House fire in the 3rd district turns the spotlight to the importance of corner buildings, and how few city officials understand it.

It's unlikely the owner will be stepping forward to save the house, given that his serial neglect over a period of years surely contributed to its demise, but maybe miracles still happen.

TIF-buffing, anyone? Duggins' personal "Lots-R-Us" housing authority might be able to take it over for voucher housing.

Meanwhile David Barksdale's right about those idiotically vacant corner lots scattered throughout town where buildings ought to be, with perhaps a dozen in Councilman Phipps' 3rd district alone.

So of course everyone involved happily agreed to build parks at the corner of 11th and Spring, and the corner of Pearl and Spring -- and of course the corner of State and Spring remains a superfluous parking lot, and there's the biggest waste of what should be prime real estate in the entire city where the Farmers Market was built ...

Yep, those corner lots.

True, the city can't control what happens with all of them, but it's too bad we can't get it right for the ones we do.

Fire crews battle blaze at historic New Albany home, by Aprile Rickert (Hanson's Chain Folly)

Building was vacant, chief says

NEW ALBANY — Fire crews continue to attack hot spots after a historic home in downtown New Albany caught fire early Friday morning ...

... The corner-lot house falls within New Albany's historic Mansion Row, adjacent to St. Paul's Episcopal Church on the west and Naville & Seabrook Funeral Home on the north. It was built in 1910 by Edward and Mary Hackett, a family that was in the furniture manufacturing business. Edward died in 1922 and the home was subdivided into apartments in 1926, years before the bulk of larger building were cut into multi-family units during World War I and II.

Mary remained in control of the property until around 1940, when it was purchased by Vincent Knabel.

Floyd County Historian Dave Barksdale said that first and foremost, he's glad no one was seriously injured or killed in the fire. But he's concerned about whether the 109-year-old building will survive the damage.

"Corner buildings are very important to a street and when you lose a corner building, it's a shame because you're losing the anchor of that block," he said. "Depending on what the owner is intending on doing, there could be a good infill project go in there. It would be great if it could be saved, but just from my vantage point, I think it would be awfully hard to save."

Greg Sekula, director of Indiana Landmarks Southern regional office, said he has hope it can be restored.

"It certainly kind of makes your heart sink, particularly when the building is in a historic district and it is a contributing property within the district," Sekula said.

He said the house is a good example of framed colonial style and was one of the more prominent homes on the street when it was built. As an income-producing property, he said there are federal grants available to help with restoration.

"You don't want to see a gaping hole there," Sekula said. "I'm hoping that either the owner or someone else would step forward and try to save the building and rebuild the structure...hopefully the structural integrity is still intact which would make rebuilding feasible."

The Floyd County Assessor's Office confirmed that the property was last sold to Timothy Hollins in 1993. Hollins was unable to be immediately contacted for comment.

For Gauleiter Duggins and Dear Leader, it's all about the timetable to transform Riverview Tower into luxury with a view.

We hope Mr. Straw and his dog are doing okay.

The news story is weirdly disjointed, with the perspective shifting too quickly from a cursory look at the fire at Riverview Tower and ensuing hospitalizations, to the ludicrously overpaid public housing commissar David Duggins' eagerness to indulge in yet another round of Team Gahan's nauseous public housing virtue signaling.

Gahanites always cover their own bedraggled asses first, don't they? Problem is the News and Tribune always lets them get away with it. Why is that?

Riverview Tower fire contained to kitchen, by Chris Morris

One person remains in hospital

NEW ALBANY — The fire at Riverview Tower in New Albany on Thursday, when three people were taken to the hospital, was contained to the kitchen area of the apartment.

Firefighters arrived around 8 p.m. to the fire in apartment 1203 at Riverview Tower and were able to contain the blaze. The unit's kitchen was heavily damaged by fire and smoke. Firefighters rescued Jeff Straw, who lived in the apartment, along with his dog. He remains in the hospital after suffering smoke inhalation. His dog was taken to a local veterinarian for treatment.

Verily, the stage is being set.

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Are city officials really talking about selling Riverview Tower for luxury redevelopment? Trump might want a piece of THIS action.

Duggins said the outdated 44-year-old facility continues to deteriorate. The building is still being operated by temporary electrical service after last summer's fire, which displaced residents for more than a week. "We won't build units this size again," he said. "These units are just too small and residents have no storage."

It's hard to imagine the 44-year-old Riverview Tower being in worse condition than maligned Communist housing blocks in Eastern Europe, where rehabs are not an exception but the rule. Turns out the bones aren't as bad as thought.

