NA Confidential: December

Showing posts with label December. Show all posts

Friday, January 03, 2020

City Hall's trip hazards on Market Street lead the Top Ten list for December 2019.

As noted yesterday:

The NA Confidential blog is being scaled back. Writing for pay as I'm doing now takes time, and the blogging quota will fall to two posts per day, down from four in 2017. If a news item takes more than 20 minutes to write and format, it won't be posted. I'll be riffing off the rising generation of dissidents, and doing longer-form commentary less often. I no longer have 25 hours a week to devote to research.

I haven't decided what this means for the monthly Top Ten wrap-up, and there's a chance I won't do it at all. Probably it will be scaled back to Top Three or Top Five.

For now, the usual drill, in ascending order. Thanks for reading.

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FIVE (5) HONORABLE MENTION for December 2019

609

Marcus Green at WDRB: " ‘Shermageddon’ 2? New Albany waits for Sherman Minton Bridge plan."

It's ironic. The next five years of life in New Albany, especially downtown, will be determined by the ripple effects of the bridge repair project, given that we're a purely automobile-centric metropolitan area. It is of immense significance, but had a space alien been monitoring the recently concluded municipal election, she'd have noted almost no mention of it.

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636

An anchor-free public art tale of two dragons, in New Albany and far away to the east of Silver Creek.

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667

Best wishes to Susan Kerber, as "Bridge Liquors in New Albany has new owner."

GREAT JOB, GUYS. That's endurance. Now have some fun without having to reply to the alarm at 4:00 a.m. when a stray moth activated the sensor.

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682

ON THE AVENUES: These parents oppose their children's exposure to the PURE Initiative as part of the NA-FC Schools curriculum. Here's why.

Let’s have a look at faith-based abstinence as a component of health education in New Albany-Floyd County Schools. But first, just a bit of background to explain how the topic came to my attention.

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687

BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: Why is Goose Island Bourbon County Brand Stout on tap at Pints&union?

When Nadorff's Jason Mott asked me if we'd like to have the only 1/6 barrel of Bourbon County Brand Stout that his wholesale house was allocated, I thought about it long and hard before immediately agreeing to purchase it. By doing so I was happily patronizing a locally-owned business with deep roots in New Albany.

TOP TEN (10) for December 2019

695

ON THE AVENUES: He who fights and runs away will live to fight another day.

Anyone that clueless with so much money should be opposed on general principle alone, and to repeat, I’ve no regrets at having written the alternative history and formulated the case against Gahan from precepts ranging far beyond simple contrarianism, even if I inherited my father’s stubbornness. Posterity will be kind to me, indeed, and all I need do is live long enough to see it happen.

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713

"Barack Obama is using his post-presidency to attack the Left and protect the status quo."

In the beginning, I was a fan, but in the end, one must allow facts to be facts. It isn't always easy. Maybe we learn something, maybe not. Barack Obama disappointed while in office, and continues to do so amid his post-presidency.

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736

ON THE AVENUES: Four more years? Heaven help us all, but there are five reasons to be optimistic.

My innate stubbornness eliminates the possibility that these kingpin nitwits will ever govern MY head space. Rather than dwell on the dipshittsian dysfunctionals, let’s see if there is a case to be made for this municipal glass being half-full with our delicious Pilsner Urquell, rather than half depleted of their Bud Light Mang-o-Rita pet shampoo. Because I promised ... here are FIVE POSITIVE TAKEWAYS FROM THE NOVEMBER 5 ELECTION.

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825

Forget the ugly sweaters, because here's the winner of the NA Confidential Ugly Christmas Greeting Banner Contest for 2019.

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869

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Social media reports indicate that New Albany's venerable Red Men club will vacate its Main Street space.

Folks are saying that New Albany's 120-year-old Red Men club is giving up its storefront on Main Street (at the very least) or perhaps even calling it quits permanently in the face of declining membership, aging and mortality.

