Speck's unfulfilled plan: Intellectually lazy carpetbagging shortcuts from clueless Louisvillians don't make New Albany's streets any safer.

On Wednesday in LEO Dead to Me Weekly, there was an extended hymn of praise for New Albany's Jeff Speck-inspired street grid reversion program, as written by the sort of useful dupe who formerly went to the USSR and asked Stalin's groveling, terrified minions what they thought about their dear leader's unparalleled success.

Care to guess what they said?

Of course, the article's befuddled author Chris Glasser is immune to criticism from those who actually live here as to the effectiveness of these epochal street grid reforms -- which in the end, weren't. Street direction did change, but the virtually all the remainder of the supportive mechanisms proposed by Speck were stripped away and tossed into HWC's rancid dumpster, as we've noted in this space time and again.

(Ironically, as with Republicans in the recent impeachment process, most of New Albany's senior Democrats will acknowledge privately that the truth about the post-Speck street grid differs from what they parrot aloud on a daily basis.)

Glasser's real aim was to criticize Louisville's sloth pertaining to these matters. That's fine; Greg Fischer is enduringly awful, but please, don't misrepresent our reality to further your propaganda. I'll repeat the offer I made to Glasser on Twitter:

Any time you want to come to NA, go for a walk, and get schooled about objective reality, I'm happy to guide you. You know very little about what actually happened here; it's like the American socialists who went to the USSR during Stalinism and came back glowing about paradise.

Jeff Gillenwater replied to Glasser with his characteristic command of actual facts, and the article's author devoted five or so minutes to defending his woefully gullible thesis before slinking back to Louisville to plot future intellectual carpetbagging.

This is a fantasyland recitation worthy of the Trump administration.

As is too often the case, a self-styled advocate/expert has little to no idea of what he’s talking about, no actual evidence to provide, and dismisses fact-based disagreement as the work of Internet cranks. Even his opening salvo that projects like New Albany’s are virtually unseen elsewhere is obviously false. As many of us spent a decade or more pointing out before Speck was even involved, reversions to two-way streets have been common for a long time. New Albany is just one on a long list and not a particularly good example. The only thing in the implemented plan that’s all that similar to the Speck plan is the two-way reversion itself. With as common as that has been around the country (not to mention lots of two-way, complete street advocacy in New Albany before Speck), specifically attributing two-ways to “the Speck plan” would be like attributing ice cream to Graeter’s.

Unlike the author, I have been providing a link to the actual plan the Speck design group created for the project. Anyone interested can see for themselves that the HWC plan that was actually implemented bears very, very little resemblance.

https://s3.amazonaws.com/cityofn.../NAReport.compressed1.pdf

Meanwhile Glasser, unable to connive a handy way to fit the wholesale discarding of Speck's bicycling plans into his convenient, fawning narrative -- has career bureaucrat and sophistry mangler John Rosenbarger ever been showered with as much adulation for doing little or nothing? -- Glasser merely glossed over bicycling safety as a necessary compromise.

Unalloyed bullshit, and Bluegill called Glasser's mealy-mouthed bluff.

An important point here. Because a majority of the Speck plan was cut, streets are still dangerous for people on foot or bike, more so in some places. It’s so “compromised” that very few benefits have happened. If this is what success is, why would anyone spend millions on it?

In New Albany, we have scattered bike lanes to nowhere - they just randomly begin and end - in areas where high volume, high speed automobile traffic makes them dangerous. Those lanes are hardly used, reiterating the idea they’re a waste.

The article suggests that Speck-proposed bike lanes were altered from protected to just painted. I’ve asked where all those lanes are. No answer, of course, because they don’t exist. It’s unpopular, but I persist in thinking facts matter.

We already had the fights, spent all the $$ without a good example to show for it. Re-doing what was just done isn’t likely. In some ways, we’re further from getting it right than we were. If everyone in L-Ville does go for similar “compromise”, we’ll be even further behind.

As for Speck, he's still talking from both sides of his mouth, which is unfortunate. Maybe his contract requires him to keep "selling" HWC's shambles. It saddens me tremendously, but there it is.

Of course the flunktionaries on the prom planning committee applauded on cue, safe from the horrible burden of comprehension. That's too bad. It's really not that hard to learn.

You merely must want to learn.

BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: "With the propagation of 'creative' craft, what role, if any, do classic beer styles play?"

Craig and Whitney are the new "Beer Me!" columnists at LEO, and they've done an impeccable job of selecting sources (Scott Hand, Cory Buenning and a burned-out former brewery owner) as well as weaving them into a clear narrative.

Good stuff. With Insider Louisville's demise, LEO has a chance to notch up its beer coverage. This is a fine beginning.

Come For The Crazy Craft Beer But Please Stay For The Classics, by Craig and Whitney Martin (LEO Weekly)

“May I try that Northeast Lactose Milkshake Hazy Bourbon-Barrel Aged Avocado IPA, please?” New beer styles are trending faster than tweets about Trump. Hey, we’re not knocking it. We had a spicy pickle gose at Urban Artifact in Cincy a few weeks ago that was legit. But, with the propagation of “creative” craft, what role, if any, do classic beer styles play?

What is a “classic” beer style?

Avery Brewing Co. brews an Egyptian beer from a recipe dating to around 1800 BCE as part of its “Ancient Ale” series. Does ancient qualify as classic? The 2019 Zymurgy Best Beers in America survey refers to winners Bell’s Two Hearted Ale and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale as “old school.” Is old school equivalent to classic? I mean, does playing Nirvana on the classic rock station make them classic? We don’t think so, but that’s probably because we’re old school.

Through extensive research, we’ve deduced that the technical definition of a classic beer is “anything that falls between ancient and old school.” Think pilsners, lagers, porters and stouts that were being produced circa 1900 or earlier. To continue the music metaphor, “Hotel California” or “Won’t Get Fooled Again” are considered classics due to “the inescapable element of time and perspective” said Roger Baylor (of New Albanian Brewing Co. fame, now beer director for Pints&union in New Albany). It’s not just about when they were created but also how — the quality.

