Respect Yourself.

I'm just the beer guy, and so I can't speak for everyone at Pints&union, but it's a great feeling to know you're working for/with people who take public health seriously, who are NOT science doubters, and who are doing their very best to observe pandemic protocols, and to implement best practices for the benefit of customers and workers alike.

If a food service establishment's or bar's priorities are in the right place, it doesn't matter that these various governmental pandemic mandates lack the necessary enforcement mechanisms to dissuade miscreants from mayhem. You follow the mandates because it's the right thing to do in a public health emergency.

We all know some establishments aren't, and to be perfectly frank, I struggle mightily with the "code of silence" as traditionally observed by the food and drink sector pertaining to withholding comment about what occurs elsewhere in the hospitality business.

I appreciate those of you who have sent me accounts, photos and videos of incredibly unhealthy scenes at local eateries and bars. I applaud your candor and grasp of the issues.

However, I won't lie to you; there's nothing I can do to help. You might try informing your elected and appointed local government officials, although in all honesty they'll probably do little apart from kicking the can a bit further down the road. Regrettable, but true.

I know that there are no sure things in life. Perfection isn't attainable, but the object is to bust your ass pursuing it, and this is what Pints&union is doing with respect to dining and drinking indoors during a pandemic. I can attest to it.

Those of you who have no intention of visiting a restaurant or bar any time soon, you have my complete support; my own household still is doing curbside carry-out (Dragon Kings Daughter and Legacy Pizza and Bakery most recently), and because I'm extremely grateful to Pints&union for allowing me to do my work in the morning, and remotely from home whenever possible, I will not be shaming anyone else for refraining from old haunts until the pandemic is under control.

On the other hand, if you're looking for a community-minded, responsible place to have a sandwich and a drink, and you have not given Pints&union a try, please do. We're doing everything in our power to make the experience safe and enjoyable. Give us feedback, and let us know what you think about your visit.

(I have no ownership stake in Pints&union. As noted, I'm just the beer guy, and I didn't tell anyone else I was planning on writing this. COVID is real, and it's going to be with us for a while. We should be taking the virus seriously; what's more, we should be positively recognizing the efforts being made by those who DO accept their responsibilities toward this end. Thank you for your support.)

Nawbany's ubiquitous used cars? They're "a symptom of having such a high concentration of poverty."

Earlier this week:

Traffic Cluster, Part One: Mt Tabor Road? It's the design. You know, the design we just paid millions ... to design.

Traffic Cluster, Part Two: We'll never resolve traffic issues until "leadership" is willing to lead, not pander.

But just before them, I wrote in reference to statue rectification: "Give 'em time, and we'll have statues of automobiles. I volunteer to be first in line when it comes to bringing those symbols down."

Taken together, these thoughts of pervasive and unaddressed automobile supremacy in Nawbany prompted reader John Q. Curmudgeon (no relation to T. Potable) to write this letter to the editor.

Don't worry. He's real.

Are you?

---

We already have monuments to automobiles in New Albany. Plenty of them. It's doubtful anyone can find another 14.94 square miles in the U.S. that has more ratty little "car lots", car parts stores and other auto related businesses than New Albany, Indiana.

Cheap used cars are for sale, parked on every corner in the town - used “luxury”, “high-end cars” are offered across from a funeral home, on a highway masquerading as a residential street. Another “luxury” car lot is across the street from the YMCA.*

Not a single new car dealership in New Albany - just used cars.

It’s a symptom of having such a high concentration of poverty. Banks make good money on auto loans and lend for them freely (because the car is the loan’s collateral), but not a single new car dealership in New Albany. Not enough money in circulation, not enough people to justify the investment. Sellersburg has new car dealerships, with one-tenth of the number of households in New Albany.

Apparently, most automobiles in New Albany are used and apparently falling apart, barely kept running judging from the number of parts stores and garages.

Auto parts stores are everywhere within New Albany’s small 14 square miles - two auto glass and paint locations, two NAPA parts stores, two O’Reilly Autoparts stores, a hub cap and wheel store, AutoZone Auto Parts, Advance Auto Parts, Bennett's Auto Parts, New Albany Auto Parts & Machine Shop, Bumper to Bumper, Auto Warehouse Inc., Walmart Auto Care Center, Tire Discounters, Big O Tires - and more corner, shade tree mechanic shops.

We don’t notice New Albany’s many monuments to the automobile - because we’ve grown numb to them.

When parking four old cars with “$300 down” written in white shoe polish on their windshields is the “highest and best use” of a high-traffic downtown corner lot, it’s a glaring example that no one values retail and business opportunities in New Albany. Another symptom of having such a high concentration of poverty.

Every article I read regarding the growing restaurant business in New Albany usually includes the phrase “get people across the bridge from Louisville.” There’s a reason. When the little corner car lots go, maybe we’ll see more opportunity for everyone.

---

* As to the lot across from the YMCA, reader NC writes: "I closed the lot about 3 years ago when my mom had a stroke. It sat empty for a couple years, the cars that were for sale on it were other lots parking them there or people we didn’t even know parking them there (every once in awhile the guys from the Firestone would sell a car off of it with permission ... it’s a mechanic shop for about the last year. So might want to edit that part, but yea Todd (Coleman) still owns it and rents it to the the owners of the shop. I’ve heard a couple rumors it could be for sale, but I’m not 100%. Could be just rumors."

An amazing NA moment in time -- as the GREEN MOUSE presents NAWBANY WEEK IN REVIEW.

This happened on Saturday in New Albany.

