Courtesy of Dan Coffey, the Grant Line Road annexation map that Jeff Gahan doesn't want you to see.

Current councilman and forthcoming mayoral candidate Dan Coffey (Independent) has made public the map showing the Grant Line Road area north of IU Southeast being projected for annexation by Jeff Gahan's monetization cadres.

This is the area the city is looking to annex. While we are told not to openly discuss this with the public, I believe we should have an open and transparent government that allows public input to help make a better and informed decision.

Absolutely right. I agree with Coffey and thank him for the map. Here's a closer look at the pertinent data.

Coffey is correct in observing that much of the annexation discussion so far has been strictly back-channel.

However the topic began leaking out when the NA-FC school corporation's administrators recently informed the school board, seeing as the corporation must voluntarily accept Grant Line Elementary's inclusion.

This was the first time most folks became aware of the proposal, although an overview of the annexation plan was discussed at last week's city council meeting, with all involved stressing that nothing can occur in 2019 because annexations aren't permitted by the state during pre-census years.

Even yurt-dwellers in Mongolia can see that Team Gahan lusts after the $1.85 million yearly tax haul, but at last week's meeting Scott "Coulda Been a Contender" Wood explained if the annexation becomes official, there's a period of three years during which residents in the annexed area are obliged by the state to form some undefined manner of participatory committee and to designate uses for the tax revenue in question; it does not go automatically into city coffers until the fourth year.

Presumably such committees choose for infrastructure improvements designed to bring the suburb into line with the city's urban "norms." The word "sprawl" was not mentioned, and personally I'm waiting for this future committee to be immediately infiltrated and neutralized by Dear Leader's operatives, with these three years of infrastructure cash inevitably going to pay for the projects already planned by Gahan's campaign finance donors for the vicinity.

Then again, I'm a cynic.

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Deaf Gahan wants to annex Grant Line Elementary School. Why didn't the Redevelopment Commission discuss this at its last meeting?

At the end of the day it's just another example of Gahan's pathological need for secrecy, and his preference for conducting as much pre-planning as possible outside the public's eye so the ensuing process is subject to full personal control with no meaningful effort to glean public input. 

Folks living along Mt. Tabor Road, and others attending last week's Colonial Manor top-down debacle already know this. Fortunately, there's an antidote to the toxic effects of cash-stuffed envelopes, Rice Krispies Treats and Kool-Aid: #FireGahan2019

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By the way, if you're not following Deaf Gahan on Twitter, you're missing out: https://twitter.com/DeafGahan

Brutal satire for a city allergic to it, but still.

Precinct by precinct: "An Extremely Detailed Map of the 2016 Presidential Election."

I'll just leave this here. In the context of our eternal city versus county division, we've compared the position of the Floyd County Democratic Party in forthcoming 2019 municipal elections to that of the last-ditch Alamo. The first map above illustrates this very clearly.

An Extremely Detailed Map of the 2016 Presidential Election

Do you live in a political bubble? Start exploring the map by searching for a place you know.

Right here in my own neighborhood ...

This is a Clinton precinct. The surrounding area is in the 72nd percentile for Clinton. The nearest Trump precinct is right next door.

How this precinct voted:

Candidate  Votes  Pct.
Clinton      206     52%
Trump       154     39%

Strong Towns Week: "You do have a parking problem; there’s too much of it."

It's been a couple of years since NAC first linked to this article by Nathaniel Hood, a transportation planner and blogger living in St. Paul who writes for Strong Towns and Streets MN.

Mapping is one of four responses to complaints of "there's no parking" (below), and our own Jeff G's map of New Albany's parking supply (above) dates back to 2013. It's changed a bit, though not much.

A couple Fridays ago, I walked downtown on a Friday night. Food and drink establishments were hopping -- and beginning at 3rd and Market, there were dozens of unoccupied parking spaces to the east.

In Parking Non-Problem 1, there is a link to a City Lab article introducing Hood and his photos of wide open spaces where parking shortages are alleged to exist. In the following, Hood's points are offered sans explanation, so please click through and read the entire article -- and consider becoming a member of Strong Towns.

4 EASY STEPS TO SQUASH THE "THERE'S NO PARKING" ARGUMENT, by Nathaniel M. Hood (Strong Towns)

"OMG! There is no parking!" - Concern Citizen

I wish I had a bus ticket for every time I heard someone say this. Unless you're Manhattan or San Francisco, it is fair to say that you don't have a parking problem. I take that back. You do have a parking problem; there’s too much of it.

Here is a quick how-to guide on dealing with those who claim your town lacks adequate parking.

