The curious question of 3rd district candidate Alex Bilbrey's yard signs.

No joke: Alex Bilbrey will need to be Superman to beat Greg Phipps.

It's hard to imagine Bilbrey (R) breaking 40% of the vote in the 3rd council district against two-term incumbent Phipps (D); after all, the 3rd district is to pretend-progressive Kool Aid as Porto is to vintage port wine, and Bilbrey -- who registered to run at the last possible minute without the knowledge of his party's chairman -- has been all but invisible for the entirety of 2019.

Except for yard signs.

I've seen several, including one of the big honking signs behind my house at the auto repair shop, and this makes Bilbrey's CFA-4 campaign finance disclosures very curious.

Bilbrey reports that he has neither raised nor spent a dime.

How then did he pay for the signs?

No matter; never mind -- you know, like Gahan's platform.

Yes, conscience precludes a vote for either Bilbrey or Phipps, and this is why I'm supporting Thunder Over the 3rd.

Vote for Thunder the Wonder Ferret as a write-in for New Albany City Council District 3.

 ... Phipps does a fair to middling job of performing the duties of a purely average council representative. However, in political terms Phipps is profoundly weak, and he has done so very little on his own initiative that it comes down to a single consideration.

Phipps has supported Mayor Jeff Gahan roughly 95% of the time, and I've opposed Gahan by an equal percentage. The taint is real.

Consequently, I cannot vote for Phipps, who has been utterly non-intellectual in his persistent sycophancy. That's a shame. He could have been so much more.

But no.

He wasn't ... and isn't likely to be.

---

Roger's Endorsement Compendium:

• Vote Stefanie Griffith for New Albany City Council District 1.
• Vote Scott Stewart for New Albany City Council District 2.
• Vote for Thunder the Wonder Ferret as a write-in for New Albany City Council District 3.
• Vote Cisa Kubley for New Albany City Council District 4.
• Vote Josh "JT" Turner for New Albany City Council District 5.
• Vote Scott Blair for New Albany City Council District 6.
• Vote Al Knable and Christina Estill for New Albany City Council At-Large.
• Vote your conscience for New Albany City Clerk, as both candidates are excellent.
• ON THE AVENUES: Socialists for Seabrook, because we desperately need a new beginning in New Albany.

We desperately need Thunder the Wonder Ferret in District 3.

Voting has started, and I could not endorse either of the certified candidates for city council in the 3rd district.

Vote for Thunder the Wonder Ferret as a write-in for New Albany City Council District 3.

In truth, it's too late for Thunder to run as a write-in candidate. I believe July 3 was the deadline to file the CAN-51 form.

Well, there's always 2023. Surely Phipps will have had enough by THEN.

Vote for Thunder the Wonder Ferret as a write-in for New Albany City Council District 3.

Thunder's campaign web site.

Call it an endorsement if you will, or think of it as my personal support, backing, seal of approval, recommendation or advocacy.

In making these 2019 election endorsements, I'm trying my best to focus on the positives, but the 3rd council district is my own, and positives are few and far between.

The incumbent is Greg Phipps (D), and the challenger is Alex Bilbrey (R). Phipps does a fair to middling job of performing the duties of a purely average council representative. However, in political terms Phipps is profoundly weak, and he has done so very little on his own initiative that it comes down to a single consideration.

Phipps has supported Mayor Jeff Gahan roughly 95% of the time, and I've opposed Gahan by an equal percentage. The taint is real. 

Consequently, I cannot vote for Phipps, who has been utterly non-intellectual in his persistent sycophancy. That's a shame. He could have been so much more.

Conversely Bilbrey's bizarre vanity/stealth candidacy is so problematic that it's hard to know where to begin dissecting it.

He's been almost completely invisible, and he has made no public indication whatever of core positions or policy preferences apart from platitudes about "service." Bilbrey has not attended events like the League of Women Voters' chat at the Silver Street Pleasure Dome. He doesn't seem to be taking his own candidacy seriously, so why should anyone else?

However, my biggest problem with Bilbrey is that he works for the sheriff's department, as does Scott Evans, the Republican candidate in 6th district -- who by contrast is a quality candidate and a campaigning dynamo worthy of consideration in that district.