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1,125

The morning after the return from Croatia, Slovenia and Trieste.

We took seven flights in all, four outbound (to Zagreb) and three inbound returning to Louisville. All seven were delayed, five of them significantly. In terms of actual time in the air, these series of flights theoretically total 24 hours, or twelve hours each way. The sum total of the delays, not including the usual time spent waiting, cost us 28 hours, including an overnight stay on the way back.

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1,148

Gahan's public records scandal: WDRB's Marcus Green breaks it down as the News and Tribune flails ineffectually.

On Christmas Eve, Marcus Green of WDRB broke down Jeff Gahan's public records scandal; the screenshots and transcriptions follow. Green concludes with three questions:

Why didn't (city hall) respond to the citizens' request before (the judge's ruling)?
Does it believe it doesn't have to respond to requests it deems politically motivated?
Why didn't it respond to the access counselor?

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1,349

Todd Coleman's Classic Furniture (corner Pearl and Main) is sprouting windows.

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1,519

Sadly, Bliss Artisan is closed. The franchise lasted ten months at The Breakwater.

I have little to say; this closing seems to have escaped notice, and I thought it should be noted. As for whether it "means" anything, my hunch is the terms of the lease might tell us a lot. This isn't a good space for a business like this, at least in my estimation.

Martini bar, anyone?

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3,227

ASK THE BORED: The wonderful world of Market Street trip hazards.

These stakes jut up from the cute gravel on the north side of Market Street between Pearl and State, where in 2019 Team Gahan spent lots more money than the Horseshoe Foundation donated to them in order to beautify according to the suburban design templates of HWC Engineering. It's an aesthetic atrocity overall, more reminiscent of Mussolini's fascist Italy than anything belonging in a Midwestern city, but that's a topic for future archaeologists to consider.

Wednesday, January 02, 2019

Dodgy Gahan doggie calendar tops NA Confidential's Top Ten list of most-viewed posts in December 2018.

Thanks for reading NA Confidential, where we enjoy reconnoitering the neglected periphery for uniquely local perspectives on life in New Albany.

Well, someone has to do it, or we can grow old waiting for the Jeffersonville News and Tribune to rediscover journalism.

December's list of most-viewed posts requires an explanation. At the end of October, users of the infamously shoddy Blogger platform started reporting a sudden drop in blog traffic. Blogger emitted its usual "we're investigating" noises, and while numerical ratios seem consistent, page view counts which have been sensible for years no longer are.

For those monetizing their blogs, this probably is infuriating. Since I'm a loss leader kind of fellow, it's merely an annoyance.

Once again this month, statistics are derived from an informal survey of Facebook numbers and a comparison to Blogger stats. In short, this looks about right, and I'm ranking posts by position.

The December most-viewed list begins with ten "honorable mention" posts, before concluding with the Top Ten, escalating to No. 1.

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DECEMBER HONORABLE MENTION (10)

#20

BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: "Upscale microbrew pub franchise" comes to Jeffersonville.

Whenever I hear the words "upscale microbrew pub franchise," I reach for Franchise Gator to learn how much it costs to buy into someone else's ideas.

It's not my preference in beer or life, and the older I get, the more often I shrug and yawn, BUT to each his or her own.

As an aside, when Growler USA's corporate HQ speaks of "certified brew specialists," are we to imagine they mean Cicerones? I googled the term, and the only hits I got were from Growler USA.

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#19

Big thanks to the New Albany Street Department for cleaning the P&u alley.

To repeat: Hearty thanks to the New Albany Street Department for giving the P&u alley a good cleaning.

Regular readers will recall that we had an unsightly dumping issue in this alley just before the Thanksgiving holiday.

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#18

Here's Jeff Speck to explain how speed kills -- and there's Team Gahan, ignoring him.

While many different factors influence the safety of humans in cities, none matters nearly so much as the speed at which vehicles are traveling. The relationship between vehicle speed and danger is, to put it mildly, exponential. (1/4)

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#17

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Are NA's dwindling Democrats seeking to wrest control of city elections from the county? Lame, but at least they're not suggesting HWC Engineering do it.

