"Chalfant Industries plans to turn two properties on Main Street, as well as a Bank Street lot into condominiums and retail space."

The Green Mouse says Dan Coffey's already pestering Matt Chalfant about using the condo building's ground-floor garage to park cars and raise money for the household electricity bill at Harvest Homecoming in 2019.

I had the good fortune to chat with Matt a few weeks back and hear of his plans for this development. He already owned the Main Street frontage. The redevelopment commission process was honored (perhaps with Duggins gone, we won't have to append "in the breach" any longer to sentences like this), and the "donation" of the remaining property seems a proper incentive. Most importantly, these empty spaces will be going back on the tax rolls.

Let's be clear about something. I dislike the incentives awarded Flaherty and Collins for its Break Wind Lofts and Duggins Flats, and when the mayor first started babbling about "the business of residency" I was looking for an available bucket in which to deposit my opinion of his sloganeering skills.

But filling these dead zones with places for people to live downtown is absolutely imperative. Are you reading and listening, Mark Seabrook?

Perhaps its best not to wait until 2019 to divulge your plan for infill residency.

Since we already screwed up the potential of the Farmers Market site, where a building like Chalfant's eventually would be constructed, other vacant lots nearby need to be maximized -- and as Chalfant has proven again and again, if the idea is good, the arm's-length list of giveaways can be avoided.

C'mon, GOP delegation. What would YOU do? 

New Albany donates land for $3.2 million condo, commercial development, by Danielle Grady (It Happened in Jeffersonville)

Chalfant Industries plans to turn two properties on Main Street, as well as a Bank Street lot into condominiums and retail space.

NEW ALBANY — The city of New Albany and a developer hope to bring new housing options to downtown New Albany by transforming a vacant Bank Street property into condominiums and commercial space.

Chalfant Industries, Inc., owned by Matt Chalfant, has plans to turn the grassy lawn of 32 Bank St. into 13 condominiums starting at around $200,000 with two spaces for businesses on the first floor.

The land, which until one month ago was owned by the city of New Albany, will join two properties Chalfant has owned for two years on Main Street right next to the Bank Street lot, allowing Chalfant’s project to face the busier downtown street.

In a dramatic semi-literate letter to city council, former redevelopment bag man Duggins accepts responsibility for Coffey's harvest cash-coming car park cronyism caper.

At Monday evening's city council meeting during council pontification speaking time, councilman Dan Coffey produced a letter from David Duggins, now interim director of the New Albany Public Housing Demolition Authority, but formerly the redevelopment department's resident sluice operator.

The letter was intended to answer the question of how Coffey could use city-owned property for any reason -- his own enrichment or as a fundraiser of the Knights of Columbus -- without going through the usual channels for such requests.

In short, who gave Coffey permission?

Duggins explained, and before we go any further, just this: Thanks for reading NA Confidential.

---

It was brought to my attention that there was some concern raised, by a single local citizen, as to the use of the lot at the Southern end of Bank Street by the Knights of Columbus during the Harvest Homecoming in 2017. The KofC has used that lot for the past three seasons as a fundraiser for their many charitable events and projects in the New Albany area. When Redevelopment issued and RFP for the property Councilman Dan Coffey called me to ask if the lot would be available for their use again this year, in which I responded yes because no construction would have begun by the HHC, and to plan on using it. I also spoke to Matt Chalfant in passing knowing that he would be a proposal participant, to let him know I had given permission to use the lot to the KofC. He had no issue, and in fact we didn't believe at the time we would have even closed on property. I left Redevelopment as of July 1, 2017, and thought nothing more about this issue. Just like other non-for-profit entities, the City encourages them to use the city lots for additional parking for the highly successful Harvest Homecoming Festival. The KofC has been a driving force for charitable events and items since its beginnings here in New Albany. I am a proud member also, although I do not have the additional time to volunteer as many members do. I hope this clears up any questions or concerns that you may have had.

David C. Duggins Jr.

---

Let's take a few steps back.

On November 21, the News and Tribune's Chris Morris attended the Board of Public Works and Safety meeting.

Roger Baylor asked the board if it had given permission to the Knights of Columbus to sell parking spaces during Harvest Homecoming this year at the grassy lot near Underground Station on Bank Street. Board of Works President Warren Nash said the board did not give permission.