True, it is not illegal for men and women with badges to occupy elected office; Jack Messer (city councilman) and Steve Bush (county commissioner) both did, and they are good people.

It's just a personal thing with me, and it's not about being anti-police. Rather, it has to do with worrisome accumulations of power. I believe being a cop and a councilman simultaneously is a concentration of too much power in one individual.

You're free to disagree, and my ears are open to your arguments against my position. I'd love to find a loophole in my conscience to include Evans, but so far it's elusive.

Conscience dictates that my only option in the 3rd district is to cast a write-in ballot. I'm open to suggestions in this regard.

John Smith, are you ready?

Steve Price?

Thunder the Wonder Ferret?

---

Compendium:

• Vote Stefanie Griffith for New Albany City Council District 1.
• Vote Scott Stewart for New Albany City Council District 2.
• Vote for Thunder the Wonder Ferret as a write-in for New Albany City Council District 3.
• Vote Cisa Kubley for New Albany City Council District 4.
• Vote Josh "JT" Turner for New Albany City Council District 5.

Amid Gahan's penchant for opulent municipal luxury, do we even have a word for this vista at 1730 E. Oak Street?

A friend who'd been speaking with neighbors sent these two photos of the back yard at 1730 E. Oak. It's in the 3rd council district (Precinct 10) in case you're curious.

Neighbors say homeless and drug users have taken over this home. They wander the alley digging through everyone’s trash throwing out on the ground. One lady saw a buck naked man wondering in the yard! By anyone’s measure this is a serious problem. They say it’s been going on for 18 months. Needles, human waste, etc.

They say the city isn’t helping them, so who can they turn to?

I went to Elevate and looked up the owner; supposedly he's owned the house since 2007. Next came the state of Indiana's Odyssey courts search. Here are the first and last records of the same case, with names omitted.

Obviously this one is on the city's radar. Older satellite photos show the back yard looking like a war zone, and this case goes back two years. It took eight months for the complaint about cleanliness to work its way through the labyrinth. Whether the owner performed the required tidying isn't clear, but as of less than a year ago, he was supposed to have done it.

Judging from the other court records arranged before and after this one, it would seem that the house's owner quite possibly is a familiar face among local law enforcement officials. Looking at it from afar, it's easy to deduce that someone's life went off the rails. The nasty condition of the house appears to be collateral damage in a much larger story.

All of this fits the neighbors' sad narrative, and not one bit of it helps them. Sorry about that, but after doing the research I don't have any better of an answer, at least yet.

Anyone have anything?

ON THE AVENUES: In the 3rd district, that "stepping aside" time finally has arrived.

ON THE AVENUES: In the 3rd district, that "stepping aside" time finally has arrived. 

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

In 2019, ON THE AVENUES moves to Tuesday -- unless I change my mind again.

The Confidentials reside in New Albany’s 3rd city council district, made up of precincts 3, 5, 7 and 10. In the city as a whole, there are five other enumerated council districts and also three “at-large” council seats. In municipal elections, we vote for the mayor, the city clerk, and the council person in our own district, as well as three candidates from a slate to fill the at-large seats.

The 3rd district’s boundaries are the Ohio River on the south, and Silver Creek to the east. To the northeast, there’s a brief jagged frontier with the 5th district, but a clean division westward along Ekin. A weird salient juts to the north along 8th Street near where Grant Line Road begins, then Falling Run Creek forms the line in a southwesterly direction to where it crosses State Street, which forms the western extent of the 3rd, most of the way back to the riverbank. The 3rd district contains much of the city's revitalizing downtown business district as well as the usable portion of its waterfront.

Greg Phipps, our current council representative, took to Facebook on November 13, 2018 to announce that he’d be seeking a third term.

Now that the 2018 election cycle is over, and after much deliberation, I have decided to publicly announce my candidacy for the 2019 election. I will be seeking a 3rd term as the 3rd district councilman for the City of New Albany. If elected, I will continue my support for efforts to revitalize our historic downtown and mid-town neighborhood.

Some of us are so old that we can remember his oft-repeated disclaimer about personal suitability, as in 2014.

But I digress. We have eleven months to discuss this and other pressing matters. Before doing so, I’ve assembled a few statistics from the past two election cycles.

