Demolition Man: Either Gahan lied about the NAHA "memorandum of understanding" from 2017, or he lied to Mark Elrod Tower residents in 2019. Which is it?

On April 2, 2019 a discombobulated chihuahua on Zoloft -- also known as Mayor Jeff Gahan -- informed a group of public housing residents at the Mark Elrod Tower that he was the greatest public housing mayor in the city's history.

In which Deaf Gahan asks: “Okay, what’s the ISSUE with Riverview? Do you KNOW people who live over there? I mean, WHY are we talking about Riverview?”

These are exact quotes, by the way.

We have 1,187 (public housing) units, which is more than anyone in Clark County, any five counties combined, we have more than anyone, and we’re going to keep – that’s the way it’s going to stay, with more opportunities to live here in New Albany than any other place, but what we won’t put up with is sub-standard housing. It’s not, we’re going to make it better, make improvements, and you know I, I feel great about it, and you all should be too – I think you all should be really thrilled about it.

And this:

In the city of New Albany we have 1,187 units, and for many years you had to go through this period where at the federal government they were kind of turning the screws and they weren’t putting the maintenance money that they needed to maintain the properties down here, so, we knew we needed some maintenance done but it didn’t really get down here like we wanted it to, and that trend is continuing, uh, the latest budget they’re pushing for has a 16% reduction in funds for housing and urban development. So we’re still committed to making this, everything, every unit, the top flight, and we’re going to continue to do that, and I can tell you that’s going to happen, uh, we’re taking every step that we can possibly make to make sure that every unit is as good as it can possibly be.

If you're a rational individual favoring logic, and knew nothing else about the recent history of public housing in New Albany, these comments could be read in no other way than as an enthusiastic commitment to improve and maintain 1,187 public housing units in New Albany.

What's more, nothing else Gahan said to these senior citizens during 25 minutes of often disassociated rambling contradicts this conclusion. At no point did he mention demolitions or reductions, only "exciting" and "cool" things he's doing to ensure the future of public housing.

And yet in 2017, when Gahan abruptly seized the New Albany Housing Authority, he stacked NAHA's board with groveling sycophants, blocked then-director Bob Lane's 1:1 rejuvenation plans and putsch-started a process ending with the installation of redevelopment commission bag man David Duggins as NAHA director (gifting Duggins with a substantial pay raise to perform a job for which he had absolutely no experience), and he did so with no mention whatever of caring for 1,187 units.

Rather, Gahan's monotonous droning was accompanied by a soundtrack of queued bulldozers purring. Public housing was to be downsized by MORE than half, and displaced residents equipped with vouchers for non-existent rental housing before cattle cars shipped them to Outer Greenville.

The News and Tribune's typically tortuous and poorly worded editorial of March 11, 2017 at least managed to clarify the central point of Gahan's hostile public housing takeover.

On Monday, the New Albany Housing Authority board will consider a plan, brought forth by Mayor Jeff Gahan’s administration, to tear down an estimated 635 of New Albany’s 1,100 units. Those units affected would include Parkview Tower, Parkview Terrace/Broadmeade, Vance Court and Riverside Terrace.

There was an agenda delay owing to an illness suffered by public housing Bob Lane, allowing Gahan to share his "perspective" about social engineering in a column that wasn't entirely robotic, suggesting he almost surely didn't write it.

GAHAN: Public housing plan will improve the community (April 22, 2017)

On Monday, the NAHA will consider a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City and NAHA. This MOU establishes a multi-year plan through which the City and NAHA will work together to revitalize public housing in New Albany. The plan establishes a partnership between the City and NAHA to improve our community for all people.

This plan is not radical, mean-spirited or punitive. No public housing resident will be left homeless. The units that are slated for demolition are in such poor condition that it is not practical or responsible to repair them. Contrary to media accounts, we intend to rebuild a portion of the unfit units that will be demolished. While there will be fewer traditional public housing units once the plan is complete, NAHA will provide support to the same number of people as it does now, but the mix of subsidies and NAHA-owned units will change. This plan does not mean the City or NAHA is turning its back on our commitment to public housing.