"I keep saying that Gahanism can't possibly get any weirder, or the Floyd County Democrats any more panic-stricken, and I keep waking up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, hearing Rod Serling's voice."

"What's he saying to you, Mouse?"

"It goes something like this: 'New Albany is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Gahan Zone.' "

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#16

Christmas 2018: From Munich to New (and Old) Albania, with Vietnam Kitchen to follow.

Now it's Christmas Day, and it would be futile to attempt to deal with the jumble of emotions crowding my noggin. I may have to chip away at them over the coming days, knowing all the while that the year to come probably is going to be even more exhausting than the one about to pass.

But there are a few billion people out there who have it worse off than us, and I try never to forget it -- whether a holiday or any other day when we roll out of bed and seek yet again to finesse the rough edges of the existential dilemma.

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#15

In a unanimous decision, NAC's New Albany "Person of the Year" for 2018 is Jeff Gahan's Money Machine.

They're all connected to greater or lesser extent to the overarching theme of Gahan's seven years in office: the construction of a self-aggrandizing political patronage "pay to play" system unprecedented in the modern era of New Albanian political malfeasance.

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#14

Satire alert: Trump tells Gahan, "I can fix your Riverview Tower problem."

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#13

Queue the cattle cars, because Riverview Tower will be the next pawn in City Hall's luxury enhancement crusade.

If Riverview Tower is doomed owing to irreparable physical problems, then residents can be scattered for their own good (as Gauleiter Duggins ineptly signaled to the inattentive reporter, below). The building would come down, and then the property sold for for the sort of "luxury" high-rise development that's eternally more conducive to the engorged mayoral ego than any conceivable dose of Viagra.

It's "why he's here," forever fascinated by those bright shiny baubles capable of generating campaign funds, as opposed to actual human beings and their needs, which he simply cannot fathom in a month of Sundays.

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#12

Public restrooms are another beneficial project neither Jeff Gahan nor Develop New Albany is likely to pursue.

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#11

Silly me -- New Albany Municipal Utilities customers paid for the mayor's Christmas card to them last year, too.

The Green Mouse fixed this year's mayoral holiday card. Dear Leader's attachment to the usual donors has him looking like a NASCAR driver.

DECEMBER TOP 10

#10

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.

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#9

Lieber Führer visits NAHA, Eiffel Tower: "We're from the government and we're here to help ... ourselves."

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#8

Did the sewer rate increase pay for this campaign advertisement?

YOU paid for your Season's Greetings card from the permanent candidate.

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#7

In no known universe can this erection be a coincidence.

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#6

ON THE AVENUES: Another year older and deeper in debt, so let's doo-doo it all over again.

Fortunately, unlike the chaotic situation three decades ago in the People’s Republic if Romania, my fellow New Albanians will have the lawful opportunity next year to exercise their power of the ballot and remove our own under-educated, egotistical, image-replicating, cash-in-the-service-of-special-interests, bullying and personality cult curating Nicolae Ceausescu wannabe, along with the bootlicking clique of vapid lackeys drooling in his general vicinity.

We can get to Trump later. He’s minor league by comparison. First, it’s time to pluck the Genius of the Flood Plain from the comfy projected office chair in his palatial Reisz Mahal, and put him back into peddling veneer.

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#5

Doing it for Matt, because Jeff Gahan doesn't want to hear about pedestrians, bicyclists and skateboarders being killed on city streets. That's why Jeff Gahan MUST GO.

City Hall's response was, and remains, unconscionable, damning and sadly indicative of the ethical, moral, AND cash-driven rot that pervades the Gahan administration -- and, by extension, the hierarchy of the Democratic Party and its elected officials, who are this chicanery's enablers.

