You'd think that in three weeks, SOMEONE would notice a pile of garbage.

Yesterday at Facebook, I posted this photo: "One wonders if Develop New Albany might remove its Jingle Walk trash, three weeks later?"

A range of viewpoints were posted in response.

P: Lol ... why? No one has bothered to clean the windows from Harvest.

H: I wonder if they will also remove all the housing for sale ads. I do not feel that is appropriate. Perhaps for business space, but housing?

J: Well, you could just pick it up and recycle it yourself. Or is that just not curmudgeonly enough?

DNA's Stefanie Griffith replied:

I will be happy to pick up the boxes and apologize they were left behind, I am sure it was overlooked during tear down since it was dark but wish it was brought to our attention before now. No excuse shame on us. I do have to agree with J though; sad no one would pick them up -- fellow merchants, Develop New Albany members, The City -- we are all to blame until we can pitch in as a whole to make New Albany a better place, that is my two cents.

Several readers "liked" Stefanie's reply, and I'll concede (given that she's unfailingly honest and open) that she's probably miffed with my mode of presentation, so here's why I posted the photo in the first place.

How can it be that in three whole weeks, no one, including the downtown-oriented members of an organization chartered to the improvement of downtown, noticed the Jingle Walk leftovers? 

(As an aside to J, it isn't curmudgeonly at all; it's the fact that I seldom have a car downtown to load. I usually am walking, which is why I've been seeing the boxes, all the while surmising that it's the failure of others to get out of their cars causing them not to see the boxes. I'm aiming for a larger point here.)

Surely, given what we're constantly told is a vastly improved and revitalized downtown -- this being the gist of DNA's daily social media presence -- someone on the Jingle Walk committee, or someone on the organization's board ... or someone in general ... would have walked past this spot during the course of three whole weeks and reported the debris.

Apparently this has not happened. I find this sad and noteworthy, to say the least. Then again, while P. is right in pointing to painted Harvest Homecoming windows still not cleaned two months later, reminding us of the carpetbagging mentality that "one off" events perpetuate, Stefanie also is absolutely correct in suggesting that we're all to blame.

Because we are.

I've walked or biked through the historic business district almost every day for years, and the disconnect hasn't changed at all. It has barely even budged. Yes, there are merchants who won't pick up trash in front of their own doors, exacerbated in autumn by wind and leaves, but the city never, EVER communicates who is responsible for leaf and garbage removal, downtown or elsewhere.

Sometimes it happens, sometimes not. Let there be an organization like Clean and Green taking an interest in the appearance of the area (whether its ideas are good or bad), and the city pushes back, evidently concerned lest its own delineated boundaries for doing nothing are challenged.

Amid all our trumpeting of advancement, the institutionalized neglect of downtown is the same as before, on the part of all users, and isn't THIS neglect precisely what would be addressed by a downtown economic development plan IF we actually had one? Of course merchants come to ignore the garbage. They're merely following the city's own stellar example.

Our unchanged one-way arterial street grid is a perfect point of reference. It is constructed to negate every facet of a revitalized downtown. It reinforces the point of neglect every time a semi-trailer thunders past outdoor dining areas, every time speeding cars frighten bikers and walkers -- it exists to undermine.

And this administration won't even address the topic aloud. No wonder no one else cares, if the city cannot be bothered to do so itself. 

Instead, Mayor Gahan addressed a handful of business people Tuesday (more on that later) and spoke glowingly of things that may or may not happen, far into the future, with a state program called the Regional Cities Initiative, or some such chamber of commerce blather. As he was reprising the someday maybes, mirroring the sentiments of songs ranging from "Don't Worry, Be Happy" to "Everything Is Beautiful," these cardboard boxes remained stacked where they'd been discarded three weeks before, illustrating that we cannot get even the simplest daily tasks done as we grasp for pies in the sky.

Sorry, Stef. That's why I posted the photo.

That Thursday morning meeting with the city I twice told you about? Shockingly, it has been postponed.

Hmm, well, I do believe the empire is striking back, so score one for City Hall.

