Campaign Diary, Chapter 11: Ten months ago, "To the third floor -- but first, we throw the rascals out."

It was the final salvo of 2014 and the opening broadside of 2015, all wrapped into a New Year's Eve column. The details have fallen into place since then, but the broader outline has been fairly consistent from the start.

Two months later my leave of absence began, and consequently, 2015 has been an incredibly wild ride, and I cannot thank all of you too many times for joining me on it. By Tuesday night, there'll be electoral clarity. 

All there is left to say is ... let's do this. 

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ON THE AVENUES: To the third floor -- but first, we throw the rascals out.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

It’s always important to remember that until something actually happens, nothing at all has happened.

This axiom might well be New Albany’s depressing city motto through the ages, reflecting as it does an insecure municipality forever fond of talking a good game, but almost never following through.

However, to be perfectly fair, it applies to me just as accurately.

And so, in the coming weeks, I’ll complete the required paperwork, get the necessary signatures on the mandated petition, and file as an independent candidate to run for mayor of New Albany in 2015.

It won’t be official until it is official, but it will happen.

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My rationale isn't overly complicated. I’m running for mayor because a city in transition like New Albany, where the unfulfilled possibilities can make you ache and scream in unison, desperately needs progressive ideas like those espoused by people just like me, from all walks of life, who routinely have been marginalized or ignored by the same old game, played the same old way, by the same old, tired political suspects.

Even better, I think there are enough voters of like mind in New Albany to win this race.

New Albany needs coherent, progressive ideas expressed as a sustainable master plan, with goals and objectives, and as openly embraced, owned and implemented by City Hall, not used merely as diversionary propaganda for the unwitting consumption of social media and superannuated rote-vote Dixiecrats.

A mayor needs to believe in his plan, to advocate for his plan, and to engage the public as equal participants in their governance, rather than promoting the incumbent's currently voguish practice of hiding from the public, skulking in formerly smoke-filled rooms, and doing his business in the shadowy corridors of appointed commissions and boards.

I’m utterly convinced that if someone like me does not step forward at this time to promote different ways of progressive civic thinking in a higher-profile manner, the dull Philistines of the locality will triumph, and our two underperforming local political parties, which share power to the satisfaction of both, will remain unwilling and incapable of anything approximating progressive thinking.

This is particular true of the rapidly disintegrating former Democratic patronage machine, which might have arrested its slide into irrelevance had it ever once been willing to sniff the faintest perimeters of the contemporary planet.

Chairman Dickey prefers Walt Disney, but I believe Mikhail Gorbachev’s prescient remark in 1989 to Erich Honecker, ruler of East Germany, is more appropriate:

“Life punishes those who delay.”

Our local Democratic Party has delayed, and now its shaky “New Albany Wall” might topple into vapid rubble at the slightest nudge.

If so, I’m volunteering for privilege of pushing.

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And what about a platform?

It shouldn’t surprise you to learn that I’m just like most people in New Albany. I have a job or two, a family, bills to pay and interests to pursue.

Unlike David White, I haven’t had time to cut and paste One Southern Indiana’s obsequious boilerplate bromides into a seemingly comprehensive “job creation” campaign platform, but I’m constantly working to integrate my own ideas in my own words.

Campaigning is an on-the-job learning experience, so this electoral crusade will evolve over time. In the interim, if you’d like a taste of what I’m about, simply scroll through 8,278 previous posts on this blog, dating back to October of 2004, and you’ll see that the progressive platform (the Bookseller’s “New Albanism”) has been building for a while. I’ve been right, and I’ve been wrong, but it’s all there. My name's on it, and I own it.

He who controls the past controls the future, and I’ve been writing the story of the past. Now it’s time to fast forward, sooner rather than later. Here are three broad beginning salvos, which apply cogently to residents in all of New Albany’s neighborhoods.

Progress is a two-way street.
The city’s most pervasive and expansive possession is its physical infrastructure -- its streets, sidewalks and parks -- and these aspects of the city’s physical infrastructure must be honed, modified and deployed together, as a self-reinforcing unit, to promote the city’s well-being and possibilities of is citizenry on an everyday basis, day in, day out, and not just when there’s a special event or festival.

New Albany for the New Albanians.
In the craft beer business, there is a saying: Think globally, drink locally. If you’ve purchased a home or invested in an independent small business, and consequently if you are living and working in the city, then progress needs to be about localism and economic localization. It needs to be about you, in the neighborhood where you live. After all, you’re there every day. If calmed traffic and two-way streets make it more time-consuming for a resident of Clarksville to reach the I-64 interstate ramp, so be it. The very first consideration should be about us, not the pass-through extractors.

City-ology. 
New Albany is a city, not a town in the countryside. It was built according to progressive urban principles, and it is best operated according to progressive urban principles, aspects of which include considerations of place and placemaking, safe streets and transportation for all users (not only their cars), urban design, historic preservation, asset-based community development, arts and cultural development, commercial district revitalization, tourism and destination development and quality of life advocacy.

All these and so much more. The primacy of ideas needn’t be an endangered species, and there is no reason that an independent candidate cannot articulate them.

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Naturally, there are numerous opinions as to the right and wrong ways to conduct a mayoral campaign.

I propose to do it in the only way I know how, according to the muse I follow: I’ll be me, and put the parts together as I go, precisely as most readers would if they were in these shoes.

I will not suddenly become an apostle of yard signs, a wearer of three-piece suits, a habitual interloper on your front porch, a glad-hander seeking vast sums of money, or a business person insisting that the city must be run just like his or her business (sorry, but government is more than just another business).

Rather, I’ll do what I’ve been doing for a very long time, which is challenge norms, stir the pot, rattle the cage and discuss different ways to achieve the city’s ultimate betterment.

I’ll seek to define the current occupant’s bizarrely muddled buzz phrases (quality of life, public safety, better access), primarily because he seems too confused to do so himself, and I’ll suggest pro-active civic policies designed to maximize New Albany for all residents, not merely targeted pockets of cynical political patronage.

In doing so, I shall refuse to be something I’m not, because pretending to be something I’m not would contradict my reasons for seeking office in the first place. There’s enough craven dishonesty in City Hall as it stands.

In the end, who and what I am, and the ideas I’m offering, will suffice – or they won’t. I’ll espouse what I’m for, attack what I’m against, and try as hard as I can to spread the word and engage voters.

In closing, the brief three-point progressive topic list offered here is hardly an exhaustive one, although you’ll no doubt notice that mayoral candidates in New Albany seldom, if ever, mention progressive topics like these.