1. UNDERSTAND PERCEPTION.
2. MAP PARKING SUPPLY
3. DOCUMENT UNUSED SUPPLY
4. USE YOURSELF AS A CASE STUDY

“It feels like planners in the U.S. sort of exist in a history vacuum. It’s important for them to look at this information and understand that a lot of city planning really involves dismantling systems like zoning and redlining.”

The City of Louisville press release of February 14 includes a link to the redlining map.

City begins community conversation to combat redlining

 ... Local urban planner Joshua Poe has developed the interactive story map entitled “Redlining Louisville: The History of Race, Class and Real Estate.” This tool illustrates the ways that redlining has affected housing development, disinvestment and lending patterns in Louisville since the 1930s. By layering data sets such as vacant properties, building permits and property values, the map shows how the intentional redlining that was devised in the 1930s has had consequences that are evident still today.

Examples of conventional redlining that still exists today include refusal to provide delivery in certain areas, business loan denials regardless of credit-worthiness and refusal to write property insurance policies or dropping property owners from insurance coverage altogether.

Other forms of redlining, referred to as reverse redlining, also exist. Examples of reverse redlining include offering services low-income residents at higher prices, higher interest rates and excessive service fees or inferior products. This example may come in forms such as payday loans, cash advances, and expedited tax returns.

This story made it all the way to CityLab, but let it be duly noted that former New Albanian resident Poe's work on this topic goes back many years, as Jeff Gillenwater noted in this space in 2013.

Poe: "The design seems better suited to simply facilitate crime than livability."

Friend and former neighbor Josh Poe is the sort of engaged and educated person who regularly challenges and improves upon my thinking; in short, the sort New Albany still tends to lose too often. He continues the good work here, reminding that certain community outcomes are the direct result of careful planning rather than random market occurrences, often for the most egregious of reasons. If you don't think it still happens and happens here, I invite you to check out the school district mapping in western New Albany sometime.

It's wonderful to see Josh's efforts bearing fruit. Will Greg Fischer's hyperbole translate into action? That's always the biggest question.

Louisville Confronts Its Redlining Past and Present, by Brentin Mock (CityLab)

A new online mapping project is aimed at dismantling the Kentucky city’s grim legacy of racial segregation.

 ... “When I started the research, I hoped that it would be used at the grassroots level, and I also hoped it would be used by planners,” says Joshua Poe, the urban planner who developed the project. “It feels like planners in the U.S. sort of exist in a history vacuum. It’s important for them to look at this information and understand that a lot of city planning really involves dismantling systems like zoning and redlining.”

On the website, users interact with a city map from 1937 that shows how the city was carved up for real estate investment purposes. Poe discovered a trove of documents in D.C.’s National Archives that show how lenders used race, class, and the number of immigrant families residing in an area to determine its value. Users can view these documents from the maps and also compare the city’s racial and class population distribution between 1937 and 2010.

Parking Non-Problem 2: "How to respond when someone complains 'There's no parking.'"

It's been a couple of years since Jeff G mapped New Albany's parking supply (the photo above). Mapping is one of four responses to complaints of "there's no parking," as suggested by Nathaniel Hood, a transportation planner and blogger living in St. Paul who writes for Strong Towns and Streets.MN.

In Parking Non-Problem 1, there is a link to a City Lab article introducing Hood and his photos of wide open spaces where parking shortages are alleged to exist. In the following, Hood's points are truncated, so please click through and read the entire article.

How to respond when someone complains 'There's no parking', by Nathaniel Hood (Star Tribune)

OMG! There is NO parking!" - Concerned Citizen

I wish I had a bus ticket for every time I heard someone say this. Unless you're Manhattan or San Francisco, it is fair to say you don't have a parking problem. I take that back. You do have a parking problem -- there’s too much of it.

Here is a quick how-to guide on dealing with those who claim your city or town lacks adequate parking.

Step 1. Understand perception ... The easiest and most time-effective way of convincing your opposition is to have them acknowledge that the perception of parking availability is different than the reality.

Step 2. Map parking supply ... Load up Google Maps in your favorite web browser, search for your local area, and do a screen capture. Paste the image into MS Paint or a similar program. Start highlighting the open surface parking lots and parking garage structures. I recommend downloading Google Earth for this task.

Step 3. Document unused supply ... Walk around your selected area during normal conditions and take photos. And by normal conditions, I mean you shouldn't document supply during a Rolling Stones concert, nor should you snap photos at 4 a.m. on Monday morning.