Dan Coffey, with the K of C and a city councilman, said the city’s permission was not needed since the lot was owned by local developer Matt Chalfant. But Chalfant said late Tuesday he did not take ownership of the lot until after the festival.

Coffey said the money raised purchased 55 Thanksgiving baskets this year for those in need.

Naturally, there has been no follow-up from the newspaper, and yet Morris's account is a good place to start. To wit, BOW knew nothing about it, and properly directed the question to the redevelopment commission.

Why?

Since redevelopment controls the State Street parking garage, and because (for example) Develop New Albany must ask redevelopment each year for permission to use the garage to park cars as a fundraiser during Harvest Homecoming, it's logical to assume that any other entity seeking to perform precisely the same function using any other redevelopment-controlled properties would need to follow the exact same procedure.

But consider the rationale of Coffey, a former redevelopment commission member who is fully aware of these expectations, when quizzed by Morris (paraphrased): I didn't need to ask anyone, because the property belongs to Matt Chalfant, not the city.

So, I asked Chalfant about Coffey's use of the lot, and the developer replied by e-mail:

No sorry I'm not familiar with this as I didn't own it during HHC.

Meanwhile, city council member David Barksdale now sits on the redevelopment commission, and he e-mailed this perspective to me:

Truthfully, I can not remember if a K of C request came up at the Redevelopment Commission meeting. It possibly could have. I do know the DNA request for the parking garage did. Shane Gibson would be the best person to ask, since he had already begun as interim director of the department.

Contrast this with a central point made by Duggins:

"Just like other non-for-profit entities, the City encourages them to use the city lots for additional parking for the highly successful Harvest Homecoming Festival."

That's correct -- but as Barksdale duly confirmed, even Develop New Albany and the "highly successful festival" itself aren't exempt from reporting to BOW and Redevelopment each year to obtain official permission for the use of city property, whether the use is for private or charitable gain.

Seriously, shouldn't the reasons for such protocols be obvious?

On-the-record transparency and a paper trail matter for more than one reason, although the biggest reason always suffices: responsibility for liability. When Coffey dismissed concerns of the property's use by referring to Chalfant, the councilman was saying, in effect, that the developer had his back with the necessary insurance.

But don't you think a savvy businessman like Chalfant would recall being involved in this decision, seeing as liability for injury and damages would be on him?

And, don't we still have a question outstanding as to the rumor that in 2017, the K of C paid cash to the owner of a car damaged while parked by Coffey on city property during Harvest Homecoming?

If the K of C were forthcoming with a detailed accounting of the parking operation, we might know -- but on Monday evening, Coffey spurned any such suggestion of transparency on the K of C's part.

Look closely at how Duggins spins Chalfant's place in this narrative.

I also spoke to Matt Chalfant in passing knowing that he would be a proposal participant, to let him know I had given permission to use the lot to the KofC. He had no issue, and in fact we didn't believe at the time we would have even closed on property.

According to Duggins, Chalfant was briefed and had no issues with Coffey's use of the property -- er, why would he care if he didn't yet own it? -- except for these two key words: "in passing."

With Coffey's parking project nowhere to be found in official records, and with Chalfant already stating publicly that he wasn't familiar with any of it, Duggins as yet insisted the developer was told "in passing."

At first glance this sounds as though Duggins might be accusing Chalfant of lying, except there's a way around this (purposeful?) insinuation (paraphrased): I sure did tell Matt, but maybe he didn't hear my passionate stage whispers amid the heavy trucks thundering past us on Main Street.

As of last Friday, December 1, I'd asked both Shane Gibson and Redevelopment Commission secretary Adam Dickey about this matter, and they promptly acknowledged receipt of the question, indicating there would be a reply within ten days. It probably isn't a coincidence that Duggins' letter suddenly materialized just in time for the Monday city council meeting.

As for Coffey, first he said permission wasn't required. Then, his assertions publicly contradicted by Chalfant, a nifty 180-degree turn became necessary (paraphrased): Who's Chalfant? Don't know him, but of course I asked for permission, and Duggins told me it was fine.

Cover from officialdom was needed, and we already know that in spite of the damage to the city's reputation done by Coffey -- he's the junkyard dog perpetually chewing up that nice parlor furniture -- Jeff Gahan's City Hall is forever eager to reimburse Coffey for his myriad shady services.

(You can imagine lawyer Gibson saying to Coffey, "This envelope makes us even, right?" Coffey nods affirmatively, and it's done ... until Coffey produces yet another misplaced invoice stamped Payment Due, queuing the theme music to "Mr. Haney Meets the Gang that Couldn't Keep the Stories Straight.") 

