NA Confidential: September

Showing posts with label September. Show all posts

Friday, October 04, 2019

Gahan's ineptly reinstalled "fork on the sidewalk hidden by cars" leads September's Top Ten at NA Confidential.

After, being ineptly dumped by Carmel-based vandals.

Thanks for reading NA Confidential, where we enjoy reconnoitering the neglected periphery for uniquely local perspectives on life in New Albany. Otherwise your only choice would be the Jeffersonville News and Evangel-bune, and that's a fate almost as unrewarding as light beer consumption.

September proved to be a good month for readership, so we'll list ten honrable mentions, followed by the top ten posts, preceded by a new special category.

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SCOURGE OF NEW ALBANIAN IRONY SICKNESS POST OF THE MONTH

A reader writes, we answer: "Roger, when you ran for mayor, didn't Extol Magazine have a profile about you?"

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(10) HONORABLE MENTION FOR SEPTEMBER

663

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Did Team Gahan really eject former mayor James Garner from its campaign kickoff love-in last Saturday?

"At some point I saw (former mayor) James Garner, and I thought good, this means we're past the primary, and the party can get back together again, but then the mayor's son-in-law (Chris Gardner) and police chief (Todd) Bailey went over and started barking orders at Garner. I could only hear some of what they were saying -- they were telling him to leave! I couldn't believe it, chasing an ex-mayor and a lifelong Democrat away from the kickoff. I mean what have we become? Are we Democrats or some sort of gangsters?"

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691

Vote for Thunder the Wonder Ferret as a write-in for New Albany City Council District 3.

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694

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Slick Jeffie's snarling true colors in last evening's non-debate.

"Gahan raised his voice and made this petulant snarl about how his balance was perfectly budgeted and the city's finances were in great shape. He yelled at Seabrook and said 'you're one to talk' since he's never had a balanced budget, and some other inaudible crackling.

"Slick Jeffie did a great job of showing his true colors. Seabrook definitely got under his skin last night."

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735

"Not a Cool Kid in High School? Study Says You Should Probably Be Relieved."

In NA politics, it’s all about sitting with the Cool Kids at lunch.
-- attentive blog reader D

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792

Happy 10th birthday to Toast on Market.

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821

C.R.E.A.M. y'all: Slick Jeffie releases cookout menu for Saturday, September 7 love fest.

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866

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

In 2019, this European-style Social Democrat will be voting for Mark Seabrook for mayor of New Albany.

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869

Mark Seabrook attended the mayoral forum at the Southern Indiana Realtors Association. Jeff Gahan skipped it. Remember that, voters.

Seabrook?

He shows up.

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902

Watch Jeff Gahan abuse (a) the League of Women Voters' Q&A format, (b) Mark Seabrook and (c) the intelligence of voters.

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943

Slick Jeffie's wasteful masterpiece: $85,000 + $406,522 = the price for traffic lights at a downtown intersection where a four-way stop would work just fine.

The intersection of Bank and Main could be easily calmed and regulated by the installation of a four-way stop, with a few stop signs and red flashers like the ones recently installed at the intersection of 13th and Elm -- itself a stupidly hazardous place that the city's "brain trust" insisted for years wasn't an issue, but finally became necessary to "fix" so that Greg Phipps could have something to campaign on.

Stop signs at the intersection of Bank and Main might cost a couple thousand dollars. So, how do we do it in Jeff Pay-to-PlayHan's Anchor City?

(10) TOP TEN POSTS FOR SEPTEMBER

1,000

"Mayor's daughter arrested on drug charges."

Versailles is a city with fewer than 9,000 residents. Fred Siegelman appears to have been the all too familiar "mayor for life" type with at least three full terms before resigning in 2013. He appears to have been elected to city council in 2018. For all I know he was a competent mayor, seemingly theatrical, but that's hardly uncommon. All of the following is a matter of public record, albeit dated -- and be aware that this blog supports the legalization of marijuana.

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1,007

Vote Al Knable and Christina Estill for New Albany City Council At-Large.

