GREEN MOUSE SAYS: The My Scratch & Dent building has not changed ownership -- at least yet, but Loop Island luxury might depend on it.

The Green Mouse awoke to a tip.

Here is something for the Green Mouse to look into. Rumor has it the My Scratch & Dent property on Silver Street recently was bought by the company who built the Breakwater.

That'd be Flaherty and Collins out of Indianapolis, and this rumor almost surely reflects tangible back-alley spitballing on the part of forever secretive Team Gahan operatives and profit-seeking companies located elsewhere.

However, as of this precise moment the My Scratch & Dent property and the one immediately to the east of it (outlined in blue above) are owned by a company called Nickelin LLC.

You'll see that Nickelin LLC is Joe Zeller; Zeller owns Tiger Trucking, and uses these two properties for truck parking and all-purpose filth distribution.

2015 photo.

On the one hand, Tiger Trucking is no fan of Gahan's; on the other, everyone has their price. It appears that Nickelin LLC purchased these two properties in 2004 for $2.4 million. It's hard to imagine Flaherty and Collins, or any other well-heeled developers, buying these on their own dime. Tax Increment Financing? That's another story, even before the sewer tap-in waiver gifting.

To complete the overview, here are a few seemingly random news items from the past few years.

1. Mayor Gahan seizes the New Albany Housing Authority and includes NAHA's Riverside Terrace apartments -- the housing authority's newest and best units, outlined in yellow above -- on the wish-to-demolish list, confusing even Ben Carson, whose HUD agency wags a prohibitive finger.

2. After long, grinding years of 2:00 a.m. phone calls and drunk texting, the Horseshoe Foundation agrees to give Gahan a few million bucks if he'd just stop harassing it. Part of the lucre goes toward purchasing the Loop Island Wetlands (outlined in red) to be the next crown jewel for the city's quality-of-life, loss-leading parks system.

3. Taking control of the wetlands property, city officials conclude (connive?) that the major impediment to luxury development is the historic brick Moser Tannery building, which would be cost-ineffective to renovate by the matchstick 'n' sheet rock developers of the contemporary. With the city's historic preservationist contingent distracted and bedazzled by the ongoing Reisz Mahal high end city hall project, Moser Tannery doesn't stand a chance, and conveniently is torched -- presumably by the very same homeless people Gahan claims don't exist in his city. One of them probably is named Dmitrov.

4. Clark County finally succeeds in completing the bridge over Silver Creek, connecting the Ohio River Greenway to Clarksville and Jeffersonville, and enhancing the value of every projected "luxury" development in the vicinity.

Nothing against My Scratch & Dent, where we've shopped in the past, but quite obviously Nickelin's/Zeller's two poorly maintained properties are the next barrier to Gahan's skin-deep dreams of Loop Island opulence, as the Moser Tannery and NAHA's building were before this. The tannery is dust; give him another term, and he'll probably come up with a work-around to displace the Riverside Terrace occupants.

Or, conversely, you can #FireGahan2019 and restore a modicum of sanity to the existing megalomania and power trips. 

ASK THE BORED: A few well-placed chicanes on 13th Street should send Tiger Trucking to a more appropriate location for doing its value-extractive business.

If 2017 really is to be the year when the Downtown Grid Modernization Project transitions from the mere rumor of a long overdue, messy compromise of a typically botched Gahanesque half-ass measure to these facets actually appearing in real life, then City Hall's favored minions at HWC Engineering should have long since moved past the stage of ensuring campaign finance rivulets flowing downhill like stormwater from Summit Springs, straight into the mayor's aspirational State Senate coffers, and started the task of rendering splendid Speck into adulterated sausage.

As such, perhaps it isn't too late to reclaim 13th Street for residential quality of life by the simple expedience of chicane installation.

Not chicanery ...

... but chicane, a concept recently explained here.

A chicane is an artificial feature creating extra turns in a road, used in motor racing and on streets to slow traffic for safety. For example, one form of chicane is a short, shallow S-shaped turn, requiring the driver to turn slightly left and then right again to stay on the road, which slows them down.

Yes, we've all been here before.

Last July, NAC explained in great detail (repeated below) that Tiger Trucking's use of 13th Street as an industrial connector, while intended as a petulant middle finger lofted in the general direction of City Hall, actually serves as a daily reminder to people living on this residential street that their quality of life doesn't matter -- and has mattered even less since the city lavished millions on an unnecessary Main Street beautification project, which freed more dysfunctional demons than it rectified.

Isn't it time for the spoiled brat to get a good spanking? Residents of 13th Street deserves better, and a relatively inexpensive chicane or three, backed by a city willing to enforce its own ordinances, might be able to achieve what our 3rd District councilman hasn't bothered recognizing.

Here's the rundown from last July.

Here comes the Tiger Truck Lines rig northbound on 13th Street. The driver has just crossed Market. Behind me is Spring.

Since the advent of the Main Street Beautification Project, Tiger has transformed 13th Street into its own company connector road, regularly using Spring for westbound trucks and Market for eastbound.

