Yep, "A Police Shooting Gives the Lie to Buttigieg’s Campaign Narrative."

If Joe Biden can be VP, there's nothing stopping Mayor Pete -- except that if the Democrats nominate the sort of candidate likely to choose Mayor Pete as VP, Trump will win re-election.

Just try to imagine Jeff Gahan's probable handling of such municipal matters (his inept public housing putsch gives you a pretty good idea of his attitude) amid the veneration of local Dickeyite neoliberals, and the basic disconnect is easy to see. It's all surface sheen deflecting attention from functional vacancy.

Maybe Gahan can move to South Bend and be Pete's vice-mayor.

A Police Shooting Gives the Lie to Buttigieg’s Campaign Narrative, by Jeet Heer (The Nation)

Black voters are wary of Mayor Pete, for good reasons.

... In announcing his candidacy, Buttigieg said, “But I would also argue that we would be well served if Washington started to look more like our best run cities and towns rather than the other way around.” The implication is that South Bend was one of the “best run” cities. Now Buttigieg has to acknowledge that he’s failed in dealing with one of the pressing municipal problems of our time, police violence.

But Buttigieg’s problems go even deeper. Buttigieg has often touted South Bend’s diversity and economic success. But the shooting of Eric Logan has exposed the fact whatever economic success South Bend enjoys has been unevenly distributed, with a glaring racial divide persisting.

The narcissism of car-centrism, part 3: "How Lazy Coverage of Pedestrian Deaths Obscures Why Streets Are So Dangerous."

Paging Bill Hanson and Susan Duncan.

Apart from lazy coverage, I'm trying to remember the last time Louisville metro police and prosecutors took longer than ten grudging minutes to absolve drivers from blame when non-vehicular human beings have been killed by drivers.

It is exceedingly rare, isn't it?

Ever wonder why it's always the car that kills and not the person piloting it?

How Lazy Coverage of Pedestrian Deaths Obscures Why Streets Are So Dangerous, by Angie Schmitt (Streetsblog)

When a driver kills someone on foot, is it an act of God, beyond anyone’s power to prevent? Or is it the result of a broken system in desperate need of reform?

To read the coverage of the May 31 killing of 80-year-old Arnulfo Salazar in Charlotte, North Carolina, you’d think it was a random, unpreventable tragedy. Or that Salazar could have saved himself if only he’d been more careful. The stories don’t convey any sense that Salazar was failed by a hostile and unforgiving system.

Let's skip to the conclusion.

One thing that’s certain, however, is that journalists should be more skeptical of police accounts of pedestrian deaths.

Far too often, police rely exclusively on the testimony of the driver — the victim can no longer tell his or her story. And when the only version of events that gets reported is a story that absolves the driver while blaming the victim, the public discussion of street design and driver behavior won’t even mention possibilities for reform. And that means more people will lose their lives.

The politics of diversion: "Chief Bailey is playing a losing hand, but then, they're not really his cards."

Much ado about nothing, Jeffrey. Zilch, nada ... ничего.

New Albany police chief questions motivation for 911 dispatch merger, by Erin Walden (Let Them Eat Fake)

NEW ALBANY — The need for a joint city-county dispatch center in New Albany is disputed by the city's police chief.

Chief Todd Bailey called a news conference Friday, when he accused City Council President Al Knable of telling a falsehood to show a need for a unified dispatch. Bailey also said the push for joint dispatch is political.

In short, another round of made-for-somnolent-media bile and spittle.

Chief Bailey sadly pursued the same contrived attack line at last week's council meeting, hoisting Jeff Gahan's jockstrap like a maypole as the mayor beamed happily from the bunker's shadows, his increasingly nervous appointed minions trotting out to join forces with the remaining jellied Democratic spines on the city's legislative body to sing a rousing chorus of "Job Security Uber Alles."

In an interview following the news conference, Knable maintained there was a call made, but said he believed the error was on his end, not a result of the two dispatch centers. Knable said he did make a call, and turned over his phone records to the chief of police to prove it, but he used Siri to do so. As Knable explains it, he has the New Albany Police Department’s tip line saved in his phone under “911/NAPD,” so when he instructed Siri to call 911, the virtual phone assistant called the wrong line.

By the time he hung up from the tip line, he had assessed the situation and helped the young child, who had been scared and screaming “fire” and "help,” said Knable, adding at that point he realized it wasn’t an emergency. He said he did not make claims of an alarm sounding.

