City council to learn even more about Bicentennial-themed parks, squares and branded commemorative teacups.

There's a city council meeting tonight. The agenda is up, and the newspaper has offered its preview, which deals primarily with plans for Bicentennial Park. It might yet be given a horrendous Caesar-centric name, so we must remain vigilant ... but we've already covered that here: Legacy Square? Nah, pie are round, cornbread are square.

NEW ALBANY — A vote won’t happen tonight, but the administration will discuss funding construction of the Bicentennial Park this evening with the New Albany City Council ...

 ... The bicentennial commission is heading efforts to garner private donations for the park and other activities associated with celebrating New Albany’s 200th anniversary in 2013.

“It’s a significant amount of money, but I can’t stress this enough, that you’re only 200 years old once,” said Councilman Bob Caesar, who also serves on the bicentennial commission ...

 ... Caesar said he’s wary of spending tax money on any project, but added the bicentennial park will incorporate New Albany’s past while giving residents and visitors a serene setting to enjoy for years to come.

“The curb appeal of this park when it’s done will be something I think everybody in New Albany will be extremely proud of,” Caesar said. “This is going to be a good looking park.”

A sneak peek at Former Post Office Plaza.

A glimpse (courtesy of RR on Twitter) of the proposed design for a bicentennial park on the property bounded by Pearl and Spring Streets. I'm assuming the photo was taken at yesterday's Bicentennial Commission meeting, and guessing that the park still is to be called Legacy Square.

At this point in time, if there's to be any chance of repaying the committee's Crutchfield book debts and garnering the money to transform Gregory Brothers asphalt into parkland, perhaps selling naming rights would be a better idea.

How does CeeSaw Estates work for you? Is it too late to contact Wonder Bread? Or, might we cut out the middle man entirely and just call it Horseshoe Foundation Square?

Previously at NAC:

Legacy Square? Nah, pie are round, cornbread are square.


When the prime legacy is that of a demolished building, you need to think very carefully.


If the director of Community Housing Initiatives is involved, does it mean Legacy Square will have condos?

If the director of Community Housing Initiatives is involved, does it mean Legacy Square will have condos?

In a single news story, the News and Tribune’s Daniel Suddeath provides one of the best ever assessments of New Albany’s perennially comic pandemic of cross-pollinated, multiple-board staffed, conflicted-interested, “but I know better than you”, backdoor-dealing, palm-greasing, sheer caterwauling dysfunction of a “ruling” class.

Blessed with such a wealth of material, Suddeath coolly functions as concise journalistic straight man, permitting the words of the principle players to function as self-hoisting petard mechanisms. Excellent work.

In this instance, the narrower topics are a rapidly approaching Bicentennial, the future of the former slumlord property in the epicenter of downtown, and how many hundreds of thousands of dollars it will take to bring to fruition the specific vision of just one from a handful of competing community political pillars, who are united only in a determination that whatever planning is done might occur with as little public input as possible.

But the story might have been written to describe the local political process as it pertains to any number of civic matters doomed to perpetual misfiring in precisely the same fashion.

New Albany council may be asked for more funds for Bicentennial Park; Horseshoe Foundation yet to vote on construction grant

Benedetti said the council has been supportive of bicentennial events, and the body wants to ensure any projects associated with the celebration are handled appropriately.

In a larger sense, we’re only one month into the new mayoral administration, and already the probable course of the coming years can be clearly grasped.

The new council president, who seemingly regards a razor-thin election squeak-through as mandate, has spotted a power vacuum, and now she will be weaving spider webs from her adroitly chosen, power-brokering seats on Redevelopment and the Horseshoe Foundation.

Her chief council enabler from the 2nd council district will rally the DNA shock troops and hoard the Bicentennial portfolio as closely as his fairy godmother will allow, eager to prevent the slightest whiff of counter-cultural impropriety to intrude on his buttoned-down worldview, even as discredited England administration’s operatives who inexplicably remain in positions of authority seek to assert their time-honored influence, simultaneously preparing the ground for the ex-mayor’s forthcoming, doomed candidacy against Ed Clere in the House 72 race.

As for Mayor Gahan, a few simple and unsolicited words of advice should suffice: As it pertains to the Bicentennial, the culture vultures are not going to wait for you to take the initiative, so please do it now.

And as it pertains to every other aspect of running the city?

Same exact advice.

What are 23 parking spaces worth?

C'mon, seriously: Are those 23 spaces crucial to the future of downtown?

Legacy Square? Nah, pie are round, cornbread are square.

Yesterday's post ...

When the prime legacy is that of a demolished building, you need to think very carefully.

... generated a brief and thoughtful discussion about the corner lot bounded by Spring and Pearl, where the post office once grandly stood before being rendered into a vacant lot by a previous generation of maladjusted community "pillars", and which only recently was tabbed by the outgoing England administration to be transformed into the city's bicentennial park.

One reason for repeating yesterday's comments today is that they're fully worthy of consideration on their own merits. More importantly, the questions and thoughts therein are precisely (and predictably) the ones not asked of the public during Mayor England's final, nepotismal, executive-writ ruling phase.

