GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Did Team Gahan really eject former mayor James Garner from its campaign kickoff love-in last Saturday?

The Green Mouse received this shocking note from an attendee at Slick Jeffie's campaign kickoff Saturday, which was held at Warren Nash's neglected downtown building on Bank Street, where generations of right-wing Democrats have gathered to plot the division of the patronage spoils, and an occasion for the many assembled municipal employees to gladly sing love songs to their beloved benefactor far into the night.

The note received by the Green Mouse has been edited slightly to protect the Mouse's source.

"At some point I saw (former mayor) James Garner, and I thought good, this means we're past the primary, and the party can get back together again, but then the mayor's son-in-law (Chris Gardner) and police chief (Todd) Bailey went over and started barking orders at Garner. I could only hear some of what they were saying -- they were telling him to leave! I couldn't believe it, chasing an ex-mayor and a lifelong Democrat away from the kickoff. I mean what have we become? Are we Democrats or some sort of gangsters?"

That's a good question.

You'd think Adam Dickey would see the merit in Garner's presence, so maybe the Don Corleone "offer to leave which you can't refuse" routine was Gahan's own feeble idea. He's prone to fits of rage, you know.

Heaven forbid, is Dickey's iron grip on the party apparatus finally fading?

Wait -- not THAT iron grip.

Ew.

Has anyone inspected that building lately?

(instructive links follow)

The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 12: Madam I'm Adam, or the way HMB's Dickey brokers power and channels his party's beak wetting.

When it's time for personal status protection, local Democrats rally around the Kool-Aid.

In which Deaf Gahan regales public housing residents with ribald tales of the "superstar" Warren Nash.

The Jeff Gahan Money Machine, Part 20: Buying and selling a city? Our master list of 59 Gahan wheel-greasers is a pornographic potpourri of pay-to-play.

Former mayor James Garner endorses David White. Watch the video and read why this matters.

NA Confidential will turn 15 in a few months. When the blog was born in 2004, all I knew for sure was that you were entitled to my opinion. It's been a long and suitably strange journey since then, and the beatings will continue until morale improves.

Back in 1999 the city's voters broke with precedent and elected Regina Overton to be mayor. She was a she, she was Republican, and the city was suffering from overexposure to Doug England, who embarked on the standard ritualistic disappearance into the wilderness so as to plot his inevitable comeback.

Four years later in 2003 came the reaction in the form of a landslide that brought eight of nine council seats to the Democrats as well as placing James Garner in the mayor's office.

You'd think such a decisive majority would have afforded Garner a clear mandate, but council immediately split into factions, with lone Republican Mark Seabrook often in the position of offering wry and sensible commentary as Democrats fought Democrats to a standstill in the peanut gallery.

Four years of trench warfare ensued, and only in retrospect can it be seen that Garner became mayor at a time of social and political transition. It strikes me now as a generational turning point, one that wasn't very kind to his prospects.

The traditional Floyd County Democratic Party, primarily a right-leaning, ward-heeling machine symbolized by longtime county power-broker Ted Heavrin, was fading and its county strongholds eroding amid an influx of residents for whom conservative values were best suited by actual Republicans, not Republicans masquerading as Democrats.

In place of the Heavrinites a new generation of Clintonian liberals (or neo-liberals) was moving up, as perhaps best represented by then-chairman Randy Stumler, and a short time later Adam Dickey. The latter has put Disney into the Democrats while leaving Dixie right where it was, hence the DemoDisneyDixiecrats we see today. 

As Garner became mayor, these and many other social and political factors were queuing at a crossroads, and meanwhile New Albany as a city stood still, as though in shock. Downtown was dead and all the action was in the 'burbs, although given our city's proximity to Louisville, we probably were at rock bottom, property so profoundly undervalued as an asset that the only way to go was up.

Exactly what "up" meant was unclear, and I was critical of Garner in the beginning. Much of this criticism was borne of ignorance about the way governance works, and I've tried to learn from it. My attitude in 2004 was "don't just stand there, do something," and it seemed Garner wasn't. But after a little while it became apparent that Garner really was doing as much as he could with the tools he had at his disposal, all the while swatting away swarms of old party fogies and regressive council Luddites.