Classic beers stand the test of time ...

This hypothetical Louisville rail map is "so close to civilization it’s making people uncomfortable."

If you've ever visited places where this map is reality, as opposed to conjecture, and returned home without a change of perspective -- well, human beings possess a remarkable capability for self-delusion.

FEATURE, THE FUTURE OF TRANSPORTATION: Imagining a future transit system in Louisville, by Luis Huber-Calvo (LEO Weekly)

This is a part of a package of articles on the future of transportation in Louisville. For more, click here.

This vision for Louisville’s transit future is inspired in part by the streetcar lines that once defined our transportation system. This hypothetical and highly ambitious rail map does not try to reinvent our city. Instead, it strengthens what already works and fills in the transit gap for what could work better.

This vision reimagines our corridors as multimodal arteries that connect our neighborhoods with each other and with our downtown core. This is not a new idea: It’s how much of the city operated in its formative years. Louisville’s transit future could thus end up looking similar to its transit past. Much of our city was built with the streetcar in mind — many of the corridors and neighborhoods in the old urban boundary are suited for this type of transportation. A quick browsing of the map will show that Main Street, Market Street, Broadway, Bardstown Road and Frankfort Avenue are essential to the system’s connectivity. The vision is simple: Imagine a future in which traveling from Shawnee Park to the Mall St. Matthews is practical and convenient without an automobile. Imagine a future where you can go about your daily life without ever having to jump into a car ...

BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: Why is the non-brewing Flat12 in Jeffersonville considered a "brewery" by LEO Weekly but Gordon Biersch isn't? That's dumb, don't you think?

It's a very simple question: exactly how can Flat12 in Jeffersonville be considered a brewery?

Asking this very simple question isn't to be construed as a knock against Flat12. I like some of Flat12's beers, and I enjoy drinking beers at their riverside taproom. What I like far less is journalistic inconsistency, hence my question. As an aside, be aware that I'm not directing this query to Kevin Gibson, a free-lancer who gets beer right and doesn't make editorial decisions.

According to LEO Weekly, which lately fancies itself a Louisville-area craft beer authority, Flat12 in Jeffersonville is a brewery.

Our favorite winter beers from local breweries this season, by Syd Bishop (LEO Weekly)

There are few better ways to celebrate the solstice than a nice warming beverage to help keep the night at bay. From black IPAs to hearty stouts, there are a host of options, spiced, smooth or otherwise, to cheer you up on the darkest days. As the brewing community grows here, so does its variety, including collaborations with several coffee shops in town, including Sunergos, Quills and Heine Bros. From dark brews to holiday specials, our Louisville breweries have you covered.

Flat12 Bierworks
Dan Patch in a Pear Tree
By far the most ambitious beer on the list, the Dan Patch in a Pear Tree, is a pear-flavored seasonal with a nice pop on the front end. A light body capped with a faint white foam lace, this is much lighter than many beers typically gravitate toward in this season, but it’s a wonderful diversion as such. Yielding a 4.7 percent ABV and 12 IBU, this is an imminently sessionable beer, perfect for sharing. The fruited flavors are never overwhelming, instead they form delicious and ephemeral moments that creep in occasionally.

Let's review a few facts from actual history. Flat12's Jeffersonville expansion was announced in 2014. The usual economic development incentives were harvested from Jeffersonville municipal officials amid glowing predictions of future impacts, and remodeling slowly began.

MORE ON TAP: Flat 12 Bierwerks to run brewery alongside taproom, by Elizabeth Beilman (News and Maybune)

Just weeks after Flat 12 Bierwerks announced it would open a taproom in Jeffersonville, the company decided to expand operations to include a fully functioning brewery on site.

Sean O’Connor, CEO of Flat 12, said the brewery will make “more than a couple” beer varieties, many that will be unique to Southern Indiana. The facility will have the capacity to brew at least 40,000 barrels of beer per year, which could be more than the amount made at the Indianapolis brewery. For most brewers, a barrel is equal to two kegs, or 31 gallons.

The taproom finally opened in 2016, but the brewery never came about.

The Jeffersonville taproom exists without making beer much in the same way that Tin Man-Kokomo existed with Tin Man Brewing in Evansville before the original brewery dissolved into Falls City Beer under the ownership of their Neace Ventures owner.

Flat12 in Jeffersonville was not included in an ownership change announced earlier this month, which concerns only the original Indianapolis location.

FLAT12 WELCOMES BOOKS & BREWS', JASON WUERFEL AS NEW OWNER

The Flat12 team is excited to announce we have changed ownership, as we welcome Books & Brews owner, Jason Wuerfel, our new CEO.

The Flat12 production team, led by our Head Brewer, Sean Lewis, has been contract brewing Books & Brews’ beers for the past two years, so it was a natural move for our organizations to join forces. Aggressive adaptation is necessary in this increasingly competitive craft beer landscape, and the move will allow both of our companies to continue to produce the beers, events and ambiance our consumers have come to love.

There already had been an ownership reshuffle at Flat12 in 2016, occurring after the 2014 Jeffersonville brewing expansion was announced -- and did I mention that brewing by Flat12 never took place in Jeffersonville?

Andy Teed explains.

In 2015, I started looking for a business here at home that I could own which would allow me to strengthen my community ties. The opportunity to buy Flat12 came in late 2016, and I jumped on it.

At some point during the process of Teed taking control of Flat12, co-founder and Indianapolis resident O'Connor relinquished his ownership share of the mother ship, but retained the Jeffersonville taproom.

Where brewing never once took place.

All this and LEO Weekly persists in describing Flat12 not only as a brewery, but as a "local" brewery, when the owner lives in Indianapolis and there has not been a single batch of beer "brewed" on site by Flat12 in the city of Jeffersonville, ever.

So, how does LEO Weekly define "our Louisville breweries"?