Two days later the memorandum of force-fed disruption was approved by the stacked housing board, and a short time thereafter Lane was served with his walking papers.

Board opts for New Albany's public housing vision, passes plan, by Elizabeth Beilman

Plan calls for demolition, rehab of public housing units

NEW ALBANY — The New Albany Housing Authority Board of Commissioners initiated the first step Monday in embarking on a plan to demolish and rehabilitate hundreds of public housing units ... the board's move strays from recommendations of the housing authority director (Bob Lane) and instead takes up the vision of New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan, whose administration proposed the partnership and changes.

The plan calls for demolition of Parkview Tower, Parkview Terrace/Broadmeade, Vance Courts and Riverside Terrace, totaling 635 of New Albany’s roughly 1,100 units. It also orders rehabilitation of Riverview Towers, Mark Elrod Towers and Crystal Court, as well as redeveloping Beechwood Terrace as a mixed-income complex.

snip

The board's vote was a disappointment for the dozens of public housing residents and local advocates who packed the board room Monday in opposition.

Some who spoke before the board worry that transitioning away from brick-and-mortar housing to vouchers, though it follows a national trend, isn't as easy as it sounds.
Lynda Wilcox, past president of the board of commissioners, said being awarded a Housing Choice Voucher doesn't guarantee someone housing.

"I would implore you," Wilcox said to the board. "I know that you've all been appointed by the mayor, I know that's of great interest, but please understand, there are no rental units in New Albany for this number of units that they're talking about taking down. There are good ways to do this, compassionate ways to do this."

And so we return to the present day, and Gahan's remarks to residents of Mark Elrod Tower. Did Gahan patronize the seniors by flatly lying to them about his halved-NAHA wet dream?

There's almost no other conclusion, unless something else has changed; perhaps Gahan and Duggins have undergone a conversion to compassion, and there'll still be 1,187 units (as you've surely noticed, MORE than Team Gahan calculated in 2017) in 2029.

It would be really cool if Dear Leader would clarify this. Until then, what about some Kool-Aid and Loaded Rice Krispies Treats for progressive Democrats who can't seem to grasp why this matters?

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Democratic mayoral candidate David White understands that change begins with a whole lotta scrubbing, and NA Confidential advocates just such a deep civic cleansing. 

After eight years on the job, Mayor Jeff Gahan's list of stunning "achievements" is long, indeed: tax increases, budgetary hide 'n' seek, self-deification, daily hypocrisy, public housing takeover, non-transparency, pay-to-play for no-bid contracts, bullying city residents and bullying city employees. Eight years is enough. It's time to drain Gahan's swamp, flush his ruling clique and take this city back from Gahan's Indy-based special interest donors. 

NA Confidential supports David White for Mayor in the Democratic Party primary, with voting now through May 7. 

In which Deaf Gahan asks: “Okay, what’s the ISSUE with Riverview? Do you KNOW people who live over there? I mean, WHY are we talking about Riverview?”

On April 2 a "handful" of Mark Elrod Tower residents (the mayor's words, not ours) witnessed a full-throttle City Hall team in glorious campaign mode. Mayor Gahan, Gauleiter Duggins and BOWhisperer Nash each spoke.

For this final excerpt, comprising roughly the first ten minutes of the "presentation," it's a shame the audio isn't available. I've taken the liberty of underlining those passages in which Gahan's and Duggins' tone of voice changes markedly, from talking to (not "with") an audience of seniors as though they were schoolchildren, to brief snippets of a defensive, almost menacing edge. 

Here is the extended excerpt. I went over it a second time for accuracy and made a few light edits to the passage previously published here. Thanks to the Green Mouse for uncovering this gem.

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(David Duggins is speaking as the recording begins)

Duggins: “I just learned we’ve got maybe a squirrel issue, which we’ll be working on some squirrel issues here. We’ll get that taken care of, too.”