Two of Garner's achievements are very important.

First, Garner expended a good portion of his limited political capital against entrenched opposition and ensured the completion of the YMCA project he'd inherited from Overton.

Second, Garner embraced the Indiana alcohol licensing tool known as the Riverfront Development Area and got the measure through council (2006) via a rare unanimous vote.

Inexpensive three-way alcohol permits helped jump-start a restaurant and bar renaissance in New Albany, while the YMCA brought people downtown. Together, these measures were a catalyst for private investments in businesses and buildings, which in turn finally instigated a civic conversation about possibilities.

Garner also was an early proponent of two-way streets and measures we now refer to as "walkability," and as he notes in the endorsement video, he worked behind the scenes with David White for economic development and quality of life efforts later blithely claimed by others. 

Garner lost in the Democratic primary in 2007, England having returned from Outer Utica and rallied the Old Guard for a last hurrah. England Mach III proved to be largely ineffectual, and hizzoner's enduringly bizarre, doomed effort at handpicking a successor (lifelong Republican Irv Stumler) helped bring us to the era error of Jeff Gahan.

James Garner is a former mayor, I'm still a blogger, and it's good to know we have a shared point of view: Don't just stand there, #FightForWhite2019 in the May 7 primary.

And by doing so: #FireGahan2019

ON THE AVENUES: Key events in the New Albanian rebirth, but first, a piccolo of grappa, per favore.

ON THE AVENUES: Key events in the New Albanian rebirth, but first, a piccolo of grappa, per favore.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

In a recent piece about forward progress in downtown New Albany, the Courier-Journal’s Bailey Loosemore makes an attribution, and with the reader’s forbearance, I’d like to begin today by offering a gentle corrective to what strikes me as a significant omission – actually, two of them.

“Five years after the commission's creation, (David) Barksdale and commercial realtor Mike Kopp approached the city with an idea for attracting new restaurants to those now preserved buildings.”

Specifically, the idea in question refers to the Riverfront Development District, a concept minted by the state of Indiana, and conveniently defined by our compatriots in South Bend.

I hear that it is possible to apply for a 3-way license in parts of Downtown South Bend that only costs $1,000. Is this true?

Yes, within the boundaries of the defined Municipal Riverfront Development District.

What is a Municipal Riverfront Development District (District)?

A district where 3-way licenses are made available to eligible establishments for $1,000 as a way to spur development near a river.

How did South Bend find a way to create this District?

A piece of state legislation made it available and the Common Council approved the District and with the goal of spurring development in the District.

When I first read Loosemore’s piece, something quickly began nagging at me, but I couldn’t pin it down until a good friend reminded me that Paul Wheatley was New Albany’s economic development director in 2006. These days he’s a private development consultant.

I wrote to him seeking clarification.

“Paul, I was thinking back to 2006, when you were still in New Albany and the riverfront development district was passed. Obviously, those alcohol permits have been crucial. Was this something with which economic development guys like you were widely familiar at the time? I'm curious as to how the process got started. Ten years later, I remain shocked that our city council at the time passed it unanimously. It may have been that particular group's single greatest achievement.”

Wheatley’s reply:

“If you want to know the truth, I patterned it almost 100% off the district that Dave Duggins and Phil McCauley set up in Jeffersonville. We used the TIF District and the Historic District as the boundary area (which had to stay within 2500 feet of the river). It’s been really neat to see all the entrepreneurs take advantage of this incentive over the years. The special district + YMCA + Steve Resch (and others) has really turned the tide.”

Mind you, I’m not suggesting that the impetus for the riverfront development district didn’t emanate in some fashion from Barksdale and Kopp, only that Wheatley deserves his measure of recognition for drafting the legislation and leading the effort to get this measure through the under-achieving labyrinth of a council often hostile to any initiative undertaken by Mayor James Garner.

This is the second point of importance.

In 2006, Garner was this city’s mayor. Because the riverfront development district didn’t come into wide use until 2008 and beyond, casual observers tend to associate it with Doug England, but while England certainly supported the district once he returned to office, the commemorative plaque in this instance must go to his predecessor.