What a glorious time to love beer! The Louisville region, including Southern Indiana, has 21 breweries, including 19 locally-owned breweries. Don’t be overwhelmed by the number. Each has its own style, tastes and reasons to visit. That includes much more than the craft brews, as many brewhouses match their creative, award-winning suds with inventive, delicious food. We’ve been to all 19 of our homegrown beer-makers more than a few times, so here is the 411 on where to go for what.

Absent any clear reasoning or coherent criteria, the definition still should be easy: if brewing takes place there, it's a brewery -- right? Hence LEO's list of 19 "homegrown beer-makers," which seems not to count multiple brewing locations, as with Against the Grain, New Albanian and the like.

Except make that 18 -- because Flat12 isn't homegrown and doesn't brew, meaning that Gordon Biersch -- which isn't homegrown but does brew in Louisville every drop of Biersch-branded beer it sells in Louisville -- belongs on the list according to at least one of LEO's weirdly contradictory barometers.

Allow me to add that Biersch is excluded even though its Louisville brew team creates unique in-house recipes unavailable at any other Biersch.

Meanwhile, who's the second of two non-local breweries? I suppose BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse in the Oxmoor Center, but of course everyone knows they don't brew, because BJ's just sells beers of its own, brewed somewhere else and brought to Louisville for tapping.

In short, just like Flat12 in Jeffersonville.

LEO Weekly has some homework to do, although for some reason I can already hear the excuse: Spuds McKenzie ate it.

Dan Canon is writing a column for LEO as News & Tribune contemplates a "knitting for piety" foldout.

Dan Canon, a New Albany resident, writing a column for LEO; Danielle Grady, former News & Tribune reporter, now a staff writer for LEO.

Danielle has an excellent piece about the Sherman Minton Bridge: Sherman Minton Closure Could Cut Lifeline For West Louisville.

Seeing as Dan, our favorite fire-breathing socialist, is writing for a Louisvile newspaper with an entire section devoted to beer, maybe the News & Tribune can have Tom May start writing Christian-oriented beer columns -- you know, pairing psalms with IPAs.

That'd be par for the TopGolf mediocrity course for the likes of Bill Hanson, wouldn't it?

THE UNFUCKING OF THE MIDWEST: Of the law, politics and our coming blindness, by Dan Canon (LEO Weekly)

... Over the last 20 years as a musician, an activist, a lawyer and a politician in Indiana and Kentucky, I’ve seen the fucking over of the Midwest play out in an incalculable number of ways, affecting an incalculable number of lives. But I’ve also seen enough to maintain a glimmer of optimism — if just enough to get by.

In this series, I’ll be telling the stories of folks here who, for whatever reason, have been shortchanged by the institutions that govern their day-to-day existence. I’ll be talking to the good people in our communities who are working on solutions to the underlying problems. And I’ll be sharing what I learn from them about meaningful ways you and I can help unfuck the Midwest.

Stay with me. And if you know any good stories, send them my way.

BEER WITH A SOCIALIST: An issue with LEO Weekly's Beer Issue, and a good review for Pints & Union.

The Great American Beer Festival unspools this weekend, and anyone who's anyone in beer circles is out there in Denver, pounding the new generation of Chantilly Cream Custard Stouts.

Meanwhile, I'm right here in Nawbany, getting back to where I once belonged. If I had my druthers I'd be in Europe, not Colorado. In other words, my condition is perfectly scattershot, and therefore normal.

This week's Louisville Eccentric Observer (LEO) is the annual Beer Issue, with an excellent cover story about women who brew.

What's more, our local alternative weekly has started collating its beer news items in one spot.

LEO has a new web page devoted to all things local beer. Our brewery guide, past Beer Issue stories, an archive of I'd Tap That... Beer columns and the latest season picks.

This is helpful, although I'd like to see a new beer column devoted to classicist ruminations on a theme of comfort beer. Then again, edgy youthful writers probably aren't as well versed in such matters.

Speaking of comfort, it's pure joy to see so many of free-lancer Kevin Gibson's beer bylines collected in one place amid LEO's new beer bullpen. Kevin gets the facts right, and he's also been known to quaff the occasional sample for the sake of accuracy.

Concurrently, I must say that LEO's Big Brewery List is somewhat confused -- and Kevin had nothing to do with it.

The Louisville region, including Southern Indiana, has 21 breweries, including 19 locally-owned breweries.

Flat12 in Jeffersonville appears in the list, and Gordon Biersch does not, except that Flat12 is just as non-locally owned as Biersch; however, in terms of actually brewing beer in a physical location, Biersch is more local than Flat12.

That's because Flat12's beers are brewed in Indianapolis, while all of Biersch's beers are brewed at its Louisville location. As proof, here's the first paragraph of Kevin's cover story.

The two men were enjoying the hefeweizen beer that Maggie Bray had brewed as assistant brewer at Gordon-Biersch — and they had questions about it… but not for her.

Let's see.

Flat12 doesn't brew in Jeffersonville, and it's somehow still local. Biersch does brew in Louisville, and it isn't. Flat12 seems always to get this sort of free pass, and it should not. Flat12 accepted economic development incentives to brew in Jeffersonville, and never did. Were these incentives refunded? At the end of the day, Flat12 in Jeffersonville is a tap room, not a brewery -- and coverage should reflect this simple fact.

Finally, what's the 21st (omitted) brewer? Is it those guys in the Oxmoor Mall? Well, doesn't BJ's import its beer in kegs from production central, just like Flat12? It's a taproom, not a brewery -- just like Flat12.

This brings me to an undisputed highlight of the current issue. Robin Garr captures the Pints&union vibe quite well.

Good beer, food boost Pints & Union’s cozy pub vibe, by Robin Garr (LEO)

Every now and then, a new local place to eat and drink makes me exceptionally happy. Sure, I’m always glad to see any new eatery come to town. But, now and then, a fresh arrival delivers such pleasure in its food, drink and mood that it makes me jump up and down in delight.

