Redevelopment welcomes Josh Staten as its new director. So does this mean Duggins is 4-ever NAHA? Let's follow the money.

"Just stick it over there, where
that nasty historic building used to be." 

Jeeebus, what a week.

Just for the fun of it, let's take a glance at a couple of items from the March 13 minutes of the Redevelopment Commission.

New Albany City Hall hasn't blasted a propaganda blurb in a whole month, and it strikes me as strange that the hiring of Josh Staten as redevelopment director hasn't been the subject of one of the usual PR puff pieces.

Maybe it's because City Hall isn't interested in answering the natural follow-up question: If David Duggins has departed redevelopment permanently (this crowd is on its feet), then does this mean his "interim" status at the helm of NAHA's bulldozer fleet also has evaporated?

Or, will someone else be hired?

If so, how's the job search going, Irving Joshua?

I'm so old I can remember when Duggins told me he just couldn't earn enough money in government as opposed to the private sector, and that he was stooping to mere farthings solely out of a deep and abiding faith -- in Dear Leader.

Now Duggins is a 125K-per annum lifer -- but don't worry, Mike Hall; the News and Tribune won't ever think to ask, and if it does, just threaten to pull all those ads.

Hanson will shut up, fast.

As an aside, last night Mark reminded me of another one of those glorious episodes of "truthful dialogue" that Pat McLaughlin mentioned in his doomed resolution of censure. Duggins still was redevelopment's handsome matinee idol, and he was being questioned (I think) by former 5th district councilwoman Diane Benedetti.

Benedetti asked Duggins about the then-rumor that sewer tap-in waivers were being awarded Flaherty and Collins, filthy rich developer of the Breakwater apartments. Duggins replied that yes, the topic had come up, but it remained purely optional.

Subsequently it was shown that in fact, the waivers already had been approved prior to Benedetti's question and Duggins' "truthful dialogue." 

Prompting this recollection was David Barksdale's report about redevelopment activities, as given at Monday evening's city council meeting. He gleefully teased us with tidings of a hotel to come somewhere in New Albany.

A quick glance at the Dora Hospitality portfolio reveals a dreadful collection of plasticized cookie-cutter hotel brands best suited to suburban interchanges. It isn't much in keeping with historic preservation, and now I'm terrified that more tap-in waivers will be distributed like Halloween candy to developers from afar.

Of course, maybe Josh Staten intends to be a different kind of Gahanite campaign finance conduit.

We shall see.

(This post has been updated to include this postscript and web site link to HMI, or Hospitality Marketers International, the company chosen by the Redevelopment Commission to conduct a hotel market study, as recommended to the commission by the hotel group and a realtor -- not that there's anything necessarily wrong with that. Thank you, CA.)

An assault on impregnable Summit Sprigs? A Break Wind bocce break-in? The Great Cannon Acres Bear Pit heist?

When some suits and the Econ Dev director convene at Quills, can full frontal TIF-fing be very far behind? But give 'em credit; by their standards, it's kinda sorta a public meeting.

After a while, a new top secret diagram was brought in by special ops. From a distance, it looked like an aerial view of a hilltop. Perhaps we're preparing to invade Floyds Knobs and grab some of that cool hospital cash.

Hydrocephalus maladroits: Doggie water park in NA -- for only a quarter million $ more.

Photo credit: The water slide vendor.

On a morning when local media reports Jeffersonville businesses and their patrons expressing optimism about the future now that the downtown bridge is open, and River Ridge coyly hinting at other heavy hitter ... the News and Tribune's account of last evening's City Council meeting speaks for itself. A human water park wasn't enough. Now the mighty Oz must make moisten our dogs, too -- and who better to explain the expenditure than Sancho Panza?

Dog park expansion?

A potential phase 2 expansion of a planned dog park at Cannons Acres Park was presented to the New Albany City Council during a work session before the regular meeting Monday night.

David Duggins, director of redevelopment and economic development for New Albany, said the plan will expand upon $125,000 that was approved for phase one of the project in 2014.

Phase two includes a water line for the dogs, a walking path in the woods near the dog park, a 9-hole frisbee golf course and a water feature for the dogs.

The cost for phase two is $250,000.

The water feature, about 100 feet in diameter, would utilize a sinkhole to create a small pond where dogs could play or go swimming.

David Hall, director of the New Albany-Floyd County Animal Shelter, said it would create a unique feature for dog parks in the region.

Memberships that carry a small fee may be a requirement to be able to use the dog park.

Councilman Scott Blair questioned the location of the dog park and whether or not the area would be better served if a second soccer field was created in the park.

