Magical Mystery Tour: CM Turner, New Albany, and Origin Park.

From 5th district councilman Josh Turner's monthly newsletter, this statement about Turner's support for Origin Park, which I recently described here: Beginnings: Origin Park plans are revealed.

A Southern Indiana "Origin" Story

An iconic park is coming to Southern Indiana and has been in the works for quite a while now. The master plan was released at the end of August and according to the News and Tribune "The plans for Origin Park include 35 acres of new park lawns, 22 miles of trails, 4.5 miles of "blueways" to paddle Silver Creek, seven new community gathering shelters and a new public event center. The park will also feature 75,000 new trees over 50 acres, 250 acres of a protected urban forest and 150 acres of naturalized meadows and an oak/hickory savanna."

I cannot be more excited about this opportunity for our great city. A park of this size will bring new life and new people into our region from all over the country. Unfortunately, the Mayor has not shown any interest in working with the River Heritage Conservancy to make this national treasure a reality in our city. We are actually the only city that has not bought into this plan. Jeffersonville and Clarksville are all in. You can see for yourself the New Albany portion of the Origin Park is on the River Side of the Flood wall and mostly on land that cannot be developed. We need everyone reaching out to your city officials to let them know how important this is. Our city should commit to this private/public partnership for two simple reasons.

1. The park will have continuity across the region and will be designed with respect to the natural lay of the land.

2. It will save the taxpayers money because a large portion of funding is coming from private donations.

I must admit I do not understand how we can commit to a trail all of the way to Bedford when we are not willing to commit to upholding our responsibilities here at home. It would be a shame for New Albany to be left behind on such a great project. Being a river city it should be a priority to develop our land in such a way that helps us connect with our neighboring communities.

Let's focus on this one section: "Unfortunately, the Mayor has not shown any interest in working with the River Heritage Conservancy to make this national treasure a reality in our city. We are actually the only city that has not bought into this plan. Jeffersonville and Clarksville are all in."

Can we find public evidence to support CM Turner's claim?

By extension, what exactly is the city of New Albany's position on Origin Park?

These are important questions of the sort that journalists might ask, correct?

Typically toothless city council mask resolution proves that even a pandemic can't compel New Albany’s Democrats to actually GOVERN.

Local Democrats have adhered to the Warren Nash Dictum for the past half-century. It goes like this: "Talk like a liberal, perform like a conservative."

Vote slated on resolution requesting use of face coverings in public (Suddeath; N&T)

The assumption, which to my knowledge has yet to be proven wrong, is that any genuine left/liberal-minded person in New Albany will be content with mere words, not action, and still vote Democratic; meanwhile, the Strom Thurmond Democrats -- still far too much of a thing here -- will vote Democratic for many of the city offices while happily supporting Republicans higher up the ticket.

It's just that simple.

Resolutions are always meaningless; to float one during a public health crisis, declare victory and walk away is, well, disgusting.

What's worse, everyone involves knows it, and yet they gaze at the teleprompter, play their parts, mouth their lines without a trace of conviction, and look forward to the redevelopment commission meetings because the real business of decision-making is conducted by an appointed board.

All right, self-styled progressives. Now we can kick back and wait for Republicans at the state level to take the proper response to the pandemic; we might start trying locally, but our Democrats can't be bothered to govern.

Sorry, love you guys in an ideological sense, but you're prepared to continue rewarding local Democrats for doing nothing, even during a pandemic.

Why can't you see this?

Go pound sand: Indiana Supreme Court rules against Team Gahan v.v. the frivolous City County Building lawsuit.

The link: City of New Albany v. Board of Commissioners of the County of Floyd

Let's begin with excellent words suitable for you-know-who.

Pounding sand, Shane?

There are two takes on go pound sand. The more recent, seemingly a product of World War II, and often euphemised, is go pound sand up one's (rear end). It is used to dismiss and deride, and is ultimately a vehement way of saying: "go away"...A variant meaning is to suffer or to act in a pointless manner ... the late 19th century phrase "pound sand in a rathole" originated on campus and meant to be reasonably intelligent. It was usually found in the negative phrase, "not enough sense to pound sand in a rat hole."

Pounding sand used to be a good thing -- a sensible task undertaken by a person wise in the ways of rodent control -- until it became a bad thing -- a painful act of self-abasement -- and then morphed into a simple act of futility.

I'm obviously not an attorney, and the joy I'm deriving from this court decision derives from the stinging rebuke to Gahanism.

The lease expired in September 2008, and thereafter, the City and the County continued to occupy the Center, splitting the costs proportionally, based on the amount of space each occupied. In 2015, the County began negotiations with Building Authority for renovations of the Center. In 2018, the County requested that the Building Authority transfer title of the Center to the County pursuant to the Turn-Over Provision in the parties’ lease.

The Building Authority declined to transfer title and the County filed suit in April of 2018, seeking declaratory judgment and specific performance, among other things. At the county’s request, the trial court expedited the proceedings. In May 2018, the trial court granted the City of New Albany’s request to intervene. In June 2018, the trial court entered declaratory judgment in favor of the County, concluding that the Turn-Over Provision in the lease was valid pursuant to Indiana Code section 36-9-13-22(a)(6). It ordered that the title be given to the County and dismissed all other pending claims.

The City appealed arguing that under Indiana Code section 36-9-13, the Turn-Over Provision was not valid. The Court of Appeals agreed and Indiana Supreme Court | Case No. 19S-MI-674 | March 23, 2020 Page 4 of 7 further held, sua sponte, that the County, as a holdover tenant could still exercise the purchase option in the lease. City of New Albany v. Bd. of Comm’rs of Cty. of Floyd, 125 N.E.3d 636, 641 (Ind. Ct. App. 2019), adhered to on reh'g, 130 N.E.3d 660 (Ind. Ct. App. 2019), and trans. granted, opinion vacated, 138 N.E.3d 961 (Ind. 2019). Both parties petitioned for transfer, which we granted. Ind. Appellate Rule 58(A).

In short, the Indiana Supreme Court found in favor of the original trial court ruling, and all you really need to know is the defeat constitutes egg on Dear Leader's face.

Actually it isn't the only thing.

How much did this frivolous lawsuit cost city and county? Anyone for an on-line petition demanding the mayor pay court costs?

On Gahan's $10,000,000 City-County Building escape plan as a tactic to disrupt his ancestral enemies in county government.

DNA, UEA and City Hall create New Albany Service Industry Relief Program.

Read about it at DNA's Fb page.

"It’s our responsibility to help others during this time," stated Mayor Jeff Gahan.

Read about the good news from City Hall and two of its wholy owned subsidiaries, which are pitching in to help affected service industry workers.

