ON THE AVENUES: The late, great Lee Kelly -- by Matt Nash.

Lewie Stevens, Lee Kelly, John Dougherty
and Kent Sterling (1978-1980).

A few years later, minus Stevens.

On Tuesday the NA Confidential blog observed a day of silence in honor of Lee Kelly, who died on Monday. It seemed the best way; for one day, I'd shut up and observe what everyone else was saying about Lee's impact on their lives.

• At WNAS radio, always first and foremost.
• At the News and Tribune.
• At the Indianapolis Star.
• At the website of former NAHS student and Indy sports broadcaster Kent Sterling.
• At WDRB, a tribute written by Rick Bozich.
• At sportswriter Pat Forde's Twitter account.

And also by Matt Nash, with whom I share the periodically odoriferous distinction of being a former New Albany Tribune/News and Tribune columnist. Upon Lee's retirement in May of 2013, Matt recorded his thoughts, and has given me permission to repeat them here.

Matt's essay obviously was not intended as a eulogy, and that's why it's perfect. Lee's retirement proved to be all too short, and that's profoundly sad, but he also made a difference in the lives of hundreds, probably thousands of people. They'll remember Lee for the very same experiences Matt writes about here, and it's the accumulation of these little things that make up the best curtain call of all.

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NASH: The voice of the Bulldogs, by Matthew Nash (May 31, 2013)

When the final school bell rang at New Albany High School on the 2013 term, another legendary teacher left the building for the final time. He had a profound impact on me as a student and one of the few teachers that when I see them out in the community, I want to go up and engage him in conversation.

Next year someone new will come and take over at WNAS radio, but it will not be the same now that Lee Kelly has decided to hang up the microphone.

It is not an exaggeration when I say that I may not have made it through high school without his class and I am a better person for having him as an instructor. I was a kid that had a lot of potential when it came to studies, but I didn’t always apply myself as much as I could. A lot of the classes I took I thought were boring and did not interest me until I discovered radio. Although I did not pursue a career in broadcasting, I feel like that class helped me in many aspects of my life including writing this column every week.

I still remember the first day of class my junior year of high school. I had radio class second period and walking into the “station” back then was a little intimidating. The class was a mix of experienced seniors and the new juniors that all had to audition the year earlier in order to get in. As you walked into the suite of rooms that held the offices, transmitter, television production, editing and television and radio studios, you no longer felt like you were in the same building as the other 1,200 or so students in high school. You were part of something special.

At the top of every hour you were required to say what is called the “station identification.” Everyone has heard it a million times; it’s just so common we don’t seem to notice anymore. The “station identification” consist of the call letters and the city of license. The FCC requires all broadcast stations, television and radio to announce this as close to the top of every hour as possible. Mr. Kelly’s first job was to teach all new students how to pronounce it properly. Nearly everyone on first try would say dubya N-A-S when the correct way to say it is “double U” N-A-S.

Mr. Kelly helped with my interest in politics as part of our radio/television class. In conjunction with Mr. Dusch’s government class, we invited candidates to come and tape statements to play on the local cable station. It is still a huge part of local elections. I was a big part of that in my two years in his class and I later returned to tape my own segment when I ran for county council several years back. That was in the same studio that I used when I was a student with much of the same equipment. Construction had begun on the new studio and Mr. Kelly took the time to take me to the studio that was being built that they would move into the following year.

Back then Mr. Kelly planned and chaperoned a spring break field trip to New York City every couple of years. Looking back it must have taken a lot of guts to take a bus load of 17- and 18-year-olds to The Big Apple like that. I was part of the group back in 1987 and I still have many fond memories. Besides seeing the usual sights we saw two Broadway plays, “A Chorus Line” was in the middle of its record run and Neil Simon’s “Broadway Bound” — the third part of his semi-autobiographical trilogy staring Linda Lavin and Jonathon Silverman. We also caught a glimpse of Morgan Fairchild during a tour of the NBC building “Thirty Rock.”

We were able to see how a television show was produced when we got up early one day and went and saw “The CBS Morning Program.” Back then Mariette Hartley was the host and Mark McEwen was the weatherman. A pre “Full House” Bob Saget had a comedy segment in that program and warmed up the audience before the show. Recognizing that everyone was wearing our station logo sweatshirts he started a conversation with members of our group. He even joked with one of our other chaperones about how unfortunate it was to be a teacher with a name that was phonetically the same as a feminine hygiene product.

When I was in grade school we would listen for our favorite song on WNAS and even called the request line to hear it. We would wake up in the winter when there was snow on the ground to hear Mr. Kelly tell us whether or not school was in session during his “Coffee with Kelly” morning broadcast. For years before high school I would listen to him announce basketball on 88.1 and still do to this day especially during tournament time. Following Bulldog football and basketball will not be the same now that Lee Kelly has retired.

The moniker “Voice of the Bulldogs” was given to the radio station many years ago. I believe that it should be permanently retired along with Mr. Kelly as a tribute to his years of service to the radio station, the school and to our community.

I wish Mr. Kelly all the best during his much deserved retirement. With his voice I am sure he could have had any job he wanted in broadcasting and made as much money as he needed. He chose to teach high school and was able to touch thousands of lives over his 40 years at WNAS New Albany. I am a better person for having him as a teacher and proud to call him a friend.

---

Recent columns:

May 21: ON THE AVENUES: Godlessness in defense of heathens, infidels, idolaters, atheists, non-theists, irreligious people, agnostics, skeptics, heretics and apostates.

May 14: ON THE AVENUES: Food is my friend, but please, I'm no foodie.

May 7: ON THE AVENUES: COVID tolls for thee -- whatever, so hurry and get your ass back into this seat.

April 30: ON THE AVENUES: A week that was wooden like Pinocchio and dry as an unused water park or an unfilled glass.

ON THE AVENUES: The cold hard truth, or just plain Slick Jeffie-inflicted consequences.

Every time I hear the words “hard truth,” I reach for my song list.

George Jones knew quite well of which he sang.

You don't know who I am
But I know all about you
I've come to talk to you tonight
About the things I've seen you do

I've come to set the record straight
I've come to shine the light on you
Let me introduce myself
I'm the cold hard truth

The only difference? In New Albany the self-lubricating clique knows good and well who we (the principled resistance) are, which makes for constant amusement as the enriched Gahanist Leading Element denies any and all acts of reading -- in the larger sense, we must take them at their word -- all the while snarling while issuing edicts and threats based on the words they didn’t see.