---

3rd district city council (precincts 3, 5, 7 and 10)

2015: municipal election (mayor, city council, city clerk; no state or federal offices)

4,130 registered voters
779 votes cast (19% turnout)
266 straight ticket (33% of all votes cast)

2018 mid-term election (county, state and federal offices)

4,209 registered voters
1,702 votes cast (40% turnout)
971 straight ticket (57% of all votes cast)

Straight ticket votes 2015 vs 2018

2015: 266
172 Democratic
94 Republican
0 Libertarian (none ran)

2018: 971
650 Democratic
303 Republican
18 Libertarian

---

I'll leave you to make of these numbers as you will, with only a few disjointed observations. Unsurprisingly, straight tickets in the 3rd district more than tripled for each party in 2018. This has the appearance of an anomaly. Historically Democrats have far outnumbered Republicans in the 3rd, and in 2016 Hillary Clinton carried the day (except for the 10th precinct). Sadly, voters typically turn out in very low numbers for municipal election cycles.

All of this bodes well for Phipps' dynastic ambitions, or so we're led to believe.

During his career in politics, Phipps has experienced two primaries and two general elections. Not one has been a close contest. His debut race came in the 2011 Democratic primary, when he ran against two-term incumbent Steve Price.

COUNCIL DISTRICT 3
GREG PHIPPS. . . . . . . . . . 303 - 57.93%
STEVE PRICE. . . . . . . . . . . 220 - 42.07%

Phipps handily defeated Jameson Bledsoe in the 2011 general election. Running for re-election in the fall of 2015, he recorded 502 votes (63%) against 277 for his Republican opponent, Dale Bagshaw (37%).

Will Phipps even have a challenger in the 2019 Democratic primary? It seems unlikely. Party chairman Adam Dickey surely would discourage any such dissent given Phipps’ nearly perfect record of voting in accordance with Mayor Jeff Gahan.

However, if reliably blue-tinged voters in the 3rd district paid slightly closer attention to what Phipps, Dickey, Gahan and other local Democratic office holders actually do, as opposed to what they constantly say they’re doing, there might well be a progressive revolt against the status quo.

It’s revolt that should be occurring every single day.

At this juncture, allow me to insert a big caveat: for reasons I'll explain shortly, I'm not limiting this discussion to those who identity as "progressive." However, because the 3rd is blue, I'm opening the proceedings with blue terminology, and aiming my comments at blue voters. In fact, the solution to our present difficulties is far more ecumenical.

Imagine for a moment a younger progressive voter, one inspired in 2018 by the candidacies of Anna Murray, Liz Watson and Dan Canon – and disappointed by Republican wins in those races.

Now imagine Dickey’s forthcoming boilerplate: “Carry forward the progressive movement-building work of Anna, Liz and Dan by re-electing Jeff Gahan and Greg Phipps (and Bob Caesar, and Pat McLaughlin, ad nauseam).

Think about this sentiment for a moment. Have a nice, strong drink – if you can keep it down.

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.

It’s enough to make a progressive’s blood boil – so why aren’t progressives in locales like the 3rd district mad as hell at the Floyd County Democratic party’s perennial bait and switch?

Well, it’s because no matter how low Gahan and his cronies go, the Democrats have the same answer:

Paraphrased: We might be shameless, bullying and conniving ward heelers, forever packing the political patronage machine full of cash drained from fat cat contract-seekers, rarely if ever keeping our word when it comes to disposable platform promises about fairness, dignity and equality of opportunity for those among us who are in the greatest need, and squelching free speech at every turn, but … but …

But what?

"BUT THE REPUBLICANS ARE EVEN WORSE."

Forever and always in Nawbany, this is the alleged “choice” given to us by local Democrats, and I have news for you: it isn’t.

It isn't a choice, and it isn't reason enough to justify excusing their transgressions.

If you’re a 3rd district left-leaning voter prone to taking Phipps’ word for being a spotless progressive just like you, I have two bits of advice. The first is to avoid misunderstandings by being sure both of you are using the word “progressive” in the same way. The second is to stop giving Phipps a free pass to be progressive when it suits him for one set of issues, and Gahanishly regressive as it pertains to another.