I'm for it. Ironically just today I received the monthly sewer bill in the mail.

I'm surprised the sewer utility isn't delaying payments to help affected community members in need.

Hmm. Anyone know who the sewer board president is? The news release follows in its entirety.

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Develop New Albany, New Albany Urban Enterprise Association, and City of New Albany Partner to Assist Service Industry Employees with Relief Program

Develop New Albany (“DNA”), in conjunction with the Urban Enterprise Association (“UEA”), the City of New Albany and private donors, created a fund to help the local service industry workers affected by the COVID-19 crisis in New Albany.

 “Develop New Albany is proud to partner with our city to serve some of those hit hardest and support our local restaurants who continue to serve the community.” Rob Dunn, Board President

Restaurants and bars have been ordered closed throughout the State but can still provide curb side food service. Unfortunately, this adversely affects a substantial segment of service industry workers. The program is designed to provide employees affected by the closures a $25 daily stipend to order curb-side service at a participating New Albany restaurant.

City Council-member, Jason Applegate stated, “A life-long resident of New Albany asked me how he could donate to laid off workers. After a quick call to Develop New Albany and Mayor Gahan, the idea that the laid-off worker feeds the business financially while literally being fed was born. I could not be more proud of our city for uniting in such a beneficial way.”

“We are glad to partner with DNA, UEA, and other donors to help service workers affected by the business closures in our downtown. It’s our responsibility to help others during this time,” stated Mayor Jeff Gahan.

Employees and businesses affected by the closures can participate by following the guidelines and contacting DNA at info@developnewalbany.org.

Program Details – Employees affected will be able to get food at participating downtown restaurants. A list will be generated of those affected and distributed to participating restaurants. When an employee places an order and verifies identity at pickup, we will reimburse the restaurant up to $25 per person per day. The reimbursement will come in the form of a check and will be distributed multiple times per week (to be determined).

Who can participate in the program?

All service industry employees of restaurants / bars within New Albany whose job was affected by the COVID-19 crisis are eligible. Verification from employer will be required. Identity of employee will be verified by restaurants at the time of food pickup.

How can a restaurant / bar in New Albany participate?

-All restaurants and bars can submit a list of employees. This list should be of active employees as of March 16, 2020. This information should be emailed to Heather Trueblood, Program Coordinator of Develop New Albany at developnainfo@gmail.com

-Downtown New Albany restaurants that are interested in participating as a food provider should contact Heather Trueblood at developnainfo@gmail.com or by calling/texting at 812-941-0018.

This program will continue until the allocated funding runs out. If you know of a business or organization that would be interested in contributing to this program, please contact Heather Trueblood at developnainfo@gmail.com or 812-941-0018

Information for participating restaurants

You will be provided with a list of eligible employees. If someone contacts you directly and they are not on the list provided, they will need to provide a paystub from a New Albany restaurant within the last 2 weeks and identification for verification. If this happens, please email the name of the employee to Heather to update the master lists.

The program will reimburse up to $25 per person per day while funds last. A tracking sheet will be provided to you to help with accounting.

Checks for reimbursement will be handled by Develop New Albany. Restaurants will submit their tracking form and a check will be delivered to the restaurant multiple times a week.

City Hall, BOW take note and help as "New Albany Restaurants Transition to Curbside Pickup/Delivery Options."

On Monday evening this idea was passed along to 3rd district councilman Greg Phipps; twelve hours later it had been vetted and approved by the Board of Works. Impressive and praiseworthy given that precisely the same body once required six months to consider the appropriateness of a street piano.

Sorry. Couldn't resist it. This move is welcomed; thanks.

New Albany Restaurants Transition to Curbside Pickup/Delivery Options

To better facilitate curbside and carry out orders, the City of New Albany took action and approved curbside parking for local restaurants in front of their businesses. New “Curbside Service Parking Spaces” will become available throughout downtown during this emergency and signs are being created and placed as soon as they are fabricated.

GIVE GAHAN A PINK SLIP: (Monday) No more fear, Jeff. This isn't East Germany, and you're not the Stasi.

Last week was so much fun, let's do it again.

As a run-up to Decision 2019, I'm headed back into the ON THE AVENUES archive for five straight days of devastatingly persuasive arguments against four more years of the Gahan Family Values™ Personality Cult.

I've already made the case for Mark Seabrook as mayor. Now let's return to the voluminous case against Gahanism in five informative and entertaining installments -- at least until next week, when I may decide to do it all again. Heaven knows we have enough material. Following are last week's hammer blows.

GIVE GAHAN THE BOOT: (Monday) The Reisz Mahal luxury city hall, perhaps the signature Gahan boondoggle.

GIVE GAHAN THE BOOT: (Tuesday) Gahan the faux historic preservationist demolishes the historic structure -- with abundant malice.

GIVE GAHAN THE BOOT: (Wednesday) The shopping cart mayor's cartoonish veneer of a personality cult. Where do we tithe, Leader Dearest?

GIVE GAHAN THE BOOT: (Thursday) That Jeff Gahan has elevated people like David Duggins to positions of authority is reason enough to vote against the Genius of the Floodplain.

GIVE GAHAN THE BOOT: (Friday) Slick Jeffie's hoarding of power and money is a very real threat to New Albany's future.


Jeff Gahan's carefully crafted image as avuncular civic cheerleader is flatly contradicted by a legendarily foul behind-the-scenes temperament. Evidence of this has been cited so often by victims and observers that we needn't waste time citing line by line examples apart from pointing to his abuse of the discussion format at the League of Women Voters' sham election forum in September. 

While it's true that believing you're Walt Disney one moment and Don Corleone the next is solid evidence of a personality disorder, ultimately this is of less significance than the example Gahan's behavior sets for his sycophants and underlings, as when David Duggins threatened to turn a taser on a public housing resident and explained it as a hilarious joke.

Gahan's obsession with campaign finance has greased the skids for a political culture of corruption, and his root instinct to abuse and bully those who can't quite grasp his singular brilliance ups the ante by adding a layer of intimidation that we simply shouldn't tolerate from our elected officials.

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ON THE AVENUES: No more fear, Jeff.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

2018 introduction:

I'm on vacation, and this is a rerun from 10/01/2015. At the time, I was in the midst of an unsuccessful run for mayor as an independent candidate. 

The column is about intimidation; 28 months later, give or take a public housing putsch, Team Gahan was at it again when interim bulldozer mechanic David Duggins threatened a public housing resident with being tasered. 

The reason why the same old suspects persist with intimidation? It parallels your dog's decision to lick his nuts: because he can, there are no consequences, and it feels so good. 

