Handbags, toothpicks, gladrags, matchsticks and the re-erection of Break Wind.

How deep do you think those bunkers really are? Do they connect to City Hall's? What about One Southern Indiana?

DOOMSDAY PREP FOR THE SUPER-RICH, by Evan Osnos (New Yorker)

Some of the wealthiest people in America—in Silicon Valley, New York, and beyond—are getting ready for the crackup of civilization.

Steve Huffman, the thirty-three-year-old co-founder and C.E.O. of Reddit, which is valued at six hundred million dollars, was nearsighted until November, 2015, when he arranged to have laser eye surgery. He underwent the procedure not for the sake of convenience or appearance but, rather, for a reason he doesn’t usually talk much about: he hopes that it will improve his odds of surviving a disaster, whether natural or man-made. “If the world ends—and not even if the world ends, but if we have trouble—getting contacts or glasses is going to be a huge pain in the ass,” he told me recently. “Without them, I’m fucked.”

Huffman, who lives in San Francisco, has large blue eyes, thick, sandy hair, and an air of restless curiosity; at the University of Virginia, he was a competitive ballroom dancer, who hacked his roommate’s Web site as a prank. He is less focused on a specific threat—a quake on the San Andreas, a pandemic, a dirty bomb—than he is on the aftermath, “the temporary collapse of our government and structures,” as he puts it. “I own a couple of motorcycles. I have a bunch of guns and ammo. Food. I figure that, with that, I can hole up in my house for some amount of time.”

Survivalism, the practice of preparing for a crackup of civilization, tends to evoke a certain picture: the woodsman in the tinfoil hat, the hysteric with the hoard of beans, the religious doomsayer. But in recent years survivalism has expanded to more affluent quarters, taking root in Silicon Valley and New York City, among technology executives, hedge-fund managers, and others in their economic cohort ...

For some, it’s just “brogrammer” entertainment, a kind of real-world sci-fi, with gear; for others, like Huffman, it’s been a concern for years. “Ever since I saw the movie ‘Deep Impact,’ ” he said. The film, released in 1998, depicts a comet striking the Atlantic, and a race to escape the tsunami. “Everybody’s trying to get out, and they’re stuck in traffic. That scene happened to be filmed near my high school. Every time I drove through that stretch of road, I would think, I need to own a motorcycle because everybody else is screwed” ...

At least Flaherty & Collins had insurance.

Awed throngs gather their headgear as the Toothpick Colossus of Duggins rises again, right there, across from the fire station.

Income inequality can wait ... this is "luxury" paradise.

Awed throngs gather their headgear as the Toothpick Colossus of Duggins rises again, right there, across from the fire station.

Photo credit.

Who knew? Toothpick construction groupies are like the "cheeseheads" cheering the Green Bay Packers. It's a fetish of sorts -- you know, like tumescent TIF bonds to an economic development director's piece of mind.

Now to the feature:

Well, so much for the world's largest shuffleboard table.

Income inequality can wait ... this is "luxury" paradise.

For those who are completely baffled by the free association ...

Breakwater fire revisited: Exactly what are the potential dangers of "Toothpick Construction" techniques?

Breakwater fire revisited: Exactly what are the potential dangers of "Toothpick Construction" techniques?

And we criticized Soviet designs?

As most readers know, The Breakwater is New Albany's ballyhooed "luxury" apartment complex, a titled possession of the Flaherty & Collins behemoth in Indianapolis, but also municipally subsidized -- to be frank, to an obscene extent.

One of the two buildings at The Breakwater caught fire on February 24, and New Albany firefighters spent most of the next day fighting the blaze. Fortunately the building was unoccupied (there were minor firefighter injuries), but because it hadn't yet been finished, the sprinkler system was not activated.

According to a subsequent investigation, contractor error was responsible. The rubble since has been cleared, the insurance companies are haggling, and reconstruction will resume.