Consider, if you will, Pints & Union in downtown New Albany, the utterly lovable restaurant … er, no, beer bar? … um, no, not that, nor a brewpub either. It’s a public house, a European-style pub, then, built into the beautifully renovated shell of an 1880s-era general store that later served as a neighborhood saloon.

In an age when most restaurants seem rigged for noise, Pints & Union is… well, not quiet, but tuned for sociability, with soft folk music in the background that’s loud enough to hear but not enough to dampen conversation. What’s more, there’s nary a television in the place. Stop, take your eyes from the screen and turn them to the people at your table. Don’t feel chatty? Grab a book from the extensive collection, or settle down with a friend for checkers, chess or a board game.

Pints & Union takes its beer seriously, without taking it snobbishly ...

Much appreciated. Now if you'll excuse me, it's back to work.

It's been nine years since this article about New Albany was published. Where the hell are we now?

Mike Ladd and Mike Kopp.
LEO photo by Spencer Jenkins (2009).

There'll be no introductory commentary from me, apart from the basics: the article appeared on June 17, 2009, and in many ways, it depicts a place that no longer exists.

Or does it linger still?

Rinse and repeat: New Albany Wants and Urban Renaissance. Have You Heard This Story Before? by Cary Stemle (LEO Weekly)

 ... The New Albany narrative is not unique. From the moment someone coined the term “suburbs,” these stories have moved inexorably in predictable directions. Suburban malls raided key merchants from downtowns everywhere, setting off a vicious cycle of degeneration, of both infrastructure and public perception. Some cities adapted and thrived, and some died. And a great many — New Albany arguably fits on this list — seem to float on some continuum where things never hit bottom but never go quite right, either.

Those cities become interesting when there’s an ebb large enough to suggest, objectively speaking, that chronic impediments can actually be overcome. Amazingly, some people are starting to believe New Albany can knock back 40 years of defeatism. It is an intriguing proposition.

Let's borrow LEO's "Thorns and Roses" idea and apply it to the News and Tribune.

From last week's LEO Weekly comes this entertaining segment in the Thorns & Roses issue.

Thorns & Roses: Courier Journal bites back

[The following is one part of the Thorns & Roses issue, where we discuss the worst, best and most absurd people, places and things in Kentucky this year]

This page is where every week we deal out Thorns, Roses and Absurds to anyone and everyone in the state (often Gov. Matt “Oblivious” Bevin because he is a thorn machine). Our target also has been Courier Journal, which we love to hate and hate to love. When a thorn is thrust, it always is in good fun, with the goal of making the newspaper better. For this issue of LEO, we thought it would be… fun — or masochistic — to turn over this column to Courier Journal. We asked CJ to give us their best, and the paper agreed to do so, assigning reporter Jeffrey Lee Puckett and metro columnist Joe Gerth … This below is their best?

If you're a regular reader of NA Confidential, you know the absentee Courier-Journal seldom so much as enters into the blog discussion these days, but when we consider the CNHI newspaper in Jeffersonville -- well, to borrow LEO's description, it's something we love to hate and hate to love.

Seeing as you're invariably exposed to my invective, this time I'll button my lip and ask you to contribute.

Based on what you've observed in 2017, what are your thorns and roses for the News and Tribune?

What does it do well, and badly?

Send you answers through the usual channels, and post here or at Facebook.

THE BEER BEAT: Louisville Craft Beer Week VIII begins today ... in Jeffersonville.

For a dram of perspective, let's glance back at the inception of the celebration in September, 2010.

Louisville Craft Beer Week begins -- here is an overview of the celebration.

We’re happy to announce the first annual Louisville Craft Beer Week. For nine consecutive hop- and malt-packed days, Louisville Craft Beer Week is everywhere, with themed craft beer festivals, craft beer tastings, craft beer dinners, craft beer samplings, and even a motorized craft beer pub crawl.

Louisville Craft Beer Week is all of us: Breweries and wholesalers, package retailers and pubs, bars and restaurants, homebrewers and serial growler fillers.

Most importantly, Louisville Craft Beer Week is you: Craft beer lovers living, working and playing right here in our region. Your patronage and enthusiasm makes it happen for all of us, and we thank you.

Louisville Craft Beer Week is modeled on similar celebrations in places like Philadelphia and Cleveland, but whatever the locale, the intent remains the same: Showcasing the incredible variety, dynamism and expanding market presence of craft brewing in America.

Allowing for my usual stream of consciousness, there are many memorable anecdotes told by Jim Bouton in his classic baseball tell-all book Ball Four, and one of my favorites is about the superstar Mickey Mantle.

It was the mid-1960s, and the Yankee dynasty was beginning to fade. The aging slugger Mantle arrived at the ballpark massively hungover and was given the day off by the team's sympathetic manager, but late in the game, with the Yanks behind, Mantle was needed to pinch-hit.

Half-blind with pain and the effects of the previous evening's dissipation, "The Mick" lofted a majestic game-winning home run.

He slowly circled the bases and returned to the dugout to greet his cheering teammates, saying to no one in particular: "You have no idea how hard that really was."

I always think about Mantle's words when remembering Year One of LCBW. We're lucky to have pulled it off. As the eighth edition debuts tonight, allow me to thank all those who've kept the event alive -- and believe it or not, I plan on being at Parlour in Jeffersonville this evening.

Louisville Craft Beer Week lives, by Kevin Gibson (Louisville Eccentric Observer - LEO)

As September turned to October, I heard rumblings from people that Louisville Craft Beer Week was no more. That’s understandable, given the farewell of LIBA’s formerly annual BrewFest, but the truth is, LCBW simply got moved. This year, it’s Oct. 19-29 (which is way longer than a “week,” but whatever), and there’s plenty going on.

The “week”-long event formerly was organized by LouisvilleBeer.com, but LEO took over this year.

“We want to help make Louisville one of the country’s top craft beer cities,” editor Aaron Yarmuth said in a fancy press release, “and a successful Craft Beer Week is key to gaining that recognition.”