(nervous laughter)

Duggins: “If there’s anything you need always get with Steve or Sue, and I’m happy to help anytime I can. I’d like introduce my good friend, Mayor Jeff Gahan. Thank you.”

Gahan: (giggling) “That’s a good sign, right? Hey, listen, uh, thanks for taking time out, and thanks, uh, for giving me a minute tonight. I certainly appreciate it, uh, I do want to acknowledge the work that everybody does here at New Albany Housing Authority because it’s really a serious group of people. I know you see Dave, you see some of these folks, they got a smile on their face, and they’re kinda cutting up some times, right? But, but you know, they’re real serious about their job, they’re real serious about making all the properties in the New Albany Housing Authority, you know, top flight. And, uh, top, they want to make sure they’re all well maintained, and, uh, the accommodations are the best that we can offer. And it’s really a challenge nowadays, uh, and I’ll tell you why, because okay in the city of New Albany we have 1,187 units, and for many years you had to go through this period where at the federal government they were kind of turning the screws and they weren’t putting the maintenance money that they needed to maintain the properties down here, so, we knew we needed some maintenance done but it didn’t really get down here like we wanted it to, and that trend is continuing, uh, the latest budget they’re pushing for has a 16% reduction in funds for housing and urban development. So we’re still committed to making this, everything, every unit, the top flight, and we’re going to continue to do that, and I can tell you that’s going to happen, uh, we’re taking every step that we can possibly make to make sure that every unit is as good as it can possibly be. And uh you’ve seen a little bit of changes around here, Dave’s done a great job, and changed some things, but soon you’ll see even more, you’ll see additional, we’re taking steps right now to acquire additional properties throughout the city, to build new ones, we’re taking steps right now to make sure that, uh, each one of the units have been inspected, you’ve probably seen people coming and going, making sure that we have a good idea of what the condition of every one of the properties is. And we’re going to take steps to improve them. David Duggins, again, he worked for the city in re-, in economic redevelopment before he came here, so he knows what it takes to take dollars and put them into service, take dollars and turn them into improvements for everybody. And that’s what we’re going to do, that’s the course we’re on for the next five or six years, you’ll see really, really cool improvements in the housing in New Albany and Jeff. You have a really great place, this happens to be the best facility we have, uh, we have some of them that are in terrible condition, they’re terrible, and, uh, but we’re taking steps and making plans to improve those as well. So I’m excited about it, it’s a really great opportunity for us to show how we can make something that’s very much needed, housing is very, very needed, uh, across the board where, uh, there’s a shortage of housing at all levels, uh, at all income levels we’re short houses, we’re short housing, and, uh, we’re committed to improve the housing stock all over the city and make better opportunities for people to live here, and afford to live here, so, uh, in addition to that you’ll see the mission of the housing authority is expanding, which I think is really cool. Uh, we’ve, we’ve taken steps to improve the health, and we’ll be announcing some facilities that will improve, have opportunities for you folks to go to, to have check-ups and their, your teeth looked at, uh, which I think is very exciting – we haven’t had that, but you’ll see that soon. You’ll also see, if you haven’t already seen, additional police presence on campus, more police, more security, more cameras, all right, so a whole lot of really cool things are going on, and uh, again – again we’ll just be expanding services in general, so I’m excited about it, and uh, I wanted to come in and say hi, so if you’ve got any questions, I’m sure you have questions and I’d like to answer them.”

Resident: “I want to know why you’re buying more property for parking when you’re going to tear down Riverview. The newspaper states that you’re putting in more parking for Riverview residents, but yet you’re moving Riverview residents out and you’re going to tear down the building.”