You can read the official conclusion of the Breakwater fire investigation in a previous post. Included are complete story links.

Fast forwarding a month, articles published just this week at Fire Engineering and The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina) are hard-hitting, indeed.

In the first, we learn that in the aftermath of a catastrophic fire of similar circumstances in Raleigh, questions about building methods and materials are being raised.

In Raleigh building fire, a warning about construction standards, by the editorial board (The News & Observer)

As growth in Raleigh booms, buildings rise quickly. Perhaps, too quickly.

The spectacular fire that consumed a 241-unit apartment building under construction near downtown Raleigh last Thursday night has raised questions about the type and quality of building methods and materials being used in new buildings.

The fire that reduced The Metropolitan, an unfinished, five-story building at the corner of West Jones and Harrington Street, was apparently fueled by the extensive use of wood in the upper floors. Wood allows for faster and less expensive construction than using concrete and steel, but it’s vulnerable to fire, especially when the building is unfinished and sprinklers have not yet been installed ...

I highly recommend reading in its entirety this piece by Jack J. Murphy about large lightweight toothpick construction buildings. He's a fire service veteran, and appends his essay with voluminous references. Why aren't we listening?

Note: In the first paragraph of Murphy's article, it is my view that he intended to use the word "reservations" rather than "justifications." As we have observed so many times before, spell check doesn't help when the wrong word is spelled correctly.

Toothpick Construction: Enough Is Enough, by Jack J. Murphy (Fire Engineering)
03/21/2017

The fire service has ample justifications about large lightweight toothpick construction buildings (LLW/TPC) long before the recent Raleigh (NC) five-alarm ‘Toothpick Construction’ fire.

So why is the construction industry and insurance companies not paying heed when it comes to better fire protection features? This can be effected either via the code development process or the industry stepping up and creating ‘best practices’ for an enhanced balance of fire protection systems, namely a full building suppression system and more robust passive fire protection for draft-stopping and fire walls (masonry) that extend through the roof within these residential complexes.

Over the years, the fire service has advocated a balance of fire protection that has fallen on deaf ears. A new fire service tactic to consider before a municipal council hearing and/or state legislation is how LLW/TPC building complex fires (whether these structures are under construction or occupied) are overwhelming local fire department response. For many communities, a fire response must go way beyond the municipality border lines to get a sustainable fighting force to help prevent such an enormous fire from becoming a much larger community conflagration.

In the February 2017, a LLW/TPC building under construction fire occurred in Maplewood, New Jersey. This fire quickly spread to the exposure building of similar construction; this building was approximately a few weeks away from being occupied. This building did, however, have masonry fire walls, although they are not yet required by code; they played a key role in saving the structure ...

As an aside, in Kansas yet another fire broke out prior to the activation of sprinklers and destroyed an apartment building.

Official says welder sparked massive Kansas apartment fire (AP, via Fire Engineering)

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A fire that leveled a multi-million dollar apartment building under construction and spread to about two dozen homes in suburban Kansas City started when a welder accidentally ignited wooden building materials, fire officials said.

More than 100 firefighters battled the blaze at the CityPlace development in Overland Park on Monday and three were treated for minor injuries. The fire destroyed the four-story apartment building, heavily burned a second and rained burning debris onto a nearby neighborhood, damaging at least 22 other homes.

Overland Park Fire Chief Bryan Dehner said the building where the fire started was "most vulnerable" when the fire happened because it was so early in the construction process that it lacked fire deterrents such as a sprinkler system.

This makes three fires in three different places in a month's span of time, all quite similar. Are any local news outlets planning on following up on these themes and how they pertain to our area?

I'm looking at you, Susan Duncan.

Excuse me while I get this Reichstag reference mode out of my system.

I'm no expert on cognitive theory, but it seems obvious that ideas arise in the noggin from all manner of cross-germination.

Ever since the Great Trumpolini was installed, the Reichstag fire of 1933 has come back into fashion. The article linked here explains exactly why.

