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| Local eateries rallying around furloughed government employees captured the attention of blog readers. |
Thanks for reading NA Confidential, where we enjoy reconnoitering the neglected periphery for uniquely local perspectives on life in New Albany. Someone has to at least try doing it, or we can grow old waiting for the Jeffersonville News and Tribune to rediscover journalism.
Frequent readers will recall an ongoing issue with statistics, dating to October of 2018 and the infamously shoddy Blogger platform's rejigging of something, which caused page view counts previously stable for many years to suddenly change. Numerical ratios oddly stayed the same, as though all views had abruptly decreased by a set percentage. For those monetizing their blogs, this probably is infuriating. Since I'm a loss leader kind of fellow, it's merely an annoyance.
Beginning in January, 2019 I'll be using Facebook statistics. As always, the previous month's most-viewed list begins with ten "honorable mention" posts, before concluding with the Top Ten, escalating to No. 1.
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JANUARY HONORABLE MENTION (10)
642 (tie)
ON THE AVENUES: Democrats should judge city council incumbents in districts 2, 3, 4 and 5 by their regressive deeds, not their progressive words.
The enduringly fascinating aspect of our bedraggled Democratic council quartet is the beige patina of its blandness. The best historic parallel is those jowly Politburo geriatrics propped atop Lenin’s Mausoleum during Soviet May Day parades of old; colorless and featureless functionaries without the first original thought of their own, committed only to agreeing in lock step with the First Secretary.
By the end of 2019, New Albany’s four remaining Democratic council critters will have 36 years of combined service – and for what ultimate purpose? They’re faded pawns waiting to be pushed around the chess board, and veritable rubber stamps in desperate need of re-inking. They seem far older than they really are, with a collective demeanor suggesting mute charred hulk burnout.
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642 (tie)
Your Sunday MUST READ: "My city is unlike any other. My city is not a thru street."
If Deaf Gahan would have paid attention the first time ... thick, ain't he? Our campaign finance aggregator-in-chief will read this sentence and ask, "but isn't pass-through logic why I'm here?"
"We let the idea of high volumes of through traffic become our identity."
In terms of specific circumstances, Lebanon, Ohio is not the same as New Albany, Indiana. But shared universals are another matter entirely. Go to Strong Towns and read the entire essay, excerpted below.
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669
BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: Why is the non-brewing Flat12 in Jeffersonville considered a "brewery" by LEO Weekly but Gordon Biersch isn't? That's dumb, don't you think?
All this and LEO Weekly persists in describing Flat12 not only as a brewery, but as a "local" brewery, when the owner lives in Indianapolis and there has not been a single batch of beer "brewed" on site by Flat12 in the city of Jeffersonville, ever.
So, how does LEO Weekly define "our Louisville breweries"?
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675 (tie)
David White speaks with the News and TomMayBune about the Harvest Homecoming Festival Foundation.
Considerable progress has been made during recent years toward the shared objective of adapting the festival to the emergence of business concentration and residency downtown.
I feel better about it now, and that's what communication is all about. There's been far more of it recently from Harvest Homecoming, although the same cannot be said about Jeff Gahan's forever hermetic City Hall.
Change out the mayor and just think of the possibilities. Voting for David White in the Democratic primary is an excellent place to begin the cleansing. It also bears noting that Harvest Homecoming's physical "booth days" footprint lies entirely within the 3rd council district.
Just imagine a council person in the 3rd who actually knows what indie business ownership involves. Indies don't get tenure, you know.
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675 (tie)
ON THE AVENUES REWOUND: Jeff Gahan and Adam Dickey are Trumping the Donald when it comes to breathtaking moral turpitude. Have they no shame?
That’s right; the Challenger Deep, in the Mariana Trench.
It’s where Gahan’s and Dickey’s creation, the Good Ship Democratic Lollipop, currently rests, and taken together, these two narcissistic beached whales in a child’s overmatched wading pool are managing against all imaginable odds to make the buffoonish serial liar Donald Trump look precisely like George Washington.
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679
A trio of shameless mob bosses attended yesterday's ribbon-cutting, because the Balkans have nothing on New Albany.
Most folks who value a semblance of basic human decency would like to believe that Caesar's, McLaughlin's and Gahan's glad-handing appearance yesterday at the ribbon cutting for Lorch's law office had something to do with penance for their lingering guilt over the way they humiliated Lorch two years ago.
But that's not it. Rather, an election season is upon us, and Develop New Albany remains eager as ever to (a) claim responsibility for matters touching the arm-of-city-organization not one jot, and (b) to provide as many photo-ops as possible for the big fish inhabiting our small local pond, thus enabling yesterday's ludicrous scene.
On second thought, now I'm the one feeling guilty -- about comparing New Albany to the Balkans. That's plainly an insult to the Balkans, and I apologize profusely.
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682
Balanced budget claims? "Many New Albanians 45 or older will likely be retired or perhaps even deceased before taxpayers manage to pay off just a single Gahan term as mayor."
The really telling part is that, as Gahan and Floyd County Democrats block social media access to more and more people, they never actually deny what those people have said.
They can't.
They just don't want people to know about it. The truth makes them look bad so secrecy and lies begets more secrecy and lies. If incumbent and new Democratic council candidates won't speak up against such misleading tactics now, there's no reason to think they will if elected.
It's damning for the whole party.
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686
ON THE AVENUES: In the 3rd district, that "stepping aside" time finally has arrived.
Granted, Phipps is an intelligent and pleasant fellow, and he plausibly can lay claim to suitably progressive public positions on social justice and human rights issues; he’s fought for one or the other of them on scattered occasions, though generally only when given explicit permission by the likes of spider-webmaster Dickey.
