Democrat John Gilkey reveals himself to be a drooling automobile-centric Luddite. That's just too bad, isn't it?

Stay strong, Clarksville. Redesign Brown's Station Way for safety and modernity, and implement this street grid reform plan.

See, here's a positive comment to add to John Gilkey's purportedly universal negative reactions. But don't expect me to help you grease your knob, John. Can't say I like your stick shift quite that much.

The onetime journalist Gilkey well knows how to work a crowd of mouth-breathing car fetishists. Heroically making love to both your vehicles and his, John has opted for the high-speed populism of the eight-cylinder gas-guzzler, while still ridiculously posturing as a "liberal" in matters of state and national importance.

Don't we deserve the same consistency locally, John, not easy potshots at roundabouts, which you know will sell like Mountain Dew to the motorists whose sole consideration is to pass through your town quickly?



Gilkey displays not only ignorance as it pertains to street grid modernity, but political hypocrisy; then again, we already knew hypocrisy isn't restricted to Republicans.

A Biden guy, eh? Or maybe Bloomberg.

Let's just hope those in Clarksville who get it will do it.

GILKEY OP-ED: Road project takes wrong turn in the News&Bune

Clarksville has taken a wrong turn with its Brown’s Station Way road project. Spending just under $17 million to solve problems that don’t exist is the wrong course of action in my opinion.

I represent Clarksville’s 2nd District on the Town Council and serve on the town’s Redevelopment Commission in addition to the Plan Commission and the town’s Technical Review Committee, so I have a reasonably good idea of what is happening in town. Since the proposed road project was first unveiled last year, I have heard nothing but negative comments about the venture. To paraphrase a colloquialism, I could count the number of positive comments I have received on one hand and have enough fingers left to open a greased doorknob.

The project proposes turning a major traffic artery through town into a residential 2-lane street with a 35 mile-an-hour speed limit, interjecting two roundabouts, removing the overpass at Brown’s Station Way and Lewis and Clark Parkway and replacing it with an at-grade traffic light-controlled intersection, and replacing the pedestrian overpass near Randolph Avenue with a profoundly upscaled crossing.

In my mind, the project is an absurd expenditure of money to solve problems that mostly do not exist ...

A hilarious day of automobile supremacist anguish as Clarksville vows to put Brown's Station Way on a road diet.

Making the yokels SCREAM.

Better late than never.

This Brown's Station Way lane reduction project is going to have an excellent supporting effect on our ongoing efforts to keep pass-through drivers on the interstates where they belong, and off our city streets in New Albany.

Fine work, Clarksville. I don't recall meeting Mike Mustain, but in this first sentence he states the fact of the matter with uncommon clarity. This project can't begin soon enough for me, and the more roundabouts, the better.

"Ultimately, Brown Station Way is a town street, not an interstate, and as such should not be a dividing roadway which separates Clarksville."

Yep. As Bluegill noted elsewhere, it's a step in the right direction. Drivers needn't worry; they'll still be coddled like little babies, just a little bit less often than before.

Officials approve plan to redesign Brown's Station Way in Clarksville (WDRB)

Clarksville's Redevelopment Commission voted 3-2 in favor of the planned redesign Thursday, according to a news release. The revamp calls for narrowing the cut through between New Albany and Clarksville down from four lanes to two, according to previous reporting. It also calls for dropping the the speed limit from 45 mph to 35 mph and would also eliminate or change intersections at Emery Crossing, Leuthart Drive and Clark Boulevard.

Group planning Indiana riverfront park terrified that Gahan will find a way to landscape his face on it.

And if Gahan doesn't get his way, he'll furlough Barksdale and build a wall in Silver Creek.

Group plans ‘world-class’ Indiana riverfront park near Falls of the Ohio, by Marcus Green (WDRB)

At a bend on the Indiana banks of the Ohio River, hardscrabble river camps give way to flood-prone woods. Stacks of crushed cars line a dead-end road. A landfill borders Silver Creek.

But to the nonprofit River Heritage Conservancy, the roughly 400-acre area near the Falls of the Ohio in Clarksville is the ideal spot for a park that would dwarf Louisville’s Waterfront Park and take in more land than Grant Park in Chicago ...

Sam's at the Montrose goes, and Rails Craft Brew & Eatery arrives.

Rails on Facebook.