That's because there has not been, and likely never will be, any sort of human response to Matt's death at all on the part of officialdom, of the sort revealing qualities like sadness, empathy and resolve. Rather, we've been handed cowardly evasions and the sort of by-the-numbers word puree crafted by computers for androids.

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#4

The owners of SweetFrog Downtown explain their decision to close at the end of 2018.

We feel like every spare moment this whole year has been spent trying to find a funding solution for the store to be able to stay open. We are very sorry that we have to leave you New Albany.

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#3

PINTS & UNION PORTFOLIO: Edmund Fitzgerald? It's much, much more than a Porter.

I'll be buying a second keg of Edmund Fitzgerald to take us through until the expected arrival of Fuller's London Porter in January. What I'd ask of Pints&union customers is when you drink a pint of Edmund Fitzgerald, kindly spare a few seconds to reflect on the tragedy of these 29 men who died not so much because they were heroes pursuing some lofty, noble cause, but simply while doing their everyday jobs.

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#2

Chromatic Homes: "How the simple act of painting an ornate structure in bright or bold colors can inspire, empower, sustain and enlighten an entire community."

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#1

Cult of personality: Jeff Gahan's face appears on doggie calendars and in newspaper inserts. It's blatant electioneering at the taxpayer's expense.

When the face of Dear Leader is larger than the content his image purports to endorse, then it's no longer about the content. It's about Dear Leader. If you were to ask Jeff Gahan how many mistakes he has made since becoming mayor, he'd pause only briefly before answering: none.

Think about this for just a moment. He's a human, and humans are fallible. Do we need a mayor whose primary interest is self-deification, or do we need a mayor whose policies make a difference for ordinary citizens, like me and you?

And all that money from the same special interests, constantly flowing into Gahan's campaign account. How much money is enough for the mayor and his clique?

Tuesday, January 02, 2018

C'mon, DNA: The time has come. A fact's a fact. Taco Walk belongs to her. Why not give it back?

There is a simple way to resolve the situation.

To begin the New Year on a high note, the truly decent thing for Develop New Albany and Mayor Jeff Gahan to do is to say they're sorry, both for the cultural appropriation and the intellectual property violation, and to give the Taco Walk back to whom it belongs, although I'm forever mindful of that old Biblical observation about a camel and the eye of the needle.

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605

Let's borrow LEO's "Thorns and Roses" idea and apply it to the News and Tribune.

If you're a regular reader of NA Confidential, you know the absentee Courier-Journal seldom so much as enters into the blog discussion these days, but when we consider the CNHI newspaper in Jeffersonville -- well, to borrow LEO's description, it's something we love to hate and hate to love.

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609

LIVE TO EAT: Hull & High Water's lunch hours debut on December 11, and other tidbits from the New Albany food and dining scene.

Hull & High Water has been playfully hinting at new lunchtime hours, and now it's official ... as of December 11. That's next Monday, folks.

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612

The NewAlbanist: Tonight, we seek to speak truth to power, insisting that no public housing should be demolished unless and until viable alternatives are made available to public housing residents.

"The problem with speaking truth to power comes when power has no respect for truth, public sentiment, or open government. There is a non-zero chance that we will be confronted by the power tonight regardless of our Constitutional rights to peacably assemble and to petition for the redress of grievances. We demonstrate tonight on public property, without trespass, in exercise of those rights and will not impede the rights of any other. Nonetheless, we live in an America and a New Albany where the exercise of rights is not sacrosanct. We live in a city where vindictive retaliation is the norm and where there is little hesitation to deploy police powers to intimidate and do injury."

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621 (tie)

Rep. Ed Clere on Gahan's public housing deceptions: "Paper promises are not enough. The residents deserve meaningful assurances and action to ensure they're future access to housing."

Justin Sayers at the C-J breaks this important story detailing Rep. Ed Clere's public stance on the public housing putsch and his attendance at tonight's Hauss Square vigil.

Hilariously, all David "Brownie, You're Doing a Heckuva Job" Duggins can do is spout bilge about "politically motivated" protests and outside conspiracies. As we noted yesterday, paranoia is on the rise within the ranks of Team Gahan -- and where are all the Democrats?