Gdansk and the Falowiecs: "Can Poland’s Faded Brutalist Architecture Be Redeemed?"

Long derided as relics of an oppressive regime, the country’s Communist-era buildings are being given a second look, and a new life.

Doesn't it defy even this blog's high levels of skepticism to imagine that the architects and builders erecting Riverview in the mid-1970s didn't consider 16-story safety as part of the design process?

Duggins said the hope is to build four-story buildings where each unit would have a balcony, allowing residents to have more than one way to evacuate in case of a fire. "This is a 16-story building with a 160 units; any emergency is a real issue," he said. "There is only one way out of those apartments. Any small fire could be catastrophic in nature."

Will these four-story buildings replace Riverview at the current footprint, or will they be scattered around town at the many commercial properties NAHA currently is acquiring?

It's a follow-up question Morris might have asked, but of course, no.

Duggins said he is in weekly discussion with officials with the Department of Housing and Urban Development about Riverview's future. He said it would likely be a year before any decision is made on the building. He said he tries to meet with residents weekly to dispel any rumors about the facility's future.

He said he is no longer leasing units at Riverview because of the building's uncertainty. There are currently 60 vacant units in the building.

"Regardless of the plan, we wouldn't have to move folks for at least a year," Duggins said. "We just need to do a better job of communicating with residents .... we have their best interest in mind."

Whether Team Gahan's secretive final preferred outcome for Riverview Tower is outright demolition or its spiffy renovation for market rate housing (read: no more poor people enjoying great views), is there any doubt that chicanery is afoot?

You just don't move the back alley redevelopment fixer to public housing if helping people is the ultimate goal.

He said HUD is moving toward public/private partnerships, which include tax credits, in the future.

Morris' article ends abruptly with this reference to HUD, and so here's an article that explains Ben Carson's view of public/private partnerships.

It's too bad about the closing of the Arby's on Charlestown Road, because one gets the impression that Jeff Gahan, Duggins and Carson could enjoy a nice meal together there ... and come to a gentleman's agreement about the future of luxury in New Albany.

HUD secretary counters criticism that only rich benefit from public-private partnerships, by Dorothy Mills-Gregg (Market Watch)

WASHINGTON — Public-private partnerships are not just benefiting the wealthy but helping low-income areas, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson told a crowded ballroom on Tuesday at the annual National League of Cities conference.

“Some people have complained that, you know, it’s a mechanism for the rich to increase their wealth,” Carson said. “Well, what they don’t understand is rich people are going to take their money, and they’re going to invest it somewhere, so why not incentivize them to invest it into areas that have been economically neglected and deprived.”

He said HUD is “providing full autonomy” to local jurisdictions and encouraging public-private partnerships like the public housing maintenance program, Rental Assistance Demonstration, and tax incentives.

Notre-Dame in Paris and the Frauenkirche in Dresden.

The first thought that came to my mind when reports began appearing about the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris was the fall and rise of the Frauenkirche in Dresden.

I last visited Dresden in 1991 (apart from a brief interlude changing trains in 2006). At that time the ruins of the Frauenkirche had been allowed to remain piled where the stones fell after the catastrophic Allied bombing raids in 1945. Dresden was part of East Germany, and the Communists were quite content to use the ruins for propaganda purposes.

Photos: 70 years ago, Dresden was destroyed. Here’s what it looks like today, by Rick Noack (Washington Post)

For decades, the communist regime of East Germany refused to rebuild the most historic and well-known landmark of Dresden -- the city's dominant Frauenkirche church. Its ruins remained untouched as a symbol against war and as a memorial for those who were killed. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the church was finally rebuilt. Together with other sights and monuments, it now dominates the skyline of Dresden once again.

In assessing the prospects for repairing Notre-Dame, the Frauenkirche is a good place to start.

Frauenkirche Expert on Devastating Fire: 'Notre Dame Reconstruction Will Take Years', by Julia Merlot (Der Spiegel)

The damage to Notre Dame cathedral is massive: The roof was destroyed, a spire collapsed and the stone was exposed to immense heat. What will efforts to rebuild look like? We asked one of the engineers behind the reconstruction of Dresden's Frauenkirche church.

In Paris, it could have been worse.

Amid Notre-Dame’s Destruction, There’s Hope for Restoration, by Kriston Capps and Feargus O-Sullivan (CityLab)

Flames consumed the roof and spire of the 13th-century cathedral in Paris. The good news: Gothic architecture is built to handle this kind of disaster.

