at Moscow's Kiev Station on the morning of June 28, 1987.
That's right, liberating -- at least in a spatial sense, if not politically. A cursory glance at the map I'd purchased in Budapest unhesitatingly revealed the vastness of the capital city of the Soviet Union, home to 8,000,000 or more at the time. It became all too quickly evident that if infamous emperors and dictators (Bonaparte, Hitler) hadn't been able to conquer Moscow, neither would I.
Moreover, as an American, redolent of the Reaganesque polemical taint, I found myself arriving in the belly of the supposed beast. Mikhail Gorbachev's diplomacy notwithstanding, the USSR remained the evil empire, even if individual Russians almost unfailingly proved to be friendly.
Fortunately, my visit to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) in 1985 provided sufficient evidence that citizens of the USSR were not space aliens. I had this knowledge going for me, although Moscow's pulsating sprawl was a decidedly different tempo than the arguably more cosmopolitan though measured Baltic city.
All these preliminary musings aside, the budget traveler's credo remained intact. My first imperative was to establish base camp, and only then extend the perimeter. It meant locating the hotel where I'd be meeting the tour group later that day.
Whether the bureaucracy there would allow me to register ahead of the group was a bridge yet to be crossed.
So, where the hell was I going?
There was an address for the Hotel Molodjezhny, but directions were left to my own calculations, hence the Hungarian tourist map. I might have hailed a taxi, and probably could have paid for it in dollars; by the time of my return in 1989, I knew to pack tubes of toothpaste for such contingencies. As matters stood, public transportation seemed a viable and crazily inexpensive option.
Moscow Metro (subway) tickets cost mere kopecks (cents to the ruble) -- perhaps a nickel each. I stumbled through the act of buying a handful of them, then got to the task of deciphering a system map. I'm not certain if the station names are the same as then, so my route today would be as follows.
Begin at Kievsky Rail Station: Ки́евский вокза́л
Change lines at Arbatskaya: Арбатская
End at Timiryazevsyaka: Тимиря́зевская
There were no English language equivalents, just the Russian. While not as daunting as Mandarin or Arabic, the Cyrillic alphabet was certainly mysterious. I'd already experienced it in Serbia and Bulgaria, though probably it was familiar to Americans of the period (if at all) solely from the letters СССР on Olympic hockey jerseys.
They stood for Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, or Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. "C" is S; "P" is R. As a side note, recall that in theory, the USSR was composed of nominally autonomous republics (Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, etc). In practice, the USSR was centralized and highly bureaucratic. Moscow was the lynch pin of it all.
I learned that Russian words are far easier to pronounce once you've learned the Cyrillic alphabet. There are Russian letters that require multiple Latin (Roman) letters in transliteration to indicate the same sound. Knowing the Cyrillic letters doesn't imply you'll know what the words mean, but when it comes to deciphering the subway diagrams, it's an invaluable tool.
In the aftermath of my brief Leningrad excursion, I'd resolved to learn the alphabet and a few simple words. I'm proud of myself that I did so, and it came in quite handy in Moscow.
The Cyrillic script is named after Saint Cyril, a missionary from Byzantium who, along with his brother, Saint Methodius, created the Glagolitic script. Modern Cyrillic alphabets developed from the Early Cyrillic script, which was developed during the 9th century in the First Bulgarian Empire (AD 681-1018) by a decree of Boris I of Bulgaria (Борис I). It is thought that St. Kliment of Ohrid, a disciple of Cyril and Methodius, was responsible for the script. The Early Cyrillic script was based on the Greek uncial script with ligatures and extra letters from the Glagolitic and Old Church Slavonic scripts for sounds not used in Greek.
My initial reaction to Moscow Metro stations was one of utter disbelief. If nothing else about the "worker's paradise" were true, there'd still be these ornate underground transit palaces from the Stalin era, intended to illustrate the superiority of Communism, and without irony, built according to the motto, "Whatever and Whomever It Takes."
Construction on the Moscow Metro began in 1933. The work was done mainly by hand, by miners swinging pickaxes and shovels. Josef Stalin spearheaded the prestigious project to showcase the superiority of socialism. He chose Lazar Kaganovich, the “Iron Commissar,” to oversee construction with utmost ruthlessness.
