Vote Al Knable and Christina Estill for New Albany City Council At-Large.

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

This 2019 election endorsement series began last week. Thanks to those who've read the picks in city council districts 1 through 6. Before looking at the at-large council field, a reminder:

Municipal candidates who are not endorsed in this space are welcome to offer their counterpoint. I will publish your statements in this space sans commentary of my own.

The entire city votes for three at-large city council seats. The three Republican Party incumbents are Al Knable, David Barksdale and David Aebersold (in descending order of vote totals in 2015). Their Democratic Party challengers are Christina Estill, Sam Charbonneau and Jason Applegate. Voters may choose as many as three candidates from this list of six -- or two, or one.

(As an aside, do independents and libertarians ever run for at-large seats?)

I intend to vote for Knable and Estill, and to leave the third slot blank.

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Al Knable's record of service speaks for itself. Agree or disagree with him -- and I surely HAVE disagreed with him -- the conversation remains thoughtful and respectful. In addition, Knable is transparent and approachable. His work ethic as a council representative is exemplary.

In retrospect, perhaps the biggest mistake Knable made during his first term in office was trying to be non-partisan, and to cooperate with Gahan's Goons during 2016 and 2017. Through no fault of Knable's, it proved to be a phony detente, and bipartisanship served only to subject him to an attempted kneecapping by the Dickeyites.

I believe Knable learned a valuable lesson about the Bud Light Lime Mafia from this experience in early 2018.

ON THE AVENUES: Al Knable doesn’t lie, but the local Democratic Party is a flood-plain Pinocchio. Let’s censure it at the ballot box.

Christina Estill is a welcome rarity among local Democratic Party candidates in that she's genuinely working class and self-made, which is the sort of thing the gentrifying Gahanites can't truly grasp. She is who she is, and that's refreshing. As such, here is Estill's pitch in her own words.

My name is Chrstina Estill, and I am your candidate for New Albany City Council At-Large. I am the single mother of 3 sons, Anthony 21, Alexander 18, and Adrian 13. I am a social worker by trade, and a community advocate by passion serving on the Board of Directors of Let Us Learn, and Community Action of Southern Indiana where I serve as the boards Secretary. I am a graduate of Spalding University with two bachelor's degrees in Social Work and Psychology.

As a professional Social Worker, I use my training and experience in conflict resolution and effective individual group process to make change happen in the lives of my clients, and I will approach my job as your city councilperson the same way with a focus on embracing diversity, and seeking community input and involvement in decisions before us as a body. By focusing resources and time to issues facing all of our citizens, and advocating as a voice for social justice, I will bring my full attention to bridging the gap for a stronger, safer, and compassionate New Albany.

That means looking forward for sustainable development and infrastructure repair that keeps business owners big and small and taxpayers concerns and needs in mind, accountable and transparent service as your council person being your voice at the table, and being a good steward of taxpayer dollars with an eye on responsible governance. This is of the utmost importance to me because as an advocate for diverse representation in government we must also act with future generations social, economic, and environmental needs in mind.

Lastly, I will work to be a consensus builder. In these times of divisive rhetoric emerging nationally, I will never shy from bold and dynamic solutions while still working for the best result possible. Elections are debated on the campaign trail, but after taking office a true public servant works to lead. Strong and spirited debate is essential, but we must not allow that to be a roadblock to what is right for our citizens.

A lot has changed in the years since I came to New Albany, and great changes lie ahead in the years to come. My passion for people, our community, our environment, and future generations is always in the front of my mind in all that I do. We need leaders who represent the community they serve in all aspects. The city council is in need of a more diverse perspective, and I can provide that voice.

Knable and Estill; that makes two. For me, that's all. At this juncture, there are reasons why I cannot vote for any of the four remaining candidates, although to reiterate, they are welcome to contribute their rebuttals to this space. Maybe I can yet be convinced.

Charbonneau and Applegate are both interesting and personable fellows, and I've enjoyed chatting with them. I like them personally. However, because they've enthusiastically chosen to be joined to the mayor's duplicitous, catastrophic hip, I must rule them out as candidates. Politically they're on the wrong side of municipal history ... and I can't go for repeating the same old lines.

This leaves Republican incumbents David Aebersold and David Barksdale, and both are problematic in the political context.

Aebersold has lengthy experience as an independent small business owner, and of course that's a good recommendation in my world.

Unfortunately he also has proven to be an uninformed advocate of car-based urban infrastructure to the exclusion of other non-automotive users, and of course that's very bad. Truthfully, I'm on the fence with Aebersold, but unless new evidence surfaces I'm forced to refrain. It might be a last-minute decision.