It’s early, and so far we don’t know what sort of candidate the GOP will field in the 3rd in 2019. The conventional wisdom is that Republicans simply can’t go higher than 35%-40% of the vote in the 3rd, and may not field a candidate. I simply shudder to think of Phipps grabbing a third term without an opponent in either the primary or the general election.

But what if I told you it isn’t impossible for a council candidate in the 3rd district to possess impeccable social justice and human rights credentials, while simultaneously embracing the Strong Towns approach of fiscal sanity, which emphasizes cumulative and sustainable grassroots strategies for economic development and quality-of-life enhancement, thereby avoiding those overloaded TIF One credit card debts?

After all, it's your children and grandchildren who’ll be paying those. I'm speaking of consistent, community-friendly precepts and policies across the board, and not just when Dear Leader graciously allows lip service to the principle.

As an added bonus, these precepts and policies also are in keeping with the instincts of many 3rd district residents who’d never in a million years think of themselves as progressive. 

Rather, they’re libertarian when it comes to social issues, and fiscally conservative on expenditures; they know a boondoggle when they see it, and have noticed that Gahan takes full credit for an inordinate amount of them.

In the end, the terminology and tags are junk. It's a local grassroots election, and it's about the place where we live.

The ideal candidate to match up in the 3rd district against Phipps is one who keeps government out of the private sphere, upholds the marketplace of free speech and expression, and regards human rights as non-negotiable; is serious about multi-modal transportation options and grasps the value of a walkable city; understands what small business ownership means and never once had "tenure" as a safety net for a household budget; busted ass in the trenches during the first generation of downtown revival and knows how much more remains to be done; views Gahan's personality cult and his fetish for branding a whole city in his own sad image as the height of absurdity; will put the district's people first and not fold like a house of cards when the party's hierarchy demands it -- because the ideal candidate is an independent, not a cog in the wheel-greasing of money machines.

Is it possible?

I think it is, so let's keep talking. Let me know where you stand.

---

Recent columns:

January 1: ON THE AVENUES: As a new year dawns, I’m existentially yours.

December 29: ON THE AVENUES: Another year older and deeper in debt, so let's doo-doo it all over again.

December 20: ON THE AVENUES: Truth, lies, music, and a trick of the Christmas tale (2018 Remix).

December 14: A joyful noise? The six most-read ON THE AVENUES columns of 2018.

Deep Gahan State ally Greg Phipps will seek re-election as 3rd district council person.

I was hoping we might have a progressive candidate for once.

Councilman Phipps meets the enemy -- and finds that they are him.

Several times in the recent past we've cast a flabbergasted glance at these duplicitous machines of sheer uselessness.

The "distracted pedestrian" is a myth, but distracted engineers and planners are another topic.

Neither City Hall nor HWC Engineering sees a problem with this mishap-plagued intersection. Maybe we should appeal to Floyd County government for help.

This means you: "STOP FUCKING DRIVING YOUR CAR AT PEOPLE."

At Strong Towns: "4 Reasons We Must Build Our Streets for People (Not Just Cars).

3rd district councilman Greg Phipps' first mistake was to accept Jeff Gahan's watered-down two-way street grid paving project without a substantive murmur, insisting all the while that to question mayoral authority was even more treasonous than breaking bread with Vladimir Putin.

A neighbor's social media post yesterday about those idiotic solar-powered pedestrian danger crossings puts it all into perspective.

Just throwing it out there: there needs to be a highly visible driver education campaign to teach drivers what this sign and signaled light actually mean. I pushed this button to turn on the light to signal drivers I wanted to cross the street, and had I proceeded, I would’ve been mowed down by nothing short of 10 to 12 cars. Drivers did not even hit the brakes. I think these are a great safety move and I am glad they were installed, but they will not be effective in actually protecting pedestrians until drivers are educated.

A respondent tagged the councilman.

Greg Phipps....any ideas? Or any changes that the city is planning on implementing?

Phipps:
I have mentioned this at least 5-6 times at council and board of works. They are unwilling to add signs in the middle of the street like at the high school :(

Citizen:
What about a public education campaign? It’s seriously a tragedy waiting to happen. I shudder to think if someone made the assumption the traffic would slow and stop. Or children growing up and learning to cross the street. Scary stuff. The street was actually safer without these lights installed. These provide a dangerous false sense of security.

