Two C-J article chart a housing "boomlet" in downtown New Albany, coincidentally making the case for complete two-way streets.

Dude: Grace Schneider just lapped the 'Bune, although to be fair, the latter has been quite busy cheerleading in Jeffersonville lately.

First, there's this, in which it is revealed that after two and a half years on the job, the city's economic development officials at long last want to know all about the moribund Reisz building on Main:

Shining new light on an old store in New Albany

Then this, collating numerous recent building and property acquisitions into a coherent whole, including the (gasp) prospect of infill construction:

Boomlet begins in New Albany

Random observations after reading these two pieces ...

1. Nowhere is it mentioned that Chalfant, Carter or other investors require a $12 million parking garage as collateral for money they don't have. How very refreshing. What's DNA have to say?

2. Implicit acknowledgement abounds: Without previous entrepreneurial investments in restaurants, bars and shops (largely unassisted by the city) over a period of eight year, there'd be no demand for living space.

3. Yet again, the city is coming in on the tail end of something already begun. Charitably stated, it is belatedly asking what it can do to help, which brings us to the single most obvious answer ...

4. ... the fact that taken as a whole, Grace's two write-ups constitute some of the best slam dunk evidence yet of the pressing need for two-way street conversions and complete streets in New Albany.

5. In part, this is because the developers see the presence of an untolled bridge as highly beneficial, meaning you should reread #4 as the corrective for the problems we'll experience along with the upside.

6. Noted in passing: The prospect of infill construction nearby on the 300 block Main is the best reason offered to support this blog's position on the farmers market location. Anchoring the farmers market to its current spot means sacrificing infill potential, and there's a municipal lot behind Wick's that is far better suited for the permanent farmers market location.

I might continue; feel free to comment here or at Fb.

Grace Schneider: "I live in a cool place."

The C-J's Indiana Bureau reporter, Grace Schneider, offers food for thought during a reflection of her time living and working in Southern Indiana. County government really fumbled the LG & E farce, didn't it?

Reporter in Indiana land: "I live in a cool place."

... The murder stories may boost visits to the paper's website and make my editors happy, but my fellow reporters and I are still pleading that we don't forget public-service journalism — keeping watch on elected leaders and shining light on developments that affect people every day.

In my case, recently it's been asking about an issue Knobs residents care deeply about – why wasn't there more oversight by New Albany and Floyd County leaders over where and how LG&E mowed down a wide corridor of mature hardwood trees on a hillside. The utility is spending $22 million to build a substation and connect with Duke's lines to strengthen a weak spot in the grid. Huge poles are now going up in visible spots, reminding one of John Prine's line from the song "Paradise" — "they wrote it all down as the progress of man."

When I asked about how the route for lines was chosen and what alternatives were considered, an LG&E spokeswoman said there are already lots of power lines in that area. In essence, what's the problem? In some states, picturesque views are carefully guarded, so power lines and lighted billboards undergo far more scrutiny over where they're allowed.

Not here. Floyd County's chief planner told me that utilities have a lot of pull. End of story.

David Duggins answers: "The scope of work is the entire downtown street grid."

Yesterday, in the wake of the city's announcement of a street study consultancy with Jeff Speck, the Courier-Journal's Grace Schneider wrote about the pivotal Board of Public Works meeting Tuesday, highlighting comments made by David Duggins during the session. One in particular was significant.

"Duggins said the city would not implement any recommendations that would reduce traffic capacity."

Using this as a jumping-off point, I asked four questions of Duggins, e-mailing them to him. He responded promptly yesterday afternoon. The questions were:

1. If "the city would not implement any recommendations that would reduce traffic capacity," what's the point of bringing Speck in?

2. Grace Schneider wrote, "Speck tweeted Tuesday morning that he’s excited to work in New Albany and that his work “won’t be a ‘traffic study.’ But traffic will be studied.” Didn't the mayor insist there had to be a traffic study before considering any modifications?

3. Customarily we'd be hearing John Rosenbarger comment publicly on these matters. Who is riding point for city government when it comes to the Speck study?

4. Most of us have known about it for a while, but was Grace's article the first mention of the $2.5 million in federal money available to implement the recommendations (assuming the aforementioned and disturbing disclaimer that they don't reduce traffic capacity)?

Here are Duggins's answers. It strikes me as curious that John Rosenbarger's name isn't explicitly mentioned; perhaps now that he's achieved the culmination of his planning career by implementing a Main Street project designed to increase the value of his Main Street home at the piddling expense of reducing the value of mine and others on the Interstate Thru Highways otherwise known as Spring and Elm, he'll step graciously (read: the fuck) out of the way and let progress come to other areas of the city north of his mailbox, absent his malignant backroom influence.

A boy can dream. In New Albany, it's often all we have.

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Roger,

I am happy to answer questions you have, and I am glad to clarify Grace's understanding of my comments. Also please ask me to clarify any item that you may be unclear about before posting.

Grace did not quote me accurately or ask a follow-up question to clarify her understanding of the plan. I said that Speck would not make recommendations that reduce the total current capacity of the grid. His recommendations will re-direct traffic flow and patterns throughout the entire grid. So to be more clear traffic may be reduced on a certain street but increased on a less used street. The scope of work is the entire downtown street grid.

The Comprehensive Traffic Corridor Plan is a combination of Speck's planning and recommendations for the corridor, with information provided by the study portion completed by Nelson/Nygaard Consulting Associates (Engineering Firm). The Mayor is looking at forming a local advisory group to help coordinate and gather information that will be used in the plan. The Mayor has stayed consistent in the message that the corridor will be affected, and that we need expert analysis and recommendations to make any changes and how to proceed.

Mayor Gahan is the obvious leader of this project, but will be helped by myself and the rest of the Redevelopment Staff.

The Federal Aid project is the 2.5 million that was mentioned, and can be used for corridor improvements including traffic calming, striping, medians, turn lanes, and traffic signals.