Knable contends Bailey's focus on the anecdote is a distraction from the bigger conversation, merging the two centers and “making sure the taxpayers have the safest, most-efficient system out there.”

“I’m looking to get the chief of police, sheriff, mayor and commissioners to the table,” Knable said.

The fact is that throughout this entire 9-1-1 call center non-discussion, Bailey's professional integrity hasn't ever been questioned, not even once.

Rather, certain Republicans, joined by some like-minded independents and even a Democrat or two, are petitioning for a discussion of costs and potential savings.

Is this also a political position? Yes, just as much as Gahan's benumbed, rote insistence that past county government fiscal turpitude -- a habit of suicide by starvation pioneered not by the GOP but by old-school Strom Thurmondesque pretend Democrats like Ted Heavrin and Larry McAllister -- somehow forms an eternal excuse for the mayor to erect straw men and gather municipal power into a veneer salesman's idea of an unbearably vapid cult of personality.

Another day and another display of petty, time-wasting theatrics by Team Gahan's resident DemoDisneyDixiecrats.

Is this really the best that local government has to offer?

Previously: The devil's in the framing, and it's public safety versus cold hard cash in the discussion about merging city and county dispatch centers.

The devil's in the framing, and it's public safety versus cold hard cash in the discussion about merging city and county dispatch centers.

Let's take a quick glance at the calendar.

January 1 in 2020 falls on a Wednesday, meaning that the first city council meeting will take place on Monday, January 6, by which time an electoral comet is likely to have metaphorically struck the local political landscape, scattering the fee-range Nashosaurs and Triceratops Adams, and suggesting that dispatch center unity in the sense suggested by Billy Stewart will be only a matter of scheduling.

I'm not a fan of uni-gov in the broader sense, although my ears remain attentively perched. But it's quite likely that while not a game-changing issue in itself, most ordinary folks sense the merit in the idea of merging this function.

It's also worth noting that the mayor is "waving the bloody shirt" with regard to county government's iniquity. The phrase derives from the decades following the American Civil War.

In the American election campaigns in the 19th century, "waving the bloody shirt" was a phrase used to ridicule opposing politicians who made emotional calls to avenge the blood of the northern soldiers that died in the Civil War.

Since taking office in 2012, the nominally Democratic Gahan often has justified decisions, perhaps most famously the parks department split, on the basis of county (read: Republican-controlled) government's impoverishment-impelled duplicity. In the e-mail reply quoted below, Gahan once again levels this charge, the veracity of which continues to diminish with the passage of time.

Power, folks. Whether the big time or the small pond, politics is about who has power -- and who gets the money deriving from it. The problem for Gahan and his clique is that in this instance, county Republicans have a solid, common-sense argument based on public safety -- which the mayor has answered by talking about money.

Framed in this way, that's an argument Gahan ultimately will lose, probably sooner rather than later.

Floyd County Commissioner favor merging dispatch centers, by Chris Morris (Hanson's Random Ephemera Generator)

Mayor Gahan, however, not a fan

... Floyd County Commissioner Bill Stewart said it's time for both dispatch centers to be merged into one. He said following the recent school shooting in Florida, seconds can mean the difference between life and death.

“Surely we can do that for Floyd County,” Stewart said. “For county police to listen to city calls, they have to change their radio. Can't we put politics aside and get together to have one call center? I propose we do it this year.”

It looked like the merger was going to happen in 2011, but the New Albany City Council defeated the measure 4-4 on final reading. Then-mayor Doug England supported the measure. Current Mayor Jeff Gahan, who was a member of the city council in 2011, voted against it according to a News and Tribune story.

... Gahan's stance as mayor has not changed.

"Given the recent interest regarding these issues at the Statehouse, and Floyd County leadership’s history of not paying their bills and reneging on inter-local agreements, we are not interested in entering into a messy political arrangement with the county," he said in an email response. "Our current model has proven successful in protecting the citizens of New Albany and has the full support of our public safety command staff."

"Walking While Black": If you think car-centrism sucks, welcome to pedestrian racial profiling.

We've been here before.

Walking is not a crime: Dunman and others on the scourges of jaywalking in auto-erotic America.

But this one's a whole different twist on the prevailing inanity.