Actually this and two other events dedicated to Black Lives Matter happened on Saturday. The three causes converged downtown, and all of it was incident-free.

As a side note, in 2016 Floyd County as a whole gave Donald Trump a 20-point margin of victory over Hillary Clinton. That's a point or so better than the statewide Indiana tally. Granted, Trump won bigger outside city limits, but not that much bigger.

We'll see what happens next, right here in New Albany. I have a few thoughts about the advisability of keeping a close eye on the political bandwagon-jumpers, but these can wait.

After all, I'm on sabbatical.

Congratulations to everyone for yesterday. It was a very good thing, indeed.

The Calumet Club celebrates a century, so hats off to the Bliss family for their stewardship of an institution.

Under renovation, 2006.

We begin with the newspaper's account on Friday (June 12), then turn to our legal bagel Shane for a new/old word, before concluding with three vital links.

Calumet Club celebrates 100th anniversary as family continues legacy, by Daniel Suddeath (Hanson's Dotty Folly)

NEW ALBANY — It helped launch the career of a Major League Baseball Hall of Fame player, provided a gymnasium for local basketball teams at a time when such space was scarce, and served as the base for a group of men who valued community spirit.

A century ago today, the Calumet Club moved into its new headquarters at 1614 E. Spring St. Considered a prestigious organization that reached a membership of about 800 at its peak, men paid about $1.50 a month to be part of the social and athletic club.

The continued use of the building and the living history behind its century of existence are testaments to a family's vision.

Richard Bliss died in 2012, but he got to fulfill his dream of owning the Calumet Club and restoring it into a charming centerpiece of the East Spring Street and Vincennes Street corridor.

“The main reason was to save a beautiful building because of its history and to give back to the community,” Mark Bliss said of his parents’ intentions for buying and restoring the Calumet Club.

---

Back in 2016, the Calumet Club prompted a question of our resident municipal bond fetishist wordsmith.

Welcome to another installment of SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS, a regular Wednesday feature at NA Confidential.

 ... Many readers already know about the Calumet Club in New Albany. There are also Calumet rivers, regions and towns. But what is a calumet when used as a noun?

It's a Native American pipe.

Tobacco, indigenous to North America, followed Indian trade routes throughout the continent long before Columbus arrived, and pipe smoking took on a ritual and religious importance in many tribes. Naturally, the crafting of pipes became equally important.

The most famous Native American pipes are the long calumets or "peace pipes" of the Sioux and other Plains Indian tribes, which were made by attaching a wooden stem to a bowl carved from catlinite or "pipestone." (Pipestone is native to Minnesota, but due to intertribal trade was available throughout Native North America.) Other native pipe-making traditions included the smaller one-piece stone and ceramic pipes of the Iroquois and Cherokee tribes, wood and antler pipes of the Southwest Indians, and the post-Columbian tomahawk pipes with a metal pipe bowl and hatchet on opposite ends of the stem.

Calumet Club Dates in History, courtesy of the Calumet Club, illustrate that it was a thriving social institution on post-WWI New Albany. Finally, from the library's Stuart Barth Wrege Indiana History Room comes this memento of times long gone.

As the singer pithily observed, we have all been here before.

November 25, 2004:

NA Confidential goes troubleshooting, enjoys dessert, and visits the Calumet Club

December 16, 2006:

A peek inside the Calumet Club's third-floor future ballroom.

November 24, 2009

The Calumet Club adds an elevator ... so when's the beer festival upstairs?

VIDEO: Longboard's Taco & Tiki has closed, but Ian Hall has good news, too.

Ian Hall made the announcement via video this morning on Facebook. Trust me, I know what it feels like to lose one, so best wishes to Ian, Nikki and the Brand Hospitality restaurant group. Overall Brand's brand remains strong at The Exchange Pub + Kitchen and Brooklyn and The Butcher.

There is no word yet as to the next configuration of the soon-to-be vacant space on the corner of Market and Pearl.

You'll notice that in the video Ian is seated in the space many readers will recall as Feast BBQ's original location in New Albany, adjacent to The Exchange on Main Street. The building changed hands after Feast BBQ closed in 2018, and now the top-to-bottom remodeling is complete.

It will be known as the Tavern Hall at The Exchange and function as a dining room and special events space. Kitchen space at The Exchange also has been expanded.

LIVE TO EAT: Longboard's Taco & Tiki will open this Friday, July 27.

From the folks who brought you Exchange and Brookyn, Longboard’s Taco & Tiki is coming to downtown New Albany in 2018.

Let's start a list.

OPENING IN 2020
Board and You Bistro & Wine Bar (TBD; 430 Pearl, where the Cidery was to have been)
Monnik Beer Company (TBD; former Bank Street Brewhouse on Bank)
Recbar 812 (February 3; former La Rosita's on Pearl)
Tavern Hall at The Exchange (event space in the former Feast BBQ)

CLOSING IN 2020
Longboard's Taco & Tiki

Here is last year's summary.

---

New Albany's restaurant and bar openings and closings for 2019.

December 30, 2019

Following is our crowd-sourced list of restaurant/bar openings and closings in New Albany for 2019: Indies only; no chains, and just businesses within city limits.

Here's a special category: Floyd County Brewing, which expanded into the Biergarten after launching Grain Haus in 2018. They're still all common ownership, but deserving of note for organization of available space.

Did we miss anyone? There are two reasons why Our Lady of Perpetual Hops isn't on this list: (1) it doesn't have a kitchen, and (b) I'm still not sure whether it's city, fringe area or county. The beers are good, though.