Given this information, added to the chronic condition of being a history buff, considering Team Gahan's congenital secrecy, and spiced with pungent Breakwater toadstools, the fire at Breakwater has made for a wonderfully satirical stew.

They can't hand me great material and then criticize the results.

All this said, for one to oppose municipal corporate welfare subsidies isn't the same as wishing to block the apartment complex's construction -- only that risks should be borne by private developers, not the city's tax base.

Similarly, once we've arrived at the point of fait accompli, one isn't wishing for fires, floods or explosions to destroy what's been built.

The fire at Breakwater loosened some of the demons suppressed by Jeff Gahan's top-down, non-transparent and undemocratic management style. As such, something otherwise unfortunate can still be a valuable teaching tool.

The Reichstag Warning, by Timothy Snyder (The New York Review of Books)

The Reichstag fire shows how quickly a modern republic can be transformed into an authoritarian regime. There is nothing new, to be sure, in the politics of exception. The American Founding Fathers knew that the democracy they were creating was vulnerable to an aspiring tyrant who might seize upon some dramatic event as grounds for the suspension of our rights. As James Madison nicely put it, tyranny arises “on some favorable emergency.” What changed with the Reichstag fire was the use of terrorism as a catalyst for regime change. To this day, we do not know who set the Reichstag fire: the lone anarchist executed by the Nazis or, as new scholarship by Benjamin Hett suggests, the Nazis themselves. What we do know is that it created the occasion for a leader to eliminate all opposition.

In 1989, two centuries after our Constitution was promulgated, the man who is now our president wrote that “civil liberties end when an attack on our safety begins.” For much of the Western world, that was a moment when both security and liberty seemed to be expanding. 1989 was a year of liberation, as communist regimes came to an end in eastern Europe and new democracies were established. Yet that wave of democratization has since fallen under the glimmering shadow of the burning Reichstag. The aspiring tyrants of today have not forgotten the lesson of 1933: that acts of terror—real or fake, provoked or accidental—can provide the occasion to deal a death blow to democracy.

Read the official conclusion of the Breakwater fire investigation.

Also at the newspaper, where the rebuild is confirmed.

Investigators: The Breakwater fire caused by HVAC installer error ... rebuilding to start next month, by Elizabeth DePompei

A Flaherty and Collins spokesperson could not be reached by phone or email by press time. It's unclear whether any action will be taken against the HVAC installation company or employee.

ON THE AVENUES: Breaking up is hard to do. Just ask the Reichstag.

The Cosmopolitan: Turns out The Breakwater isn't the first fire at a Flaherty & Collins development under construction.

ASK THE BORED: They're busy panicking after the Great Break Wind Fire, so we celebrate the guy who first patented a self-propelled street sweeper.

Monday's best social media comment about the Breakwater fire.

The Breakwater fire: Luckily there were no injuries, but are we REALLY sure the deity favors subsidized luxury?

There has been a fire this morning at the Breakwater luxury apartments. No injuries, and I swear it wasn't me.

ON THE AVENUES: Breaking up is hard to do. Just ask the Reichstag.

ON THE AVENUES: Breaking up is hard to do. Just ask the Reichstag.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire ... and then there’s the impromptu upstairs weenie roast that went slightly awry at That Luxury Apartment Project.

After spending the better part of two years busily photo-shopping himself into every aspect of the build-out at the Break Wind Lofts at Duggins Flats, Mayor Jeff Gahan is nowhere to be found in the aftermath of Saturday’s fire, which was explained earlier today (see below).

Gahan has managed to emit two brief and purely boilerplate press releases, but to be charitable (yeah, I’m playing against type here), he might be forgiven for curling up in a fetal position atop the ragged sofa, deep within the bowels of the command bunker, sucking his thumb and drinking Bud Light Lime through a straw.