It’s like magic, the flawless intuition of C-minus students, and speaking of cold hard truth, here’s an admirably succinct pre-election summary of the incumbent mayor’s record from NA Confidential’s co-editor, Jeff Gillenwater.

Jeff Gahan, in conjunction with concurrent city councils, has doubled the city’s budget in eight years, saddled us with tens of millions of (often long term) debt, paid out millions in no-bid contracts to campaign donors, and refused to release and/or demand the release of project related financials. To make matters worse, the mayor regularly misleads and lies about it - campaigning on having “balanced” the budget (as legally required of every mayor), getting us out of debt (sewer debt, per former Mayor England’s plan that Gahan voted against), touting a fair to middling credit rating as top notch, and trying to take credit for the investment of others that he had nothing to do with. Any Democrat running for office who is not addressing those issues head on, out loud has no business squawking about “excessive” spending from others.

Specifically, excessive spending by Floyd County government, which for municipal Democrats serves as a convenient catch-all bogeyman of Godzilla-like dimension. Meanwhile the actual cold hard truthfulness of the charge would fit comfortably in a discarded peanut shell on the floor of the chain steakhouses they adore.

---

As noted previously at NA Confidential, it was instructive last weekend when years of bunker-bound non-engagement gave away to bile and rancor when a handful of Tricky Dickey's robotically programmed Democratic Party candidates suddenly veered from their canned scripts and began improvising out there on the digital hustings.

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: Syndicates, elections and big fun with pots and kettles.

Surely Squire Adam worried that one of them might actually slip up and be truthful, and sure enough a fair measure of testy bile oozed through the cordon. It appears the Democrats genuinely do picture themselves besieged in the sacred Alamo, with barbarian enemies steadily closing in, endangering Jeff Gahan's only true masterpiece during a career of consummate time-serving mediocrity: Slick Jeffie's Astroglide-Driven Pay-to-Play Political Patronage Viagra Superstore.

It was exciting, but we knew it couldn't last. Among them was at-large city council candidate Sam Charbonneau, and I must commend Sam (and later Matt Nash) for venturing outside the Democratic Party’s traditional cordon of non-transparency.

No solutions? I'll shrug as you search NA Confidential’s 15-year-long back story for terms like Strong Towns, Jeff Speck, Institute for Local Self Reliance and AMIBA, and watch the solutions coming down like the rain we had been getting this year prior to the month of August.

The hard truth; the cold hard truth ... well, Sam’s not the only one trying to carry this particular tune across the street without being struck by drivers speeding unchecked through New Albany’s increasingly hazardous streets.

There is a city we both know
I think you know the one I mean
She gave her heart and soul to you
You gave her only broken dreams

You say you’re not the one to blame
For all the heartaches she's been though
I say you're nothing but a liar
And I'm the cold hard truth

---

The second instance of a Democratic Party candidate dipping his toes ever so carefully into the churning water of genuine, open dialogue -- the very act of which reminded me of the days after the Iron Curtain disappeared, when all at once those stodgy brown-suited bureaucrats started ducking the microphones thrust at them by the now extinct breed known as “journalists” -- came when incumbent 5th district councilman Nash made a surprise comment on a Facebook post.

Matt Nash
I've seen prominent Republicans, even office holders with a (Dan) Coffey sign in their yard

Roger A. Baylor
Pray tell ...

MN
I just stated an actual fact, every other comment on here is speculation

Tim Deatrick
Name them if it is fact Nash come on back it up

MN
I'm not your green mouse, do a little detective work yourself. I'm out knocking doors in my district...and anyway my "handler" advised against it

RB
As a New Albanian politician, you're obviously under no obligation to back up your facts with evidence, as when you voted for the Reisz Mahal without uttering a single word aloud apart from "aye." It does seem a tad passive-aggressive to advertise your facts here, then duck and cover, but I'm glad you violated Adam's universal gag order against public discourse. Enough pin pricks and at some point THAT prick will deflate. Then again I always forget: no matter the topic or the logic, Republicans are worse, which justifies any political patronage excess (especially in hiring) or violation of common decency on the part of pretend Democrats. Is it lunchtime yet?

MN
Pretty disingenuous of you to say that since we had a couple hour conversation on the matter the night before the vote. As for proof of the only actual facts in this thread, I have reason for not announcing publicly, which will be clear if you figure out who it is.

RB
That's fine, but please don't make the mistake of thinking a barroom conversation with someone, (explicitly) off the record and the night prior to an important vote, satisfies your responsibility to explain your reasoning. Every other council member did, PUBLICLY. You successfully wrote a column for years; I commend this because I know how hard that is, but consequently it's also a higher standard for you as public official and I believe you're too smart not to know this.

Frustrated by the tone, Nick Vaughn sensibly followed up with some very good questions.

Instead of spreading unsubstantiated rumors, I’d prefer if our elected officials and candidates would answer some questions:

1. What do you plan to do/what should the city do when/if the Sherman Minton Bridge closes (at least partially)? How will you help mitigate the economic impact?

2. Do you support public/affordable housing? What will you do to ensure people who want to live in New Albany are able to?

3. What are your budgeting priorities? Rank your top 4 budget priorities in order.

4. How do you plan to be accessible to those who elected you (or didn’t)? How will you respond to constituent questions and concerns?

5. Council members and candidates: how will you use your power as a co-equal branch of local government to curb executive overreach? Do you support council approval for mayoral appointments (where law allows)?

Anyone who wishes to address these questions will be given an hour on my podcast.

At this point Sam returned to characterize these perfectly reasonable questions as being just the sort of vile trap a nasty Republican like Vaughn might set, and the train left the rails, but Ozzy Ozbourne isn’t No Show Jones, is he?

You think that you're a real mayor
But you're nothing but a fool
The way you run away from us
The way you try to play it cool

I'm gonna say this just one time
Time is running out on you
You best remember me my friend
I am the cold hard truth

As an atheist I can't swear to God, but I can swear to Pete Townshend's songwriting oeuvre or the sheer olfactory glory of Pilsner Urquell that I do not personally dislike Sam, Matt or any of the other council candidates in this year's election cycle.

This said, I cannot support Democrats who support Gahan and contribute to the veneer king's absurd cult of personality.

Can New Albany withstand another four years of Gahan's cold hard self-deification?