As the world watched in horror, Notre-Dame Cathedral erupted in flames on Monday evening in Paris, sending massive plumes of smoke rising from the Île de la Cité in the medieval heart of the city. Flames swiftly consumed the entire roof of the structure, and elements of the cathedral, including the central spire over the crossing where the transepts intersect the nave and chancel, collapsed into the blaze. One of the world’s greatest surviving works of Gothic architecture—a monument that had endured for more than 800 years—appeared to be in danger of complete destruction.

But it has survived: While the damage to the interior of the historic building is still uncertain, the fire did not consume Notre-Dame, according to authorities in Paris. The blaze stopped short of the two belfry towers that house the cathedral’s immense bells, the site immortalized by Victor Hugo in The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. “The worst has been avoided even though the battle is not completely won,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.

That’s the good news about Gothic architecture: It’s strong stuff, built to withstand even an inferno.

“It’s not that they’re designed to be burned down, but it’s designed so that if the roof burns off, it’s hard for [the fire] to spread to the rest of the building,” says Lisa Reilly, an associate professor of architectural history at the University of Virginia and a scholar of medieval architecture. “In the Middle Ages, the thought was that stone vaults [could be] used to prevent the spread of fire.”

The layers to this discussion are many in number, but I'm not interested in taking a position on the "people versus buildings" debate, at least today. After mulling the Frauenkirche's reconstruction, I found myself thinking about my Sarajevo sojourn in 1987, and later seeing the photos of places I'd visited in the city bombed to rubble during the ensuing Yugoslav civil war. It all might be summarized by the fact that not a lot of what you'll see in European cities is "original."

As devastating as this fire is, Europe has been here before: Wars, accidents, and natural disasters have claimed a great many architectural treasures over the centuries.

And a great many of them have been rebuilt, as will Notre-Dame. Here's a view from the roof in front of the belfry towers, which I took in 1985.

Who's minding the mint?

We saw what happened the last time Team Gahan "safeguarded" an unsecured building.

Then this.

It can be seen very plainly that Reisz Mahal construction has stopped, and the building is wide open to anyone capable of climbing through the holes. Let's hope the insurance premiums are being paid on time.

The willfully neglected Moser Tannery died so the Reisz Mahal luxury municipal HQ might live.

The nadir of commentary: "It will be a great day for journalism when Chris Morris no longer has a platform for kissing the asses of those in power."

The city bought the property. The city refused to maintain the property. If a private citizen shunned this responsibility to the same extent that the city neglected the Moser Tannery building, neighbors would be clamoring for the ordinance enforcement to bring the hammer down.

But the mayor slobbers meaningless platitudes to the reporter, and the reporter accepts them at face value.

This is journalism, News and Tribune style.

Why does the newspaper give Gahan a free pass every single time?

(hint: follow the advertising money)

MORRIS: Loss of Moser building sad, but site's future still bright

 ... “We had done our best to seal it up. We had put a security fence in place,” New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan said Monday. “People know we certainly have interest in historic preservation and we do our best to preserve our history. But at the end of the day we need support from the private sector.”

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 ...

The willfully neglected Moser Tannery died so the Reisz Mahal luxury municipal HQ might live.

Torch any building enough times and eventually the wind will assist the incineration. I believe last night's surely fatal fire at the Moser Tannery was the third in recent months.

The final and damning cause of the fire was the city's willful neglect in the years since purchasing it in 2016. In effect, City Hall did rough triage and swapped the Moser's potential reclamation for a new city hall downtown, directing ever scarcer available resources toward a refuge for inhumanely treated government workers (CM Barksdale's famous words, not mine).

This is the result.

It doesn't matter who spread the petrol and flicked his Bic. Jeff Gahan's ambition and attendant megalomania were the reasons why we've lost the Moser Tannery.

And this won't change until Gahan is fired, and his governing clique flushed.

The shrinking remnants of Moser Tannery can't take much more of this strange "love" from Team Gahan.

There was a fire over the weekend at, in or near the former Moser Tannery, which the city of New Albany purchased last year as part of its plan to render the Loop Island Wetlands into a proper, campaign-finance-accruing parks unit for the greater glory of Gahanism.

WDRB mentioned the fire, but did not follow-up. Don't even ask about the Collected Works of Tom May, formerly known as the 'Bune, which evidently was busy sponsoring a barbecue coloring book contest somewhere near River Ridge.

The fire was the second in the vicinity of the tannery since early March, when a late-model industrial warehouse adjacent to the remaining brick building went up in flames. 

Is it just me, or has the abuse of the tannery site -- graffiti, vandalism, garbage and fires -- escalated noticeably since City Hall (ahem) took control?

I'm sure Dear Leader's official party line still calls for the reclamation of the main structure into something suitably luxurious to impel the mayor up from the bunker and out for a ribbon-cutting.

