Courtesy of Dan Coffey, the Grant Line Road annexation map that Jeff Gahan doesn't want you to see.

Current councilman and forthcoming mayoral candidate Dan Coffey (Independent) has made public the map showing the Grant Line Road area north of IU Southeast being projected for annexation by Jeff Gahan's monetization cadres.

This is the area the city is looking to annex. While we are told not to openly discuss this with the public, I believe we should have an open and transparent government that allows public input to help make a better and informed decision.

Absolutely right. I agree with Coffey and thank him for the map. Here's a closer look at the pertinent data.

Coffey is correct in observing that much of the annexation discussion so far has been strictly back-channel.

However the topic began leaking out when the NA-FC school corporation's administrators recently informed the school board, seeing as the corporation must voluntarily accept Grant Line Elementary's inclusion.

This was the first time most folks became aware of the proposal, although an overview of the annexation plan was discussed at last week's city council meeting, with all involved stressing that nothing can occur in 2019 because annexations aren't permitted by the state during pre-census years.

Even yurt-dwellers in Mongolia can see that Team Gahan lusts after the $1.85 million yearly tax haul, but at last week's meeting Scott "Coulda Been a Contender" Wood explained if the annexation becomes official, there's a period of three years during which residents in the annexed area are obliged by the state to form some undefined manner of participatory committee and to designate uses for the tax revenue in question; it does not go automatically into city coffers until the fourth year.

Presumably such committees choose for infrastructure improvements designed to bring the suburb into line with the city's urban "norms." The word "sprawl" was not mentioned, and personally I'm waiting for this future committee to be immediately infiltrated and neutralized by Dear Leader's operatives, with these three years of infrastructure cash inevitably going to pay for the projects already planned by Gahan's campaign finance donors for the vicinity.

Then again, I'm a cynic.

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Deaf Gahan wants to annex Grant Line Elementary School. Why didn't the Redevelopment Commission discuss this at its last meeting?

At the end of the day it's just another example of Gahan's pathological need for secrecy, and his preference for conducting as much pre-planning as possible outside the public's eye so the ensuing process is subject to full personal control with no meaningful effort to glean public input. 

Folks living along Mt. Tabor Road, and others attending last week's Colonial Manor top-down debacle already know this. Fortunately, there's an antidote to the toxic effects of cash-stuffed envelopes, Rice Krispies Treats and Kool-Aid: #FireGahan2019

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By the way, if you're not following Deaf Gahan on Twitter, you're missing out: https://twitter.com/DeafGahan

Brutal satire for a city allergic to it, but still.

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Deaf Gahan wants to annex Grant Line Elementary School. Why didn't the Redevelopment Commission discuss this at its last meeting?

At the most recent Redevelopment Commission meeting, the made-for-election-year hosannas could be heard all the way out in Galena, where a similar investment in dead weights is being financed not by a brain-dead mayor, but by bake sales and GoFundMe.

New Albany High School weight room receives $100,000 TIF gift, by Chris Morris (Tom May Column Expositor)

Money will come from TIF funds

NEW ALBANY — New Albany High School's Health and Wellness initiative soon may see a significant upgrade thanks to a $100,000 grant from the New Albany Redevelopment Commission.

The money, which will come out of Tax Increment Financing or TIF funds, will be used to enhance both the health and wellness curriculum as well as purchase equipment for the school's weight room. The measure still must be approved by the New Albany Floyd County School Board at the March 11 meeting.

The redevelopment commission is allowed to use 15 percent of TIF funds for educational spending, and member Adam Dickey said this will have a positive impact on New Albany.

"This will benefit kids across our community," Dickey said. "This is a way as a city we can have an impact to help out the school corporation and impact lives in a very meaningful way."

This example of re-election campaign publicity hokum was so ill-considered that even David Barksdale voted against it.

But now it seems that the devil resided in ANOTHER detail. Back to Papa Morris:

BLACKBERRY RIDGE HILL

The redevelopment commission approved a contract with Clark Dietz, Inc. to design plans to shave three feet from the hill near the Blackberry Ridge entrance off Grant Line Road. Where the entrance to the development is located creates a blind spot for drivers pulling out onto Grant Line Road. Plans are expected to be finished in July and there is no timetable when work will begin.

Clark Dietz? Is it the same Clark Dietz that has gifted the mayor with $34,400 since 2011?

But I digress.

The Green Mouse has learned that the New Albany-Floyd County School Corporation's board will be asked to approve -- or is it to request? -- the city's annexation of land that includes Grant Line Elementary School, located a short distance from the Blackberry Ridge.