“The Russian metro system was a truly unique project in the history of urban development when you consider how, when, where, and why it was built. They do, however, have a dark side when you consider much of the labor was forced by a leader who eliminated anyone and everyone who stood in his path or threatened his power.” The system opened in May 15 1935, with some 285,000 people riding it that day. Today, some 9 million people ride on 12 lines that pass through 196 stations.
As of 2017, the Moscow Metro is more than 200 miles long, with more expansion planned. Are the new lines as opulent as the old? Perhaps it's time to go back and find out.
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| Photo credit: David Burdeny. |
The commute took almost an hour, but I successfully located the Hotel Molodjezhny. It was large, ugly and could not be missed. Now came the hardest part, as I'd been warned that interjecting a stray variable into even the simplest task might well result in gridlock.
I'd be asking hotel staff to check me into a room ten or more hours before the group arrived. If my argument fell flat, I might be spending the time guarding my belongings in the hotel bar (surprise -- there wasn't one).
Clutching my sheaf of documentation, I began the search for an English speaker. To this day, I'm not sure what happened, because resistance was very brief, and soon enough I had a key. Although my memory is hazy, the desk may have retained my passport, which was standard operating procedure so they could finish their paperwork in peace.
I had a room and a place to stow my gear. My scant notes suggest I then accompanied "the New Yorkers" to Red Square. I have absolutely no clue what this means. Did we eat and drink? Talk about the Mets?
No idea.
At some point in the afternoon, I changed money with a young man who called himself Bill. Not a common Russian name, Bill. It was a seamless transaction, and he wasn't at all threatening, just on the make -- not sexually, but economically.
Think of Bill as the inadvertent poster boy for Gorbachev's policy of perestroika ... and see ON THE AVENUES on Thursday for the next installment of the tale: Back in the USSR, with my old friend Barr.
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| Ice cream, to us. |
Grid Control, Vol. 8: City Hall characteristically mum as HWC Engineering at least tries to answer the cross-hatching question.
Miraculously, there has been two-way communication of the sort that always eludes Jeff Gahan's bunker-bound City Hall team.
In cut 'n' paste format:
"Hi Roger – Thanks for your question. HWC did complete design work for this project, and the bike buffer was installed in accordance with the plans. I understand your concerns, and I appreciate you sharing them with us. We’re dedicated to completing this project successfully. We are currently working with the city of New Albany to determine the safest and most effective solution. I’d be happy to provide you with an update once more information becomes available. Thanks!"
And did the topic arise at yesterday's morning's BOW meeting?
Publicly discuss an error?
Those pretend-Democrats would sooner vote for Donald Trump -- as most of them did.
HWC's answer is cloaked in obscurantist bureaucratese, but it's an answer. In "our-way-IS-the-highway" New Gahania, two-way conversation always is to be applauded.
Now, over to the blog's junior editor, Jeff Gillenwater, whose Facebook comment excerpts from Friday characteristically summarize the situation.
It still blows me away that the single largest public works project in and around downtown New Albany in decades is happening in front of our house as I type and I (and everyone else) has to wait until they literally paint the lines on the street to know what it's going to be. Everyone in city government involved in the plan - administration, council, board of public works, planning department, engineering - should be ashamed of themselves ...
... Per my other post this morning, not voting for any of the minions currently involved. There's not a currently sitting council member or administrative sycophant who's deserving of public authority or money. I'll actively campaign against any of them as necessary, using their own record ...
... I was at the library earlier today and found the federally required environmental study for the street conversion-- probably a hundred pages or so in a big, thick binder. Know what wasn't included in all that (as legally mandated) publicly available information? A copy of the actual plan.
Of course, the "safest and most effective solution" might prove to be nothing at all, and replying to a Facebook question is a low bar, indeed. However, it's a bar the city routinely trips over. Thanks to HWC for answering the damn question.
Previously:
Grid Control, Vol. 7: What will the Board of Works do to rectify HWC's striping errors on the north side of Spring Street, apart from microwaving another round of sausage biscuits?
Grid Control, Vol. 6: Jeff Speck tweets about NA's grid changes, and those missed bicycling opportunities.
Grid Control, Vol. 5: Egg on HWC Engineering's well-compensated face as it botches Spring Street's westbound bike buffer cross hatching.
Grid Control, Vol. 4: But this actually isn't a bus lane, is it?
Grid Control, Vol. 3: TARC's taking your curbside church parking, says City Hall.
Grid Control, Vol. 2: Southsiders get six more parking inches, but you gotta love those 10-foot traffic lanes on Spring.