After all, New Albany has bet one mighty honker of a pay packet on Break Wind’s supposedly transformative boost to trickle-down-town living, and Gahan has been right there to take credit for every last dollop of the hot-glued polymer. He’s poured the concrete, pounded the nails, sold the movie rights and has donned the lousy t-shirt.

While it remains unlikely, Gahan may even be astute enough to understand how much he has to lose if the 200-unit status symbol isn’t rebuilt -- and more importantly, fully leased.

The mayor probably didn’t assess the social media response engendered by the inconvenient fire. Fittingly, John Q. Public fully supports the city’s firefighters and first responders, but even I was surprised by the tone of scattered conceptual vitriol (paraphrasing):

Why should firefighters risk their lives battling flames at an apartment complex that won’t be paying taxes to support the fire department until after most of today’s city employees are retired?

And,

Why is the city subsidizing luxury housing for the benefit of those who already can afford to pay, when quality affordable housing is getting hard to find?

Flaherty & Collins Properties, which has undertaken a staggering number of housing “partnerships” with gullible local governmental units in Indiana and other states, says it plans to fulfill the mayoral mandate and rebuild the afflicted unit.

Until the developer receives a pained nod from its insurer, all we know for sure is that given the increasing pace of demolitions in New Albany, area landfills are the biggest winners.

Or should the word be “losers”?

---

Intriguingly, The Breakwater isn't the first example of a fire at a Flaherty & Collins Properties development under construction.

Back in 2009, another luxurious Indianapolis development called The Cosmopolitan also experienced pre-opening flames, which subsequently were attributed to a deranged homeless man.

Eventually he was released from custody and the charges dropped owing to lack of  evidence. The Cosmopolitan complex subsequently was finished and opened to residents.

According to the News and Tribune, the official cause of the Breakwater conflagration was neither your friendly correspondent, who was asleep at the time, nor a carelessly discarded cigarette butt.

I don’t smoke cigarettes, people; let's hope they didn't find a cigar band. Actually it was an HVAC installer, who probably is out of a job at present.

According to an incident report released this afternoon, the fire likely began in the ceiling area above the mechanical room in apartment unit 217.

Joe Miller, an HVAC installer employed by Del Monde Heating and Air Conditioning, told investigators that he was soldering a copper line in the ceiling of that same unit on Fri., Feb. 24, sometime between 1 and 2:30 p.m. That's when the insulation around the copper line caught fire.

Miller said he tried to put the fire out himself, using multiple fire extinguishers for approximately 45 minutes. He told investigators that he thought he extinguished the fire. Other contractors reported seeing smoke and knowing "something was on fire," but nobody ever called the fire department.

It also bears noting that with the city of New Albany subsidizing an Indianapolis property juggernaut’s investment, essentially providing the sort of hedge against business failure that other small businesses don’t enjoy, the HVAC company cited in the preceding is located in Cincinnati.

That’s how much Flaherty & Collins supports localism.

---

George Santayana did not play shortstop for the Phillies. He was a philosopher (sorry, Shane), and is remembered primarily for these words.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Of course, most Americans forget history with clock-like regularity each morning while driving to work, even as they pluck fast food abominations from their paper sacks and issue social media proclamations against immigration, same-sex marriage and evolution, pausing only chant “Death to the Roundabout.”

Consequently, let’s review the history of the Reichstag fire.

Not long after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor or Germany in 1933 (by legal means), the parliament building in Berlin – Reichstag in German – caught on fire and was almost completely gutted.

The blaze provided the ideal pretext for Hitler and the Nazi party to blame their enemies for setting it, including Communists and Jews, quickly suspending the legal framework of the Weimar Republic and consolidating complete power in the hands of Hitler so he could properly combat the threat.

You probably know what happened next, although these days nothing can be taken for granted.

While it remains unclear exactly who masterminded the Reichstag arson, history’s general assumption is that one of Hitler’s accomplices did the deed under Der Fuehrer’s orders. Really, when you’re chomping at the bit to grab dictatorial power and murder millions of people, these matters simply can’t be left to chance.