Facts are pesky little critters, aren’t they?

---

Frankly, it’s astounding that Loosemore was able to write an article about New Albany without serial photo-bomber Irv Stumler inviting himself into the narrative – tossing his own peculiar word salad, pontificating about city life from Peterbilt’s unique perspective, and positioning himself in direct chronological contrast with the story's header: New Albany's rebirth attracts young residents.

I’ve been speculating about what Irv will do when the streets finally run both directions. Will he accept the will of the voters (on the Board of Works, at least), and make a clean, orderly transition to two-way traffic, or continue to drive as before, eastbound in the westbound and down, attired in camouflage, one hand on the wheel and the other shaking a grubby penciled–in petition from the driver’s side window?

But I digress.

Loosemore identities "three key events in the city's history that most New Albanians agree led to the downtown's rebirth," and let me be the first to congratulate her for using the term New Albanian.

Gee, I wonder who coined it?

• 2000: The creation of the New Albany Historic Preservation Commission.
• 2006: David Barksdale and commercial realtor Mike Kopp's idea to establish a riverfront development district, "which allowed restaurants within three blocks of a waterway to purchase three-way liquor licenses for $1,000."
• 2008: The Floyd County Family YMCA opened its doors.

Assuming most New Albanians agree on these key events, which almost certainly isn’t the case, it is noteworthy that the first one occurred on Regina Overton’s watch, and the other two as a result of Garner’s advocacy.

In turn, this is why the gauging of legacies can take a little time.

There’s something else: The most recent “key” event occurred eight years ago. Hasn’t anything of importance happened since then?

I’ll nominate three; feel free to disagree.

1. Two-way streets. They’ll have been stripped of many potentially valuable features and taken far too long to implement, but at this point anything will help.

2. The sale of Floyd Memorial Hospital. While this has nothing whatever to do with city government, county government receiving nutrients again after a decade-long, self-imposed starvation diet is bound to affect the city. The outcome might even be positive.

3. Matt Chalfant’s new building at 137 East Spring. It is small, and the palatial “luxury” pressboard of Break Wind Lofts at Duggins Flats will get all the ink, but Chalfant’s unsubsidized infill is a far better measure of success in terms of market forces and entrepreneurial flair.

I tried fitting the dog park in there somewhere. Square pegs, round holes – you know.

---

As I write, the election is 19 days away, but it’s the third Tuesday in November currently holding my rapt attention.

The Green Mouse has been told by multiple sources that the most likely date for a final Board of Works vote on whether to accept Option B – the return of two way traffic on Bank, Pearl, Market, Spring and Elm – is Tuesday, November 15.

(Warren Nash wants us to know that just because the federal money is in the bag, bidding dates set and construction schedules carved on a stone tablet, it’s an insult for Irv to suggest the decision has been made. Couldn’t we trade both Warren and Irv to Birdseye for a Bud Light Lime-powered canine shampooing station to be named later?)

It’s all fairly clear to me: If my karma will indulge me, Trump will lose, two-way streets will win … and then we'll go to Sicily over the Thanksgiving holiday to clink wine glasses and devour the grilled sardine pasta I mentioned last week.

The respite will be short, but no less appreciated for its brevity. By January, the coffee break will be over, and we'll be back on our heads.

---

October 13: ON THE AVENUES: They're coming to take me away.

October 6: ON THE AVENUES: His nose knows tolls and polls (2010).

September 29: ON THE AVENUES 3-PK, PART THREE: Survey says … Irv’s street grid agitprop won’t be putting Diogenes out of work any time soon.

September 29: ON THE AVENUES 3-PK, PART TWO: Inkem binkem notamus rex, protect us all from the city (still) with the hex (2014).

NA council: The at-large scrum of nine contestants for three jobs.

For the Democrats, it's six contestants, three jobs.

Standalone web sites are linked by candidate name; Facebook (or other) links follow. I have tried to find a source of information for each candidate, whether or not is it an "official" campaign site.

I hope to hear more from all of them, but until then, here's what we have.