(Duggins quickly intervenes in a question intended for Gahan)

Duggins: “Well, none of that’s been released, it said in the paper we had the opportunity to buy an eyesore, and one of the proper uses for that is parking for that area. We do have a parking issue in that entire area, when we have anything that goes on at Riverview Tower we have to move folks out, we have to close those two spots out front, so any work, when we have electricians and all that, and when that eyesore became available to be purchased, which the city had targeted that for a long time, we purchased it, and that is why we’re doing it. We have not made formal – we have just finished with the negotiations for the insurance on Riverview Tower and this is Mark Elrod Tower, there’s a difference in the type of age of people that live on this side and the quality of the units of this apartment complex compared to Riverview Tower, so when we purchased that, that is available, be available, there are environmental issues and a big creek that runs through there, we’ll be tearing the building down there and looking for that, but yes, property, property purchased for the expansion of parking.”

Resident: "Okay, but you are going to tear down Riverview?"

(Both Gahan and Duggins can be heard murmuring amid the muddle; Duggins can be heard condescendingly saying “not tearing down buildings.” The questioner, perhaps fearing a Taser "joke," says “Okay, alright, I just want to get clear in my mind.”)

Gahan: “Okay, what’s the issue with Riverview? Do you know people who live over there? I mean, why are we talking about Riverview?”

Resident: "Because they’re all moving into here – no, it’s not I’m concerned that they’re moving in here, but you’re moving those people … the people from Riverview are being moved out."

Duggins: “No, that’s not true. We haven’t moved anyone out. There are eleven, eleven vacancies here now, and the people at Riverview have first opportunity to come here because we are holding vacancies there because we have an electrical issue, so when we have vacancies here and if they qualify by their age, uh, which there is a different age requirement for living here, then they are welcome to move here just like you were welcome to move here, and that’s what we’re doing – there are 11 vacancies as of last – I looked it up – last Wednesday and we’re trying to fill them, and the folks at Riverview have the opportunity to move over here, and they’ll continue to have the opportunity.”

Resident: "Before other residents within in the city?"

Duggins: “Yes because they’re in public housing, public housing.”

Gahan: “Yeah, I don’t think, I don’t think you have to be worried about anything, uh, that’s going to crowd you, if that’s what your concern is, I mean I don’t think you have to worry about that. We have 1,187 units, which is more than anyone in Clark County, any five counties combined, we have more than anyone, and we’re going to keep – that’s the way it’s going to stay, with more opportunities to live here in New Albany than any other place, but what we won’t put up with is sub-standard housing. It’s not, we’re going to make it better, make improvements, and you know I, I feel great about it, and you all should be too – I think you all should be really thrilled about it, because yeah, at the end of the day, you know, with folks out in Seattle, that, there, they can make you know 150,000 dollars a year, 200,000 dollars and they don’t have a place to live, because houses have gotten too expensive for people to live in! And that’s the way it is. And that’s what we’re going to do …

(Resident interjects, "That’s Seattle, that’s not New Albany.")

… here, we’re going to do everything, everything to make this a better place, but you have to be right now, you’re feeling super, because this is the best that the city has right here."

(garbled question: will you build another high rise?)

Gahan: “I don’t know if it’s going to be a high rise, I mean that’s something for the New Albany Housing director, the board to discuss, but I don’t know if it would be a high rise, because it’s kind of difficult, for, you know, seniors to get up and down a tower – but additional housing, additional housing, additional, uh, housing, absolutely, it may not be a tower, but you know, it’s – you know, right, don’t need to tell you, it’s hard to get up and down.

(Resident whispers, "I know")

Gahan: “So anyway, so I know those things, uh, you know we’ve made some changes and when you make changes you make people a little nervous, and I don’t blame ya! I’m the same way, uh, I can just tell you we have some really solid plans that we’re working on now to improve the residents, the residence halls for everyone, and uh, these things don’t happen overnight, everything we do has to be approved at the state level and at the federal level, it’s not like I can just come in here and Dave come in here or the board come in here and make all these changes, these wholesale changes, it doesn’t work that way. It has to be approved all the way up the line and then back, and it includes lots of layers of bureaucracy that we have to deal with, so you know there’ll be no changes overnight, but I have people say, when’s it going to happen? Well, each box has to be checked. But first thing we had to do when Dave came over here was to make sure he understood the condition of each unit. Hell, it’d been years since people had even walked in and knew exactly what was going on in those units. First thing he did was inspect them all. Every one. Every single one. Dave did that. So now we have an idea of what the condition of each unit is, that’s the starting point, and I have to tell ya, it wasn’t really great news. Some were in pretty rough shape – these aren’t, these are super …