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621 (tie)

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: Of misogyny, misandry, and misanthropy.

A shout out to LT for reminding me about misandry, which I don't recall seeing mentioned in the "Collected Spasms of Herr Trump," although misogyny is another story. Predictably, a book already has been written about all three of Shane's words for today: Misogyny, Misandry, and Misanthropy. It's a collection of essays published in 1989 by the University of California Press.

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665

ON THE AVENUES: Truth, lies, music, and a trick of the Christmas tale (2017 Remix).

The roots of my longstanding Yuletide antipathy might be traced to Freudian conceits, Jungian counter-thrusts, references to childhood toilet training habits or the sheer pervasiveness of psychological repression stemming from residency in a nakedly fascistic state like Indiana, but in truth, it’s far simpler.

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670 (tie)

ON THE AVENUES: My Franz Ferdinand heritage trail, 30 years ago in Sarajevo.

On Tuesday morning, my Franz Ferdinand obsession took root, and I embarked on a self-guided walking tour of those parts of Sarajevo's core that prominently figured into the fateful day in 1914 when the Habsburg heir and his wife were killed. The following, originally written as part of my 1985 beer blog travelogue about Vienna, hasn't been published at NAC previously.

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670 (tie)

Former Haymarket employees strike back with countersuit, directing attention to Matthew Landan's masters degree thesis.

Unsurprisingly, the ongoing saga of Matthew Landan and his Haymarket Whiskey Bar seems to be settling into the familiar pattern of trench warfare within the legal system.

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682

A farewell to wonderful Haarlem on Saturday, September 23.

The last full day in Europe always seems bittersweet, even after three dozen goodbyes. My body returns to the daily grind, but something of my spirit remains behind, to be reclaimed next time.

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704

New cases in the case of Haymarket Whiskey Bar.

The saga continues.

Haymarket Whiskey Bar's listing at the Urban Bourbon Trail has been restored (scroll down at the site to see it), and these two links tell the story of recent legal salvos.

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714

THE BEER BEAT: The Bechdel Test, and what 1980s lesbians can teach us about beer.

It's best just to read what Emma Inch has to say about what 1980s lesbians can teach us about beer, with a minimum of commentary on my part, but a brief diversion to signpost the Bechdel Test.

DECEMBER TOP TEN

718 (tie)

30 years ago today (May, 1987): Five days in Skopje with the greatest seismologist of them all.

And so it transpired that Rady opened his apartment to a complete stranger from America, exhausting his limited English, awarding me his couch for sleeping, showcasing the local sights during the scant free time he had, putting me on a round-trip bus to Lake Ohrid for a day trip, and finally driving me back to the bus depot stupidly early in the morning when it came time for my getaway to Bulgaria.

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718 (tie)

A Hoagy Carmichael digression about Christmas, Indiana, Bix, Harlem and Barnacle Bill the Sailor.

This strange holiday digression begins with a social media group devoted to jazz legend Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke, where this little known Christmas song from 1945 by Hoagy Carmichael was posted: "My Christmas Song For You," with vocals by Martha Mears.

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764

Urban layers: The ancient unknown courtyard behind The Root (where Ace Loan used to be) has been opened to access -- eventually.

This story ends with a view of outdoor space that few folks in this town have seen for many decades, but it begins with this tale of coworking space.

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769

From 2015, "Fairytale of New Albania" ... including my favorite Christmas story.

But you see, as an unbeliever, I simply cannot indulge the Christian aspect of the day as it pertains to my sphere of individual conscience. For the same reason, I cannot support Christian displays in the sphere of public property. There is secular rule of law in America, and it reaffirms and protects an individual’s religious or non-religious conscience, whether it speaks to no gods or many. Without this fine line, Mike Pence really will try to tell me which church to attend – or else.

