House fire in the 3rd district turns the spotlight to the importance of corner buildings, and how few city officials understand it.

It's unlikely the owner will be stepping forward to save the house, given that his serial neglect over a period of years surely contributed to its demise, but maybe miracles still happen.

TIF-buffing, anyone? Duggins' personal "Lots-R-Us" housing authority might be able to take it over for voucher housing.

Meanwhile David Barksdale's right about those idiotically vacant corner lots scattered throughout town where buildings ought to be, with perhaps a dozen in Councilman Phipps' 3rd district alone.

So of course everyone involved happily agreed to build parks at the corner of 11th and Spring, and the corner of Pearl and Spring -- and of course the corner of State and Spring remains a superfluous parking lot, and there's the biggest waste of what should be prime real estate in the entire city where the Farmers Market was built ...

Yep, those corner lots.

True, the city can't control what happens with all of them, but it's too bad we can't get it right for the ones we do.

Fire crews battle blaze at historic New Albany home, by Aprile Rickert (Hanson's Chain Folly)

Building was vacant, chief says

NEW ALBANY — Fire crews continue to attack hot spots after a historic home in downtown New Albany caught fire early Friday morning ...

... The corner-lot house falls within New Albany's historic Mansion Row, adjacent to St. Paul's Episcopal Church on the west and Naville & Seabrook Funeral Home on the north. It was built in 1910 by Edward and Mary Hackett, a family that was in the furniture manufacturing business. Edward died in 1922 and the home was subdivided into apartments in 1926, years before the bulk of larger building were cut into multi-family units during World War I and II.

Mary remained in control of the property until around 1940, when it was purchased by Vincent Knabel.

Floyd County Historian Dave Barksdale said that first and foremost, he's glad no one was seriously injured or killed in the fire. But he's concerned about whether the 109-year-old building will survive the damage.

"Corner buildings are very important to a street and when you lose a corner building, it's a shame because you're losing the anchor of that block," he said. "Depending on what the owner is intending on doing, there could be a good infill project go in there. It would be great if it could be saved, but just from my vantage point, I think it would be awfully hard to save."

Greg Sekula, director of Indiana Landmarks Southern regional office, said he has hope it can be restored.

"It certainly kind of makes your heart sink, particularly when the building is in a historic district and it is a contributing property within the district," Sekula said.

He said the house is a good example of framed colonial style and was one of the more prominent homes on the street when it was built. As an income-producing property, he said there are federal grants available to help with restoration.

"You don't want to see a gaping hole there," Sekula said. "I'm hoping that either the owner or someone else would step forward and try to save the building and rebuild the structure...hopefully the structural integrity is still intact which would make rebuilding feasible."

The Floyd County Assessor's Office confirmed that the property was last sold to Timothy Hollins in 1993. Hollins was unable to be immediately contacted for comment.

Question: Did David Barksdale's support of the Reisz Mahal cost him re-election?

Now that the election is over, maybe I can finally start writing about what I REALLY think.

Or maybe not.

Either way, to kick things off with post-election analysis, a question for readers: Incumbent at-large councilman David Barksdale (Republican) lost his seat to newcomer Jason Applegate, a recent convert to the Democratic Party.

Last year Barksdale famously broke with his party and joined council's four Democrats to cast the deciding vote on the Reisz Mahal luxury city hall project.

Did this hurt him among fiscally conservative Republicans?

"I was very honored to be on the council for four years," Barksdale told the Tom May Evangel-Bune. "I voted for what I thought was best for the citizens. There is always another day."

Speaking personally, I thought he'd be forgiven, but after garnering 3,365 votes in 2015, Barksdale received 3,371 this year, a gain of only six. Meanwhile his Republican council colleagues Al Knable and David Aebersold added 704 and 386 votes, respectively. In short, the higher turnout in 2019 didn't help Barksdale at all, and his Reisz Mahal legacy might be one reason.

An interesting sidebar to Barksdale's loss: who will replace him as council's appointment to the Redevelopment Commission?

I'm guessing it will be Applegate, who stressed "smart growth" in his unsuccessful bid for county commissioner in 2018.

GIVE GAHAN THE BOOT: (Monday) The Reisz Mahal luxury city hall, perhaps the signature Gahan boondoggle.

Last week was Harvest Homecoming, and my city's favorite festival kept me pinned to the tarmac, but now we're back to what passes for normal here in New Gahania, where "We're All Here Because We're Not All THERE."