Where do we start? Just in the past year we've seen TIF lotteries, the Reisz Mahal luxury city hall fix, the death of a skateboarder on uncalmed city streets, a planned sixty-mile recreational trail to nowhere, David Duggins' piece-by-piece dismantlement of Riverview Tower, the Colonial Manor public relations catastrophe -- and Gahan leapfrogging $500,000 in career earnings from pay-to-play political patronage.

NA Confidential has documented Gahan's bullying of a street department worker and a policeman, abetted by the News and Tribune abdication of its responsibility to cover cold hard news in New Albany, as opposed to the fluff human interest stories now choking the newsprint.

There have been Kool-Aid blackouts and loaded Rice Krispies Treats freakouts, and all the while the insider Democrats keep doubling down on Dear Leader -- and why not? They're at the apex of a cliquish and privileged pyramid, looking down their noses at the people they're supposed to be serving, but they have been too busy implementing Gahan's luxury enhancement program to give a damn.

And speaking of the breathtakingly unethical back-alley fixes that led to the Reisz Mahal malarkey, does anyone know how much a breach of contract settlement might save us in the long run?

Because if Team Seabrook wins, perhaps the unnecessary city hall can be cancelled. This would be the strongest possible message a New Municipal Order might send to inform the community that the adults at long last are back in the saddle.

You best remember me my friend
I am the cold hard truth

---

Recent columns:

September 26: ON THE AVENUES: Socialists for Seabrook, because we desperately need a new beginning in New Albany.

September 12: ON THE AVENUES: There's no business like no business, and it's none of your business (2016).

September 5: ON THE AVENUES: Welcome to traditional Danish lunch in Copenhagen, September 1989.

August 29: ON THE AVENUES: "Pagan Life," a weekly column devoted to heathens, infidels, idolaters, atheists, non-theists, irreligious people, agnostics, skeptics, heretics and apostates.

ON THE AVENUES: Democrats should judge city council incumbents in districts 2, 3, 4 and 5 by their regressive deeds, not their progressive words.

ON THE AVENUES: Democrats should judge city council incumbents in districts 2, 3, 4 and 5 by their regressive deeds, not their progressive words.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

Ever since Dan Coffey’s how-did-it-take-so-damned-long-anyway defection from the Democratic Party in January of 2016, New Albany’s nine-member city council has been populated by just four presumed Democrats.

• District 2: Bob Caesar (now in his twelfth year)
• District 3: Greg Phipps (eighth year)
• District 4: Pat McLaughlin (twelfth year)
• District 5: Matt Nash (fourth year)

The scuffed fingernails of this motley 44th percentile have managed to cling to an ever-shrinking semblance of significance for a variety of reasons, absolutely none of which attest to any specific distinction or merit as public servants.

Both literally and figuratively, it hasn’t been about them at all. The gradual evolution of mayoral authority, as capable of governing New Albany by authoritarian decree apart from direct council oversight, has allowed the city’s diminished Democrats to hang on to what’s left of their power.

With the municipal populace forever determined to ignore local matters in favor of arguing endlessly over national issues, apathy and inertia play their roles, too.

It also took a while for the three council Republicans and two Independents to come together (occasionally) for a semblance of common cause against the imperial excesses of Jeff Gahan’s reign.

One example: In hindsight, Al Knable probably regrets being conciliatory at the beginning of his council career in 2016, seeing as conniving and opportunistic Democrats lost no time in paying back Knable for his equanimity by savagely attacking his character over the contrived and nonsensical 9-1-1 phone call episode.

Unfortunately the Republican at-large troika hasn’t always been able to maintain a unified front. Their biggest head-slapping disgrace in recent memory remains David “I'm Passionate for Masonry” Barksdale, who resembled a slobbering puppy angling for tasty kibbles and bits during the course of gulping Dear Leader’s cynical pleasantries, as necessary to procure approval for the cherished Democratic Party goal of an election-ready Reisz Mahal luxury city hall boondoggle.

Then earlier this month, a befuddled David AeberSOLD out his compatriot Knable by bizarrely rolling over on behalf of an unctuous Caesar in the election for 2019 council vice-president.

With friends like those, who even needs Adam “Tricky” Dickey as an enemy?

---

The enduringly fascinating aspect of our bedraggled Democratic council quartet is the beige patina of its blandness. The best historic parallel is those jowly Politburo geriatrics propped atop Lenin’s Mausoleum during Soviet May Day parades of old; colorless and featureless functionaries without the first original thought of their own, committed only to agreeing in lock step with the First Secretary.

By the end of 2019, New Albany’s four remaining Democratic council critters will have 36 years of combined service – and for what ultimate purpose? They’re faded pawns waiting to be pushed around the chess board, and veritable rubber stamps in desperate need of re-inking. They seem far older than they really are, with a collective demeanor suggesting mute charred hulk burnout.

That’s no surprise, given that their chief duty these past eight years has been to purge their souls of any damning stain of cogitation and meekly obey whatever orders Gahan and Dickey have given them as obsequious toady foot soldiers digging trenches to maintain Gahan’s sole achievement as mayor: a cash-laden political patronage machine constructed to enable VIP treatment for donors and vested interests, boasting pay-to-play as the order of the day, and with the lion’s share of the proceeds going to the mayor himself.

Witnessing these four remaining council Democrats in (re)action at last Thursday’s meeting, and knowing that all of them will trudge forward to re-enlist for four more senseless, torpid years of tuck-pointing Gahan’s prophylactic wall against fresh thinking and new ideas, I couldn’t help noticing their utter political exhaustion.

They’re bored, lethargic and absent anything resembling excitement, save for the sporadic flaring of pet fetishes. As such, Caesar briefly showed a heightened pulse when allowed to gush like a hormonal crush-afflicted schoolboy over One Southern Indiana’s yearly panhandling appointment to tout its oligarch masturbation outreach.

Similarly, Phipps became momentarily lucid on the topic of resuscitating (yet again) his otherwise toothless Human Rights Commission; those of us with long memories winced while recalling the time just a year ago when he dramatically “washed” his hands of the HRC. This exceedingly rare moment of Phippsian candor evidently has been delightfully airbrushed from the narrative, Dickey having issued contradictory marching orders numerous times since then.

In customary fashion McLaughlin said almost nothing the entire evening, leaving the accidental Democratic council yes-man Nash to shock the peanut gallery by erupting at freshly installed council president Scott Blair’s appointment of civilian Scott Whalen to the Board of Zoning Appeals in place of Stephen Pacciano, whose term had expired.

