Top Ten posts at NA Confidential for May 2018.

Puffed-up pillars' pilferage landed at No. 1.

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

City Hall's allegations to the contrary, it can be grasped quite clearly that hundreds of you are reading, and we believe this fact attests to a keen ongoing interest in grassroots New Albany stories, perhaps because they're being chronically under-served elsewhere. After all, fawning stenography and inexorably multiplying religion columnists can get a newspaper only so far.

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

MAY HONORABLE MENTION (5)

488

Gahan Money Machine: The Beam, Longest and Neff firm takes its turn at the wheel of the mayor's gravy train.

As you might expect, crumbs from the absurdly titled Mt. Tabor Road Restoration and Pedestrian Safety Project (did Pinocchio Rosenbarger coin that gem of purely Orwellian Newspeak?) conveniently landed in the mayor's re-election piggy bank.

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550

"Kevin Hammersmith loved the local community and Floyd County Parks system."

I'm a cynic by inclination and preference, but it doesn't preclude me from being happy that there's a park named for Kevin Hammersmith.

I'm also glad the county pushed and completed this project. If Gahan had gotten hold of it, the park probably would be called the Lanz Dome.

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551

You keep singing "My Old Kentucky Home." I do not think it means what you think it means.

“It was a fantastic way to market Kentucky, which at the time had this reputation of being violent and corrupt and poor and a mess.”

The more things change, the more they stay exactly the same ... look, I'm always reluctant to trouble the revelers with facts, but here goes.

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628

Comments to city council: "Let’s talk about Develop New Albany’s second edition of the Taco Walk."

I’d like to ask at what point this organization, which I believe still receives a funding tithe each year from the city, is held accountable for matters like these – like cultural appropriation and infringement of intellectual property rights, or is it fine so long as that mayoral anchor seal of approval is hanging around their necks?

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712

This just in: "I urge We Are New Albany supporters to back LaMicra Martin in tomorrow's primary."

Moments ago, We Are New Albany posted two social media statements. Above is the list of candidates in tomorrow's primary who have made a public statement addressing the future of pubic housing in the wake of Mayor Jeff Gahan's hostile takeover of the New Albany Housing Authority.

MAY TOP TEN

744

Voter turnout yesterday in Floyd County was marginally better, but still pretty bad.

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765

Following up: "An Indiana county is paying a steep price for burying toxic coal ash." That's us, folks.

Kudos to Bob Frederick for keeping this story alive. He went through a fair amount of crap, but today's piece in the CJ has to feel like vindication for him.

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871

Panel of polemicists proposes an exciting non-Reisz city hall relocation idea.

These adaptive reuse pieces took a while to come together, but now it's my pleasure to offer an viable alternative to David Barksdale's City Hall's plan (or is it David Barksdale's City Hall's plan -- so very confused) to deploy millions of back-scratching dominoes (and dollars) so that the neglected/dilapidated Reisz furniture building might be used for city offices.

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897

On Spring Street today by Breakwater, a bicyclist riding in a bike lane was hit by a driver.

A friend just wrote that her husband was riding his bike home from work this afternoon on Spring Street and was hit by a driver, who claimed to be "watching for cars, not bikes" while pulling into Spring from a side street.

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1,031

Bicycles and sidewalks? As always, New Albany's legal stance is as clear as mud -- and City Hall gazes at the ceiling.

We've all been here before, but the fake factoids never cease, so let's have another look at the question of whether it is legal to ride a bicycle on the sidewalk in New Albany. Not unexpectedly in a state with its own contradictory laws, sections of the official code of ordinances in New Albany don't jibe.

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1,176

From the makers of Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey: "The old Pillsbury Plant becomes the new home for Sazerac Company."

The devil remained firmly within the nooks and crannies of the details, and until we know how much Sazerac's arrival will cost us, prudence is the rule. This noted, Sazerac's investment at the former Pillsbury has the potential to be a good thing.

Let's take a brief look at Sazerac. First, the company.

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1,624

Remembering Chloe Allen -- and the unfinished task of making streets safe for all users, not just drivers.

As the late Chloe Allen's former neighbor pointed out yesterday, the second anniversary of her tragic death fell on squarely on Mother's Day.