There was no time to conjure a column during Harvest Homecoming, so this week as a run-up to Decision 2019, I'm headed back into the ON THE AVENUES archive for five straight days of devastatingly persuasive arguments against four more years of the Gahan Family Values Personality Cult.

I've already made the argument for Mark Seabrook as mayor here. Now let's return to the voluminous case against Gahanism in five informative and entertaining installments.

GIVE GAHAN THE BOOT: (Monday) The Reisz Mahal luxury city hall, perhaps the signature Gahan boondoggle.

---

June 21, 2018

ON THE AVENUES: Government Lives Matter, so it's $10,000,000 for Gahan's luxury city hall clique enhancement. Happy dumpster diving, peasants!

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

If someone ignored the "no soliciting" sign on your porch and clambered up to the door, breathlessly offering to sell you a gizmo with the promise that the mere fact of owning it will save you all kinds of money, there are many good questions you might ask.

Of course, you might also command the huckster to vacate your porch, or else. I generally do. But in order to determine whether the peddler's product is a sound investment, one specific question tops the list:

How much does it cost?

Mayor Jeff Gahan is a former veneer salesman with a well-honed, thoroughly greasy sales pitch, and he thinks you're too stupid to ask how much a new city hall is going to cost you -- in tax dollars.

The (Reisz) project will save millions of dollars over time, as the city has paid costs in its current location for over 57 years. It will also help the surrounding businesses see their private investment backed up by pubic investment.

Take a magnifying glass to the undisguised gloating amid yesterday's city hall press release, stating that the multi-million dollar Reisz renovation is a done deal and a fixed formality, and further opposition from the likes of YOU is plainly useless, and you'll find absolutely no mention of the price tag.

Please allow me to fill in this blank.

The Reisz cost commitment already has topped $10,000,000 in a city where perhaps a quarter of the residents live below the poverty line; where Gahan and his new unofficial deputy mayor and slavish devotee David Barksdale are eager to demolish half of the city's public housing units; and where city hall has yet to mention aloud minor details like the opioid epidemic, the accompanying rise in thievery and petty crime, homelessness, and the worsening plight of our city's working poor.

The sloganeering is so oppressive that a Trump rally seems like the knitter's circle coffee klatsch by comparison.

Government lives matter!

(so, let's literally quadruple the size of municipal government)

Buildings not people!

(because elite cliques need historic fetishes, too)

If you have to ask what it costs, you can't afford it!

(it might be the only truthful statement yet uttered by these purported Democrats)

Team Gahan and affiliates can do the math, all right, so long as most of it is concealed.

What eludes them is simple human empathy.

---

Last week the News and Tribune's most inconsistent editor got to work defending the imperatives of government buildings over those of residents.

He begins by inferring an economic ripple effect from a single government-occupied building, without bothering to try to interpret economic conditions and trends downtown.

MORRIS: Reisz rehab would give downtown a boost, by Chris Morris (Where Multiple Tom Mays Roam)

 ... But the area needs another boost. Some businesses have closed recently while others are struggling. Just think what could happen with a vibrant city hall in a refurbished Reisz building, in the heart of our downtown. With life put back into a building that has sat empty for years, others may decide to invest and open a business, or at the very least visit the downtown. The downtown needs this project.

Morris saves his weakest argument for last.

I am a fan of uni-gov — otherwise known as one government for New Albany and Floyd County, and being in favor of adding another government building to the tax rolls goes against that theory. Uni-gov would eliminate duplicated services, there wouldn’t be these power struggles or personality conflicts, and it would save taxpayers money. Too much government only gets in the way of people trying to live their lives ...

 ... So why would I support spending money to rehabilitate this building, guaranteeing two separate government buildings just blocks apart? Even with a uni-gov the City-County Building will be needed for office space and to allow the courts to expand. That building is also in need of some renovation, but that is for another day ...

... It’s a big move but one I think the city needs to take. There are no other options on the table for the building and this makes the most sense. The downtown needs a boost, and putting city hall inside the Reisz Furniture building may be exactly what is needed. It’s worth the gamble.

Worth the $10,000,000 (or more) gamble, like it's Monopoly money?

If there is a consistent theme to the prevailing Reisz apologetic, it echoes the immortal words of Basil Fawlty: "Don't mention the cost!"

Or: Don't mention the opportunity cost, because we'll be spending an extra $400,000 a year for one government building when the money might be combined with private sector investments to assist dozens of other deserving historic structures downtown and those small businesses and residences occupying them, as well as incentivizing infill construction to fill vacant lots.