There are two reasons for the omission.

First, they generally possess no awareness of progressive topics, having not cracked open a book since last required to do so by Mr. Dusch.

Second, if belatedly (remarkably) made aware of these progressive topics, they generally dismiss local interest in them – or, to echo David Duggins, arguably the most under-qualified economic development director in recent New Albany history, they simply bully listeners into silence by insisting that no one out there really wants to hear about such crazy things.

But I think they’re completely mistaken.

I think you’re out there, and have been all along.

I think you do want to hear about progressive topics.

I think you’re tired of holding your nose and voting for “C” and “D” students functioning as big fish in little ponds, or (understandably) not voting at all, and I think you’re eager to learn more urban-centric topics; to live in a city that does more than sneer at modernity; and to grasp that we can work smart in New Albany, too.

In the coming months, I’ll be asking for your help, and for your vote in November … because progress is a two-way street, and one-way politics aren’t.

Thanks for your support.

Campaign Diary, Chapter 10: Greenway news leads to bicycling flashbacks.

I'm the obsessive sort when I allow myself to be, and the past two years have been all about walking. However, today I got out the elderly bicycle and tooled around Midtown a bit.

When I say elderly ...

 ... that's the very same bike supporting my girth in 2004, along with my friends Bob and Tim, as well as a local horse trolling for apples. We're somewhere in the Ardennes hills of southeastern Belgium, in the process of visiting all the brewing monasteries in Belgium.

We called it the Tour de Trappist, and it was a blast.

The Ohio River Greenway has been back in the news the past couple of days, with work slated to begin on the third of four sections running through New Albany territory (from 8th Street to 18th Street). There is talk of the bridge across Silver Creek finally being started early next year.

It made me think of the forum Valla Ann Bolovschak hosted at The Grand in November of 2005. She'd been appointed New Albany’s recently representative to the Greenway Commission, and was soliciting opinions, suggestions and recommendations as to the future orientation of the project. Since then, we've finished the part from Silver Creek to 18th, and 8th to the Amphitheater.

Ten years ago, I prefaced my blog coverage of the forum with an anecdote about one of my own bicycling experiences in Europe.

Bob (pictured above) and I were bicycling in 2001 through the lovely wooded hillsides of the Franconia region of Germany, near Bamberg, and we stopped to soak up the countryside and look at a map. While doing so, we were overtaken by a group of five elderly men who we’d passed earlier in the day, before we had lost ground to them while pausing for a brief, restorative beer at one of the area’s many brewpubs.

All spoke English and were eager to exchange information about the immaculately signposted, maintained and dedicated bike route. In addition, as the precursor to a pattern we’ve observed so many times since, they were openly amazed to see Americans of any age riding bicycles in Germany.

It turns out that these well-heeled, multilingual and retired gentlemen were engaged in their 45th annual, several-hundred-kilometers-long bike jaunt in celebration of their university graduating class, and in this instance were making the trip from Frankfurt to Kulmbach – carrying light rear panniers loaded with the basics, traveling 25 to 30 mildly strenuous miles a day, then stopping for hearty meals, local beers and a good night’s sleep at an inn or bed and breakfast.

I looked at them, calculated their approximate ages, and thought, “that’s what I want to do when I get to be that old – but why wait until then.”

Even now, fourteen years later, I’m transfixed by the scene of these gracious, nonchalant, ruddy men enjoying a road trip’s worth of bicycling reunion time – and the five of them as utterly flabbergasted to see Americans riding bicycles for recreation as I was by the thought of my parents marking such an occasion by exercising in such a manner.

During the Greenway forum in 2005, it was revealed that in spite of the route's original stated intent as a roadway for automotive traffic, which in the 1990s took the form of a projected multi-million dollar vehicular bridge straight through the Loop Island Wetlands, common sense had at last prevailed, and the likely future form of the Greenway would be strictly limited insofar as motorized vehicles were concerned.

A senior citizen promptly interjected, somewhat indignantly, that to restrict the Greenway in such a fashion as not building it for automobiles would be to shortchange elderly residents (and their grandchildren) by denying them easy access to view from their car windows.

Dan Coffey, then as now the Wizard of Westside, later spoke about the critical need of making it easier for people to get across the levee from downtown to the river, noting that Scribner Place’s original design included a long ramp that would have eliminated the stairs currently required to gain a access to the river. He lamented the difficulty of climbing those stairs.

I kept thinking about the five elderly Germans on their bicycles.

There is no glib conclusion to these ruminations. As they say, it's a free country, and you can do as you please, but I'd rather keep exercising -- whether on foot or with a bike. I'm closer in age to those Germans than I was then, and I want to be like them when I'm 60-something, and beyond.

There's always mobile signboarding, too.

Campaign Diary, Chapter 9: Because it's the mayor of NEW ALBANY, not the mayor of HARVEST HOMECOMING.

Harvest Homecoming (Version 2015) has ended, and probably will be remembered for an unfortunate though apparently random gunshot more than this more important fact worth noting: While as yet imperfect, the festival's efforts in recent years to incorporate "here all year" businesses seem to be bearing fruit.

Matters are not ideal, but they're surely better. Good weather always helps. Let's recognize incremental progress and hope the momentum continues. There's always a element of "Kremlin watching" at play here, but Harvest Homecoming as an institution apparently understands there'll be a new variable in coming years, namely a larger and expanding cohort of downtown residents. It will be interesting to see how the festival reacts to these challenges, and evolves into its next phase.

It's the sort of process an activist mayor can help steward, seeing as his or her mandate is to consider the interests of the city as a whole, year-round.

Meanwhile, permit me to recap a weekend conversation. I wrote this on Saturday morning at Facebook.

In so many ways both great and small, Harvest Homecoming is a mass community exercise in selective collective memory. This isn't a pejorative, merely an observation, and having noted such -- so, how was the Swill Walk yesterday?

I was blithely confident that even casual observers would know that by including the words "this isn't a pejorative," my intent would be obvious: Not directed against Harvest Homecoming as an entity, since we all know the institution doesn't sanction the debauchery attached to it, but aimed at wretched beer in general.

As noted later on the same day, I detest bad beer of the sort that immerses and envelops Harvest Homecoming -- not every now and then, but every day. It neatly (and ironically) reverses my campaign staple of "every day, not every now and then."

But reader DL wasn't having any of it.