Ironically, even though so much of the Main Street project is pure blather, the designers actually did take Tiger's needs into mind when inserting those God-awful medians.

In fact, Tiger never has been somehow excluded from using Main Street, just as it did before.

This is 14th Street, looking south from Dewey. Just over the railroad track is Tiger's scenic headquarters. You can see the K & I Bridge on the horizon.

When a Tiger trucker emerges from its lair on 14th, he or she comes first to Dewey, then Main. Here's the view, looking north toward Main. Prior to the Main Street project, Tiger's employees drove straight and turned onto Main in either direction.

The next three photos show the intersection of Main and 14th. As you can see, the medians are pulled way back to allow for wide turns. It is a huge expanse of asphalt left open for only one reason -- for truckers like Tiger's to use.

And they don't use it.

Rather, ever since the Main Street project came about, Tiger's adolescent management pique has translated into a new access policy. First, let's go back to the intersection of 14th and Dewey, this time looking west, not straight toward Main.

Tiger's truckers now turn left here ...

 ... and then right (north) here, on 13th ...

 ... to come rumbling across Main here (headed to the right, or north), using 13th as the company road to go to Market and Spring.

Obviously, 13th is a residential street, never designed or intended for commercial vehicles of this Tiger's size. Plainly, Tiger's management has undertaken a program of civic vandalism these last two years, operating from a vantage point behind the billows of Padgett's litigious gown.

There's only one logical answer to this problem.

Give 13th Street a two-block-long road diet, with bike paths and 10-foot lanes, and force Tiger's trucks back onto Main, where they belong.

Or, place a weight limit on 13th and enforce it.

The likes of Irv Stumler instinctively side with the vandals in a case like this. Obsessed with flower pots, the Silver Hills resident pays no mind to the appearance of heavy industrial equipment on a residential street. Perhaps these residents are too poor for Irv's taste, or not sufficiently ambitious to get better jobs and move from the trucking ghetto to his neighborhood.

Irv aside (and he needs to be), the city has allowed Tiger to behave like a petulant brat. The city might alter this behavior, and should. The city made changes to Main. It can make changes to 13th.

It should.

Here's an idea Irv Stumler won't want to miss: Beautify Tiger Truck Lines, and watch the city squirm.

Last weekend, we walked the Greenway from 18th Street to the Loop Island Wetlands, emerging where Irv Stumler's model local trucking firm parks all of its job creation junk.

• 1. Seemingly useless rubbish which sits around for months and is inevitably disposed of the day before it is needed.
• 2. A reference to something of little or no value
• 3. The male genitalia
• 4. A kind of Chinese boat
• 5. Heroin

Yes, months later, the squalor still aptly symbolizes ...

Tiger Trucking's affectionate "fuck you" to the residents of New Albany.

But we already know that Tiger as a unit is a recurring, discordant and anti-social element, so let's move on to the future of the wetlands and the former Moser tannery.

In recent months, there has been a noticeable uptick in graffiti and vandalism at the former Moser Tannery, and as the missus reminded me when I remarked on this, it's now city-owned property. It's getting gritty down there, with lots of broken glass and debris.

The story of the city's $800k transaction was published in June.

City buys former tannery, evaluating it for future development, by Marty Finley (Louisville Business First)

A former tannery that previously was pegged for redevelopment as apartments has a new owner and its potential uses are being assessed.

The city of New Albany purchased the former Caldwell/Moser Tannery, a four-acre site in New Albany near the Ohio River Greenway.

The city of New Albany has purchased the former Caldwell/Moser Tannery and an adjoining wetlands area near the Ohio River Greenway ...

No media account dealing with New Albany government would be complete without the requisite "he didn't call back" disclaimer.

It was not clear from the release how much of that investment is carried by New Albany. Mayor Jeff Gahan did not return a call seeking comment on the project, and (Mike) Hall was unsure of the amount.

Does he ever? Rest assured, if I were a TIF zone, it'd be time to buy Astroglide in bulk.

The bigger point is this: If Irv's worried about appearances, shouldn't he be actively convincing his pals at Tiger to clean up their act, so the city's adjacent squalor would be set in even greater contrast?

Tiger Truck Lines and 13th Street: Isn't it time for the spoiled brat to get a good spanking?

Here comes the Tiger Truck Lines rig northbound on 13th Street. The driver has just crossed Market. Behind me is Spring.

Since the advent of the Main Street Beautification Project, Tiger has transformed 13th Street into its own company connector road, regularly using Spring for westbound trucks and Market for eastbound.

Ironically, even though so much of the Main Street project is pure blather, the designers actually did take Tiger's needs into mind when inserting those God-awful medians.

In fact, Tiger never has been somehow excluded from using Main Street, just as it did before.

This is 14th Street, looking south from Dewey. Just over the railroad track is Tiger's scenic headquarters. You can see the K & I Bridge on the horizon.