Fortunately, there is a cure called the "ballot box": #Fire Gahan2019 

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2015 original

“I talked to a downtown business owner. He’d put a Zurschmiede sign in his window, and (a city employee) came in and said it was frowned on. He didn’t know what that meant, so he took it down”

“I was sitting there minding my own business, and here comes (a mayor-appointed board member). He looked at me and said, ‘Jeff Gahan is the best mayor we’ve ever had.’ What was I supposed to say?”

“(The council member) ran inside and started yelling at my employees about my Baylor yard sign. He said he was a city employee, but we wouldn’t identify himself.”

“So I called down there (city offices) to see if they planned on doing anything about the trash piling up in the alley behind my neighbor’s slum, and they patched me to (high-ranking official). The first thing he said to me was where do I get off asking for favors with a Zurschmiede sign on my property?”

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There was a novel feature of the Leadership Southern Indiana debate on Tuesday, which should have been a threesome, but was missing a sitting mayor.

Each of us was asked to provide a question to be asked of the others. With Jeff Gahan absent, this meant Kevin Zurschmiede and I questioned each other. He asked me about my depth of feeling about two-way streets, and I explained in detail.

I asked him whether he’d support local ordinances against human trafficking, and he fielded the question positively and flawlessly, indicating that he grasps important contemporary issues.

Leadership Southern Indiana might not have allowed the question I’d have asked to Gahan, had he bothered attending.

Jeff, why are so many ordinary people in our community afraid to differ openly with you?

I can almost hear the answer.

That’s a cheap shot, because every single person I’ve talked to in this city supports the water park – and if you’re not one of them, expect an angry phone call very late at night.

Yes, this is the state of New Albany’s ongoing degeneration.

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Seeing as it’s my lot in life to say aloud what others are thinking, here it is.

During the time I’ve been paying attention to the local scene, there simply has not been any point of comparison with the atmosphere today in terms of retribution, intimidation and implied vengeance.

For those in support of the opposition, the consistent message is there’ll be hell to pay if the incumbent loses his bid for re-election.

My calls for UN election monitors and assistance from the Jimmy Carter Center are only partly in jest, because the situation is getting increasingly tense as voting draws near.

Consider the experience of Indie Fest. Last Sunday’s fourth edition was a success, with over 2,000 attendees, but it almost didn’t happen.

Earlier this year, city officials approached Indie Fest organizer Marcey Wisman-Bennett and asked her to consider shifting Indie Fest to Labor Day weekend, so as to provide a September bookend (with Boomtown Ball in May) to the summer concert series at Bicentennial Park. She also was asked to move the event to the Riverfront Amphitheater. She agreed.

Shortly thereafter, I announced my intent to gather signatures for mayoral ballot access as an independent, and Marcey agreed to be my committee chairwoman. On the day the papers were filed, she and I decided to have a coffee at Quills, and by the time we walked there from the county clerk’s office, she’d already been texted by a city higher-up expressing disdain for my candidacy, and her involvement with it.

You have three guesses as to what happened after that – and the first two don’t count.

A City Hall once nominally supportive of independent local businesses completely disappeared from view. The mayor’s handpicked Board of Works fiddled and dithered with non-information about the amphitheater’s availability, before finally denying the Labor Day weekend date previously requested by City Hall itself … because someone already had booked it.

Marcey was left to dangle for weeks, and finally gave up trying. She turned briefly to the county, which characteristically was of no help. Almost at the last possible moment, the Carter brothers, developers of Underground Station, stepped forward and took it upon themselves to approach the city and tie Indie Fest to their own plans for a grand opening weekend.

Presumably the city, having done almost nothing to assist the Carters with their project, was in a giving mood.

The many delays and obfuscations crippled Marcey’s fundraising efforts, and several former donors hinted that behind-the-scenes pressure was being exerted on them to not be seen supporting Indie Fest this year.

The story I’m telling is no secret, and it isn’t supposed to be.

Politically motivated strong-arming is a public function, not a private one, because the object is for others to see it taking place, and to learn the "proper" lesson that their own independence will be greeted in similar, heavy-handed fashion.

It’s abhorrent, and yet it’s happening. Worse yet, more than a few Democratic Party stalwarts are abetting the ugliness by refusing to face it head on.

Somehow this reminds me that the first annual meeting of Southern Indiana Equality is tonight. In the context of this meeting, human rights and Team Gahan’s incessant bullying, here’s a quote of significance from the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo.

“Free expression is the base of human rights, the root of human nature and the mother of truth. To kill free speech is to insult human rights, to stifle human nature and to suppress truth.”

That silence you hear?

It’s becoming deafening.

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Free speech seems a particular irritant to Gahan and the Democratic Party, especially as it pertains to social media. In the marketplace of ideas, they’ve almost never replied to questions by facilitating dialogue, as this would constitute two-way communications, and as such, veer uncomfortably close to an admission of intent to listen.

Rather, their chosen mode of communication most often involves systematically blocking it. On social media, I've been unfriended by several Democrats, and blocked by two Democratic agitprop groups, as well as by the mayor's campaign, his personal page and his wife's.

Consequently, I close today by concurring with this important point made on Facebook by my friend Mark Cassidy.

I just want to let the Floyd County Democratic Party, Jeff Gahan, and anyone else for that matter, know that you are more than welcome to post on my timeline, respond to any comment that I may make, engage in a discussion, etc., all without fear of being blocked by me. I have no fear of the free exchange of thoughts, ideas, plans, needs, wants, desires ...

I’ve been to places where fear was a daily consideration, but New Albany isn’t East Germany, and we can do better than this.

GIVE GAHAN THE BOOT: (Monday) The Reisz Mahal luxury city hall, perhaps the signature Gahan boondoggle.

Last week was Harvest Homecoming, and my city's favorite festival kept me pinned to the tarmac, but now we're back to what passes for normal here in New Gahania, where "We're All Here Because We're Not All THERE."

There was no time to conjure a column during Harvest Homecoming, so this week as a run-up to Decision 2019, I'm headed back into the ON THE AVENUES archive for five straight days of devastatingly persuasive arguments against four more years of the Gahan Family Values Personality Cult.

I've already made the argument for Mark Seabrook as mayor here. Now let's return to the voluminous case against Gahanism in five informative and entertaining installments.

GIVE GAHAN THE BOOT: (Monday) The Reisz Mahal luxury city hall, perhaps the signature Gahan boondoggle.

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June 21, 2018

ON THE AVENUES: Government Lives Matter, so it's $10,000,000 for Gahan's luxury city hall clique enhancement. Happy dumpster diving, peasants!

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

If someone ignored the "no soliciting" sign on your porch and clambered up to the door, breathlessly offering to sell you a gizmo with the promise that the mere fact of owning it will save you all kinds of money, there are many good questions you might ask.

