Tell me more: "Bail Out Journalists. Let Newspaper Chains Die."

I'm listening. Any port in a storm; any revolution after a pandemic?

Bail Out Journalists. Let Newspaper Chains Die, by Ben Smith (NYT)

The coronavirus is likely to hasten the end of advertising-driven media, our columnist writes. And government should not rescue it.

 ... It’s a moment of deep crisis for the local news business, which could have been blown over by a light breeze and is now facing a hurricane. But it’s also a moment of great promise for a new generation of largely nonprofit local publications.

The time is now to make a painful but necessary shift: Abandon most for-profit local newspapers, whose business model no longer works, and move as fast as possible to a national network of nimble new online newsrooms. That way, we can rescue the only thing worth saving about America’s gutted, largely mismanaged local newspaper companies — the journalists.

“We need to accept that what local news is today is already dying,” said Ms. Green, 35.

She had that realization 12 years ago when she was a local education reporter. Her newspaper, The New York Sun, went under, and she created a new nonprofit organization to stay on the beat she loved. Now, her vision has expanded. She has co-founded the American Journalism Project, which aims to create a huge network of nonprofit outlets, some organized around subjects like education or criminal justice, others focused on covering a town, a city or a state. She wants to replace the hundreds of local newspapers now owned by hedge funds that are slowly being bled dry ...

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Social media reports indicate that New Albany's venerable Red Men club will vacate its Main Street space.

There aren't many Red Men members, which is an obvious problem for the club, and they don't have a consistent social media presence, but other folks are saying that New Albany's 120-year-old Red Men club is giving up its storefront on Main Street (at the very least) or perhaps even calling it quits permanently in the face of declining membership, aging and mortality.

The Red Men Club was founded in 1765 and was originally known as the Sons of Liberty. These early patriots concealed their identity and worked to help establish freedom and liberty in the early colonies. They patterned themselves after the great Iroquois Confederacy and its democratic governing body. After the revolution, the name was changed to the Society of Red Men. The New Albany charter was founded in 1899.

For the past two years (maybe a bit longer) the Red Men have been serving lunch at 211 E Main Street, but the kitchen suspended operations in mid-October just after Harvest Homecoming.

From the lunch counter:

We are sorry to say that we will not be reopening this year. We are not ruling out coming back after the first of the year, we are considering all options. We are grateful from the bottom of our hearts to our faithful customers. We will miss every one of you.

Thank you again,

Deb and Jessa

The club is locally renowned for its annual Harvest Homecoming chicken and dumplings, the proceeds from which carry the Red Men through the year. As recently as November 19, the club was accepting Thanksgiving carry-out orders for chicken and dumplings.

What's next? It's unclear, but we'll see. It is sad to watch as these old-school fraternal clubs and orders succumb to the inevitable march of time. They played their roles for generations, but as has been evident for quite some time, the  younger demographic tends not to be attracted to the concept. Cheers to the ones that remain.

“The current business model for local newspapers is broken and beyond repair,” so the Salt Lake Tribune is now a 501(c)(3).

There probably isn't a comparison with the late Insider Louisville, which also went non-profit but died. IL was an internet start-up, and the newspaper in Salt Lake City is a "legacy daily" with almost a century and a half behind it.

“We’re beholden to everybody whether or not they come to [the Tribune], read it, care about it, know it exists,” she said. “If we’re doing our job, their life is better. And it’s better because we’re holding the powerful accountable.”

Holding the powerful accountable? Our local chain newspaper accepts cash (ad revenue) from the powerful and keeps journalism almost entirely out of the equation.

But those 'Bama pensioners love it.

In historic shift, The Salt Lake Tribune gets IRS approval to become a nonprofit, by Matt Canham (Salt Lake Tribune)

The Salt Lake Tribune is now a nonprofit, an unprecedented transformation for a legacy U.S. daily that is intended to bolster its financial prospects during a troubling time for journalism nationwide.

The IRS approved the shift in a letter dated Oct. 29, deeming The Tribune a 501(c)(3) public charity. That means supporters can start making tax deductible donations now.