It is the prerogative of the council president to reappoint or replace board members, which the remaining eight councilmen subsequently affirmed. It later emerged that Pacciano had wanted another term, with Blair preferring his own man, although characteristically secretive Nash didn’t clearly explain any of this during the course of his weirdly emotional and garbled complaint.

Nash’s outburst came as a surprise to veteran council watchers, who’ve grown accustomed to the passing of entire seasons between instances of Nash saying anything at all. Last summer when it came time for the final Reisz Mahal vote, Nash remained impassive and unquestioning through a lengthy and detailed discussion without uttering a peep apart from the single syllable “aye” when called upon by Gahan and Dickey to vote in favor of the most misguided expenditure of public funds I’ve witnessed since my council viewing began in 2004.

The 5th council district plainly deserves better than this.

As much as I like Nash personally, the sad fact is that politically, he is a pliable tool of the Democratic Party’s fix-is-in machine, a jalopy lubricated for decades on end by Warren Nash, the councilman’s father.

In 2015 Matt Nash became the nominee for 5th district councilman by predetermined precinct committee decision when Dustin Collins became ill, and later when down on his luck in 2018 after the failure of his business venture, he abruptly and miraculously landed a job with the housing authority, itself the victim of a hostile annexation by Gahan the year before – something Nash has yet to publicly reference even once as a councilman.

If that’s not nepotism and political bondage according to the gnarly Tammany Hall model, American history books might have to be rewritten.

For Nash to be angry about Pacciano’s treatment might well have been exemplary and praiseworthy – but exactly where has Nash’s outrage been hibernating during his council term as Gahan and Dickey have run roughshod over basic human decency, bullying, bribing and bartering without any semblance of empathy or conscience?

Had Nash murmured even once about the immoral morass and selective ethics of his Democratic Party overlords, it might be different for me – but wait, I forget; he has the same tired excuse as every other Democrat in town, namely that Republicans are always worse.

Spare me.

---

Meanwhile here in the 3rd, the PhippsBot becomes even further estranged from his self-described powers of cool, analytical detachment, with these skills inevitably being spotted solely as knee-jerk responses to Republican initiatives, and never in gauging the various special interest power plays advanced by his own party.

Last Thursday Phipps haltingly described the inadequacy of the digital speed control installations on Spring Street, and he’s right, but apparently it has not occurred to Phipps that his own cowering and complicit complacency during the run-up to two-way street reversion crucially enabled Gahan to assign HWC Engineering the task of unceremoniously junking the vast majority of Speck-recommended precepts as intended to REDESIGN these same streets to lessen vehicular speeds.

And this is the ultimate truth: unalloyed enablement.

Each of these four Democrats – Caesar, Phipps, McLaughlin and Nash – are pleasant enough company for a beer (well, maybe three of them, excepting the former jeweler, who still has those Bicentennial Commission finances safely hidden), but the political roles they’ve agreed to play are exuberantly passive.

They’re to emit gurgling sounds of rote acceptance on cue to whatever degraded and dictatorial whims Gahan and Dickey decree – just as Shane Gibson’s daily insider job is to find legal precepts capable of being artfully molded to accommodate a mayor and party chairman so crooked that it takes two valets each morning to help them screw on their pants.

Enablement and passivity, silence and culpability.

These are the de facto re-election “platforms” of New Albany’s four incumbent Democratic council representatives Caesar, Phipps, McLaughlin and Nash. That’s 36 years of … what, exactly?

As you might expect, Gahan and Dickey are working hard to assure there’ll be no primary opposition to incumbent council candidacies in 2019. That’s highly ironic, given that during mid-term elections last November numerous residents of the council districts represented by Caesar, Phipps, McLaughlin and Nash loudly declared themselves to be progressive, and publicly supported folks like Liz Watson, Dan Canon and Anna Murray.

If we are to assess the situation today, referencing the record of 36 combined years of actual city council seat-warming rather than their imagined stances pertaining to substantive policy, the incumbents in districts 2, 3, 4 and 5 are nowhere near as “progressive” as their 2019 Republican challengers – and Phipps’ underachieving sinecure is as yet uncontested, at least until I get my Independent petition started.

It’s very sad for the Democratic Party, though not for residents of those districts, who have high-quality Republicans ready and waiting for November. Personally, I find it hard to fathom that seemingly none of Watson’s, Canon’s and Murray’s purportedly progressive enthusiasts living in these precincts have grasped that when it comes to deeds and not words, their own Democratic council representatives are the ones who are completely out of sync.

There’s still time. Shouldn’t the local Democratic Party be walking the walk and not just talking the talk?

---

Recent columns:

January 15: ON THE AVENUES REWOUND: Jeff Gahan and Adam Dickey are Trumping the Donald when it comes to breathtaking moral turpitude. Have they no shame?

January 8: ON THE AVENUES: In the 3rd district, that "stepping aside" time finally has arrived.

January 1: ON THE AVENUES: As a new year dawns, I’m existentially yours.

December 29: ON THE AVENUES: Another year older and deeper in debt, so let's doo-doo it all over again.

A purely sadistic week in New Gahania, and even more tales from Corruption Junction.

Welcome to the increasingly rocky reign of Crooked Jeffrey.

Even Donald Trump had a better week than our increasingly out of touch, cash-obsessed and graft-ridden Ceausescu fetishist. I hear Joseph Kabila is a free agent; maybe with a bit of added TIF funding, Gahan can outbid LeBron's resurgent Lakers and put the idle Congolese strongman in charge of Fairview Cemetery.

Take it away, Mr. Gillenwater.

More tales from Corruption Junction. As Roger previously noted about NA’s blatant nepotism as normalcy, “If you believe that Warren Nash on the Human Rights Commission somehow differs from Scott Pruitt in charge of the EPA, please drop me a line. You'll be entered into a drawing, and the lucky winner gets to serve with Gahan's brother-in-law on the City-County Building Authority, or with the mayor's son-in-law on Flood Control, or with his daughters at their summer jobs at the Aquatic Center -- or maybe I'm thinking about former redevelopment director Duggins' sister married to consultant Wheatley who gets all the posh the redevelopment gigs, or the HWC Engineering connection with Dugout ...” Occasionally, you might be tempted to think they’ve bottomed out, that it can’t get any worse. You’d be wrong, not least because you’re likely forgetting the pride expressed by the Gahan administration in finding novel ways of circumventing public bidding laws so that donors are rewarded with lucrative city contracts much more directly. If you support or profit from this ongoing Democratic boondoggle here at home, you’re cordially invited to STFU about Trump and corruption elsewhere.