Of course, you might also command the huckster to vacate your porch, or else. I generally do. But in order to determine whether the peddler's product is a sound investment, one specific question tops the list:

How much does it cost?

Mayor Jeff Gahan is a former veneer salesman with a well-honed, thoroughly greasy sales pitch, and he thinks you're too stupid to ask how much a new city hall is going to cost you -- in tax dollars.

The (Reisz) project will save millions of dollars over time, as the city has paid costs in its current location for over 57 years. It will also help the surrounding businesses see their private investment backed up by pubic investment.

Take a magnifying glass to the undisguised gloating amid yesterday's city hall press release, stating that the multi-million dollar Reisz renovation is a done deal and a fixed formality, and further opposition from the likes of YOU is plainly useless, and you'll find absolutely no mention of the price tag.

Please allow me to fill in this blank.

The Reisz cost commitment already has topped $10,000,000 in a city where perhaps a quarter of the residents live below the poverty line; where Gahan and his new unofficial deputy mayor and slavish devotee David Barksdale are eager to demolish half of the city's public housing units; and where city hall has yet to mention aloud minor details like the opioid epidemic, the accompanying rise in thievery and petty crime, homelessness, and the worsening plight of our city's working poor.

The sloganeering is so oppressive that a Trump rally seems like the knitter's circle coffee klatsch by comparison.

Government lives matter!

(so, let's literally quadruple the size of municipal government)

Buildings not people!

(because elite cliques need historic fetishes, too)

If you have to ask what it costs, you can't afford it!

(it might be the only truthful statement yet uttered by these purported Democrats)

Team Gahan and affiliates can do the math, all right, so long as most of it is concealed.

What eludes them is simple human empathy.

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Last week the News and Tribune's most inconsistent editor got to work defending the imperatives of government buildings over those of residents.

He begins by inferring an economic ripple effect from a single government-occupied building, without bothering to try to interpret economic conditions and trends downtown.

MORRIS: Reisz rehab would give downtown a boost, by Chris Morris (Where Multiple Tom Mays Roam)

 ... But the area needs another boost. Some businesses have closed recently while others are struggling. Just think what could happen with a vibrant city hall in a refurbished Reisz building, in the heart of our downtown. With life put back into a building that has sat empty for years, others may decide to invest and open a business, or at the very least visit the downtown. The downtown needs this project.

Morris saves his weakest argument for last.

I am a fan of uni-gov — otherwise known as one government for New Albany and Floyd County, and being in favor of adding another government building to the tax rolls goes against that theory. Uni-gov would eliminate duplicated services, there wouldn’t be these power struggles or personality conflicts, and it would save taxpayers money. Too much government only gets in the way of people trying to live their lives ...

 ... So why would I support spending money to rehabilitate this building, guaranteeing two separate government buildings just blocks apart? Even with a uni-gov the City-County Building will be needed for office space and to allow the courts to expand. That building is also in need of some renovation, but that is for another day ...

... It’s a big move but one I think the city needs to take. There are no other options on the table for the building and this makes the most sense. The downtown needs a boost, and putting city hall inside the Reisz Furniture building may be exactly what is needed. It’s worth the gamble.

Worth the $10,000,000 (or more) gamble, like it's Monopoly money?

If there is a consistent theme to the prevailing Reisz apologetic, it echoes the immortal words of Basil Fawlty: "Don't mention the cost!"

Or: Don't mention the opportunity cost, because we'll be spending an extra $400,000 a year for one government building when the money might be combined with private sector investments to assist dozens of other deserving historic structures downtown and those small businesses and residences occupying them, as well as incentivizing infill construction to fill vacant lots.

Alas, we've long understood that Morris's veneration of "respectable" authority is such that he'll automatically take the side of anyone and anything he's loosely capable of identifying as a selfless community pillar.

Morris comes perilously close to openly acknowledging that this fact-free approach is contradictory as it pertains to uni-gov, and yet he churns out the logic sausage as predictably as Team Gahan and HWC Engineering render Jeff Speck's walkability into more of the same car-centrism.

I asked the newspaper for a similar word count in rebuttal. To my mild surprise, the offer was accepted, and I wrote the following. It was published yesterday; this is the "Director's Cut," leaving intact two passages I was asked by the editor to remove. You'll probably be able to guess which ones.

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Last week the News and Tribune’s Chris Morris supported governmental intervention ostensibly aimed at “saving” the Reisz Furniture Warehouse by renovating it into a lavish new city hall.

I’d love to see Reisz put to use, just not like this. To understand why, let’s follow the money.

Dating to 1852, the Reisz building has been a flour mill, funeral home and shirt factory. Purchased by Schmitt Furniture in 1988, it served mostly as cheap storage.

At any point during three decades, Schmitt might have opted to “save” Reisz but didn’t, and so a central point of Mayor Jeff Gahan’s case for adaptive reuse is a suddenly urgent need to rectify the "dilapidated” building’s “neglect” (his words).

Apparently there are no penalties in New Albany for structure abuse.

Last August the Redevelopment Commission authorized funds for Gahan’s relocation project, at the time neither subject to an RFP (request for proposal), nor approved by city council. Detailed explanations were offered by Denton Floyd Real Estate Group, with whom Gahan is partnering, as though the deal already had been sealed.

Perhaps this occurred when former redevelopment tsar David Duggins accompanied Denton Floyd last fall for a limousine junket to Keeneland.

By May of 2018, the RFP formality was hurdled. $750,000 passed from Redevelopment to Denton Floyd, including the purchase price of $390,000, with the remainder to empty the building of junk.

Denton Floyd would complete the 23,000-square-foot buildout for city hall’s relocation (currently City Hall uses 6,500 sq. ft. at the City County Building), with a 15-year “rent to own” lease.

Yearly payments will be $570,000, or $8,500,000 over 15 years. By comparison, $200,000 during the same period in the City County Building totals $3,000,000. Another $500,000 is approved for office furnishings, surely a low estimate.

Ten months ago the city’s combined yearly cost at Reisz was estimated at $215,000. It’s more than tripled since then, with just shy of $10,000,000 committed to the project. The total cost of ownership inevitably will rise; in addition to inevitable price hikes, county officials insist the city remains bound to its current landlord. Lawsuits are likely.

20% of the city’s population lives below the poverty line, yet Gahan, who concurrently seeks to demolish half our public housing units, wants to spend an additional $370,000 - $400,000 yearly on city offices, citing the ripple effects of economic development that relocation will generate.

We should be asking whether these ripple effects are real or imagined.

The most persistent advocate of the Reisz project is David Barksdale, historic preservationist and city councilman, who thinks Reisz must be renovated at any cost, and presumably, since limitless costs are government’s responsibility, seeks largess from a bottomless well of cash.