Barksdale's lapdog support of the Reisz city hall project simply cannot be excused, especially his breathtakingly far-fetched comment to the effect that government workers situated in a plumbed, climate controlled City-County office building with elevators, cushioned seats and WiFi somehow are being subjected to "inhumane" working conditions.

There's no doubting that Barksdale has done many positive things for the city, and yet this comment is a singular nadir in local political history, and plainly it disqualifies him to represent residents, roughly 25% of whom exist south of the poverty line, whose working conditions really are physically and mentally demeaning in ways that Barksdale evidently cannot fathom.

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Endorsement Compendium:

• Vote Stefanie Griffith for New Albany City Council District 1.
• Vote Scott Stewart for New Albany City Council District 2.
• Vote for Thunder the Wonder Ferret as a write-in for New Albany City Council District 3.
• Vote Cisa Kubley for New Albany City Council District 4.
• Vote Josh "JT" Turner for New Albany City Council District 5.
• Vote Scott Blair for New Albany City Council District 6.
• Vote Al Knable and Christina Estill for New Albany City Council At-Large.

Just my primary opinion, but on the Democratic side, please consider Christina Estill and Maury Goldberg for city council at-large.

Jeopardy! answer: "Reaching for the gin at 10:00 a.m."

Jeopardy! question: "What happens when you begin the day with WNAS primary election videos?"

This morning is was city council at-large candidates. After listening with disgust to David Aebersold's uninformed clueless prattle about the ruination of Spring Street by villainous two-way traffic slowers, I can say with perfect honesty that I would not vote for him for anything, ever, including the important race to be the guy in Communist Hungary sweeping the streets of cigarette butts with a primitive twig broom.

David Barksdale, self-assigned $10 million savior of City Hall's inhumanely housed white collar workers, those unfortunates doomed to lonely servitude in a heated and air-conditioned building with hot and cold running water and elevators that actually work?

Nope. Don't think so. He mourns buildings, not people; woodenly reads a prepared statement for his video; contradicts himself numerous times therein; and yet again, infuriatingly, gives himself credit for downtown revitalization.

But allow me to be perfectly serious without a trace of sarcasm when I say that among the Democratic Party's five aspirants for city council at-large -- it's a contested race, folks -- Christina Estill's video for WNAS is the best, hands down. It begins at 27:03.

She speaks personally and personably about social issues and housing, sincerely and directly. It's impressive because she's real and utterly without pretense. Estill has my vote. She's exactly the sort of citizen we need seated at the council table.

I'll also vote for Maury Goldberg, who also is comfortable being himself, and rightly reminds viewers that he served five terms as a councilman (ending in 2003). He rambles a bit in his video, but rallies and touches on several important points, including up-front support for indie business entrepreneurs, union and mass transit. Has anyone else talked about these? His video begins at 32:26.

I'm not going to hold Jason Applegate's video against him, because I know just how hard it is to face the camera and make one's points. Maybe it was an "off" day. But at least Applegate made a video. I like both Sam Charbonneau and Chris Fitzgerald as individuals, but neither of them heeded the call from WNAS.

Can we be honest?

The Democratic Party's hierarchy desperately wants a fall slate of Charbonneau, Fitzgerald and Applegate. These three were handpicked, weren't they?

Chairman Adam "Tricky" Dickey does not want to see either Estill or Goldberg on that ticket. It's another fix by the master of the dark arts, and my problem with this is okay, fine, the fix is in, but at the very least it's good form to pretend to give a damn even when you're aware you've been anointed by the party's coolest kids.

Applegate is trying, and he gets credit for doing a video and getting those signs out. Unfortunately he also gets demerits for having done nothing to update his official non-Facebook web site, which still features 2018 commissioners' race data.

As it stands (albeit pre-primary), if it were November and I had to pick three candidates from all the at-large candidates currently declared, they'd be Estill, Goldberg and Al Knable. Naturally this equation might change given the outcome of the primary.

The preceding are my opinions, and my opinions alone. I'm happy to discuss them further; just let me know via the usual channels.

Three more candidates (Martin, Estill, FitzGerald) have provided statements to We Are New Albany about their positions on Jeff Gahan's public housing demolition fetish.

We're passing these statements along as Aaron Fairbanks of We Are New Albany harvests them; all along, our stance at NA Confidential has been that any candidate who'll make a public statement addressing the Democratic mayor Jeff Gahan's hostile takeover of public housing, and his subsequent assaults on our city's most vulnerable populations, at least merits consideration for voting -- as opposed to the ones who have refused to comment at all.

As to the quality and content of these statements ... well, we'll get to that when there's time, but your thoughts are welcome in the interim.

In this update: LaMicra Martin, Christina Estill, and Chris FitzGerald.

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LaMicra Martin prepared a preliminary statement today. We owe her our gratitude for speaking on this issue.