But right about now, it looks like the longer the city sits tight doing nothing at the Moser footprint, the greater chance there'll be nothing left to do anything with. 

This fire makes no sense. There wasn't even a restaurant there.

Nice of the city to be monitoring its property so closely.

There was evidence in both the fire debris and the neighboring building that people may have been illicitly staying there in recent times — a small building connecting to the Moser facility had graffiti, an old chair and some modern trash, like a Kick Start can."

Ah, yes.

Maybe it's a Kickstarter to raise money the city doesn't have to finish the parks properties it acquired down by the river?

New Albany warehouse destroyed in Thursday fire, by Aprile Rickert (Redhot Polling News)

Structure was next to the former Moser tannery building

NEW ALBANY — There were no injuries reported following a fire that destroyed a city-owned warehouse in downtown New Albany Thursday evening.

The call came in around 6:30 p.m. for fire at a 560 square foot metal-clad, pole-barn type structure affiliated with, but not attached to the former Moser tannery in the 2000 block of Main Street.

One final question: How many copycat Reichstag fires do we need?

February, 2017

All available info points to a Hitching Post Tavern renovation after the fire, so all the best to them.

Since prattling at length on the topic in late May, I've heard nothing to contradict an eventual Hitching Post Tavern comeback, and this is good news, because advocating for the future of independent local businesses means rooting for all of them, not just the ones on your personal rotation of patronage.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Hitching Post ... or Noma Mexico?

Photo credit: New York Times.

To begin at the very end, Pete Wells concludes his rumination about a pop-up restaurant where diners enjoy very special meals priced at $750 per person, including tax and gratuity.

 ... They’ve chosen to pour their creativity into something that, because of its planned scarcity and relative expense, has to be seen as a luxury product. Luxury goods tend to float free of the everyday world and create their own cultural context, one of wealth and exclusivity. There are many ways to respond to that, but in this case, I don’t think a review written by me is one of them. I’d rather review a restaurant that has its roots in the ground.

In seemingly unrelated news, last week the Hitching Post Tavern caught fire. As of this writing, the bar's future is uncertain, although one regular customer told me there'll be a comeback for sure even if the specifics are uncertain.

More power to them.

It's been almost eight years since I last patronized the Hitching Post, but I'm not being hypocritical in wishing them the best and hoping they return soon. Advocating for independent local businesses means all of them, not just the ones on one's personal regular rotation.

Importantly, in terms of food and drink downtown, the Hitching Post has been a valuable component of the indie biz ecosystem -- for what the tavern is, what it does, and who values it.

Or, as a Hitching Post customer wrote on Facebook (lightly paraphrasing), "Now where will we go for a drink? There are so few places left."

Think about that.

Within a three block radius of Hitching Post, there are at least 15 establishments serving alcoholic beverages, with two (maybe three) on the way. A half-dozen others offer food, but no alcohol.

Rather, there are so few places downtown like the Hitching Post, which is to say -- using old-school terminology -- "popularly priced" neighborhood joints.

Of course, this isn't to imply that the newer wave of restaurants has not been welcoming to one and all. They have been, but it long since has become clear that New Albany's ongoing downtown revitalization has relied on an almost inevitably exclusionary socio-economic metric.

We're making New Albany luxurious again.

I'd posit that Jeff Gahan's public housing putsch has laid this latent seam raw, while at the same time having the salubrious effect of revealing the spiritual impoverishment of his cult of personality's bizarre trickle-down prosperity gospel.

Because this: "Luxury goods tend to float free of the everyday world and create their own cultural context, one of wealth and exclusivity."

In a nutshell, it's the fundamental problem with the city subsidizing a "luxury" apartment complex like Breakwater, which strives to give its residents the sort of posh amenities calculated to keep them cocooned at home, safely segregated from the poor schmucks a few blocks away who'll be gone as soon as Gahan can arrange the requisite cattle cars.

In the end, these observations are hardly novel. For thirteen years, NAC has been debating topics on a general theme of "proper balance": urbanism, sustainability, revitalization, gentrification, and naturally not to exclude inebriation. It's been a constant and wearying process of examining premises, over and over. I'd suggest that it can be no other way.

All I know at this precise moment in time is that it shouldn't be a question of either Hitching Post or Noma Mexico, but if it is, my answer might not be the one you think.

