NARBA was excluded from Boomtown, so I'll be there selling good books.

On Sunday, the second Boomtown Ball takes place in downtown New Albany. Last year for the inaugural, and at the city's behest, a small group of local food and drink purveyors put together the vending plan for alcoholic beverages. The intent was to devote a portion of the take to setting up the New Albany Restaurant & Bar Association ... and we've followed through with it.

Our Mission Statement
The New Albany Restaurant & Bar Association (NARBA) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit trade organization serving the independent restaurant, bar and on-premise food and drink industry in New Albany, Indiana. NARBA serves as the unified voice of its members on government and public relations issues. It also provides programs that offer educational and operational benefits for members. NARBA represents New Albany’s best known and most vibrant local independent business segment, and is dedicated to the advancement and preservation of New Albany as an urban community.

Charitable Initiatives
NARBA organizes and hosts annual fundraising events in order to give back to the community that has so generously supported its members.

NARBA is on Facebook, and still working through various legal details. If all goes as planned, there may be an event coming later in the year. It's fiendishly difficult getting insanely busy food and drink peeps together, but gradually, we're making progress.

Unfortunately, for reasons that never have been clearly explained to NARBA, the libations segment of this year's Boomtown was chartered without the association's participation. Either the city or Production Simple giveth, and also taketh away.

"Fundamentally" local?

Not Boomtown, which is Fundamentally Louisville, but what can a poor boy do, 'cept sing in a rock 'n' roll band ... and toss the occasional Molotov cocktail during intermission?

So, I've turned instead to Plan B. On Sunday, I've reserved space amid the Flea Off scrum, and will be selling books. That's right. Books. Here's what I'll be selling.

Come and see me.

Charles Montgomery's "Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design."

Grazing amid the free market of ideas, I've often come to rest at Walkable City.

Maybe it's time to indulge in Happy City, too. The book was published more than a year ago, and I'm not certain why I haven't read it, although an excerpt was referenced in late 2013: Today's reading for CM Blair: "Wal-Mart: An economic cancer on our cities."

You can lead a banker to information, but you can't always make him read. Let's hope this is an exception. Scott: When you're finished, can you pass on this link to David Duggins? I think he needs to read it, too. Thanks.

Thanks to BH for the prompt. It will be obtained soon.

Greener Pastures: Charles Montgomery’s ‘Happy City’, by Alan Ehrenhalt (New York Times)

... The value of connectedness to those who live in cities is anything but a new principle. Aristotle preached it in his writing on the Greek polis 2,400 years ago. Jane Jacobs re-emphasized it in talking about her New York neighborhood, Greenwich Village, in the early 1960s. But past writers on this subject have mainly praised existing communities they find conducive to human well-being. Montgomery is all about creating new ones.

Today's reading for CM Blair: "Wal-Mart: An economic cancer on our cities."

You can lead a banker to information, but you can't always make him read. Let's hope this is an exception. Scott: When you're finished, can you pass on this link to David Duggins? I think he needs to read it, too. Thanks.

Wal-Mart: An economic cancer on our cities, by Charles Montgomery (Salon)

In Asheville, N.C., a dense downtown generated jobs and tax revenue and restored the city's soul

Excerpted from "Happy City: Transforming Our Lives Through Urban Design”

Most of us agree that development that provides employment and tax revenue is good for cities. Some even argue that the need for jobs outweighs aesthetic, lifestyle, or climate concerns—in fact, this argument comes up any time Walmart proposes a new megastore near a small town. But a clear-eyed look at the spatial economics of land, jobs, and tax regimes should cause anyone to reject the anything-and-anywhere-goes development model. To explain, let me offer the story of an obsessive number cruncher who found his own urban laboratory quite by chance.