When a Tiger trucker emerges from its lair on 14th, he or she comes first to Dewey, then Main. Here's the view, looking north toward Main. Prior to the Main Street project, Tiger's employees drove straight and turned onto Main in either direction.

The next three photos show the intersection of Main and 14th. As you can see, the medians are pulled way back to allow for wide turns. It is a huge expanse of asphalt left open for only one reason -- for truckers like Tiger's to use.

And they don't use it.

Rather, ever since the Main Street project came about, Tiger's adolescent management pique has translated into a new access policy. First, let's go back to the intersection of 14th and Dewey, this time looking west, not straight toward Main.

Tiger's truckers now turn left here ...

 ... and then right (north) here, on 13th ...

 ... to come rumbling across Main here (headed to the right, or north), using 13th as the company road to go to Market and Spring.

Obviously, 13th is a residential street, never designed or intended for commercial vehicles of this Tiger's size. Plainly, Tiger's management has undertaken a program of civic vandalism these last two years, operating from a vantage point behind the billows of Padgett's litigious gown.

There's only one logical answer to this problem.

Give 13th Street a two-block-long road diet, with bike paths and 10-foot lanes, and force Tiger's trucks back onto Main, where they belong.

Or, place a weight limit on 13th and enforce it.

The likes of Irv Stumler instinctively sides with the vandals in a case like this. Obsessed with flower pots, the Silver Hills resident pays no mind to the appearance of heavy industrial equipment on a residential street. Perhaps these residents are too poor for Irv's taste, or not sufficiently ambitious to get better jobs and move from the trucking ghetto to his neighborhood.

Irv aside (and he needs to be), the city has allowed Tiger to behave like a petulant brat. The city might alter this behavior, and should. The city made changes to Main. It can make changes to 13th. It should.

Tiger Trucking's affectionate "fuck you" to the residents of New Albany.

Last week I walked the Greenway from the amphitheater, going east. My exit point was just to the right ...

...of the Loop Island Wetlands sign. Moments before, exiting the Greenway near this inspiring sight ...

 ... a carload of out-of-towners stopped and asked me if the wetlands were near (yes, just over there) and whether it was legal for them to park (yes, on the tannery side as far as I know).

I hadn't seen the sign in the first photo, threatening trespassers with towing, and of course making no effort to explain the situation in coherent detail.

Of course, Tiger's area near the Greenway/Loop Island portal has been an unsightly, trash-ridden disgrace for a long time. But the company doesn't stop there.

Ever since the Main Street beautification project, Tiger has used tiny 13th Street as a de facto company connecting road although urban residential areas.

Throughout, a cowardly City Hall has done nothing. It's hard to determine which entity, Tiger Trucking or City Hall, is capable of greater flights of anti-social behavior. Just now that in the case of Tiger's signage near the Greenway, the confusion and distaste is in the minds of those people coming to visit.

In effect, Tiger is discouraging tourism.

And, as always, Jeff Gahan remains silent, and does absolutely nothing.

Ever the team player, Tiger Trucking beautifies the entrance to Loop Island Wetlands.

New Albany's new slogan: "Truck Through City" ... Part 73: Tiger's got the mayor wrapped around its finger.

Yonder comes a Tiger up Market.

There goes another one down Spring. Did you know that thanks to John Rosenbarger's Main Street Disembowelment Project, Tiger has been given its own on-ramp to the I-Spring Street?

It used to be known as 13th.

Can anyone tell us why Tiger gets to do whatever it wants with New Albany's streets?

New Albany's new slogan: "Truck Through City" ... Part 64: Board of Works to consider changing 13th Street to "Tiger Trucking Promenade."

Today's collection of photos were taken on different days (and times of day) during the past fortnight.

They have two things in common.

Each one shows a Tiger Trucking semi rig.

Each Tiger Trucking semi rig shown used tiny 13th Street as its "on ramp" to Spring Street, except for the nighttime photo; it turned onto 13th from Spring.

How much damage are these trucks doing to 13th Street ... not to mention Spring?

Or is this something our deaf, dumb and blind city officials accept as the price of not having to admit they lied with respect to truck diversion from Main Street?

New Albany's new slogan: "Truck Through City" ... Part 47: As the Board of Works convenes, we record a "negatory" for Main Street medians, good buddy.

Uh oh -- this doesn't look very good.

Dude, we haven't even FINISHED the boondoggle ... but it means at least one oversized rig is voting with its tires while city officials snooze.

I took these photos where 13th Street crosses Main, then started walking home, only to be reminded that in recent months, quiet little residential 13th Street has become Tiger Trucking Boulevard ... while city officials snooze.

Let's dedicate the remainder of the Tuesday "does the Board of Public Works really exist?" edition of Truck Through City to Tiger Trucking.

In fact, so many of the firm's bigger-than-your-house rigs are out on city streets where they have no business being that sometimes, it seems like they're both coming AND going.

However, usually they're just speeding past your residential quality of life ... while city officials snooze, which of course they do, seeing as so few of them reside anywhere close to the problem areas.