OPENING IN 2019 ... 8 + 3 (see below) = 11
Boomtown Kitchen
Chicago City Pizza
Fistful of Tacos
Get It on a Bun at Booty’s
La Catrina
Tacolicious To Go
The Earl
The Standard Plate & Pour

CLOSING IN 2019 ... 6 + 3 (see below) = 9
Bank Street Brewhouse/Taco Steve
Cox’s Hot Chicken
Hull & High Water
Mandarin Cafe
Red Men Club
Sinaloa

BOTH OPENING AND CLOSING IN 2019 ... 3
Bliss Artisan
El Rico Taco
Mirin

"Transparency promotes trust," thunders local chain newspaper's editorialists -- unless THEY'RE the ones avoiding transparency.

Mike Moore kicked off the year in a blatant fit of sheer greed, and it wasn't very pretty.

The Jeffersonville mayor's inelegantly stage-managed bid for a 30% raise was so egregious that even our local chain newspaper took note, and rightly mounted the soapbox in protest.

Naturally, later this year at the annual shill ceremony concocted by its corporate master, the News and Tribune will win an award for best coverage of municipal events occurring just outside the office door, before adjourning to attend mocktail party for Alabama pensioners.

Just as predictably, in New Albany our City Hall expended six full months in a coordinated effort to rebuff "sunshine law" public information requests before being called on the carpet and fined by a judge.

Nope, not a peep from the principled editorial team at the News and Tribune.

It's worth repeating that one of the information requests spurned by New Albany's spigot-smothering city functionaries sought clarity about the amount of money spent each year by City Hall via its contract with ProMedia for purely discretionary advertisements, often thinly-veiled mayoral campaign ads, with this money flowing to places exactly like the News and Tribune.

Not one of the three links in this chain of taxpayer cash -- city, contractor or newspaper -- will tell us the answer to a simple question: Exactly how much money is involved?

Where's the transparency in this situation, exalted newspaper editorialists?

Thankfully one of these links, city government, is subject to Indiana state law pertaining to the necessity of honoring information requests, and yet instead of obeying the law, it threw a tantrum and delayed compliance until after the election, and only when forced to do so by the judiciary.

If the newspaper won't call out this sort of behavior, who will?

NT Editorial: Transparency promotes trust

THE ISSUE: Integrity in office

OUR VIEW: Mayor Moore and Councilman White fell short of expectations on salary scenario.

 ... The people deserve leaders who are transparent and forthcoming, and who follow procedures when it comes to doing the people's business.

The mayor should go ahead and veto his own raise, which might help part the clouds of controversy shadowing this entire episode.

The City Council will vote on the 2021 salary ordinance in early December. We suggest revisiting a pay raise then.

— The News and Tribune Editorial Board members are Publisher Bill Hanson, Editor Susan Duncan and Assistant Editor Chris Morris

New Albany's restaurant and bar openings and closings for 2019.

I had to pick one of them for the photo.

Following is our crowd-sourced list of restaurant/bar openings and closings in New Albany for 2019: Indies only; no chains, and just businesses within city limits.

Here's a special category: Floyd County Brewing, which expanded into the Biergarten after launching Grain Haus in 2018. They're still all common ownership, but deserving of note for organization of available space. 

Did we miss anyone? There are two reasons why Our Lady of Perpetual Hops isn't on this list: (1) it doesn't have a kitchen, and (b) I'm still not sure whether it's city, fringe area or county. The beers are good, though.

OPENING IN 2019 ... 8 + 3 (see below) = 11
Boomtown Kitchen
Chicago City Pizza
Fistful of Tacos
Get It on a Bun at Booty’s
La Catrina
Tacolicious To Go
The Earl
The Standard Plate & Pour

CLOSING IN 2019 ... 6 + 3 (see below) = 9 
Bank Street Brewhouse/Taco Steve
Cox’s Hot Chicken
Hull & High Water
Mandarin Cafe
Red Men Club
Sinaloa

BOTH OPENING AND CLOSING IN 2019 ... 3
Bliss Artisan
El Rico Taco
Mirin

Let's go Twittering and observe how Jeff Gahan and Mike Moore differ in their seasonal greeting approaches.

Festivus is ongoing.

It's widely understood that the cities of New Albany and Jeffersonville outsource their social media feeds to an autonomous contractor, ProMedia.

The exact amounts of their expenditure remains hidden, but wouldn't you like to know how much daily propaganda actually costs these days?

This said, observe the appearance on Twitter of holiday glad-handing by the two cities. The posts appeared one minute apart. In New Albany, Jeff Gahan can't say "happy holidays" often enough.

Happy TIF Zones!

Meanwhile in Jeffersonville, Mike Moore apparently has zero diversity enhancement f*cks to give, and instead grows straight for the Christian jugular.

I thought it might be instructive to take a look at Charlestown's feed at Twitter.

That's right. The most recent post was October 18. Did Bob Hall take the password with him as he was clearing out his desk?

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

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

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

Or does it linger still?

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

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

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

The view from 1952: "You Name It ... New Albany Has It!"

A friend uncovered these snippets of the time 65 years ago when an untolled bridge (Clark Memorial) was a godsend for Southern Indiana, and New Albany still had its own Chamber of Commerce.

Strikingly, the availability of public housing was considered an indicator of growth progress, but the units being constructed at the time were segregated ... in Indiana, mind you.

Six and a half decades later, are we making progress?

Thanks, B.

Help the Carnegie Center realize its public art goal of creating "The New Albany Flow Park" by donating on Thursday, September 14 via Give For Good Louisville.

I've copied the mailer, but click through the link for a much more detailed story.