---

CITY OF NEW ALBANY COUNCIL MEMBER AT-LARGE
(Precincts New Albany 1,3,5,7,9,10,11,13,14,16,18,19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,40,41,42,43,44)

R David C Barksdale 614 Terrace Court (Fb profile)
R Bob Hornung 513 Hollary Dr (Fb campaign page)
R Al Knable Jr 1301 Riddle Rd (Fb)

D Shirley Baird 602 E Elm St (Fb 2011)
D Brad Bell 1672 Garretson Lane (Fb)
D James E Garner, Sr 1506 Sunset Dr (Linked In)
D John Gonder 602 Captain Frank Rd (Fb 2011)
D Adam J. Keeler 613 E Main St (Fb)
D Hannegan Beardsley Roseberry 1203 E Spring St (Fb)

---

Strictly primary: Democratic incumbents John Gonder (two terms) and Shirley Baird (one) are grouped with a former mayor, one previous at-large council aspirant (Bell in 2011) and two newcomers. Conventional wisdom for a primary election probably gives Gonder and Baird a very good chance of passing through to November.

Is Garner damaged goods? His mayoral term was tumultuous, he was defeated for re-election in the 2011 primary, and now he's looking like a stalking horse for mayoral candidate David White, who'll be running against the right-leaning DemoDisneyDixiecrat establishment even though he's as far to the right himself as Mitt Romney.

Hannegan Roseberry has the Beardsley birth name. It might be enough for her, given the party regulars expected to vote in May. Honestly, some of the Democratic aspirants should have waited and run as independents.

Across the aisle, Republican Kevin "Spa-tacular" Zurschmiede is running for mayor, and so we're seeing the whole GOP at-large council slate for November. It's a fairly solid troika, with Al Knable by far making the most sense in the early going. He's got my vote come November, although he may not want me to advertise that fact too loudly.

See the complete primary election listings here.

Why I am voting for Mayor James Garner in Tuesday’s primary.

From time to time, little men will find fault with what you have done ... but they will go down the stream like bubbles, they will vanish. But the work you have done will remain for the ages.
-- Theodore Roosevelt

The city of New Albany’s four mayoral candidates are impeccably arrayed before Tuesday’s primary voters. It is a group of uniformly competent and entirely likable men that includes Democratic incumbent James Garner, challengers Doug England and Larry Scharlow, and Republican Randy Hubbard.

I propose that we act decisively to clear the decks of verbiage and subterfuge, and address the hopefuls with a sole consideration in mind:

Who among you will be proactive, rather than reactive, with respect to the single major issue of the mayoral campaign?

And what is this pre-eminent issue?

It embraces all the everyday manifestations and contingencies that emanate from the most fundamental of core aspects pertaining to city life:

Namely, the quality of life for city residents. What could be simpler?

Taking it a step further, I ask the candidates:

Can we achieve “progress by design” in New Albany through implementing the principles of Smart Growth and New Urbanism in our neighborhoods?

Or do we permit inertia and degradation to continue as the default and lamentably regressive non-policies of choice?

---

On the eve of a mayoral primary, I (and a great many others) look at New Albany at the current time as an escalating battleground of ideas.

I firmly believe that the front line of this struggle runs directly through New Albany’s neighborhoods – primarily those neighborhoods that are situated in the city’s historic center, but also those built during more recent times and now stand as a sort of buffer between downtown and the burgeoning, soulless, McCartinesque exurb.

The dimensions and implications of these warring ideas -- and their underlying ideals -- are critical for city’s future … and for whether it actually has a future.

At last Tuesday’s 3rd district candidate debate, accidental councilman Steve Price offered a typically offhand, purely buffoonish reference to potential “rebellion” out “in the streets,” presumably having confused passages in his crayon-smudged notes with lyrics from a hoary Rolling Stones hit from the 1960’s, but as remains the case with all pre-digital stopped clocks, even Price can hit the target twice on a good day.

There certainly are expanding pockets of disaffection, but the rebelliousness that Price perceives does not match his interpretation of a dramatic taxpayer revolt by “little people” with pitchforks. Rather, it stems from an ever more clearly delineated clash between two distinct models of neighborhood life.