Why I’m Not Reviewing Noma Mexico, by Pete Wells (NYT)

Under the rustling palms of Tulum, Mexico, the chef René Redzepi has been serving what Kevin Sintumuang, reporting for Esquire, called “the most enviable meal of the year.” Mr. Redzepi, who transplanted most of his staff to the Yucatán, while Noma, his restaurant in Copenhagen, prepares to move, said he wanted Noma Mexico to be “the meal of the decade.” For Jacob Richler, who wrote about the dinner for The Toronto Star, it was “the meal of a lifetime.”

And I’m going to miss it.

Not that I will be entirely in the dark about what other people have been eating when Noma Mexico, sometimes referred to as Noma Tulum, reaches the end of its seven-week run on Sunday. Despite having accommodations for just 7,000 people, all of whom claimed reservations within two hours last December, it may be the most exhaustively documented pop-up restaurant in history.

Breakwater fire revisited: Exactly what are the potential dangers of "Toothpick Construction" techniques?

And we criticized Soviet designs?

As most readers know, The Breakwater is New Albany's ballyhooed "luxury" apartment complex, a titled possession of the Flaherty & Collins behemoth in Indianapolis, but also municipally subsidized -- to be frank, to an obscene extent.

One of the two buildings at The Breakwater caught fire on February 24, and New Albany firefighters spent most of the next day fighting the blaze. Fortunately the building was unoccupied (there were minor firefighter injuries), but because it hadn't yet been finished, the sprinkler system was not activated.

According to a subsequent investigation, contractor error was responsible. The rubble since has been cleared, the insurance companies are haggling, and reconstruction will resume.

You can read the official conclusion of the Breakwater fire investigation in a previous post. Included are complete story links.

Fast forwarding a month, articles published just this week at Fire Engineering and The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina) are hard-hitting, indeed.

In the first, we learn that in the aftermath of a catastrophic fire of similar circumstances in Raleigh, questions about building methods and materials are being raised.

In Raleigh building fire, a warning about construction standards, by the editorial board (The News & Observer)

As growth in Raleigh booms, buildings rise quickly. Perhaps, too quickly.

The spectacular fire that consumed a 241-unit apartment building under construction near downtown Raleigh last Thursday night has raised questions about the type and quality of building methods and materials being used in new buildings.

The fire that reduced The Metropolitan, an unfinished, five-story building at the corner of West Jones and Harrington Street, was apparently fueled by the extensive use of wood in the upper floors. Wood allows for faster and less expensive construction than using concrete and steel, but it’s vulnerable to fire, especially when the building is unfinished and sprinklers have not yet been installed ...

I highly recommend reading in its entirety this piece by Jack J. Murphy about large lightweight toothpick construction buildings. He's a fire service veteran, and appends his essay with voluminous references. Why aren't we listening?

Note: In the first paragraph of Murphy's article, it is my view that he intended to use the word "reservations" rather than "justifications." As we have observed so many times before, spell check doesn't help when the wrong word is spelled correctly.

Toothpick Construction: Enough Is Enough, by Jack J. Murphy (Fire Engineering)
03/21/2017

The fire service has ample justifications about large lightweight toothpick construction buildings (LLW/TPC) long before the recent Raleigh (NC) five-alarm ‘Toothpick Construction’ fire.

So why is the construction industry and insurance companies not paying heed when it comes to better fire protection features? This can be effected either via the code development process or the industry stepping up and creating ‘best practices’ for an enhanced balance of fire protection systems, namely a full building suppression system and more robust passive fire protection for draft-stopping and fire walls (masonry) that extend through the roof within these residential complexes.

Over the years, the fire service has advocated a balance of fire protection that has fallen on deaf ears. A new fire service tactic to consider before a municipal council hearing and/or state legislation is how LLW/TPC building complex fires (whether these structures are under construction or occupied) are overwhelming local fire department response. For many communities, a fire response must go way beyond the municipality border lines to get a sustainable fighting force to help prevent such an enormous fire from becoming a much larger community conflagration.

In the February 2017, a LLW/TPC building under construction fire occurred in Maplewood, New Jersey. This fire quickly spread to the exposure building of similar construction; this building was approximately a few weeks away from being occupied. This building did, however, have masonry fire walls, although they are not yet required by code; they played a key role in saving the structure ...

As an aside, in Kansas yet another fire broke out prior to the activation of sprinklers and destroyed an apartment building.

Official says welder sparked massive Kansas apartment fire (AP, via Fire Engineering)

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (AP) — A fire that leveled a multi-million dollar apartment building under construction and spread to about two dozen homes in suburban Kansas City started when a welder accidentally ignited wooden building materials, fire officials said.

More than 100 firefighters battled the blaze at the CityPlace development in Overland Park on Monday and three were treated for minor injuries. The fire destroyed the four-story apartment building, heavily burned a second and rained burning debris onto a nearby neighborhood, damaging at least 22 other homes.

