ASK THE BORED: BOW tells Chartres Street residents that chimney cracks, crumbling curbs and sewer repair disruptions are for the greater good of the Gahan re-election campaign.

And instead of complaining, they should be grateful to live amid the unprecedented opulence of New Gahania.

Sewer project shakes Chartres Street, but is it damaging homes?, by Danielle Grady (The Collected Works of Tom May)

NEW ALBANY — A couple of New Albany residents say that a city sewer project is damaging their homes, but the contractor says that unrelated forces are causing the issues.

Tony Nava lives on Chartres Street, which is intersected by a city sewer project that involves boring 20 to 25 feet into the ground to install a new system. The work, which started in January, has been sending vibrations throughout the neighborhood, including to Paula Bader’s house.

“I feel like I’m in a war zone,” said Bader.

The bricks of Nava’s chimney have loosened and cracks have formed in his ceiling and walls.

“The thing was, it wasn’t like that before construction,” said Nava at Tuesday’s New Albany Board of Public Works & Safety meeting.

Related:

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: Bring out your brooms -- we have nothing to lose except the toxic cliques and vacuous kakistocrats of imbecilic Gahanism.

THE BEER BEAT: Starlight Distribution's entire inventory was destroyed by Friday's flooding.

Let's be perfectly clear: It's far better to lose beer than people.

At the same time, the loss of fine beer hits me much harder than a warehouse filled with flanges, and if we had to see alcoholic beverages destroyed, couldn't it have been Bud Light?

Condolences to Starlight Distribution and solidarity with the recovery. The same goes for all the folks north of us who suffered damage from yesterday's flooding.

Three cheers: Starlight Distribution brings Shelton Brothers back to Indiana.

Damage on the facade of a favorite downtown church building.

I'm not a believer, but it doesn't mean there is any lack of merit in historic religious architecture. The First Baptist Church building at the corner of 9th and Spring is my favorite such structure in town, reportedly dating from the 1860s. While walking on Tuesday, I noticed falling stone, and that's too bad. Let's hope it can be repaired.

City Hall: New Albany wind storm update.

From City Hall:

New Albany Mayor Doug England briefed members of the media on the city’s wind storm recovery operations this morning.

Here are details and highlights from his press conference:

• Bottled water will be made available at no cost at four Floyd County firehouses, including the New Albany Fire Headquarters on E. Spring and E. 4th Streets. Other locations with water include: Georgetown Fire Department on Corydon Ridge Rd., Lafayette Township Fire Department on Scottsville Rd., Greenville-Galena on U.S. 150.


• Free meals will be available at the following locations in New Albany:

Wednesday – Silver St. United Methodist, 413 Silver St., 6-6:30 p.m.
Wednesday - Main St. United Methodist, 516 W. Main St., 5:30-6:00 p.m.
Thursday – Centenary United Methodist, 309 E. Spring St., 6-7 p.m.
Friday – St. Paul’s Episcopal, 1015 E. Main St., 6-7 p.m.


• The following New Albany-Floyd County School Corporation facilities will be open for showers:

Highland Hills Middle School
Wednesday 4-8 p.m.
Thursday 7-10 a.m. and 4-8 p.m.

Hazelwood Middle School
Wednesday 4-8 p.m.
Thursday 7-10 a.m. and 4-8 p.m.

Citizens should be reminded to bring their own towels and toiletries.


• The city’s temporary drop-off locations from vegetative waste – limbs, trees, branches, leaves and wood – remains open at the old Farmer’s Market located on Scribner Dr. between W. Oak and W. Elm Streets, across from the New Albany Little League baseball fields. The site, which is being regulated by a traffic officer from the city’s Police Department, is open to all New Albany residents.


• City forces have cleared all streets and alleyways of debris, except in locations where power lines remain entangled with trees. The city has been communicating these problematic sites on a regular basis with Duke Energy. Portions of approximately 10 streets remain blocked or closed, Street Commissioner Mickey Thompson estimated. (A separate e-mail will be distributed with current street and alley closures.)


