"Transparency promotes trust," thunders local chain newspaper's editorialists -- unless THEY'RE the ones avoiding transparency.

Mike Moore kicked off the year in a blatant fit of sheer greed, and it wasn't very pretty.

The Jeffersonville mayor's inelegantly stage-managed bid for a 30% raise was so egregious that even our local chain newspaper took note, and rightly mounted the soapbox in protest.

Naturally, later this year at the annual shill ceremony concocted by its corporate master, the News and Tribune will win an award for best coverage of municipal events occurring just outside the office door, before adjourning to attend mocktail party for Alabama pensioners.

Just as predictably, in New Albany our City Hall expended six full months in a coordinated effort to rebuff "sunshine law" public information requests before being called on the carpet and fined by a judge.

Nope, not a peep from the principled editorial team at the News and Tribune.

It's worth repeating that one of the information requests spurned by New Albany's spigot-smothering city functionaries sought clarity about the amount of money spent each year by City Hall via its contract with ProMedia for purely discretionary advertisements, often thinly-veiled mayoral campaign ads, with this money flowing to places exactly like the News and Tribune.

Not one of the three links in this chain of taxpayer cash -- city, contractor or newspaper -- will tell us the answer to a simple question: Exactly how much money is involved?

Where's the transparency in this situation, exalted newspaper editorialists?

Thankfully one of these links, city government, is subject to Indiana state law pertaining to the necessity of honoring information requests, and yet instead of obeying the law, it threw a tantrum and delayed compliance until after the election, and only when forced to do so by the judiciary.

If the newspaper won't call out this sort of behavior, who will?

NT Editorial: Transparency promotes trust

THE ISSUE: Integrity in office

OUR VIEW: Mayor Moore and Councilman White fell short of expectations on salary scenario.

 ... The people deserve leaders who are transparent and forthcoming, and who follow procedures when it comes to doing the people's business.

The mayor should go ahead and veto his own raise, which might help part the clouds of controversy shadowing this entire episode.

The City Council will vote on the 2021 salary ordinance in early December. We suggest revisiting a pay raise then.

— The News and Tribune Editorial Board members are Publisher Bill Hanson, Editor Susan Duncan and Assistant Editor Chris Morris

Jeffersonville newspaper says Harvest Homecoming is a local treasure of ad revenue. I'd rather study those economic impacts a bit more closely.

Back on August 27, 2014 there was an excellent blog discussion about Harvest Homecoming and economic impacts.

Fear the gorilla: After all, Harvest Homecoming's business plan has never been designed for inclusivity.

When citizens, businesses, or other groups go to the City to ask about using public space and are told they have to get permission from a private, non-elected, non-accountable, third-party, there are obviously issues. Eventually, someone is going to have to push the conversation along via civil disobedience. It would be helpful if the business/property owners most directly impacted would do it en masse. If HH doesn't have to go before the Board of Works to secure the space in front of your building for that time period, then neither do you, right?

The year before that (October 13, 2013), there was this.

Amid the garbage, we contemplate Groundhog Day in New Albany.

The festival takes place because the city allows it to take place, always under Harvest Homecoming's terms of engagement, and with what amounts to infrastructure subsidies for the festival that are not consistently applied throughout the remainder of the year (street department work , police and fire overtime, etc.)

And yet nowhere, neither in an ordinance nor on a granite tablet, is there a law that states Harvest Homecoming must occur in the fashion it does.

Retreating whole decade into the mists of time, to October 14, 2007,  a Tribune guest columnist (no, not me) considered Harvest Homecoming's downtown context.

While thousands from the area descend on downtown New Albany, the location of the event could hardly be any less relevant to most attendees. Sure, Harvest Homecoming is in downtown New Albany, but it’s not of downtown New Albany. People stay in the streets, booths cover the businesses — little attention is paid to the locale. Since Harvest Homecoming fails to effectively tie-in to New Albany’s struggling downtown, why even hold it there at all? Tradition, sure. But the parking is better elsewhere ...

I'm struck by one word in Daniel Robison's 2007 piece, and that's "struggling." Most of us would say this is no longer the case. To be sure, much has been accomplished, but much more remains to be done, and complacency is something to be avoided just as fanatically as Pome-Granate-Rita.

However, one of Robison's observations remains true. Harvest Homecoming is not about downtown, and it cannot be about downtown for so long as the festival's "booth days" business model remains unaltered.

In fact, for all the generally exaggerated numbers quoted to the effect of Harvest Homecoming's economic impact, my guess is that we'll soon reach the tipping point on the graph, although we might be there already.

In short, this is the juncture where Harvest Homecoming's traditional booth model suppresses more overall economic activity downtown than it generates.

At present, the festival and existing businesses must co-exist according to a grid, within a finite amount of space, as designed for one or the other to maximize, but not both. Progress has indeed been made in forging an uneasy compromise, but the overall dynamic remains one of tension.

Up to a point, in perfect weather, the compromises hold (ignoring the plain fact that the board it still tilted toward the primacy of Harvest Homecoming's booth model, not the needs of year-round downtown stakeholders).

