The future path is obvious, Jeffrey: "New Albany’s Second Baptist wins 'Network to Freedom' designation recognizing the church’s historic role as part of the Underground Railroad."

Yes, my views on the topic of public money for the enhancement of church architecture are (shall we say) nuanced.

There may have been an excellent case to be made for contributions to the prominent Town Clock Church, but once a precedent is established, where does it start -- and more importantly, where does it end?

(Keep reading. There's a twist in this tale.)

ON THE AVENUES: Weeds, porch appliances and our civic Gospel of Appearances.

 ... According to the Gospel of Appearances, blessed are those who help tax-exempt organizations maintain their properties. According to this logic, the city of New Albany received a boost in the quality of life when the two church spires were repaired, and yet, wouldn’t both these churches still be able to function spiritually without steeples?

Wasn’t the combined expense somewhere in the neighborhood of $750,000 of someone else’s money?

Might the money have been invested in other ways, so as to lift humans, and not spires?

Speaking personally, I’ve no problem in both these instances accepting the argument from the utility of historic preservation. Furthermore, I support the notion that the greenest building is the one already standing, and urge building rehabilitation whenever possible.

And yet metaphors matter.

In the case of the Town Clock Church, one sure way that the city's steeple investment can pay future dividends is explained in this update from Indiana Landmarks (below). The Underground Railroad itself is a conceptual relic of history, but it remains vital even 150 years later because of the teachable topics proliferating from it.

It needs to become just such a teachable tool.

Understanding that what I'm about to suggest is unlikely, I'm not deterred at all from broaching it, because the best use I can envision for Bill Allen's dilapidated properties on Main Street facing the Town Clock Church is for them to be rehabbed into a cultural and educational center addressing the many manifestations of the Underground Railroad.

Expensive? You bet, but also a project of merit that might draw investment from a wide expanse of individuals and organizations. It might even be structured to give the slumlord Allen family a tax break, so as to wrest these properties from their cold, clueless hands.

You're free to steal this idea, Jeff Gahan, unless I've already (and inadvertently) stolen it from someone else. Then you can steal it from them.

Be forewarned: It might imply "reaching out" to African-Americans as part of the tourism branding effort you currently fail to possess, and doing so will offend certain Thurmondian portions of the "Let's Pretend We're Democrats" fundraising machine you spend most waking hours steering.

Think you're capable of that? If so, run with it.

Southern Indiana Church Joins Group of Elite Peers (Indiana Landmarks)

New Albany’s Second Baptist wins “Network to Freedom” designation recognizing the church’s historic role as part of the Underground Railroad.

Harriett Tubman’s home, the Levi Coffin House, and now, Second Baptist Church. At a ceremony in early July, the New Albany property won recognition as an official “Network to Freedom” site, honoring the role the church played in the Underground Railroad.

The National Park Service designation recognizes and promotes historic places, museums and interpretive programs associated with the Underground Railroad. Nationwide, more than 500 sites and programs have earned Network to Freedom status. About 20 other entities in Indiana share the honor, ranging from sites, Eleutherian College in Lancaster, for example, to educational projects like the Indiana Freedom Trails Educational and Research Program.

Second Baptist’s Network to Freedom status capped an initiative led by local historian Pamela Peters, informed by her years of research on the history of Floyd County’s African-American residents. While oral tradition long held that freedom seekers were hidden in the basement of the church, Peters uncovered no specific documentation to verify the claim. However, she was able to document that church members were vocal advocates who created a support system not only for escaping slaves but for New Albany’s African American community as a whole ...

Let's recall the council's role in the Story of the Steeple, starting way back in 2012.

Photo by Robert Landrum.

It wasn't enough to divert the paper's reality television fetishism from the top spot in its daily e-mail news tout, but the Second Baptist Church on Main Street has a new steeple.

In a "Cheers and Jeers" over the weekend, one of the paper's long-term sous chefs made note of the fundraising effort to make the steeple possible, and in the interest of historical accuracy when recalling this historic rehab, let's not forget that the city chipped in, too -- and it was mildly controversial at the time.