Overland Park Fire Chief Bryan Dehner said the building where the fire started was "most vulnerable" when the fire happened because it was so early in the construction process that it lacked fire deterrents such as a sprinkler system.

This makes three fires in three different places in a month's span of time, all quite similar. Are any local news outlets planning on following up on these themes and how they pertain to our area?

I'm looking at you, Susan Duncan.

Read the official conclusion of the Breakwater fire investigation.

Also at the newspaper, where the rebuild is confirmed.

Investigators: The Breakwater fire caused by HVAC installer error ... rebuilding to start next month, by Elizabeth DePompei

A Flaherty and Collins spokesperson could not be reached by phone or email by press time. It's unclear whether any action will be taken against the HVAC installation company or employee.

ON THE AVENUES: Breaking up is hard to do. Just ask the Reichstag.

The Cosmopolitan: Turns out The Breakwater isn't the first fire at a Flaherty & Collins development under construction.

ASK THE BORED: They're busy panicking after the Great Break Wind Fire, so we celebrate the guy who first patented a self-propelled street sweeper.

Monday's best social media comment about the Breakwater fire.

The Breakwater fire: Luckily there were no injuries, but are we REALLY sure the deity favors subsidized luxury?

There has been a fire this morning at the Breakwater luxury apartments. No injuries, and I swear it wasn't me.

ON THE AVENUES: Breaking up is hard to do. Just ask the Reichstag.

ON THE AVENUES: Breaking up is hard to do. Just ask the Reichstag.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

Out of the frying pan, into the fire ... and then there’s the impromptu upstairs weenie roast that went slightly awry at That Luxury Apartment Project.

After spending the better part of two years busily photo-shopping himself into every aspect of the build-out at the Break Wind Lofts at Duggins Flats, Mayor Jeff Gahan is nowhere to be found in the aftermath of Saturday’s fire, which was explained earlier today (see below).

Gahan has managed to emit two brief and purely boilerplate press releases, but to be charitable (yeah, I’m playing against type here), he might be forgiven for curling up in a fetal position atop the ragged sofa, deep within the bowels of the command bunker, sucking his thumb and drinking Bud Light Lime through a straw.

After all, New Albany has bet one mighty honker of a pay packet on Break Wind’s supposedly transformative boost to trickle-down-town living, and Gahan has been right there to take credit for every last dollop of the hot-glued polymer. He’s poured the concrete, pounded the nails, sold the movie rights and has donned the lousy t-shirt.

While it remains unlikely, Gahan may even be astute enough to understand how much he has to lose if the 200-unit status symbol isn’t rebuilt -- and more importantly, fully leased.

The mayor probably didn’t assess the social media response engendered by the inconvenient fire. Fittingly, John Q. Public fully supports the city’s firefighters and first responders, but even I was surprised by the tone of scattered conceptual vitriol (paraphrasing):

Why should firefighters risk their lives battling flames at an apartment complex that won’t be paying taxes to support the fire department until after most of today’s city employees are retired?

And,

Why is the city subsidizing luxury housing for the benefit of those who already can afford to pay, when quality affordable housing is getting hard to find?

Flaherty & Collins Properties, which has undertaken a staggering number of housing “partnerships” with gullible local governmental units in Indiana and other states, says it plans to fulfill the mayoral mandate and rebuild the afflicted unit.

Until the developer receives a pained nod from its insurer, all we know for sure is that given the increasing pace of demolitions in New Albany, area landfills are the biggest winners.

Or should the word be “losers”?

---

Intriguingly, The Breakwater isn't the first example of a fire at a Flaherty & Collins Properties development under construction.

Back in 2009, another luxurious Indianapolis development called The Cosmopolitan also experienced pre-opening flames, which subsequently were attributed to a deranged homeless man.

Eventually he was released from custody and the charges dropped owing to lack of  evidence. The Cosmopolitan complex subsequently was finished and opened to residents.

According to the News and Tribune, the official cause of the Breakwater conflagration was neither your friendly correspondent, who was asleep at the time, nor a carelessly discarded cigarette butt.

I don’t smoke cigarettes, people; let's hope they didn't find a cigar band. Actually it was an HVAC installer, who probably is out of a job at present.

According to an incident report released this afternoon, the fire likely began in the ceiling area above the mechanical room in apartment unit 217.

Joe Miller, an HVAC installer employed by Del Monde Heating and Air Conditioning, told investigators that he was soldering a copper line in the ceiling of that same unit on Fri., Feb. 24, sometime between 1 and 2:30 p.m. That's when the insulation around the copper line caught fire.