(resident heard scoffing)

… but if you ever had the chance to go see some of the others … right? So I want you to feel good about it, I feel good about it, I feel really great about the future of the New Albany Housing Authority, it has some great leadership there, got a great board, got a great leader in Dave, got committed staff, committed maintenance, and it’s a big part of New Albany, and it’s going to stay that way. Okay? So what other questions do you have, what do you have, what else?"

In which Deaf Gahan encourages public housing residents to be "thrilled" about the indoor grass at the sportsplex he built with their money.

On April 2 a "handful" of Mark Elrod Tower residents (the mayor's words, not ours) witnessed a full-throttle City Hall team in glorious campaign mode. Mayor Gahan, Gauleiter Duggins and BOWhisperer Nash each spoke. In this excerpt, Gahan deftly shifts from a question about sidewalks to "cool stuff."

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Question: Are they putting sidewalks down Grant Line?

Jeff Gahan: “Beechwood all the way down to McDonald Lane. Do you guys think that’s a good idea?”

(some say yes, others no)

“I do, too. We also (audio muddled) down Mt Tabor Road, sidewalks on both sides (audio muddled) like it, but that’s the thing you run into. To me it makes sense to have sidewalks on both sides, but not there. Anyway, so yes, we have five roads plugged up right now, and Warren did that (giggles), and, uh, we’ve got paving on top of it, so there’s a lot of construction in the city, lots of cool stuff going on in downtown New Albany, we have, we are having a resurgence now, a lot of folks are finding interest in New Albany, it lost interest for a while, now they’re kind of coming back. Got some new housing in New Albany, attracting some people, got housing – older housing – redone so it’s attracting as well, so, uh, investing heavily in the parks, yeah, got a lot of folks that are using the parks. If you guys aren’t, you should be, we’ve got a great swimming pool. Love to see you in the pool, love to see you in the parks, uh, we have a sportsplex with a grass surface so you can walk in there year-round, love to see you in there. Make sure you use those facilities, but anyway, we’re thrilled, thrilled that you’re here, thrilled to be here, uh, you got any questions for me?"

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For obvious reasons and maximum humor, these transcriptions will be kept brief.

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

On April 2 a "handful" of Mark Elrod Tower residents (the mayor's words, not ours) witnessed a full-throttle City Hall team in glorious campaign mode. Mayor Gahan, Gauleiter Duggins and BOWhisperer Nash each spoke.

In this excerpt, Gahan attempts to answer a question about Grant Line Road repairs.

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Question: "When is the anticipated finishing date on Grant Line, just to get it open without construction, whether there’s pot holes or not?"

Jeff Gahan: “Everything is supposed to be done by September. I’m talking about we have five roads under construction now, Market Street – we just tore that one up – uh, Grant Line Road, Mt. Tabor Road, Old Vincennes, yeah, and so they’re all supposed to be done by September, on top of the paving we’re going to do. So all this stuff is messy, I mean, change is messy, construction is messy, plans are hard, communicating is the toughest thing we do – the hardest thing we do is talk to people about, hey, this is what we’re trying to do, it’s hard to get out to 38,000 people and say hey, this is what we’re trying to do, yeah I know, this is good stuff, it’s not bad stuff, this is all good stuff, but you know, how many people do we have in this room, a handful? To have this one on one with people and to make ‘em feel good about their hometown, and say hey, they’re not all bad guys, we take money and all the resources we can get, we’re packing it into service, stuffing it into service to make sure it’s working for you. Uh, it’s difficult, it’s difficult, but we do this every day now, so that’s what we try to do, communicate like this, uh, I’m a little – I like this format a little bit better than typing things out on social media, but uh, you know it’s real, it’s real stuff, you guys, we’re a community that has a long history of caring about housing, and do all of you know this guy, who this guy is right here? This is former mayor Warren Nash, and he runs our -- Warren Nash is a superstar, he was the mayor when he was in his 30s, and you guys talk about that tower? Guess who was around, said let’s build that tower and give people a place to go? This guy, and he was way ahead of his time. Way ahead of his time. Nobody else was doing that stuff, Warren was. Warren serves every day at the board of works, every Tuesday the board of works, he deals with things just like this. What about this, what about that – what about this pothole, how about that stop sign, how are we going to build this road, why are you paving that road instead of this one. Hey, I got a sewer bill, can you help me with the sewer bill. That’s what Mr. Nash does every single Tuesday."