The move from a for-profit model was spurred by Tribune owner Paul Huntsman, who, in agreeing to turn Utah’s largest paper into a nonprofit, is giving up his sole ownership.

“The current business model for local newspapers is broken and beyond repair,” said Huntsman, who also serves as The Tribune’s publisher. “We needed to find a way to sustain this vital community institution well beyond my ownership, and nonprofit status will help us do that. This is truly excellent news for all Utah residents and for local news organizations across the country” ...

Blurred lines: Extol's "End of Summer Bash" and the Southern Indiana Community Housing Corporation's "charitable" status prompt the reincarnation of Lt. Columbo.

It's a good thing when local magazines sponsor free community gatherings. Naturally blog readers are encouraged to support this Extol function and events like it. Go there, have fun, and rock on.

I'm taking great pains to make it clear that what you're about to read is not blanket criticism, or a call to boycott anything, or some sort of hatchet job. It isn't, not at all.

Rather, as Lieutenant Columbo once said, "There are a couple of loose ends I'd like to tie up."

On the surface of it, surveying the obvious synergies implied by the fest's sponsors, just about all of it is benign and sensible.

For instance, there's participation from New Washington State Bank, which is about to make its presence felt downtown by occupying space in the former Jimmy's Music Building, which is being remodeled by Steve Resch, whose son Jacob is an outstanding musician booked to play the fest.

It makes perfect sense.

There are invaluable community assets like the Horseshoe Foundation and SoIn; the tourism bureau and Extol collaborate to publish the annual area visitor's guide.

They make perfect sense, too.

The fest's sponsors include AllTerrain Paving, a company whose profile recently has risen markedly via aggressive bids on Team Gahan's local construction projects. The company has ties to Neace Ventures, and the latter also has had past involvement with Extol as an investor. Denton Floyd is in charge of the Reisz Building/City Hall project and previously had the brief for Mansions on Main in the former M. Fine Building.

Perfect sense as well.

Of course, both AllTerrain and Denton-Floyd (as well as John Neace of Neace Ventures) have donated heavily in the past to Mayor Jeff Gahan's campaign finance fund, and if I'm not mistaken, they've all also made election tithes to the (unsuccessful) county commissioner and (ongoing) at-large city council campaigns of Jason Applegate, who with wife Angie Fenton is the owner of Extol and the sales agent for the magazine.

Regular readers know that we pay close attention to campaign finance, and yet all of the preceding strikes me as boilerplate. Movers move and shakers shake; so it goes in any small city, and readers may draw their own conclusions, if any. Thus far, there's not much to see.

Still, echoing Columbo once again, "there's just one more thing." 

Extol identifies the non-profit Southern Indiana Community Housing Corporation as a "charity" worthy of inclusion in the bash's charitable outreach. Proceeds and donations will be disbursed to SICHC ("benefiting the residents of NAHA"), WHAS Crusade for Children and USA Cares via Extol Charities, a fund of the Community Foundation of Southern Indiana.

However SICHC is by no means an autonomous "charitable" organization. It is an appendage of the New Albany Housing Authority, itself captive to Jeff Gahan's staffing and board appointments, several of whom have board seats on both entities, NAHA and SICHC.

This is a charity? In a world where Bud Light is called "beer," I suppose anything is possible when mangling semantics. As non-profits go, SICHC's involvement as a "charity" is stretching the limits of propriety.

I'm told that SICHC originally was set up by deposed NAHA chieftain Bob Lane as a means of advancing voucher housing off site of the various NAHA properties. It may also have been necessary in legal terms to make applications for tax credit-driven projects Lane was pursuing to regenerate NAHA's physical plant -- these being the projects Gahan vehemently rejected in the run-up to the mayor's seizure of NAHA and subsequent firing of Lane.

Of course Gahan's choice to replace Lane was the woefully unqualified (and overpaid) David Duggins, previously Gahan's chief fixer at Redevelopment, where Duggins took great care to involve entities ... yes, like Neace Ventures, AllTerrain Paving and Denton-Floyd in big-money redevelopment projects.