Consequently, I’m severely disappointed in the mundane verdict of the Break Wind investigation. For one thing, Miller is not a Bulgarian-sounding name at all. What of motives? Did they check to see if he’d ever been sold a lemon by Coyle Chevrolet, or a bad meal at Frisch's Big Boy?

In my addled imagination, I foresaw a dramatic press conference at the scene of smoldering ruins, and the revelation that Them Break Wind Lofts at Duh-Duggins Flats got torched by a militant, disgruntled former public housing resident who’d lost his or her home to Gahan’s escalating campaign against the poor -- not to be confused with useful anti-poverty measures mostly unfamiliar to local DemoDisneyDixiecrats.

With the public housing resident (Mr. Van der Lubbe?) safely in custody, Gahan finally would possess all the reason he needs to close down the Housing Authority, courtesy of an edict from a board hand-packed with fawning sycophants.

The demolition orders duly signed and posted at the dog park, Gahan could then call in the pre-arranged school buses (rail cars are so very hard to find, and Superintendent Hibbard eager to help) and deport the impoverished to their new homes in the Knobs. Far better Mark Seabrook’s problem than a mayoral hologram eager to insure that the luxurious invitees aren’t exposed to the untidiness of the rabble.

I know; you’re right.

My imagined scenario is unlikely, though not because Gahan wouldn’t attempt it if offered the opportunity. Rather, it’s the all-purpose absence of political consciousness in New Albany.

Principled and politicized arson is as rare in this burg as a Democrat who grasps the necessity of affordable housing first, and not unenecessary corporate welfare for “luxury” companies already sufficiently capitalized to take investment risks on their own.

So, the Taj Mahal is to be repaired, and it looks like we're going to get the Breaking Water we deserve.

If the unfortunate Mr. Miller needs a job, there's always the anchor-certified NA ordinance enforcement division.

---

Recent columns:

February 23: ON THE AVENUES: A stern-side view of Gravity Head, nineteen times over.

February 16: ON THE AVENUES: In 2014 as in 2015, then 2016, now 2017 ... yes, it's the "Adamite Chronicles: Have muzzle, will drivel."

February 9: ON THE AVENUES: I'd stop drinking, but I'm no quitter.

February 2: ON THE AVENUES: A luxury-obsessed Jeff Gahan has packed a board and now seeks to break the New Albany Housing Authority. Can we impeach him yet?

The Cosmopolitan: Turns out The Breakwater isn't the first fire at a Flaherty & Collins development under construction.

The article is eight years old. It was anonymously written, and it is the only post at the blog. Links are broken. By 2010, the arrested man had been released for lack of evidence, and the Cosmopolitan development was completed and opened.

Therefore, this link is purely for entertainment value.

Until it isn't. Thanks, A.

Tin Foil Hats? (The Cosmopolitan Fire: Flaherty and Collins Uncovered)

By now everyone in Indy has heard about the fire that destroyed the downtown development known as "The Cosmopolitan". This project, backed by Flaherty and Collins, was a $37m retail/apartment development slated to open in May of this year.

Recently an arrest has been made, and Brandon Burns, a 23 year old homeless man, has been charged with arson in the incident.

Does anyone else smell the bullshit surrounding this entire affair?!?

I am not the type to wear the tin foil hat, or scream conspiracy from the rooftops, but come on! Let's take a look at some facts, shall we?

Monday's best social media comment about the Breakwater fire.

This one, from KLB:

"Too bad the developers got a massive TIF handout and didn't pay into any of the fire protection they got."

Of course, we're speaking of the the Saturday conflagration.

The Breakwater fire: Luckily there were no injuries, but are we REALLY sure the deity favors subsidized luxury?