Phipps:
There has been an article in the tribune, but very few read it.

---

Let's go back to this: They are unwilling.

Who are they, anyway?

Isn't Greg Phipps "they"?

Phipps is a Democrat. BOW is populated by Democratic Party appointees, and party appointees trashed Jeff Speck's street grid plan and installed these pathetic, non-functional pedestrian crossing sitting duck mechanisms. 

Phipps passively notes that no one reads the newspaper, and laments being ignored at Board of Public Works meetings?

Seriously?

They and them ARE he and him, one and the same. Phipps was elected to office with C-minus junta support, and has voted with the governing clique roughly 95% of the time. He's one of only nine councilmen (not a single woman) in the entire city, and yet he cannot determine a way to make his voice heard.

Instead, he merely whines in response, not unlike a lashed cur.

But he has the means at his disposal to make "them" listen, doesn't he? After all, he's one of them. Phipps' council vote has immense significance should he ever decide to wield it tactically.

Just imagine if Phipps' vote in favor of the Reisz city hall relocation boondoggle had been made conditional on his fellow Democrats actually DOING something about the pedestrian safety problem, rather than ducking, covering and kicking sand in his face.

A "no" vote on the Reisz Mahal's first reading in May, accompanied by some genuine spinefulness, might well have resulted in both of Phipps' desired outcomes: real-world safety measures on streets AND relief for the oppressed, inhumanely housed city workers. 

The election's next year.

Isn't it time for a change in the 3rd district? 

#EightIsEnough

Street grids, public housing and Councilman Phipps' morally indefensible selective engagement.

New Albany's 3rd council district includes those segments of the street grid currently being reverted to two-way traffic.

New Albany's 3rd council district also includes Riverside Terrace, a component of the New Albany Housing Authority.

Consequently, matters pertaining to either of these topics logically fall within the scope of a council person's brief.

Probably most of us would agree that the condition of one's district is the only relevant item for a person elected to represent it. Greg Phipps is the council person for New Albany's 3rd council district.

Phipps has taken a public stand on two-way streets, indicating his preference for them. This is fitting and proper.

However, he has refused to publicly state his position on recent changes at the housing authority, changes that clearly affect people living in Phipps' council district. His stated reason for doing so? The housing authority is the mayor's business, not council's.

And yet Phipps and his council colleagues have had no say in the implementation of two-way streets, either. In fact, every last iota of the Downtown Grid Modernization Program has proceeded from the mayor and a plethora of appointed, not elected, officials.

In short, Phipps has played no officially delineated role in street grid changes or at the housing authority. Logically, he cannot claim to have had any role in the decision-making process in either instance.

Just as logically, he cannot claim street grid credit when the council has had no say.

And yet Phipps is fond of saying that he staked his political career (a career he formerly insisted he didn't ever want) on two-way streets -- not because he or his council colleagues were involved in the slightest way, but because he stated his opinion aloud, for all to hear. He used the bully pulpit.

Because street grid reform impacted Phipp's council district, he was right to take an interest and be a stakeholder. Interestingly, precisely because the council has had no involvement in the street grid, Phipps might just as easily do an about-face and deny his previous advocacy if doing so seemed politically expedient:

"You can't blame me; after all, council had no control, and it was the mayor's decision."

You can't pick and choose, councilman.

In short, in the case of your automobile's health and well-being, Phipps has found it easy to argue on behalf of quality of life in the absence of council participation.

But when it comes to the destiny of his own constituents, real living people frightened of being cast out into the street owing to the non-transparent dictates of a hostile NAHA takeover, something that just might impact their quality of life, Phipps opts out, and has found it equally easy to say absolutely nothing at all.

Because doing so would anger Jeff Gahan and the DemoDisneyDixiecratic apparatus.

In my view, selective morality of this scope may or may not involve cowardice, but it certainly qualifies as hypocrisy. Refusing to become involved with the future of public housing in New Albany, whether or not one has any delineated, contractual, or mandated input, suggests that Phipps has less concern for the working poor than with political gestures needed to assuage a more posh breed of  supposed Democrats in his district.