You heard it here first, folks, and I promise Mr. Editor-Man didn’t force me at gunpoint to write about it. Hey, it’s a whole week (and then some) about beer — so, what’s not to love? The festivities will be similar to years past, with various breweries, bars, restaurants and retail outlets holding beer-centric events and activities. Beer, beer, beer.

Now, I will say this: In my mind, every week is craft beer week in Louisville, because everywhere you look there’s a tap takeover or a beer release going on. Falls City just released new cans, and Gravely Brewing just announced Sunday brunch, so it’s not like there’s nothing happening around town. But for 11 days, good beer will be viewed in even sharper focus than normal.

Here are a few events worth checking out:

Wednesday, Oct. 18: Louisville Craft Beer Week kickoff party at Parlour Pizza in Jeffersonville. OK, so that makes it 12 days instead of 11, so it’s almost two craft beer weeks for the price of one. Insane. 6 p.m.

"Roads are made for people, no matter whether they are on two wheels or four, and River Road is no different."

Yesterday we took issue with LEO's spindly-trust-fund-malnourished-butt v.v. its recent flareup of parochial anti-regionalism.

Piss off, LEO. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries -- and your governor's worse than ours, on top of it all.

Today, to show there are no hard feelings, here's my good friend John Mahorney with a two-wheeled statement about sharing the road, one that includes both principle and pragmatism.

Debits yesterday, credits today. What other local print publication includes a column on bicycling?

Why we ride: River Road is for people, by John Mahorney (LEO Weekly)

I’ve heard it before from more than a few people. “I can’t stand it when you cyclists ride on River Road!” Then, a sentence or two later: “It sure is a pretty road. I love to drive it.”

The River Road Corridor, designated a Kentucky State Scenic Byway in 1994, is a seven-mile stretch offering the best views of the Ohio River within Jefferson County. Cyclists have enjoyed it since cycling first became popular in the 1890s. To this day it can be enjoyable and exciting, but, at times, daunting or terrifying, depending on time of day, week, or if you are alone or in a group.

Finally, it is getting a little attention, which could make it safer for everyone. More on that later, but first, a little history ...

Piss off, LEO. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries -- and your governor's worse than ours, on top of it all.

Thanks to J for pointing me to this.

I've decided to point something more fitting at it.

Back in the mid-1990s I helped run a beer bar and pizza joint in Indiana (gasp), on the north side of New Albany. "Better" is a relative and senseless term, but at the Public House we tended to carry beers that were hard to get in Louisville. Lots of Kentucky license plates were in the parking lot on weekends. I was proud of this, because "they" said it couldn't be done.

Much time has passed, and currently there's quite a lot to do in both New Albany and Jeffersonville, particularly downtown. It's even possible that the Derby price structure is a bit more reasonable way up here. I'm a cynic and a realist, and I know better than to get emotionally involved in such matters.

But for more than 25 years, I've been busting my butt trying to make this a better place, and state lines aside, folks anywhere else in the country tend to see us as one big metro area.

Too bad LEO doesn't. Now if you'll pardon me, I have a few epithets to mutter.

A guide to Louisville’s neighborhoods, two hours at a time, by Staff (Aaron's Trust Fund Baby)

The Derby isn’t until Saturday, but your Airbnb is in… Germantown, or St. Matthews, or… and you are not sure what to do with your time. Don’t worry, gentle visitor. Take our LEO hand, and let us lead you on nine, two-hour, neighborhood-specific adventures of wonder, gluttony, imbibing, shopping and just plain fun in a few central Louisville neighborhoods where you may be staying, or where you will want to stay next year ...

Coffee grounds: Sunergos, Jesus, Yarmuth ... and Schivelbusch.

Yesterday's hyperbolic local social media culture war over Christian caffeine led me straight to one of the most influential books I've ever read, Wolfgang Schivelbusch's Tastes of Paradise: A social history of spices, stimulants and intoxicants.

In a moment, a key passage about coffee from the book. First, what the most recent fuss is all about. For the Sunergos side of the story, visit with Sara Havens here.

Dark coffee: LEO’s expulsion from Sunergos, the facts and why you should care, by Aaron Yarmuth (Louisville Ecentric Observer)

This is one of those reasons LEO was started in 1990.

On Monday, Sunergos Coffee called LEO to ask that the paper no longer be distributed at its shops. The business has since cited the “family-friendly” environment of its shops and “the increasingly sexually explicit content and advertising.” The call was made before we published our Valentine’s Day issue, featuring four recently-married couples. On the cover was a beautiful picture of one couple, two women, kissing. It embodied the story inside.

So, it is unfortunate that the shops’ customers will miss the story of these beautiful families.

LEO’s removal has sparked a public controversy on Facebook and Twitter, as people wondered whether the coffee shop was reacting to our Valentine’s Day story. This is intended to provide facts and context.

We’ve been thrown out of plenty of establishments before, and we will undoubtedly be tossed out again. But we definitely won’t stop printing stories and photographs that reflect the community, and those that provoke discussions on important issues. We also will not stop running ads from legal businesses, including those that provide adult entertainment. LEO has been running those since its first issues. In fact, LEO runs significantly fewer adult-oriented ads today than it has in the past (much to our dismay).

While we disagree and are disappointed with the coffee business’ decision, we feel it is important to defend its right to carry, or not carry, any publication it chooses. We also want to make sure that the business is not unjustly criticized for dropping us because of this issue, or the beautiful cover.

There. That’s the story ...

As an aside, Yarmuth correctly observes, complaints about LEO's adult advertising content have occurred from the start, and historically, they seem to have been equally divided between preachers and feminists. These ads are undeniably tacky, though I've never been as offended by them as those purchased by Budweiser.

On Friday, numerous individuals on social media were busy surveying the extent of Christian influence on local coffee. Had they been paying attention, it would have been recalled that not even three years ago (July 23, 2014), Gabe Bullard got there first.