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819

Reacting to We Are New Albany's candlelight vigil, Deaf Gahan is confused and stunned like a duck hit on the head.

Let's help our enfeebled and agoraphobic Dear Leader: Having defeated a series of weak, throwaway Democratic candidates, Clere has been in Indianapolis, serving as state representative, a position Deaf Gahan won't ever experience in his life ... especially after this weird, ongoing, small pond student council sociopath's jihad against New Albany most vulnerable residents.

And yet Deaf Gahan remains ensconced within his Disney-fried fantasy bunker, writing mash notes to heroes like John F. Kennedy and Nicolae Ceausescu, both of whom, if reincarnated, would flick the Deafster aside like an annoying insect, asking: who's that fanboy poseur over there?

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821

Team Gahan swears its engineering contractor will listen to your comments about the Mt. Tabor deforestation project at the mere formality on January 2.

Five whole days later, the News and Tribune somehow meandered around to the story, including an half-assertion this meeting will be different; this time around, there'll be some down-home, old-school listening going on. Uh huh. Does anyone have a grain of salt the size of size of Jeff Gahan's ego?

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871

The Floyd County Democratic Party is terminally ill. That's why its members are praising Gahan's Goons and the ongoing attack on the city's vulnerable public housing residents.

Actions like these make Gahan's clique profoundly untrustworthy -- and precisely the sort of lawless element we should actively resist, not condone. Local Democrats say they're part of the solution. Reality on the ground is markedly different.

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912

Comments on the pre-determined Mt. Tabor deforestation and auto enrichment outcome can be given on Jan. 2 at 7:00 p.m. at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church (1752 Scheller Lane).

The Green Mouse received a message.

It looks like the city is posting the notice for the Mt. Tabor project today - they are trying to skirt open public comments again. They are also cutting out half of the project citing money issues. Maybe if they would leave the intersection alone, they could do their sidewalks all the way.

Indeed. I don't suppose any of this will prevent the deforestation slated to begin the following day.

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1,281

DNA's and the newspaper's masks ... or, thoughts occasioned by an excellent essay called "Meet the man who hides behind a mask."

As an interesting side note to all this frantic circling of wagons, both here and in Jeffersonville, it helps to know that a member of the community first conceived of the Taco Walk idea and brought it to DNA with the best of intentions, imagining that by doing so, the community would benefit.

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1,648

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Let's talk about Jeff Gahan and his personal fire department's handy tire changing service, and nepotism, and ...

At 11:00 p.m. on a recent evening, four firefighters (Engine 3) were awakened and sent to the vicinity of the YMCA, where Mayor Jeff Gahan already was on the scene, taking control of the situation.

Gahan promptly asked the firefighters to change a flat tire on a vehicle owned by friends of his.

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2,754

Eric Morris talks about his plans for Gospel Bird in the New Year.

Yesterday at Facebook, Gospel Bird's owner Eric Morris previewed a forthcoming remodel and reboot of his restaurant at 207 E. Main Street in New Albany.

Sunday, January 01, 2017

Amid the media's 2016 bridge envy and tolling glorification, we turn to this 2010 letter from a local independent business owner.

"Six years ago, I posted this letter that was sent to the Bridges Authority about the project and tolling. To me it is ironic that this should pop up in my Facebook memories one day after they announce the starting date of tolls on the new bridges. After 6 years, I still believe everything that I wrote back then."

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423

THE BEER BEAT: Words like "local" and "unique," and beers for cold weather.

Maybe it's just because I'm aging ungracefully ... while I wouldn't quibble with the author's beer descriptions, I'm a bit confused by his organizing principle.

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425 (tie)

Breathlessness begets toothlessness as rental property registration begins tomorrow.

Bring out yer slumlords! The self-congratulatory boilerplate begins in three ... two ... one ...

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425 (tie)

The clock is ticking. Bridge completion and tolling is coming by the end of December, and Team Gahan is 100% unprepared.