Yes, Dear Leader is your cross to bear, local Democrats. Even by Jeff Gahan's subterranean standards of casual fraudulence and wagon-circling paranoia, it was a memorable week, one filled to the brim with reasons to #FireGahan2019.

On Monday, a skateboarder was killed by a driver on Spring Street. Predictably the driver won't be charged, and City Hall's first and only reaction has been to loudly deny responsibility for its own high-speed, pass-through street grid, followed immediately by the pitter-patter of tiny bureaucratic feet scampering into the safety of the down-low bunker.

After dragging his feet for years, and lately feeling the heat from local activists who look to Jeffersonville's Republican mayor Mike Moore as an area leader in fairness, a petulant Gahan finally got around to making his appointments to New Albany's moribund Human Rights Commission, which Gahan's crack team of bootlickers previously had engineered to be impotent-by-design.

Surveying a diverse rainbow-accented landscape, Gahan predictably opted for two old, straight, white males with the requisite ironclad DemoDisneyDixiecratic Party credentials: Warren Nash and Cliff Staten. They'll be expected to maintain control, because a truly autonomous Human Rights Commission would be working overtime just investigating Team Gahan.

Gahan's hostile takeover of the New Albany Housing Authority came back to bite the colonial overlord, as the mayor's handpicked team of clueless but servile lackeys heaved, flailed and looked like a motley crew of rejects at the Keystone Kops audition in reaction to the failure of the electrical system at Riverview Towers. The community's eyebrows arched as Gahan's dimmer-than-ever bulbs, previously billed as managerial geniuses, frantically blamed others for their own failure to be pro-active.

Speaking of the housing authority, sitting councilman Matt Nash, son of Warren the Party Fixer, whose sworn duty as an elected official is to scrutinize matters precisely like the mayor's NAHA annexation, has accepted a paying job there, and now answers to grape-stuffed satrap David Duggins, whom the councilman should be pursuing for gross incompetence. Failed Tom Hagen wannabe Shane Gibson has merely waved his arms and dismissed the obvious conflict of interest.

And, the grandiosely titled Mt. Tabor Road Restoration and Pedestrian Safety Project -- known colloquially as Gahan's Folly -- hit the rocks yet again as residents began firing back in court over the issue of eminent domain. Pliable lickspittles were trotted out to speak indecipherable platitudes, and Gahan remained shielded from view, suckling a Bud Light Lime and calculating campaign finance proceeds.

After all, that's why he's here, right?

Ooh, ooh, that smell: 5th district councilman Matt Nash, a key supporter of Jeff Gahan's colonial agenda, now is employed by the New Albany Housing Authority -- the mayor's personal colonial realm.

New Albany’s 5th district councilman Matt Nash, son of longtime Democratic power broker, current Board of Works gatekeeper and ineffectual former mayor Warren Nash, has taken a job in maintenance at the New Albany Housing Authority.

Matt was pictured in Thursday’s News and Tribune helping Riverview Towers residents (and at least one cat) return to their homes after their displacement in the wake of the recent crisis of David Duggins’ ongoing gross managerial incompetence.

The new job at NAHA comes directly on the heels of the $10 million Reisz Mahal city hall relocation project, approved in council by a 5-4 margin, and with Matt's crucial “aye” vote coming without a single word of attributable public explanation.

In fact, Matt has been a reliably affirmative vote for Mayor Jeff Gahan; although statistics aren’t readily available, he probably has voted with mayor and party in excess of 90% of the time since taking office in 2016 -- and it's hard to blame this lopsidedness on the perfidy of county government.

In Matt's defense, it’s also impossible to know how often he has been subjected to threats and bullying from vile party chairman Adam Dickey, or the extent to which these pressures, and the local party’s enduring small-pond dysfunction, have contributed to this muddled situation.

(You want my opinion? Local mirror-gazing Democratic fixers like Dickey, Gahan and the elder Nash never have given a solitary damn about Matt as a person, only how he might be utilized in pursuit of their self-aggrandizement.)

In 2015, when 5th district Democratic primary winner Dustin Collins was forced to withdraw from the race for reasons of health, Matt was chosen as replacement by the same Democratic Party precinct apparatus overseen for decades by his father.

The Green Mouse believes Matt inquired about the NAHA job or was pointed in this direction earlier in 2018, prior to the city hall relocation fix. It isn’t possible to know precisely whether there is any connection between the timing of the position and Matt’s vote on the Reisz boondoggle.

But it looks really awful, any way you cut it. Since time began, New Albany has been one humongous, underachieving swamp of constantly revolving quid pro quos.

Naturally, we can expect Shane Gibson to ooze forward in a pool of cash-scented K-Y Jelly, arrogantly assuring us there’s nothing at all unethical, or suggestive of a conflict of interest, about just another councilman getting a federal government job.

Except Matt hardly is just another councilman, and it remains that every last decision-maker at the New Albany Housing Authority was put into place not by a clueless bureaucrat in Washington DC, but by toadies and bootlickers inserted into NAHA by Jeff Gahan himself, as charged with performing politically-motivated tasks precisely like this one.

Lest we forget, last year the housing authority was abruptly and violently annexed by Gahan, and its governing board hurriedly packed with drooling sycophants intimately connected to the Democratic Party’s political patronage machine.

Overnight, NAHA became Gahan’s and the Democratic Party’s new toy, and a way of providing bored C-minus students with a delightful local social engineering experiment to call their very own.

Throughout this process, Matt the councilman remained resolutely (and regrettably) silent. He had nothing to say when Gahan’s right-hand hatchet man, Duggins, was hired as NAHA director at full pay without any experience whatever, replacing the summarily axed Bob Lane, quickly proving to be so flagrantly unqualified for the job that Tony Toran had to be hastily appointed as deputy director,

By the way, Toran is a key Democratic Party hack from way, way back.

These days the New Albany Housing Authority functions as a colonial possession of a corrupted political party and its megalomaniacal mayor, and now a sitting councilman works for the degraded satrap -- to be sure, in an ordinary low-level job located nowhere near management level, one not to compared with the palm fronds, sweet grapes and vestal virgins handed on a silver platter to the fantastically overmatched Duggins.