Step 4. Use yourself as a case study ... Do it yourself advocacy is as simple as parking. I recommend getting a cheap dashboard camera (or mounting your phone) and recording yourself trying to park. I did this and here are the results on YouTube. I called it a challenge. It was anything but. As expected, parking was simple.

Maps and uncommon sense.

I seem to recall a time when all the gas stations had nice paper maps. They give 'em away for free. This may have been round the time I was 10, but I remember it nonetheless. Of course, the tourist people also dispensed gratis maps -- still do; we picked up an Indiana map at some point this summer while transiting the state.

GPS is alien to me, and when using the directions at Google Maps, I generally insist on actually looking at the streets and not taking the disembodied voice's word for it. Driving into a lake? I'd rather not.

That's because swimming is alien to me, too.

In Maine, Even With A GPS, You Can't Get There From Here, by Jennifer Mitchell (NPR)

How many egregious mistakes can YOU spot in this city-sanctioned solicitation?

Target Marketing has graphic designers, but not spell check.

AND MY BUSINESS IS NOT CALLED ROOSTERS, YOU FREAKING NITWITS.

This fellow breathlessly called me on Monday, saying he represented the city of New Albany. I thought maybe we hadn't paid the sewer bill, but it's even worse than that, because the city (yet again) has authorized this "publishing sans spell check" company to shill for ads in its map.

As a business owner who must listen to sales pitches constantly, permit me to point out how annoying these asinine hawkers can be. But to me, it's a whole new level of aggravation when your own city foists them on you under the rubric of "partnership."

To be fair to the Gahan administration, this isn't the first time. I've been complaining about parasitic practices like this since the Regina Overton interlude, because do we really want to empower semi-literate sales flacks from somewhere else to encourage the illusion that they're working with, for, or at the city? That's exactly what they do, and just like most of their grating ilk, they don't like taking no for an answer. My time is valuable, and frankly, I resent this business "model."

Here's the meat of the pitch. First, the absurdly error-marred main text, with ad examples removed lest other businesses think I'm exposing them to ridicule. I'm not, but dudes, there's got to be a better way than this to spend your money.

Afterward, there's a .pdf of the letter from the mayor, which my caller Anderson seemed to feel would be a hook impossible for me to ignore.

Yo, Jason, I've got news for you. Somehow, I'm managing to avoid writing a check.

Go away.

Now.

Hello Roger,

The City of New Albany is in the process of reserving spaces for its #1 requested item, (The Official New Albany City Map & Resource Guide), which is the only and most updated Area Map & Resource Guide that the City endorses.  We are now in the process of updating the new edition for all the local businesses and organizations. 

We hope to count on your support and participation. We would like to promote Roosters under the Restaurants category in the upcoming edition with us.

Attached is the letter you should have reveiced, signed by Jeff Gahan (Mayor) announcning it.

There will be 10,000 full color copies of the printed version going out over the next 18 months along with an online counterpart which will be linked from the City of New Albany’s webpage. 

-          The 10,000 copies will be distributed by the City for free to new families and re-locators moving into and around the area.  They will also be distributed to over 150 high traffic locations around the community such as banks, schools, libraries, restaurants, etc.

   

-          You will receive your own supply for personal use.

-          The online counterpart will list all participating businesses/organizations by category, pinpoint your exact location, list your contact information, and will feature a direct link back to Roosters’ website as well.

There are 3 different options in which to participate:  Each of them only have a ONETIMEcost to be featured for the next 18 months.  Below/attached are some examples of businesses/organizations who participated in the previous edition to show you the format.  I also attached a portion of the previous edition as well.

Whichever route you decide to take, would simply invoice you for it, you would have 30+ days to take care of it if need be. 

Business Card Display - $349.00

Double Business Card Display (Twice the size for more exposure) - $599.00

A Premier 4x9 Panel Display for maximum exposure (entire 4x9 page for yourself, magazine quality, first seen displays, only 1 remaining) - $1,500.00

We have graphic designers that can make artwork for you which will be able to revise and make any desired changes, or you can email us your own artwork to use. 

We hope to count you in!

Talk to you soon,

Jason Anderson

Marketing Consultant

Target Marketing, Inc.

Phone: 800-933-3909 ext.1041

Fax: 866-481-7962

janderson@chambermaps.com

www.chambermaps.com

That's it: We're the Right Bank.

You know, I think Zach Everson's done it. We now have the name to describe downtown New Albany's food, dining and bar district: The Right Bank. Much better than Come To City, don't you think?


EATER MAPS: 8 Downtown New Albany Restaurants Worth the Trip, by Zach Everson (Eater Louisville)