Did Extol consider all this?

Glancing at Elevate, we see that whatever else SICHC does to "benefit" residents of NAHA, it is the owner of eight or nine small properties around town (many tied to the abortive Linden Meadows project) and one very large one: Cross Creek Apartments on Green Valley Road.

It's hard to see SICHC as a "charity" worthy of inclusion in Extol's festival, and so I sent multiple messages to both Applegate and Extol asking for this relationship to be clarified. Neither of them have replied. 

There may be a simple answer, but if so, it isn't being given, at least yet, although this does explain Applegate sightings at the NAHA administrative offices.

If we still pretend to believe in something approximating journalism, my question is a legitimate one to ask of Extol. Why is SICHC being referred to as a charity when there is so much relevant background being ignored?

Applegate seems oblivious to the plain fact that wearing multiple hats has a way of blurring lines and prompting legitimate questions. After all, he's the owner of a media outlet who sells ads to many of these entities, and he's a candidate for local office as an open and enthusiastic supporter of a corrupted mayor whose only real platform is political patronage tied to campaign donations and pay-to-play chicanery ... and who advertises heavily in Extol.

Speaking for myself, I have no personal grievances"against" anyone mentioned here, even the ones immersing themselves in Gahan's soiled web. Rather, my grievance is with the process as we've grown to tolerate it, and it's critical to remember that most folks hereabouts never wanted local government to be about dark money to such a large extent that we're obliged to spend time following it to the sources.

Unfortunately the political patronage system that always bubbled on low heat has been injected with steroids by Gahan, Adam Dickey, Warren Nash and other exalted Democratic Party functionaries, and consequently we've come to a place where the money must be followed.

I regret it this mess, but I didn't create it, and since "real" journalists like Chris Morris and Susan Duncan refuse to ask these questions, I will, if for no other reason that stubbornness. As Morrissey once observed, the more you ignore me, the closer I get.

I earnestly encourage Applegate and/or Extol to provide an answer, and we'll provide space here for it, free from extraneous commentary on my part.

Better yet, maybe just commission the esteemed David Duggins to write it, given that SICHC's involvement probably was his idea to begin with.

Insider Louisville signs off.

Among the theories I've heard to explain IL's demise is that the organization was too liberal.

Another? It was too conservative.

At any rate, it's gone. I'm running this one in its entirety.

---

Commentary: Business model lessons from Insider Louisville, by David Jones Jr. (Insider Louisville)

I am sad that this is Insider Louisville’s last day. I’m proud of the work that the organization produced and gratified that more than 100,000 Louisvillians per day got news about our city from this publication.

Other people – Insider Louisville’s fine staff – did the good work of digging for, reporting and editing the news. My role was to identify a path to fund a sustainable newsroom producing all the local news that Louisville citizens need.

We failed to find this path. Insider Louisville failed as a business, and on Wednesday closes its doors as a nonprofit corporation.

David Jones Jr.
David Jones Jr.
When Insider Louisville converted to a nonprofit in late 2017, I explained to readers what the publication’s shareholders had learned over four years of investment: “You can’t make money publishing real local news” in a city of Louisville’s size.

The big tech companies dominate the competition for local advertising dollars, and the pennies content providers receive from Google and Facebook when someone clicks on their work are too small to cover reporters’ modest salaries.

Real local news costs more than cat videos and trolls – a lesson Gannett apparently accepted earlier this week as it agreed to sell the CJ and its other publications into a synergy-driven merger.

Insider Louisville joined a “growing movement toward citizen-supported, community-owned, nonprofit local news” and sought voluntary donations from readers, businesses and foundations.

We had some success. Individuals signed up as members in the numbers we expected, and small donors contributed in line with our business plan; the national Institute for Nonprofit News (backed by the Knight Foundation, among others) matched some of these gifts; local foundations including James Graham Brown and Gheens made generous grants to help us expand our newsroom; and a few individuals made larger gifts.

And we proved that Louisvillians continue to hunger for real local news. Readership persisted and grew as we expanded our reporting to cover serious beats including education and health care. Readers are highly educated, high earning and (compared to any other local news publication) include far more readers under 40. Our readers care about Louisville.