Barksdale touts the project as “skin in the game,” a way of showing downtown stakeholders that City Hall stands with them.

After all, entrepreneurs and small independent business owners have invested $60 million or more into downtown during the past decade, while enjoying few of the subsidies available to suburban industrial park occupants.

Barksdale’s argument is flawed. Private investors spend their own money, but the money required for the municipality’s funding of a single speculative historic preservation project isn’t cash from Gahan’s or Barksdale’s pockets.

Rather, this “skin” belongs to the city’s taxpayers – and they haven’t been asked.

Naturally downtown stakeholders need functional “skin” in the game, this being shared, collective infrastructure, including streets, sewers, police and firefighters. These are grassroots needs, citywide.

City Hall spending almost $10 million on itself? That’s a top-down want.

Some compare a new city hall with the YMCA. It’s absurd. The YMCA brings people downtown who might not otherwise come. Moving city offices three whole blocks changes nothing. The same workers come to work, and they eat the same lunch. There is no net gain.

Furthermore, a relocated city hall threatens to bump Harvest Homecoming’s kiddie rides from its current location, posing a financial hardship for the city’s premier annual festival.

As for the exaggerated rhetoric of historic preservation, $7 million for one additional restored historic building won’t be diverting tour buses.

Numerous structures of historic significance lie within a five minute stroll of Reisz. No study has been conducted to determine whether one of them might be suitable as city hall. No other options even have been considered. If floated as a referendum, this relocation boondoggle probably would lose 70%-30%, or worse.

Ironically Morris, a proponent of unified city-county government (uni-gov), can’t see that Gahan’s interest in city hall relocation is politically motivated, having nothing to do with historic preservation or the Reisz building itself apart from the utility of prying away Barksdale’s council vote to restore Gahan’s control of an otherwise lapsed majority.

City hall’s relocation addresses Gahan’s pathological hatred of uni-gov. He’d secede from the county if allowed, and he’d relocate HQ to a suitably luxurious pole barn if one existed. Plainly, the aim is political preservation for Gahan and Democrats, and Reisz is just one move in a chess game to stave off power-sharing with the county.

Shouldn’t we wait until municipal elections in 2019 to discuss moving city hall?

Let your councilman know this mandate (if any) should come from the people, not the city’s ruling elites.

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See also:

June 12, 2018: ON THE AVENUES: Histrionic preservation? $8.5 million to gift Jeff Gahan with a luxury city hall "want" is simply obscene in a time of societal need.

Homelessness, 8th Street Pizza's move, Clean Socks Hope's mission and an addendum by Exit 0.

It's the building at 141 East Main Street, the former Liz at Home and more recently GrayStone Performance, located right across the street from the Reisz Mahal (new city hall). Let's dive right in. These links are to Facebook; the website is here.

Clean Socks Hope & 8th Street Pizza, in New Albany, IN, is the area's only pay-it-forward pizzeria serving serving Floyd, Harrison and Clark counties since 2007.

We are a nonprofit organization offering hand tossed pizzas, desserts, drinks, dine-in and carry out service, games and much more. Delivery available via DoorDash app. For your next pizza craving, visit Clean Socks Hope & 8th Street Pizza in New Albany.

Clean Socks Hope's mission is described here.

We believe that God created all people, including the poor with the ability to help themselves and others. That means that we do not fall into the routine perpetual feeding and clothing programs of those around us, but equip those we serve with the skills that will create self-worth and self-sufficiency that can change the lives of men, women and children for generations to come.

Yesterday our friend Andrew began spreading the word that 8th Street Pizza will be moving to 141 East Main Street.

8th Street Pizza is moving locations from midtown to downtown New Albany. Some businesses like Pints&union, Wick's New Albany, The Earl, and 1816 Modern Kitchen & Drinks have supported their mission of feeding the homeless in New Albany.

Now 8th Street Pizza has seen an influx of NEW homeless people in Downtown New Albany and really wants to help the downtown area. They are moving to 141 East Main Street. The focus will still be an outreach location but will also serve late-night New York Style Pizza by the slice.

Jeffrey S. Minton is the man behind Clean Socks Hope and 8th Street Pizza and wanted me to help spread the word to the new neighbors in downtown and I figured this would be one of the best methods.

The "Share a Slice" campaign has been a kick and they look to expand it by offering a "Share A Slice" Wall that anyone can donate to and take from. No questions asked...

If you haven't heard of the amazing nonprofit pizza place, then please take the time to get a piece of 8th Street Pizza soon. I'll even share a slice with you!

So far, so good. NA Confidential doesn't do Christianity, but we broadly support this pizza-driven outreach, and the building in question might conceivably be more than just a pizzeria; the building's most recent owner installed dorm rooms upstairs. When I saw them, I thought: youth hostel.

Interestingly, this is one of those infrequent times when food and social issues actively collide, because to put it bluntly, City Hall's stance on homelessness is as clear as alluvial mud -- not at all clean like white socks. Ronald Reagan famously avoided saying the word "AIDS" aloud; Jeff Gahan's bugaboo is the word "homelessness," as he doesn't communicate well and as a suburbanite generally avoids topics he finds personally distasteful.

It hasn't been very long (July) since Gahan's homeless encampment demolition debacle.

Exit 0's Paul Stensrud pulls zero punches v.v. Gahan's violence against the homeless: "In order for things to change there needs to be a change of hands within local government."

It appears that Jeff Gahan is as adept at co-opting the Homeless Coalition of Southern Indiana as he has been in snookering Purported Progressives into hand-feeding him grapes. Gahan has picked a side he can control; if Dear Leader could bulldoze Exit Zero as a concept, then he'd do that, too.

Gahan is pathology, not policy.

Consequently, and eerily paralleling 8th Street Pizza's moving announcement, Exit 0 posted this commentary yesterday on Facebook.

We went scouting in New Albany today and found new signage to keep the homeless out of the town and several needles discarded off of a public trail. But the city continues to claim they do not have a drug addiction or homelsssness problem. Why make up signage and ban tents if we have no issue? Welcome to making homelessness illegal in New Albany. The needles were cleaned up so someone in the community does not get hurt. Continue to pray for our community.

NA Confidential supports Clean Socks Hope, 8th Street Pizza and Exit 0, and quite frankly, major league stones are required for anyone to set up a program of homeless outreach at a site directly across from the mayor's new showpiece City Hall.

This fascinating juxtaposition stands to be very interesting indeed, especially as we approach the election. Wouldn't it be good if Gahan chose to issue a public statement of support for what Clean Socks Hope and 8th Street Pizza is trying to do downtown?

