Whither rails, trails and the CSX track from the K & I Bridge to Sazerac Indiana?

For help in understanding the life and times of New Gahania, formerly known as New Albany, it helps to apply a sort of litmus test to any PR release emanating from Dear Leader's burgeoning propaganda secretariat.

Can it be used to polish Jeff Gahan's personality cult?

Can the money be followed to special interest campaign finance donors?

From railbanking to mountebanks, or compensation for landowners in rails-to-trails projects.

When Big Daddy G began nonsensically babbling about his pivotal role in a made-for-self-enhancement rails-to-trails project from Sazerac (formerly Pillsbury) to Bedford, Louisville-area media representatives fell over themselves to praise Dear Leader, with nary a single one of them asking two important questions:

1. How can a New Albany mayor in control of only 4.5% of the project area take credit for work to be done almost entirely outside his city?

(He can't, but it's an election year)

2. Why focus on the area lying outside the mayor's direct control to the north and west when the stretch of track to the south, connecting the IU Southeast campus to the Ohio River Greenway, lies entirely within city limits and makes far better sense in terms of mobility options? 

(Maybe because the railroad's not entirely finished using it)

While Gahan advocates replacing railroad track with a path, a Facebook group of railroad buffs called Save the Monon is taking exactly the opposite approach.

This group supports the Monon railroad line from New Albany IN to Bedford IN, to make a awesome scenic dinner/excursion train ride.

Following are two recent comments at the Fb site, lightly edited. The first comment refers to the photograph above at the intersection of 15th and Beeler.

CSX is going to be suing New Albany for taking up the track when they replaced the sewer in the city. They never got authorization from CSX, and Norfolk Southern is into it with New Albany about the amphitheater. Sazarac was told they (could use) the rail line and Gahan didn't tell them they tore the track in two places; Sazarac talked to CSX about getting cars in and CSX saw that the track is destroyed! This Democratic mayor has pissed off a lot of companies, not to exclude the Federal Government.

More recently:

I have learned from a source of mine who works for CSX in the road maintenance department in Louisville that Sazarac wants to use the rail from the K&I Bridge to its plant. CSX is looking at repairing the line but the city of New Albany is saying they will not pay for new asphalt after CSX does the work. CSX says the asphalt is the responsibility of the city.

But has CSX considered a persuasive $10k donation to the Gahan4Life fund? Prior to the Louisville budget crisis, Mayor Greg Fischer had started making noises again about the K and I's utility as a river crossing. We'll keep an eye on this one.

BREAKING: Sazerac's new Dear Leader Vintage Kool-Aid Schnapps to be craft-blended in New Albany for dock sales only, so come get your growlers of elixir.

Give 'em credit. Sazerac knows its market.

Mayor Gahan AWOL as council inks corporate welfare package for Sazerac.

A few odds and ends, and then we'll all kick back to watch the epochal panacea unfold.

"Distillery to located in old Pillsbury plant."

In the newspaper's photo caption and the text, it is made perfectly clear that Sazerac will not be distilling at the former Pillsbury, and yet the subheader persists in the misconception. It also omits the second half of the verb form, but let's not be churlish.

An aside to Greg Phipps: In comparative terms, General Mills is to Pillsbury's biscuits as Sazerac is to Boston Brands of Maine's liquor (in this instance, brandy, which is a specific type of liquor). If your objective is to begin renaming streets for the mayoral victory of the moment, then at least be consistent: Buffalo Trace Lane, to replace Pillsbury Lane.

Wait -- Buffalo Trace now is an art installation by the Summit Springs Strip Mine. I prefer Southern Comfort Avenue, anyway.

But at least Phipps' commemorative instincts are modest. If left to Bob Caesar, not a street, landmark or dumpster in the city would be safe from renaming in honor of operatives affiliated with One Southern Indiana, Team Gahan, Develop New Albany, or the council itself -- though only those reliable council members like Caesar, who is to the adolescent fluffing of functionaries as Elvis was to peanut butter & 'nanner sandwiches.

Last evening's carefully choreographed incentive package spectacle might well have been the single greatest "mere formality" ballot I've witnessed in 14 years of soul-deadening council observation, but if you'll pardon the blasphemy from the village atheist, if Jesus Christ himself materialized before council to announce the second coming, at least one or two questions still should be asked prior to the pre-arranged vote.

In the case of Sazerac:

• Are these union jobs?
• If $24 per hour is the average, can there be a more detailed breakdown of the wages?
• Will there be any sort of public interface, for instance, a visitor center?
• What are the implications for the railroad spur?

So on, and so forth, not to omit the most obvious of all: if Sazerac's advent is second only to the second coming, then can Jeff Gahan show up for once and not have an underling mouth his scripted platitudes?