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1,033

Power move: Him Gentleman's Boutique and Mane Alley Color & Extension Bar to transform the moribund Preston Arts Building.

Great story here, with Him Gentleman's Boutique and Mane Alley Color & Extension Bar purchasing and revamping a moribund building. Downtowners have known about this for a while, and it is good news indeed. Construction at RecBar across the street is underway, meaning that quite soon TWO redundant structures will have been put back to use.

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1,046

Resch, Sprigler, Bass and Donaldson present plans for Union Restaurant & GameYard, a new downtown Jeffersonville entertainment center.

"What we're bringing to the table is an asset to Jeff," Resch said. "It's going to be a destination to bring people downtown. You can tell by the drawings that we've put a lot of thought, time and effort into it. We're going to throw the right amount of money at it to make it a good project."

The sprawling layout for Union Restaurant & GameYard will comprise two houses sitting on West Chestnut St., the parking lot that separates them and an empty yard behind one of the houses.

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1,050

Which of these monstrously ugly downtown structures is the worst of all?

Just horrifying.

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1,066

Board and You Bistro & Wine Bar announced for 434 Pearl Street, coming in the Spring of 2020.

Note that 434 Pearl Street is the corner commercial space where Matt McMahan intended to launch a cidery a few years ago. Matt no longer owns the building.

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1,069

An unsolicited testimonial for the Irish Rover.

The Reidys have busted their humps throughout, but the aspect of their business experience that speaks to me is success in executing an existing idea -- the Irish pub, as opposed to the German beer hall or Belgian beer cafe -- by establishing a constant core of daily undertow, while allowing for creativity and evolution around the edges.

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1,244

Recbar 812 build-out underway. Here's my beer advice.

Always a pleasure to link to the IU Southeast newspaper.

Here's a suggestion for Recbar 812. If they're intent on 20 draft lines, then become an unofficial "tied" house for an Indiana brewery (obviously contractual agreements are not legal) and devote half those lines to them.

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1,834

Just tell me why we should refrain from pointing to the wealth amassed by religious personalities like the late Rev. Berniece Hicks.

Hicks was a preacher, and she had a church. Maybe she owned the church; maybe it owned her. Obviously she owned lots of stuff. One needn't devote hours of research to grasp that the church Hicks founded has been controversial almost from the beginning, as this front page from 1979 attests.

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2,269

Return of the Fork in the Road public art installation -- bad location, but it's Gahanism, after all.

Before, where it actually made sense.

Saturday, October 06, 2018

The Top Ten list of most-viewed September 2018 posts at NA Confidential.

Thanks for reading NA Confidential, where we enjoy reconnoitering the neglected periphery for uniquely local perspectives on life in New Albany.

The September most-viewed list begins with ten "honorable mention" posts, before concluding with the Top Ten, escalating to No. 1. These statistics are derived from Google's internal accounting.

SEPTEMBER HONORABLE MENTION (10)

436

Death to chains, death to Dunkin Donuts -- and spare me the tired argument that it's a "local" business.

Charle's Marohn's piece at Strong Towns is almost five years old, but no less relevant now than it was in 2014.

Next time you're playing bumper cars and competing for inches of asphalt on State Street, look up past the runoff waterfalls to the plateau called Summit Springs, where the buildings being constructed will house businesses like Dunkin Donuts, the subject of Marohn's focus.

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439

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Nick Vaughn unveils new web site.

Transparency, 21st-century solutions and a potshot at "career politicians"? The Mouse still isn't in possessions of details, but he definitely approves.

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471 (tie)

See, it even happens to Charles Marohn of Strong Towns: "I was constantly accused of being negative, of having nothing positive to say."

In co-founding Strong Towns, Marohn sought "to start raising questions about America’s approach to land use and the ﬁnancial impracticalities suburban sprawl encourages." And, coming full circle, those benefiting the most from the financial impracticalities sprawl encourages are precisely the ones who can't see the positive nature of Marohn's critique.

Hence the backlash. It's Yogi Berra all over again.

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471 (tie)

PINTS & UNION PORTFOLIO: Hacker-Pschorr Original Oktoberfest is on tap, and here's a style primer.

