ASK THE BORED: A 6-pack of BOW's top-scoring posts of the year at NA Confidential, as we try our best to forget them.

Of all posts this year tagged "Board of Public Works and Safety" or "Board of Public Works," these are the top six, according to Blogger's page view metric.

At its most basic, this board channels public financing of works. The chairman is Warren Nash, former Democratic Party tribal chieftain, who is there only because six decades of experience greasing wheels ensures that no campaign finance slush goes unslung. The abacus fairly sweats, and the rubber always meets the freshly paved road.

(The other two board members are Mickey Thompson, the street department commissioner, and Cheryl Cotner-Bailey, the mayor’s secretary and wife of the police chief.)

As for safety, yes, the word is mentioned every now and then, about as often as I concede to savoring the full, rich flavor of Bud Light.

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590
No decision has been reached on new Street Piano Project, says Board of Works and Public Safety.

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606
ASK THE BORED: Can we all have a banner atop the levee, or just the school corporation?

I've had several reader questions about the NAFC schools banner currently hanging on degraded remains of the structure atop the levee by the amphitheater. Because I'll be out of town, I cannot attend this week's BOW meeting and ask them. Perhaps someone else will.

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613
I asked about bicycle racks, and have been directed to CM Barksdale and the Redevelopment Commission.

"Will the Bored of Works be placing bicycle racks on sidewalks, and if so, will it finalize the bike racks before or after the results come back from HWC Engineering's two-way street design and engineering study?"

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617
ON THE AVENUES: Requiem for the bored.

It was another stellar day for auto-centrism in New Albany, and contrary to previous assurances, not a single egg was broken, Larry – just a random walker struck down, and never mentioned, not once, not by anyone in the room. She was probably too poor to afford a car -- right, Warren?

Tell me something.

Exactly how does any of this make any of you proud of your jobs?

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650
Two Way Streets now? Finally? Gahan sets the bar as low as humanly possible and somehow clears it, as BOW opts for a rational street grid.

In the worst kept secret since the Electoral College sucks, the Board of Works voted today to adopt Option B, which restores two-way traffic to Elm, Spring, Market, Bank and Pearl, though at the considerable and heart-rending expense of gutting most of consultant Jeff Speck's worthiest proposals for bicycling lanes and parking innovations on these and other subsequently omitted streets (State and Vincennes most glaringly).

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670
ON THE AVENUES: When the engineer uttered that scandalous word aloud, it was like Christmas in June.

There’ll be even more delays, snarls and slowdowns when toll evasion begins, even though INDOT predicts these disruptions will be brief (one month or less), and the overarching point everyone at BOW needs to grasp is this revamped section of Spring between Silver Creek and Vincennes is intended to be a check valve, to do exactly this – this process, this choking off … to willfully cause … CONGESTION.

I asked about bicycle racks, and have been directed to CM Barksdale and the Redevelopment Commission.

Surely we can have fun, artistic bicycle racks -- right? (Photo credit)

Yesterday morning, I asked the Bored this question, though not exactly in the same words.

"Will the Bored of Works be placing bicycle racks on sidewalks, and if so, will it finalize the bike racks before or after the results come back from HWC Engineering's two-way street design and engineering study?"

ASK THE BORED: About the timing of bicycle rack placement and the impending HWC study.

There was a degree of give and take, but plenty of information was forthcoming.

Warren Nash said he is unaware of any bicycle rack project up for consideration by the Board of Public Works and Safety, at least yet.

City engineer Larry Summers then interjected that yes, such a project is being discussed at the Redevelopment Commission, but as yet, it is in embryonic form and far from being finalized.

He proceeded to offer considerable detail about this unfinished idea.

First, I asked him whether any such bicycle rack installation initiated by the Redevelopment Commission would be facilitated before or after HWC Engineering's "two way streets in real life" study comes back to BOW.

Shouldn't we know how the streets will operate once subject to two-way traffic and new bicycle lanes before adding racks?

Summers said that presently there is great urgency attached to the bicycle racks, as they have been requested by bicyclists and businesses right now, not later, a sentiment based on a survey of current use patterns, which are separate from expanded or altered usage if bicycle lanes eventually are added.

So, who did the survey? Redevelopment?

Summers said no, it was at-large councilman David Barksdale.

Finally, how much sidewalk space be taken up with bicycle racks, seeing as people with bicycles should be using the street, because people walking are on the sidewalk.

Summers' answer: Bicycle racks will be concentrated in areas (as here), and absolutely will be configured to avoid any conceivable blockage to the disabled.