Carnegie Center for Art and History Participating in ... 2017 Give For Good Louisville

Thursday, September 14, 2017, from Midnight to Midnight

Please help us to realize our public art goal of creating "The New Albany Flow Park" by donating on Thursday, September 14 through Give For Good Louisville. Donations will be accepted from midnight to midnight on September 14. Click on our Give for Good Louisville (link below) campaign for more information about our public art project. We are thankful that the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana will be offering proportionate matches for participating nonprofits on the southern Indiana side of the river. Thank you Community Foundation of Southern Indiana!

We believe we have an excellent project with lots of community approval from the City of New Albany to area skaters whose input was so important to the redesign. Hunger Skateparks of Bloomington, IN have created a compelling new direction for what we are calling "The New Albany Flow Park" and their design plans will be unveiled to the general public at our #IAmPublicArt event set for Saturday, September 23 beginning at 6:00 PM at New Albany's Riverfront Amphitheater. After checking out our proposal, we would be honored if you would consider a donation to our goal of re-imagining this old skatepark.

Please follow this link to access our proposal. We also have a need for volunteers for our public art event and there is a sign up sheet with tasks that we need help doing. If you can't make a financial donation, please consider volunteering for our September 23 event. Thank you very much for your continued support!

THE BEER BEAT: Hew Ainslie, an early New Albany brewer and Scottish-American poet.

Hew Ainslie was New Albany's first commercial brewer. This biographical sketch below was written by Louisville goldsmith, writer and homebrewer Conrad Selle.

The sketch was first published in the FOSSILS newsletter circa 1994. Later it was a staple on the club's web site, and was reprinted at Potable Curmudgeon in 2005 and NA Confidential in 2012.

Many thanks to Conrad, whose tireless research into Louisville area brewing can be experienced in Louisville Breweries, co-written with Peter Guetig, and originally published in 1997. There was only one printing, but a few copies still are floating around. Just a few years ago, Peter was said to be preparing a revised edition, but I don't know if it was ever completed. If you have the information, please update me.

---

Many early brewers worked their trade as a sideline or temporary trade before moving on to other occupations. Hew Ainslie is unique for having been principally a poet.

He was born at Bargany in Ayrshire, Scotland on April 5, 1792. Hew was the only son of George Ainslie, an employee on the estate of Sir Hew Dalrymple Hamilton. He was educated in the parish school at Ballantrae, and later at the academy at Ayr. In 1809 his family moved to Roslin, about six miles from Edinburgh. He married his cousin Janet Ainslie in 1812, whose brother Jock had married Hew's sister Eleanora.

Ainslie studied law in Glasgow, and worked as a clerk in the Register House in Edinburgh. In 1820 he revisited Ayrshire on foot with James Wellstood and John Gibson and in the next two years wrote A Pilgrimage to the Land of Burns, which was published in London in 1822. The book was an account of their travels and visits with some of Robert Burns's contemporaries, with songs and ballads by Ainslie that were much in the style of Burns, and illustrations by Wellstood.

In July, 1822, Ainslie sailed from Liverpool to New York with his friend Wellstood. Mrs. Ainslie and their three children joined him in the following year. Ainslie and Wellstood purchased Pilgrim's Repose, a farm at Hoosac Falls in Rensselaer County, New York. Ainslie and his family lived there for almost three years before joining Robert Owen's utopian socialist cooperative community at New Harmony, Indiana in 1825.

When Owen's community failed about a year later they moved first to Cincinnati, where Ainslie became a partner with Price and (Thomas) Wood in a brewery, then to Louisville. In Louisville, a town of 7,000, Ainslie opened a brewery in 1829 at 7th Street between Water and Main. Records show that B. Foster, Enoch Wenzell and Robert McKenzie worked there.

In February, 1832 there was a major flood of the Ohio River, with the river's waters rising to 46 feet above the low water level. A contemporary account of the "calamity" reads:

This was an unparalleled flood in the Ohio. It commenced on the 10th of February and continued until the 21st of that month, having risen to (an) extraordinary height ... above low-water mark. The destruction of property by this flood was immense. Nearly all the frame buildings near the river were either floated off or turned over and destroyed. An almost total cessation in business was the necessary consequence; even farmers from the neighborhood were unable to get to the markets, the flood having so affected the smaller streams as to render them impassable. The description of the sufferings by this flood is appalling ...

Ainslie's brewery was swept away with most of the neighborhood, but in the following years he remained in the beer business, working at the Nuttall brewery on the west side of 6th Street between Water and Main.

In 1840 he opened the first brewery in New Albany, the partnership of Bottomley & Ainslie. Soon that business was destroyed by fire. In the 1841 Louisville City Directory, Hew Ainslie is listed as a maltster; it was his last listing in the brewing trade. Discouraged by fire and flood, he gave up the brewing business altogether. Thereafter, his working life became somewhat intertwined with that of his children, particularly George and James Wellstood Ainslie.

Hew and Janet Ainslie had ten children, seven of them surviving to adulthood. George Ainslie, the eldest Ainslie son, had been apprenticed to Lachan McDougall around 1830 to learn the iron foundry and moulding trade, and he had acquired a solid business and technical education. He became a foreman at John Curry's foundry and married Mary Thirlwell, daughter of Charles Thirlwell, who was a brewer at the Nuttall Brewery (Hew Ainslie's one-time employer).

Thirlwell eventually acquired Nuttall and operated it until 1856. In 1842, George Ainslie became a partner in Gowan and McGhee's Boone Foundry. By 1845 Hew Ainslie -- still a poet throughout -- was employed as a finisher there as well as working as a contractor and in the building trades.