It's also the second anniversary of Mayor Jeff Gahan's refusal to say her name aloud, or even to acknowledge her passing.

I'm sure that's just a coincidence. I thought it prudent to wait a bit before mentioning it, and asking: Is the intersection in question safer now? Perhaps marginally. It's still a terrifying place to watch the very worst that drivers can be.

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1,908

The former Comfy Cow location will become a bar, but we have no further details.

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2,709

Let's all eat at Israel's Delicias de Mexico Gourmet on Saturday, May 19.

If you're not planning on Taco Walking and still need to eat at some point on Saturday, May 19, allow me to suggest that while it isn't located in the epicenter of downtown New Albany, Israel's Delicias de Mexico Gourmet (1515 E. Market Street) would be a great place to have a meal.

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3,459

"This girl’s idea was not hers anymore": Taco Walk's real founder explains how Develop New Albany stole her idea, as Jeff Gahan looked on, grinning.

Kelly's to be commended for channeling her anger into positive action. What happened to her last year makes me want to start tossing Molotov cocktails. Team Gahan's unaccountable cliquish minions keep empowering DNA's unaccountable bad behavior, which is embarrassing by junior high school standards, much less coming from an organization that purports to "lead."

How do these people sleep at night?

Letter to the editor: "I read your column on the Taco Walk, and the young lady's accompanying essay in full. I have sympathy for her."

Following is a letter to the editor of NA Confidential authored by Mike Ladd, onetime director of the Urban Enterprise Association.

Ladd knows all too well of which he writes. He was chewed up and spat out by New Albany's perpetually self-interested and wholly unprincipled Democratic Party patronage machine, and it wasn't pretty.

This preparatory link from May 8, 2017 is the place to begin exploring the background of Ladd's experience, with many more articles to be found searching by label at NAC: Mike Ladd.

Jeff Gahan has fired Bob Lane, and if you're wondering how Gahan treats his vanquished enemies ... remember Mike Ladd?

Earlier this evening, Bob Lane was fired as director of the New Albany Housing Authority. It is likely other long-term NAHA employees also will be purged.

It's important to remember that the stealth public housing putsch of 2017 was years in the making, and that it has been authored by Jeff Gahan. The board? Mere groveling sycophants. Gahan owns this, just as he owns his team's jihad and subsequent character assassination against former Urban Enterprise Association director Mike Ladd ... what Nick Cortolillo said in 2012 about Gahan's annexation of the UEA applies just as succinctly now, with the NAHA.

"The city of New Albany wanted unlimited access to the enterprise association’s revenue and Ladd was in the way."

Change the word "revenue" to "land," and "Ladd" to "Lane" -- and there it is.

Again.

Feeling good about yourselves, Democrats? Apparently Gahan assumes you'll continue to fall over yourselves in the scramble to kiss his ring.

He might be right, alas.

And who was Gahan's designated hit man when Ladd was taken down and City Hall grabbed the UEA for itself?

None other than David "Camorra Envy" Duggins, since installed following the NAHA putsch to orchestrate the mayor's public housing demolition and land grab.

They're just lovely people, aren't they?

Here's the letter.

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I read your column on the Taco Walk, and the young lady's accompanying essay in full. I have sympathy for her.

I underwent the same treatment when we at the Urban Enterprise Association initially worked with the England administration to beautify downtown, and then I found myself battling false claims from Develop New Albany about their "contributions" to the project and how "actively involved" they were in planning, designing and paying for the work.

​At the same time, DNA initiated an active campaign against me personally and the UEA more broadly, claiming I had somehow convinced the UEA board to stop funding DNA and hire me instead. Fact is, I was already the UEA's employee. Truth be told, the UEA did not want to pay for DNA's employee, whom they had doubts about skills-wise. That is why they hired their own employee.

If DNA wanted their own employee they could have had it, IF THEY HAD DEVELOPED FUNDRAISING PROGRAMS that would have paid her salary. Instead, the DNA board wanted us to continue paying for their employee. 