But we also proved that Louisville won’t pay for local civic news. In this, we’re no different from most American cities, where a collapse of local journalism has already left some 1,300 communities without local coverage of any sort. Nonprofit civic journalism has not been Louisville’s answer.

Does this matter? Lincoln spoke of “the perpetuation of our political institutions” as a challenge for every generation. How will today’s Louisvillians rise to this challenge if we have no impartial reporting on what local government, schools and other institutions are up to?

Perhaps we just don’t care today. Perhaps the catatonia of social feeds will soothe us, and paid but nontransparent digital “influencers” will satisfy a craving to be in the know and part of the show. Democracy is hard work, and there’s no guarantee that successive generations will want to do it.

But I’m an optimist. Insider Louisville and its many unsuccessful peers nationally have made tactical mistakes from which next-generation entrepreneurs can learn. We also built a monthly audience of 200,000 Louisvillians hungering to know what’s really going on.

That hunger will still be there tomorrow.

David A. Jones Jr. was chair of the board of Insider Media Group Inc., the nonprofit corporation that has published Insider Louisville since December 2017. A longtime investor in media businesses and donor to nonprofit media endeavors, he was the largest investor in IMG’s predecessor corporation and the largest donor to the nonprofit corporation. He will join leaders of other publications for a Louisville Forum talk on civic journalism on Aug. 14.

Begging for density -- or, a city council meeting recap for Thursday, March 15, and the case for liquor as proper vaccine.

I live in a country that chronically devalues, denigrates and under-funds social services — or, if you will, the safety net.

Then, neglecting to drink the three martinis that might have given me immunity to the inevitable IQ-reduction therapy, I am treated to a city council populated entirely by 50-something white male NAHS graduates undertaking to discuss helping strapped local charities by reviving curbside donations by sanctioned panhandlers bearing buckets, but only the certified organizations, mind you; we wouldn’t want those in need to beg for THEMSELVES, would we?

How gauche, so let’s be sure and make the bucket brigades LOOK as respectable as possible, maybe lanyards, badges and a dress code, then they’ll fleece enough drivers on Calmed! Chaotic! two-way streets (no one can decide which, so enter your biased viewpoint here) to refrain from soaking the taxpayers for social services.

We don’t want it to LOOK bad when these sanctioned organizations like the Salvation Army shake down drivers, or it to LOOK bad for the needy to tend to their own panhandling, or for it to LOOK bad for there to be people in need in the first place, which is why perennial luminaries like Dan Coffey can simultaneously insist there isn’t anywhere near enough affordable housing in NA, then vote against the Mews proposal in his own district, though he flipped and voted for a PUDD development at Daisy & Green Valley (below), all the while insisting that 500 affordable housing units at the New Albany Housing Authority must be abolished.

Meanwhile, ask our nine city council members to define density, and their answers will range from “3” to “33” to “TILT.” The Democrats who wrote the comprehensive plan that stipulated density continue to oppose density, having forgotten to define it exactly in the document they approves.

The banker Blair supports annexing more suburban land when we know it only escalates maintenance costs. Paddy Mac thinks walkers are always to blame in accidents because they don’t know their place, and compares the street grid to the painted striping on a factory floor. Coffey plots a coup to seize municipal power for the K of C; barring that, he'll accept public money to restore the facade.

Barksdale, supposedly a Republican, supports the Mayor (a Democrat) more often than Phipps, one of Gahan’s most dependable yes men.

If I were to predicate my 2019 support for council representatives on a simple pattern of logical consistency from one meeting to the next — from ONE MINUTE to the next -- there’d be no need to even consider voting. I haven’t witnessed so many circular arguments since King Larry walked the earth (one time on a single ordinance requiring three votes, Kochert voted for, against, and abstained), when all I really want to do is to live in a country that values social services without the need to assign non-profit bucket-wielders a Caesar-issue security clearance.