Why does this man want to be mayor? Does he realize that the Harvest Homecoming does not support or endorse an official beer walk, or "swill walk" as he chooses to refer to it? Does he realize that his consistent disdain for the city's largest and most popular festival only makes him look like an ass? With everything I've read, heard, and now seen for myself, I don't understand why this man wants to be mayor.

I'll answer DL's questions in turn.

He wants to be mayor to run the city more efficiently and introduce modernity to the decision-making process.

He knows Harvest Homecoming does not support the non-family-friendly aspects of the festival, and has spent much time ruminating on the legal framework, both state and local, in which the attendant "swill walk" culture thrives in spite of Harvest Homecoming's misgivings. A municipal open container ordinance, anyone?

He is willing to be perceived as an ass if his advocacy contributes to progress in helping Harvest Homecoming become aware of the "here all year" businesses inconvenienced by its temporary footprint, and is happy to report (see above) that this situation is improving. Kudos to any and all responsible for furthering an atmosphere of reform.

He gently suggests that what you've read, heard and seen probably emanate from sources with bones to pick, but having said this, he wouldn't think of restricting comments or freedom to exchange ideas. In fact, he believes it's important for a mayoral candidate to be completely open and transparent, and is happy to reprint subsequent messages (with DL's explicit permission).

Roger: Sorry, can't reply publicly (on your Fb page) owing to settings, but I will privately when there is time.

Roger: First, you can feel free to comment anywhere on my social media. Unlike Team Gahan, I don't censor. Second, I know quite well that the swill walk isn't HH's idea. I'm in the craft beer business, and it's swill I hate, not HH. Finally, I've been working with HH on worthwhile projects, summarized below. Cheers.

DL: Thanks for your concern over my sharing, however none of this answers my question. Also, I'm aware of how you deal with HH because I have family that is very active with the festival, my mind has been made on that issue. If you can honestly answer why you want to be mayor without attacking the incumbent, or large groups of NA voters, I'd be happy to adjust my settings so you could respond directly on my post.

Roger: When the incumbent runs on his record, it is fair game to critique the record. This I have done, and also added quite a lot of points of my own to it, most recently at the link below. As for my critiques of HH, the fact that the fest has begun to change the nature of its presence downtown in response to "here all year" businesses is proof of the accuracy of these critiques, and also indication that HH can be engaged -- which I've thanked it for. Pragmatism and compromise are good things. No need to change your settings if your mind is made up. I'd merely point out that when I was younger, my mind was made up about many things ... until it was unmade, which happens often when one's mind is open to other points of view. Cheers.

DL: "When the incumbent runs on his record, it is fair game to critique the record." You have a record of nit-picking everything the HH festival does. You offer nothing new from what I've read from what you have provided. It's nothing that the average New Albany voter will care about. You ran a great business and I appreciate and support that business as I consider myself a beer-snob as well, mostly from your beer, by the way. However, you or your supporters have given me any hope of a more positive, friendlier New Albany. Has the Gahan administration done everything I agree with? No. But I know that they absolutely have everyone in this city's best interests at their central focus and from everything you've provided me, I cannot say that about your candidacy. Cheers as well.

Roger: Fair enough, and that's why we have elections; let's just not confuse city government with HH. Both are about politics, but different politics, and over a period of almost 50 years. Politics is about power: Who has it, how it is used, who benefits, and so on. HH's recent reforms, like adjusting booths to provide alignment with year-round businesses downtown, seem to be having good outcomes. Far fewer of the "here all year" businesses are unhappy, as opposed to three years ago. HH has communicated better, and there has been improvement. That's why I said almost nothing this year save for the Fb comment you picked up on -- and that was about bad beer at root, not HH.

Most of us have good intentions. It doesn't mean that what we're doing doesn't have another whole set of options attached to it, and whether it's an election or HH, those who see it differently must have the opportunity to join the process in a pluralistic society. This I've done, and will continue to do. Thanks for chatting and exchanging views. BTW, do you mind if I blog your post and this conversation? I support transparency and openness, even when someone disagrees. I'd use only your initials. Thanks.

DL: I don't mind because I would like to do the same.

Roger: Excellent, and full reciprocity. Thanks.

Campaign Diary, Vol. 8: My answers in the News and Tribune questionnaire.

I've submitted my answers to the News and Tribune candidate questionnaire, and here they are.

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NAME

Roger Baylor

OFFICE YOU ARE SEEKING

Mayor of New Albany

AGE

55

POLITICAL PARTY

Independent

POLITICAL EXPERIENCE

None, although I refuse to hold the political experience of my opponents against them.

FAMILY

My wife is Diana Baylor, a native of Maine, who is a social worker at Seven Counties Services in Louisville. Seeing as we have no children, most of my cousins live elsewhere, and my mother is retired, you needn’t fear nepotism from a Baylor administration.

OCCUPATION

Since 1990, I’ve been engaged in the craft brewing and restaurant business. I’m co-owner of the New Albanian Brewing Company (Pizzeria & Public House) and Bank Street Brewhouse, and also have been published as a free-lance writer. My interests include reading, cooking, walking, bicycling and music.

RELATED PERTINENT EXPERIENCE

I currently serve on the Board of Directors of the Brewers of Indiana Guild and am secretary of the New Albany Restaurant & Bar Association. Previous positions include the boards of the New Albany Urban Enterprise Association and Develop New Albany.

YOUR WEBSITE (IF APPLICABLE) [IF NONE, ANSWER N/A]

baylorformayor.com
www.cityofnewalbany.blogspot.com

PLEASE PROVIDE AN EMAIL ADDRESS FOR CONFIRMATION PURPOSES

mayorbaylor@gmail.com

NEW ALBANY MAYOR

WHY ARE YOU RUNNING FOR THIS OFFICE?

New Albany has come a long way in recent years, and as an independent local businessman right in the middle of this revitalization, I’ve seen the inexhaustible willingness of local entrepreneurs to work hard and invest, as well as the support and enthusiasm of New Albany’s residents, who really want to see improvement in the quality of their lives.

I’ve also seen how little of this progress is driven by our political culture, and that’s why I’m running for mayor. We need a different pair of eyes to see what’s coming next.

Currently the city of New Albany is controlled by the Democratic Party, and while I’ve been left-leaning my whole life, the Gahan administration simply doesn‘t have what it takes to prioritize and innovate for the city’s future. On the other hand, Floyd County is run by the Republican Party, and the county is starved, financially as well as intellectually. One party has a stranglehold on the city, and the other on the county.

Where’s the choice in that?

Why run as an independent? A better question would be, why not?