The problem here is similar to the Taco Walk problem; they came to see the UEA money as theirs, just as they have laid claim to the Walk. What was that quote from the DNA board member: 'Once you bring something to us, it is ours'? Not exact, but the point remains. Once DNA sinks its claws into something, anything, it becomes theirs; even when it isn't. Everything they touch is corrupted.

Unfortunately, the England administration saw opportunity, and under the cover of wanting to promote "unity," they instead promoted discord.

For all, outward appearances -- maybe in spite of them -- it looks like the community remains the same underneath.

Mike Ladd

"This girl’s idea was not hers anymore": Taco Walk's real founder explains how Develop New Albany stole her idea, as Jeff Gahan looked on, grinning.

Meet the pillars (2017).

Kelly's to be commended for channeling her anger into positive action. What happened to her last year makes me want to start tossing Molotov cocktails. Team Gahan's unaccountable cliquish minions keep empowering DNA's unaccountable bad behavior, which is embarrassing by junior high school standards, much less coming from an organization that purports to "lead."

Comments to city council: "Let’s talk about Develop New Albany’s second edition of the Taco Walk."

How do these people sleep at night?

NEW ALBANY SOCIAL (May 19, 2018): WHAT’S TODAY?

Today is a difficult day for me. I still carry around a lot of hurt feelings from what happened to me last August. But I also carry around a lot of gratitude from what happened last August. I have debated on writing this because I preach almost daily about how my page is a positive page, but I have also been completely open and honest with everyone. So here we are...

If you don’t know the story ...

Comments to city council: "Let’s talk about Develop New Albany’s second edition of the Taco Walk."

Let's all eat at Israel's Delicias de Mexico Gourmet on Saturday, May 19.

Today is the second iteration of the Taco Walk, now a "signature" Develop New Albany event, and accordingly, non-agenda public speaking time at Thursday's city council meeting was devoted to reading the following summary, which also has been sent to the city clerk for inclusion in the official minutes of the meeting. 

This way, in the absence of public dialogue (and with the newspaper predictably AWOL), at least there's a permanent record of sorts. We're hoping nothing happens today to compel revisiting this topic -- at least until next year. 

Of course, DNA might begin to show responsiveness to reality by removing the sombrero from the "official" event poster, but even this lies beyond the organization's ability. 

It's sad. Very, very sad.

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COMMENT TO CITY COUNCIL DURING NON-AGENDA SPEAKING TIME, THURSDAY 17 MAY 2018

Let’s talk about Develop New Albany’s second edition of the Taco Walk, coming this Saturday (May 19).

There are two fundamental problems, neither of which the organization has been willing to address openly – although let me tell you, I’ve tried, but in New Albany, the anchor seal of approval apparently means never having to answer e-mails, admit errors, say you’re sorry or turn mistakes into useful teaching tools – which is what should be happening here if we can just un-circle the wagons.

First, cultural appropriation, which is defined as “a concept dealing with the adoption of the elements of a minority culture by members of the dominant culture. It is distinguished from equal cultural exchange due to the presence of a colonial element and imbalance of power.”

As for imbalances, the most recent numbers show that the population of New Albany is 85% White, 8% African-American and 3% Hispanic/Latino.

So, Taco Walk was brought to DNA in 2017 by a citizen volunteer named Kelly Winslow, as a way of showcasing any and all downtown restaurants willing to fashion a taco, without reference to ethnicity, including Japanese tacos, vegan tacos, fudge tacos or any other creative flourish.

As it turns out, local memories are short. In 2015, then-president James Ramsey of the University of Louisville was photographed with university administrative workers dressed to party in sombreros, serapes and fake mustaches. There was a tremendous scandal, and the university was compelled to apologize.

Less than two years later, DNA’s brain trust repeated Ramsey’s mistake, with the governing committee itself, minus Winslow (the volunteer, who was horrified) bringing sombreros and maracas to Taco Walk, then adding the creative twist of parading through the streets while singing the Frito Bandito corn chip theme song, and posing for photos in the News and Tribune – which also failed to notice what was happening.

Really? Do any of them pay attention to internet essays each year during Cinco de Mayo warning against bad behavior?