By afternoon yesterday, the Elm Street side of the apartment complex had completely disappeared. As we await the implications of rebuilding, which the Green Mouse predicts will include a reformat of the phase-in of the downtown grid project, as streets must be kept nice and wide to facilitate fresh new matchsticks being trucked to the site, have you noticed that the Indy developer was lightning fast in assuring all and sundry that the complex was built to code?

“Fortunately, as the B building was not yet complete and unoccupied, no one was injured,” Michael Collins, Regional Property Manager for Flaherty & Collins Properties said. “We’re working to determine what caused the fire. There were no sprinklers on, which was to code because the building was incomplete and had not yet been issued a certificate of occupancy.”

Has someone suggested it wasn't?

Perhaps the mayor will have something coherent to add to all this (Vegas, do we have odds?), having been silent since Saturday morning.

Let's be charitable. After all, Team Gahan needs time to nurse the inevitable hangover from a weekend spent problem-drinking Bud Light Lime. The unfortunate Breakwater fire is the first major crisis of the current management's tenure, and as the Academy Awards demonstrated, there are those times when things are not as they seem.

The Breakwater fire: Luckily there were no injuries, but are we REALLY sure the deity favors subsidized luxury?

Courtesy WHAS.

Some of us have spent a great deal of time and effort debating the merits of the Flaherty and Collins "luxury" apartment complex at the former Coyle block. These long hours might have been devoted to martinis, books and heavy metal; it's a dirty job, but one that remains sadly necessary in the absence of responsible local journalism.

The overall question has been phrased somewhat like this:

To what extent (if any) should City Hall subsidize private, for-profit development with an array of sewer tap-in waivers, tax abatements and other incentives -- enticements generally unavailable to smaller business entities, who must sink or swim by their own merits -- especially when the objective is high-end housing in a locale where poverty is rampant?

Yesterday morning the unoccupied, about-to-be-completed wing of The Breakwater, comprising two-thirds of the development's residential space on the west side of the block (Elm and 4th), caught fire. The sprinkler system had not been activated because construction was ongoing. The result was an arduous daylong firefighting battle in adverse conditions.

It is far too early to judge, but the likelihood is high that the wing is a total loss, and the developers already have publicly committed to a rebuild, at least in statements to local media. There'll be an investigation into the cause of the fire. Presumably insurance will impel Flaherty and Collins forward to completion, while local taxpayers get the bill for fighting the blaze.

But it might have been far worse. We're all grateful that the building had no residents, and as usual in these cases, our first responders deserve comprehensive kudos. Fire fighters were on the job yesterday at 5:00 a.m. on a windy and cold day. They were joined by compatriots from Jeffersonville, Clarksville and Georgetown, and some of them probably are still there more than 24 hours later.

If I were Flaherty and Collins, there'd be 100+ area first responders enjoying complimentary steaks at Brooklyn and The Butcher.

Beyond all this, one point needs to be reiterated. I overheard a discussion at a recent meeting, in which The Breakwater was being discussed, and its luxuriousness praised. There were oohs and aahs, but without any meaningful context (how did this come to be?), it's impossible to arrive at a balanced conclusion.

City Hall obviously picked a winner in The Breakwater; conversely, it let "losers" languish. Discussions about propriety are by no means concluded, and the unfortunate fire doesn't change the parameters of this debate one single, solitary bit.

Civic engagement is not zero-sum. There are more options than all/none, and more angles of discussion than this/that. Assuming the developers rebuild, a finished and fully occupied apartment complex also won't change the parameters of the debate.

That's because it is perfectly legitimate to continue to ask questions about the applicability of taxpayer subsidies, the precedent of sewer tap-in waivers, the quality of construction techniques, the use of union versus non-union labor, the applicability of giveaways in the cause of "economic development" -- to name only a few issues.

In summary, profuse thanks are due our firefighters and first responders. It's a good thing residents weren't in the building. Decisions having already been made, the fire is a setback (see CM Knable's video and comments) and probably nothing more.

We'll be watching to see what happens next, and those questions? There is no reason to stop asking them, is there?