The usual suspects are NO LONGER AN OPTION. Two major parties may share power, but they don’t have a monopoly of ideas. In fact, the best ideas don’t even come from political parties. They come from real people, and deserve a fair hearing.

The two-party system here is broken, and it’s not going to get any better on its own. And for most of us, governance isn’t about party affiliation, anyway. It’s about managing competently, planning rationally and producing results every single day – right here in New Albany -- where we live and work and play.

WHAT MAKES YOU THE BEST CANDIDATE FOR THIS OFFICE?

I’m not a politician, but 25 years as a local independent business owner has equipped me with a useful tool box. Local independent business owners strive to maintain a level playing field for consumers. We listen, accommodate, troubleshoot, manage employees and solve problems as they arise. We create tangible value from scratch, as with the American craft beer industry.

I’ve also traveled through America and Europe, paying attention to life and learning how things work. I’ve probably attended more council meetings than some elected council persons, and maintained a public affairs blog (NA Confidential) for the past 11 years.

I’m uniquely placed to break the two-party stalemate in New Albany and Floyd County, and to be a bridge to the next generation of leaders. I have no political party to serve, only the people of New Albany, and I won’t ever forget that. As your mayor, neither my name nor the names of elected officials will appear on plaques. “The City of New Albany” means all the people, not just a privileged few. My team will manage your investment in this community, and to provide an equitable return. It’s going to be about us, not me.

WHAT IS THE MOST PRESSING ISSUE FACING THIS OFFICE AND HOW WOULD YOU PROPOSE HANDLING IT?

TIF bonds do not a civic mission statement make. It’s time to stop thinking about New Albany in terms of past glories and how we can borrow to restore them, and begin viewing this city in a future context. What’s our specific place in metro Louisville? What kind of municipality do we intend to be?

Long-term thinking begins with deep analysis – how are we going to pay for Jeff Gahan’s spending spree for WANTS, and return the focus to fundamental NEEDS. It won’t be easy. There is no single pressing issue, but rather a laundry list of interconnected challenges:

• Transparency, and the need for more sunlight and fewer decisions by appointed boards
• Infrastructure: Streets, sewers, storm water and communications
• Empowerment, and taking care of our own people first
• Localism in economic development
• Affordable housing and homelessness
• Rental property registration and inspection
• Economic inequality and sub-par wages
• The effect of bridge tolls
• Human rights and civil liberties

The list goes on, but in the end, quality of life isn’t measured by flower beds planted along just one street, a water park useful for only for a few months a year, or musical concerts funded by taxpayer money. A mayor isn’t supposed to be a combination of Elvis, PT Barnum and Walt Disney.

The mayor must administer and manage the city’s infrastructure every day, not every now and then, striving to improve quality of life by means of a level daily playing field for all citizens, not only the privileged few. City government’s job is to keep public services working, maintain public safety, and set the table for private enterprise to invest, provide jobs and multiply choices.

These actions must occur transparently, without prejudice, and with as much public participation as can reasonably be provided. Because few of these mandates are being pursued at present, perhaps the most pressing issue facing New Albany is restoring a sense of shared purpose to City Hall, and to do so fairly and openly.

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT STEPS THE CITY CAN TAKE TO ATTRACT GOOD JOBS TO NEW ALBANY?

It would help to ask the right questions about what good jobs really mean in this day and age. We’re at a crossroads in terms of economic development. In the past, having industrial park acreage was sufficient for deploying the usual “boilerplate” economic development tools like subsidies, incentives and tax abatements, but we’re being hit with a double whammy.

First, modern economies require modern infrastructure, which we’re lagging behind in offering, as in fiber optic communications.

Second, the advent of River Ridge Commerce Center in Clark County – the state’s chosen regional winner – means that henceforth, someone else can always do “boilerplate” far better than us.

Therefore, we need to do economic development differently than before. There’ll likely be no more Pillsbury plants, but there can be a greater number of small companies to spread risks and rewards. We must shift our economic development strategies to meet these challenges, by focusing on localism, start-ups, entrepreneurs and grassroots economic initiatives.

Localism is vital. As the American Independent Business Alliance says:

“Multiple studies show locally-owned independent restaurants return twice as much per dollar of revenue to our local economy than chain restaurants. And independent retailers return more than three times as much money per dollar of sales than chain competitors.”

Consequently, New Albany’s economic development strategies must be directed toward greater recognition of the key role played by independent local businesses. We need genuine infrastructure enhancement, spread throughout the city rather than concentrated in one place, including fiber optic, multi-modal two-way streets and incubation/pollination incentives.

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE IS THE BEST WAY TO ADDRESS NEW ALBANY’S DOWNTOWN STREET GRID, IF AT ALL?

Two ways are better than one. Period. The evidence is in, and the verdict is returned.

I am the city’s foremost advocate for traffic calming, complete streets and the prompt and comprehensive restoration of the city’s original two-way street grid. We’ve paid Jeff Speck, the nation’s foremost engineering expert to explain exactly how and why two-way streets work. Now we must take Speck’s study off the dusty shelf and implement it.

Immediately.

One-way streets were a 1960-era suburban solution to urban problems that no longer exist, and nowadays they act as invasive high-speed interstate highways slicing dangerously through densely populated urban neighborhoods. As such, a preponderance of research shows that maintaining these wide-lane, high-speed, pass-through arterial streets reduce neighborhood and core business district property values.

They also make walking and biking unsafe. Speed kills, and any city genuinely concerned with public safety for people, not just their cars, recognize a responsibility to promote safety by design.

While one-way streets work against other revitalization efforts, research proves that two-way streets encourage a number of positive outcomes, ranging from increased quality of life in neighborhoods to a more level playing field for local independent business, and including the enhancement of property values and reduced crime.

Calmed two-way streets do not exclude large commercial vehicles, which must drive more slowly via narrower lanes, which in turn help redefine the terms of engagement by promoting multi-modal use. Better still, two-way streets and infrastructure designed to promote walking and biking are the New Albany equivalent of Jeffersonville’s Big Four Bridge, because our up and coming generations demand these options.

Walkability and bikeability are realities capable of being harnessed to connect neighborhoods with the central business district, and link the same neighborhoods to outlying “thinking” destinations like IU Southeast and the Purdue Center. We have transportation corridors, and they need to be capable of being used by everyone.

Two-way completed streets made suitable for all persons, not just those piloting motorized vehicles, should be the stated, above-board, publicly advanced and ultimate goal. I’ll begin working toward this goal on January 1, 2016.