Walking While Black, by Topher Sanders and Kate Rabinowitz, ProPublica, and Benjamin Conarck, Florida Times-Union

Jacksonville’s enforcement of pedestrian violations raises concerns that it’s another example of racial profiling.

THE JACKSONVILLE SHERIFF’S OFFICE issues hundreds of pedestrian citations a year, drawing on an array of 28 separate statutes governing how people get around on foot in Florida’s most populous city. There is, of course, the straightforward jaywalking statute, barring people from crossing against a red light. But in Jacksonville, pedestrians can also be ticketed for crossing against a yellow light, for “failing to cross a street at a right angle,” for not walking on the left side of a road when there are no sidewalks, or alternatively for not walking on a sidewalk when one is available.

The sheriff’s office says the enforcement of the full variety of pedestrian statutes is essential to keeping people alive in a city with one of the highest pedestrian fatality rates in the nation. The office also says the tickets are a useful crime-fighting tool, allowing officers to stop suspicious people and question them for guns and or drugs.

However, a ProPublica/Florida Times-Union analysis of five years of pedestrian tickets shows there is no strong relationship between where tickets are being issued and where people are being killed. The number of fatal crashes involving pedestrians, in fact, climbed every year from 2012 to 2016, the most recent years for which complete data is available.

What the analysis does show is that the pedestrian tickets — typically costing $65, but carrying the power to damage one’s credit or suspend a driver’s license if unpaid — were disproportionately issued to blacks, almost all of them in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. In the last five years, blacks received 55 percent of all pedestrian tickets in Jacksonville, while only accounting for 29 percent of the population. Blacks account for a higher percentage of tickets in Duval County than any other large county in Florida.

Blacks, then, were nearly three times as likely as whites to be ticketed for a pedestrian violation. Residents of the city’s three poorest zip codes were about six times as likely to receive a pedestrian citation as those living in the city’s other, more affluent 34 zip codes.

Tickets for some of the less familiar statutes were issued even more disproportionately to blacks. Seventy-eight percent of all tickets written for “walking in the roadway where sidewalks are provided” were issued to blacks. As well, blacks accounted for 68 percent of all recipients of tickets issued for “failing to cross the road at a right angle or shortest route” ...

Dunman: "'Blue Lives’ do matter, but proposed bill is misguided and tone deaf."

Yet another well-reasoned commentary destined to be ignored, but thanks from those of us who read.

Commentary: ‘Blue Lives’ do matter, but proposed bill is misguided and tone deaf, by Joe Dunman (Insider Louisville)

... Of course, emergency responders and police officers do very important work. But if that’s the prime motivation for adding them to the hate crimes law, why not also add doctors and nurses? Or utility workers? Or pilots? If “all lives matter,” why not add every risky job to the list? Why single out any particular form of employment?

Municipal non-communications, Part 1,483: "NAHS principal unhappy on officer decision timing."

Yogi Berra was right.

Page said she had left messages at the mayor’s office expressing her concerns, and said Mayor Jeff Gahan returned her call Thursday afternoon. She said she has been asking for an explanation for two weeks.

Let's go to a locally based educator to explain why this matters.

Wow. There we go again underestimating the power of positive relationships. It doesn't matter how good you are at your job - relationships take time to develop. Educators know that this stretch until spring break is the most difficult.

Of course, as another diligent observer of the locally scene commented this morning, "Her biggest frustration was the 'lack of communication.' How many times have we heard this about the Gahan administration?"

That's easy. How many days has there been a Gahan administration? Again, again ... and again. Same issue, expressed by different people from multiple vantage points.

NAHS principal unhappy on officer decision timing, by Chris Morris (Utica Press)

NEW ALBANY — A popular New Albany High School resource officer is being replaced, which has generated an unpopular response from administrators, teachers and students at the school.

Veteran New Albany Police Department Sgt. Perry Parsons has been assigned at the school as its resource officer for the past 2 1/2 years. However, he is being replaced by Officer Travis Nelson on Feb. 1. Parsons will become the department’s second-shift sergeant.

New Albany Principal Janet Page said the timing of replacing Parsons midway through the school year is “confusing.”

“I can’t understand, why pull a great officer who has built relationships with 2,000 kids and 200 adults over two years, without an explanation. I just don’t understand,” she said.

New Albany Police Chief Todd Bailey said he had no choice ...