By the way, the Frito Bandito song was written by a New York City ad agency in the late 1960s. There’s nothing Mexican about it. There are good reasons to wear a sombrero, but cultural appropriation is when you borrow the symbols and use them to reinforce a stereotype, which in this instance is the view that while Mexicans are happy napping while using a sombrero as shade, and rising from their naps to sing and dance, it’s unlikely they’ll do any useful work – and this, as most of us should know by now, is really, really dumb.

I’m hoping that DNA’s brain trust knows better than to stage a minstrel show in blackface, or have a wet t-shirt contest, or indulge in preening lisping stereotyping of gay Americans of the sort that used to be Hollywood caricatures, and if they know better in these cases, then the sombrero-wearing, maraca-shaking misbehavior should be left to the ticket-buying public; if Joe Six Pack wants to make a complete fool out of himself, fine, but DNA itself shouldn’t encourage it.

The second issue has to do with Winslow, who brought the idea to DNA in the first place, thinking she’d found an organization to partner with, but was very disappointed in the way Taco Walk went down. She decided to take her idea and decline further participation, to which DNA said nope, it’s ours now.

It may not have been intellectual property rights enforced by written contract, but if you ask me, that’s still thievery. From where I’m sitting DNA has been bullying and trolling Winslow ever since, and I’m not the only one who’s noticed it.

I’d like to ask at what point this organization, which I believe still receives a funding tithe each year from the city, is held accountable for matters like these – like cultural appropriation and infringement of intellectual property rights, or is it fine so long as that mayoral anchor seal of approval is hanging around their necks?

Last year, seeing a Taco Walk board member wearing a sombrero, shaking maracas and singing the Frito Bandito song made one employee of a downtown eatery cry.

When does DNA apologize, not just to her, but to us all?

Thank you.

With Taco Walk a week away, isn't it time for Develop New Albany to publicly take the cultural appropriation pledge and ditch the sombreros?

Did you know the Frito Bandito character was created in the late
1960s by the Foote, Cone & Belding advertising agency?

To casual observers, it might not make sense to wait until May 12, a full week after Cinco de Mayo, to spotlight an article about cultural appropriation in the context of this annual exercise in derivative marketing.

But in New Albany, very little makes cultural sense and almost everything is derivative, including Develop New Albany, our own peculiar institution, currently functioning as an appendage of Mayor Gahan's re-election effort, and thus beholden to a succession of 1:00 a.m. mobile phone directives.

As long as DNA continues to evade its "Taco Walk" ramifications of stereotyping and cultural appropriation, we'll keep bringing it up.

Which is to say, what you do on your own time is your burden, but shouldn't we expect a higher standard from organizations tied to municipal government?

Who'd have guessed? William Anthony Nericcio's "aggressive, relentless, and, at times, pathological interrogation of Mexican, Latina/o, Chicana/o, "Hispanic," Mexican-American, and Latin American stereotypes."

We've pointed to Nericcio's work on several occasions in the hope that the DNA board's daily reading is not restricted to the Collected Exhortations of Dear Leader (indeed, futility is this blog's constant and lamentable companion), but with a week to go until the renewal of Taco Walk, we'll offer another point of reference.

First, to recap, last year citizen volunteer Kelly Winslow brought the Taco Walk idea to DNA, unaware that she needed a lawyer, because from the moment DNA's "leadership" cadre arrived on site bearing sombreros, maracas and printed lyrics from the Frito Bandito's infamously demeaning ode to corn chip hucksterism, the event careened off the rails in terms of cultural awareness, leaving Winslow with little choice except to take back her idea and politely excuse herself -- but no such luck, because not only is Mexican culture ripe for appropriation, so are intellectual property rights, DNA reminding Winslow she could get out any time she liked, but her idea could never leave, and to be perfectly blunt, DNA has been nickel-and-diming and bullying her ever since, which is peachy keen according to well-scrubbed community pillars like DNA's city council liaison David Barksdale, who can't seem to grasp that if appearances in fact are everything (they're not, but we're on a roll now), then the appearance of a sombrero situated atop a middle-aged white person shaking maracas and chanting a 50-year-old advertising ditty, who is representing an organization that benefits from taxpayer dollars, is precisely the wrong one, now and forever.

Consequently, here's a slightly less academic explanation of the overarching point.

Put down the sombrero and back away slowly.