The first is the familiar model of urban deterioration management, wherein neighborhoods are treated largely in the breach, with the city’s ordinances and building codes generally ignored in favor of a lowest-common-denominator culture of non-enforcement, which in turn supports the depreciatory financial interests of investors – many of them absentee rental property owners – who proliferate and thrive in such an unregistered and unregulated habitat.

The second model emphasizes the time-honored virtues of stability within a community-oriented neighborhood fabric that encourages home ownership and the societal rewards that accrue from livability, something that in turn enhances the value of investment in, and within, the city itself. It is a model that is adaptive, taking what already exists and rendering it into something sought after by a new generation of urbanites.

Call it Smart Growth, or New Urbanism, or just plain common sense, but just know that it represents the wisest future-oriented municipal exploitation of available opportunities, and know also that the single most effective way for local government to encourage growth and investment of this type is to fairly and consistently enforce its own ordinances and codes.

However … well, there’s always a “however.”

---

Local government’s institutional attitude toward its own ideal function and its mate purpose must be dramatically retrofitted to actively transform the neighborhood landscape from one purposefully neglected to suit the depreciatory short-term profitability of the rental property ownership interests to another intended to nurture instead the longer-term benefits to the community of investment in single-family, livable, sustainable neighborhoods.

Passivity has brought us to the current juncture. To say that purposeful neglect stands discredited as a future-oriented management strategy is to commit criminal understatement, but timidity has been quite useful for the interests that profit from urban decay. As dysfunctional as their business model is for the city as a whole, it pays as the situation stands, and they’ll not be modifying it without, shall we say, persuasion.

That’s the front line in New Albany’s battle of ideas, and absent principled stewardship, it is almost certain that further erosion will occur.

---

Those men in suits have returned for their cross-examination: James Garner, Doug England, Larry Scharlow, and Randy Hubbard.

Who among you will be proactive, rather than reactive, with respect to the single major issue of the mayoral campaign?

Who among you is prepared to fight for what is right for the future of New Albany’s neighborhoods, and assist in the grassroots process of bringing the city’s urban core into line with the needs of the 21st century, as opposed to the gaping chasm of brains and willpower that have colored the sadly expedient and largely failed past?

Who among you will be aggressive, persistent and statesmanlike in stating the sought after goal for New Albany’s neighborhoods, then moving strongly to convene the respective sides currently facing each other across no man’s land, hammering out the necessary compromise that will keep the rebellion from escalating into something far less savory than our present condition, and following up with a renewed commitment to the force of law?

Anyone here willing to lead, not pander?

I believe that if local government in New Albany does not do something principled, firm and immediate to support the stable community investment potential of its single-family home ownership cadre inside the beltway, those residents best placed to advance the city’s future interests will grow weary of the struggle and relocate, and the resulting vacuum will be filled to an even greater extent with the unstable disinvestment potential of the city’s slumlords, which in turn will poison the gains achieved in the historic business district.

Rest assured: They’re waiting for the opportunity to expand their cynical mandate.

It’s as simple as that.

---

Proactive or reactive?

You’ve been patient. You’re waiting for me to inform you which of the candidates for mayor fit into the respective categories, and to make a recommendation accordingly. You already know who I’ll be selecting on Tuesday. Here’s why.

First, this being a primary and not a general election, consider the unopposed Republican.

Randy Hubbard’s platform signals to date have been overwhelmingly banal, and these reveal neither comprehension nor curiosity with respect to any of the matters commonly discussed in this forum. He has all the appearance of an elderly political caretaker, with none of the fire that burns in the belly of a younger man – and that’s the quality most needed right here, right now.

Generational change?

Remember that term. I’ll be coming back to it.

It’s been a wonderful pleasure to get to know Larry Scharlow, who has done undeniably good things for the downtown business district, and has sufficient experience to suggest that he would do a workmanlike job as mayor. I can plausibly see him in a number of positions of responsibility in local government. But, given what our turbulent times demand, I regret to say that I cannot see him as mayor.