Grid Control, Vol. 1: You people drive so freaking horribly that someone's going to die at Spring and 10th.
SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: We only want to get drunk, so send away the tigers and climb into your cups.
I'm a Manic Street Preachers enthusiast. The band's 2007 album, Send Away the Tigers, recently was reissued. In my opinion, the albums released by the Manics since SATT have been among their finest.
Reviewing the album in 2007, NME wrote: “Manic Street Preachers really have no business sounding as good as this. If it doesn’t quite scale the dizzy heights of ‘The Holy Bible’ or ‘Everything Must Go’, it certainly comes close and is, in many ways, the quintessential Manics album – the cathartic regeneration that the band really needed in order to become relevant again.
“It’s the triumphant comeback of the year. And it’s a pleasure to be able to review it without having to fear for our lives.”
Ten years ago, I was fascinated by bassist/lyricist Nicky Wire's explanation of the album title's origins.
Send Away The Tigers is a phrase the comedian Tony Hancock used whenever he started drinking. I saw a parallel between that line and the animals being released from the zoo in Baghdad when the Allies invaded. A misguided idea of liberation. Also that idea of being haunted by a wrong decision. With Hancock it was sacking his writers. And, if it weren't for the Iraq war, for all his faults, in historical terms, Tony Blair would be seen as a great Prime Minister. Now his life is utterly ruined. On a smaller scale, certain things I've said which have been stupid and inane – they're what I'm gonna be remembered for.
Moving laterally, peoples in northern climes have dozens of words for snow and ice, corresponding to seemingly tiny gradients and shadings of meaning.
The Sami also have as many as 1,000 words for reindeer. These refer to such things as the reindeer’s fitness (“leami” means a short, fat female reindeer), personality (“njirru” is an unmanageable female) and the shape of its antlers (“snarri” is a reindeer whose antlers are short and branched). There is even a Sami word to describe a bull with a single, very large testicle: “busat.”
It is my belief that frequent drinkers of alcoholic beverages, of whom I am unrepentantly one, have about as many ways of describing our condition as the Inuit have for snow.
Actually, we have hundreds more, including one of my perennial favorites, "in my cups."
As a euphemism for being sloshed, “in one’s cups” is actually one of the more diplomatic phrases we’ve come up with over the centuries. In his recent book “Drunk: The Definitive Drinker’s Dictionary (Melville House, 2009), lexicographer Paul Dickson has collected more than 3,000 terms for being “whiskey frisky,” breaking the Guinness World Record for such a list (which he himself had set several years earlier).
The Word Detective nails it, and it's worth your time to read the short essay.
It was the 17th century, but close enough for government work, as they say. “In his cups” first appeared (as far as we know) in printed form in the sense you mention in 1611, in, of all places, the then-newly-issued King James Version of the Bible (“And when they are in their cups, they forget their love both to friends and brethren”). There are actually two meanings to the phrase “in his cups” (which can be rendered, of course, just as well with “her,” “their,” or, in case one encounters a drunken robot, “its”). “In one’s cups” can mean, as you say, inebriated (i.e., drunk as a skunk), but it can also mean merely to be engaged in drinking alcoholic beverages, an endeavor which will not necessarily culminate in drooling on parking meters. This sense appears a bit earlier than the “stinking drunk” sense.
It's a bit early in the a.m. on a Wednesday morning to commence crawling into my cups to the tuneful accompaniment of the Manic Street Preachers ... or is it?
THE BEER BEAT: Day drinking porter with the porters at the market pub.
Take it away, guys. I'm thinking mezcal for brunch.
Then work came and made us free
What price now for a shallow piece of dignity
I wish I had a bottle
Right here in my dirty face to wear the scars
To show from where I came
We don't talk about love we only want to get drunk
And we are not allowed to spend
As we are told that this is the end
A design for life
A design for life
A design for life
A design for life
Tuesday, June 27, 2017
Jeff Gahan's burgeoning cult of personality wins Academy Award, conquers RiverStage and invents signature sandwich.
Seriously, has New Albany ever had a sewer board overlord who also was a trained thespian with wide-ranging theatrical experience?
Vaguely reminiscent of another of history's greatest leaders.
I suspect our Dear Leader's involvement has gone a bit more like his, with Chico Marx accent: "You-a no mention Big Daddy G, you-a no getta the stage, capeesh?"
Really?
Gahan invented the hamburger? Or was it the ham-burglar?