Consequently, the spectacularly over-compensated Duggins coincidentally stepped forward with an account of another in a seemingly endless series of good ol' boy transactions that cannot be proven or verified, just as the city has informed us that if it's an actual paper trail you're looking for, the Bicentennial Commission never even existed, either, because if there are no records, how can anything at all be verified?

We're now gifted with a new official version, which reads like Duggins composed it while in the limo bus with the Bud Light Lime and hired eye candy in route to Keeneland.

Duggins personally empowered Coffey's fundraising; it happened a long time ago; and for chrissakes, who could question the use of public property for such a worthy charity?

This single local citizen, for one. 

Why weren't other worthy charities in the city aware of the opportunity to support their projects and programs?

Is there something unique about the K of C's projects and programs that make it more worthy of consideration than others?

If the city's own favored charity, Develop New Albany, must ask permission each year to use public property during Harvest Homecoming, and to report its financial results back to the city, why shouldn't the K of C, too?

Shouldn't it have been the K of C formally requesting use of the Bank Street parking lot, and not a city councilman?

Facade grants, parking privileges ... how much is the K of C eligible to receive from City Hall that other similar charitable organizations aren't, or should other organizations hire Coffey on a rotating basis to facilitate pieces of the pie?

If Duggins is a proud member of the K of C, isn't it a blatant conflict of interest for him to personally push the organization's fundraising in the absence of customary protocol and procedure?

Or, is rule of law whatever Duggins, Coffey, Gibson and Gahan say it is at any given time?

In closing, don't forget who remains at the pinnacle of this ongoing municipal monetization pyramid scheme.

It's none other than Gahan, who certainly would do something about it if he cared to. Instead, ever more power and money are passing to those friends and associates of Gahan's who have appeared in this article, and who apparently are running amok on city time, which seems largely devoted to crass cronyism.

Just remember all this in 2019, please. We can do so much better than squalid.

Unless the Redevelopment Commission or City Hall granted permission, Dan Coffey illegally parked cars on city property during Harvest Homecoming. Period. Censure, anyone?

Previously:

ASK THE BORED: Maserati, Mussolini, Missoula -- whatever, so the Green Mouse is off to learn more about Dan Coffey's HH parking profits at the infamous grassy knoll.

In his coverage of this morning's Board of Public Works and Safety meeting, the News and Tribune's Chris Morris provides a recap and confirms what Matt Chalfant told me this afternoon.

• Roger Baylor asked the board if it had given permission to the Knights of Columbus to sell parking spaces during Harvest Homecoming this year at the grassy lot near Underground Station on Bank Street. Board of Works President Warren Nash said the board did not give permission.

Dan Coffey, with the K of C and a city councilman, said the city’s permission was not needed since the lot was owned by local developer Matt Chalfant. But Chalfant said late Tuesday he did not take ownership of the lot until after the festival.

Coffey said the money raised purchased 55 Thanksgiving baskets this year for those in need.

So, neither BOW nor Chalfant gave the okay.

It's possible the Redevelopment Commission authorized it, or even the mayor himself, though it's unlikely.

Coffey's wasting no time; he's already skipped ahead to the inevitable excuse: charging drivers to park their cars on city-owned property without permission may have been illegal and all, but it was for a good cause.

Of course, there are numerous good causes around town, probably none of which realized they might be able to raise money of their own by squatting on public property for the purpose of transacting business, when the parking spaces in question might have been deployed to alleviate the concerns of downtown business owners.

We await confirmation from Redevelopment, yea or nay. Even if permission wasn't given, someone might yet cover for Coffey if the councilman's political value to the regime is deemed sufficiently important to conjure a few little white lies.

But make no mistake: 100% charitable donations or not, if Coffey acted to circumvent channels and used city property to generate cash, censure by the city council is the very least we should expect from our presumed pillars.

In this eventuality, Coffey really should be prosecuted -- don't you think?

CONSTRUCTION UPDATE: You know, the new, unsubsidized infill building where the Horseshoe Bar used to be (137 E. Spring).

August 12.

Circa early May. 

Windows and doors have been installed, and bricklaying has started.

Unsubsidized, entrepreneur-driven infill -- in downtown New Albany, without sewer tap-in waivers. Is it only a dream?