Former mayor Doug England retains a strong following. As ever, his chief asset as a salesman and a politician is a larger-than-life, ebullient, grandstanding personality, but have age and experience truly tamed the less savory manifestations of this inimitable character – those edgy overtones of cronyism run amok that so soured the city by 1999 that voters replaced England with a female Republican – and by an unprecedented double-digit margin to boot?

To be sure, England has worked hard to reassure voters that he’s seen numerous redemptive lights, and amid a flood tide of platform planks and promises, New Albany’s progressives certainly can’t argue that England has ignored their concerns. In fact, he’s positively mimicked them, and speaking for myself, I appreciate the chats we’ve had on these topics, and look forward to others. If England’s political comeback is successful, I’ll not be a naysayer, and he’d have my support in a campaign against Hubbard, as would Scharlow.

But England will not receive my vote on Tuesday.

---

Curiously, and I believe wrongly, incumbent James Garner has become a crazily polarizing figure on the local political stage. Even in the operatically vicious world of big-fish, small-pond politics, certainly the bile and venom are undeserved.

There have been missteps, bad appointments, learning experiences and poor communications, and that’s the way it goes. That’s the way it will go for the next occupant of the mayor’s chair, regardless of the name on his driver’s license.

However, if one examines Garner’s record without jaundice, there have been many more positives than negatives during his term:

Scribner Place’s startup
The inception (albeit imperfect) of ordinance enforcement
Palpable progress in sanitation and sewage disposal
Construction on the Ohio River Greenway
The Purdue education and technological incubator project
The downtown Riverfront Development area
A steadily simmering upswing within the historic business district
Cannon Acres sports park

Yes, these and other steps are embryonic in many cases, but without doubt a discernable foundation for success is being laid even if a great deal remains to be done (see “front line” in the neighborhoods, above). In the end, it has been an above-average term for a guy younger than NAC’s senior editor. It’s good to have a doctor younger than yourself. Same goes for mayor.

In stark contrast to the city’s Luddite bloc, I personally find it admirable that a man fully and intelligently committed to the most vital core ideological aspects of being a Democrat – who actually knows what these tenets are and why they’re important – also retains a sufficiently pragmatic flexibility to make bold and sensible moves when crises arise, as was the case with the public-private partnership that has successfully addressed chronic red ink in the sanitation department.

Unfortunately, during most of Garner’s first term in office, he has been forced by circumstance to conduct city affairs from a defensive and reactive posture, a situation derived from a multiplicity of sources, but often deriving from the Gang of Four, those obstructionist fellow party members in the council who have mounted a relentless, vitriolic insurgency, in the process immeasurably complicating the mayor’s difficulties in dealing with numerous, mostly inherited messes like the sewage system and city budget.

Steve Price calls this insurgency “checks and balances.” I call it politically motivated character assassination by the outmoded, disaffected and terrified.

---

Setting aside the fall threat posed in the fall by Hubbard – assuming the Republican stays awake – if James Garner is given a second term in office, will he be proactive, rather than reactive, with respect to the future of New Albany’s neighborhoods?

As I’ve stated here on numerous occasions, to speak with the mayor privately about virtually anything that relates to the operation of the city is to come away impressed with his comprehensive knowledge of the whys and wherefores. He understands the issues and the principles of governance that impact them. The minutia does not elude him. He knows what Smart Growth and New Urbanism mean. The grasp is there.

The problem has been not grasp, but reach.

What has been lacking during Garner's first term is boldness and passion in conveying and communicating what he knows to be true to the city at large by mounting the bully pulpit and taking a leading role in defining the problem, proposing solutions, pursuing consensus and following through with implementations.

Instead, City Hall has pursued a tactical, incremental approach to neighborhood issues, and while these generally have paralleled the progressive and proactive platform advocated by NA Confidential, the frustratingly tortoise-like pace of reform is deeply disturbing, and threatens to function as a deal-breaker with regard to political support for the mayor.

In fairness, there are those pundits hereabouts who note that deal-breaking is a two-way street, and who persuasively maintain that Mayor Garner’s proclivity for caution is less indicative of personal preference than a defensive imperative borne of an inability (or unwillingness) on the part of New Albany’s concurring progressives to unify and to offer cogent political cover for the mayor to tackle deep-seated neighborhood dysfunctions.