I was told one week ago by a high ranking member of the incoming Gahan administration that apparently no concrete plans exist for the vacant space, apart from an England team whim that the Horseshoe Foundation might match the city's purchase price with a grant, a feint evidently repelled.

At least John Neace made a buck.

Jeff Gillenwater said...
A square a day keeps the people at bay. But seriously, when is anyone at least going to acknowledge that it's not a square in shape or function? And, more importantly, is there room for the Emery's auxiliary building up on blocks?
10:57 AM

w&la said...
leg·a·cy: anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor.

Perhaps the "park" is aptly named after all. There are so many empty lots in New Albany, where the city's "legacy" has been wiped clean.

The very notion of naming and celebrating an empty lot as a city's bicentennial "legacy"...
1:47 PM

Iamhoosier said...
Sorry, I just don't see the awfulness in the name. I can think of a lot worse, even serious ones. Scribner Square or Place or Park or whatever to name just one. That would limit to just one part of the history of New Albany.
4:23 PM

Ryan Rogers said...
Squares are great and all, though I'm not necessarily keen on the name, but what's the big picture? Is a square going to attract more people to downtown New Albany? No; is it more visually appealing than a parking lot? Sure, but is it the fastest way and most financially sound way to move downtown New Albany from point a to b?

It seems to me that downtown New Albany already has some nice and possibly under-used green spaces (riverfront); so how could that space be utilized in a way that would actually create a legacy of revitalization?

Possibly renting/gifting the space to a local university (IUS, UL, Bellarmine) for use as a satellite campus, labs, or dorms, which would bring more young people and ultimately more money downtown.

Maybe some low-rent commercial art galleries?

Or even better city sponsored commercial art galleries/performance spaces where the city and the artist benefit from the sale of the art. This could host a yearly street art show (a la St. James Art Fair).

It should be noted I am not anti parks and green spaces, I just think the space could be utilized in a more beneficial way.
7:33 PM

RememberCharlemagne said...
Mr. Roger, you’re not the only one who thinks it could be better utilized.

To me, it appears that there was only one reason that the England Administration located the park on that corner and that reason had nothing to do with utilization of space, but more with personal connections.

The worst part of it is the parking spaces are needed.

It would be better if the city bought the lot for additional public parking. The city could re-landscape the lot and add additional parking spaces to the ones currently there.

I personally would like to see the empty lots near Market and the fire station used as a public park than the current location.
And if you like the idea of a college doing activities downtown New Albany still might have a chance of locating a college downtown. The England Administration had an opportunity, but didn’t pursue it. Another big missed step.
9:20 PM

w&la said...
And I'm reminded once again of what often happens in New Albany. The name of the park aren't the real questions.

Who owned the lot, how much was paid for the lot - and wasn't it purchased mere days before the change in administrations?
10:19 PM

Jeff Gillenwater said...
The England administration paid $162,857 for the lot. They bought it from BAM Investments, aka John Neace, a major real estate (cough) investor.

For tax purposes, the last record I could find showed an assessment of $97,200.

The sale date shows as 9/16/2011.

Turning it into parking is a horrible idea. The downtown area has far more parking than it knows what to do with.
11:35 PM

When the prime legacy is that of a demolished building, you need to think very carefully.

The city of New Albany purchased the land from whichever entity inherited it after those nasty slumlords finally crashed, and it was made known that the plot would be transformed into a park for the approaching Bicentennial in 2013.

Naturally, we cannot afford to restore the corner to its appearance before the old post office was demolished to make room for a half-century of barrenness, although as a Bicentennial fundraising event, wouldn't it be clever to hold fictionalized show trials of New Albany's 1960's-era redevelopment cadres?

The obvious problem with the proposed name of Legacy Square is that it sounds far more like a senior assisted living complex than a commemorative Bicentennial park. I'd like to see the name changed to "Keep Rowing, Scribners Square" or "Nepotismal Square." For a more European touch, it might be "Free Needles and Condoms Square." But perhaps Councilman CeeSaw has other ideas:

Masthead emptiness: The King is gone, now call it something other than Legacy Square, please.

He'll be remembered for instituting a culture of stultified creative nepotism than ultimately did far more harm than good, and for failing to honor his campaign promise of two-way street conversions. Y'all can debate over the remainder of the Legacy Square, in a round hole.

POLITICAL NATURE: Doug England reflects on his time in office, by Daniel Suddeath (One South Alabama Newspaper)

Despite the loss, England said he’s proud of what his administration accomplished over the past four years.

England touted the commercial growth of downtown during a slow economy, the completion of construction projects such as Daisy Lane and the ability of his staff to deal with budget shortfalls without laying off public safety workers as some of the greatest achievements of his administration. Under England’s watch, the city gained a new riverfront amphitheater, a $6.7 million federal grant to address home foreclosures in the S. Ellen Jones neighborhood and the design for a downtown bicentennial park that is slated to be dubbed Legacy Square.