Alas, we've long understood that Morris's veneration of "respectable" authority is such that he'll automatically take the side of anyone and anything he's loosely capable of identifying as a selfless community pillar.

Morris comes perilously close to openly acknowledging that this fact-free approach is contradictory as it pertains to uni-gov, and yet he churns out the logic sausage as predictably as Team Gahan and HWC Engineering render Jeff Speck's walkability into more of the same car-centrism.

I asked the newspaper for a similar word count in rebuttal. To my mild surprise, the offer was accepted, and I wrote the following. It was published yesterday; this is the "Director's Cut," leaving intact two passages I was asked by the editor to remove. You'll probably be able to guess which ones.

---

Last week the News and Tribune’s Chris Morris supported governmental intervention ostensibly aimed at “saving” the Reisz Furniture Warehouse by renovating it into a lavish new city hall.

I’d love to see Reisz put to use, just not like this. To understand why, let’s follow the money.

Dating to 1852, the Reisz building has been a flour mill, funeral home and shirt factory. Purchased by Schmitt Furniture in 1988, it served mostly as cheap storage.

At any point during three decades, Schmitt might have opted to “save” Reisz but didn’t, and so a central point of Mayor Jeff Gahan’s case for adaptive reuse is a suddenly urgent need to rectify the "dilapidated” building’s “neglect” (his words).

Apparently there are no penalties in New Albany for structure abuse.

Last August the Redevelopment Commission authorized funds for Gahan’s relocation project, at the time neither subject to an RFP (request for proposal), nor approved by city council. Detailed explanations were offered by Denton Floyd Real Estate Group, with whom Gahan is partnering, as though the deal already had been sealed.

Perhaps this occurred when former redevelopment tsar David Duggins accompanied Denton Floyd last fall for a limousine junket to Keeneland.

By May of 2018, the RFP formality was hurdled. $750,000 passed from Redevelopment to Denton Floyd, including the purchase price of $390,000, with the remainder to empty the building of junk.

Denton Floyd would complete the 23,000-square-foot buildout for city hall’s relocation (currently City Hall uses 6,500 sq. ft. at the City County Building), with a 15-year “rent to own” lease.

Yearly payments will be $570,000, or $8,500,000 over 15 years. By comparison, $200,000 during the same period in the City County Building totals $3,000,000. Another $500,000 is approved for office furnishings, surely a low estimate.

Ten months ago the city’s combined yearly cost at Reisz was estimated at $215,000. It’s more than tripled since then, with just shy of $10,000,000 committed to the project. The total cost of ownership inevitably will rise; in addition to inevitable price hikes, county officials insist the city remains bound to its current landlord. Lawsuits are likely.

20% of the city’s population lives below the poverty line, yet Gahan, who concurrently seeks to demolish half our public housing units, wants to spend an additional $370,000 - $400,000 yearly on city offices, citing the ripple effects of economic development that relocation will generate.

We should be asking whether these ripple effects are real or imagined.

The most persistent advocate of the Reisz project is David Barksdale, historic preservationist and city councilman, who thinks Reisz must be renovated at any cost, and presumably, since limitless costs are government’s responsibility, seeks largess from a bottomless well of cash.

Barksdale touts the project as “skin in the game,” a way of showing downtown stakeholders that City Hall stands with them.

After all, entrepreneurs and small independent business owners have invested $60 million or more into downtown during the past decade, while enjoying few of the subsidies available to suburban industrial park occupants.

Barksdale’s argument is flawed. Private investors spend their own money, but the money required for the municipality’s funding of a single speculative historic preservation project isn’t cash from Gahan’s or Barksdale’s pockets.

Rather, this “skin” belongs to the city’s taxpayers – and they haven’t been asked.

Naturally downtown stakeholders need functional “skin” in the game, this being shared, collective infrastructure, including streets, sewers, police and firefighters. These are grassroots needs, citywide.

City Hall spending almost $10 million on itself? That’s a top-down want.

Some compare a new city hall with the YMCA. It’s absurd. The YMCA brings people downtown who might not otherwise come. Moving city offices three whole blocks changes nothing. The same workers come to work, and they eat the same lunch. There is no net gain.

Furthermore, a relocated city hall threatens to bump Harvest Homecoming’s kiddie rides from its current location, posing a financial hardship for the city’s premier annual festival.