HOW WOULD YOU ADDRESS THE CITY’S DILAPIDATED BUILDINGS AND UNSIGHTLY PROPERTIES?

The logical first step is consistent ordinance enforcement, because if we continue to demolish properties while remaining passive as to their systematic neglect, we’ll someday run out of buildings to tear down. That would be a shame, and not just because the demolition kickbacks would cease.

It’s because (a) the greenest building there can be is the one already standing, and (b) historic preservation adds inestimable value to the urban core.

For the past 12 years, Democrats have held the mayor’s chair and a huge majority of council seats, and there has been almost no progress toward ordinance enforcement or an accompanying program to incentivize infill construction in those instances (far fewer than you might think) when demolition is the only choice. At the same time, we’re throwing millions (including sewer tap-in waivers) at an Indianapolis developer to build “luxury” apartments at the Coyle site.

What if a fraction of this amount went to encourage affordable infill housing? It’s an idea worth pursuing.

WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE ARE APPROPRIATE USES FOR TAX-INCREMENT FINANCING FUNDS?

As an economic development tool, TIF should be safe, legal and rare.

TIF is intended as government’s tithe toward basic infrastructure as a spur for private investment and development – not to take the place of private investment and development by funding 100% of top-down, government-inspired capital projects, which have become little more than bright shiny objects to propel re-election campaigns.

The Gahan administration’s funding of park expansion with TIF puts the cart before the horse. The debt thus incurred to achieve one man’s questionable vision will handicap future municipal governments, while failing to produce the economic progress we need now to raise the tax base. TIF abuse forces us to pay a higher price for “wants,” because in addition to the price of bright shiny objects, there is an opportunity cost in the form of what we might have done instead.

TIF also obscures the budgetary process. Mayor Gahan’s presumably balanced budget does not take into consideration these bonded capital “improvement” projects, which add up to somewhere around $100 million in bonded debt, payable with interest over decades.

It’s a good thing your grandchildren like the water park. They’ll still be paying for it after you’re gone, when they have children of their own.

WOULD YOU SUPPORT NEW ALBANY POLICE DEPARTMENT OFFICERS WEARING BODY CAMERAS?

There is a case to be made for police body-worn cameras, which can boost accountability and the delivery of justice, but we must be careful not to see these as some sort of perfect solution to the evolution of better policing.

We’re early in the game when it comes to camera programs. There are issues yet to be resolved, among them procedural. When do the cameras roll, and when do they stop? What about privacy and public records requests?

These issues eventually will be resolved, and so I generally favor police-worn cameras, though not in a policy vacuum. The fundamental role of police in the community must be clearly defined and constantly reinforced through community-oriented policing and ongoing training in areas like crisis intervention.

Plainly, the more our police know, the better they can reply to a constantly changing scene. Cameras are part of this program, though not the only component. In this area, as with the other mentioned previously, better communication always is a fundamental step.

As mayor, I’ll begin by meeting with the entire police department – something the current mayor hasn’t found time to do in four whole years.

Campaign Diary, Chapter 7: Economic development, quality of life and New Albanian inner rings.

In New Albany geographical context, we're speaking broadly of the post-WWII inner ring suburbs between the historic city center and I-265. It applies to commercial strips like the Colonial Manor center on Charlestown Road. Previously we referenced Sanphillippo's essay here: Impure thoughts about suburbia" and New Albanian corridors.

More recently, we looked at an argument for adaptability for these areas: Securing inner ring suburbs by "moving away from the traditional suburban standards and making them adaptable."

All these ideas address two common misperceptions: That (a) the city of New Albany devotes disproportionate attention to downtown, and (b) that a downtowner like me cares only for my immediate vicinity.

In fact, sprawl (of which inner ring suburbs were the earliest example) always has cost more, dollar for dollar, than efforts to utilize denser urban centers. Moreover, looking back over the past decade, it can be seen that city spending on downtown has indeed been disproportionate -- but only in the sense that time and money has not gone to further private investment during the same time.

Furthermore, when the city has spent money downtown, it invariably has been justified on errant premises, as with the Main Street beautification project. If anything, reigning city decision-makers continue to think and spend downtown according to suburban precepts, which is senseless on multiple levels, though useful when explaining $9 million water parks.

Besides that, for 25 years I've owned a business off Grant Line Road and University Woods Drive, and for ten years I lived a block away from it.

What's true is this: We need development and maintenance strategies for the inner ring as well as downtown. These have been more slow to evolve, but suggestions are emerging in American experiences elsewhere.

DR. STRANGELOVE: OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE SPRAWL (SORT OF), by John Sanphillippo (New Geography)

I’m a longtime advocate of walkable, mixed-use, mixed-income, transit-served neighborhoods. But lately I’ve been having impure thoughts about suburbia. Let me explain.

What often passes for a neighborhood in America is a low grade assemblage of chain convenience stores, big box outlets, franchise muffler shops, multi-lane highways, and isolated cul-de-sacs. Even when it’s physically possible to walk or bike from Point A to Point B it’s not pleasant, safe, or convenient.

Or, those landscapes along our roadway corridors between downtown and I-265. Among them, State Street, Grant Line Road and Charlestown Road are the primary commercial zones.

I always assumed that these neighborhoods would all devolve into the new slums – and many certainly are doing that. Ferguson, Missouri anyone? But it doesn’t have to go that way. These forgotten suburban neighborhoods can just as easily be the new sweet spots for small enterprise and a renewed middle class.

The author proceeds to explain, and later in the article, he makes a handy point about bicycle aptitude.

The primary factor in their favor is that highway expansion and car-oriented improvements are fantastically expensive, while bike infrastructure is ridiculously cheap.

Indeed, the distances are short. With proper bicycle infrastructure, a person living near Silver Street Park could bike to IU Southeast or downtown in a very short time -- a far more "millennial" response than the mayor's luxury apartments. Because ...

What about all those tragic little post war ranch homes? Well, it turns out that they’re radically less expensive than either a condo downtown or a McMansion in the newer suburbs.

The conclusion isn't unexpected.

So far what I’m seeing is that a dead downtown contributes to even deader close in neighborhoods. A thriving downtown attracts more people to the city and creates an economic incentive for people to get creative with the reinvention of not-so-fabulous nearby areas. So if you want your struggling suburb to succeed, support your downtown.

There is one inescapable element to this conversation. Whether living in the inner ring or operating a business there, stakeholders simply must communicate and work together. New Albany's traditional tolerance of political fixing and one-party dominance has tended to mute grassroots organizing.