George and James Ainslie became highly successful in the foundry and machine business, enabling their father to devote more time to writing in later life. In 1853, Hew Ainslie made a long visit to New Jersey to visit members of the family of James Wellstood, undoubtedly providing the poet with a nostalgic link to the Scotland of his youth.

In 1855 a collection of Ainslie's verse, Scottish Songs, Ballads and Poetry, was published in New York. One latter-day commentator called Ainslie's songs of the sea "the best that Scotland has produced," and perhaps this assessment was borne out by the reception accorded Ainslie in Scottish literary circles in 1863, when he returned to Scotland for a final visit.

Janet Ainslie died in 1863 prior to Hew's last Scottish journey. In 1868 the elderly poet/brewer went to live with his son George in a new home on Chestnut Street (between 9th and 10th) in Louisville, where he spent the last decade of his life and was a familiar sight as he passed time tending the garden there. Ainslie died on March 6, 1878, and was eulogized in the Courier-Journal as "a poet of considerable merit to the people of his native land." Hew and Janet Ainslie are buried in Cave Hill Cemetery.

In addition to the many accomplishments noted previously, Ainslie is remembered for his height -- at 6 feet, 4 inches, he referred to himself in his works as "The Lang Linker" -- and for never losing his Scottish accent during almost six decades in America.

There is no specific information to be found as to the products of the breweries with which Hew Ainslie was involved in Louisville and New Albany, but we can surmise from the available evidence that they were typical small breweries of the time, with four or five employees, making ale, porter and stout. As a man who appreciated truth and beauty, it is likely that Hew Ainslie made good malt, and being conscientious with it, good beer as well.

The following poems by Hew Ainslie are copied from the Filson Historical Society's extremely rare copy of A Pilgrimage to the Land of Burns and Poetry, Ainslie's 1822 work combined with later efforts and reprinted in 1892, the centenary of his birth.

(Author's note: I have heard a scrap or two of Robert Burns, and expect these are much better read aloud in Scots dialect.)

THE DAFT DAYS.
The midnight hour is clinking, lads,
An' the douce an' the decent are winking, lads;
Sae I tell ye again,
Be't weel or ill ta'en,
It's time ye were quatting your drinking, lads.
Gae ben, 'an mind your gauntry, Kate,
Gi'es mair o' your beer, an' less bantry, Kate,
For we vow, whaur we sit,
That afore we shall flit,
We'se be better acquaint wi' your pantry, Kate.
The "daft days" are but beginning, Kate,
An we're sworn. Would you hae us a sinning, Kate?
By our faith an' our houp,
We will stick by the stoup
As lang as the barrel keeps rinning, Kate.
Thro' hay, an' thro' hairst, sair we toil it, Kate,
Thro' Simmer, an' Winter, we moil it, Kate;
Sae ye ken, whan the wheel
Is beginning to squeal,
It's time for to grease an' to oil it, Kate.
Sae draw us anither drappy, Kate,
An' gie us a cake to our cappy, Kate;
For, by spiggot an' pin!
It's waur than a sin
To flit when we're sitting sae happy, Kate.

LET'S DRINK TO OUR NEXT MEETING.
Let's drink to our next meeting, lads,
Nor think on what's atwixt;
They're fools wha spoil the present hour
By thinking on the next.
Then here's to Meg o' Morningside,
An Kate o' Kittlemark;
The taen she drank her hose and shoon,
The tither pawned her sark.
A load o' wealth, an' wardly pelf,
They say is sair to bear;
Sae he's a gowk would scrape an' howk
To make his burden mair

Then here's , &c.
Gif Care looks black the morn, lads,

As he's come doon the lum,
Let's ease our hearts by swearing, lads,
We never bade him come.
Then here's, &c.
Then here's to our next meeting, lads,
Ne'er think on what's atwixt;
They're fools who spoil the present hour
By thinking on the next.
Then here's, &c.

THE HOOSIER .
We lads that live up in the nobs,
Tho' our manners might yet bear a rubbing,
We're handy at neat little jobs
Such as chopping and hewing and grubbing.
Tho' we roost in a cabin of logs,
And clapboards lie 'twixt us and heaven,
Our mast makes us fine oily hogs,
And from hoop-poles we pick a good living.
Right quiet -- to a decent degree --
it's seldom we guzzle it deep, Sir,
Tho' we don't mind a bit of a spree,
Provided the liquor is cheap, Sir.
Our neighbours, that live 'cross the drink.
May laugh at our fondness for cider,
But so long as we pocket their clink
They may laugh till their mouths they grow wider.
Our gals make our trousers, you see,
From that beautiful stuff called tow linen,
and in coats of the linsey -- dang me,
If we don't look both handsome and winning.
Our wives are our weavers, to boot;
Ourselves are first rate on a shoe, Sir;
We can doctor a tub with a hoop --
And hark ! we're our own ni__ers* too, Sir,
So here's to our Hoosier land,
The sons of its soil and its waters !
May the "nullies" ne'er get it in hand,
Nor demagogues tear it in tatters.
But still may it flourish and push,
Thro' vetos and all such tough cases,
Till railroads are common as brush,
And the nobs are as sleek as your faces.

*To provide context to Ainslie's use of the "N" word, "The Hoosier" was intended as an anti-nullification poem -- a direct slap at the slave-owning caste south of the Ohio River, and a self-mocking espousal of the poor but free residents to the north. If any reader can shed further light on the history involved, please do so.

New Albany in 1857: "Here, every man who behaves himself properly, is looked upon as the peer of his neighbor."