Miller said he tried to put the fire out himself, using multiple fire extinguishers for approximately 45 minutes. He told investigators that he thought he extinguished the fire. Other contractors reported seeing smoke and knowing "something was on fire," but nobody ever called the fire department.

It also bears noting that with the city of New Albany subsidizing an Indianapolis property juggernaut’s investment, essentially providing the sort of hedge against business failure that other small businesses don’t enjoy, the HVAC company cited in the preceding is located in Cincinnati.

That’s how much Flaherty & Collins supports localism.

---

George Santayana did not play shortstop for the Phillies. He was a philosopher (sorry, Shane), and is remembered primarily for these words.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

Of course, most Americans forget history with clock-like regularity each morning while driving to work, even as they pluck fast food abominations from their paper sacks and issue social media proclamations against immigration, same-sex marriage and evolution, pausing only chant “Death to the Roundabout.”

Consequently, let’s review the history of the Reichstag fire.

Not long after Adolf Hitler became Chancellor or Germany in 1933 (by legal means), the parliament building in Berlin – Reichstag in German – caught on fire and was almost completely gutted.

The blaze provided the ideal pretext for Hitler and the Nazi party to blame their enemies for setting it, including Communists and Jews, quickly suspending the legal framework of the Weimar Republic and consolidating complete power in the hands of Hitler so he could properly combat the threat.

You probably know what happened next, although these days nothing can be taken for granted.

While it remains unclear exactly who masterminded the Reichstag arson, history’s general assumption is that one of Hitler’s accomplices did the deed under Der Fuehrer’s orders. Really, when you’re chomping at the bit to grab dictatorial power and murder millions of people, these matters simply can’t be left to chance.

Consequently, I’m severely disappointed in the mundane verdict of the Break Wind investigation. For one thing, Miller is not a Bulgarian-sounding name at all. What of motives? Did they check to see if he’d ever been sold a lemon by Coyle Chevrolet, or a bad meal at Frisch's Big Boy?

In my addled imagination, I foresaw a dramatic press conference at the scene of smoldering ruins, and the revelation that Them Break Wind Lofts at Duh-Duggins Flats got torched by a militant, disgruntled former public housing resident who’d lost his or her home to Gahan’s escalating campaign against the poor -- not to be confused with useful anti-poverty measures mostly unfamiliar to local DemoDisneyDixiecrats.

With the public housing resident (Mr. Van der Lubbe?) safely in custody, Gahan finally would possess all the reason he needs to close down the Housing Authority, courtesy of an edict from a board hand-packed with fawning sycophants.

The demolition orders duly signed and posted at the dog park, Gahan could then call in the pre-arranged school buses (rail cars are so very hard to find, and Superintendent Hibbard eager to help) and deport the impoverished to their new homes in the Knobs. Far better Mark Seabrook’s problem than a mayoral hologram eager to insure that the luxurious invitees aren’t exposed to the untidiness of the rabble.

I know; you’re right.

My imagined scenario is unlikely, though not because Gahan wouldn’t attempt it if offered the opportunity. Rather, it’s the all-purpose absence of political consciousness in New Albany.

Principled and politicized arson is as rare in this burg as a Democrat who grasps the necessity of affordable housing first, and not unenecessary corporate welfare for “luxury” companies already sufficiently capitalized to take investment risks on their own.

So, the Taj Mahal is to be repaired, and it looks like we're going to get the Breaking Water we deserve.

If the unfortunate Mr. Miller needs a job, there's always the anchor-certified NA ordinance enforcement division.

---

Recent columns:

February 23: ON THE AVENUES: A stern-side view of Gravity Head, nineteen times over.

February 16: ON THE AVENUES: In 2014 as in 2015, then 2016, now 2017 ... yes, it's the "Adamite Chronicles: Have muzzle, will drivel."

February 9: ON THE AVENUES: I'd stop drinking, but I'm no quitter.

February 2: ON THE AVENUES: A luxury-obsessed Jeff Gahan has packed a board and now seeks to break the New Albany Housing Authority. Can we impeach him yet?

The Cosmopolitan: Turns out The Breakwater isn't the first fire at a Flaherty & Collins development under construction.

The article is eight years old. It was anonymously written, and it is the only post at the blog. Links are broken. By 2010, the arrested man had been released for lack of evidence, and the Cosmopolitan development was completed and opened.

Therefore, this link is purely for entertainment value.

Until it isn't. Thanks, A.