But spread this grid over a larger geographical area, so that fest and locals are not in direct competition, and wouldn't the returns be greater for both?

This is exactly why the News and Tribune's mention of 1,000,000 visitors is so mind-numbingly ludicrous. I expect very little from the newspaper's editorial board, which strives always to achieve a certain acme of milquetoast, but in this instance there's an obvious imperative to reward business-as-usual Harvest Homecoming-related advertisers at the slight expense of keeping creative long-term thinking safely sedated and boxed, never to escape the newspaper's beige reality.

There are so many ways the Harvest Homecoming experience could be improved. None are likely to be considered, because it's how we've always done it. As long as the newspaper profits from the status quo, so it will constrain.

OPINION: It's been a great 50 years, Harvest Homecoming

 ... Last year more than 700,000 visitors converged on the downtown during the four booth days, which this year began yesterday.

And with good weather in the forecast for this weekend, that number could grow. Maybe this is the year it tops 1 million visitors.

Harvest Homecoming is truly a local treasure. It’s all about community ...

ASK THE BORED: Elm Street reversion rollout? Don't ask, because it's not the city's top priority, or something like that.

It looks like the newspaper's Elizabeth Beilman drew the short straw for the Board of Works meeting this morning, seeing as usual Bored observer Chris Morris was otherwise occupied urging precipitate vigilante action against the owner of 519 Hausfeldt Lane.

MORRIS: Time has run out on New Albany house

 ... But that black walnut tree would be a welcome site to the folks who live near 519 Hausfeldt Lane in New Albany. Instead of a walnut tree they have junked cars, trash, mosquitoes and yes rats running around the neighborhood. You see 519 Hausfeldt Lane is a junkyard sitting in a residential area. The house and both front and back yards are full of junk. And due to an ongoing lawsuit, nothing can be done about it until a judge rules on the matter or tosses it out for having no merit. But something needs to be done with it, like now. It needs to be bulldozed ...

... So there are legal hurdles to clear. But it sounds like the city is determined to do something about the property. That is a good thing. This should be the city's top priority as we close out 2017. Whatever it takes to speed up the process needs to happen.

I understand due process, but it's a joke that in 2017, in a civilized society on a street visible to many and near a large industrial park and college campus, this is allowed to continue. It seems like no judge could look at this property and say it's not a health hazard or just wrong. Something has to get done.

"I understand due process, but ... "

Wait -- wasn't this Donald Trump's subliminal campaign slogan?

Morris is a member of the News and Tribune's editorial board, which was unable to muster a coherent response to DNA's recent Sombrero Stereotyping Walk, perhaps because speaking out about unaddressed racial stereotyping might insult the (naturally) well-intentioned "right" type of people, not the "wrong" evil straw men -- like the owner of this admittedly nasty suburban property-value-lowering house.

"This should be the city's top priority as we close out 2017."

Seriously?

This one house?

Granted, there is absolutely no defense for the noxious schlemiel wreaking havoc on his neighborhood -- nor for dozens of other similar buttwipes around town, those with the good fortune NOT to have one of Morris's favored grandees living right next to them so that the nearby afflicted won't have a better-connected voice to argue their case, as Larry Clemons has been doing with regard to 519 Hausfeldt.

And yet even Clemons has insufficient strings to pull as they pertain to a legal system rightly or wrongly accepted by most of us in 95% of instances, so just this one time, let's discard due process and just do what's "right."

I feel for the neighbors, but please, can everyone read a few American history books? In this case, as in so many other areas of the human experience, it's wise to be very careful what you wish for.

Others might decide it's time to abandon due process, too, and in circumstances of far more pressing impact. Vigilantism is a dangerous concept, isn't it? And can the editorial board muster some energy for explicating the multitude of local examples wherein actual human beings are subject to oppression?

It's doing a fairly uniform, consistent job of it in Charlestown and Jeffersonville, and less so in New Albany. Maybe that's because the newspaper's eyes on the ground in NA wear blinders.

But, predictably, I digress.

So, by the way, BoW doesn't know when Elm Street will carry two-way traffic because of this railroad and that luxury housing development.

Note also that BoW deems pedestrian amenities like crosswalk signals a "minor" part of the two-way reversion.

Think so?

By the time the first such pedestrian crossing finally becomes operational, it will have been a month since Spring Street went modern, for what was supposed to have been enhanced walkability.

It's okay. The irony probably was lost on every last one of them.

Market Street in New Albany now two ways — Elm is next (Beilman; 'Bune)

No date yet for Elm Street Conversion

NEW ALBANY — Market Street in downtown New Albany is now converted from one way to two, leaving just one street left to change as part of the city's grid modernization project.

City officials were told at the New Albany Board of Works and Safety meeting Tuesday that Elm Street will switch before the end of the month, though no date has been set. Contractors are waiting on a couple unrelated road projects to finish first.

A storm sewer is being replaced at Elm and 15th streets, which is expected to be finished by next week, if not by the end of this week.