May 24: Matt Chalfant's infill construction at 137 E. Spring -- you know, where the Horseshoe Bar used to be.

May 24.

1988.

RENOVATION UPDATE: You know, that building where Walgreen's and SS Kresge used to be (302 Pearl Street).

August 12.

August 12.

The awnings are the most recent addition. Judging from what can be viewed from the street, there'll be at least three commercial suites on the ground level, and (I'm told) four or five apartments upstairs.

July 2.

May 1.

Amazing.

July 1: The quickening pace of exterior transformation at 302 Pearl Street.

May 26: Renovation escalates at the former Walgreen's and Kresge at 302 Pearl.

By the way, if anyone sees a city official, this pedestrian crossing push-button across the street from Matt Chalfan't latest work-in-progress is kaput.

#GahanSafe: All the push-button "walk" signals for crossing Spring at Pearl are defective, and have been for five months to a year.

The quickening pace of exterior transformation at 302 Pearl Street.

A little over a month ago, we glanced in the direction of Matt Chalfant's renovation project at 302 Pearl Street -- the former Walgreen's corner.

Renovation escalates at the former Walgreen's and Kresge at 302 Pearl.

It has been fascinating to watch as the work proceeds, so yesterday I snapped a few "update" photos.

Before and after: The New Albany Tribune building, 303 Scribner Drive.

Matt Chalfant's finished product ...

... and as it appeared just before Chalfant got to work.

Courtesy of the library, here is the architect's rendition from ... the early 1960s? My usual on-line source at the New Albany Historic Preservation Commission can't help us here, as the building lies outside the downtown historic district -- and I was too lazy to visit the Indiana Room and find out more about it.

Sorry, but I must yell: MARKET STREET IS A TWO-WAY STREET IN THIS DRAWING.

We know that HWC Engineering will be occupying one whole floor of the rehabbed building. It's simply amazing what windows can do on both sides of the elevator shaft.

(Update: I'm told that Kids 'R' Great Pediatrics is to be a tenant, too)

Previous satire:

News and Tribune to sell its building and relocate NA HQ to a handy laptop at Quills.

Renovation escalates at the former Walgreen's and Kresge at 302 Pearl.

Matt Chalfant's firm is renovating the building at 302 Pearl Street, and while I've no idea what it will become, we know what it used to be -- rather of a theme this week, given that somewhere around 10 buildings are being renovated within a square blocks downtown.

We turn to the folks at historic preservation:

S. S. Kresge Building
302 Pearl Street
New Albany, IN 47150

Category: Neoclassical

Year Built: 1930

This Neoclassical style building was built in 1930, replacing a three-story 1865 structure that was torn down to make way for this structure.

Seven years after it was built, it got very wet (photos courtesy of the online.com/">Indiana Room at the library).

In the preceding photos, you'll notice the street-level windows on the Market Street side. Now see what's happening in 2016.

Many of us remember the period when Walgreen's operated here. What you may not know is that the national S. S. Kresge five-and-dime chain was the forerunner of what eventually became K-Mart.

We can only imagine how the value of Chalfant's investment would be enhanced, rather than suppressed, by two-way a traffic on Pearl and Market.

Matt Chalfant's infill construction at 137 E. Spring -- you know, where the Horseshoe Bar used to be.

It has quickly progressed from nothing to something.

Unsubsidized, entrepreneur-driven infill -- in downtown New Albany, though without sewer tap-in waivers.  Wow.

This lot has remained in a state of gravel since the Horseshoe Bar decided to fall to the ground one night in the 1990s. Here's a view of the bar in 1988, from the online.com/photo/FFC20873-8C67-405A-B18B-002037089514">Indiana History Room Archives.

I'm told this will become an office, not a bar.

Filling the holes in the streetscape? I'm for it, though expect to hear wails of anguish -- dude, we're losing six parking spaces!

Extremely rare sighting of infill construction WITHOUT massive TIF subsidies.

How is it possible?

And how will Team Gahan claim credit?

But seriously, let's hope Matt Chalfant decided to ask for his cut of the Flaherty Collins Double Secret Sewer Tap-In Waiver pie.

Matt Chalfant and Ian Hall: New apartments, Brooklyn and The Butcher restaurant to open in November.

We marvel at Chalfant's ability to do quality works sans TIF bonding. Still, this corner would have been a ideal spot for a plaque-ready New Directions structure like the ones at 922 Culbertson.