New Albany City Council approves incentive deal for Sazerac, by Chris Morris (Omnibus Tom May)

Distillery Bottling to to be located in old Pillsbury plant

NEW ALBANY — The Sazerac Company is coming to New Albany.

One of the oldest, family-owned distilling companies in the United States made the announcement last week that it was purchasing the old Pillsbury plant with plans to phase in two to three packaging lines. That move was contingent on the New Albany City Council approving a resolution to provide tax abatements on both personal property and real estate. The council did that Monday night by a 9-0 vote and with plenty of praise for the company and those who brokered the deal.

"In my seven years this is one of the biggest things to happen to New Albany as far as bringing jobs in," Councilman Greg Phipps said.

He said the New Albany Board of Works may want to consider renaming Pillsbury Lane, the road where the plant is located, to Bourbon Lane.

"This is a major, major win for the community," Councilman Bob Caesar said.

City Council President Al Knable said prior to the meeting the incentives offered by the city total around $3 million ...

City council tonight: "Fireball Cinnamon Whisky Presents Mayor Jeff Gahan Presenting Karaoke in Bicentennial Park."

It's my guess that at tonight's city council meeting, there'll be joyous and sweeping approval of the incentives sought by Sazerac of Indiana to complete its purchase of the former Pillsbury plant on Grant Line Road.

INTRODUCTION OF RESOLUTIONS:

R-18-04 Resolution Concerning Statement of Benefits for Real Property and Personal Property for Sazerac of Indiana, LLC by the Common Council of the City of New Albany (Caesar)

I can picture Dan Coffey asking a few questions about the wisdom of "anchoring" a local economy on booze, but beyond this, the discussion stands to be perfunctory amid palpable sighs of relief that the Indiana Economic Development Corporation has at long last bailed out a City Hall team most recently seen tossing $7 million worth of panic-stricken economic development IOUs at the exhaust fumes generated by General Mills' moving vans.

Since last week's announcement, observers have been uniformly dazzled by Sazaerac's promise of jobs with an "average" wage of $24 an hour. Cynics like me might ask whether this average is calculated by including the remuneration for William Goldring, the company's owner (worth $3.9 billion at last glance); or, perhaps more appropriately, given the union jobs lost at the defunct Pillsbury, whether any of these new jobs come with union agreements.

Brief research reveals no information for a bottling and packaging facility like that projected for New Albany. According to a 2016 article by bourbon business writer Fred Minnick, the union agreements at Sazarac's distilleries in Kentucky (1792 Barton and Buffalo Trace) are “confidential.”

At least they exist. Of course, there'll be no distilling in New Albany (except at Donum Dei, around the corner).

Consequently, and just for the hell of it, readers are invited to examine the statements at these two web sites devoted in part to employee ratings of the workplace environment.

Sazerac at Glassdoor

Sazerac at Indeed

I'm taking a balanced view of tonight's proceedings. The deal surely is inevitable, having been played out behind the scenes for quite some time.

Consequently, allow me to note that amid the millions of dollars involved in such a deal, and the time it typically has taken to rig them, our local elected representatives officially will have been given a whole four days to scrutinize the numbers before voting on the abatements and incentives.

Yes: it's economic boilerplate of the sort that works like Viagra for campaign finance, and surely not the first time council members have heard of Sazerac; presumably Dear Leader's minions have been speaking confidentially to those expected to rubber stamp Sazerac's arrival, and swearing them to silence.

At the same time, the public appearance is very familiar. Months-long periods of great secrecy, followed by triumphal propaganda and the pressing urgency of an immediate deadline.

$66 million bottling facility planned for former Pillsbury plant, by Marty Finley (Louisville Business First)

An international alcoholic beverage company will open a bottling facility in the former Pillsbury plant in New Albany in a $66 million investment

Metairie, La.-based Sazerac Brands LLC will create 110 jobs at the new operation, which is dependent on the project receiving approval for tax credits. The company hopes to begin operations late this year, initially with 50 employees.

The plant is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2021, and the new jobs will pay an average wage of $24 an hour plus benefits.

Sazerac's portfolio includes Pappy Van Winkle, Buffalo Trace and many other brands. The company has an office in Louisville.

The company will expand its processing, blending, packaging and distribution capabilities at the plant. It would be its first project in Indiana and expand its presence near Kentucky, where it currently employs 1,000 or more people.

Jeff Conder, vice president of manufacturing for Sazerac Co., said the type of spirits that will be processed and bottled at the facility will be determined after the company acquires the plant, which is expected to occur in the coming weeks if the incentives are approved ...