As for the exaggerated rhetoric of historic preservation, $7 million for one additional restored historic building won’t be diverting tour buses.

Numerous structures of historic significance lie within a five minute stroll of Reisz. No study has been conducted to determine whether one of them might be suitable as city hall. No other options even have been considered. If floated as a referendum, this relocation boondoggle probably would lose 70%-30%, or worse.

Ironically Morris, a proponent of unified city-county government (uni-gov), can’t see that Gahan’s interest in city hall relocation is politically motivated, having nothing to do with historic preservation or the Reisz building itself apart from the utility of prying away Barksdale’s council vote to restore Gahan’s control of an otherwise lapsed majority.

City hall’s relocation addresses Gahan’s pathological hatred of uni-gov. He’d secede from the county if allowed, and he’d relocate HQ to a suitably luxurious pole barn if one existed. Plainly, the aim is political preservation for Gahan and Democrats, and Reisz is just one move in a chess game to stave off power-sharing with the county.

Shouldn’t we wait until municipal elections in 2019 to discuss moving city hall?

Let your councilman know this mandate (if any) should come from the people, not the city’s ruling elites.

---

See also:

June 12, 2018: ON THE AVENUES: Histrionic preservation? $8.5 million to gift Jeff Gahan with a luxury city hall "want" is simply obscene in a time of societal need.

Researcher says: "In most cases around the country TIF did not fulfill its main goal of boosting economic development."

The reason why we're always talking about TIF?

• TIF benefits are routinely exaggerated
• TIF abets pay-to-play political patronage
• TIF abuse shifts funding from schools and services to more speculative "public-private partnerships"
• TIF expenditures typically are made by appointed boards, and consequently are not transparent

Because of the legal stipulation that TIF expenditures for property purchases above the appraised amount must come with approval by elected officials (as opposed to the usual appointed functionaries), city council will vote this evening on a resolution favoring the use of TIF funds by the Redevelopment Commission to purchase the moribund Colonial Manor shopping center from absentee owners.

Indiana law now makes clear that TIF is intended to fund infrastructure to promote development that would not occur but for the added infrastructure financed by the TIF revenues. Evidence that the development would not happen but for the establishment of the TIF district must be presented before the TIF district is approved. TIF is not meant as a source of revenue for responding to ongoing development, nor as a substitute for other sources of infrastructure funding. TIF districts are required to expire once the infrastructure bond is repaid. TIF is not meant as a permanent source of revenue for the enacting government.

It should be an interesting evening. The Green Mouse has tonight's tally at 4 council persons for, and 4 against, with Nanny Barksdale as the swing vote.

But is he really swinging?

Almost certainly not. Barksdale already has voted "aye" at Redevelopment for the Colonial Manor power play, and while nominally Republican, he's rubber-stamped Jeff Gahan's mega-spending almost as often as Greg Phipps (a Democrat).

This one's a done deal, so read why TIF shouldn't be.

The Trouble With TIF, by Tanvi Misra (CityLab)

Cities love to use Tax Increment Financing to boost development. Should they?

 ... After reviewing available research on the implementation and impacts of TIF, (Professor David) Merriman concludes that the mechanism, while helpful in some ways, leaves a lot to be desired.

“In the end, it can be a valuable mechanism,” he said. “It’s not something I’d like to get rid of—but it deserves a lot of scrutiny because public sector dollars are being re-routed into a different task, away from general purpose funds.”

snip

To understand what he means, let’s first explain how TIF works: When a city designates an area as a TIF district, the property value of all the real estate within its boundaries at that time is designated as the “base value.” This is the amount that, for a set amount of years after the fact, generates revenue through the city’s property tax process. Everything over and above that, through an increase in value of existing real estate and new development in that time frame, goes into a separate fund earmarked for economic development.

The city can then use this second pot of money to lure private investors with loans and subsidies for commercial projects, or to make public projects more attractive.

snip

Critics often charge that (TIF) funnels money out of the taxpayers’ pockets into a special fund that, by and large, works in a pretty opaque manner. While some of that money funds essential public works, much has also gone towards erecting new Whole Foods, renovating glitzy hotels, and building stadiums—the type of projects, one might argue, should not require such incentives. And the evidence Merriman analyzes suggest they may have a point. He shows that, in most cases around the country, the tool did not fulfill its main goal of boosting economic development.

“On average, [TIF] may be moving development from one part of the city to another, and changing the timing of the development, but there’s not more development than would have otherwise been made,” Merriman said.