Excuse the snark, follow the link and read all about the apartments and Ian Hall's forthcoming food and drink project.

New Albany developer: New apartments, Brooklyn and The Butcher set to open concurrently, by Caitlin Bowling (Louisville Business First)

It looks like Brooklyn and The Butcher, a new steakhouse concept from restaurant owner Ian Hall, and the 12-apartment complex above the restaurant will open in November.

The apartments and restaurant are located at 148 E. Market St. in New Albany. Developer Matt Chalfant bought the property in fall 2013 for $332,500 with plans to renovate the more than 140-year-old building.


The top floors of the three-story building are being turned into 12 apartments, a mixture of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, Chalfant told Louisville Business First. Rent hasn't been set but likely will be about $750 to $1,200 a month, depending on the size of the apartment.
The apartments include original features from the building, such as brick walls, hardwood floors and tin ceilings, but also newer amenities, including granite countertops and cast-iron bathtubs and showers.

“The best of the old touches with the best of the new touches," Chalfant said.

New Albany's "Person of the Year" for 2014 revealed amid pomp, circumstance and fickle fingers of fate.

The votes have been counted, and now it's time to reveal New Albany's Person of the Year for 2014. This being New Albany, it's a purloined idea:

Person of the Year (formerly Man of the Year) is an annual issue of the United States newsmagazine Time that features and profiles a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse ... has done the most to influence the events of the year."

Finalists for 2014, based on your responses:

• Heroic Non-Incentivized Downtown Developers ... Chalfant, Resch, Carters, among others. They're rehabbing buildings, and the city's industrial park-centric economic development team has almost nothing to do with it.
• Jeff Gahan … during three years on the job, municipal government's daily operations bear the mayor's stamp: Inward, paranoid and hermetic. Agoraphobia never had it this good, but his hologram is the hardest working computer-generated image in show business.
• Our local Democratic Party … but logically speaking, can non-corporeal bodies capture corporeal awards? Quick, someone find a theologian, a ham-fisted censor, Connie Sipes or even Walt Disney. Meanwhile, let your mind's eye conjure an ongoing implosion.

There were creative write-ins, but after all ballots were scrubbed clean of hanging chads, the winners are ...

Heroic Non-Incentivized Downtown Developers ... Chalfant, Resch, Carters, among others. They're rehabbing buildings, and the city's industrial park-centric economic development team has almost nothing to do with it.

Several voters commented that these genuine "doers" comprised the only real choice, and I agree.

Previous winners:

2011: The Sherman Minton Bridge.
2012: Bill Allen and his Dilapidated Main Street Paint Job
2013 (tie): Houndmouth and Quality of Life

News and Tribune to sell its building and relocate NA HQ to a handy laptop at Quills.

The Green Mouse reports what may be old news: The News and Tribune's local crew will relocate very soon to offices within Matt Chalfant's National City Bank rehab on Pearl Street, and Chalfant has purchased the building pictured here (but not including the fork-in-road-cheese sculpture).

Chris Morris is expected to write a glowing review about his years in this featureless building, many of which were spent admiring Ted Heavrin from afar. Morris is not expected to mention how, in the 1990s, the newspaper's then-chain owner (three or four times removed from the current chain owner) demolished the historic Park Christian Church building to build a pole barn, which in turn became obsolete a decade later.

Philistines.

I've never forgiven 'em for that one, if you want to know the truth.

FLASH: Building Commissioner David Brewer has announced that if he cannot demolish the former Tribune building or the old National City/Mutual Trust Bank building, could he at least fulfill the city's quota with CCE by letting the city's preferred demolition contractor demolish the fork-in-road-cheese sculpture?

I almost fell on my knees and cried when I saw THIS.

That's right: They're actual windows, breaking the "golden era," straight-out-of-Ceausescu's-Bucharest brickwork monotony of the former Mutual Trust Bank building.

Bless Matt Chalfant.

Forget mayor.

Make him procurator, immediately.

The online.com/40020cgi/mweb.exe?request=ks">Indiana History Room Archive provides glimpses of what this building has been over the years. First, circa 1931, looking north. The bank is to the right, and was a bit kitschy, even then.

Then, during the 1937 flood. Notice the smaller building in the center, temporarily submerged, and soon to be subsumed.

Roughly 1961. The bank has a new facade, and has stretched to the south in its present-day configuration. The little building is gone. Maybe part of it is still back there, somewhere.