Think we might talk about it during the Tuesday morning merchant meeting this week? It's at 8:30 a.m. at the Pepin Mansion on Main Street.

And don't forget: Let's all eat at Israel's Delicias de Mexico Gourmet on Saturday, May 19.

Here's why your Cinco de Mayo celebration is problematic, by Katie Dupere (Mashable)

Today is Cinco de Mayo, one of the most widely celebrated Mexican holidays in the United States. But all the taco eating and $5 margaritas can cloud what you're actually celebrating — and lead to some nasty cultural appropriation.

That sombrero you're wearing, for instance, is never appropriate, unless you're of Mexican heritage.

But cultural appropriation is more than just a cheap, straw imitation of the wide-brimmed hat. It's parodying a culture without knowledge or respect of its roots. Many non-Mexicans are guilty of this on May 5, knocking back margaritas but totally oblivious to what they're even celebrating.

"In Mexican culture the sombrero, 'ponchos,' the music, the dancing, and even the tequila that was first made by the Aztecs have several cultural struggles behind them that a lot of people don’t understand," Melissa Nuno wrote on Medium earlier this year. "It can be offensive to some when people from other cultures try to own it, especially without at least trying to understand what it means to the people of that culture."

Council Monday: If we're spending $$$ "saving the neglected Reisz Furniture Building to use as a new city hall," then can we be clear as to how it became "neglected" in the first place?

Actually, we already know the whys and wherefores about the neglect. We'd prefer Jeff Gahan or David Barksdale to concede them aloud, but we'll probably have to settle for Mike Hall saying nothing at all -- 'cuz that's the way Dear Leader rolls.

Private sector, here we come.

Can't we have a factually accurate discussion about municipal history, just this once?

ON THE AVENUES: Super Tuesday shrapnel – or, tiptoeing through the tulips with Dan Coffey, now THE face of historic preservation in New Albany.

But there's good news: Coffey's now a skeptic, and he is vigorously advocating a Reisz-xit.

10 short months ago.

Not to be a pest, but we're wondering about the rumored cost overruns. When not chortling over Duggins/Keeneland junkets with women, booze and Duggins, as staged by the preferred contractor's top brass, Denton Floyd's workers have been gossiping freely about the unexpected expenses to stabilize the building.

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Is the price tag escalating for our luxury City Hall at the Reisz Furniture building?

That's because the building's been sitting there barely tended for decades -- in the city's own words (not ours), "neglected."

To neglect something is to not take good care of it, like neglecting your pet salamander by not cleaning its cage, or fail to show your usual affection — neglecting your old friends when you make new ones. The person or thing that endures such shabby treatment is neglected — feeling unloved, ignored, and in need. Another meaning of neglected is "overlooked," like when you neglected to bring your umbrella and got soaked.

In fairness, there'll be a gleaming, windowed Schmitt Furniture rehab when all is said and done; Denton Floyd paid Schmitt Inc. $390,000 for the Reisz building, and now Schmitt Inc. pulls 25% of the cost of facade improvements at the Furniture Corner, with Horseshoe Grants accounting for the 75% match.

That's good leveraging for a "neglected" building -- city's words, not ours.

The Green Mouse also has been hearing rumors about City Hall informing the Harvest Homecoming governing committee that 2018 will be the last year for Fiesta Rides in the parking lot behind the projected City Hall (by the levee). Sidestepping the many ongoing (and in some instances, unresolved) issues pertaining to Harvest Homecoming and the independent business community downtown, it remains that Fiesta Rides generates lots of cash for the festival.

The Mouse thinks that threatening to evict Fiesta Rides is Jeff Gahan's way of staking a claim to a negotiating stance v.v. co-billing for Anchor City and Harvest Homecoming. In other words, the city would offer the festival a subsidy for lost revenue, or a credit for other expenses, in return for branding rights: Hon. Jeff Gahan Presents Harvest Homecoming, or some such.

There are many moving parts in this Reisz story, but unless someone like Coffey decides to ask some hard questions on Monday night, I'm guessing we'll hear only one side of it.