To be blunt, it’s Matt’s solemn duty as councilman to scrutinize matters like Duggins’ actions at NAHA; he hasn’t done enough of it, but now Duggins is Matt’s boss. How is this NOT a conflict of interest?

I’m addressing you personally, Matt.

We're not close friends, but we're friends nonetheless. I like you and I’ve struggled with writing about this, but you’re too damned smart not to grasp the implications of what you're doing. You’re neither an unwitting dupe nor an unfortunate bystander, and yes, you're complicit in the perpetual nastiness of these self-appointed pillars of society, although as a mitigating factor, we all can see the way they've never refrained from using you for their own petty political ends.

Whatever the background and intent, you’re in an ethically untenable political position, and one of these two paid positions needs to be terminated. Either stop being an NAHA employee, or leave the city council seat.

There isn't much alternative from an ethical standpoint. Whatever your choice, integrity genuinely does matter, even when you're the only one in the club embracing it.

Your decision to shed one of these two positions will be the single most ethical act to occur on the part of a Democrat during seven years of increasingly narcissistic Gahanism, something to be approvingly recalled in the years to come, and pleasingly contrasted with the toxic legacy of forever posturing second-raters like Dickey and Duggins ... and Warren, who quite plainly is a schlub even if he's your father.

Best of all, this can be a chance to get your life back from their insipid clutches, and to do so on your own terms. They're killing you inside, aren't they? Maybe it's time they picked on someone else for a while. 

I encourage you to consider it.

The newspaper remembers Karem's Meats: "Closed after 53 years, remembered for selection, service."

Previously noted here.

Consider it newspaper's "official" obit.

As the photo above illustrates, there are places where Karem's still is "open"; the ghost sign at the old location remained affixed throughout the period of Plaza Drive operation, and persists to the present day even though the building was razed.

Weird, though quintessentially New Albanian.

Karem's Meats, closed after 53 years, remembered for selection, service, by Danielle Grady (News and Tribune)

NEW ALBANY — Almost one year after a change in ownership and seventh months after switching locations, Karem’s Meats in New Albany closed last week after 53 years in business, dismaying generations of locals who visited the meat market for its fresh selection and customer service.

“…We just weren’t making projections,” said Matt Nash, who bought Karem’s Meats from Greg Karem last March. “The move hurt us more than we expected it to.”

Nash, who is also a New Albany city councilman, had grown up around Karem’s and thought purchasing the business was a “good opportunity.” But after a new company purchased Karem’s strip center to raze it, Nash moved the meat market from its longtime State Street location to a building three miles away along Plaza Drive. Many customers didn’t follow him despite the addition of a deli. By January, Nash was no longer able to pay his bills, and felt that he couldn’t keep the business open, especially while supporting a young family.

Greg Karem, who sold Karem’s after five to six years of serving as caretaker to his wife, said he was disappointed that the shop had closed, but hopes Nash “lands on his feet.”

Sadly, Karem's Meats has closed its doors.

With 225 shares on Facebook since the 19th of February, this will come as old news to many of you, but note that Karem's Meats has closed.

AFTER 53 YEARS OF SERVING NEW ALBANY, KAREM’S MEATS REGRETS THAT THEY MUST CLOSE THEIR DOORS. I WOULD LIKE TO THANK EVERYONE THAT HAS BEEN A PART OF KAREM’S MEATS SINCE THEY OPENED IN 1965. KAREM’S HAS ENJOYED BEING A PART OF THIS COMMUNITY AND APPRECIATE THE LOYALTY FROM THE CUSTOMERS THAT HAVE PATRONIZED OUR HOMETOWN MEAT MARKET FOR GENERATIONS

It's been only seven months since Karem's enjoyed a rebirth.

Karem's Meats: Grand (re)opening and customer appreciation day is Saturday, July 29.

Indie business longevity: "Karem's Meats is New Albany's locally owned Meat Market since 1965."

Earlier in 2017, Karem's shifted to a new location at 3306 Plaza Drive, off Grant Line Road (near Aldi and NABC's original location). This weekend, they're celebrating.

Indie business ownership is rewarding.

It's also unrelenting trench warfare, especially in a monopolistic system of terminally ill capitalism, now firmly jigged toward chains and franchises.

Perhaps the relocation of an indie business is the most difficult of all these tricks. Customers develop habits, and they're hard ones to break. There isn't always time to adjust, or to develop a new shtick. 

I'm reminded of my experience working at the old Scoreboard Liquors, which was situated for quite some time on the 100 block of West Spring, just across the street from the federal courthouse.

In 1987, the liquor store's owners were told the building was being sold, and their lease wouldn't be renewed. They had a year to make a decision, and eventually opted to move the store all the way across town, to a fixer-upper on the corner of Beharrell and E. Spring (it had been a Night Owl food mart decades previously).

Scoreboard made the move; Chase Bank now occupies the space where the store and Cadillac Lanes bowling alley once stood.

Jim and Ed had nicely remodeled the building at Beharrell and Spring, but while highly visible to traffic speeding past -- well, the basic problem was that traffic kept speeding past, because access was feasible only when traveling westbound. I didn't know it at the time, but I was witnessing one of several reasons for traffic calming and human-scaled streets.

Neighborhood trade made up for some of it, and yet the fact is that the new location never really jelled. Eventually the license was purchased by a competitor, and Scoreboard Liquors passed into history's mists.

I feel awful for Matt Nash, who's as good a bloke as I know. May his next step be more rewarding -- and as an extremely reluctant capitalist, this isn't to imply money alone.

Sleep's more important in the end.

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Is it true Deaf Gahan won't sign the littering ordinance?

The Green Mouse has been told that Mayor Jeff Gahan has refused to sign the littering ordinance recently approved by city council, which voted 9-0 in favor on the ordinance's first two readings, and 7-1 (Coffey against, Blair not present) on the third and final reading.

Coffey lands a role in Game of Drones as council passes littering ordinance, though not before an appearance by the ghost of James Stockdale.

If memory serves, the ordinance originated with council Republicans Al Knable and David Barksdale, with Democrat Matt Nash also appearing as "co-sponsor." In theory, this suggests bipartisan support (as well as a veto-proof majority).

City council déjà vu ... could this anti-littering ordinance be the dream that might come true?