Apparently the topic of annexation did not arise at the Redevelopment meeting in question, although one might have found it of interest in light of the roadwork, right?

The city's annexation pitch to the school administration, which in turn has passed the glad-handing to the school board (the approval of which apparently is necessary), goes something like this: annexation will make the road work easier for the city, and annexation will then benefit Grant Line Elementary by (a) reducing sewer bills and (b) shifting responsibility for emergency responses to the NAFD.

The Green Mouse sounds weary.

Let me get this straight. With an election coming and "TIF for Schools" under fire via state legislation, Gahan tosses $100,000 at the school corporation that employs his wife and daughter, and Irving Joshua prattles nonsensically about weight training being the same thing as redevelopment; then, with little or no advance information provided to its own board, the school corporation encourages immediate compliance with/capitulation to an annexation move so well camouflaged it was completely invisible. Do these people ever do anything in the open -- and could Chris Morris ask a good question every other year, or is that too much to ask?  

Sadly, here in New Gahania it's business-on-the-down-low-as-usual. 

BREAKING: City of New Albany transitioning to new civic identity as HarvestHomeComingStan.

Reliable sources among the city’s janitorial staff have informed NA Confidential that Mayor Jeff Gahan has chosen the occasion of Harvest Homecoming’s annual Ecumenical Prayer Service on October 6 to send Mike Hall right on down there with the news that henceforth, the city is to be known as HarvestHomeComingStan.

According to David “Bag Man” Duggins, the city’s economic dishevelment aggregator, the city’s new name is as plain as the anchor on his tramp stamp.

According to Duggins, “It's the ultimate in branding exercises. The Scribners made the best naming choice they could at the time, but had they known about Harvest Homecoming, that dumb ol’ Albany thing would have gone right out the window.”

In a press release, Gahan enumerated the many advantages of HarvestHomeComingStan.

• No need for downtown street direction decisions when they’re permanently closed for Booth Days, anyway
• Who doesn’t want those deep fried doughnuts all the year round?
• The amphitheater will benefit from 52 yearly Louisville Crasher performances
• Now someone else has to plow the snow
• The kiddies just love Fiesta Rides, and it helps them learn all about tattooing
• Who doesn't want to drink Bud Light Lime on a neverending Swill Walk? 
• Orange is the new black

Asked how the move to a 24/7/365 Harvest Homecoming might affect downtown merchants, Duggins grinned broadly.

“What, are they whining again?”

(Irv Stumler was flowerpotted and unavailable for comment.)

We think he thinks he's going to war: Is anyone ready for an adults-only discussion about City Hall's UEA provocations?

Maybe, maybe not. It depends on whether we can find any adults.

The Green Mouse says that this Wednesday's Urban Enterprise Association board meeting will be the culmination of a lame duck but still conniving City Hall's recent campaign against the UEA's statutory autonomy, and that the mayor will attend the meeting to demand (a) an immediate surrender, (b) defenestration for the UEA's director, Mike Ladd, and (c) an immediate screening of the Marx Brothers' classic satire, "Duck Soup," to be funded (of course) by the UEA's bulging and just-out-of-reach coffers.

Speaking personally, I join councilman Dan Coffey in saying: "UEA? Leave it be!" I wonder if our mayoral candidates have an opinion?

Coffey refuses to name names; pumpkin patch freezes solid; NA council completes another session.

It appears that the Gang of Pour was not represented at last night's council meeting, putting us into the same category of zombie-like irrelevance as every last one of Steve Price's long-suffering, utterly ignored constituents. Fortunately, the Tribune's Daniel Suddeath is well paid to endure the indignities. Here is his report:

New Albany City Council passes $1.7M to balance 2010 budget; Annexation passes while preservation commission abolishment turned away.

... Councilwoman Diane McCartin-Benedetti sponsored the measure, and said she did not support the administration’s original proposal because it did not include a repayment of the EDIT funds that would have been spent on public safety.

“I think EDIT — economic development [tax] — needs to be used for economic development,” she said.

Annexation deferred as Steve "Apocalypse Now" Price presents bold plan to house police in tent cities.

The evening's bext theater came after the closing gavel fell. Tribune coverage here.

Slumlord obfuscation remains the best anti-annexation strategy.

The agenda for Thursday evening's special presentation of Annexationpalooza, starring the city council and Pat Harrison, is reprinted below. Does the proposed annexation include the One Southern Indiana headquarters site? If so, that's some delicious irony, given that 1Si seeks to annex civil authority.

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AGENDA

THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CIVIL CITY OF NEW ALBANY, INDIANA, HELD A SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING IN THE THIRD FLOOR ASSEMBLY ROOM OF THE CITY/COUNTY BUILDING ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2010 AT 7:30 P.M.