Ignoring public housing because it's not his job?

That's not very progressive, is it?

Perhaps it's time for the 3rd district to say "no" to the mayor's "yes" man.

(Note: I'm happy to publish rebuttals from CM Phipps, or for that matter, anyone else.)

The deal-killing Phipps postcard: "Two Way Streets, where feasible."

Greg Phipps (D) is the incumbent 3rd district councilman. His challenger is Dale Bagshaw (R), who was his party's nominee for mayor in 2011.

Dale was reading a few weeks ago when I expressed support for those council candidates openly supporting two-way streets.

For what it’s worth, and speaking only for myself, my votes in the forthcoming election will go to those city council candidates who have publicly advocated for two way streets. First-time Republican at-large candidate Al Knable is one, along with Democratic incumbents John Gonder (at large) and Greg Phipps (my own 3rd district).

Since then, John has circulated a questionnaire omitting any explicit mention of two-way streets (I've since learned that the omission was a printing error and was rectified) and now there's this card of Greg's, as harvested from its resting place on an Elm Street sidewalk.

Let's hope Al remains on board.

Dale knew what I'd written, and in spite of it, he still came to my door two nights ago while walking the neighborhood. We stood on the porch for twenty-five minutes, talking local issues, among them two-way streets. Dale said that while streets must remain accessible to commerce, he has started to see the merits of complete streets.

That's demonstrable forward movement on Dale's part, and as we all learned in childhood, the opposite of forward is backward, bringing us to the underlined passage on Greg's card. Time and again, Greg has stated publicly that he'd stake his political career on two-way streets.

Now, with an election looming, he has affixed a disclaimer: "Where feasible."

One candidate is moving forward, openly and honestly, and the other backward in a Gahan-induced pea soup fog.

In July, I attended a meeting of the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association, during which Greg Roberts indicated there would be an ESNA candidate forum prior to the election. Supposedly the candidates all would have a chance to be heard, but the forum never took place, and when I asked Greg Phipps about it last week via Fb message, he didn't recall such an event ever being mentioned even though he was present at the same meeting I attended.

Dale told me that he asked Greg if the two of them might arrange a 3rd district candidate forum, only to have the idea dismissed out of hand by the incumbent. When I asked Greg about this, the conversation abruptly ended.

Returning to my words in September:

Yes, at times I’ve been disappointed with both Gonder and Phipps. However, I believe they’ve been sullied and bullied by Jeff Gahan’s egotistical toxicity and the formless intellectual vacancy of the reigning Democratic Party leadership, and are deserving of another chance and another dance with a mayor who, at long last, actually “gets it,” which I do.

Dear reader, if you were me, what would you do?

A house divided against itself cannot stand, and intellectual honesty still matters to me. It matters more than just about anything else, but there's also consistency, transparency, and simple decency. Throughout my campaign, I've continued to stress the dignity of conscience, and I've parsed every possible combination of these factors in search of a way that might allow me to be cognizant of Greg's position.

But: Occam's Razor.

Perhaps I'm trying to hard, and the simplest answer is the best.

Perhaps conscience, transparency and intellectual honesty are my issues, not theirs, and what I'm seeing in this town right now -- paranoia, fear and cowardice foremost among them -- is exactly as it appears.

Perhaps Team Gahan has poisoned this civic well so thoroughly that Kool-Aid flows from every tap, into every overflowing storm water receptacle.

By all rights, Greg Phipps and I should be comrades in arms. But it's Dale Bagshaw who came to my house and asked for my vote. It's Dale, not Greg, who has listened, conversed and interacted.

My vote isn't about whether I like Greg and Dale, because I like them both. It's about sleepless nights, of which I've experienced a few since 2011, when I voted for Jeff Gahan. It's a mistake I won't ever repeat, and right now, a vote for Greg Phipps is a vote for Jeff Gahan, irrespective of bullying, moon phases, Kool-Aid, spin the bottle or any other extraneous excuses I might deploy to alter fundamental reality.