In addition, this is a tool with several drawbacks. According to Merriman, TIFs might “capture” some tax revenue above the capped “base value” that may have been generated anyway through natural appreciation in property values if the TIF hadn’t been created. This is money that taxpayers might have otherwise paid directly towards an overlapping school district, or for public services. And while TIF is not a direct tax increase, it may lead to higher rates or service cuts elsewhere, if the city plans on bringing in the same general property tax revenue as before TIF.

“If property taxes are higher—if the rates are higher—then the TIF money has come of the taxpayer’s pocket,” Merriman said. “It’s a diversion in that way.”

In other words, TIF doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Like other tax incentive programs, it may have the adverse affect of creating competition between neighboring jurisdictions in a way that is not always beneficial—all for outcomes that are mixed, at best.

Perhaps the biggest concern with TIF, though, is that of transparency, because of the way this mechanism effectively bypasses the public municipal budget process.

“Once a TIF is created, the operation of a TIF receives less scrutiny than other spending,” Merriman said.

---

Democratic mayoral candidate David White understands that change begins with a whole lotta scrubbing, and NA Confidential advocates just such a deep civic cleansing. 

After eight years on the job, Mayor Jeff Gahan's list of stunning "achievements" is long, indeed: tax increases, budgetary hide 'n' seek, self-deification, daily hypocrisy, public housing takeover, non-transparency, pay-to-play for no-bid contracts, bullying city residents and bullying city employees. Eight years is enough. It's time to drain Gahan's swamp, flush his ruling clique and take this city back from Gahan's Indy-based special interest donors. 

NA Confidential supports David White for Mayor in the Democratic Party primary, with voting now through May 7. 

Hello darkness, my old friend: Is David Barksdale yet again the council's swing vote on Gahan's Colonial Manor power play?

"Shades of the Reisz Mahal," said the spider to the fly.

The Green Mouse has been told that occasional Republican councilman David Barksdale, who has voted with City Hall almost as often as council's Rubber Stamp Quartet of Democrats, yet again looks like the swing vote; the Mouse's abacus shows the Democratic foursome in favor, with two Republicans and two Independents opposed.

Of course we're referring to Thursday evening's resolution to approve the Redevelopment Commission's use of the city's TIF One Platinum card to purchase the moribund Colonial Manor shopping center from absentee owners.

ON THE AVENUES: Amid Deaf Gahan's "victory" over grassroots activists at Colonial Manor, the toxic paranoia is no less rancid.

At last week's Redevelopment fix-fest, council president Blair asked for documentation of the city's current TIF zone status. It runs for quite a few pages, and can be viewed here: CCPackets-041819

Here's the resolution. The bracketed passage explains why this measure even appears before council, and isn't just another backroom deal.

And this statement by redevelopment director Staten is meant to allay fears that the crazily rushed Colonial Manor deal isn't, well, just another backroom deal.

Is a construction date of 1965 historic enough for Barksdale's fetish? Will he fall into Dear Leader's bed/web/thrall as before? Or is it time to Make Spines Great Again (MSGA)?

This Barksdale campaign yard sign is misplaced and needs to be moved ASAP to a better location. BTW, we have a suggestion.

This yard sign placement is egregious, don't you think?

Ah, but the Reisz Mahal Luxury City Hall, which Barksdale's critical fifth council vote enabled, is a much better location for political self-advertising when it comes to surveying the at-large councilman's legislative legacy of extravagant expenditures for wants, as opposed to needs.

All those bright, shiny, nicely perfumed objects,  and yet somehow we still have so many neighborhood properties like this one on Oak Street in Greg Phipps' 3rd council district.

Barksdale doesn't do much to help in these messy situations, and neither does Phipps, who also voted to rescue city employees from inhumane air-conditioned workspace.

The neighbors living around this house are struggling to contain the blight, without much help from the city.

Maybe if they were government workers ...

Amid Gahan's penchant for opulent municipal luxury, do we even have a word for this vista at 1730 E. Oak Street?

The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 17: Denton-Floyd feels M(ighty) Fine -- and the resulting Reisz Krispies Treats never tasted better to Mayor Gahan.

Previously: The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 16: Last week's minutes from the Board of Public Works and Safety reveal big donors daintily lapping their gravy.

Some people climb mountains, but during the coming weeks we'll be plucking highlights from eight years of the Committee to Elect Gahan's CFA-4 campaign finance reports. Strap in, folks -- and don't forget those air(head) sickness bags.