Department of City-Owned Chicanery: Why did the city pay $300,000 for this (now) vacant lot at the corner of Culbertson and E. 5th?

Gone, but at a ridiculously inflated price.

The 502 Culbertson property facing Fairview Cemetery was purchased in 2017 for $350,000, two-and-a-half-times the price paid by the previous owner in 2011. It was a horribly maintained slumlord property recently boarded up. A few months ago the building was demolished and seeded, and now it's (yet another) vacant lot.

According to Elevate, the city of New Albany purchased the property in January for $300,000. There are derelict houses on all sides, and even the assessed value of a mere $47,800 seems too high -- so why has the city paid more than six times the assessed value to own it?

I'm intentionally withholding the name of the previous owner; let is suffice to say that he owns seemingly half of Southern Indiana.

Please forward to your council representative with a question: What sort of chicanery is taking place at 502 Culbertson?

(Thanks to B for the tip)

Gahan's exciting new Ruins of Moser Tannery exhibit: a metaphor hides in plain sight.

City Hall's remarkably poor stewardship of this property over a period of two years can't be laughed away with an insurance payment.

Consider this: if the investigation -- let's hope it is conducted by insurers and not the vandal's appointees -- echoes that of the Reichstag episode and concludes the fire at Moser Tannery was set by communists squatters (read: homeless people), how does the mayor wiggle out from his own oft-stated belief that homeless people don't exist in New Albany?

Were they bussed in from Jeffersonville?

That's it! Mike Moore dunnit.

For critics of the administration, it may be time to shift locales for a few days until a scapegoat is found, but posterity is advised to keep its eye on the central point of the city's purposeful neglect of the Moser grounds.

Paging Keith Henderson ...

Red has-beens and Reisz: "Seeing the beauty in Ukraine’s Soviet architecture."

Perhaps the single most noteworthy fact to emerge from the recent Reisz Mahal city hall relocation boondoggle was councilman David Barksdale's enduringly bizarre assertion that government employees in an air-conditioned, electrified and fully plumbed building younger than him are being forced to endure "inhumane" working conditions.

That's a special kind of stupid, so let's move to the second most interesting fact, which pertains to the City-County Building itself.

The courthouse is undoubtedly modern, but at 57 years old it’s actually eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Preservationists routinely plead that their overarching goal is not to recreate century-old streetscapes in the sense of Disney-fried fantasy, and there is occasional merit to their protests.

Well, at least for some of them.

Barksdale's cost-be-damned Reisz fetish has marginalized the local historic preservation cadre so thoroughly that its only hope is the elevation of Jeff Gahan as mayor-for-life; any other result in next year's mayoral race stands to be grim for a group that has leaped full-bore into grubby partisan politics in spite of its rumored non-profit, apolitical status.

Returning to the wider scene, where the proverbial rubber ultimately will meet the road is the projected future juncture of preservation-mindedness and structures precisely like the current City-County Building.

We'll be watching. I suspect it won't happen in Barksdale's time, but maybe Generation Z will bail us out of the rampant foppery.

Seeing the Beauty in Ukraine’s Soviet Architecture, by Karim Doumar (CityLab)

The authors of an upcoming book on the nation’s most threatened buildings have a dramatic short film that makes a case for preservation.

ON THE AVENUES: For Deaf Gahan and the Reisz Five, their luxury city hall will prove to be a Pyrrhic victory.

ON THE AVENUES: For Deaf Gahan and the Reisz Five, their luxury city hall will prove to be a Pyrrhic victory.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

“So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong, and strike at what is weak.”
-- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

But enough about Team Gahan’s cynical manipulation of David Barksdale -- and the latter's eagerness to be exploited. In the case of the Reisz Elephant, those of us opposing this wasteful boondoggle of the vanities lost the battle, but we may be winning the war.

A Pyrrhic (PEER-ick) victory is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Someone who wins a Pyrrhic victory has also taken a heavy toll that negates any true sense of achievement.

For once, allow me just a moment to give ourselves a pat on the collective back. The broad outlines of an anti-anchor electoral coalition in 2019 increasingly are becoming visible. With each of Gahan’s grandiose and self-referential expenditures, the disgruntlement spreads.

The city’s lofty elites are over-confident, and the governing clique suffers from profound “institutional inbreeding.” The louder Gahan’s boasting becomes, and the greater his posturing, the more threadbare his personality cult’s clothing.

It’s true that Pinocchio Jeff will have pots of money in 2019, but the successful mobilization of Reisz refuseniks convinces me that we’re putting together a solid network for communication and cooperation.

And, to be blunt, during the 47 days that elapsed between the two city council votes on the Reisz Elephant, this blog performed most of the duties of the local “newspaper of record” as they pertain to the critical importance of the Fourth Estate.

The fact of the matter is that democracy requires informed citizens. No governing body can be expected to operate well without knowledge of the issues on which it is to rule, and rule by the people entails that the people should be informed. In a representative democracy, the role of the press is twofold: it both informs citizens and sets up a feedback loop between the government and voters. The press makes the actions of the government known to the public, and voters who disapprove of current trends in policy can take corrective action in the next election. Without the press, the feedback loop is broken and the government is no longer accountable to the people. The press is therefore of the utmost importance in a representative democracy.

To be sure, the Green Mouse and I had lots and lots of help, and thanks are owed to everyone who tipped, tattled and took it upon themselves to spread the word.

Sadly, once again the News and Tribune was AWOL. Of course, immediately after the Reisz Five rammed the mayor’s fix into place, News and Tribune publisher Bill Hansen emerged from the shadows to congratulate himself and the newspaper for being so awesome.

If you aren’t one of those salty newspaper pros of which I write, you won’t get it. You won’t understand that in spite of enduring years of furloughs and low wages, reporters still put their heads down and plow through the muck and the mire to bring you, our readers, information you need — and should want — to know.

If so, then why has the word “Keeneland” been ubiquitous on so many local lips these past few days? It didn’t originate at the N & T, did it? Why were citizens quoting a lowly blog, and not the newspaper? Why were insiders on both sides of the issue sending NA Confidential those e-mails, and not Chris Morris?

Is it time yet for another hard-hitting, "salty" Cooking School?

Just one missed opportunity proves the point. Recalling that a considerable part of Team Gahan’s case to “save” the Reisz building pivoted on the former property owner’s villainy in rendering a presumably valuable historic structure into such a woeful state of “neglect,” “dilapidation” and “blight,” to my knowledge not a single employee of the newspaper ever once asked Schmitt Furniture why it had been a poor steward -- or how it came to be bailed out and rewarded by the city for its refusal to cooperate with the sort of building maintenance codes that might have prevented the decay.

These being codes enforced only variably, anyway. Has the newspaper ever investigated the disappearance of Jeff Gahan’s rental property inspection promise?