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For obvious reasons and maximum humor, these transcriptions will be kept brief. 

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

Is that Barksdale wearing the Groucho mask?

Analysis by Roger, Bluegill (insets) ... and Jeff Gahan (quoted passage).

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The final time the two of us surreptitiously messaged was in May of 2018.

It had been a year since Jeff Gahan's hostile takeover of public housing, and the Democratic Party stalwart, who'd surprised me by being so open in expressing disgruntlement with the NAHA putsch, still seemed militant enough.

But I detected an increasingly weary tone.

The experience was surreal, prompting me to question exactly how angry an insider and lifer must become to risk chatting with a unrepentant heretic like me.

In retrospect Gahan easily endured the initial firestorm after seizing NAHA and deposing Bob Lane. The opposition was kept effectively divided through the usual strong-arming and the intimidation of activist public housing residents. Naturally the media lost interest after a few weeks and went back to Cooking School.

Most of the tiny handful of local Democrats willing to express revulsion during the winter of 2017 had diligently normalized their ideological situation a year later. They'd gone to work rationalizing Gahan's actions as both progressive and preferable to those of Republicans, and when David Duggins "jokingly" threatened to administer a sound tazing to a public housing resident in winter 2018, Democratic wagons were circled even before the tastelessly chosen words left the former redevelopment bag man's mouth.

The local Democratic party is a personal clique, nothing more, nothing less. Keep your mouth shut and stay in, speak freely and be banished. Anyone who tries to claim membership is some matter of integrity or objective best practice seeking is demonstrating the opposite of both.

As a card-carrying cynic, I knew my newfound correspondent's dissent was unlikely to endure, and there'd almost inevitably be a return to the warm embrace of the ruling elite. Conscience is one thing, and locating the buttered side of the bread something else.

When you look at Saturday's team rally photo (above) and see all those people with big jobs and appreciable power in this small pond, you know they owe those jobs and power to Gahan, and to a lesser extent, the Democratic Party itself. In some cases it's a longstanding family tradition.

Flip? Not a chance.

Flipping is what a "superstar" realtor like Warren Nash used to do with houses. Democrats don't flip, lest they awaken to a horse's head atop their satin sheets -- or horseradish floating in their Bud Light Mang-O-Ritas.

Over the years as certain local Democrats have behaved very badly, I’ve been told repeatedly by local party leaders past and present that the party could not/would not intervene as they do not take sides in intra-party conflicts. The building pictured above, though, is the Floyd County Democratic Party’s headquarters, supposedly a fair and impartial hub and resource for all local Democrats— unless they’re running against an incumbent, apparently. And, to be clear, there is another Democrat running for mayor. As has already been pointed out, that Gahan sign is a permanent fixture in the window. Per usual, if you support this sort of thing, you’re cordially invited to STFU when any fairness issue pertaining to you arises.

In the end the party allegiance isn't policy-driven. It's instinctive, no different from the way our new kitten chases a toy mouse without requiring instructions or an explanation. A better analogy might be basic training in the military, the purpose of which is to instill lifetime habits of call, response and obedience just in case the recruit is needed for the next war.

Ruling cliques operate that way, as do cults. In short, the cream of the crop won't be surrendering their power without a fight.