Here's the agenda. The Green Mouse and I will begin drinking shortly after lunch -- and by the way, if you're read this far, it is my intent to use non-agenda public speaking time Monday evening to address the forthcoming Taco Walk: cultural appropriation last year, theft of the founder's intellectual property rights, and the need for city government to monitor Develop New Albany's cliquish tendencies.

One clique overseeing another? This isn't Scandinavia, you know.

Let's all eat at Israel's Delicias de Mexico Gourmet on Saturday, May 19.

Photo credit: Louisville Magazine.

It's already time for the second coming of Taco Walk, and boy, does Develop New Albany have lots of questions to answer (spoiler alert: they're not bothering to try, and Deaf's down with it).

C'mon, DNA: The time has come. A fact's a fact. Taco Walk belongs to her. Why not give it back?

Going into 2018, Develop New Albany has two huge unresolved issues to address pertaining to the Taco Walk last August.

One of these is DNA's encouragement of cultural appropriation during the event, which refers to sombreros, maracas and the Frito Bandito -- or, Mexican, Latina/o, Chicana/o, "Hispanic," Mexican-American, and Latin American stereotyping.

Tacky acts of cultural appropriation simply were not necessary for the success of the Taco Walk, which was intended to be a celebration of the restaurant community and a showcase for downtown. Needless to say, since August, people around the country have lost their jobs for less. I'm not suggesting a purge, but open public dialogue is needed most of all.

The second issue is DNA's blatant expropriation of intellectual property afterward. Simply stated, the idea for the Taco Walk was brought to DNA by Kelly Ott Winslow, a community-minded volunteer outside the organization, and now, in essence, the idea has been stolen from her -- and this is intolerable.

If you're one of the ticket-holders for the second Frito Bandito Walk on May 19, by now a fully annexed and enveloped "signature event" for Develop New Albany, by all means enjoy yourself.

Seriously. No snark. Go out there and have a good time, and don't forget the sunscreen.

Just do me this one favor: Whenever you see a DNA board member shaking maracas, ask him or her where all the money's going.

If you're not planning on Taco Walking and still need to eat at some point on Saturday, May 19, allow me to suggest that while it isn't located in the epicenter of downtown New Albany, Israel's Delicias de Mexico Gourmet (1515 E. Market Street) would be a great place to have a meal.

Anytime, in fact, but especially on Saturday, May 19.

In 2017, it was explained to me that Taco Walk organizers deemed Chef Israel Landin's eatery to be too far away from the historic core to merit inclusion on the walk. When I asked one of them why Israel wasn't participating, I was told something to the effect of "well, because it's a walk."

Okay, fine. I've walked (and biked) miles for a great beer, but given the event's geographical rationale, that's probably irrefutable.

This year's rationale is summarized in a Facebook exchange, which is the first instance in months of a question I've asked actually being answered. Is there a thaw underway?

To summarize: Last year no one asked Chef Israel; this year, someone did, and yet I'm not surprised he didn't answer affirmatively -- especially after the suburban sombrero follies of 2017. He's a skilled, experienced and highly trained food professional, and a proud man to boot.

It seems a shame, and perhaps even an embarrassment, to stage a Taco Walk without a gifted chef and a civic treasure who, in point of actual fact, taught damn near all of us in New Albany just how wonderful Mexican cuisine can really be.

Hence my unsolicited sales pitch on behalf of Chef Israel. If you're on the Taco Walk, wonderful. If not, consider showing Israel some love by dining at Delicias de Mexico Gourmet on May 19. Tell them Roger sent you.  

The Confidentials will be putting their money where my mouth is, circa 6:00 p.m. Please consider doing the same.

In 2018, DNA's artlessly purloined Taco Tone Deaf Cultural Appropriation Walk moves forward to May 19, with the Frito Bandito returning as Grand Marshal.

Here it comes again -- and a couple months early.

My guess is that the Taco Walk's repositioning in May is intended to replace Team Gahan's moribund "Boomtown" franchise, serving as lead-in to the Bicentennial Park Summer Concert Series, presented by YOU KNOW WHO.

None of this is to suggest that Develop New Albany has publicly addressed either (a) the cultural appropriation it encouraged during last year's version, or (b) the way the organization has flat stolen the idea from the volunteer who brought it to DNA in the first place.