If there is to be a renewal of quality of life in the inner ring and prospects for business, as described in the article linked here, cooperation of this sort is absolutely necessary.

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.

Campaign Diary, Chapter 5: Essential reading about urbanism if you're interested in correctives to Jeff Gahan's suburban dreck.

"The idea that compact, mixed use, pedestrian friendly development is somehow alien to American families or productive capitalism is so strange. It’s exactly this type of building that made America financially and culturally strong from the very beginning. It’s actually all the low grade scattershot construction smeared across the landscape that’s concentrating wealth into fewer and fewer distant hands and impoverishing ordinary towns and families."

Anyone seen Scott Blair?

I hear that his bank stands ready and waiting to ignore the lessons herein -- early and often.

If you're still confused by what we've been saying with regard to urbanism, please read the article linked here. It's about how we build and use cities, and the point comes down to this:

"Form ... dictated by practical considerations based on what worked well on a tight budget."

In short, what Jeff Gahan has spent the past four years NOT doing.

Consequently, you can consider the article a de facto Baylor for Mayor campaign speech. Can either of my opponents touch any of this, either in terms of conceptual grasp or actual performance while occupying various offices over a period of years?

(crickets chirp, pins drop ... somewhere, a Gahan billboard is erected at the headquarters of a downtown neighborhood association, and a tsunami borne of cognitive dissonance threatens our collective existence as rational human beings)

I didn't think so, but go ahead and delude yourselves.

Do exactly what the tone-deaf local Democratic Party wants you to do, but at least have the good grace to remove the "Gahan for Mayor" blinders first -- and seriously, do away with your anti-GOP "chickens vote for Colonel Sanders" bumper sticker, because the closer to New Albany's historic center you live, the more your support for Gahan becomes this fowl analogy.

Cluck it.

I've highlighted just three passages, but you really need to read the entire article. Thanks to JeffG for calling my attention to it.

Middle of the Road Kentucky, by Johnny (Granola Shotgun)

... It also happens to embody all the tenets promoted by the Smart Growth “coastal elite”. Except Bellevue was founded in 1870 by some profoundly conservative market oriented families. Bellevue isn’t New Urbanism. It’s just plain old fashioned regular urbanism like every other town built before World War II. Its form was dictated by practical considerations based on what worked well on a tight budget. From the beginning there was a good balance of taxable private property relative to the public cost of providing quality municipal services ...

... Some people like living in a walkable neighborhood. Other people prefer a driveable suburban living arrangement. It’s a big country so there’s room for everyone to find a place they really love and want to call home. But there are inherent benefits and drawbacks to each kind of development. Notice that everything that makes the old part of Bellevue pleasant for people on foot makes it less conducive to people in cars. The opposite is true in the newer part of town. The more a place is made effortlessly driveable the less it works for pedestrians or cyclists ...

... Most municipalities and states (and the federal government for that matter) are consistently spending more than they collect in revenue. A majority of towns are already deep in debt and servicing that debt is becoming a larger and larger portion of the budget. The usual conversation of, “Teachers are paid way too much” and, “We just need to entice a big employer to our town” or, “If we widened the highway the new Target and Walmart will arrive to provide tax revenue” has entered an era of diminishing returns. This approach isn’t going to fix what’s broken. In fact, this set of policies is what’s slowly destroying our towns.

Campaign Diary, Chapter 4: Rental property registration, exclusionary zoning, ordinance enforcement and the SIRA luncheon.

At yesterday's Southern Indiana Realtors Association candidate luncheon, which predictably was boycotted by New Albany's hermetic and curtained Jeff Gahan, I was pleased that the general topic of "ordinance enforcement" formed part of one question to each  candidate.

There were two candidates present from Jeffersonville, Salem and New Albany. The incumbent Charlestown mayor's opponent had a prior commitment, as did Gahan: Oz was flossing, and couldn't be bothered.

Six of the seven mayoral candidates present yesterday expressed a preference for "small government," and as this construct might pertain to ordinances, they preferred to praise what's already on the books rather than contemplate disagreeing with Pat Harrison on rental property registrations in a room filled with real estate professionals, and dare be seen advocating a dreaded "new layer" of intrusive government.

But what if the layers we already have are actively exclusionary or simply outdated?

I was the only candidate present who chose to make this the basis of his answer. Yes, it's true that if New Albany enjoyed a long history of excellence in enforcing its own rule book, we might not be having a chat about rental property registration, but we have not, and because we have not, rental property abuses have become a full-blown concern embracing public health, safety and basic human rights.

Those must be addressed, and so I answered Harrison's question by saying that I'm completely in favor of rental property registration and inspection, with a fee structure to support the same.

Credit Kevin Zurschmiede for noting that tenants as well as owners must be aware of rights and responsibilities, though given the historic tendency of ownership to zealously protect its worse apples rather than be pro-active in weeding them out, how can these rights and responsibilities be applied and maintained without government participation?

Zurschmiede also mentioned that he moved from his Elm Street home because the state of the neighborhood precluded the enjoyment of his property, which is a right recognized by all realtors.

At least he was able to move. Those with lower incomes living nearby might well not be the cause of the problems -- and not be able to leave, either.

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Reverence for existing laws becomes somewhat comical when one considers that New Albany still has a law on its books governing "cruising" behavior at the Frisch's on Spring Street, which has been gone so long that "cruising" now means something entirely different -- except when adopted by Harvest Homecoming as a parade theme.

Then there are topics like planning and zoning. Consider this, as buried in a newspaper account of city council budget hearings.

Scott Wood, director of the New Albany Planning Commission, said he’s hopeful the department can begin work on a new comprehensive plan this year. The current plan was approved in 1999.

Wood labeled it a “relic” in need of refreshing.

“Typically those are updated every five years, more like seven-and-a-half to 10, so we’re pretty far behind right now,” Wood said.

The candidate luncheon was held at Elk Run Golf Club, and the outdated nature of New Albany's comprehensive plan is par for the course. How archaic is 1999? As a point of comparison, mobile phone cameras came to America in 2002.

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Finally, zoning. I was the only candidate in attendance yesterday who said the words "exclusionary zoning" aloud.

One of the best ways to fight inequality in cities: zoning, by Daniel Hertz (Washington Post)

... For years, activists and researchers have known that restrictive zoning is among the most powerful forces behind racial and economic segregation in the country.