According to this scenario, progressives – who should be the mayor’s natural allies – have failed to understand the way the game is played, have couched their participation in terms of demands without commensurate vows of support, and in general, have frittered away momentum by refusing to come together to consolidate their power and to use it to make gains.

This assessment is as personally annoying as it is annoyingly accurate, and that’s sad.

After all, progressives in my own 3rd district have made just such a senseless, unforced error in throwing not one, but two well qualified candidates against an inadequate incumbent in the Democratic primary – all because they would not communicate with each other. Perhaps now, at last, we’ll learn.

---

In fact, I take the position that we’ve all had much to learn since 2004, and it is my sincere hope that the learning curve gets shorter, because the pre-digital clock steadily ticks.

NAC has spent the past three years exploring New Albany’s various successes, failure, trends and paradoxes, always with an eye toward explicating the view from where we stand – and, indeed, we’re standing, not sitting, and in fact excitedly poised in expectation astride a window of civic opportunity that is tantalizingly ajar, while warily recognizing that there are as many residents determined to slam it shut as to pry it fully open.

There can be no confusion as to our viewpoint on the matter. The faster the window is lifted, the better.

Not one of the mayoral candidates can force the window open acting alone. Other elected officials must play their parts, as well as the business community, and of course the people who live here. Reversing decades of institutional neglect takes hard work, time and money, and we’re short of at least two of these, but even so, the effort is underway, the pathway is clear, and the odds have improved.

I believe that if James Garner wins now and in the fall, he will come to be viewed for what he really is, and that's a harbinger of generational change in New Albany, one who represents a shift away form the tired political ward heeling of the past, and the rare politician who comprehends better than most what it will take for the city to compete in the future.

And so, I’ll be voting for the incumbent in the primary, but with a caveat:

New Albany’s neighborhoods can’t afford a cautious waiting game this time around. While downtown is progressing inevitably toward a “creative class” revitalization reality, the situation in the neighborhoods is serious, and it needs addressing immediately. There is a revolution of rising expectations, and the expectations aren't being met. Leadership is needed, and it is needed not later, but now.

Let’s all get off to a better start this time around, get more accomplished sooner, and recognize that the pieces to the puzzle are here, along with people talented enough to fit them together. Working together, we can be proactive, not reactive. Working together, we can throw the window open and see this city come all the way back.

But standing aloof and apart, we’ll all be watching impotently as the know-nothings slam the window shut and return to their caves. They’re frightened of the future. We should not be.

James Garner isn't. He gets my vote for mayor.

--By Roger A. Baylor, NAC senior editor

Now that's a grand mal level of cognitive dissonance.

Evidently at least one voter likes the incumbent mayor, but wants to keep his hands tied by obstructionism. Has there ever been a better example than this photo of the New Albany Syndrome in all its unfettered futility?

Looking on the bright side, and perhaps because there remain more single family dwellings than rental properties on this stretch of East Elm, "Harshfield for Council" signs are abundant.

Three cheers for the king

Like everyone else in the city, Mayor James Garner has had to spend an inordinant amount of time trying to circumvent a disinterested, dysfunctional City Council. Yesterday, he did so admirably in moving to resolve the firefighter hiring situation. My only complaint is that it took him as long as it did.

While I haven't always agreed with Garner, no one who's been paying attention for the past few years could disagree with his most recent statement that the Council has created "a mockery of the democratic process", casually and consistently ignoring whichever laws apply to their actions and allowing irrelevant personal disputes to overcome professional responsibility.

To be sure, fingers will be pointed, lawyers will be consulted, and nary a grandstanding opportunity will be missed. Through it all, though, no one on the Council will be able to offer a rational explanation beyond their own collective incompetence as to why the firefighter hiring situation has gone unresolved since being presented to them in late 2005.

That's because there isn't one.

Keep that in mind as they and others line up to testify about the evils of the executive branch.

Firefighters' hiring plan OK'd: New Albany mayor defies City Council by Dick Kaukas, The Courier-Journal