Why not ask the public housing board?
For background on the increasingly obvious ...
Vaguely reminiscent of another of history's greatest leaders.
(Kim Jong-il's) personal talents and accomplishments were often exaggerated to surreal and implausible extremes by a state media machine tasked with constructing a cult of personality around him that placed little importance on verifiable facts. From having his birth prophesied by a swallow to claiming to have invented the hamburger, the questionable legacy left behind by Pyongyang's spin doctors is one that neither North Korea, nor the world, will soon forget.
I suspect our Dear Leader's involvement has gone a bit more like his, with Chico Marx accent: "You-a no mention Big Daddy G, you-a no getta the stage, capeesh?"
Really?
Gahan invented the hamburger? Or was it the ham-burglar?
Why not ask the public housing board?
For background on the increasingly obvious ...
ON THE AVENUES: Take this cult of personality and shove it (2017 remix).
Scraping rock bottom: Jeff Gahan brings his cult of personality to Kroger shopping carts. But who paid for these political ads?
Shopping cart blurbs, magazine ads, billboards ... and now the NTSPY Awards. How much of your money is Jeff Gahan spending on all this?
Two way communications: Marcey explains why there'll be no Indie Fest in 2017, but leaves open the possibility of a comeback.
And as I know perhaps all too well, in order to "come back," one must first "go away."
My good friend Marcey Wisman-Bennett is to be commended for undertaking several difficult tasks at once.
For five years, Indie Fest has been a favored project, and it became something of a personal crusade for her. But now she's letting go, at least for the moment, and reassessing future prospects. In fractured times, this is eminently rational.
Moreover, Marcey thinks it important to explain to the event's fans why the decision to suspend Indie Fest was made, and to do so thoughtfully, without pointing fingers. In increasingly divided New Albany, that's eminently diplomatic.
It cannot be emphasized too strongly that when Indie Fest first was minted, it was to be a smaller part of a bigger entity. New Albany First would be the independent business association along the lines of LIBA in Louisville, and it would be a daily presence in the city. Once each year, NA First would stage Indie Fest as an exclamation mark.
It is beyond my aim today to document the myriad reasons why NA First withered and died, or to urge for the zillionth time that something like it be revived, because indies need to leverage their power as a unified force, and not be kept divided and manipulated from above.
Oops. Just did, didn't I?
The point is this: When NA First settled beneath the anchor-ridden mud flats, the festival's exclamation mark became the whole explanatory sentence, uncoupled from its mission and competing for funding along with countless other fests and events, but without the sort of local buy-in to be derived from the perceived benefits of the business association's daily operation.
If Indie Fest is to be the reason for its own being, then it must be rethought, as Marcey clearly understands.
Once again, thanks to Marcey for respecting the intelligence of Indie Fest's supporters by leveling with them like adults. Contrast this stunningly mature approach with Team Gahan's perennially secretive disposition. I'm impressed that the reporter Grady added this coda:
Indie Fest is the second New Albany festival not to happen this year. The Boomtown Ball & Festival, which was organized by the city, failed to return for a fourth year in May.
When asked that month why the festival did not happen, Courtney Lewis, the City of New Albany’s director of outreach and engagement, did not give a reason, but confirmed that it wasn’t occurring. She did not say whether or not the event would return.
Communications.
So effortless for some, and so elusive for others.
New Albany's Indie Fest canceled for 2017 — but there's still hope, by Danielle Grady (Hanson Huckster's Almanac)
NEW ALBANY — New Albany’s Indie Fest isn’t happening this year, but its founder is optimistic about the future of the locally-focused festival.
Marcey Wisman-Bennett started Indie Fest in 2012 with New Albany First, an independent business alliance. The September festival was billed as a way to celebrate all things independent — from businesses to artists to musicians.
Indie Fest announced on its Facebook page on June 21 that it would not return in 2017.
A reminder: "How to Discard Syringes and Other Sharps," because the opioid crisis is real, whether local "leaders" grasp it or not.
Whatever one's personal stance on the opioid crisis, it is a fact that needles will be left behind, and there are steps to take to dispose of them safely.
The city of Louisville has produced the information reprinted above. The city of New Albany seems to feel (a) there is no problem, or (b) if there is a problem, it's someone else's responsibility.
We don't know which, primarily because City Hall stays mum and shirks the topic.
Sound familiar?