It’s just that Phipps has yet to utter the first peep of principled protest when these matters of basic human decency are blithely violated by Gahan, as in the obvious examples of the chaotic public housing takeover, City Hall's abysmal record of threatening and bullying both city employees and civilians, the mayor’s steadfast refusal to concede the existence of issues like homelessness and opioid addiction -- not to mention Gahan's personal addiction to campaign finance receipts.
Moreover, Phipps has yawningly rubber-stamped virtually every extravagant spending proposal ever minted by the mayor’s crack team of TIF juicers, the vast majority of which have been explicitly intended to encourage gentrification by benefiting higher-income segments of the city’s population, as well as fluffing a gigantic pool of pay-to-play special interests who donate profusely to Gahan for the privilege of profitable participation in these projects.
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716
LIVE TO EAT (AND DRINK): La Catrina Mexican Kitchen is open, and The Earl will be next week.
La Catrina Mexican Kitchen has launched in the former Dragon King Daughter's space at the southeastern corner of Elm and Bank.
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772
GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Why does City Hall demand financials from the county parks department when it eternally refuses to divulge its own River Run Gahan Water Dome numbers?
Howzabout every governmental entity shows us the financials pertaining to projects like Hammersmith Park and River Run Family Gahan Dome, without making their release tantamount to raiding the tomb of an Egyptian pharaoh?
Isn't 100% transparency the best for everyone ... even outside the immediate family?
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782
Life imitates art: The dizzying pinnacle of Gahanism came in January of 2016, when the Bicentennial Park Snow Schlong spoke volumes to our municipal predicament.
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803
BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: Donum Dei's second annual chili cook-off to benefit APRON is Sunday, January 27.
Just when you thought "Bowl Season" was finished, Donum Dei presents our second annual chili cook-off to benefit Apron, Inc.
JANUARY TOP 10
804
PINTS & UNION PORTFOLIO: Monnik beers have come to Indiana, so come to Pints&union on January 29 to taste and celebrate.
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807
David White: "On May 7th, you will have the opportunity to get your city back, but I need your help."
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932
Dear non-biblical readers: What book would YOU use to take your oath of office?
Someone asked if there were other atheists in the group, and the ensuing remarks were surprisingly civil until later in the evening, when an older white male felt compelled to write "get the hell out of my city."
YOUR city? My dear man, it's HIS city -- and you'll never forget it again once the Anchor Chip is implanted into your brain.
My demographic cohort continues to regularly embarrass me with such attitudes, which isn't surprising given how few of them were ever properly toilet trained, but I digress.
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1,081
First council meeting of 2019 is tonight -- is it Scott Blair's indie turn for the presidency?
It's nice to know that in a community filled to the brim with issues and challenges, 4th district seat-warmer Pat McLaughlin is concerned about what the library is called.
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1,095
It's a municipal election year in New Albany, and the GOP is serious.
Standing four feet away from Seabrook was Very Incongruous Barksdale, who garnered nowhere near the level of applause given the others.
His presence proved a bit strange. If the GOP intends to cite the Reisz Mahal as a prime example of Jeff Gahan's debt-laden waste -- and this is entirely true -- then why did Barksdale, one of the party's three council incumbents, provide THE critical vote to move the boondoggle forward?
Just remember that when it comes to manipulation and money, the mayor can be trusted to exploit the weak and vulnerable by finding and tapping their jugulars. Gahan simultaneously milked Barksdale for a crucial fifth Reisz Mahal vote and neutered a Republican. The historian blithely handed the charlatan power on a silver platter. Barksdale's abrupt collapse might be sad, except it's all hamartia and hubris to to me: "Hamartia is the (fatal) flaw, hubris is the behavior that does not acknowledge it."
Apart from Barksdale's capitulation to Dear Leader -- can he be redeemed? -- it's a fine and balanced slate, surely the deepest we've seen from the GOP since this blog's inception.
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1,103
Giving cameras to homeless citizens. What do they see?
"We gave disposable cameras to homeless people living around downtown Salem and asked them to document their lives. Anthony McGuire shows us what Christmas looks like on the streets."
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1,286
R.I.P. Bill Cochran, arguably Floyd County's last dynastic Democrat.
For local Democrats, Cochran has proven to be irreplaceable. Since 2010, they're run five different candidates against Clere, sans discernible traction. Up, down or sideways, 34 years is nothing to sneeze at, and we'll probably not see the likes of him again, maybe from either party.
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1,349
R.I.P. Miss Nadia, our spark plug gourmand comedian and longtime feline companion.
Nadia didn't walk into a room, but sashayed, exaggeratedly shaking her butt and announcing her presence -- and the imminent need for a tasty morsel. She was an epic chatterbox with a startling array of sounds and noises that might have led the untutored to believe a duck or squirrel had wandered past. I'm unembarrassed to concede that Nadia and I had daily conversations, during which I'd harangue her and she'd answer, or sometimes vice versa.
I'll miss those. She was a receptive sounding board for my writing ideas, and never once advised me to tone it down.
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1,619
The soul-numbing pits of depression: 410 Bakery no longer will be selling bread.
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5,496
We Are All Family In Kentucky (and Indiana): Schedule of restaurants providing meals as a show of support for federal employees.
We Are All Family In Kentucky
In an effort to help employees of the Federal Government who are not getting paid through the shutdown, a group of restaurants has banded together to provide meals as a show of support and appreciation for the dedicated men and women who keep our community safe.
Together, we strive to be better and to overcome adversity as one community.
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