In which wing of the down-low bunker is this forgotten vow cowering?

Sadly, the community pillars and the well-connected always get their playthings and golden parachutes, even as poor folks over at the housing authority are threatened with fundamental terror borne of demolitions as fetishized by a C-minus mayor who hasn’t read a book since high school, but fancies himself a Grade-A social engineer.

Jeff Gahan’s $10 million (and rising) Reisz Elephant crusade on behalf of Government Lives Matter is misguided and will be expensive, but it’s also a valuable litmus test preceding next year’s potentially curative elections. The cool kids got their “wants” -- and the rest of us have been gifted with an opportunity to kick the clique to the anchor-festooned curb in 2019.

The momentum is ours. Firing Gahan now rates as a “need.” Let’s get to work.

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In the run-up to formal approval of the city hall relocation, a defender of the mayor accused me of “making this situation political.”

I was shocked -- not because a grubby sycophant disagreed with me, but that he’s not even a job holder drawn from the mayor’s family tree or his jamboree of toadies.

What, a $10 million mayoral self-empowerment project, political?

Hmm, ya think so?

If anyone can determine a single aspect of the Reisz Elephant saga that hasn’t been political, let me know and I’ll buy you a beer on opening night at Pints & Union.

Actually every last human being involved with the Reisz Elephant city hall relocation debate has been playing politics non-stop, whether behind closed doors (always Gahan’s default preference, mirroring his agoraphobia and revealing eroded social skills), or openly in the clear light of day, as here at the blog, or during Dan Coffey’s do-it-yourself public meeting, a gathering made necessary precisely because of Team Gahan’s fix-is-in, shadowy reticence.

Hypocrisy aside, it’s all politics, all the time, and what the mayor's jockstrap handlers really are trying to say to us is that politics must be reserved to the anointed politicians; if you have not been elected, appointed or purchased outright, then shut up and get out of the way.

Ignoring the most obvious of retorts -- these paragons of virtue can’t be bothered to read their own American foundational documents -- permit me to counter with my own bill of political rights, which states that every single day, although more imperatively when elected officials and their appointed bootlickers hijack the political process amid a blizzard of campaign donations, then circle the wagons and take politics to the down-low bunker, I reserve the option of using all the tools available to me to pursue alternatives and to encourage dissent.

Among these tools are my pen and word processor; powers of persuasion on the porch chatting with a neighbor; a can of spray paint, appropriate signage, periodic occupation and a march for our lives; and in short, using rhetoric, polemics and whatever it takes to get the point across when privileged insiders hack the decision-making process, and newspapers seek to make us feel good instead of telling the truth.

Sorry Bill. You’re absolutely clueless about New Gahania.

In a pinch, it’s certainly an option to “run” for something (again), but the point is that political expression isn’t reserved to office holders and their milieu.

Speaking personally, I’m more likely to “make a run” to the package store for restorative medicine, despite there being far too few shots and tall boys on the planet to dull the imbecilities of those fawning and obsequious toadies who believe we must look the other way while elected officials of Jeff Gahan’s squalid caliber pillage the commonweal at will.

Verily, January 1, 2019 cannot arrive too soon for me. Have I mentioned Nix the Fix?

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During his stand-up routine at city council on June 21, billed as “35 Reasons I’m Better Than You,” municipal bond percentage retirement fund aggregator Shane Gibson -- who reportedly does legal work in his spare time -- twice mentioned the sum of $9 million as representing the amount the city has invested in the Floyd County Jail, and BY GAWD, Emperor Gahan has absolutely no intention of allowing the perfidious Floyd County governmental miscreants to screw us out of what’s rightfully ours.

Shortly thereafter, afforded an audience by one-fifth of the Reisz Five, I listened in amazement as each point I raised about the luxury city hall enthronement project was met by one or the other variations on a theme: “But the COUNTY’S worse.”

Yeah, but what about the COUNTY?
The COUNTY was corrupt first, you know.
How can you say that WHEN THE COUNTY?

It happens that I’ve been a lifelong opponent of merging city and county government, or “Uni-Gov,” as so many refer to it. The first half of my existence was spent in Georgetown and Floyds Knobs, the second half in New Albany, and to this day, I’m quite skeptical about the chances of uniting disparate entities.

However, these days I’m listening carefully to the case for reducing duplication and combining certain functions, and the reason I’m doing so has nothing whatever to do with any ideological consideration apart from the adolescent, all-consuming, evangelical, anti-county fervor of the Gahanites, which is causing me to recall my status as resident of both city and county, and to realize that the spitball wars between governmental entities are annoyingly childish.

I can hear it now: BUT THE COUNTY STARTED IT, ROGER.

My answer: Are you still in kindergarten, councilman? 

I’m finding it excruciatingly tedious to listen as ineffectual Democratic council creatures shamelessly alibi for their own rampant political cowardice by crying wolf, all while foaming at the mouth and wildly gesturing toward the Knobs.

They’re clearly sick in the head, and I’d phone for an ambulance, except it isn’t clear whether I’d reach the correct 9-1-1 call center.

New Albany’s DemoDisneyDixiecratic higher-ups are the problem, not the solution – and I suppose now we must toss Barksdale into the dysfunctional mix. He’s chosen to allow himself to be used amid the partisan idiocy, and if I were the Republican chairman, I’d be staging the opening sequence of the television series Branded in broad daylight at Hauss Square.

Today more than ever before, the enemy of our enemy is our friend. If we work together in the common interest of the city during the coming months, the Gahan-tagion can be eliminated in 2019, and while we couldn't stop the Reisz Elephant, the toxic waste clean-up can begin in earnest.

Thanks for reading.

#FireGahan2019

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Recent columns:

June 28: ON THE AVENUES: Said the spider to the fly -- will you please take a slice of Reisz?

June 21: ON THE AVENUES: Government Lives Matter, so it's $10,000,000 for Gahan's luxury city hall clique enhancement. Happy dumpster diving, peasants!

June 12: ON THE AVENUES: Histrionic preservation? $8.5 million to gift Jeff Gahan with a luxury city hall "want" is simply obscene in a time of societal need.

June 7: ON THE AVENUES: Taco Bell has as much to do with "local business" as Jeff Gahan does with "quality urban design principles."

There was no column on May 31.

The Reisz Five's fix leads the Top Ten posts at NA Confidential for June 2018.

June 2018 always will be remembered
for the back-alley Reisz city hall fix.

If you're on Twitter and aren't following Hon. Deaf Gahan, go there immediately and enjoy the shadow mayoral account.

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 June 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.

As an aside, never before has an ON THE AVENUES column finished as the top post of the month.