How Christianity Shapes Louisville’s Coffee Culture, (WFPL-89.3)

... It may not have converted anyone, but nearly every serious coffee drinker in Louisville has been affected in some way by the actions of Christians behind the counter. Many of the early purveyors of pourover brewing, latte art and various techniques of the so-called Third Wave of coffee have been either devout Christians or employed by devout Christians. And the attraction to coffee isn’t driven by scripture. Rather, it’s scripture that inspires the quality of the drinks.

More recently, conspiracy theorists will note that Caitlin Bowling's Insider Louisville story about the advent of New Albany's new 410 Bakery (it serves Sunergos coffee, by the way) includes the owner's explanation of the name.

While 410 Bakery may seem odd for a business with the address number 140, (Emily) Butts said she came up with it because it is the address of her current Patrol Road space and also corresponds to one of her favorite Bible verses, 1 Peter 4:10: “Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.”

In this long but essential excerpt from a 1997 review of the book by David Denborough (Dulwich Centre Newsletter), Schivelbusch is seen to demonstrate that the connection between Christianity (in the beginning, stemming from the Protestant Refromation) can be traced much further back in Western history than the more recent founding of Sojourn Church.

Obviously, none of these linkages have ever stopped this particular atheist from enjoying coffee, a beverage brought to Christian Europe by invading Muslim Turks.

At any rate, as you're about to see, coffee turns out to have been about sex (or its absence) all along. Take it away, David and Wolfgang.

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The birth of Puritanism

When the Reformation tried to redefine the relationship between the individual and God, it also sought to regulate the relationship between individuals and alcohol. Schivelbusch argues that these attempts were ‘laying an essential foundation in both realms for the development of capitalism’ (p.34). It was the Protestant work ethic that sought initially to alter relationships with alcohol. From that time on, attempts to work on issues of alcohol and other drug-related problems have often been influenced by the moral prescriptions of Puritanism. What do these histories mean for those of us wanting to find collaborative ways of working on such problems today?

According to Schivelbusch the social drinking habits and relationships of pre-industrial Europe were very strong and it therefore took more than Puritan ideology to condemn ‘Demon Alcohol’ (p.34). Attempts to prohibit toasting rituals repeatedly failed to achieve desired results. The way Schivelbusch describes it, alcohol consumption only dropped when broader changes occurred in the society – changes that came:

With a more highly developed society and economy … a higher degree of work discipline – and also a new group of beverages that could replace the old ones. For without substitute the existing traditions would not disappear … These requirements were fulfilled by the new hot beverages that reached Europe in the 17th Century – above all, coffee, (p.34)

Coffee

Coffee functioned as a historically significant drug. It spread through the body and achieved chemically and pharmacologically what rationalism and the Protestant ethic sought to fulfill spiritually and ideologically. With coffee, the principle of rationality entered human psychology, transforming it to conform with its own requirements. The result was a body which functioned in accord with the new demands – a rationalistic, middle-class, forward-looking body. (p.39)

Schivelbusch writes of the social meanings that are to be found in the rise in popularity of coffee as the drug of choice in 17th century. With the rise of Puritanism, coffee began to be seen as ‘awakening a drowsy humanity from its alcoholic stupor to middle-class commonsense and industry’ (p.34). Schivelbusch describes the ways in which the effects of caffeine, including the ways in which it enhances mental activity and speeds perception and judgement, make coffee ‘the beverage of the modern bourgeois age’ (p.34).

Coffee promised to lengthen and intensify the time available for work and what’s more it was seen as anti-erotic. It replaced ‘sexual arousal with stimulation of the intellect’ (p.37). This combination, according to Schivelbusch, made coffee the ideal Puritan drink: ‘Coffee as the beverage of sobriety and coffee as the means of curbing the sexual urges, it is not hard to recognise the ideological forces behind this reorientation’ (p.37). There developed a moral imperative, in the minds of some, to drink coffee rather than alcohol.

Schivelbusch also briefly touches upon how coffee houses became centres for communication, and how these centres were often exclusively male. He describes how the increasing use of coffee and the exclusion of women was protested:

In 1764 a broadside caused a great sensation in London. Its title: ‘The Women’s Petition Against Coffee.’ … The text expressed in no uncertain terms the fear that coffee would make ‘men [as] unfruitful as those deserts whence that unhappy berry is said to be brought’. It is easy to identify the sociopolitical impulse behind this complaint: the English coffeehouses of this period excluded women, and in their pamphlet the women were rebelling against the increasing patriarchalisation of society. That this opposition should use the argument that coffee makes men impotent shows, on the one hand how powerful this notion was at the time, and on the other, how unpuritannical, indeed how anti-puritannical, the women of this time were, (p.37)

THE BEER BEAT: Words like "local" and "unique," and beers for cold weather.

Maybe it's just because I'm aging ungracefully ...

While I wouldn't quibble with the author's beer descriptions, I'm a bit confused by his organizing principle.

"Every brewery in town that’s unique to the region."

Flat12 Bierwerks in Jeffersonville is on the LEO list, but it's neither unique to the region (founded in Indianapolis in 2010) nor actually brews beer in Jeffersonville, suggesting that city officials there might wish to take a closer look at the criteria (namely, brewing beer) upon which they awarded Flat12 economic development incentives circa 2013 to open what remains a taproom only three years later.

According to what I'm hearing, Flat12 as currently constituted has no plans to brew in Jeffersonville. Of course, this could change.

Louisville's Gordon Biersch also isn't on the list, and while it is not unique to the region (it's a national chain originating in California), all the house beers sold at Biersch are brewed right here in Louisville.

Meanwhile, Falls City is unique to the region and does brew in Louisville, but didn't make the list.

Disclaimers aside, it looks like a fine selection, and testament to the progress we've made in Metro Louisville. In my previous professional incarnation, I'd have been foraging some of these beers to feature at NABC's Gravity Head in late February.

By the way, is it true that Dark Horse out of Michigan will be the featured Gravity Head brewery in 2017?