Most recently on January 11, I addressed these matters in my weekly ON THE AVENUES column, a portion of which is reprinted below.

And no: for the ?nth consecutive time, my questions were neither answered nor the inquiry even acknowledged, as if DNA has executive sanction to operate beyond the reach of transparency and common decency.

Which, of course, it does.

#FireGahan2019

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Jeeebus, nightmares are awful. After all, I seldom drink vodka. Meanwhile, wide awake in Giddy Giddy City, I’ve decided to have one last stab at penetrating DNA’s veil of secrecy – or maybe it is better described as an embarrassment of kitsches?

Following is the e-mail that will be going out to the board, just as soon as I have a beer.

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To: Develop New Albany’s board and staff person

Greetings,

You may recall my most recent e-mail, asking for Develop New Albany’s perspective on recurring issues pertaining to the Taco Walk.

Sadly, as with the three (four?) e-mails preceding it, I have not received any sort of reply. I wrote my articles without DNA’s input; not my preference, but gratifyingly, these two posts collected some of the highest page view numbers my humble blog experienced in 2017. It seems the community is very interested in Develop New Albany.

Here are the links with excerpts.

December 29: DNA's and the newspaper's masks ... or, thoughts occasioned by an excellent essay called "Meet the man who hides behind a mask"

 ... The volunteer concluded she wasn't happy with the way her idea was implemented -- cultural appropriation was among the reasons for her decision -- and so, working under the assumption the Main Street organization possesses a fundamental sense of decency, she told DNA she'd be taking it back for a future reboot.

Um, nope. Seems the anchor already had been dropped.

DNA wasted no time in sending her packing: Taco Walk belongs to DNA now, and the organization will do with it as it pleases -- and don't bother running to Big Daddy Gahan, because the fix is always in.

And this.

December 31: C'mon, DNA: The time has come. A fact's a fact. Taco Walk belongs to her. Why not give it back?

 ... There is a simple way to resolve the situation.

To begin the New Year on a high note, the truly decent thing for Develop New Albany and Mayor Jeff Gahan to do is to say they're sorry, both for the cultural appropriation and the intellectual property violation, and to give the Taco Walk back to whom it belongs, although I'm forever mindful of that old Biblical observation about a camel and the eye of the needle.

First this. Then we have the open, above board discussion about cultural appropriation. There is no reason why this cannot be resolved satisfactorily.

Basic human decency, guys. I know you can do it.

It's not about me or my pen.

It's about doing the right thing.

I’m planning a letter on this topic to the News and Tribune fairly soon (the absentee Fourth Estate is a whole other story), so please be aware that if there comes a time when DNA elects at long last to speak publicly about this matter – the Taco Walk’s inexcusable cultural appropriation, the subsequent expropriation of another person’s idea, or any sub-topic therein – I’ll happily publish DNA’s thoughts at the blog, standing alone, without any comment on my part.

In other words, please step forward, make the organization’s case and be a part of the dialogue. I wish it were possible to convey to you how much might be accomplished by doing the decent thing in this instance. You could lead by example, but you’re fleeing for the safety of the circled wagons where the mayor pitches his tent.

Can't you just talk about it openly?

Concurrently, several other requests remain outstanding, so kindly allow me to repeat them. Answers would be appreciated.

First, I’m still curious about the disposition of monthly morning merchant meetings. Are they still being held? If so, I’m no longer receiving e-mail notifications about them. To rule out a problem with my current address, allow me yet again to ask that it be changed to this: mayorbaylor(at)gmail(dot)com

Kindly note that I’m actively working as a beer consultant with more than one current and future business owner in downtown New Albany. If for some reason I’ve been banned or excluded from meetings, that’s fine, if misguided, but at least let me know the definitive situation so these business owners can submit their e-mail addresses and be kept within city hall’s “official” (see what I did there, David?) information loop.

Second, on several occasions I’ve asked that Develop New Albany reveal its annual funding level as tithed from the city of New Albany. During my stint on the DNA board a decade ago, it was in the range of $5,000 per annum. I understand DNA is a de facto arm of government these days, so surely the public has a right to know how much it’s costing them?

Thanks for your time. As always, I look forward to an actual reply.