Duggins said the location was chosen working in conjunction with the Parks Department and the slope of the area would not allow for much else.

As the Coyle site is prepped for luxury, city functionaries praise corporate welfare "done right."

As always, it's all about appearance, and never genuine fundamentals.

Construction ready to begin at former Coyle site in New Albany (Morris; N and T)

... "It will bring more spending power downtown," (David) Duggins said. "I don't think we could have picked a better spot. It's really going to be nice looking and done right."

BREAKING: New Albany’s Mayor Jeff Gahan announces refugee acceptance program, effective immediately.

Indiana Governor Mike Pence’s recent refusal to admit refugees into the state was the last straw for Jeff Gahan, New Albany’s mayor and a future gubernatorial hopeful at Adam Disney World.

“I saw people were suffering, and it’s too cold to use the water slide,” said Gahan on Wednesday as he announced imminent accommodations for up to 300 refugees from the target demographic. “We had to do something humane, whether the county pays its share or not.”

The mayor pointed behind him.

“I know my BFF and constant advisor Greg Fischer is so proud of us here in New Albany,” said Gahan. “We’re breaking wind – I mean water – no wait, ground at Council Flats today for the absolute best luxury millennial resettlement facility that TIF funds can buy.”

“I call it the business of prime refugees, and the open sign is lit, baby.”

Throngs of enthusiastic city employees and party functionaries cheered from the sidewalk adjacent to one-way Spring Street, taking care not to get to close to speeding traffic.

According to David Duggins, who has been named the city’s Bocce and Fiber Optic Coordinator for Refugees, the luxury millennial internment facility has been on the drawing board for a while.

“With all those Syrians going to Louisville, there’ll be nowhere left for millennials to survive in their natural habitat,” yelled Duggins over the din of passing semi rigs. “Mayor Gahan built and manages all these trendy restaurants downtown for a reason, you know, although we could use another espresso bar.”

"It all flows from him," concluded Duggins, "just like the fountains in Bicentennial Park."

Gahan, who said he wasn't finished yet, concluded the brief ceremony by reading a poem he’d written especially for the occasion.

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

“It’s amazing,” sobbed an obviously moved Duggins. “Not only do we have the best mayor ever, who’s the leading element in our society and the straw that stirs my drink, but he writes poetry, too! I mean, I FLUNKED that class in high school – and just look at me now. It’s so beautiful and thought provoking.”

Duggins paused, noticing the red light was off.

“Okay, enough of that shit. Everyone, let’s get over the Roadhouse for some longnecks. Just because those refugees drink craft beer, it doesn’t mean WE have to.”

Coyle site luxury giveaway: "The people that they want to attract can't afford to live there."

Even a Democratic loyalist grasps the obvious.

The argument against (the Coyle site residential development) is right in front of everyone's face. The people that they want to attract can't afford to live there.

Since Thursday evening's city council meeting, I've received almost a dozen e-mails and messages from New Albanians publicly identifying as Democratic, but expressing personal confusion (and in some instance, revulsion) at the Reaganite corporate welfare nature of Jeff Gahan's trickle-down Flaherty and Collins deal for luxury apartments.

Of course, you know I agree with you; the local Democratic Party has run aground, and yet it will be difficult for you to take a public stand in recognition of this reality.

That's okay. I get it. Knowing there's a problem is the first step toward resolving it. Just remember that we're here to do the right thing for the right reasons, as the late Hank Jacoby once put it, and it comes down to conscience.

A brief note about conscience.

... Lots of voters who ordinarily choose a side based on factors beyond the actual issues (family, habit, compulsion at work, etc) will choose to preserve the outward appearance of "this or that" conformity, while resolving internally to opt out of politics as usual and vote differently in 2015. If so, and conscience is their guide ... well, that's why the ballots are secret. No one should be looking over your shoulder.

As for the impending Coyle site giveaway, taxpayer subsidized big-city pricing to live within an errant bocce toss of fundamentally neglected one-way arterial streets, slicing through neighborhoods dominated by slumlord mentalities, just might be working at cross-purposes with millennial aggrandizement. It's complicated, as the following essay suggests.

Then again, New Albany's governing Democratic clique seldom bothers to read.

Millennials Will Live In Cities Unlike Anything We've Ever Seen Before, by Alissa Walker (Gizmodo)

... Then came some interesting data, pegged to the release of 2014 Census information this spring: Millennials have indeed started moving out of big city downtowns—but not necessarily in favor of a quiet rural or suburban life.