I've just learned that the Thursday morning meeting at The Exchange, as mentioned twice at NA Confidential, has been postponed.

Attention, downtown small business owners: Thursday, 20 November, 8:30 a.m. at The Exchange.

Downtown business owners, don't forget the meeting this Thursday.

Not that I've been informed of this in any official sense, but the Green Mouse has his impeccable sources. I know all of this is confusing, and the confusion probably isn't a coincidence, but here it is. Please bear with me.

1. The bimonthly City Hall-sponsored meeting on Thursday, originally planned for the exclusive attendance of selected representatives from non-profit organizations, to which I unilaterally invited all and sundry to attend, anyway, has been postponed. My guess is that it has been postponed precisely because I invited all and sundry to attend. I suspect City Hall currently is preparing to launch a Facebook site for these meetings, so I can be abruptly Adamned from it, as I have been v.v. the local Democratic Party.

2. The monthly downtown Merchant Meeting scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) at The Loft on Spring Street (above Colokial and Dress & Dwell) is still scheduled for 8:30 a.m. If you can make it to The Loft on Tuesday morning, please do so.

Downtown business owners, don't forget the meeting this Thursday.

Often I've taken New Albany city officials to task for having no economic development plan for downtown. Insofar as a coherent answer has been forthcoming, it has been muddled, and I'm not misrepresenting the tone of the response by phrasing it like this:

"But there isn't anything we can do because we don't have the proper tools to do anything."

As such, logic ordains this conclusion:

If you have been unable to do anything, then you cannot take credit for what has been done.

By the way, there's a meeting this week.

Attention, downtown small business owners: Thursday, 20 November, 8:30 a.m. at The Exchange.

(While small business owners are) not officially invited, (it's) the precise reason you should attend and provide YOUR update to the city's officials. Two-way communications are only fair, right? After all, the last such meeting took place just BEFORE Harvest Homecoming. There's a lot to talk about.

Bring questions and comments, and let me know you're coming.

Attention, downtown small business owners: Next Thursday, 20 November, 8:30 a.m. at The Exchange.

I received this notice from the city of New Albany. It refers to regularly scheduled meetings every other month, at which representatives of Develop New Albany, NA First, the food & drink organization in development and others come together to receive city updates.

Having promised to share this with fellow downtown business owners, permit me to do so. Understand that you're not officially invited -- which is the precise reason you should attend and provide YOUR update to the city's officials. Two-way communications are only fair, right? After all, the last such meeting took place just BEFORE Harvest Homecoming. There's a lot to talk about.

I'll bring extra doughnuts and coffee.

Who's in? Let me know if you're planning on coming.

"The next scheduled meeting for the downtown not-for-profit group is Thursday, November 20th, 8:30 am at The Exchange. Donuts, juice and coffee will be provided. This is an opportunity for you to receive an update on City of New Albany projects."

Gorillaz in their orange seersuckers.

I wonder how the conversation went?

The city's discussions with Harvest Homecoming should be transparent and inclusive of downtown business owners. Maybe next year?

The city's discussions with Harvest Homecoming should be transparent and inclusive of downtown business owners. Maybe next year?

(Late note: I'm told that Harvest Homecoming's Art Niemeier will be at the meeting)

"The next scheduled meeting for the Downtown Business Organizations group is Thursday, September 18th, 8:30 am. Donuts, juice and coffee will be provided. This is an opportunity for you to receive an update on City of New Albany projects. If there are any issues or discussion items you’d like on the agenda, call or email me so I can add them prior to the meeting."

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I'll be unable to attend.

I'd say the single most important issue, given that next to nothing has been done about it to date, is for the city to explain how Harvest Homecoming's annual expropriation of downtown is going to be less injurious this year than it has been in years past.

It's nice to be informed periodically that the city’s people have been talking with Harvest Homecoming’s people, but it would be transparent and productive if Harvest Homecoming officials were compelled to sit with actual downtown business owners AND the city to begin hashing this out, as opposed to the ritual issuing of proclamations from Harvest Homecoming, and seconding by the city.