• Property owners with damage to their residence should not only notify their insurance agent, but also Floyd County Emergency Management. Terry Herthel, the agency’s director, said compiling this information will help in their efforts to qualify Floyd County for federal funding and assistance. Citizens can call Herthel’s office at (812) 948-5454.

City Hall: Street closing update.

From Matt Denison, Assistant Director of Operations:


...here is an updated list of streets and alleys still closed in New Albany because of power lines entangled in trees or low-hanging wires.

1. Dewey St. between E. 15th and E. 16th St.

2. Near the intersection of Elm St. and Beharrell St.

3. Intersection of Crestview and Old Vincennes Rd. (two trees)

4. Alley between E. 10th St. and E. 11th St. between E. Spring St. and E. Market St.

5. Near intersection E. 11th St. Greenaway. (should be open within the next hour)

6. Intersection of Jackson St. and Hildreth Ave.

7. Alley between W. 9th St. and W. 10th St. off Cherry St.

8. Green Valley Rd. between Gordon Dr. and Greebriar Dr.

9. Alley between Beeler St. and McClain Ave. and between McDonald Ave. and Korb Ave.

10. Virginia Ct. between Spring Ave. and E. Elm St.

NABC still closed on Tuesday. When will we be back?

When Duke Energy gets to us, I guess. Must not be any good beer fans there (just teasing!)

Obviously, no juice at work = no food and warm beer, so until the electricity's back, we're on enforced break. As for me, if there's juice at the airport, I'm off for the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. There's plenty of good beer there.

Stay tuned. Bluegill will update the situation. See you in two weeks.

City Hall: Where to put (and where to take) wind storm debris.

From City Hall:

The Mayor's office has been contacted by several interested citizens who would like to volunteer their assistance in cleaning up the storm damage strewn about the City.

The Mayor has indicated that anyone wishing to volunteer should focus their efforts in their own neighborhoods. Storm debris - limbs, trees, and other refuse - should be placed at curbside or five feet back from roads without curbs.

If anyone wants to haul yard waste to a dump site, they should take this material to the designated temporary storage site at the old Farmers Market on Scribner Drive between W. Elm Street and W. Oak Street across the street from the New Albany Little League field. Please, only yard waste - limbs, branches, leaves, wood - should be dumped at this site!

Mayor England appreciates the effort of all volunteers and cautions all volunteers to emphasize "safety first".

Thank you.

Carl E. Malysz

It's an insurance claim Monday, New Albany.

Let's hope you have some. Electricity, too ...

The power has been out at NABC/Rich O's/Sportstime since early Sunday afternoon, so I'm guessing our chances of opening today are slim. If the juice comes back on soon, we may be back in action serving beer tonight, but food deliveries don't come until tomorrow, and the beer (although unharmed) is currently warm.

I like it that way, though not everyone does.

The beer in the temperature-controlled brewery fermenters is another matter, and we'll have to play that one by ear.

Property damage from yesterday's Hurricane Ike aftershocks looks to be extensive, though not expensive in most cases, with many trees and limbs down, and shingles blown off rooftops. A few houses weren't so lucky, and as Diggin' In the Dirt reported on Sunday, several prominent New Albany landmarks took big hits from the gusts. Fortunately, injuries and deaths appear to be few in our region, and for that we're all thankful.

Any thoughts? Post 'em. The thread will remain open the remainder of the day as clean-up proceeds and I make ready for Benelux beercycling (departure Tuesday).

I'd still rather be here than Texas.

6:40 pm update - Ann has the photos here ... and as she says, it's a mess

I just received a text message with a photo of the steeple at St. Mary's on the corner of Eighth and Spring. The wind's knocked it cockeyed -- still attached, but it appears to be precariously.

That explains the sirens. I'd go look, but there's debris aplenty in the back yard, including tree limbs and two collapsed fence sections.

And yes, I'm very glad we got our dying tree down on Thursday before the Ike remnants hit.