Finally, a cringe-worthy sketch of the late 1960s Soviet bloc bunker chic refit. We all know too well how that turned out.

Blech.

Did I mention the blessed reappearance of windows?

Here are two views of the Bank Street side, where the triumphal arch has been mercifully removed. First, new stairs in the defile between the former bank and Kaiser Tobacco; then, the interior space where Habana Blues will relocate.

As I was on my knees today, sobbing, I noticed a big crowd at Endris Jewelers for the business closing sale.

Trust me. Endris was wall-to-wall all day.

Whether Bob "My One Way Is the Highway and Therefore the Only True Way" Caesar serves another term on the city council, and irrespective of City Hall's ability to implement Jeff Speck's walkability suggestions (the confidence indice is plunging with each day that passes without an unemployed John Rosenbarger), probably this section of Pearl Street will revert to two-way traffic.

If the experience in other cities is reliable, when it does, business will be better for all merchants.

Bob will have missed it, and that's a shame.

Habana Blues scores Horseshoe Foundation loan, and Business First tells all.

Interestingly, the article mentions the former bank building, known to old-timers as Mutual Trust, then more recently, National City. It's the one with the artless brick overlay, to the left (above) and in the Business First photo -- where the Habana Blues "coming soon" banner currently hangs.

However, the BF photo itself is centered on the adjacent Hieb Building, where restoration of the facade has been underway of late. I persist in assuming relocated restaurant will be behind the banner in the former bank, but am I assuming correctly?

Yesterday I ran into developer Matt Chalfant, owner and renovator of present and future Habana Blues locations, and we agreed that it's a power move for Leo Lopez and the business. I thanked Matt for what he's been doing downtown, and he replied that it's just one building at a time, and then the next one.

Exactly.

Where is Habana Blues going?, by Caitlin Bowling (Louisville Business First)

Habana Blues has received a $50,000 revolving loan from the Horseshoe Foundation of Floyd County, which will help the Latin tapas restaurant move to a new location in New Albany.
Habana Blues opened at 148 E. Market St. in New Albany in 2010 but is moving about two blocks away to 320 Pearl St. The building formerly housed a bank but has been empty for at least four years.
In order to make it a restaurant, Habana Blues owner Leo Lopez said workers will have to redo everything. "It's going to be a lot of work."

Finally, a proper demolition: The Triumphant Multinational Banker's Arch is no more.

Whatever Matt Chalfant ultimately does with this, tearing down the arch already qualifies as an improvement.

Rumorama: Chalfant, the New Albany Inn, and back-alley Farmers Market expenditures.

The building in 2006.

The Green Mouse has been told that developer Matt Chalfant will purchase the New Albany Inn building on the corner of Market and Bank, and render the upper two floors into upscale apartments. The same source said that Chalfant wishes for Habana Blues to remain the ground floor restaurant tenant.

In the same streetside conversation, the Green Mouse also was informed of the possibility of an organic grocer occupying the Antique Mall at 128 West Main Street.

Conceding that this is the rumorama, and verification remains elusive, the Chalfant story is of interest owing to recent hijinks with Farmers Market expansion funding. At least one sitting council member says he has no recollection of the inclusion of $275K in the 2014 budget for a Farmers Market buildout.

Now it's 2013. Last week, while at the Board of Public Works meeting, it was revealed that $275,000 toward the Farmers Market work now appears in the 2014 council budget. At-large council member Shirley Baird and city suburban economic development director David Duggins delightfully reprised Astaire and Rogers as Public Works was informed that the usual architectural design suspects would resume work, and the expansion would be finished in time for the market's 2014 opening.

As for how the unmarked bills were earmarked for expenditure, the Green Mouse recently overheard CM Baird commenting that she'd at long last devised a way to evade scrutiny from the council upon which she serves. She may have been joking ... or we may now see why she says hardly anything during the public portion of her job.

The Chalfant rumor places an appropriate spotlight on the future of the city's Farmers Market property. Isn't it true that if even one or two surrounding buildings on three corners are renovated, particularly if renovations are living space, the value of the city's property where the Farmers Market currently operates stands to rise? If so, why surrender potentially valuable infill construction space with a seasonal market, which could be shifted elsewhere as part of a larger forward-moving downtown ... plan ... oh, wait.

I forgot. There is no plan pat from the absence of a plan.

Never mind.