The second location of Rails Craft Brew & Eatery will take over the Sam's at the Montrose space. Rails is from Seymour, and as with Flat12 Bierwerks before it, I think you'll see more "northern" independent food and drink businesses opening branches hereabouts.

My cherished hope always has been for Three Floyds Brewing Company to be one of them. A boy can dream.

Meanwhile, all the best to Sam Anderson at his Highlander Point shop. This might well be good thinking on the part of all involved.

Sam's at the Montrose closes in Clarksville; Rails Craft Brew & Eatery to take over Clarksville building, by Chris Morris (Forever Clark County)

... Sam Anderson, who owns the building and operated Sam's at the Montrose, said the move makes sense. Sam's at the Montrose was open five days a week since opening 2 1/2 years ago after a fire destroyed Sam's Food & Spirits in New Albany in December 2013. Anderson said his Sam's restaurant at Highlander Point will remain open seven days a week and continue its catering operation. The Highlander Point restaurant has been open since 1991.

"This is a good thing. They will be open seven days a week and this will allow us to focus on one location in Floyds Knobs," Anderson said. "They are turning [Montrose building] into more of a destination. It's time to let someone else drive the boat for a while."

Nash on Clere Channel billboards: Erika goes for Matt's groin, but not before pausing for an unfiltered Chesterfield.

Erika's hopping mad. In fact, he/she/it is so distracted by bile and intemperance that those crucial daily meds yet again have gone unswallowed, and Freedom to Screech now imagines itself as Ed Clere's press agent, with Mr. Denschak herself grabbing marquee billing.

Mr. Clere would like a swift and visceral response to this nonsense.

And exactly what nonsense might it be this time -- of course, apart from the hilarity  of Erika's own split-gendered trognonymity?

Well, it's about signs, signs, everywhere the signs, during which Rep. Clere ranks political free speech above increased local taxes (i.e., future bridge tolls) in the campaign lexicon, while others (Clarksville) view the resulting steroidal yard sign proliferation with alarm. Two weeks ago, NAC provided relevant background:

Size matters, and obviously, it depends on what the meaning of "and" and.

With a perfectly straight face, I offer the newspaper's text in its entirety .. just imagine if there were another New Albany-based columnist (in addition to the versatile, provocative Matt Nash) to explicate such stories -- you know, to provide differing interpretations. As Tug McGraw once noted, "Ya Gotta Believe."

As for the possible fine, the case of Keith Henderson's legal fees provides a useful precedent. Merely submit the bill to Darin Coddington. He will pay, and commissioners Bush and Seabrook will provide cover. Case closed.

Darned if Our Man Matt didn't make this inexplicably discarded ex-columnist proud and tackle the issue, head on, and to the dismay of Clere Channel fluffers everywhere.

Atta boy, Matt; I always knew you could clamber over those skeletons in your scion "closest" and hit the bullseye, dead center.

NASH: The signs are all around, by Matt Nash ('Bama Pensioner Nuggets)

 ... This year, a local politician was notified that his political signs were too large based on an ordinance that was passed and that they needed to be removed. Instead of having the signs taken down, State Rep. Ed Clere left the signs where they were until the election was over.

Now that he has won the election, he is facing a fine for not removing the signs. According to the report in the News and Tribune, he believes that the ordinance only applies to political signs placed in the right of way, but the town disagrees.

Mr. Clere also believes that he is being singled out for political reasons, but two other local politicians were notified that their signs violated the law and they both chose to correct the problem immediately. Mr. Clere believes that the law didn’t pertain to him and even if it did he was quoted as saying, “I would argue that there still needs to be a high level of protection for political speech.”

Why does he believe that political speech is more important that any other speech? No where in the U.S. Constitution is one form of speech given any preference over another.

At this point, heads begin exploding as The Italian (nut)Job enters the room.

JOURNALISM 101....

 ... What is the real issue here? The local newspaper appears to be trying to silence the voice of this public servant simply because he is a Republican, and they're stomping on him for good measure ...

 ... You Sir, Mr. Nash write a column while sitting around with your local beer drinking buddies and do nothing but think of ways to bully others.

What has happen to fair and balance journalism?

Let's allow an expert on fair and "balance" journalism to make the call on the strength of Erika's bleating.

But every now and then, Erika manages to get it right: "We are NOT journalists and neither is Matt Nash." That's why it's the opinion page, my dear.

The last word goes to "Dan", who is awash in Astroglide and delusion amid the comments at the newspaper's web page.