Previously an insider suggested that after initially favoring the measure, Gahan had concluded that it would be associated with potential mayoral rival Knable, and therefore decided to go full frontal petty for fear of the positive association.

Deaf Gahan mulls bringing King Larry out of retirement to toss a spanner in council's littering ordinances.

Will Gahan divulge his reasons publicly, or trot out a minion's press release?

Stay tuned.

Matt Nash to purchase Karem's Meats, which will relocate to Plaza Drive (off Grant Line Road) on or about May 1.

The Green Mouse has learned that 5th district councilman Matt Nash will join the ranks of independent local business owners.

Nash has reached a deal to purchase the iconic Karem's Meats, New Albany's oldest meat market and deli.

Karem's will continue to operate at its current location off State Street until on or around May 1, when Nash will assume ownership, and the business will move to new digs at 3306 Plaza Drive, a space many readers will recall as the former home of NA Exchange (and before that, MyBar and Main Menu). It's a stone's throw from New Albanian Brewing Company, of Grant Line Road.

Once again, the target date for the move and ownership change is May 1. You can follow the art of this particular deal on social media:

Instagram: karemsmeats
Twitter: Karem's Meats
Facebook: Karem's Meats (the new page)

Karem's in the News and Tribune on the occasion of the shop's 50th anniversary in 2015.

The nutty professor name drops hog wash, candidate Nash and Dr. Seuss.

Freedom to Screech is back, and less literate than ever.

WHO SAID IT?

We are concerned about a comment made by a candidate for City Council.

At a recent Democrat gathering he was overheard telling potential voters and we Quote: Candidate Matt Nash stated, that the people should serve local government rather than local government serve the taxpayer.

Matt was kind enough to tip me off when the pretend professor mentioned me, so I returned the favor on Twitter: They're taking issue with ya.

His reply: "I have no idea what they are talking about."

My summary: They don't, either, but it makes for much needed comic relief.

What they're saying: A video by Matt Nash (D), 5th district.

As the 2015 general election nears, I'll occasionally provide candidate statements of substance, as lifted from social media and news reports. My aim is to determine whether our municipal candidates have anything to say at all, and I'll quote all candidates, from any and all parties. 

---

Matt Nash has a video.

Matt Nash kicks off 5th district campaign: "New Albany Should Expand its Recycling Program."

For those just tuning in, Matt Nash was chosen by Democratic Party precinct heads to replace Dustin Collins on the 5th district council ticket after Collins withdrew owing to illness.

His first platform plank deals with recycling.

New Albany Should Expand its Recycling Program

In a recent News and Tribune article it was announced that Floyd County government would cut some recycling services due to budget concerns.

As a councilman I would support a measure that would expand the current services of the city's recycling program. Currently the city offers weekly curbside pick-up of recyclable materials. I believe that New Albany could work with the Solid Waste Board and work out a deal that included utilizing current county equipment and workforce to allow for drop off sites to be manned in locations within city limits or just along the fringe areas.

Matt Nash is the 5th district nominee as the nutty professor bobs to the surface.

It's official: Matt Nash has been selected by the Democratic Party to be the nomineefor 5th district city council, replacing primary winner Dustin Collins, who withdrew due to illness.

More entertainingly, Vicki "Professor Erika" Denhart has broken three months' silence to denigrate Nash, the party and the process.

NEWS FLASH.....ANOTHER FIXED ELECTION.

"No wonder our city is going to HELL in a hand basket!"

By the way, it's Burks, not Burke -- and Matt already announced his departure from column composition.

Interestingly, Nash has differed publicly with the incumbent mayor on several issues, two-way streets foot-dragging prime among them. The party's desperate imperative to remove primary loser Diane Benedetti is duly noted in this context, as she did not always toe the "Gahan as divinity" party line, prompting Team Gahan to not-so-secretly plump for Collins in the run-up to May.

Republican candidate Tonye Rutherford lost to Benedetti by less than two dozen votes in 2011, so the 5th district contest should be competitive.

Well, well: "Matthew Nash for 5th District City Council."

When Matt swapped photos here yesterday, I suspected the Green Mouse was right.

Can we speak candidly?

It's widely known that Gahan administration operatives targeted incumbent 5th district rep Diane Benedetti for defeat in the primary. I know this because one of them told me so. Of course, it cannot be quantified as to how much the down-low Gahan chicanery contributed to Dustin Collins' eventual victory, but now it's moot, as Collins was forced to withdraw from the race owing to health concerns.

If I haven't said it already in blog space, all the best to Dustin. He's a personable and bright young man, and there is no doubt about his sincere commitment to public service. Get well, quickly.

But there's an election to be held, and the News and Tribune's Daniel Suddeath explains what happens next as Democratic Party chairman Adam Dickey follows arcane procedures lifted straight from the pages of "Foucault's Pendulum" (alas, not a Disney flick) to ensure his chosen and pre-ordained outcome. Remember the famous song Bob Dylan wrote about Dickey, "Tangled Up in Puppet Strings"?

Qualified Democrats residing in District 5 can submit for nomination by caucus members. The caucus will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 7 at the New Albany Roadhouse, which is located at 1706 Graybrook Lane.

That's right: The Democrats will caucus by drawing straws and drinking ice cold Bud Light long necks. Fiction simply cannot improve on reality when it comes to satirizing these people.

Know this: None of my obvious and ever expanding derision for our local Fix Is In Democrats should be implied as outweighing my personal esteem for Matt Nash, whose hat has been tossed into the ring in the 5th. I won't get a vote in this one, and we'll see what happens. Even if we still disagree on certain topics, Benedetti has done a good job. Matt's a great fellow, and politics is a nasty business. Anyone got a tea leaf?

A word of advice to Matt: If you don't win the race, be careful the newspaper doesn't screw you on your weekly column resumption * ... and seriously, you might wish to distance yourself from the recently abominable record of your old man on the Bored of Works.

By the way, anyone got a broom?

Here's Matt's Fb campaign page. I wish him well.

Matthew Nash for 5th District City Council

I would like to announce my intention to seek the position of New Albany City Council in the 5th District. For the past six years I have expressed my opinion on how to make our city a better place in a weekly column in the News and Tribune. Now I am actually doing something about it.

I believe that New Albany is a great city but we could be doing better. Between now and November 3rd I will discuss with all of the citizens of New Albany how we can work together to make our city the best that it can be.

* Matt's already dealt with it here.

Nash on the rights of everyone.