CALL TO ORDER:

PRAYER AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

ROLL CALL:

COMMUNICATIONS-PUBLIC:

COMMUNICATIONS-CITY OFFICIALS:

COMMUNICATIONS-MAYOR:

INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS:

R-10-31 Resolution of the Common Council of the City of New Albany, Indiana, Adopting a Fiscal Plan for the Annexation of Property Contiguous to the City of New Albany, Indiana ... Messer

G-10-19 An Ordinance Setting Salaries for the Year 2011 for Non-Bargaining Unit Employees ... Messer 3rd

X-10-01: An Ordinance of the Common Council of the City of New Albany, Indiana, annexing certain territory to the City of New Albany, Indiana, placing the same within the corporation boundaries thereof and making the same part of the City of New Albany ... Messer 3rd

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS:

INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES WHO MAY REQUIRE SPECIAL ASSISTANCE TO ATTEND THE ABOVE MENTIONED MEETINGS MAY MAKE THEIR REQUEST KNOWN BY CONTACTING THE CITY CLERK IN ROOM 332 OF THE CITY/COUNTY BUILDING OR BY CALLING 948-5336.

Tribune supports annexation, yawns at renegade realtor conspiracy theories.

The Tribune editorial board disagrees with Pat Harrison and Steve Price, and sees no harmful Nazi-inspired shenanigans behind the city's annexation plan:

TRIBUNE EDITORIAL: Annexation plan makes sense

It seems like a win-win move for the city. The area, which many consider part of New Albany now, will generate around $700,000 a year in property tax revenue for the city. How can you say no to $700,000 a year, especially when you currently have a $1.8 million shortfall in public safety expenses. Without a LOIT tax or another financial stream, the City Council can’t afford not to annex the property.

In the same piece, the board supports the county's purchase of Pine View Elementary as future home of the Youth Shelter, and cannot resist a backhanded swipe at the city:

Government does not always have to be confrontational and stagnant. It can work. Unfortunately, for those of us who live in the city, that is not always the case. Maybe the city council and city administration can learn something from their county brothers. When government works together, the citizens are rewarded.

Huzzah! Has Dan Coffey and Steve Price yet offered to slash their own paychecks?

Council continues the crawl toward annexation.

Ya gotta love member of council (MC?) Kevin Zurschmiede.

When it comes to the increased tax burden of annexed businesses as potentially costing the jobs of New Albany workers, he's against it. When it comes to the financial burden to New Albany workers posed by plans to toll bridges, he's for it. Next time, the coin will be flipped again, and we'll see which side it lands.

Is One Southern Indiana's headquarters a part of the proposed annexation area? If so, I'm surprised the organization didn't send an intern for symbolic self-immolation.

Annexation fight begins: With one vote remaining, New Albany City Council hears other side of annexation story, by Daniel Suddeath (Tribune).

On second reading, the New Albany City Council approved, by a 5 to 4 count, incorporating about 219 acres of land near the Interstate 265 interchange along Charlestown Road.

Realtors, attorneys and proprietors pleaded with the council to vote down the annexation during a public hearing before the ballot was taken.

"I see," said the blind councilman.

Anytime you see buzzards congregating on a tree limb, it's fairly obvious that they're not swapping baseball cards; sniff the air for carrion, instead.

Anytime Dan "Wizard of Westside" Coffey mounts one of his periodic charm offensives, as in yesterday's non-braining of a "no-brainer" paving plan, you'd better sniff the carrion for quid pro quo. The Tribune picks it up from here:

New Albany City Council goes for $1M paving plan; $300,000 of LRS funds could also be used for resurfacing, by Daniel Suddeath.

Councilman Dan Coffey called the appropriation “a no brainer.” Mayor Doug England said the list of streets to be paved will include some roads that weren’t resurfaced during last year’s $2 million campaign.

Meanwhile, untroubled by the Copperhead's crooked smile, guest columnist Matt Nash considers who is standing in the way of annexation:

Mr. Price also asked a question that has been raised on a couple of local blogs. If the city sees a net gain of $700,000 will the county lose that money? First, this shows a complete lack of knowledge of how the layers of government work. Second, it is not Steve Price’s job to worry about the county’s well being. Mr. Price’s job is to insure the city is in sound financial position. His only concern should be how this benefits New Albany citizens.

More summer of hot and cold showers as incomplete council centipedes annexation.

Lately the city council has been performing more often than the Rumors, except that the band's members generally show up, and when the music's over, the crowd leaves actually feeling good about the experience.