This is for two reasons. First, in many neighborhoods, zoning laws prevent the construction of low-cost housing by, for example, allowing only single-family homes instead of apartments. Second, zoning laws restrict the total amount of housing that can exist in any given area, which means that wherever well-to-do people decide to move, they will bid up the price of housing until it’s out of range of everyone else. Imagine, for example, if there were a law that only 1,000 cars could be sold per year in all of New York. Those 1,000 cars would go to whoever could pay the most money for them, and chances are you and everyone you know would be out of luck.

I don't have a magic wand, and will not claim to know every answer. For instance, there is public housing, a perennial bugbear in New Albany politics.

People in New Albany who ask the question, "What are you going to do about The Project?" tend to be white, and want to see the problem solved by doing anything at all short of changing the fundamental paradigm from exclusionary warehousing of a segment of society, to perhaps advancing a level of opportunity borne of more egalitarian planning.

Meanwhile, people who live in The Project ask, "What are we going to do about affordable housing?" They tend to be African-American, and it's a very good question, isn't it?

If the overall gist of zoning laws already on the books is to keep The Project where it is, occupied by residents with few other options in a country already experiencing historic levels of income inequality, then it's likely they'll remain there. Isn't that how exclusionary zoning laws came into existence in the first place?

It is a mystery to me how an unregulated "free" market in slumlord rental properties addresses the affordable housing quandary, but this seems to have been New Albany's best answer during the past century.

That's inadequate, but even worse, throughout this and so many other discussions, New Albany never varies in the sense of refusing to have these discussions. Jeff Gahan's non-transparency is merely a malignant strain of what we've always been: Down Low on the Ohio.

While I'm at it, this article is instructive:

Where Black Lives Matter Began: Hurricane Katrina exposed our nation’s amazing tolerance for black pain, by Jamelle Bouie (Slate)

But there’s a problem with this capsule summary of Katrina and its place in national memory. It assumes a singular public of “Americans” who understand events in broadly similar ways. This public doesn’t exist. Instead, in the United States, we have multiple publics defined by a constellation of different boundaries: Geographic, religious, economic, ethnic, and racial. With regards to race, we have two dominant publics: A white one and a black one. Each of them saw Katrina in competing, mutually exclusive ways. And the disaster still haunts black political consciousness in ways that most white Americans have never been able to acknowledge.

White Americans saw the storm and its aftermath as a case of bad luck and unprecedented incompetence that spread its pain across the Gulf Coast regardless of race. This is the narrative you see in Landrieu’s words and, to some extent, Obama’s as well. To black Americans, however, this wasn’t an equal opportunity disaster. To them, it was confirmation of America’s indifference to black life. “We have an amazing tolerance for black pain,” said Rev. Jesse Jackson in an interview after the storm. Rev. Al Sharpton, also echoed the mood among many black Americans: “I feel that, if it was in another area, with another economic strata and racial makeup, that President Bush would have run out of Crawford a lot quicker and FEMA would have found its way in a lot sooner.” Even more blunt was rapper Kanye West, who famously told a live national television audience that “George Bush doesn’t care about black people.”

Campaign Diary, Chapter 3: Insurgencies, signage and conscience.

See also: 3 Goals + 7 Platform Points

Given the dysfunction of the two-party system in New Albany, running for mayor as an independent candidate is the only viable option for me, and I revel in the embrace of pragmatic ideas and simple common sense, these seemingly being precluded from the dialogue once the parties shift into gear with "politics as usual."

If the Democrats were more democratic, perhaps there'd have been another path, but to quote Gertrude Stein, "There is no there there."

With our local way of politicking stacked solidly against independence, it is important for an independent candidate like me to survey the landscape with realism.

I'm a maverick, an insurgent and an underdog. The political parties possess more money and foot soldiers than I can muster. Jeff Gahan has received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from faraway PACs and contracting interests; meanwhile, I've managed roughly $300 in "outside" money, from Bloomington and Indianapolis.

In short, I'm a potentially dangerous and unconventional wildcard, underfunded and outnumbered -- or, exactly where I want to be. 

We'll be mixing old and new during the course of spreading the word, and here is an update.

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Web site updates are under way this week, and video shoots begin tomorrow.

Many of you have asked for yard signs, and they're about to be ordered. Previously I've expressed reservations about these, and to be honest, I haven't entirely changed my mind about it, but ... and this is a big BUT ... I understand the dynamic of introducing the general public to who I am and what I stand for, and yard signs are a part of it. I also feel that if you want one, I want you to have one, and you'll get one.

We'll also be announcing guidelines for an upcoming art competition, also centering on yard signs of an edgier and more personalized nature. Stay tuned for details.

The formally sanctioned "debate" schedule is in place, and I'll write separately about it.

Also, I'm looking for a home for the two durable vinyl banners pictured above. If you have any ideas, please let me know. A downtown building would be groovy; so would a yard visible from the interstate. There are many potential spots, and I'm open to suggestions.

In closing, a few words on conscience.

Previously I wrote about the petition process for ballot access, during which there were rumblings of threats and retaliation on the part of signatories otherwise identified with the Democratic Party.

It is unfortunate when "group-think" is allowed to digress into hints of intimidation, but apparently it has. Ultimately, it remains my position that petitions, ballots and basic choice are matters of personal conscience, and I've neither the desire, nor any solid reason, to tamper with such.

Know this: If you support my independent candidacy, I'd rather you be able to express your preference openly, but I understand perfectly well if you cannot. Happily, many voters who ordinarily find themselves occupying a "side" based on factors beyond the actual issues (family, habit, compulsion at work, etc) may choose to preserve the outward appearance of conformity, while resolving internally to opt out of politics as usual and vote differently -- independently -- in 2015.

If so, merely let conscience be your guide. That's why the ballots are secret, and no one should be looking over your shoulder, anyway.

If the local Democratic Party machine wishes to be spiteful and vindictive, it's the machine's problem, not ours. It remains a mystery how the party's chairman contorts reality so as to square his pious bromides about "respectful" candidates with Dan Coffey's continued presence on the ballot as a "Democrat" -- but that's his problem, and a huge one.

As an independent, I just want to accomplish something, and you can help.

Campaign Diary, Chapter 2: A Baylor Paper on Street Sweeping.

Wednesday is street sweeping day at my address.

Being a good citizen, I'll go out and make sure the car is moved from the north side of Spring Street, lest I receive a citation for blocking the street sweeper.

Meanwhile, a few blocks west across an imaginary line somewhere, it's theoretically possible to park for weeks on end, in front of a downtown business, taking up a parking space without the slightest worry of being penalized. That's because we don't enforce parking regulations ... unless we do.

You'd need a Ouija board to know when, where and why -- and this must stop.