The newspaper's coverage centers on the zoning ordinance. Nothing is said about the "let's make NA great again for non-profits begging in the streets" ordinance adjustment, which ultimately was tabled so Coffey can fine-tune it into a shibboleth he can micro-manage between barbecued bologna campaign backslappers.

New Albany City Council turns down proposed development at Daisy Lane and Green Valley, by Erin Walden (News and Tribune)

NEW ALBANY — A high-end housing development proposed to go near Green Valley Road and East Daisy Lane has been squelched.

The first two readings of an ordinance that would have rezoned 5.1 acres for development failed on a 5-4 vote during New Albany City Council's meeting Thursday night.

Check out the new logo for TheatreWorks of Southern Indiana, and please consider donating.

At Facebook, TheatreWorks of Southern Indiana has revealed this sharp new logo.

A big thank you to Stephen Brown and Mind's Eye Creative for our new logo! We love it!

Mr. and Mrs. Confidential have donated to the cause, and you also should consider a sponsorship.

Patron of the Arts Sponsorship

Support the Arts in SoIN

TheatreWorks of Southern Indiana is pleased to offer a creative outlet for actors throughout the region as well as presenting top notch entertainment and educational opportunities. As a non-profit, we depend on patrons and businesses to augment ticket sales in the operation of the theatre. As a patron you will receive priority notification of upcoming events as well as acknowledgement in each program for the 2017-2018 season.

Web site

WITHIN CITY LIMITS: Episode XI, What Have I Been Up To?

WITHIN CITY LIMITS: Episode XI, What Have I Been Up To?

By Nick Vaughn, Guest Columnist

As I alluded to in my previous article, I was planning on filling everyone in on just what I’ve been up to the past couple of months, so here it is.

To begin, I have enjoyed (and survived) my first half semester of college! For those of you unaware, I was awarded the Benjamin Templeton scholarship at Hanover College, which covers all of the tuition. I am very blessed to have received such a prestigious scholarship from an equally prestigious institution like Hanover. The staff, students, and everyone in-between have been awesome, friendly, and helpful and I am glad to call Hanover my school. As far as courses go I am taking a World Civilizations course that spans from prehistory to the 1500s, a History of Western Art course, a Literature and Politics course, and a Reason and Belief Philosophy course. I am thoroughly enjoying my classes here and am looking forward to the coming semesters. I haven’t declared a major yet but I am leaning towards History.

Outside of the classroom I have been able to meet some great people and make some awesome friends. In fact, I am even lucky enough to be a part of a new student organization/nonprofit that will reach beyond campus. My roommate, Samuel Pyle, was adopted by his parents from Sierra Leone, Africa and attended
Oldham County High School in Kentucky. During his time in high school, he was able to raise money to supply the kids from the orphanage he used to live at backpacks and toys for Christmas. After having some conversations and discussing with a couple of our other friends, we decided to begin to craft a plan for a nonprofit that will help all kids in Sierra Leone, specifically those who want to go to high school and attend college. After much deliberation, we decided to name it Looking Back, Moving Forward in honor of Samuel’s amazing journey to get to America (to learn more about Samuel, click this link).

This organization is in the beginning phases of becoming a registered not-for-profit organization, however, we are an official student organization where I am blessed to be able to serve as Vice President of Budgetary Operations and hope to hold the same position with the official nonprofit organization. While I am very proud to be able to work towards making Looking Back, Moving Forward a
reality, I must give all credit to Samuel. This was his idea and I am very proud to stand with him to make it reality.

I highly encourage you to check out our Facebook page so you can keep up to date with what is going on. Our goals are to be able to raise enough money to provide a good Christmas for the kids of the Raining Season Orphanage as well as to be able to begin to create the scholarship fund for kids in Sierra Leone who cannot afford to go to high school or college. Eventually, we plan on having a fundraising event in New Albany as well as a 5k run either at Hanover, in New Albany, or in Oldham County where Samuel lives. Be on the lookout for announcements!

I am looking forward to coming home this Friday to celebrate mine and Hannah’s birthday with family over the weekend. If you would like to do some catching up just reach out to me! I am ready to be back home in New Albany!

And I leave you with the quote of the day: “Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.” -- George Washington.