Thanks to M for pointing me to this.

In essence, it's a chamber of commerce tract from just before the American Civil War -- an antebellum "come to city" sales pitch.

Neither beer nor brewing is mentioned, perhaps to a WASP-ish overall focus, but the Germans already had started coming. As this book was published, Paul Reising was at work.

We had enough churches. What we needed was a nice, cool beer.

A Tale of Two Cultural Guides: Ankara, meet New Albany.

Perhaps it isn't a fair comparison, given that Ankara is a huge national capital city, and we're a Louisville metro neighborhood.

New Albany's assessment surely reinforces the notion of New Albany as a place where indie businesses can survive, even if the traditional power elites don't grasp what this means.

You Really Need to (Re)Visit New Albany. Here’s Why!, by Heidi Potter (Style Blueprint)

All of this love is contained in just a few square blocks. Simply park and walk; you can even meander around like we did. Here are some of the highlights you must check out.

Perhaps the Ankara profile better illustrates a process of grassroots empowerment -- a bubbling up of culture -- that seems to be missing in New Albany. Or, is it there, and we're just not paying attention?

An insider's cultural guide to Ankara: 'Modern without being snobby' (Guardian)

From psychedelic folk music to guerrilla artists, Didem Tali takes us behind the new urban developments in Turkey’s capital.

Good local travel piece: "A river beckons in Southern Indiana."

It's a solid article with local shout-outs.

I suggest that State Senator Ron Grooms focus on the preface, in which it is explained that his adored RFRA makes it necessary for the rest of us to wage constant damage control.

Thanks again, Ron. By the way, can you please see fit to do nothing, if doing something has ramifications like these?

A river beckons in Southern Indiana, by Joseph S. Pete (The Times of Northwest Indiana)

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act ignited a firestorm and incited many, including prominent Star Trek actor George Takei, to call for boycotts of Indiana. The furor has died down, but the bad press could have biased many against trips to Indiana in unconscious ways for years to come. The Hoosier state, however, offers plenty to see and do. The bimonthly Travel Indiana series highlights what's worth exploring around the state.

Louisville's a pretty cool city to visit.

The city boasts the "Keep Louisville Weird" campaign to keep unique merchants flourishing, chic dining options, a lively indie rock scene that's produced My Morning Jacket and Will Oldham, the Forecastle Music Festival, the Humana Festival of New American Plays, the Louisville Slugger Museum, all the bourbon you could ever handle, the bohemian Highlands neighborhood that's like a college village on steroids, and of course the "decadent and depraved" Kentucky Derby.

Like Chicago and Cincinnati, the Louisville metro spills over into Indiana. And the Indiana suburbs north of the Ohio River are also worth visiting in their own right.

The area is known as Southern Indiana, which is marketed as the Sunny Side of Louisville and symbolized by the iconic Colgate Clock. Because of the Ohio River, it was the first area in Indiana to be settled, and New Albany was actually Indiana's most populous city in 1850. It can feel like the South and is an area rife with natural beauty that’s not as flat and uniform as much of the rest of the state. Here's a look at some potential stops ...

On barber schools, then and now.

The name Marshall Pence rang a bell.

Snipping set-backs: Jeffersonville barber school appeals to students with troubled pasts, by Danielle Grady (News and Tribune)

JEFFERSONVILLE — Marshall Pence could have sought out students with clean records and plenty of opportunities to learn at his barber school when he opened it in 2011. He also could have hired self-important, suited men to lead his classes. But that’s not what he wanted.

“I’m seeking after the people who have got their hands in the air and they said ‘I’m ready to give it up; I’m tired,’” he said. “Those are the people I want because those are the real stories.”

As it turns out, that's because almost exactly 10 years ago, another of his barber schools was operating in New Albany, and I wrote abut it.

$4 haircuts return to downtown New Albany.

... We talked him into taking in a city council meeting that same night, and Councilman Cappuccino’s bravura performance made quite an impression on Marshall.

Happily, Marshall decided to open the barber college, anyway.

Unlike Paul Harvey, I cannot tell you the rest of the story, primarily because I don't remember what happened apart from Pence's school being open a while, and then gone.

I wish him the best in Jeffersonville.

The opportunity cost of reading a newspaper is that your parakeet must wait to poop.

Now that public art is a concept to be displayed across the street from the 'Bama Post & Folderol's nerveless center in Jeffersonville, suddenly it exists.

Meanwhile, in New Albany, we've taken a two-track approach. The private sector has tried to promote and fund public art as a concept, even as the public sector has gazed longingly at its "Dogs Playing Poker" office prints and shrugged, preferring to channel the bulk of its abbreviated attention span in other directions, ones more calculable for accruing chits redeemable in the great game of local patronage politics.

My personal view: What the Carnegie Center has done these past few years in terms of public art has been amazing. Too bad we've tended to pit arts organizations against each other when it comes to allocating resources, and even worse that at a larger level, we've squandered those resources on "quality of life" bricks and mortar projects like an aquatic center destined to be unused most of the year.

Why do I return again and again to the aquatics center?

Because it illustrates the concept of opportunity cost. City Hall's decision to prioritize an aquatics center cost us opportunities to expend time and resources elsewhere.

To me, public art is like street grid reform. The all-encompassing ripple effects from both embrace much larger swaths of the city's terrain, involving greater numbers of people, and are available for consumption every single day of the year -- not merely during the height of summer. The aquatic center represents a suburban "Leave It to Beaver" ideal of plaque-mounting expenditure, promoted by reference to undefined ideals, like those painfully amorphous "quality of life" words.