"They've dragged their feet so much that the tolls are going to happen before they do anything," Mark Sanders, vice president of the (East Spring Street) neighborhood association, said.

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430

At least this time Pinocchio felled his OWN tree.

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432

THE BEER BEAT: Addressing diversity in "craft" beer, with Naughty Girl once again on the wrong side of the debate.

Let’s put an old saw to the test: Is it really true that any publicity is good publicity? Specifically, if a New Albanian Brewing Company beer and beer label, as conceived on my watch in 2011, appears alongside an article by a national recognized blogger in 2016 and then is linked on Facebook by a brewing superstar, that’s wonderful, right?

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434

"Engineers design streets for speeds well above the posted limit, so that speeding drivers will be safe—a practice that, of course, causes the very speeding it hopes to protect against."

Of course, HWC's merry hammering at screws is occurring according to the wishes of a City Hall that brains long ago forgot. Speck's New Albany streets study might as well have been written in Gaelic, insofar as Mayor Jeff Gahan is concerned. Sections applicable to campaign finance beak-wetting were retained for modification beyond recognition, and the rest was flushed.

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461

Yes, Virginia, it is a sewer rate INCREASE, in spite of what you may have read elsewhere.

Bizarrely, almost to the very last gasp, the Jeffersonville News and Tribune -- which entirely missed the sewer ordinance's first reading, and apparently still operates with a bare minimum of editorial supervision -- continued its preference for obfuscating the increase with a series of euphemisms (settle down, Shane: "The substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt.")

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463

(2 of 2): It's been 600 days, and Bob Caesar and the city of New Albany continue to stonewall a legitimate request for Bicentennial Commission records. Can't someone just tell us about the books?

Now, it should come as no surprise to anyone that Gibson would treat my information request in a spirit of spiteful nonchalance. It's what Team Gahan does. At the same time, strictly speaking, he's probably telling the truth by means of carefully chosen words, and this is something I can at least appreciate. He says the city does not possess the referenced items, not that the referenced items do not exist. Presumably, someone else possesses them, and this certain someone undoubtedly is Caesar himself.

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504

Dude, I Just Want to Join the Neighborhood Association – and Other Remarkable Tales from the New Albany Re-NAY-ssance.

Hello, I’d like to rejoin the South Bling Street Neighborhood Association.

Praise Gahan; that’s wonderful. Do you live within the boundaries of the Neighborhood Association?

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504

Bump? Hike? If sewer rates are higher, then that's an increase, by definition.

Tolling is about to begin. Interest rates are going up. Rental property registration and eventual inspection will provide a convenient pretext for property owners to raise prices. So will sewer rate increases, however justified, even if they're modest, and whether or not they're tied to annual consumer price indexing, or established by the city council, which now proposes to abdicate its rate-setting responsibility via CPI mechanism.

The result will be more out-of-pocket costs for those least able to pay, something so consistently ignored by this top-down "beautiful people's" mayor that it's more difficult than ever to explain how he can continue to pretend being a Democrat.

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522

What we know about the forthcoming District 22 Pizzeria.

Matt "Big Four Burgers" McMahan has been buying commercial buildings left and right, and recently on Facebook he began playfully previewing a new pizza "concept," presumably destined for one of them.

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532

"The only way this will work is if everyone commits, right now, to doing something, anything, in the coming year."

There's no way to sugarcoat the true breadth of the tsunami that's about to hit us. Although we don't control a single branch of our disappearing democracy, we ARE the majority (by nearly three million votes!) and we have MANY tools available to us (mass protest, civil disobedience, lawsuits, social media, old media, and just plain showing up) that we can use to grind the gears of this madness to a near-halt.

I and others will keep you informed and you and I and all of us will lead the charge. I will continue to post things you can do where you live. The only way this will work is if everyone commits, right now, to doing something, anything, in the coming year.

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543

Jeff Gahan's predictably wasted opportunity to civilize Vincennes Street using Jeff Speck's sensible plan.