On localism and non-profit partnerships from the grassroots.

A friend forwarded the link below about local gift boxes. It's a good idea, and something that New Albany independent retailers might emulate.

I observed to my pal that New Albany First hasn't come to fruition in the way we'd hoped, and he replied: "Seems like the entire nonprofit community in NA is moribund. That weakens a community, not improves it."

You may have issues with his generalization, and there are exceptions, but as it pertains to non-profits expressly created to serve downtown progress, the going hasn't always been so smooth.

My brief overview, for the sake of discussion: Successive city governments have tended to regard non-profits in a political sense, not as building blocks. They're to be pitted against one another and controlled from above, not arrayed on a level playing field, allowed to evolve organically from the grassroots in pursuit of specialized missions and partnerships, and supported by city government according to their results.

Remember this?

ON THE AVENUES: Inkem binkem notamus rex, protect us all from the city with the hex.

As these non-profits pertain to local independent small business, it's a relationship that must emanate from business owners. It can be neither top-down nor down-low. Some small business owners are cats refusing to be herded; I believe this isn't in their best interest, but they must come to the epiphany themselves. Others wait to be "led" by politicians, most of whom have no experience in running a small business. This simply does not make sense. We should be leading ourselves, and maximizing our prospects through collective action.

"For the longest time, we all waited for a white knight to ride into town and fix the problem. But the Main Street people made us realize that the only way to get it done right was to do it ourselves." -- Russell Thomas, mayor of Americus, Georgia

As mayor, I hope to see our downtown non-profits energized, effective and cooperating with each other toward common goals, each of them approaching these goals from its core area of concentration. Engagement and communication between non-profits and City Hall will be enhanced, because it has to be better than it is now. As applied to these goals, familiar City Hall concepts like "on the fly" and "ad hoc" must be removed from the economic development vocabulary, never to return. What's good for the big is good for the small, and non-profits can help with the glue.

To use Develop New Albany as an example, insofar as DNA continues to evolve positively toward becoming the sort of National Main Street organization it was chartered to be, my City Hall will support it, and join the fight together for platform planks that are in DNA's fundamental DNA as a Main Street organization.

It isn't nuclear physics, Jeff.

If you want better fundamentals, that's exactly where to start: With the actual fundamentals, and not the political sheen.

When Local is Best, by Wesley Kerrick (Voice Tribune)

Sampling the many products made in the Louisville area has gotten a lot easier with the birth of a new company.

Yesterday, Go Local Box shipped its second installment of gift boxes around the city and the country. Each box contains four to six locally made items.

Go Local Box is a subscription service that lets people sign up to receive one box each month, or have boxes sent to others as gifts. Most everything in the box is from Louisville, although a few items come from elsewhere in Kentucky or from Southern Indiana.

Pre-synopsis of that "other" Top-Down Business Not-For-Profit meeting, this morning at The Exchange.

(4:35 p.m. update ... it may not surprise you to learn that others on the list received e-vitations. It would appear that I've been disfellowshipped. If so, the feeling is mutual)

I'd have let you known sooner, but there was no e-mail announcement, and I'm sure this was no more than an unfortunate administrative oversight.

There's a meeting this morning.

Yes, I understand the confusion, so let's go back and take another look at the types of meetings being held. Insofar as the transmission of information is concerned, there are two classes of meeting pertaining to merchants, groups and fellow travelers in downtown New Albany.

1. Grassroots meeting ... once a month, referred to as the Merchant Meeting. This is the one where merchants discuss what they can do to make up for the city's inaction.

2. Top-Down meeting ... every other month, referred to variously as the business organizations meeting and the not-for-profit group meeting. This is the one where the city makes numerous excuses for its inaction and then reads its own press releases to attending representatives of DNA, NA First, etc.

The next Grassroots Merchant Meeting meeting comes next week. Planning a Beer Hall Putsch? Then this is the one that needs to be considered.

Merchant Meeting next Tuesday morning, Dec. 16, at 8:30 a.m., at Strandz & Threadz.