Last year the local activist Aaron Fairbanks, who is running for city council in 2019 in Jeffersonville, was doing research on campaign finance in the run-up to the 2018 elections. Denton-Floyd Development came into the rear-view mirror.

September 7, 2017: The News and Tribune reported that Denton-Floyd Development received a $2.5 million state tax credit, matched by the City of New Albany to begin construction on an estimated $15 million "new senior living facility going into the former M. Fine & Sons shirt factory in New Albany."

September 14, 2017: Mayor Jeff Gahan received $3,000 from Denton-Floyd Development more than two years before the next mayoral election.

This is what it looks like when your tax dollars at work are spent buying an election without your consent.

Why, yes -- it does look like that. Here's the line item from 2017, when Gahan pulled in a whopping $56,225 from "friends" just like Denton-Floyd.

About a month later, still in 2017, Denton Floyd graciously treated former redevelopment chieftain David Duggins to a relaxing day with hired "models" and Miller Lite at Keeneland and a Louisville City soccer match.

ON THE AVENUES: Could that be David Duggins paddling across Jeff Gahan's putrid cesspool? On second thought, I'll take the blindfold.

By then, Denton Floyd was engaged in top secret, cloak and dagger negotiations to transform a "neglected" building into a luxury city hall.

Throwing Reisz: The Jeff M. Gahan Luxury Government Center keeps the emphasis on buildings, as opposed to people.

Yesterday, the Green Mouse was told that during an earlier conversation about the Reisz conversion, David Barksdale was asked if there was a point beyond which saving the building would no longer be financially feasible.

How much is too much?

"Whatever it takes," was Barksdale's reply.

The back alleys swarmed with preying mantises in suits.

The redevelopment commission surreptitiously gifted the Reisz’s purchase price of $390,000 to the city’s preferred contractor Denton Floyd -- by sheer coincidence a firm frequently contributing to Gahan’s campaign war chest -- which duly passed the money to the Reisz building’s owner, who as Gahan himself concedes, rendered it dilapidated in the first place.

Now it's 2019, and the Reisz Mahal is set to become a central campaign prop for Gahan as he seeks re-enthronement. Expect the construction work to escalate; just imagine those delightful phone calls to Denton-Floyd if progress again slows as it did in December 2018 and January 2019.

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Just $400k in mechanics' liens involving Denton Floyd and the Mansion on Main. Whither the Reisz Mahal?

Here's the breakdown. Among other observers, David Barksdale no doubt approves of this bounty; after all, it's "whatever it takes" to rescue heroic municipal workers chained to their desks, suffering from inhumane working conditions. Those damned Republicans in county government!

(wait ... isn't Barksdale a Republican, too?)

Denton-Floyd
Adam B. Denton DF Development 3,000
DF Development/M Fine Construction 3,000
DF Property Holdings 4,000
Total: $10,000

If we all work together, we can #FireGahan2019

Rebuttals are welcome and will be published unaltered -- so don't forget spellcheck. If you have supplementary information to offer about any of this, please let us know and we'll update the page. The preceding was gleaned entirely from public records, with the addresses of "individuals" removed.

Next: The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 18: Clark Dietz, CD PAC top Gahan's "Quality of Distant Corporate Donors" chart.

Inhumane working conditions then and now -- or, can you explain to us again why David Barksdale deserves another council term?

Without Barksdale's help, how could Gahan
have achieved luxury in our time?

Remember last summer when at-large councilman David Barksdale somehow managed to keep a straight face while insisting for the public record that municipal employees at the City-County Building were laboring under "inhumane working conditions"?

It was all part of ensuring that Jeff Gahan and the Democrats got their Reisz Mahal luxury city hall in advance of the 2019 municipal election cycle.

Problem is, Barksdale claims to be a Republican.

Has he said anything aloud lately about whether it's inhumane to punish Federal employees during the current shutdown? I didn't think so. After all, such a statement would suggest a logical consistency of thought.

Why is it again that Barksdale deserves another term?

But as it stands, there'll be only one contested primary election race on May 7 between the two major political parties, this being David White's run against Big Daddy G.

By the way, as of Thursday's council meeting, Barksdale's appointment to serve as council liaison with Develop New Albany has ended. Incoming council president Scott Blair unceremoniously replaced Barksdale with Dan Coffey. The city's remaining trees wish he'd have done the same v.v. the Clearcutting Board.