I simply can't do that, and whether it hurts my mayoral campaign or helps it by saying so publicly matters less to me than being honest. I know Greg and I as yet agree on numerous issues, but in the absence of transparency -- without two-way communications -- we cannot build on what I'm otherwise sure exists. I'm not playing this game any longer. I never was very good at it, anyway.

Dale's got my vote.

The 3rd council district deserves a Phipps-Bagshaw debate. Who can make that happen?

3rd district council aspirant Dale Bagshaw (R) attended both political forums this week, including the New Albany Housing Authority session on Tuesday, and incumbent Greg Phipps (D) was on hand at Cowboys Stadium last night for the League of Women Voters event.

I don't recall whether Phipps "debated" Jameson Bledsoe in 2011 prior to the general election, although there was a candidate question 'n' answer evening at S. Ellen Jones school preceding the three-way Democratic primary in 2007, which incumbent Steve Price won with 37% of the vote against Maury Goldberg and Charlie Harshfield.

Phipps handily beat Price and Bledsoe in 2011.

Who can make this happen? I firmly believe the 3rd district deserves an hour (or more) with its candidates.

Campaign Diary, Chapter 6: Matching ensembles in the 3rd, psychologically speaking.

First, thanks to the New Albanians who've supported the Baylor for Mayor campaign thus far, whether with grassroots testimony, the wearing of t-shirts, planting signs or kicking a few dollars into the jar. Every little bit helps, and I appreciate it. I've heard from voters in every district who agree that by emphasizing transparency, infrastructure and empowerment, we can TIE the city together.

In this periodic installment of the campaign diary, permit me to narrow the focus to my own neighborhood, and observe that there is a psychology to the political yard sign.

Given that I've publicly disagreed on occasion with my 3rd district councilman Greg Phipps' partisan votes with the current administration, I still believe that on balance, our views with regard to what's fundamentally best for New Albany's neighborhoods are in accordance: Ordinance enforcement, rental property registration, safe and functional two-way streets, human rights, and support for level playing fields and the rule of law.

I've advocated and fought for these (and other) ideas, and so has he. I believe in our own district, neighbors asking for one of my signs, and placing it next to one of Greg's signs, shows that they see the similarities more than the differences -- and grasp the reality of the incumbent mayor's abject failure to govern in the best interest of the neighborhood. Jeff Gahan's instincts are suburban, not urban, and virtually all the areas inside the beltway can benefit from greater urbanism, not less.

I'm restricting the analogy to my own backyard merely to suggest that the odd man out in this instance is the current mayor. Look at the positions, platforms and policies. It's a secret ballot, and we all have the opportunity to vote our consciences.

Thanks.

There are no words, so: "In Flowerpots We Trust."

On one side a sitting DemoDisneyDixiecratic councilman who has said that he'll stake his political career on the implementation of two-way streets, and on the other, a Re-Republican who stands with Bic and lighter fluid in hand, determined to prevent any change that might impede Mr. Padgett's coal trains from trammeling unimpeded through residential neighborhoods.

Does anyone read?

Can anyone explain why Irv Stumler has so many yard signs outside the 2nd District?

Does he even know this corner isn't in his district?

Is it any wonder we drink?

Take it away, guys.

Let's ask Dale Bagshaw what he thinks.

Let's ask Dale Bagshaw, Republican candidate for New Albany city council in the 3rd district, what he thinks about some of the issues that blog readers think are important.

Dale Bagshaw for City Council New Albany District 3

Here and at Facebook (or through the usual communications channels), publish your questions. They'll be collated into a list, and provided to the candidate. We'll see what he has to say. I've always found Dale to be open and forthcoming, even if we do not agree on particular issues.

Make 'em good, and when the results are in, the answers will be published here.

NA council: No primary race in District 3; Phipps versus Bagshaw in the fall.

In the 3rd district council, the fall race already is set, so long as there is no independent or libertarian entry after the primary.

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CITY OF NEW ALBANY COUNCIL MEMBER DISTRICT 3
(Precincts New Albany 3, 5, 7, 10)

D Greg Phipps 1105 E Spring St

R Dale D.M. Bagshaw 85 Galt St

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The obvious problem with politics as a part-time pursuit in a place like Nawbony, where the Wizard of Westendia remains extant, is that it's fiendishly difficult to sustain unilateral disarmament with full-time ward heelers.