This beer began as a dark lager brewed in spring, and held until harvest festival season in autumn. It changed in step with advancements in malting technique and shifting popular tastes, lightening from dark brown to orange/amber, and nowadays to tawny golden, though with the basic full, malty flavor balance remaining consistent throughout.

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478

PINTS & UNION PORTFOLIO: Beer Ed 101 is coming in October to an outstanding pub near you.

Favoring a certain flavor is merely a starting point. Knowing the whys and wherefores helps to place flavors in context. Beer education provides the back story, and helps expand the consumer's savvy. In my experience, it transforms casual adherents into evangelists and spreaders of the better beer gospel.

I believe in it, and so for the first time since 2012, you're invited to Beer Ed 101 at Pints&union.

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482

This Top Ten list of most-viewed August posts at NA Confidential was the hardest one to compile, ever.

New Albany's "brand" is an anchor because we're a ship of fools.

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501

City election in 2019, bridge repairs in 2021. One should be a forum to prepare for the other.

If the toll-free bridge closure is inevitable, we might as well kick back and ask this important question, joyfully or otherwise: shouldn't there be a level of local preparation, and shouldn't this be a prime campaign topic during next year's local races?

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532

Democrat David White to announce his candidacy for mayor of New Albany at noon on Monday, October 1.

"David White, local businessman, will announce his bid for Mayor of the City of New Albany! All citizens are welcome to take part in this public announcement. #DW4NA #PeopleFirst"

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545

PINTS & UNION PORTFOLIO: Johnny Drum Private Stock is the bourbon, and Civil War drummer boys are the inspiration for a tune.

I'm the beer guy, but I'm also a beer guy who is forever in favor of learning more about spirits --and history. When I saw we'd started carrying a bourbon called Johnny Drum, it intrigued me, so I did a bit of research.

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555

Lamentation aplenty as Joe Huber's Family Farm prepares to be parceled and auctioned.

There's no doubting the level of pure country boy genius behind the idea that city folks would be wiling to drive 35 miles out of their way to do the work themselves and pay the property owner for the privilege.

That's hall-of-fame savvy, and there ought to be a plaque somewhere.

At the same time, it's simultaneously the best and worst component of a family business to be comprised of family members.

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619

ON THE AVENUES: If this is adulting, I’d rather be leaving on a jet plane.

In the context of human history, as hundreds of millions of our species lived and died with very few elective choices apart from doing whatever was necessary to survive long enough to procreate, “adulting” as a concept could only have been recently formulated by youthful residents of the richest impoverished country this planet has yet seen.

SEPTEMBER TOP TEN

655

LIVE TO EAT: Downtown food and drink update: La Tiendita, Cafe 157, Gospel Bird, Double Barrel and Longboard's.

The following survey of downtown New Albany food and drink is not intended to be comprehensive, but merely an overview of past days' browsing.

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688

Holy cow, Joe Sixpack! It turns out your own two eyes were right about Summit Springs stormwater runoff.

We've been conditioned to expect that the newspaper's coverage now will cease, at least until the next rainfall event occurs. Usually it does, and this isn't the responsibility of the reporters. It's about management, which in the News & Tribune's case restricts the bulk of local coverage to feel-good human interest stories and gets investigative only when the target is sufficiently distant to pose no threat to the bottom line.

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700

Nick Vaughn forms exploratory committee, then joins anti-KKK protesters in Madison.

The requisite Indiana form asks the filer to explain why he or or she is forming the committee, and Vaughn answered with "feasibility of a citywide campaign." The Green Mouse is hazarding a guess that it's not a campaign for city clerk, but beyond this, we know little.

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711

How the Williams Plumbing trucks block vision at 9th & Spring -- a pictorial.

I'm not sure if I can illustrate these problems any more clearly than this, although as in the past, I honestly believe it would be helpful for those city officials in charge of such matters to come outside for once and view the scene from the ground, as so many of us do every day.

Perhaps only then will this combination of danger and neglect make the necessary impression.