Matt doesn't mention our very own Ayatollah Coffey by name, but he needn't bother. By now, the silence has grown deafening: Fellow council members (most of them Democrats), Jeff Gahan and the Democratic Party itself, all cowering in their respective bunkers as Coffey once again mocks them with impunity.

Coffey has no challenger in his re-election race, but you're free to punish the others by withholding your votes. Consider this a recommendation.

Thanks to Matt Nash for another fine column.

NASH: The rights of everyone, by Matt Nash (Jeffersonville Now!)

... The irony of the local situation is the offending words came during a discussion about “Freedom of Religion” and the free exercise thereof, another of the rights guaranteed by the same First Amendment. It is true that you can practice whatever religion you see fit, but it also forbids the establishment of a state religion. Now I understand that the courts have ruled that prayer prior to public meeting does not violate the establishment clause, but why must you feel the need?

What will happen when a non-Christian clergy decides that it is time that you pray to his or her god before you hold your city council meeting? Who gets to decide what religions are worthy of this honor? Will members of the New Albany City Council be so open to their free exercise of their religion?

Matt Nash on Dan Coffey: "His views are backward and repugnant."

It's lovely how the ostensibly local newspaper almost always lets its guest columnists do the heavy lifting as it focuses forever elsewhere, but something's better than nothing.

Make no mistake: These are spot-on, powerful words written by Matt Nash.

His father the doyen should consider reading them. How hard can it possibly be for our local Democratic Party to state publicly that Dan Coffey's words and actions do not reflect the party's core ethos?

NASH: An embarrassment for the council, by Matt Nash (Jeffersonville First)

In a few short weeks, I will celebrate six years of writing this weekly column. In one of those very early columns, I sat down at my old computer and typed out a column about a New Albany city councilman whose antics were surly, something that should grab the attention of his constituents and undoubtedly get him systematically booted from the council.

It seems like only yesterday. Today, I am again writing about District 1 Councilman Dan Coffey.

The secrecy of voting ... and why the secret ballot should be abolished.

Before Matt Nash recounts his difficulty in casting a secret ballot in the year 2015, let's begin by considering the origins of this institution.

Did you know that Louisville was a pacesetter?

Abolish the Secret Ballot, by Sasha Issenberg (The Atlantic)

For the United States’ first century, Americans elected their leaders in full view of their neighbors, gathering on courthouse steps to announce their votes orally or hand a distinctive preprinted ballot or unfolded marked paper to a clerk. Such a public process made elections ripe for bribes and threats, although the scene around American polling places never matched Australia’s, where a population of criminals and goldbugs made electoral intimidation something of a democratic pastime. To end such shenanigans, each of Australia’s colonies began shifting to a secret ballot during the 1850s, and in 1872 England followed suit.

A decade and a half later, the reform crossed the Atlantic. Louisville, Kentucky, enacted a so-called Australian ballot in 1888 ...

Given Floyd County's propensity for gazing longingly into the rear view mirror, the surprising thing is that we ever accepted the ballot's secrecy in the first place, but we did. Take it away, Matt.

NASH: The secrecy of voting, by Matt Nash (Morris Trucking Fetish Daily)

 ... After the third failed attempt, a man came over and took my ballot and started to review the choices that I had made to see if I had “voted wrong.” I am not exactly sure what would happen if I would had actually voted wrong, but I would hope that the first machine would have forced me to correct the vote before it printed out my receipt. I can’t imagine that it would print out a ballot that showed I had voted for two candidates in a race where I was only allowed to pick one.

At that point, my wife was ready to put hers through the machine when someone said we should compare the two ballots. This is when someone from across the room yelled “secret ballot.”

I started to laugh because two workers already had access to who I voted for and one of them actually looked over it. I said I didn’t mind if we compared, and they were close to identical, and then her ballot went straight through the machine without any issues.

Matt Nash on voting.

For some strange reason, I'm beginning to feel a renewed interest in this topic.

NASH: It’s time to vote

 ... Over the years I have not been a very big proponent of early voting. I really enjoy getting up early and voting on Election Day. I sometimes worry that there might be something that changes my mind leading up to the election and by that time it would be too late to change my vote. What if there was an “October surprise” and I voted for the wrong guy? After last year’s problems at the polls I have changed my tune on the subject.

Nash: "I do not agree that it is important that a public meeting must start with a prayer."

Reading Nash's column reminds one of the fundamental ongoing problem: A council with no leadership.

Sitting supinely while Dan Coffey merrily hijacks meeting agendas may qualify as borderline presidential (the Wizard of Westside's contract with Mayor Gahan probably stipulates it), but it makes for the reinforcement of New Albany as regional laughingstock.

Hope you can make it next time, Matt. Sanity in the council chamber currently enjoys the same status as water in California. Witness this passage from the newspaper's coverage:

Coffey acknowledged some separation should exist, but added many people in New Albany are of Christian faith. “This is a Christian nation, with Christian values, and if people don’t like that, at least come out in the open to try and change it,” he said.

Groan.

NASH: The council and prayer, by Matt Nash (News and Tribune)

 ... The reason I had wanted to go to the meeting was that the council was to vote on a resolution denouncing Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and calling for its repeal. I wanted to be there to show my support and to hear what our council feels about the legislation. I would have never predicted that the final outcome would be 8-0-1 in favor, especially after some of the debate.

The debate is usually where it gets entertaining and where it easily takes off on multiple tangents. This week’s meeting was no exception. Somewhere along the way while they were discussing a state law that many people believed to be a license to discriminate in the name of religion, the subject of praying before meetings was brought up. As things tend to go it must have escalated from there.

Nash on bikes: "Roads were here before automobiles."

Nice place for a ride -- if you're a Humvee.

It's simply amazing how much fathers might learn from sons, if they only listened.

NASH: We need more bike lanes (News and Tribune)

... One person at the last “Speck” street study forum argued that we do not need bicycle friendly streets because we have the Ohio River Greenway for bicycle riding. It was one of the more ignorant statements in the argument of “walkable” streets that I heard. Most people would prefer a safe way to get to the “Greenway” or other recreational facilities without having to drive.

New Albany can be considered a bike friendly town by implementing the recommendations in the “Speck” plan. Now is the time for us to decide whether or not we want to be a vibrant downtown with safe access for bikers, walkers, and automobiles. A street with bikes, once the drivers get used to them, is a place where cars proceed more cautiously.