Apparently Blair (an independent) gets it.

Do the Republicans?

Where Republicans are Democrats,
and trees are scared.

It's a municipal election year in New Albany, and the GOP is serious.

I stopped by Kolkin Coffee today to observe the scene as the Floyd County Republican Party rolled out its slate of candidates for municipal elections in 2019.

Mayor: Mark Seabrook

City Clerk: none

District 1: Stefanie Griffith
District 2: Scott Stewart
District 3: none
District 4: Cisa Kubley
District 5: Josh Turner
District 6: Scott Evans
At-large: David Aebersold, David Barksdale and Al Knable

Therein lies an 800-lb incongruity, which is a concise way of saying something is "out of place or keeping."

Seabrook said during his short speech Friday afternoon at Kolkin Coffee shop in New Albany there needs to be more transparency in city government and that the Gahan administration has wasted taxpayer money on projects, singling out the current rehabilitation work on the old Reisz Furniture building for the new city hall. He also criticized Gahan for not working with county leaders during his two terms.

Standing four feet away from Seabrook was Very Incongruous Barksdale, who garnered nowhere near the level of applause given the others.

His presence proved a bit strange. If the GOP intends to cite the Reisz Mahal as a prime example of Jeff Gahan's debt-laden waste -- and this is entirely true -- then why did Barksdale, one of the party's three council incumbents, provide THE critical vote to move the boondoggle forward?

Just remember that when it comes to manipulation and money, the mayor can be trusted to exploit the weak and vulnerable by finding and tapping their jugulars. Gahan simultaneously milked Barksdale for a crucial fifth Reisz Mahal vote and neutered a Republican. The historian blithely handed the charlatan power on a silver platter.

Barksdale's abrupt collapse might be sad, except it's all hamartia and hubris to to me: "Hamartia is the (fatal) flaw, hubris is the behavior that does not acknowledge it."

Apart from Barksdale's capitulation to Dear Leader -- can he be redeemed? -- it's a fine and balanced slate, surely the deepest we've seen from the GOP since this blog's inception.

Seabrook officially announces bid for New Albany mayor, by Chris Morris (Tom May for Poet Laureate)

NEW ALBANY — The Floyd County Republican Party candidates for city offices in 2019 want residents to know they will always listen to their concerns. Their ears, and doors, are always open. That, they said, has been missing in the last eight years from Mayor Jeff Gahan and other elected Democrats.

"We will listen," Mark Seabrook said. "We will listen to every citizen. The days of a city administration going it alone will be over. We want the community involved and we want to make New Albany the best it can be. Being the best New Albany can be is what this campaign is all about."

snip

Floyd County Republican Party Chairman Shawn Carruthers said he is "very happy" with the slate of candidates, which can still grow before the filing deadline of Feb. 8.

"We have a diverse group of people who are talented in all aspects of industry," he said. "There is a lot of energy in the room."

Carruthers said Republicans enjoyed great success in the county-wide election last year, and he believes that momentum will carry over to this year.

Meme wars erupt as the Reisz Mahal tops the Tom May Content Multiplier's list of top five reasons not to vote for Jeff Gahan in 2019.

As a New Year's resolution for 2019, let's work together to ensure that every last elected official responsible for the Reisz Mahal luxury government center expenditure is defeated at the polls.

Now, roll those memes.

Fire them all, each and every one, but first, kindly allow me to fix Morris' opening sentence.

There were many important stories during 2018 in New Albany and Floyd County, but only the most milquetoast made the News and Tribune cut as the biggest and most news worthy.

Accordingly, the choice is yours. You can hit the link and use one of your newspaper visit credits to read the cursory content, or you can save it for when Tom May gets another column in the Jeffersonville First publication.

Me? I'm having a refreshing adult libation instead, because life's too short for serial inanity.

Reisz building plans top list of 2018's top Floyd County stories, by Chris Morris (Tom May Content Proliferator)

NEW ALBANY — There were many important stories during 2018 in New Albany and Floyd County, but only five made the News and Tribune cut as the biggest and most news worthy.

Ranking these five proved to be more difficult than choosing them.

However, maybe the one that drew the most interest, both for and against, was the city's decision to leave the City-County Building at the end of next year. City offices will be moving from the third floor of the City-County Building into the old Reisz Furniture building at 148 E. Main St., which is currently being renovated.