This has not happened in spite of the city's frequent promises to the contrary. Since Harvest Homecoming's management recently took to the newspaper to demand that WE understand THEM, I'm forced to conclude that the city hasn't really faced up to this issue at all. When can we actually observe a dialogue taking place?

More importantly, there are fundamental, root issues. Why does the city, via the Board of Works, abdicate control over a large portion of its territory during Harvest Homecoming, to the continuing detriment of existing downtown stakeholders who are there, hustling, 24/7/365?

As my friend Jeff recently put it:

When citizens, businesses, or other groups go to the City to ask about using public space and are told they have to get permission from a private, non-elected, non-accountable, third-party, there are obviously issues. Eventually, someone is going to have to push the conversation along via civil disobedience. It would be helpful if the business/property owners most directly impacted would do it en masse. If HH doesn't have to go before the Board of Works to secure the space in front of your building for that time period, then neither do you, right?

What's right for Main Street is right for all the streets. Right?

There was a breakfast meeting of the Downtown Business Owners group yesterday, and before making any further comments, thanks to Sweet Stuff for providing the doughnuts.

My waistline disagrees. Foolish waistline.

The prime topic for discussion at the gathering was to have been the city's future plans to implement two-way, complete streets downtown.

Unfortunately, no one from the city was able to attend.

However, Rep. Ed Clere was there, and he was able to brief us about Monday's public meeting on the Main Street corridor work. It's a meeting that few of us knew was occurring, but metaphorically critical nonetheless; as Ed noted, if the city is saying that Main Street needs to be completed, then there really isn't any way to simultaneously suggest that other city streets do not need to be completed.

Thanks to Ed for making this point and several others of extreme relevance to the immediate future of the street grid. Granted, I often publicly disagree with him. But fair play compels me to publicly agree, too, and this is one of those times. I believe that if, like me, you favor a modern, rational, complete street grid for New Albany, one in which all users are created equal, where traffic is calmed and both neighborhoods and businesses prosper as a result, just like they have in other cities where progressive thinking is more common, then Ed Clere is an ally to the cause. I thank him for it.

I also believe City Hall when it says that it favors complete streets.

My trust is absolute.

Now, all we need is verification, the sooner the better.

The Main Street project is a beginning -- but only a beginning. If it is undertaken without a system-wide plan of action, it might well become a vacuum, in which the usual declarations of victory are announced, and tired excuses like "but Main Street is different than other streets" and "but we don't have any more money" are trotted out to justify the dragging of feet.

Verification.

Just a bit of it, please.

Let's reason together for a change ... all of us.

Downtown Business Owners at BSB on Wednesday morn at 8 bells.

The next Downtown Business Owners (formerly Merchant Mixer) meeting is Wednesday, May 22, at 8:00 a.m. at Bank Street Brewhouse. I'll have coffee and sweets on hand.

As determined last time out, the DBO's mission "is to be a coalition of downtown business owners to share information by communicating the opportunities and concerns of our downtown businesses."

Among the items for discussion are parking and two-way streets.

Downtown business owner? Come have a doughnut on Wednesday morning.

As a reminder, there'll be a morning meeting of the Downtown Business Owners this Wednesday, April 24th, at 8:00 a.m. at NABC's Bank Street Brewhouse. I'll have coffee and doughnuts on hand. The most recent meeting was recapped here.

If you are a business owner in downtown New Albany you are encouraged to attend and lend us your voice. We all need to help each other ... in your opinion, what should our Downtown Business Owners group be doing to not only help you and your business, but collectively help all of our downtown businesses?

New Albany's independent food and drink purveyors also are commencing efforts to set up a more specialized group, perhaps an association. The next meeting is at The Exchange (118 W. Main Street) on Monday, May 6 at 3:00 p.m.

Looking back on the past five to ten years, it may seem as though efforts like these never quite work out. Specific events are brought to fruition, sometimes more successfully than others, but the overall goal of cooperation remains forever elusive.