$438,000 in campaign finance pay-to-play contributions? Everyone does it, right? Bullying city employees? They should know it comes with the job. Mt. Tabor Road residents doing their homework? They can move if they're not happy with progress, Gahan-style.

Housing authority residents?

Ah, they're to be patronized and spoken to like children, as Gahan did on April 2 before an audience of seniors at the Mark Elrod Tower. In the following transcription it doesn't sound like Gahan even pauses to breathe, and to resurrect a phrase we used back in the blog's first few years, his babbling is like that of a disembodied pixie on Zoloft.

Ready? Here goes just one small part of a 25-minute presentation.

We have 1,187 units, which is more than anyone in Clark County, any five counties combined, we have more than anyone, and we’re going to keep – that’s the way it’s going to stay, with more opportunities to live here in New Albany than any other place, but what we won’t put up with is sub-standard housing. It’s not, we’re going to make it better, make improvements, and you know I, I feel great about it, and you all should be too – I think you all should be really thrilled about it, because yeah, at the end of the day, you know, with folks out in Seattle, that, there, they can make you know 150,000 dollars a year, 200,000 dollars and they don’t have a place to live, because houses have gotten too expensive for people to live in! And that’s the way it is. And that’s what we’re going to do here, we’re going to do everything, everything to make this a better place, but you have to be right now, you’re feeling super, because this is the best that the city has right here ... So anyway, so I know those things, uh, you know we’ve made some changes and when you make changes you make people a little nervous, and I don’t blame ya! I’m the same way, uh, I can just tell you we have some really solid plans that we’re working on now to improve the residents, the residence halls for everyone, and uh, these things don’t happen overnight, everything we do has to be approved at the state level and at the federal level, it’s not like I can just come in here and Dave come in here or the board come in here and make all these changes, these wholesale changes, it doesn’t work that way. It has to be approved all the way up the line and then back, and it includes lots of layers of bureaucracy that we have to deal with, so you know there’ll be no changes overnight, but I have people say, when’s it going to happen? Well, each box has to be checked. But first thing we had to do when Dave came over here was to make sure he understood the condition of each unit. Hell, it’d been years since people had even walked in and knew exactly what was going on in those units. First thing he did was inspect them all. Every one. Every single one. Dave did that. So now we have an idea of what the condition of each unit is, that’s the starting point, and I have to tell ya, it wasn’t really great news. Some were in pretty rough shape – these aren’t, these are super but if you ever had the chance to go see some of the others … right? So I want you to feel good about it, I feel good about it, I feel really great about the future of the New Albany Housing Authority, it has some great leadership there, got a great board, got a great leader in Dave, got committed staff, committed maintenance, and it’s a big part of New Albany, and it’s going to stay that way. Okay? So what other questions do you have, what do you have, what else?

By the way that's Gahan speaking, not Donald Trump.

Democrats in Louisville and New Albany tend to win a majority of elections regardless of actual policy stances and behavior while in positions of power. Given their dominance, local Democratic voters have had ample opportunity to choose better representation in primaries with a high probability of general election victory. They’ve consistently chosen not to do that, though, with many only inserting themselves in public and quasi-public debates as a matter of challenging challengers, attempting to refute new and different approaches, and, ultimately, in defense of the status quo— all while claiming to strongly desire a change of direction. Here in little ol’ New Albany alone, I’ve listened for more than a decade as any number of even sometimes high ranking Democratic operatives have privately lamented the ignorance, churlishness, dishonesty, etc., etc., of incumbents. And then they put the incumbent’s sign in their yard and publicly praise them during the primary. That’s not policy, folks. That’s personal status protection.

I almost forgot. The Democratic stalwart who was so upset with Gahan's public housing putsch is standing right there, in the above photo, back among the cliquish ruling elite. Back to where we all belong, if belonging to something like that is a certifiable goal in life.

Quite frankly, it saddens me. The Kool-Aid is strong, and they are weak. Maybe some day this will change, and we can institute non-partisan local elections.

#FightForWhite2019
#FireGahan2019