Outdoor aquatics may be viewed as "special" during a strictly seasonal usage, but the center differs not one jot from what political mediocrities in other cities have been able to painstakingly conceive, absent groundings in modernity that might suggest alternatives.

By focusing on the aquatics center, we've lost opportunities to make the city "special" on a daily basis, because being "special" every single day is what compels attraction and commitment. It's what might bring people to New Albany to live, not just visit. It's what affects those already living here the most.

Art can do that. So can complete streets, and walkability. They establish an unmistakable atmosphere that says we're serious about being serious. The newspaper joins both local political parties in being unable to fathom it, so I suppose we'll keep making the point right here.

In microeconomic theory, the opportunity cost of a choice is the value of the best alternative forgone, in a situation in which a choice needs to be made between several mutually exclusive alternatives given limited resources. Assuming the best choice is made, it is the "cost" incurred by not enjoying the benefit that would be had by taking the second best choice available. The New Oxford American Dictionary defines it as "the loss of potential gain from other alternatives when one alternative is chosen".

Feature: Jeffersonville knows what to say to small business, while New Albany says nothing.

Let's say that you'd like to start a small food and drink business, or even a taproom. Having heard that Southern Indiana (specifically, what used to be called the Falls Cities) is a good place for this sort of thing, you hit Google and search, using the term "economic incentives."

You begin with New Albany.

Not much to work with there, except references to the regional industrial park authority. Maybe Jeffersonville?

That's better. Clicking through ...

The introduction sets the requisite tone; we understand, and we can help:

"The City of Jeffersonville understands how difficult it can be to start and run a small business. To encourage the entrepreneurial spirit and help drive new businesses in the area we offer a number of incentives aimed at small businesses, new restaurants, and improved building facades. For questions about incentives contact our office at (812) 285-6406."

But you really want to give the city of New Albany a chance, and so after a few minutes refining search terms -- omitting "incentives" and using "economic development" -- you land here:

Okay, good enough start, although the prelude lacks the warmth of Jeffersonville's intro:

"The City of New Albany’s Economic Development Department is committed to serving the community by aggressively pursuing new job opportunities and quality of life amenities for our citizens. We will accomplish this goal through both increased economic development and community development projects. Our department focuses on providing necessary leadership to our existing business community to ensure a vibrant business environment in all economic climates, while aggressively seeking new companies for our community."

It;s MBA-standard bureaucratese, but that's not uncommon, and as we scroll down, looking for some meat ...

Wow.

It's probably a safe bet to doubt whether prospective small business owners have appreciable interest in CDBG rules of engagement, but even if they do, a quick glance at the calendar shows that we're arrived at 2014, not 2012.

Yes, it may be the case that the city of New Albany expects such inquiries to be directed to Develop New Albany, but even in the most charitable interpretation imaginable, how would one not already in the know glean from the city's website that prospective small business operators should check with a non-profit not directly connected to the city, and largely unfunded by it?

And if they did, what and whom among the volunteers at DNA would be helping them? Is it DNA that should be devising the incentives, and if so, with what? Confetti?

I've been pointing to this strange, perennial detachment for quite some time, and quite frankly, I'm angrier today than ever. At least Jeffersonville knows what a small business entrepreneur would like to hear, which is that the city is engaged in its prospects and ready to help. One simply cannot view New Albany's bumbling, non-informational outreach without concluding that the city doesn't really get it at all, and until a change occurs, faith in something better only reminds me of the old revolutionary slogan: Men can't eat constitutions.

Currently, the truth is this: Jeffersonville is lapping, and we're napping.

Why would Heine Brothers consider New Albany? Why, the disincentives, of course.

Hmm.

I wonder if the city of New Albany's economic development director saw this one?

City loans to boost local restaurant growth, including new Germantown pizzeria, by Steve Coomes (Food and Dining)

The past six months have seen lots of talk about a new pizzeria in Germantown, but last I spoke with one of the potential owners, she asked me to keep it on the down-low until things became more official.

Well, that day has come with the notice of two METCO loans being made to TenFiftyEight, LLC, (1045 Goss Ave.) to be applied to the future opening the aforementioned pizzeria.

According to a news release from Mayor Greg Fischer’s office, the two loans, totaling $60,000, will help “owners Laura Clemmons and Robert Neely to renovate the exterior and interior of this former VFW Post in order to open a new pizza parlor. Repairs will be made to the storefront, siding, painting and signage, as well as accessibility improvements to the restrooms.”

But wait, there’s more METCO news you’ll like. Two more loans totaling $46,660 were made to THCSJB, LLC to help “owners, Tommy and Sally Clemons, to renovate this space and expand the existing Highlands Tap Room that is next door.

Yes, yes. That's Louisville and this is Southern Indiana, and never the twain shall meet -- especially after Kerry Stemler's tolling regime takes root. And yet, hadn't I seen something similar only recently?

Sure did.

Big Four + Big Four = Evidence ... of a plan in Jeffersonville.

Previously we've noted the importance of the potential importance of the Big Four's pedestrian and bicycle access for Jeffersonville, which has always seemed to lack redevelopment focus. The bridge provides this focus, which places a rather considerable spotlight directly on revitalization-through-walkability issues -- and to the city's credit, the opportunity is being grabbed with both hands ...

... Note two things Jeffersonville does that New Albany does not: Forgivable loans, and 10K facade grants

Which, in turn, makes this one even more interesting.

Heine Brothers eyeing new coffee shop locale, by Caitlin Bowling (Business First)

Heine Brothers’ Coffee Inc. might open its 15th Louisville area location next year.