Meanwhile, the next Top-Down Business Organizations Not-For-Profit Group meeting apparently is this morning, at 8:30 a.m., upstairs at The Exchange. It previously was scheduled for November, but postponed because the city's economic development "director" could not be there.

Downtown business owner: "Without the city itself doing more, we can kiss (revitalization) goodbye."

Instead of actually attending, which would require time, effort and Job-like patience on my part, perhaps I can save us all a trip by offering this synopsis of what will be handed from the top down by the city to its key organizational leaders.

Later this morning, Mr. Duggins will say ...

A. We (the city and the mayor) are doing everything we can to respond randomly and in purely piecemeal fashion to needs arising downtown, whether they pertain to infrastructure or "development." All these objections about us not having a clue and being aloof come to you from malcontents who've never strung the first Christmas light, and should be ignored.

B. Clearly a lot of small businesses are going out of business, and that's their fault, because what we do to ensure the continued viability of larger businesses in the industrial park cannot be replicated in smaller senses, primarily because we've no idea how, and the oodles of $ we're prepared to give a development company to entice them to build on the Coyle property is different from what we're not doing to incentivize local developers, and that's because I said so. Got it? All these objections about us not having an economic development plan downtown come to you from malcontents who've never had a real job and ought to be working at Amazon, and should be ignored.

C. No one in attendance wants to hear about insignificant esoterica in relation to the sheer magnitude of two-way streets, traffic calming, bike lanes, walkability and all those eggheaded concepts and how they might impact economic development and quality of life; besides, I personally understand little of it, and collectively, we at City Hall are terrified to speak of potential changes aloud, and besides, if all goes according to plan, there will not be any risk of so much as contemplating implementation until after the next election cycle. All these objections about our foot-dragging and refusal to get behind this wonderful far-off future effort come to you from book-reading malcontents and should be ignored.

D. But the Main Street Improvement Project results are super peachy and clearly rank with the Champs Elysees in terms of stunning visual impact, and even those hoity-toity burgs over in his beloved Europe don't have street numbers this classy. We'll be giving John Rosenbarger a nice raise and stunning new honorific titles in appreciation. All these objections about cost and diverted trucks come to you from malcontents and should be ignored, because just because they're traveled around and all doesn't mean they know Jack Schitt. But I do. He lives in Sellersburg.

E. Who ever heard about bitching over a prayer breakfast, anyway? All these objections about the separation of church and state come from craft beer-drinking malcontents and should be ignored. I mean seriously, Miller Lite was good enough for Father Aloysius, right?

F. You fine folks at DNA and that other organization whose name always gets away from me -- something about independence -- well, you're all doing a fine job with nothing, and so we'll continue to support you ... with nothing, and recommend any and all small-time investors to talk with you or Mike Kopp instead of us, because downtown's all right, but it ain't the industrial park, is it? So, in closing, keep up the good work, and we'll meet again in two months so I can give you the lowdown on what we're planning to let you know about. Just remember that all these objections about us come to you from malcontents and should be ignored.

G. Seabrook's not really running for mayor, is he?

That Thursday morning meeting with the city I twice told you about? Shockingly, it has been postponed.

Hmm, well, I do believe the empire is striking back, so score one for City Hall.

I've just learned that the Thursday morning meeting at The Exchange, as mentioned twice at NA Confidential, has been postponed.

Attention, downtown small business owners: Thursday, 20 November, 8:30 a.m. at The Exchange.

Downtown business owners, don't forget the meeting this Thursday.

Not that I've been informed of this in any official sense, but the Green Mouse has his impeccable sources. I know all of this is confusing, and the confusion probably isn't a coincidence, but here it is. Please bear with me.

1. The bimonthly City Hall-sponsored meeting on Thursday, originally planned for the exclusive attendance of selected representatives from non-profit organizations, to which I unilaterally invited all and sundry to attend, anyway, has been postponed. My guess is that it has been postponed precisely because I invited all and sundry to attend. I suspect City Hall currently is preparing to launch a Facebook site for these meetings, so I can be abruptly Adamned from it, as I have been v.v. the local Democratic Party.