Last night, councilmen Gonder and McLaughlin were absent as the body considered annexation and found the five votes necessary to stave off Steve Price's "polly wanna cracker" abstentions.

Interestingly, one definition of abstention is "the act or habit of deliberate self-denial." In Price's case, he denied himself a "no" vote. When you're getting paid for piece work by the frequency of rejection, does that constitute a pay cut?

From The New Albanist blog: "Annexation 101: The 2010 Initiative."

The New Albanist returns with a detailed analysis of Annexation 101: The 2010 Initiative. Here are the opening paragraphs. Follow the link to read the remainder.

In my most recent posting (NAC note: see "The New Albanist on annexation, and the tail that wags the dog"), I provided a cursory review of the annexation proposed by the City of New Albany, making the assumption that readers who wanted to drill down into the details would do so and that others who have read my policy posts in the past would know that I had done the homework and could provide a reliable summary.

I also indicated that had I been a member of the council I would have voted to proceed with the annexation process despite any objections to the timing of the mayor’s initiative.

Apparently, there is more interest in the details than I had assumed – my assumption being predicated on the fact that practically no member of the general public attended the presentation of the resolution and ordinance.
I will presume that parliamentary difficulties will be resolved and that Tuesday’s special called meeting will end with a fiscal plan approved (resolution) and the annexation declared by ordinance on first reading.

Here are some key facts ...

Or, how to properly froth a Cappuccino.

The Tribune's Chris Morris reports that City Hall has called a second council meeting in hopes of convincing more than 5/9 of the membership to attend, and then feels the lash of spittle as the Wizard of Westside searches for his political equivalent to Cialis.

However, Coffey said the council only had two days to look at the plan following Thursday’s vote, and that was not enough time to digest the plan.

“They work on this for months and we get the information one or two days before ... no,” he said. “They expect someone from the council to understand all of this. I’m tired of this administration trying to ram stuff down our throat at the last minute.”

As numerous people can attest, Dan Coffey repeats these words or a variation of them at least once at every city council meeting.

Exactly what constitutes the "last minute" in this context? What has Coffey -- what has the council -- done to alleviate the situation? Can anything be done? Should anything be done? Why can't we be friends? Or, do we merely dodge spittle and splutter forever, or until the 1st district finally upends the petty wannabeen?

The New Albanist on annexation, and the tail that wags the dog.

We've known for years that City Hall eventually would move to annex the commercial corridor outside the beltway on Charlestown Road. There are no surprises in it, and what's more, there's nothing unusual about Dan "Wizard of Westside" Coffey voting against a measure he claims to support and using his own lack of patience with reading as an excuse for saying "no".

But: Why is it that something so plainly telegraphed comes forward for consideration during a special council meeting? Why not before, packaged and positioned to inform and succeed? Why, for something this important, do only five of nine council members bother attending the special meeting?

Fortunately, the New Albanist has been analyzing these latest instances of New Albany's chronic, malingering political dysfunction, and provides welcomed clarity in this essay at his blog: Tail Wags Dog, June 2010 Edition.

Here's a teaser ... but you really must read the whole piece.

... I believe Dan Coffey’s vote was a bad vote. He favors annexation, but used this moment to strike a blow for his and the council’s prerogatives. So nobody wins. Not Coffey. Not England. Not the residents of New Albany.

In the ongoing game of Red Rover, the players again got roughed up. The barometer of ill will goes up a bit more.

There’s no excuse for bringing this annexation measure forward with so little time for the fiscal plan to be examined. And there’s no excuse for Coffey’s “no” vote or for the boycott by the other members.

For more on the annexation vote:

ANNEXATION: YES OR NO?, at the Voice of the People blog.
Dan Coffey slays the annexation dragon ... for now. (NAC)

Dan Coffey slays the annexation dragon ... for now.

In our latest episode of "Shower After Filing," the Tribune's Chris Morris draws the short straw.

New Albany annexation suffers setback; Mayor plans to call another special meeting Tuesday

The New Albany City Council failed to approve a fiscal plan for the project by a 4 to 1 vote at a special meeting. The proposal needed five yes votes, and with four members absent, there was no room for a no vote.

Dan Coffey voted no while John Gonder, Bob Caesar, Pat McLaughlin and Kevin Zurschmiede voted for the fiscal plan. Jeff Gahan, Steve Price, Jack Messer and Diane McCartin-Benedetti were absent.

As Councilman Cappuccino contemplates updating his blog (moribund since April 4), Mayor England pledges another meeting, this time presumably sending squad cars to rope in the non-attendees.