(Clere's) doing a fine job, and he's not in the hip pocket of those who have had local power in their grubby paws for far too many years.

Dan, your door prize of bourbon balls and kitty litter can be redeemed at the alley exit, and what's more, you'll be delighted to learn that Kerry Stemler, the Bridges Non-Authority, 1Si, our saintly departing Daniels and the US Chamber of Commerce all agree with you 110% ... and $2 per ride.

See also: Life in OSi a grim reality.

Finn and Caesar get all irate as Southern Indiana (minus compliant NA) continues the struggle against tolling.

As we await the study of the Ohio River Bridges Project's local small business economic impact, promised on that long-ago day by ORBP authority member Jerry Finn (yes, I can have the memory of an elephant when it suits me), with the two-year anniversary of his unfulfilled vow due on December 13 of this very year, it becomes increasingly evident that Clark County has picked up the anti-tolling torch once presciently lit by New Albany's city council during Steve Price's final term, and since dropped by our purportedly more progressive legislative body at the urging of Bob "CeeSaw" Caesar, who remains forever eager to sell more costume jewelry to the delusional minions at One Southern Indiana, where the the equation never changes: If Kerry Stemler + Ed Clere = transportation boondoggle, then let's party like it's 1959, and by the way, if tolling rape is inevitable, can someone please pass the Astroglide?

As usual, expecting consistency of thought from New Albany's city council is tantamount to believing the Cubs will win the World Series, or that Lucy won't yank back the football at the last second, leaving Charlie Brown (and the city) in the mud.

First, the Clarksville Town Council got themselves some lawyers, and now the tourism board has followed suit. Jeffersonville's council just might join them. Shouldn't New Albany get in on the fun?

Tourism board joins Clarksville in suit to stop I-65 bridge tolls (Courier-Journal)

Board members of the Clark-Floyd Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau on Wednesday voted to join Clarksville in a new lawsuit seeking to block the tolling of the Kennedy Bridge and a new Interstate 65 span that is to be built next to it.

Tourism bureau spokesman John Gilkey, who also is president of the Clarksville Town Council, said the board voted to allocate $10,000 — the same amount the town pledged on Monday — for an Indianapolis law firm to take the case.

The Jeffersonville City Council will decide whether the city will join the lawsuit at its next meeting, Dec. 3.

Size matters, and obviously, it depends on what the meaning of "and" and.

Like this one, grandly improving prospects for political "speech" in NA

With a perfectly straight face, I offer the newspaper's text in its entirety. I could not find the article on the newspaper's web site so as to link in the customary manner; instead, the text was copied from the e-edition link. Just imagine if there were another New Albany-based columnist (in addition to the versatile, provocative Matt Nash) to explicate such stories -- you know, to provide differing interpretations. As Tug McGraw once noted, "Ya Gotta Believe."

As for the possible fine, the case of Keith Henderson's legal fees provides a useful precedent. Merely submit the bill to Darin Coddington. He will pay, and commissioners Bush and Seabrook will provide cover. Case closed.

---

Big signs, big fines? Town could levy more than $200,000 in fines against state Rep. Clere for violating sign ordinance, by Matt Koesters (N and T)

CLARKSVILLE — The town of Clarksville is pursuing Indiana Rep. Ed Clere for posting three 32-square-foot political signs on private property inside the town for a month, and Clere and the landowners who allowed the signs could face big fines.

But Clere said the town’s contentions are without merit.

“It’s politically motivated, and it’s unfortunate,” Clere said. “It’s a waste of resources on the part of the town.”

Clere and his attorney, Richard Fox of New Albany, were in Clarksville Town Court on Thursday for an initial hearing on the matter. Clere faces a maximum fine of $2,500 per day per sign, which adds up to more than $ 200,000. Fox also represents Jesse Ballew and William Cassidy, who allowed Clere to place the signs on properties they own. Ballew and Cassidy also face fines. The signs were placed along Greentree Boulevard, Potters Lane and Blackiston Mill Road.

Clere said the town’s ordinance violation doesn’t apply t o his signs, because the signs were not placed in a public right of way.

“The ordinance doesn’t apply to this situation, so I’m not sure why we’re here,” Clere said. “The ordinance talks about maximum square footage of a sign and — the operative word is ‘and’ — being located in a public right of way. So the use of the word ‘and’ there makes it such that the ordinance applies when both conditions are met, and my three signs were on private property.

“The ordinance doesn’t speak to political signs on private property, and even if it did, I would argue that there still needs to be a high level of protection for political speech.”