Why opioid deaths are this generation’s Aids crisis, by Mary O'Hara (The Guardian)
... This crisis isn’t confined to the US. Canada is in the midst of its own opioid crisis. However, coinciding with last month’s Harm Reduction International conference in Montreal, the Canadian government took what was seen as a world-leading step to confront the problem. It passed legislation making it easier to open supervised injection sites so that users can inject safely and, should an overdose occur, trained medical professionals are on site to provide life-saving help such as administering anti-overdose medication. It’s the epitome of a sensible harm reduction approach that aims to reduce or eliminate harm rather than, as is often the case, punish or stigmatise users ...
... Drug users have long been one of the most demonised and marginalised groups in society – and a low priority for policymakers. This simply can’t continue. A public health crisis and loss of life on the scale currently being witnessed warrants an immediate, and unapologetically progressive response.
ASK THE BORED: BOW to Pastime, "Long distance runaround / Long time waiting to feel the sound."
We've given the Board of Public Works and Safety a whole laundry list of street grid topics to consider at this morning's meeting -- not that any of them read the blog, seeing as it would be quality of life heresy, punishable by forced recitation of the teachings of Chairman Nash.
Grid Control, Vol. 7: What will the Board of Works do to rectify HWC's striping errors on the north side of Spring Street, apart from microwaving another round of sausage biscuits?
As we wait near the very rear of the Great Gahan Prioritization Queue, let's consider this exchange at last week's BOW meeting. Here is the party of the first part, with the punch line to follow.
It's at least the second time that Pastime Grill & Pub has come before the bored seeking an exemption to "make noise" via evening entertainment, and the second time (at least) Pastime has been told there is no such exemption, even if it seemed to be so at the conclusion of city council actions last year ostensibly designed to update the city's noise ordinance (reprinted in full below).
October 11, 2016
ASK THE BORED: Irv's latest proposal for trucking safety, noise non-exemptions, and a probable date for the two-way streets vote.
September 1, 2016
Caesar absent, Coffey abstains, Rickard fumes and city council unanimously approves a noise ordinance upgrade.
August 22, 2016
Noise ordinance 2016: Surveying the bedfellows, parsing the decibels.
The simple fact is that last year's upgrade would have been more honest had it been titled "The Pastime Noise Ordinance Reboot."
Mind you, it isn't that the bar's residential neighbors don't have valid noise complaints. Rather, noise in our urban area is a fiendishly complicated issue given the revival of a downtown business district and the proximity of residents to activity, whether in older neighborhoods or upstairs above a bar or restaurant, as at Brooklyn and The Butcher and Gospel Bird.
Did city council intend to give businesses like Pastime a handful of annual exemptions? Was Pastime being trolled? Was there a communications breakdown?
I don't know the answers, but the advice given to the Pastime representative by Mickey Thompson last week is absolutely priceless.
That's right, Mr. Rickard. Go have a nice chat with your councilman, Greg Phipps.
I'd like to be a fly on THAT wall.
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(A) It shall be unlawful for any person within the city’s corporate limits, to continue, or cause to be made or continued, any unreasonably loud, harsh or excessive noise which either annoys, disturbs, injures, or endangers the comfort, repose, health, peace, or safety of others, unless the making and continuing of the noise is necessary for the protection or preservation of property or the life, health, or safety of a person or persons. Any person who violates this chapter shall be subject to the penalties set forth in § 96.99.
(B) The following acts are hereby declared to be unreasonably loud, harsh or excessive noises in violation of this chapter, but the enumeration shall not be deemed to be exclusive:
(1) The sounding of any horn or other such audible signaling device on any automobile, motorcycle or other vehicle on any right-of-way, parking lot or other public place, except as a danger warning, for an unreasonable period of time;
(2) The use or operation of any radio, stereo, or other machine or device for the producing, reproducing or amplification of sound in any vehicle in such a manner as to create an unreasonably loud, harsh, or excessive noise, that disturbs the peace, quiet or comfort of others;
(3) The use or operation of, or allowing the use or operation of, any radio, stereo, musical instrument, or other machine or device for the producing or reproducing of sound in such a manner as to create an unreasonably loud, harsh or excessive noise which disturbs the peace, quiet, and comfort of others by creating or allowing a louder volume than is necessary for the convenient hearing of the person or persons who are voluntarily in the room, chamber, or vehicle in which any machine, device, or musical instrument described above is located;
(4) The use or operation of any vehicle in such manner as to produce any unreasonably loud, harsh or excessive noise, or to discharge into the open air the exhaust of any vehicle, except through a muffler or other device which will effectively prevent any unreasonably loud, harsh or excessive noises therefrom;
(5) The creation of any unreasonably loud, harsh, or excessive noise in connection with the loading or unloading of any vehicle, or by the operation of any such vehicle;
(6) The use of any mechanical loud speaker, amplifier, sound system, stereo or radio on any moving or standing vehicle for advertising, entertainment or any other purpose, in such a manner as to create an unreasonably loud, harsh or excessive noise; and
(7) The unreasonably prolonged continuation of animal noises, as provided in § 91.07.