Other stories making the cut include Sazerac Company buying the vacant General Mills plant off Grant Line Road, the opening of the Kevin Hammersmith Memorial Park and the New Albany Little League moving to the facility, a new Green Valley Elementary School opening and the old one being torn down, and the passage of a jail tax by the Floyd County Council to help pay for upkeep to a renovated jail.

Some stories that were also worthy of mention were the brush fires in the spring, Brad Snyder being named superintendent of the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp., ongoing building problems at Riverview Tower, the new digital library branch and Mansion on Main assisted living facility opening late this year.

Inhumanely treated Amazon workers in Europe go out on strike because Bezos didn't give them a new city hall.

Good for them -- Amazon's workers in Europe, that is.

'We Are Not Robots': Amazon Workers Across Europe Walk Out on Black Friday Over Low Wages and 'Inhuman Conditions', by Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams)

Amazon CEO "Jeff Bezos is the richest bloke on the planet; he can afford to sort this out," says a U.K. union leader

Amazon workers across Europe staged a walkout on Black Friday—when retailers offer major deals to holiday season shoppers the day after Thanksgiving—to protest low wages as well as "inhuman conditions" at company warehouses.

Eduardo Hernandez, a 38-year-old employee at an Amazon logistics depot in Madrid, Spain—where about 90 percent of staff walked off the job—told the Associated Press that the action was intentionally scheduled on the popular shopping day to negatively impacting the company's profits.

"It is one of the days that Amazon has most sales, and these are days when we can hurt more and make ourselves be heard because the company has not listened to us and does not want to reach any agreement," he said.

Protests were also planned for Amazon facilities in Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and Germany ...

Barksdale made HIS bad choice, and now it's unlikely the Moser Tannery can survive any more of Deaf Gahan's tender loving care.

Who'd have guessed he studied architecture? You'd think it was an elective at veneer salesman's school.

Moser Tannery photo credit: Nick A.

Seismologists record earthshaking Tree Board orgasms as Schoolmaster Barksdale's chain saw strikes again.

It's been a tough week if you're a downtown New Albany street tree.

When one of your brethren decided to strike a blow against car-centrism, it was inevitable that hostages would be taken, tried, sentenced and quickly dispatched.

No last meals or final requests, just those signature red plastic bands -- and the sound of chortling from Schoolmaster Barksdale as his trademark Husqvarna was lubed and revved for duty.

Early this morning, the latest round of carnage was complete on the orphaned south side of Market, by Hannegan Hall.

Fellow street tree, your appointment with the Robespierres of the Tree Board will soon be processed.

But for now, there goes your brother, off to be rendered into firewood, with the proceeds destined to be deposited into Dear Leader's burgeoning re-election fund.

Earlier in the week, for no apparent reason, this row of street trees on Elm Street by the former St. Mary's school received the condemned terrorist treatment.

Sarcasm aside, if once -- just once -- an elected or appointed city official would mention aloud the issue of urban heat islands (to cite one relevant example), and display a semblance of awareness of the implications, then I'd be more inclined to accept his or her persistent tree removal reasoning.

But when the rationale for removal embraces the crazed notion that trees must be removed so our precious historic buildings can be properly viewed by people in passing cars who are too lazy (or overheated) to get out and walk, then I call bullshit -- and will continue to do so.

Previously:

Earth to Gahan: Street trees increase home prices, shade trees reduce household energy use, and these effects can be measured and expressed in dollars.

Chainsaws are the soundtrack to our anchors: "How Should We Pay for Street Trees?"

#FlushTheClique

Not a single tree in this city has a chance so long as David Barksdale and Jeff Gahan wield the chain saws, and Freud would have a field day with the phallic symbolism.

$10 million to alleviate "inhumane" working conditions in the City-County Building, but not a farthing to spend on real people or living trees.

These really are absolutely horrid functionaries. Just horrid.

Three red ribbons have been wrapped around three trees in front of St.Mary’s school on Elm Street. I’ll bet you a dollar against a dozen doughnuts that Councilman Barksdale and Mayor Gahan have them slated for imminent amputation. And our City Forester is ready to comply.

Sad sad sad. One looks at least 40 - 50 years old.

It doesn't stop with yet another clear cut.

Did you read the horrible paragraph on the back of the “Stormwater News”? The “Message from Mayor Jeff Gahan” is a piece of steaming dog shit.

You mean this?

Deforestation hinders the stormwater control effort, but let's not ignore how stupefyingly banal this message reads, although the mayor has a reasonable retort: "Do you really think I write the words my name is attached to"?