In short, playing fair and clean doesn't guarantee someone else won't play dirty.

My honest opinion of Greg Phipps's first term on the council is that he's been better than average, but oddly disappointing at crucial junctures. Greg too often allows himself to be led by the mayor's cadre of handlers, as with his insufficient due diligence on parks & aquatic mega-financing. But he was right to question the use of public monies for church repair, and to advocate emergency warning sirens in areas where they were needed.

Greg was stellar in leading the push for a Human Rights Committee, then acquiesced in the administration's determination to keep it in locked away in mothballs as a mere symbolic token. He sometimes has an imperfect (and regrettably impatient) understanding of what neighborhood advocacy actually entails, as with the lamentable 922 Culbertson demolition episode.

However, Greg is suitably out in front on the Speck street network proposals, and this is the juncture where metaphorical rubber meets road: Owing to the mayor's ongoing, bizarrely craven fear of owning the issue of necessary street grid reform, Greg is going to have to do more arm-twisting behind the scenes than he is accustomed. He's going to have to play hard, and even play dirty ... if necessary.

Greg has a campaign page at Facebook.

Over on the GOP side, Dale Bagshaw has filed. His web site from 2011, when he ran for mayor, can be viewed here.

See the complete primary election listings right here.

Decision 2011: Phipps clearly the pick of the Third.

New Albany's municipal elections take place on November 8, and we're examining what passes for choice, with a council race each day through Saturday, the at-large field on Sunday, and the mayoral contest on Monday, October 17. Listings are cribbed from the clerk's office, followed by brief comments by the senior editor.

NEW ALBANY COUNCIL DISTRICT 3
(Precincts New Albany 3, 5, 6, 7, 10)

R Jameson Bledsoe 2001 E. Elm Street 502-751-5180
D Greg Phipps 1105 E. Spring Street 812-949-8317

The 3rd district seat has been inexplicably vacant since 2003, nominally filled with a human, but dusty, rusty and almost completely unused. By contrast, Phipps towers over the other first-time candidates in terms of qualifications and temperament.

Phipps has served on the Board of Zoning Appeals, helped drive the establishment of a neighborhood association, spoken out for code enforcement and the rule of law, and in ways large and small, put his time and money into the fray. He is a powerful advocate for human progress, and can be trusted to display thoughtfulness, rationality and personal equilibrium, assuring that the memory of “No progress at or by any Price” will not long endure.

NAC's pick: Phipps.

Another fevered dream ... wait, it actually happened!

REWIND: Steve Price compares himself to Jesus Christ. A captive city yawns. Somewhere, a dog barks (2007).

Tomorrow, the 3rd district will celebrate the end of an error. Greg Phipps will be elected to represent the Democratic Party in November, and Steve Price finally will be set free, able at long last to perform nightly karaoke at the Luddite Bar & Grill, including his biggest hits: "Them Preservation Nazis" and "Three to a Couch or Pay Extra".

By the end of 2011, NAC will have documented seven of Price's eight wasted years in elected office. We'll save the real party for December 31, and until then, enjoy a random selection from the archives.

Steve Price compares himself to Jesus Christ. A captive city yawns. Somewhere, a dog barks.

... Because the answer to New Albany’s dilemma simply does not lie in Steve Price’s preferred state of degradation, deprivation and yokeldom, although there’s some solace to be derived from the fact that as he warbles and croons the “we can’t” defeatist line, plenty of people aren’t buying it. They both “can,” and “are,” and there's little that he's yet been able to do about it.

Fire Fighter and police unions endorse Greg Phipps.

Greg Phipps has received the endorsement of The International Association of Fire Fighters, Local 410, and The Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 99.

Also, Greg's WNAS "Meet the Candidate" video is here.

Phipps web site is up.

Gregg Phipps, candidate for city council in the 3rd district, has a web site up and running.

http://gregphipps.webs.com/

A third way is defanging a Copperhead.

One way is to "build a fleet of 200 warships known as triremes." Another is to elect a 3rd district council person capable of rising just a bit above the shuck and jive of Willy and the poor boys. The week to come is going to be momentous ... and fun.

How to Make a Small City Great, at NewAlbanyBooks.