Cemeteries as parks. Neighborhood revitalization. Fairview Cemetery. Now, go do the math.

We made another visit to Fairview Cemetery on Sunday morning, and again I was overwhelmed with disappointment that the city of New Albany, over a period of fifty years or more, seems never to have understood the value of treating our key downtown cemetery as a parkland. Think Cave Hill in Louisville, and consider these links.

Our First Public Parks: The Forgotten History of Cemeteries, by Rebecca Greenfield (Atlantic)

cemeteries as parks/open space (Portland, Maine)

Turning Cemeteries for the Dead into Parks for the Living, by Peter Harnik (cityparksblog.org)

For those who can't understand why the current administration's multi-million TIF bonding for two new parks on the periphery is so irksome to me, this is one of several reasons why I keep bringing it up.

The serial neglect of Fairview's surrounding neighborhoods represents a persistent squandering of an immense quality of life opportunity, one not viewed as pertaining to quality of life by generations of functionaries owing to their absence of imagination, as much or more so than money.

Creative thinking.

When did it escape this burg, and can we lure it back?

In that case, at least a mural would be nice.

Just the other night, Mike Kopp tweeted me: "Looks like you may soon have two new neighbors. We have some action from the art scene. Opening April 1st." He attached this nifty artist's depiction of what the Commercial Building might look like, if only ....

Below is the Commercial Building (pre-recent-permanent-dull-primer-paint job) at the corner of bank and Elm, as seen in November, 2011. These days, the Stylin' Irish salon occupies space in the middle, and Dragon King's Daughter apparently is about to open on the Elm Street side.

Unfortunately, the artist's depiction at top is a vision, only. Mike says, "I wasn't able to convince them of that look but some changes beside the paint and removal of the grids are on the way."

Verily, perhaps anything's better than the way it was before, as it means the owner is doing something. You look at the building and those two parking lots, and you think: What could be, with a little imagination and some money. Unfortunately, the city's bicentennial-year curse is that we possess even less of the former than the latter.

Ennui, come by honestly.

I've spent the morning rummaging through guttural vicissitudes, seeking to faithfully reenact the lingering consequences of council meeting attendance. Thus far, I have failed.

I suppose that makes this an open call for candidates.