Our favorite winter beers from local brewing companies, by Syd Bishop (LEO Weekly)

It’s the twilight of the year and, despite some evidence by way of warm days this late in the season, winter is coming. With the seasonal change, you’d better believe that your favorite beer makers in Louisville and Southern Indiana are brewing up something to keep you company on the cold dark nights to come. We’ve done our due diligence and hit up every brewery in town that’s unique to the region, searching for Louisville’s best winter beers.

"So, no — when Clinton is elected, we will not enter a post-gender society. Instead, we will face another convulsion of bigotry from the defeated foes."

Nine white males on the New Albany Common Council ... and this excellent commentary by the editor of LEO. I usually read Erika Rucker's column, but little else. Maybe it's time to dig a little deeper.

EDITOR’S NOTE: No post-gender society, by Keith Stone (LEO)

Watching the Olympics, you cannot help but be mesmerized by the world-class female athletes who are killing it in their events and showing the world how to take absolutely no shit. Like 19-year-old Lilly King, who matched her outrage over Russian doping with an outrageously-fast, winning swim. Or Simone Biles, who may be the best female gymnast ever and whose performances in Rio drew cheers from teammates and competitors alike. And then there is Simone Manuel, the first African-American woman to win an individual gold medal in swimming.

Maybe their domination presages what could be America’s Year of The Woman. After all, in less than 100 days we choose between Cheeto-wrought, worldwide mayhem and electing the first female president ...

 ... Will we become gender-blind? ... Not.

Don't miss John Mahorney's bicycling columns in LEO.

Always on camera, Belgium, 2004.

As recently as 2010, I logged 3,635 miles (5,850 kilometers) in a year on a bicycle, never traveling more than 25 miles in a single ride.

For me, it was about using the bike as a tool to commute first, then ride for pleasure second -- unless, of course, it was a European biking trip, as in the photo above. Then it was all about biking, beer and pleasure, in places where infrastructure worked for a bicyclist, not against.

Since 2013, my bicycling has tapered to nothing, and instead, walking's been my thing. In my life, I've tended to trade one set of obsessions for another, and so it goes.

The reason why my biking diminished has many parallels with Jeff Speck's theory of walkability. Speck believes that if the walk isn't enjoyable, most folks won't take it. Biking became less enjoyable for me, and so I found myself declining the opportunities.

Biking became less enjoyable for me precisely because I focused on commuting, and this required the extensive use of city streets, and in New Albany, the arterial mentality of street design seems to have enhanced a widely noted phenomenon that affects the vast majority of drivers (and I'm not exempting myself from the tag).

We get behind the wheel of a car, and we immediately become completely self-absorbed assholes. We're assured that autos are an extension of our genitalia, we design streets to exacerbate this masturbatory effect, and when someone has the temerity to suggest that streets should be available for safe use by all humans, not just those with cars, the vitriol usually reserved for the bicyclist is turned upon the speaker.

John Mahorney is an old friend. He's fearless, and I'm delighted to see his new by-line. John will be a principled and insistent advocate for bicycling, and I look forward to reading.

Here's a trivia question; the answer appears after the tease: Many readers see a piece of John's graphic design every day, and it could be argued that he has contributed immeasurably to New Albany iconography. Do you know what this is?

This is why I ride, by John Mahorney (LEO Weekly)

 ... We do our best to share all spaces with our friends on foot, but some people are bike haters. Yes, the ones who have wished, tried and succeeded in running us off the road since the advent of the automobile. The honkers! The combative motorists driving the 3,500-plus-pound killing machines, with the not so greatest of ease. “Why are you riding in traffic?” “I am traffic, ma’am.” Shocked expression. “Why don’t you get a car?” “I have a car also, mister.” We try to get along with all motorists, but sometimes it’s like a survival mission. Coming up on you fast. Stopping way too close. Lunging and driving aggressively. Hurling objects from the car. We persevere because it’s worth any trouble to go somewhere, get somewhere. We just want to ride, and we do.

It's this, which John designed in 2002:

In Louisville as well as New Albany, "Municipal and mega-business moguls fornicate first and get acquainted later."

Even before Greg Fischer's Omni sellout, NAC had been tracking the Louisville mayor's ongoing deterioration.

Irv still nutzoid, and Gilderbloom's research wasted on New Albany -- and Greg Fischer, for that matter.

A visual Fischer goes full Gahan on the ad hoc demolition of historic properties.

Jeff Gahan texts Greg Fischer: "OMG, the CJ called, LOL."

Jeff Gahan and local Democrats tout purely Orwellian "preservation by demolition" theories filched from Greg Fischer.

The higher ranking the New Albany "Democrat," the loftier his or her admiration for Fischer and Walt Disney. While we can dismiss the Disney fetish as simple bad taste, their are serious implications for Fischer emulations, such as the "tinkle down" corporate welfare encapsulation of the Coyle site apartment project.

Some of Fischer's allies are moving toward the exits. Expect the same in New Albany.

The anti-climactic Omni orgy, by Steve Shaw (LEO Weekly)

... Welcome to the Bonobo Republic of Louisville, where municipal and mega-business moguls fornicate first and get acquainted later. By all appearances, Mayor Fischer gave Omni carte blanche to do whatever they wanted despite a public investment of $139 million, nearly half of the project’s price tag.

Meanwhile, at LEO: Dude, how many left feet can one incoming owner and sole employee have?

Former LEO Weekly editor Sarah Kelley, who graciously helped me relieve myself of LEO beer columnist duties a few years back, submits pithy Insider Louisville commentary about the publication's surreal changeover.

When the weirdness broke, I resolved to give Aaron Yarmuth a chance. I'm trying hard to stick to my resolution, and he's not making it easy. Apart from the staffing catastrophe, he has pulled a local LEO cover and substituted one about (yuck) golf, featuring an article written by returning fascist hero (blech) John Ziegler -- really, Aaron, he's the first issue "surprise" you were referring to? -- in which the coffin of a black man is lowered into a grave.