Louisville has “a very competitive coffee shop market,” but that hasn’t deterred Heine Brothers from expanding, said co-founder Mike Mays.

Mays said the company is considering adding another store during the latter part of next year ­— its 20th anniversary year ­— but hasn’t chosen a location or even area of town yet for the possible new store. There is a chance, however, it could pop up across the river.

“We like Southern Indiana,” Mays said. “We like the south end of Louisville.”

Perhaps Mike might consider a Heine Brothers location in New Albany's industrial park. After all, there we actually have economic incentives in place for businesses like his.

ON THE AVENUES: New Albany, still worth the work.

ON THE AVENUES: New Albany, still worth the work.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Probably on Saturday, NA Confidential’s 7,000th post will go up. I don’t pay attention to the site meter any longer, but hits are above 800,000 and page views at 1.7 million. NAC has more than 700 “likes” on Facebook, without really trying very hard to get them. Barring the unexpected, the blog will celebrate its 10th anniversary in October, 2014.

Mention of these statistics is not intended to produce a round of polite applause. Rather, they speak to a vindication of the blog’s founding principle: New Albany is worth it. What I cannot calculate is how much time I’ve put into this for the past nine years. Whatever the number of hours, they’ve been worth it, too.

Pondering all this, it struck me that quite early on, I wrote a blog post explaining why New Albany matters. Since the essay was published on December 7, 2004, it has been a long, strange trip; a journey off the rails on various crazy trains; and including much of which I’m proud, and other bits I’d like to forget. But the words are all still there, unchanged, as they went down. They're thousands of blue books, and you can grade the blog as you will.

In the following, you’ll see that nine years ago I was pretty hard on Mayor Garner. He proved to be the classic example of a man filled to the brim with knowledge, who struggled to categorize the facts and explain to others what he knew. Otherwise, in terms of themes, “New Albany will be worth the work” strikes me as a template to most of what has followed. It was a marker on my progression to localism, even if the learning curve took far longer than I care to remember.

It has been tiring, invigorating, frustrating and fun. Thanks for reading, contributing, complaining and listening.

---

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 07, 2004

New Albany will be worth the work

For those who may find it curious that this web site is devoted to life and times in the seemingly inconsequential city of New Albany, let it be understood that NA Confidential is dedicated to the simple proposition that the place where we live is important.

Otherwise, why bother living there?

For many readers, the significance of a place of residence may seem self-evident, but I submit that this reaction is far from universal.

America’s helter-skelter physical and emotional mobility is its greatest blessing – and its most destructive curse. Mobility promotes flexibility, improvisation and growth. And it contributes to a mindset of transience, substituting long-distance anonymity for the intimacies of familiarity and discourse.

To live and work somewhere, to find that place on a map, to plot the route that takes us there – all are mundane compared to the tasks of building and nurturing a community. To so, we must know who we are, why it matters and how we intend to achieve it.

Individuals make up the community, and the community reflects the dreams and aspirations of individuals. Without vision, without a sense of possibility, without a desire to improve, neither individuals nor their communities can be expected to thrive in a world that never has and never will stand still.

The ongoing process of urban reinvention begins with these dreams and aspirations. Public works, feats of engineering, financial prowess – all are absolutely essential, but none suffice as indicators of creativity and imagination because they cannot measure the limitless horizons afforded by an idea.

Without these vital qualities of community self-knowledge, which aid us in knowing who we are, efforts aimed at “renewal” predictably are undertaken in piecemeal fashion, lack unifying direction, and are doomed to mistake the ephemeral attractions of new objects for the lasting benefits of new thinking.

The architectural carnage of the 1960’s and early 1970’s stands as the perfect illustration of the unwillingness or inability (or both) of a clueless generation of political and civic leaders in New Albany to articulate an ideal for the city.

It isn’t that sincere people haven’t worked for decades before and since to make things better. They have.

It is that much of their hard work has been all but nullified by the continuing lack of an overall, unifying community principle in New Albany, primarily because such a principle is erroneously seen as posing a threat to the prevailing political and civic elites for whom the preservation of fiefdoms, however small, represents a principle more to their liking than thinking outside the box for the benefit of others.

Unsurprisingly, genuine political and civic leadership – thinking, challenging, lifting up, providing the plan, organizing the troops, mustering the energy – has all but disappeared from the equation in New Albany.

As embodied by the self-absorbed empty suit currently masquerading as Mayor, local government seems to have abdicated altogether when it comes to any recognizable principle of community leadership.

At a City Council meeting last evening, where citizen representatives of neighborhood associations spoke passionately about the need to create a position of ordinance enforcement officer and thus provide them with some measure of recourse to influence those who do not contribute to the progress of the community, at no time did Mayor Garner avail himself of the bully pulpit to offer encouragement and empathy to the speakers.

Not once.

Mayor Garner may well be in perfect harmony with the citizenry, and after all, the topic at hand involves enforcing existing codes to make the city a better place, to which there is no discernable opposition, and yet presented with an opportunity to lead, Garner could not be bothered.

Our objective, then, is to lead the community-based effort ourselves, to locate the like-minded, the ones for whom life in New Albany need not represent a grudging compromise, one maintained for lack of better options over the long and steadily unfolding period of time that we hope to remain living here.

Rather, we see no reason why New Albany cannot preserve the best remnants of its important historical heritage while providing contemporary elements of the finer things in life, virtually all of which flower from enhanced diversity – culturally, creatively, artistically.

We know who we are. With unity, we’ll see what can be done.