(C) The standards which shall be considered in determining whether a violation of this section exists shall include, but not be limited to, the following:
(1) The volume of the noise;
(2) The intensity of the noise;
(3) The volume and intensity of background noise, if any;
(4) The proximity of the noise to a residential area, place of public accommodation, such as a hotel, motel, inn, campground and the like, health care facilities, churches or schools;
(5) The nature and zoning of the area within which the noise emanates;
(6) The density of inhabitation of the area within which the noise emanates;
(7) The time of day or night the noise occurs;
(8) The duration of the noise;
(9) Whether the noise is recurrent, intermittent or constant; and
(10) Whether any applicable exemptions apply.
(Ord. A-03-53, passed 8-21-2003; Am. Ord. G-11-42, passed 12-15-2011; Ord. G-16-08, passed 9-1-2016) Penalty, see § 96.99
The following are exempted from the provisions of this chapter:
(A) Sounds emitted from authorized emergency vehicles;
(B) Lawn mowers, weed blowers, garden tractors, construction and repair equipment, go-carts, power tools, when properly muffled, between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. only;
(C) Burglar alarms and other warning devices when properly installed, providing the cause for the alarm or warning device sound is investigated and turned off within a reasonable period of time;
(D) Events authorized by the Board of Public Works and Safety. However, there shall not be more than three events, totaling six days, in a calendar year authorized by Board of Public Works and Safety, granted to any individual or entity in a calendar year. Any additional annual exemptions will require Council approval;
(E) Noise associated with scholastic or athletic events;
(F) Sounds emitted for emergency purposes;
(G) Sounds associated with consumer fireworks permitted by state law under I.C. 22-11-14 et seq.;
(H) Sounds associated with the normal conduct of legally established non-transient businesses, organizations and governmental entities, when the sounds are customary, incidental and within the normal range appropriate for the use; provided, however, that, commercial enterprises shall not be entitled to this exemption between the hours of 10:30 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. on weekdays, and 11:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. However, it is noted that §§ 156.078(B)(7) and 156.078(C)(7) are applicable for light industrial use and heavy industrial use, respectively;
(I) Garbage collection between the hours of 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m.;
(J) Sounds associated with equipment or animals lawfully utilized by disabled persons to accommodate their disability;
(K) Noise associated with an auction conducted by a licensed auctioneer;
(L) Noises resulting from any and all transportation, flood control, utility company maintenance and construction operations at any time on rights-of-way, and noises from situations which may occur on private real property, including in parking lots, deemed necessary to serve the best interest of the public and to protect the public’s health and well being, including but not limited to, street or hard surface sweeping or cleaning, debris and limb removal, removal of downed wires, restoring electrical service, repairing traffic signals, unplugging sewers, snow removal, house moving, vacuuming catch-basins, removal of damaged poles and vehicles, repair of water hydrants and mains, gas lines, oil lines, and sewers; and
(M) Noises from activities conducted on public parks or playgrounds and public or private school grounds, including but not limited to, school athletic and school entertainment events.
(Ord. A-03-53, passed 8-21-2003; Ord. G-11-42, passed 12-15-2011; Ord. G-16-08, passed 9-1-2016)
(A) A first violation of any section of this chapter shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of $150 for the first offense. The date of the citation is the date for use to determine whether divisions (B) and (C) herein should apply.
(B) A second violation of any section this chapter by the same person or entity within a six-month period from the first violation shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of $300.
(C) A third or more subsequent violations of this chapter by the same person or entity within a six- month period from the first violation shall, upon conviction, be subject to a fine of $500 per violation thereafter;
(Ord. A-03-53, passed 8-21-2003; Ord. G-11-42, passed 12-15-2011; Am. Ord. G-16-08, passed 9-1-2016)
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