According to division 200 of Clarksville Municipal code, “Political advertising signs may be 16 square feet and placed in the right of way of town public ways for a period not to exceed 30 days prior to an election and must be removed 48 hours after the election.”

Rebecca Lockard, the town attorney representing Clarksville in t he case, disagreed with Clere’s interpretation.

“I understand that’s their position — not the town’s position,” Lockard said. “The town’s position is, it’s 16 square feet no matter where it’s at.”

Clere first learned of the town’s problem with his signs when he received an e-mail and a phone call on the morning of Oct. 8. In an e- mail from an employee of the Clarksville Building Commissioners’ office, Clere was informed that his signs were in violation of the ordinance and that if he did not remove them by the following morning, the town would have them removed. But the town never removed the signs.

“There was some question as to whether they were in the public right of way, because Mr. Ballew seemed to believe they were in the right of way,” Lockard explained. “Mr. Clere said they were not in the public right of way, so I made the legal determination that instead of us going out there and — because if they were in the right of way, we have the right to remove them immediately. If they were on private property, then the ordinance says that we can give a 10-day notice and then we can remove them. Well, by that time, by the time we looked into right of way or not right of way, it would have been after the election, so we just went the citation route.”

The e- mail Clere received also said that certified mail was on its way with a message to similar effect. Clere said he never received any certified mail from the town regarding his signs.

“I finally received a notice to appear [in Clarksville Town Court], just by regular mail,” Clere said.

The town will pursue the maximum fines if the ordinance violation goes to trial, Lockard said.

“If I’m going to trial, I’m asking for the maximum possible penalty,” Lockard said. “If we can work something out before that, then I’m not. But here we have a state legislator who makes laws and expects people to follow those laws, but yet does not want to follow the laws of Clarksville.”

In addition to opposing the fines, Fox also took issue with the way the case was handled from a procedural standpoint. An appearance — in other words, the identity of the lawyer for Clarksville — had not yet been entered, and t here should have been a pretrial conference scheduled for the two lawyers to meet before the initial hearing, Fox said.

“The rules do not have, in any way, shape or form, provisions under the civil rules for an initial hearing to bring somebody in to tell them what you’re charged with,” Fox said. “As soon as somebody has — they know who I am. I’ve entered an appearance in this case. I’ve never received an appearance from anybody with the town of Clarksville that says, ‘I am the attorney you’re dealing with.’ That’s required by the civil rules.”

But Fox could have waived the initial hearing, Lockard said.

“But instead he appeared,” Lockard said. “All ordinance violations, whether it’s speeding, whether it’s a dog bite, whether it’s a building violation or a sign violation, they all get set for an initial hearing so that the court has some docket management to set hearings.”

Lockard said that Clere was not being singled out, and that the town had contacted two other politicians whose signs violated the town’s ordinance. Both corrected the problem immediately, Lockard said, while Clere refused.

Clere said he has no problem with the town having a right to establish a reasonable sign ordinance, including for political signage. But he thought the town’s need for regulations on signage should be balanced by the need for protection of political speech, he said.

“I would argue that to be reasonable in terms of protected speech, a sign ordinance limiting political signage would have to take into consideration the surrounding area and the type of signage that’s present in t hat area,” Clere said. “When you look at the Veterans Parkway area, there are many, many very large signs. So I’m not convinced that it’s reasonable to suggest that a 4-by-8 sign is somehow too large for that area, when there are signs that are far larger than 4-by-8 and permanent in nature.”

In which the newspaper documents the ORBP's downtown cluster f*** on the Indiana side.

The unnecessary downtown segment of the ORBP will have an effect on Jeffersonville not unlike the late Comrade Ceausescu's decision to remake central Bucharest, and with about as much public input into the process.

It continues to astound that this crazy boondoggle of a 1950's era "mobility" project is going to be so obviously bad for people and settlements in Southern Indiana, and in so many different ways, and yet the higher ranking the elected official in Indiana, the more oblivious he is to the "toll" we'll all have to pay, one that extends far beyond "right-to-pay-taxes-to-go-to-work" being enacted to cross infrastructure.

As for those Jeffersonville public officials going on record with their objections, they'd best be very careful. When it comes to the oligopoly's chieftain, Kerry Stemler, whiskey (and dissent) just make him mean.