Tin Foil Hats? (The Cosmopolitan Fire: Flaherty and Collins Uncovered)

By now everyone in Indy has heard about the fire that destroyed the downtown development known as "The Cosmopolitan". This project, backed by Flaherty and Collins, was a $37m retail/apartment development slated to open in May of this year.

Recently an arrest has been made, and Brandon Burns, a 23 year old homeless man, has been charged with arson in the incident.

Does anyone else smell the bullshit surrounding this entire affair?!?

I am not the type to wear the tin foil hat, or scream conspiracy from the rooftops, but come on! Let's take a look at some facts, shall we?

There has been a fire this morning at the Breakwater luxury apartments. No injuries, and I swear it wasn't me.

9:30 a.m. update: The fire is ongoing, and WHAS reports that multiple floors are burning. This story might take a while to unravel.

What we know is that the fire started in the unoccupied building under construction on the 4th Street side, the mayor himself was lured from the bunker to monitor the response, and no one was injured.

WHAS has the best of scant coverage so far.

Firefighters respond to apartment fire in New Albany (WHAS)

Hmm, wonder why all those police cars are pulling up in front of my house?

There's been a fire. Consider the Katherine Fraze Fire Fund at Go Fund Me.

Some folks hereabouts think Katherine Fraze is crazy. Most of them work for various branches of local government, and this fact alone always has been recommendation enough for me. You go, girl.

Sadly, a Fb friend messaged me about a fire, of which I previously was unaware.

I don't know if you are aware, but Kathy Fraze has had a tragic fire at her place, where she lost her home, everything she owns, her birds, her beloved raven; they have taken her dogs, and refuse to give them back. There is a Go Fund Me page set up for her. Watch for coverage on TV. There are pictures of the devastation on her websites: The Dog Lady and Save That Dog Sanctuary. The Go Fund Me is listed as Katherine Fraze Fire Fund.

Following is the message at the Katherine Fraze Fire Fund.

This is my friend who has the Save that Dog Sanctuary. Last night she lost everything in a fire. All her belongings, 6K in cash, her home, and most of her rescue dogs had to go into animal control.

Katherine has devoted her life to saving animals. She has lived in a camper (with no running water) for as long as I have known her to run her rescue. She is a person who doesn't want much just her animals and her land. You can visit her rescue website.

She is sleeping in her vehicle on her property at the moment to tend to the animals not taken by animal control. She had a small amount of insurance, which won't be enough. She needs our help and every penny helps! Thank you.

I've donated. Please consider doing so. Thanks.

The reporter vents, and he has a fine point.

He's spot on, don't you think?

Kiwanis donation effort underway to help employees of Sam's Food & Spirits.

It is a moving testament to the community's affection for Sam's Food & Spirits that in the wake of the devastating fire there not even 48 hours ago, help for Sam Anderson's employees is quickly being mobilized. I received this last night from Steve LaDuke:

Kiwanis of Historic New Albany announces a Christmas donation account for the employees of Sam's because of their loss, especially during the holidays. Donations can be dropped off at River Valley Bank in Sellersburg, IN or mailed to Kiwanis of Historic New Albany, 2724 Quail Chase Dr., Sellersburg, IN 47172. Checks should be made out to Kiwanis of Historic New Albany with Sam's Christmas Fund in the memo. 100% of the money raised will be donated to the employees of Sam's Food and Spirits.

In addition, there is much chatter among area's restaurant and bar community about a fundraiser of some sort before Christmas. As I learn more, the information will be posted. Below, the newspaper covers the fire and reaction to it.

Community rises up to help New Albany restaurant lost in fire; Sam's Food & Spirits burned down where it stood for 29 years, by Matt Koesters (Paywall Picayune)

NEW ALBANY — New Albany lost an iconic restaurant to fire late Monday night.

While Sam’s Food & Spirits’ location on Charlestown Road — where it stood for 29 years — burned down, the community was quick to rise up in a show of support.

Banner headline Tuesday, Part Two: Fire claims Sam's Food & Spirits.

Dear Friends of Sam's

We have experienced a major fire at our New Albany location. If you
 had Christmas or other party reservations, please email
jane@samstavern.com or call 502-693-1210.

Please help us get the word out and forward to your address book.

There'll be more information as to the fire itself, which broke out around midnight, after closing; the good news is that no one was hurt.

Both Sam Anderson an individual and Sam's as a restaurant are iconic institutions in New Albany. How many local eateries have been in business for just shy of thirty years under the same name and ownership? Sam is the link between the Lancaster's and South Sides of old, and the explosion of new dining and drinking establishments today.

To Sam, from all of us at NABC: Hang in there, good luck, and let us know if we can do anything to help.