This text is pasted from Jeff Speck's landmark New Albany streets study, and now serves to remind us that from a glorious potential starting point of ribeye, we're left with a tiny puddle of fatty stew meat.

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548

ON THE AVENUES: The 45 Most Popular NA Confidential Stories of 2016.

I hope you enjoy this look back at 2016. In New Albany, our peculiar local challenges for 2017 begin tomorrow morning with the advent of bridge tolls. If I'm not completely hungover, I may tote a lawn chair, light a cigar, and chronicle the merriment.

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566

410 Bakery (you know, where Abe's Rental used to be) slated to open on Wednesday morning ... and Kopp's on fire.

TOP TEN

576

White Castle is just White Castle, but THIS is a genuine improvement.

Relax. The White Castle at the dangerous intersection of Vincennes and Spring has reopened, although it's just another chain, and I don't give a tinker's damn whether it lives or dies.

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617

Sudden stealth sewer rate hikes reveal the breathtaking extent of Jeff Gahan's intellectual dishonesty. Isn't it time to hold Team Gahan and its toadies accountable?

As holder of salaried positions as mayor and head of the sewer board, shouldn't Jeff Gahan be the one -- THE ONLY ONE -- to explain why sewer rate increases have been artfully hidden in a rote bonding document ... why economic development concerns (and the city's inevitable subsidy of them) are at the heart of G-16-03 ... and why tender concern for the environment is the very last thing on the mind of a City Hall team that has cut more trees so far in 2016 than Weyerhaeuser?

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625

In the matter of hospital sale proceeds, Floyd County's auditor and treasurer are fulfilling their fiduciary responsibilities. We should be thanking, not berating them.

The staff of NA Confidential took Bill Hanson's News and Tribune op-ed piece and ran it through our handy Kenmore fact-checker. When it came out the other side, it read quite differently than before. In fact, it's been rendered factual. We challenge Hanson to publish our version in his newspaper, and provide the other side to this story. Hanson's original text is in black, and our fact-checked update in red.

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765

ON THE AVENUES: It’s never too late to beer all over again.

It isn’t that I’ve fallen out of love with beer. We’re not divorced or anything. A better word is estranged, which implies an alienation of affection, but doesn’t entirely rule out the possibility of reconciliation.

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955

Cigar smokers rejoice: The second location of Riverside Cigar Shop/Match Cigar Bar is coming to downtown New Albany.

Cigars and spirits are coming to downtown New Albany in the form of an establishment tentatively to be known as Match Cigar Bar New Albany.

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1,031

My State Street Parking Garage public art dream.

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1,033

Has time run out for Good Times? If so, what's next at 114 East Market?

About a month ago, the Green Mouse heard a rumor that the building was being purchased by a local businessman, and judging from the scene today, I'm guessing there is finality to the sale. It will be interesting to see what happens next. The building desperately needs deep cleaning and rehabilitation, so let's hope that's coming.

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1,216

ON THE AVENUES: For New Albany’s Person of the Year, the timeless words of Mother Jones: “Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living.”

Chloe Allen’s death cannot be allowed to become another forgotten civic footnote. Her passing must not have been in vain. In years to come principled citizens of this city – the ones for whom conscience isn’t a high school vocabulary term to be discarded once they’re elected to office – must forcibly insist that her memory be honored, nay, overtly exploited for the sake of a worthwhile agenda.

Specifically, an agenda of public safety in this city.

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6,486

Gospel Bird's Eric Morris nixes Concrete Jungle concept, opts for seafood, seafood and more seafood at his new restaurant at 324 E. Main in New Albany.

So, what’s coming to 324 E. Main Street in 2017 is (WORKING TITLE), a fresh seafood grill with a raw bar, including a rooftop bar overlooking the Ohio River. Think of it as a comfortable niche between fast food and the high end. It’ll be a family-style approach and a very casual place, with most dishes served in baskets and buckets, with a price point to match. The same goes for great beers and the sort of bar program you’d expect from us.