PART ONE: Studying a concern; Impact of changing traffic patterns among concerns about Bridges Project, by Braden Lammers and David A. Mann (News and Tribune)

As transportation officials race to break ground on the Ohio River Bridges Project, concerns remain on what affect the plan is going to have on local businesses and communities.

Evening News uses the "P" word; Citizens Faux Accountability threatens remonstrance.

Shea Van Hoy does the impossible. He looks at the calendar, notices it is 2010, and draws patently obvious conclusions from verifiable experiences outside the narrow boundaries of our locality. But then he ruins it all and uses that damned pesky "P" word. Subscriptions will be threatened!

CHEERS ... to Clarksville’s plans to turn a mile-long stretch of Eastern Boulevard into a Wi-Fi hotspot, once renovations are complete there.

People out and about along the soon-to-be-new roadway’s sidewalks and nearby will be able to get free Internet access from laptops, netbooks or phones.

But, the real lure should be for businesses, which can choose to pay to tap in to a fast connection that they then could use to entice customers. As progressive cities have learned, it’s a valid economic development tool.

Don't beat 'em ... join 'em, and split the proceeds.

Boxing Day began in the company of four fellow Floyd County residents, providentially seated at the last remaining available booth space at the Irish Rover, which is located on Frankfort Avenue in Louisville -- the place where no one goes any longer because it's way too crowded.

We had convened for the pub’s annual Boxing Day celebration, and to get a sense of the ambience of the celebration, visit my beer blog and feel the faint tickle of thirst (and hunger) while viewing the photos.

Verily, there’s nothing like Guinness to lubricate the formulation and dissemination of ideas, a concept enshrined by the Rover’s reminder: “A pub is the poor man’s university.”

Accordingly, the conversation turned to Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana (ROCK) and its most recent heroic anti-pornography battle against St. Petersburg gangsters disguised as Theatair X, with the only real question being, “Florida or Russia?” as the ultimate destination of the revenue derived from a business so impervious and venerable that it would be receiving glowing commendations from 1SI if it were a “family” owned fruit and vegetable stand.

But leaving bananas out of it, I’ve asked another question of ROCK numerous times without receiving a coherent answer:

Exactly which culture are you so intent on reclaiming?

As we discussed over Boxing Day pints, a strong case can be made that Theatair X follows quite convincingly in the traditions of vice, gambling and prostitution that formerly thrived in Jeffersonville and Clarksville, communities profiting from the civic-mindedness of bookies and pimps just as surely as Louisville grew from the coerced labor of African-American slavery.

So, why not celebrate the past rather than rewrite it?

The Boxing Day gang proposes the establishment of a Museum of Sin and Wickedness adjacent to Theatair X, situated atop the hallowed (and soiled) ground once preferred by weary long distance truckers and acne-laden, peering adolescents. The entire history of local vice will be examined at the museum, with proceeds ostensibly devoted to putting the most notorious current practitioner out of business … although we suspect that the Clarksville town council understands the true nature of the game better than ROCK ever will.

And what of New Albany’s place in this historical pageant?

We reckon that the best explanation of our fair city’s impoverishment in both financial resources and culture stems from the fact that way back when, only those too poor to own slaves or too stupid to profit from sin came to live here. That's the open air museum ... and nobody does it better.

If you’ll excuse me, I have another Guinness to catch. It just might help be construct a theory of why Steve Price still suffers from frankfortavenueaphobia.

Clarksville’s first rental duplex came shortly thereafter, in 1784.

My pal Todd actually remembers what he was taught in school. Do you know what’s wrong with this picture?

Todd caught it, and wrote the Evening News to explain.

Reader: Semonin ad is wrong

While out in Clarksville, I noticed a large billboard for Semonin Realtors. On it was printed:

This city was named after Clark. (He hung out with Lewis.) Nobody knows Clarksville better.

Apparently what they do not know is Clarksville history. Clarksville was named in honor of General George Rogers Clark, after the Virginia legislature granted the land to Clark and his troops for their service in the Revolutionary War. While General Clark was related to William Clark, who did indeed hang out with Meriwether Lewis on a cross country journey that started in Clarksville, the town was not named after William Clark. While I applaud the attempt at historical humor with their advertising, some simple fact checking would have taken care of this error.

— Todd Antz, Sellersburg

For his efforts, NAC awards Todd a free business plug: He is the owner of Keg Liquors in Clarksville and has the best package craft and imported store beer selection anywhere on the Sunnyside.

Photo credit: Todd Antz.