JUNE HONORABLE MENTION (5)

487 (tie)

Goodbye to the Fork in the Road, hello to "Mayor Jeff Gahan presents, "A Fork Amid the Sidewalk" -- and fork YOU if you don't obey.

Jeeebus, the clique is engorged. Anyone for lancing the boil in 2019?

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487 (tie)

Jeff Gahan handed Denton Floyd $750,000 to kick-start the Reisz project. Where are the documents detailing this transaction?

Gibson told councilmen that if the city’s back-alley deal with Denton Floyd falls through, there are no other choices aside from demolition. Either the city spends a minimum of $10,000,000, or there’ll be a hole in the ground. Anyone listening to Gibson should have asked a simple question.

How so?

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527

Peak inner city suburban Gahanism via faux "input," pre-determined outcomes, clear-cutting, IKEA chairs and raging HWC paranoia. Welcome to your "improved" Market Street.

In turn, this means that once again -- have we reached 50 times yet, or 75? -- David "I'm Beaming About Buildings" Barksdale of the largely fictitious Treeless Board is merrily presiding over the felling of at least seven healthy trees, proving yet again that irony in New Albany is stone effing dead -- and moreover, with Barksdale the council swing voter of the moment, he's buffed to a high sheen by the City Hall patronage machine and encouraged time and again to lube the chain saw as a means of glorifying objects, as opposed to people.

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554

First Taco Walk, now 1 Night Stand. It's not derogatory to suggest that no idea is safe from being hijacked by Develop New Albany.

The reason why I don't write fiction is that real life is endlessly bizarre, so let's take a look at the next purloined event from the foot-shot specialists. It's called 1 Night Stand, and if this term sounds weirdly familiar to you, keep reading.

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577

"What and who is New Albany Social?"

Kelly's and Beth's grassroots enthusiasm is contagious. It's pleasingly non-corporate, and comes spontaneously. What they're doing is great, and let's hope for many more posts.

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584

Neither City Hall nor HWC Engineering sees a problem with this mishap-plagued intersection. Maybe we should appeal to Floyd County government for help.

To no one's surprise, BOW has been completely unresponsive -- and as fatigued city engineer Larry Summers informed council just a few weeks ago, he's so busy coordinating campaign donations from paving companies that there's no time for the consideration of other matters. Unfortunately, Greg Phipps has a history of stopping short of useful action that might offend Dear Leader, so here we are. Perhaps it's time for residents of the 3rd district to learn from the instructive experience of Vulcan, West Virginia in the late 1980s. There's a crucial and delightful twist, seeing as the USSR and the GDR no longer exist.

JUNE TOP TEN

590

It was my first Kentuckiana Pride Parade, but it won't be my last.

I've never participated in a Kentuckiana Pride Parade, so today was a first for me, and awesome to boot. Thanks to Centerstone of Kentucky, Diana's employer, for having me.

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612

Many of you hadn't been born the last time these Schmitt Furniture windows were visible.

Much of Schmitt Furniture's block is being overhauled as I write, with projects underway on all four sides. There's much work yet to be done, but for today, to those engaged in this process: thanks and congrats.

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630 (tie)

2-for-1? Scott Blair describes a better way to save the Reisz building AND get a new city hall.

Blair's idea has one major flaw, because the work required to save Reisz and build city hall probably would not be finished before next year's elections, and completed bright shiny objects are essential to Gahan's flashcard campaign strategy.

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630 (tie)

Stop the Reisz Elephant: There'll be a public meeting on Wednesday, June 27, downstairs at the library, at 6:00 p.m.

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667

The two most recent Manic Street Preachers albums, ending one era and beginning another.

A new Manic Street Preachers album has been released. It's called Resistance is Futile, and I love it. There'll be more to say about the album at another time; for the moment, here's a glorious song (above) and an excerpt from the review at NME:

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719

Smoking gun? City Hall finally releases the "Reimbursement Agreement" with Denton Floyd. A "do over" for Reisz is possible, isn't it?

As such -- and I'm not a lawyer -- the agreement reads as though in the interim, Denton Floyd is to receive a sum of money to carry out certain tasks, and if council approval isn't forthcoming, ownership and improvements pass back to the city.

In short: contrary to corporate attorney Shane Gibson's assertions on the 21st, a Reisz Elephant do-over is still very much possible. Gibson said demolition would be the only alternative, but if council were to reject the backroom deal and the Reisz pass back to the city, it would still be possible for Scott Blair's market-oriented alternative suggestion to come to fruition.

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808

Jeff "Look at Me" Gahan's aquatic cult of personality: He brings us health, all by himself.

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850

Not to be outdone, Deaf Gahan plans a Pride Parade route for New Albany.

"Mike, this whole administration is just wonderful, and I'm just proud as punch about all this pride, but you didn't say if any trees will be removed for the parade. I can make that happen, you know. My peeps on the Tree Board know chainsaws. Take down those trees, and it makes it easier for people in their cars to see the buildings -- I mean, the parade banners."

"Unfortunately, no -- the whole parade route is inside a bar. It's not even historic."

Barksdale sighed audibly.

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916

Apartments above, vacant storefronts below. Why do commercial spaces in mixed use developments remain empty?

The reason these (often) mandated retail spaces remain empty is because they're priced too high and sized too large for indies; cookie cutter developers with little interest in the real world apart from grabbing municipal abatements and incentives don't bother very much to consider what might actually work in these commercial spaces, and they're willing to sit on emptiness rather than put in the effort to learn.

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927

Truth is stranger than fact: Back in 2012, the Reisz building was to become a senior living complex. Bob Caesar kneecapped it -- and Deaf Gahan DISAGREED with Cee-Saw.

Welcome to Weird New Albany. Now that Summit Springs has been rendered into a partnership of sorts between its greed-headed developers and City Hall, and since it is being devoted to hotels and retail, not apartments, those bumps from 2012 are forgotten, and Caesar and Gahan can hold hands while praising the view from the Taco Bell by the strip mine. Moreover, having chased away Sterling, these two political lovebirds can bond over Reisz as a paean to luxury governance.

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1,649

ON THE AVENUES: Histrionic preservation? $8.5 million to gift Jeff Gahan with a new city hall "want" is inexcusable and simply obscene in a time of societal need.

It's June, 2018, and peak Gahanism has arrived. The Leaden Anchor-Laden Emperor has decreed that housing conditions for his staff outweigh the needs of the many, and so it seems inevitable that the “dilapidated” and “neglected” Reisz Furniture building on Main Street not only will escape the tavern’s dismal fate, but is singularly worthy of conversion into a brilliant new showpiece City Hall, one destined to gather many gushing state and national preservation awards, and some sweet day, bear the mayor’s name in awestruck tribute.