From the Red Devil Chronicle, July 19, 2013:

New Albany council OKs funds for church, by Daniel Suddeath

 ... When the money was appropriated in February, Councilmen Greg Phipps and Scott Blair voted against the measure. Blair said at the time he had reservations about whether matching funds could be raised to complete the initial phases of the project. Phipps cited his belief in separation of church and state matters as his reason for voting against the appropriation.

From NA Confidential, October 2, 2012:

1 - City council meeting tweeted as it happened, October 1

A-12-21 $ to restore 2nd Baptist Clock Tower. Discussion. Phipps voices church-state concerns; easements must be included. Gonder dislikes.

Steeple replacement and erection sailed through council at a time when it was imperative to fund various pablum-by-the-numbers Bicentennial galas so that four years later, Bob Caesar still can refuse to provide me specifics on expenditures incurred by his party-like-it's-1817 committee.

(Look for a FOIA request, coming soon; after all, I've waited almost a year)

As was obvious at the time, Councilman Phipps was right about the church/state separation issues inherent in the steeple discussion. In effect, council provided "challenge funding" (John Gonder's words) to one active congregation while withholding it from others, although in retrospect, the steeple's refurbishment may have been the sole Bicentennial gesture toward the city's African-American community -- most of whom do not attend Second Baptist Church.

Water, meet bridge and flow downstream.

All's well that ends ... well, the steeple does look lovely, and it's been immensely entertaining to watch as the city's propaganda arm carefully parsed praise for the project, given that personages high on Oz's Fundamentally Stinkier Enemies List carried the ball for the steeple, Irv Stumler and Jerry Finn prime among them.

Just a thought, but can we do something yet about the street grid that kills people?

Gifts to cover the steeple.

I'm mostly of the view that no city money at all should have been devoted to the refurbishment, but at least most of it is coming from private donations. In a city desperately in need to future thinking, it seems that historic preservation sentiments continue to exercise weirdly disproportionate weight in decision-making when it comes to big ticket projects. Meanwhile, there are a few hundred vacant lots.

Infill, anyone?

Steeple chase: Push is on to replace a signature piece of New Albany's Town Clock Church; Organization needs $150,000 to replace landmark steeple, by Daniel Suddeath (The Tifton Gazette)

NEW ALBANY — There’s light at the end of the tunnel.

Less than two years into the project, the organization Friends of the Town Clock Church has raised about $233,000 toward the rehabilitation of the building that is the namesake of the organization.

And the focus is on the former focal point of Town Clock Church — the sizable steeple that served as a sign of freedom to slaves coming from Kentucky during the Civil War era.

“We’d love to get a single gift to cover the steeple,” said Jerry Finn, a member of Friends of the Town Clock Church and one of the organizers of the refurbishment project ...

• To learn more about how to donate, visit the website townclockchurch.org

Future site of church steeple viewing zone.

At last evening's council gathering, the third reading of a bill to tithe $75,000 from EDIT against  matching grants to repair the steeple of the Second Baptist Church was approved. Greg Phipps and Scott Blair voted against it, and Kevin Zurschmiede was absent.

Earlier in the day, I took the above photograph. To the rear left, the Reisz building can be glimpsed; last year, 2nd district council person Bob Caesar worked assiduously to prevent it and adjacent neglected buildings from being redeveloped.

In the upper right, there's Bill Allen's eternal pile of moldering rubble; recently, the city's movers and shakers suddenly became pro-active after thirty years of detached silence and encouraged him to paint (that's right) part of the dilapidation as a form of action, penance, or more likely, hurried masturbation. Not unexpectedly, the paint job has done little to arrest the slumlord's masterpiece of decay, but sometimes -- as with the entirety of the city's Doris Day-worthy Bicentennial plan -- it's only about appearances, to the exclusion of content.

In the middle of the photo there's a big, gaping, garbage-strewn, chronically unaddressed vacant spot just out of view, and the seedy sidewalk, perhaps last considered during the Eisenhower administration, occupies center stage. This is the spot where people will gather to stand and admire the church steeple, deemed so vital when SO MANY OTHER THINGS IN THIS TOWN NEED TO BE DONE.

(thanks to LM for the subject heading)