However, I believe we must keep trying. The pool of potential participants has been growing and evolving, and sometimes it's a question of simple chemistry. There remain numerous ways that existing organizations might apportion the work and strive toward a common end. I'm hopeful that we stumble upon a good mix, because we're nowhere close to "mission accomplished" yet, are we?

Lots to consider in the Merchant Mixer/Downtown Business Owners minutes; next meeting is on April 24.

Thanks to Larry Ricke for taking notes. If you're doing business downtown, please come to the breakfast meeting at Bank Street Brewhouse on the 24th.

Updates: The food and drink subcommittee is being launched, and Live at 5 is being reimagined and moved to Bicentennial Park for 2013.

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Merchants Mixer Meeting 04/03/2013

The meeting was called to order by acting chairman, Larry Ricke.

Businesses in attendance were: Ricke & Associates, Colokial, Sweet Stuff, River City Winery, YMCA, New Albanian Brewing Company, the Gallery on Pearl, the Fire Museum and Develop New Albany Inc.

A submitted report was read from Mike Kopp outlining the construction progress on 234 Pearl Street, 109 E. Market Street, 153 E. Main Street and 155 E. Main Street. In addition, Mike is working with the owners of the La Rosita site to possibly add several businesses and storefronts to this location. Also, Mike is working to bring a business into the Southside Restaurant location and trying to find a developer to develop the Riverfront.

Stefanie Griffith sent a report regarding the Hop & Shop Downtown. Hours are 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. Stefanie requested help in pulling together the downtown restaurants so shoppers could eat lunch before the Hop & Shop and dinner afterwards. Also, restaurants may want to run specials during the Trolley Hop & Shop to get shoppers into their restaurants.

Joe LaRocca, the president of Develop New Albany Inc., gave a report from DNA and outlined coming events. Exclusive New Albany, a fund raiser for DNA, will be held this year on Thursday, June 21st from 6 p.m. - 9 p.m. at the home of Larry and Ann Ricke (917 E. Elm Street). Plans are to close 10th Street between Elm and Oak Streets for the booths featuring our local restaurants and merchants. A house tour will be available. Tickets can be purchased on Develop New Albany's website.

There was no report from the Mayor's office, however, the progress of Bicentennial Park was applauded by those in attendance. Discussion was held about the Mayor's "Live at 5" concerts and those in attendance thought Bicentennial Park would be an excellent location for this concert series. It was also suggested that a 6 p.m. start may be better attended than a 5 p.m. start. Use of the Riverfront Stage was also encouraged to attract larger events or concerts to our downtown area.

New business discussion centered around the following:

1) Changing the name  of our group meeting from Merchants Mixer to Downtown Business Owners Meeting.

2) Asking all downtown business owners to respond to the following question: In your opinion, what should our Downtown Business Owners group be doing to not only help you and your business, but collectively help all of our downtown businesses?

3) Consider splitting our group into subcommittees under the following business headings:

a. Food and beverage establishments
b. Retail shops and stores
c. Professional services and banks
d. Hospitality and museums

Each subcommittee would meet and discuss their issues, concerns and opportunities, and then each subcommittee would share with the entire group. The entire group could then be more informed and we could all work together to create a more vibrant and informed downtown.

4) Roger Baylor shared a book titled "The Walkable City" to get the group thinking on how to make our downtown easily accessible for traffic and parking, and attractive for people to walk and shop and enjoy being in our downtown area.

5) Gary Humphrey and Roger Baylor emphasized the need to slow traffic down on Spring Street and Main Street by possibly considering two-way traffic on Spring Street and placing stop signs in strategic locations along the streets to slow traffic down.

6) Roger Baylor brought up the idea for our group to consider a marketing campaign promoting our downtown as "Toll Free New Albany". Those in attendance liked this idea as tolls are likely to be added to all of the other bridges between Louisville and Southern Indiana.

Our next Downtown Business Owners meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 24th at 8:00 a.m. at the New Albanian Brewing Company's Bank Street Brewhouse on Bank Street. If you are a business owner in downtown New Albany you are encouraged to attend and lend us your voice. We all need to help each other.