Of course, lest we forget, Papa Yarmuth used to waste acres of poor dead trees writing about golf, too, so this apple hasn't fallen far from the tree. But it's bizarrely tasteless, isn't it?

LEO executive editor Aaron Yarmuth swaps planned west Louisville cover with Tiger Woods cartoon

I received a photo of today’s LEO Weekly cover via text this morning, and I initially thought perhaps it was a self-reflection about the grave mistakes new ownership has made in recent days. A dark prognostication — an acknowledgment of LEO’s grim future if great care isn’t taken to right the wrongs that have been done.

Days of rage at LEO Weekly, as non-readers remain precisely that.

I skip out of town for a few days, and all hell breaks loose at LEO. On a personal level, I'm a big fan of Sara Havens, and as usual, Kevin Gibson gets it right.

Opinion: LEO Weekly made a big mistake in jettisoning ‘The Bar Belle’, by Kevin Gibson (Insider Louisville)

Last Friday, on her 15th anniversary of working for the news magazine she loved, Sara was unceremoniously “let go.” As you’ve no doubt already heard, LEO was purchased by Aaron Yarmuth, son of founder John Yarmuth, for whom I worked all those years ago. The sale went through Friday, and the younger Yarmuth’s first order of business was to lay off four employees.

I’m not going to bash the new ownership; times are tough, Yarmuth had his reasons, and I suspect he found out he had fired Sara on her 15th anniversary after the fact. (I’m a benefit of the doubt kind of guy.) But I am going to say this about his decision: Good luck with that.

Apparently there was a fractious staff meeting -- at this juncture, "staff" being a somewhat nebulous concept.

LEO Weekly left with zero editorial employees after two remaining staffers walk out (Insider Louisville)

A source inside LEO Weekly says the publication’s two remaining full-time editorial staffers walked out following a meeting this morning with new owner Aaron Yarmuth.

We were in Duluth when the story began breaking, and our conclusion? Neither of us could remember the last time that LEO was a "must read," or something we grabbed as soon as it appeared at the coffee shop or pub. It's no reflection on Sara as editor, just recognition that for some years now, the publication has been average at best.

Since the demise of my beer column, at the very least.

I think that's a joke. In the interest of equal time, Aaron Yarmuth "broke" the silence last evening at the publication's Facebook page. Here it is, in its entirety.

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Breaking the silence.

Hello LEO readers and Louisvillians. While this is not my official introduction letter — which will be running in Wednesday’s issue — it is with a heavy heart, and great sincerity that I write on behalf of the staff and new management to explain what happened late last week.

First and foremost, I am terribly sorry to those LEO staffers who were not brought on to the new company. Contrary to what has been widely reported/misconstrued, is that the first act of new management was to fire staff. The truth is that it was the last act of SouthComm to let go of all of its employees.

My biggest personal regret is that I was not personally able to be with the people at LEO during the tumultuous afternoon.

That being said, last Friday, August 1st, was the third attempt at closing the deal. There was no nefarious attempt to avoid bad news on a Friday afternoon. In fact, my partner and I spent over 4 hours in my attorney’s office on Thursday the 31st, trying to close the deal so that we could have those conversations then. It unfortunately spilled over into Friday, and even still, I had every intention of meeting with the staff.

Finally, as the final transactions took multiple hours to execute, we had run into the early evening. I was away from the office doing everything I could, personally, to see the deal closed, and simultaneously, SouthComm had to begin notifying employees. Again, I am forever sorry that things transpired the way they did, but I was in a place where I had to make sure the deal was closed.

The worst came when I received a text notifying me that it was — to the day — the 15th anniversary for Sara Havens at LEO. I would like to think that had we known that, we could have avoided it. But as it turned out, it was unavoidable.

In sum, we had a press release ready, plans to do a story on our website, and I intended to be readily available to respond to questions, concerns, comments, et cetera — staff, media, and the public. By the time the process had begun, it was too late. Joe Sonka was on assignment at Fancy Farm, people had left for the weekend, and we did not even have access to certain LEO outlets until the deal was closed.

From there, we were not in a position to communicate until this morning. Unfortunately, due to some more pressing issues that arose this morning, I am sorry that this is the first moment I have had to relay this communication to the public — via our own channel.

The good news is, LEO will be going to print tomorrow evening, and come Wednesday morning it will be in the racks waiting for you — with a surprise, special guest commentator.

There will be a lot more to come on the staff changes, and our plans for the future of LEO. But as every President has reported, “The state of our publication is strong!”

Aaron Yarmuth

Houndmouth: Shane Cody speaks.

And Kevin Gibson is right there.

Houndmouth brings it on home for the Boomtown Ball, by Kevin Gibson (LEO Weekly)

Houndmouth performs Sunday in a triumphant homecoming at the city’s Boomtown Ball & Festival, a daylong downtown celebration. We caught up with drummer/vocalist Shane Cody on the road a couple of weeks ago. He greeted us by saying, “It’s good to see a 502 area code.”

LEO returns to the Yarmuths. By the way, LEO needs a beer column again, eh?

In a probable triumph of localism against the dull conformity of media chains, LEO will again have Louisville ownership.

This qualifies as good news, I believe, and of course, I can't help reliving the villainous time of my shit-canning as beer columnist, back when telling the truth about wretched mass-market swill led directly to my principled departure -- and then another principled departure by the ax-wielder herself, some years hence. As Grandpa Jones always said, "Truth is stranger than fact."

Just go here and read about it:

Coming around again: Matters of principle at LEO.

Best of luck to the new ownership group. Some times a freshening is needed.

LEO Weekly Bought By Group Led By John Yarmuth's Son, by Joseph Lord (WFPL)

Long before he was a congressman, John Yarmuth was the founder of Louisville's alternative weekly, LEO.

And now his son is its principal owner.

The Nashville-based media company SouthComm Communications has sold LEO to a group of local investors led by Yarmuth's son Aaron, LEO staff writer Joe Sonka reported in a blog post Tuesday.