2. The monthly downtown Merchant Meeting scheduled for tomorrow (Tuesday) at The Loft on Spring Street (above Colokial and Dress & Dwell) is still scheduled for 8:30 a.m. If you can make it to The Loft on Tuesday morning, please do so.

Downtown business owners, don't forget the meeting this Thursday.

Often I've taken New Albany city officials to task for having no economic development plan for downtown. Insofar as a coherent answer has been forthcoming, it has been muddled, and I'm not misrepresenting the tone of the response by phrasing it like this:

"But there isn't anything we can do because we don't have the proper tools to do anything."

As such, logic ordains this conclusion:

If you have been unable to do anything, then you cannot take credit for what has been done.

By the way, there's a meeting this week.

Attention, downtown small business owners: Thursday, 20 November, 8:30 a.m. at The Exchange.

(While small business owners are) not officially invited, (it's) the precise reason you should attend and provide YOUR update to the city's officials. Two-way communications are only fair, right? After all, the last such meeting took place just BEFORE Harvest Homecoming. There's a lot to talk about.

Bring questions and comments, and let me know you're coming.

Attention, downtown small business owners: Next Thursday, 20 November, 8:30 a.m. at The Exchange.

I received this notice from the city of New Albany. It refers to regularly scheduled meetings every other month, at which representatives of Develop New Albany, NA First, the food & drink organization in development and others come together to receive city updates.

Having promised to share this with fellow downtown business owners, permit me to do so. Understand that you're not officially invited -- which is the precise reason you should attend and provide YOUR update to the city's officials. Two-way communications are only fair, right? After all, the last such meeting took place just BEFORE Harvest Homecoming. There's a lot to talk about.

I'll bring extra doughnuts and coffee.

Who's in? Let me know if you're planning on coming.

"The next scheduled meeting for the downtown not-for-profit group is Thursday, November 20th, 8:30 am at The Exchange. Donuts, juice and coffee will be provided. This is an opportunity for you to receive an update on City of New Albany projects."

Rant: On design committees and old fartedness.

There needs to be a new rule.

For any “design” committee of any local organization that purports to be doing something remotely civic, or “for the community” – especially when accepting public money in any form – and also having 50% of its members over the age of 50, all of the committee’s “design” decisions must be presented to a Youth Committee of randomly selected teenagers and young adults, so that the old folks can have their latest solemn masterpieces of 1960s-era Readers Digest respectability publicly mocked before foisting them on the rest of us.

It rankles this 53-year-old realist that so often, persons my age or older make "design" decisions bound inexorably by their past-date stylistic prejudices. They may be volunteers, and they may be working hard ... but working hard isn't the same as working smart, and working "old" is even worse.

Just saying.

On sweat equity and indie business upward striving.

Looking over my notes these past few weeks, I detect a pattern. It might embrace those wishing to be a rock and roll star chef.

Chef Mark Mendez: Open letter to a culinary student

In beer terms ...

So You Think You Want to Open a Brewery

Gary Humphrey might chime in from the basement of RCW:

Opinion: Wanna Start a Winery? Get Ready to Sweat

And then there's Nathan and the folks behind Quills.

Living The Coffee Shop Dream

The common themes are steep learning curves and plain hard work, as exist somewhere off to the side of the red carpet. The encouraging part is that when they're present and clicking, as with restaurants, a brewery, a winery and a coffee roaster in downtown New Albany, there's the chance (just a chance, not a certainty) of getting somewhere ... of making it happen.

I was having an e-mail conversation with an old friend, who wrote something striking about the typical disconnect between local government and the indie grassroots.

The only way it stops if for a new nonprofit is organized by the community's business owners and that group begins exercising its political power. No city money, no city representation, just business persons at the local level. It would take years to start up and I doubt that it would actually function in NA but that's the only way I see anything working to the advantage of the business community.

We're working on it.

What these various restaurant, brewery, winery and coffee people (me included) are coming to realize is that starting a non-profit in this fashion takes the same learning curve and work ethic as getting their own businesses off the ground. We don't have a lot of spare time, but we can do it. And we are.