That's a fair amount of information for an embryonic, unfinished project. Thank you, Larry Summers. If you have any thoughts on the matter, perhaps CM Barksdale is the man to contact, since he's conducting the survey. From the city's website:

(812) 945-1839
dbarksdale@cityofnewalbany.com

I intend to do so. Maybe at least we can get some nice public art value out of redevelopment's design, given its unerring ... er, never mind.

ASK THE BORED returns next Tuesday.

ASK THE BORED: About the timing of bicycle rack placement and the impending HWC study.

Last week's introduction is reprinted below. The question I'll be asking of the bored this morning was first raised in this recent NAC post.

Where is the best place to put a bike rack? (A clue: not where it blocks a sidewalk).

On another level, the question refers to this story from 2015.

HWC Engineering, municipal cowardice, Jeff Speck and reading the tea leaves through dry heaves.

"Will the Bored of Works be placing bicycle racks on sidewalks, and if so, will it finalize the bike racks before or after the results come back from HWC Engineering's two-way street design and engineering study?"

Because: Why would we bolt down racks before we know how (or if) the street grid is to be redesigned?

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New Albany's Board of Public Works and Safety exists because the State of Indiana says so.

IC 36-4-9-5

Board of public works and safety; establishment Sec. 5.

(a) A board of public works and safety is established in each city.
(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a), the legislative body of a second class city may by ordinance establish as separate boards: (1) a board of public works; and (2) a board of public safety; to perform the functions of the board of public works and safety.

As added by Acts 1980, P.L.212, SEC.3.

As for what the board is supposed to do each Tuesday at 10:00 a.m., you can visit the American Legal Publishing site, search "Board of Public Works and Safety," and sift through various powers accorded the board over the decades by dint of ordinance.

Exactly how much power does our Board of Public Works and Safety possess?

If Jeff Gahan were to stray from the protection of his Down Low Bunker and comment, no doubt he would assert that the board has just the power it needs. He handpicked it, and he's perfectly content to see his program implemented by non-elected boards, as opposed to elected officials.

According to Dan Coffey, the answer surely is "too much." At the city council meeting of June 6, Coffey proposed that our council, as a body made up of elected members, should take back authority ceded to non-elected boards.

Agreed.

The Board of Public Works and Safety may be established by state, not city, and it may be appointed by mayor, not council, but the board's powers appear to derive from the legislative body.

I mention all this as prelude to a new feature at NA Confidential: Ask the Bored.

It has long been NA Confidential's position that given the board's accumulated powers -- justified or  otherwise -- and its current function as arbiter of myriad conditions that impact the lives of citizens, for it to hold all its meetings at 10:00 a.m. on a Tuesday meeting is an affront (note that during the Garner Administration, a fledgling but doomed effort to democratize meeting times was made).

However, NAC can attend many, if not all, meetings. Public speaking time is allowed, and on occasion in the past, we've used it for the precise purpose of making comments, raising issues or asking questions, so that these are included in meeting minutes and become part of the public record. This way, it cannot be claimed later that "no one said anything."

Readers, I know you have questions. Many of you cannot attend these meetings, and so when possible, NAC will ask them for you. Generalized questions probably are best, but give us the brief, and we'll do what we can. Submit them at mayorbaylor@gmail.com ... and ask the bored.

Where is the best place to put a bike rack? (A clue: not where it blocks a sidewalk).

The Green Mouse has learned that there is a push to install bicycle racks in downtown New Albany.

On the surface, this is a positive development. However, this depends on details -- where the bicycle racks are to be placed, and whether they act to reinforce desired walkability and bikeability, or simply serve to bolster the prevailing auto-centrism, which prevents downtown from achieving its best use.

Consider the corner of Market and Bank.

A source tells the Green Mouse that bicycle racks are to be placed atop the sidewalk, here.

But: Isn't this precisely the spot for a bench or amenities for walkers -- assuming, of course, that this tree isn't about to be slaughtered by the Lumber Board?

Because: Isn't the sidewalk intended for those walking?

And: Doesn't the city's own ordinance prohibit adults from riding bicycles on sidewalks in the historic business district?

(Trust me, it does)

So: If bicycles are supposed to be on the street, wouldn't it make more sense to park them in their own parking space, as here, where this truck is parked?

Sorry, there's even more to it. In the ongoing absence of concrete proposals, it remains that City Hall and certain public officials continue to whisper privately that Jeff Speck's walkability study will at some point serve as the basis for street grid changes.

If true, then why would bicycle racks be placed now without reference to the "master street reform plan" that we're told will be revealed very soon?

Is there a master plan, or must we invariably act in piecemeal fashion? Maybe if city officials stopped looking at potential stakeholders as though we're space aliens, a semblance of grassroots participation could be gained.