I'm not convinced the street sweeper has come past for a very long time, judging by the appearance of the parking lanes and the chronically unaddressed instances of road kill in the bicycle path, but when it does, the results are frankly ridiculous. Little of note is removed, and much of it is shifted from curbside directly into the bicycle path or out onto the traffic lanes themselves. All the while, citations are being written.

I have a few ideas on how we might improve this situation. Please read, and give me your feedback. Unlike the current occupant, I'm eager to listen.

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A Baylor Paper on Street Sweeping.

HISTORY: In selected portions of New Albany, from March through October, city crews operate large vehicles with rotating brushes that are designed to “clean” the streets. A complex system of schedules make on-street parkers subject to citations and fines if they leave their cars along the curbs of these selected streets at specific times.

It is important to note that what gets “swept” are the parking lanes – not the streets per se. Although clearing the streets of litter, brush, debris, and deposited oils is a valiant goal, this ongoing program produces onerous side effects while being mostly ineffective at cleaning the selected streets.

Ostensibly, the program is part of an agreement with the EPA as part of this city’s efforts to comply with The Clean Water Act. The sweeping trucks are assumed to be keeping detritus from reaching our streams, including the Ohio River.

PREMISE: In fact, the sweeping program merely rearranges dirt while depositing it up onto sidewalks and onto nearby buildings. In addition, residents are subjected to inconvenience and financial loss. The program is almost universally considered to be a nuisance and to be ineffective. That conclusion is reinforced when we consider that many other streets that drain into our waterways are not subject to any kind of regular street sweeping program.

Further, the inclusion of this street sweeping program into our Clean Water Act compliance protocol is a fraud.

Petroleum products are the most toxic pollutant likely to be transferred from our streets into local waterways. Yet, we do not even attempt to clean the streets themselves – only the parking lanes.4

Perhaps, with other and/or better functioning equipment, a street cleaning program would be effective. But as currently constituted, the program is little more than an expensive make-work project and a scheme to extort money from those who must park their vehicles on city streets.

PROPOSAL: Effective immediately and by executive order, I will declare a 1-year moratorium on the existing street sweeping program. During that year, my administration will explore the implications of the existing program and maintain a regular inspection and reporting program on the cleanliness of the streets within the program area.

We will also inspect those streets outside of the existing program during this moratorium year. As most debris and deposited oils enter our waterways via storm drains, our stormwater professionals and advisors will be heavily consulted.

In addition to routine storm drain clearance, we will operate a crash program of drain clearing before impending storms and after known storms.

If we decide to resume the program in calendar year 2017, we will only do so if it can be proved to be effective.

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Baylor for Mayor

VOTE INDEPENDENT ON NOVEMBER 3, 2015

BaylorforMayor.com
Follow us at facebook.com/BaylorForMayor
Email at mayorbaylor@gmail.com
Campaign Phone (812) 944-3617

Campaign Diary, Chapter 1: Municipal governance is about every day, not every now and then.

There were so many City Hall stalwarts at the farmers market yesterday that I thought a plaque to one of them was about to be dedicated.

Soon we'll probably need to demolish an historical structure to build a pole barn to house them all -- the plaques, not the stalwarts.

But it's good to know that I'm already having a positive effect on the mayor's race. Jeff Gahan was politicking at the farmers market, and he was not wearing a three-piece suit. Kevin Zurschmiede was shopping, too, and rocking the casual attire. Surely a sartorial revolution is underway ... sans culottes.

At least we now can understand the urgency with which Team Gahan pushed through New Albany's farmers market build-out at 11:59 p.m. on December 31.

Jeff Gahan's quarter-million dollar farmers market fluff job.

It's all about keeping up with the Moores, because Jeffersonville has a nice, shiny new structure to house the farmer market there -- and as we've seen, Team Gahan's prime (only) re-election strategy in 2015 is to constantly point toward nice, shiny new objects, while taking great care to peel off the price tags first.

Our temporary seasonal events, primarily benefiting agriculturalists who live elsewhere, shall take a back seat to no one's! Damn the sticker shock -- full subsidy ahead!

Consequently, it's important to make a point, and to keep making it.

Municipal governance is about every day, not every now and then. 

New Albany is a city, and must function as a city to be efficient. We've learned that while all areas of the city matter, our overall health is weakened when there's a hole downtown, in the place where urban density can truly be an economic engine.

New Albany's independent business community has spearheaded the revitalization of downtown, and done so almost entirely without the usual economic development subsidies and incentives, warded the usual suspects. This is positive news, but there is much more to be done.

The city's basic infrastructure must promote economic development and quality of life, not work against them.

Walkability, as enhanced by two-way "complete" and calmed streets, and as exhaustively outlined in Jeff Speck's downtown street network study, would constitute a quantum leap forward for the entirety of the downtown business community to reach the next level, and on a day-in, day-out basis.

This precisely is the value of the Big Four Bridge in Jeffersonville. It works for its intended purpose every single day. The same would be true of Speck's street reform plan, when (if ever) implemented in New Albany.

The Speck plan is our Big Four Bridge. Do it now, not later.

Meanwhile, the farmers market, while a valued component, is seasonal and occasional, as are special events like the Bicentennial Park concerts and others requiring street closings, which can both help and hurt downtown independent local businesses.

Team Gahan remains enamored of itself as an all-purpose special events coordinator, and City Hall emphasizes these one-off, temporary events. They make for wonderful plaque erection, but ignore the single most obvious way to help downtown: Walkability, bicycle friendliness ... the Speck plan ... infrastructure that works every hour of every day, not a few hours here and there.

Municipal governance is about every day, not every now and then. 

The idea is to maintain the infrastructure suited to an active and evolving urban core, keep the economic playing field level, and watch as local independent businesses and creative entities act as their own special events coordinators, from the grassroots, without control from the top. Speck's principles are designed (that word again) to restore the historic business district as a vibrant and movable feast, on a nightly basis.

Of course, local small-pond politicians don't like grassroots empowerment of the sort I'm describing here, because it doesn't allow them to claim credit. Jeff Gahan says we cannot even think about Speck-styled streets for a year and a half.

Gahan's foot is on the wrong brake.

In delaying, prevaricating and insisting on secretive control, Gahan is damaging the very revival he so enjoys crediting himself for achieving. City Hall shouldn't be picking winners for political reasons. It should be acting as the grounds crew for infrastructure, and the referee when the match is under way.

Jeff Gahan is supposed to be helping matters, not retarding their progress. There can be only one conclusion.