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778

ON THE AVENUES SPECIAL EDITION: As David White's mayoral campaign begins, let's briefly survey the electoral landscape.

White couldn't be any more clear as to the gist of his coming campaign: Gahan has the city on the wrong course, and he must be "fired."

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893

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: David White addresses citizens and city employees in a News & Tribune insert today, denouncing deception, bullying, non-transparency and debt.

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1,372

Technically, Chick-fil-A was correctly using sandbags in a vain effort to deter Summit Springs stormwater runoff.

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1,427

Bliss Artisan Ice Cream & Handcrafted Pizza is to occupy the long vacant Breakwater retail space.

The retail space in the Breakwater has been blissfully moribund since the luxury housing complex was built, but now there's to be a tenant called Bliss Artisan. The business bills itself as ice cream shop that also sells pizza.

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4,146

Plot twist as Jenna Clem (Huber) takes to Go Fund Me: "Save Joe Huber's Family Farm."

Jenna Clem says there's another side to the story. I have no dogs in this fight, but let's allow the daughter have her say. Click through to read the entire testimonial.

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4,939

BOW reveals Senor Iguana's to occupy the former Dragon King's Daughter space at the corner of Elm and Bank.

Speaking of tacos, Señor Iguanas Restaurantes Mexicanos will be occupying a space just yards away from Taco Steve at Bank Street Brewhouse, just a couple blocks from the new Longboard's Taco & Tiki, with La Tiendita only a block away from Longboard's. That's a Taco Walk in itself, and year-round. Maybe DNA should invest in its own food truck?

Monday, October 02, 2017

The 2019 mayoral race is handed a critical debating point: "$80M Sherman Minton Bridge project to extend life up to 50 years."

I missed all the fun with last week's Sherman Minton repair revelations, but it seems the beaming powers-that-be are making reassurances about the absence of future tolling. They're not to be trusted any longer than Dan Coffey's attention span.

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391 (tie)

ON THE AVENUES: Sniffles, gratitude and mental exhaustion. Apparently vacation is over.

Earlier this month, while enjoying the hop parade in Poperinge, a Moroccan feast in Mechelen and most importantly, the reclaiming of lapsed friendships in Haarlem, I was keenly aware of all these intersecting lines: where I’ve been, what I’ve learned, the state of my own consciousness, the absence of those who’ve left the room, and the sands in that damned cliché of an hourglass.

I thought a lot about the 14 years it took us just to make that street in front of the house run both directions … and how I’m not sure I want to devote another decade and a half to the next incremental, delayed and imperfectly understood example of what I just saw with my own two eyes in the Netherlands.

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391 (tie)

Toto, we're not on Spring Street any more -- and other 2-pocalypse fallout shelters.

Stunningly, as though genuinely adept at debating, the mayor scores points against Seabrook, who has not ever showed even a slight grasp of street grid modernity.

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398

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Dine Company + 302 Pearl Street buildout = ?

The Green Mouse was staggering eastbound on Market earlier this afternoon after a yummy meal of Aladdin and Cuban rum, and spotted this Dine Company truck's crew working inside the as-yet unfinished suite at 302 Pearl Street.

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400

Luddites wail, but Market Street slated to return to rationality next Tuesday morning.

The newspaper's Morris attended this morning's piano anniversary meeting, and he reports that Market Street's reversion to two-way traffic will come next Tuesday, September 12, to be followed by Elm Street at an undisclosed date thereafter.

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403

ASK THE BORED: Elm Street reversion rollout? Don't ask, because it's not the city's top priority, or something like that.

It looks like the newspaper's Elizabeth Beilman drew the short straw for the Board of Works meeting this morning, seeing as the usual Bored observer Chris Morris was otherwise occupied urging precipitate vigilante action against the owner of 519 Hausfeldt Lane.

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410

Council Thursday: Heads up, tree contractors, because Bob Caesar wants to enforce your asses.

Tonight's power poll winner already is obvious. It's the city attorney, charged with enforcement of a whole new and upwardly revised set of fines for not properly disposing of tree limbs, litter, trash and unsold Bicentennial books.