Heavy equipment is maneuvering around the under-construction Breakwater apartments to install metal siding on the structure. Contractors working on the grid modernization project wanted to wait until that work was finished, fearing the equipment would tear up a newly paved Elm Street. Paul Lincks, senior project manager with HWC Engineering, said the Breakwater work should be complete by Sept. 22.

Once all five downtown streets have converted to two ways, there will still be some minor portions of the project to complete, such as pedestrian-activated crosswalks.

2 of 2: Newspaper editorial board displays abject cluelessness about the Great Gahan Public Housing Putsch of 2017.

Nick Vaughn's take is sensible, and we need it, because the newspaper's editorial board is clueless -- and their writing is as bad as ever.

"Most would agree with that statement."

Criteria? Most? Based on what? Reality, or fake facts?

Or must we accept Chris Morris's viewpoint as gospel, given that at least he lives in New Albany, whereas the remainder of the Jeffersonville-centric editorial board knows absolutely nothing about our city, and as time goes on, grows ever prouder of this fact?

Because: Whatever other merits the editorial might possess, beginning it with an unproven, apocryphal hearsay "fact" sans evidence and proof negates all of them.

OUR OPINION: Housing plan should be people-focused

There are too many public housing units in New Albany.

Most would agree with that statement. New Albany has the third-highest number of public housing units in the state of Indiana. Pretty incredible considering the size of Floyd County.

On Monday, the New Albany Housing Authority board will consider a plan, brought forth by Mayor Jeff Gahan’s administration, to tear down an estimated 635 of New Albany’s 1,100 units. Those units affected would include Parkview Tower, Parkview Terrace/Broadmeade, Vance Court and Riverside Terrace.

It would be a drastic change to the city’s landscape. It would also force those displaced to find new housing.

That is where the challenge lies.

Newspaper editorial board: "Floyd County should consider tax increase."

Back in the day, she'd/he'd been all over it. We've been abandoned.

Oddly, this editorial seems to have flown entirely under the radar. It doesn't appear to have been posted at Facebook, and so there are no outraged comments or self-immolation threats.

We're guessing that this one is Chris Morris's baby, as he customarily covers the county beat.

— The News and Tribune editorial board is comprised of Publisher Bill Hanson, Editor Shea Van Hoy, page designer Claire Munn, Assistant Editor Chris Morris and Assistant Editor Jason Thomas. Responses can be sent to shea.vanhoy@newsandtribune.com

Floyd County government recently has become the exclusive domain of Republicans, who possess an austerity fetish that makes German finance ministers look like hereditary Saudi playboy princes -- though it must be acknowledged that in the not so distant past, the Heavrinite strain of "Democrat" contributed much conceptually to the notion that revenue purely is an option.

Meanwhile, city government is controlled by Adam's merry band of DemoDisneyDixiecrats, who have contrived a borrowing-fueled capital projects bonanza designed to produce social media-ready photos of building porn with commensurate campaign finance-tie-ins. It may not be a tax increase strictly as such, but it's surely a huge credit card/TIF bond debt for future generations to service.

This is why a third way is so desperately needed hereabouts.

Not starvation, and not unsustainable extravagance, but spending sensibly on fundamental infrastructure needs that benefit the greatest number of users, and stand to support quality of life and economic development aims rather than work actively against them.

OUR OPINION: Floyd County should consider tax increase

 ... As the council moves forward on the 2016 budget, there needs to be a long-term vision to keep from having to put a Band-Aid on the problem each year. As one county official at a recent meeting said, “We just can’t keep kicking the can down the road.”

The council should consider a tax increase — which could come in the form of a Local Option Income Tax or a wheel tax.

Wild guess: The newspaperman hasn't attended the Speck forums, either.

In the interest of fairness, I waited three whole weeks before rereading Chris Morris's classic confession of street grid incomprehension, which included quotables like these:

• The squeaky wheel gets the grease or whatever.
• It’s an accident waiting to happen.
• It’s not as easy as just changing a street sign.
• Our streets need to be safe for everyone.

Unfortunately, the editorial is worse than I remember it, and while it might be rebutted point-for-point (how many times must we do this?) while we scratch our heads in amazement over the newspaper's perennial ability to underachieve, let's quote just one passage for posterity, while reminding Morris: HAD YOU BOTHERED READING THE SPECK PROPOSALS PRIOR TO WRITING, YOU'D ALREADY KNOW THAT "THE SAME" IS NOT GOING TO BE DONE TO SPRING STREET.

MORRIS: Two sides to two-way streets

... I really like the improvements, which include a decorative median, made to historic Main Street. It really adds a nice touch to an already beautiful street. But it did narrow the road and make it more difficult for trucks to maneuver in and out of the city. If the same is done to Spring Street, how will Padgett and others be able to get their equipment to jobs in Louisville and beyond?

It's understandable that trucking companies might choose to misrepresent reality, but I thought newspapers were supposed to correct such damage. Why must we settle for uninformed opinion?

Glory to the heroes of outdoor agitprop: Moscow 1987, Jeffersonville 2015.

Driving through Jeffersonville a couple weeks ago, I saw this ...

Photo credit

... and immediately thought of this.

Photo credit

What, no banners for the Hieb Building?

New Albany cheated, again.