Redevelopment Commission sycophants do Gahan's bidding, and so Carl and Steve must be scourged.

If only Mr. Disney would fall on HIS sword.

As neighborhood residential values plunge, a fact verified by the arrival yesterday of the household property tax statement, it has become ever more apparent that the Hauss Square Gang's economic "revitalization" efforts (see what I did there?) have amounted to little of substance.

However, we must concede that when it comes to economic retribution, Team Gahan shows unfortunate and persistent aptitude ... and all the while, City Hall's handy TIF ATM continues to merrily spew Gahan re-election campaign monetization. Awash in the ceaseless cash, with almost all decision-making levers controlled by his innermost circle, the current occupant's vindictive nature now enjoys free reign.

Meet local businessmen Carl Holliday and Steve Goodman, who recently publicly criticized New Albany's enduringly toxic Main Street Improvement Project (last night we learned that others have mounted a legal challenge to Rosenbarger's Folly).

Concurrently at NAC, we've pointed out on numerous occasions that whatever conceivable rationale supports public expenditures and free (and utterly unprecedented) sewer tap-ins to enable residential construction at the Coyle site, simultaneously argues against the farmers market build-out at Bank and Market, which is on the verge of becoming one of downtown's prime infill locations, its potential value only capable of being enhanced by new apartment buildings around the corner at Coyle -- and killed by the farmers market expansion.

Now, back to Holliday, Goodman and New Albany Horizons, their downtown development entity. We'll pick up the narrative afterward.

Developers dispute price for downtown New Albany lots, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

NEW ALBANY — A group of developers still hopes to market six lots along Bank Street for commercial and residential use, but they want the New Albany Redevelopment Commission to readjust its asking price for the properties.

But unlike the previous extension, the city ordered two appraisals of the property, and raised the asking price for the lots to $137,000.

“It’s never been paid for, and the value of the property has gone up,” said David Duggins, director of economic development and redevelopment for the city.

As usual, Jeff G cuts to the chase with this observation.

The Gahan administration is hassling these local guys over $30K while simultaneously trying to give away millions in public funding to another, out of town developer just a few blocks away. Maybe this is what Dave Duggins meant by "branding effort".

To summarize: New Albany's Redevelopment Commission, which is helmed by Gahan sycophants and the local Democratic Party chairman, proposes to change terms on the purchase of undeveloped property at Bank and Main because the value of this empty land has increased (neighborhood stakeholders, register your envy as the semi rigs rumble past your house), while at the same time, the city insists on expanding the farmers market on similarly empty land a block away on Market, when it might be sold at a higher price to developers for infill construction, the odds of which can only increase as Coyle site development proceeds.

No wonder Gahan won't debate David White. In terms of economic development, these parts simply don't fit together.

But in terms of retribution against Holliday and Goodman for their temerity in questioning the top-down Main Street "Improvement" Project, it makes perfect sense.

This is how Team Gahan works, folks, and yet we close with good news.

You can vote them out, right now.

We simply mustn't throw out Speck with the Main Street project's nasty bilge water.

This is the stuff of banana republics.

At this crucial juncture, New Albany has a mayor purportedly favoring street grid change, so long as he never is compelled to say so aloud, and by choosing to sandbag on the down low rather than lead with integrity, he's somehow managing to unite the Speck plan's opponents while dividing its proponents.

Ineptitude of that heightened magnitude is rare even by local standards of futility.

ROAD LESS TRAVELED? New Albany business owners say East Main Street traffic shifting to Spring Street, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

NEW ALBANY — As the city prepares for the final scheduled public input session on planner Jeff Speck’s downtown streets proposal, some business owners are questioning whether two-way traffic could work for certain portions of the city.

While employees and proprietors of trucking and hauling companies have frequently differed with Speck’s plan, Culbertson West owners Steve Goodman and Carl Holliday once favored shifting Spring Street to two-way traffic.

At first, upon reading this, I was chagrined that Carl and Steve would say such a thing, but to read the entirety of their letter (provided expeditiously by city clerk Vicki Glotzbach) is to realize that their thoughts on two-way streets constitute a mere two paragraphs of speculation amid four pages of wholly justified complaints about the Main Street Disprovement boondoggle-that-keeps-extracting.

Just as there were Unionists in Virginia and Tennessee during the American Civil War, it seems there are Main Streeters who thought it a bad idea to secede from the city's street grid. Here are the .pdf pages of Carl's and Steve's letter.

For those using Fb, go here for an animated and comprehensive discussion on Speck's proposals in the context of the Main Street project. As noted for something like the 745th time ...

As we see now, the ramifications threaten the implementation of rationality on other streets. Until we come to grips with this, the well plainly is poisoned -- and the city shot its own foot.

The Main Street project? It's poison, and it will remain poison. The design, execution and politics were wrong, and it would be just as wrong to fail to implement the Speck proposals. Last time I checked, two wrongs still don't make a right, even in this depraved burg.

Carl and Steve ... please think about that. Now's the time for unity, lest the Luddites are able to block what little remaining hope we have. At this point, our best bet is to implement Speck's proposals completely from top to bottom, sans bullshit compromises like those ultimately sabotaging any good intent the Main Street project may once have contained, then come back to Main Street later and see what tweaking can be done.

Or, Molotov cocktails. If we can't use them to take out a few medians, at least we can drink them and feel better about it.