LaMicra Martin for Floyd County Commissioner

I understand the emotions and worry when you are about to loose your home especially when you have not planned on moving. I am hopeful when the plan comes in that there are accommodations for families.

I am asking for those who own houses that you consider in taking housing vochures. I was once on NAHA section 8 program so I understand how hard it is to find a home and the emotions that come along. I am thankful that we were blessed to have a person to accept the vochure to accommodate my family. Be a blessing to someone. Families have enough stress and worry of trying to make ends meet because of low wage jobs, the worry of the safety for children in school, now adding the worrying about a place to live.

This is the time and I am hopeful that we as a community can help each other.

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Christina Estill released a statement. I cannot express how pleased I am that we have candidates speaking up for this group. We have not even seen the tip of the iceberg of what we're capable of achieving.

Christina For New Albany's Trustee

After my experience today visiting with residents of NAHA, I was faced with many questions to the Housing Demolition proposal. As a former resident this hot topic is definitely of necessary concern. I will be advocating for people to ask more questions. Get educated on the past and current proposals. Please don't go in with blind eyes and trust just anybody. Please don't let yourself or others be persuaded.

My beliefs and values on this subject are that each resident should not have to fear being displaced or uprooted from a strong community full of thriving support. We have great unity with a variety of resources that are conveniently located and easily accessible. Why should any resident have to fear having to take a voucher outside of New Albany to find adequate housing because we don't have enough private landlords willing to take them? We need to be cognitive of what it looks like to have to move to a new town and get reacquainted with the whereabouts of the resources and transportation issues.

So what I will do is ask these tough questions! What I will do is unite with the residents of NAHA and be a voice for their concerns! What I will do is make sure we are educated on the funding available from the Federal funds and make sure they have a plan to be accommodating for ALL residents!

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Just in ... Chris FitzGerald (D) state representative candidate of Indiana's 72nd District, comments on the New Albany Housing Authority situation.

Chrisforindiana

tl;dr I am looking forward to the completed NAHA assessment, and we need to invest more in affordable housing

After speaking at the New Albany Housing Authority (NAHA) ‘Meet the Candidate’ event this week, residents asked my stance on housing in general and the current situation facing current NAHA residents. I would like to share my thoughts:

As a child I grew up experiencing housing insecurity; I understand the stress an untimely move can cause. I know what it is like to move from one sub-standard apartment to another, and finally settling at Cross Creek Apartments for nearly a decade. I benefitted from the Section 8 program. I’m sure that 10-year-old me would be nervous at the thought or rumor of being evicted for any reason. As our region gains more population, the need for affordable housing grows. With a 12% poverty rate in Floyd County, that need only increases. Our residents work hard (Floyd County has a 3.1% unemployment rate), but still cannot afford to live in quality housing. This, in turn, places greater strain on our public programs and social safety net. All of this is a backdrop to the current situation at NAHA.

For those not aware, NAHA currently operates 1,200 housing units. With underinvestment from the Federal government going back decades, we have a price tag of nearly $140,000,000 in deferred maintenance costs. This is a situation that cannot continue as is. Continued deterioration will only harm NAHA residents. NAHA is currently doing an assessment of the its housing stock to figure out the full extent of the issue. When that assessment is complete, a 10-year plan will be drafted that will determine which units will be renovated, which can be maintained, and which may need to be demolished. This plan, according to media reports, will include resident input and would be conducted in phases. This is important so that there will be as minimal disruption to the residents as possible. I look forward to the completion of the assessment and will work with all parties to ensure a plan that will bring about the most good.

If there is an overall reduction of units throughout the 10-year plan, there may be an increase in both tenant-based and project-based Section 8 programs. As your State Representative I will work to find ways to better incentivize property owners and developers to accept the Housing Choice Vouchers. Potential renters should not be viewed as a housing risk due to their voucher. I will also work with TARC to see how bus routes could be expanded to connect our communities.

Again, this is all with a backdrop of an increased demand for affordable housing. As your State Representative, I want to increase the money Floyd County gets in affordable housing funds. Currently, Floyd County is categorized as a more rural county and has to share affordable housing funds with eight other counties. Ed Clere has done nothing to change that. I want to increase the ability to redevelop vacant properties and turn them into affordable housing, whether to be used as rental property or to be owned. Mayor Gahan and the City Council rightfully included a mandatory minimum of 8% affordable units in any development that includes city money within the comprehensive plan. This is a great way to help increase the stock for our young families and our increasing senior population. It is important to pursue a reclassification of Floyd County as a more urban county, as we are in the Louisville metropolitan area, which could incentivize more developers to create affordable housing.

We need to continue to alleviate poverty and strengthen opportunity for all Hoosiers in Floyd County. I look forward to helping strengthen our affordable housing stock and stabilize our public housing for future generations.