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436

In letter to newspaper, downtown shop owner disagrees with a parking policy that doesn't exist.

Certainly Betty knows that the two-hour parking signs to which she refers were replacements for previous signs that read precisely the same -- and which have not been enforced for six or seven years, since some time during the reign of King England III.

The current "improvements" aren't the cause of the problem, if any. Rather, it's non-communication once again, and the inability or unwillingness of downtown stakeholders to study and address parking the future of parking.

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452

BREAKING: US Postal Service joins #TheResistance20152019, draws line in sand at the McDonald Lane roundabout.

Tonight's satire is presented by ... hubris. But I still think she means "uniform," not uniformed.

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461

New evidence reveals that New Albany area sign and banner makers contributed heavily to the two-way street lobby.

West you see it. East you don't.

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464

Is it the world's shortest bike lane? Or stealth sharrows?

SEPTEMBER TOP TEN

492

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Wile E. Coyote was booked, so David Duggins will stand in for Rick Pitino as this year's Harvest Homecoming parade figurehead.

The Green Mouse has learned that Mayor Jeff Gahan will designate New Albany Public Hosing Director David Duggins as the official replacement for newly disgraced University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino, who was to have served as grand master of ceremonies for the annual event on Saturday, October 7.

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606

What can two-way drivers see that one-way driver's didn't?

When Spring Street was reverted to two way traffic, some of the first comments I heard were about the urban tableau "looking different" than it did before. As someone who walks a lot, this observation didn't make sense to me, at least until I realized that for many people a one-way perspective has been virtually the only one they've ever seen ... while driving through downtown, and rarely walking.

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683

Follow-up: "Something's happening at 129 W. Market, where Wolf Supermarket used to be."

We've had no official verification, but the circumstantial evidence gathered since the June posting strongly supports 129 W. Market as the future home of Dragon King's Daughter. The Green Mouse was told that DKD would like to be occupying its new home by January 1, 2018.

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718

Grid Control, Vol. 26: The 2-Pocalyptic contagion claims another victim as Market Street capitulates to modernity.

I walked the length of the Market Street reversion, and the first day of two-way traffic appears to have been smooth, with nothing near the agitated (and unwarranted) hair-pulling that accompanied Spring Street's changeover two weeks ago.

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742

Talk about a grand opening -- it's a Good Time to take a look inside what used to be Love's Cafe.

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864

GOP mayoral politics, 2019: Al Knable says no, Mark Seabrook says yes, and we say "WHERE'S THE BEEF, MARK?"

To date, since announcing his exploratory committee, Seabrook has been willing or able to reveal only that his family knew the Scribners personally, he really wants the job, and by extension, it's his turn; he feels it is his sinecure to grab based on longevity and desire alone.

This makes me want to scream, and it cannot cut the mustard.

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1,108

Grid Control, Vol. 27: A case of parking space inconvenience on Market Street.

"Where the street sign has been placed causes me to have to park so far forward that I cross the parking line. If I don't when the kids get out of the car the door hits the sign post. Did anybody (with the street grid engineers) have a ruler when they designed the project?"

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1,268

Spring Street stage block: "It's like buying a new car and then putting it in the garage and driving a rental to work."

"By chance, did anyone notice that Friday on Spring Street the city closed the single eastbound lane for a stage? I want to say we have a nice big stage somewhere already -- it's yellow?"

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2,456

The New Albany location of Urban Bread Co. has closed, meaning that a restaurant opportunity just opened downtown.

Keeping it short and sweet: The Urban Bread Co. location at 145 East Main Street has officially closed, according to Jeff Mouttet, owner of Match Cigar Bar and the departing eatery's landlord.

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2,705

A few views from Hull & High Water's soft opening. Regular business hours begin on Thursday at 4:00 p.m.

Hull & High Water is located at 324 E. Main Street, and if you've been around long enough to recall previous incarnations of this building, be prepared for bedazzlement. Steve Resch always does quality work, but this one is something special. Note the interior "fish tank" art, courtesy of David Thrasher. The long haul begins tonight ..