At Broken Sidewalk: "Police officer strikes woman walking in New Albany."

To live in New Albany is to know that the default state of our prevailing Gahanist governing doctrine is a self-congratulatory, closed circle, as designed to retain information, enhance monetization and and exclude prying eyes.

It is very likely that we'll never hear any more about this pedestrian "accident," unless the mayor (he says he's a Democrat) can devise a way to use it against the police union.

First and foremost, that's because Jeff Gahan has no intention of being out in front and leading on the issue of the streets. He has not led for the past 1,438 days. He's not going to start now.

Fear and stubbornness play significant parts in Gahan's do-nothing calculus, but it goes deeper than these recurring handicaps. Jeff Speck's street grid fixes are examples of thinking urban, like a city. Gahan thinks like a suburb. His entire political career has reflected the sprawl-driven logic of the cul-de-sac.

I might as well ask one of my cats to devise a few algorithms before tuna.

Of course, I hope I'm wrong. Unfortunately, this one isn't a breath-holder.

Police officer strikes woman walking in New Albany (Broken Sidewalk)

On Wednesday, December 2, New Albany Police Department (NAPD) Officer Michelle Gilbert struck Tenille Splunge while she was crossing the street, leaving her with minor injuries. The on-duty officer was driving a 2012 Chevrolet Equinox and turning from Elm Street onto State Street. Splunge was taken to the hospital.

The incident was reported by the N&T, NA Confidential, the C-J, WAVE3, and WHAS11.

Previously at NAC:

Pedestrian struck by police vehicle, and more accidents like this waiting to happen in wrong-way New Albany.

Pedestrian struck by police vehicle, and more accidents like this waiting to happen in wrong-way New Albany.

Item: Woman struck by NAPD vehicle has minor injuries (N and T; photo by Christopher Fryer)

I might as well say it for the thousand-and-first time.

Our high-speed arterials are unsafe for walkers, if for no other reason than the culture of driver obliviousness they support on an everyday basis.

There is inappropriate speed for densely populated urban areas. but moreover, again and again I see drivers turning onto one-way streets from side streets, and never once looking both ways. Instead, drivers look only in the direction of oncoming one-way traffic. \

But walkers have the right of way, don't they?

Just a few days ago, I experienced this with a police car. The lights were not on. He simply as not paying attention. He never looked to see if anyone was walking from the opposite direction. Someone less in tune than me could have been hit.

If the police fail to acknowledge walkers, who will?

If Jeff Gahan or any other mayor truly values walkability, then (a) he must lead the community-wide education effort from the bully pulpit, and not from the down-low, and (b) every city employee must be on board with the objective and serving as positive examples every single day, including the police, who still routinely block sidewalks to set up speed traps on streets that shouldn't be speedways to begin with.

How is it not brazen contempt for walkers that the city itself constantly blocks sidewalks and blithely ignores the dictates of the ADA? ]

For example: Bored of Works just laughs: ADA compliance? In New Albany?

Are we serious about walkability?

THEN COME OUT FROM THE BUNKER AND LEAD THE EFFORT, JEFF ... or please, just stop pretending.

FOP: Gahan has apparently made it his goal to make every police officer feel disrespected.

Meanwhile, #sadlackey

Jeff Gahan took office on January 1, 2012. Since that date, can you guess how many times he has met en masse with New Albany's police department?

Zero ... as in not once. Incredible, isn't it?

Readers, click through to The New Albanist to read the complete letter from the Fraternal Order of Police. Take it away, Mr. Smith.

Mr. Gahan’s “Blue” Problem

 ... In order to give broader coverage to their plaint, I’m republishing the text of a newspaper advertisement placed this week by the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 99. And yes, I’m doing so because I believe the safety and well-being of this city depend on Jeff Gahan being retired from public office. Indeed, I am continually amused that so many feign outrage that a blog, a Facebook post, or a Tweet might contain an actual wish that the writer’s preferred candidate be elected and that the incumbent be retired. City employees and appointees and the mayor’s family members seem to think that electoral politics requires silence about the issues and deference to their chosen one.

Gahan: Body cameras utterly redundant in perfect human societies like New Albany's.

There are times when I feel a fleeting twinge of sympathy for Mayor Jeff Gahan's handlers, as when he somehow squirms out of their leaden grasp, improvises off script, and unleashes a whopper like this one.

“Fortunately, our community doesn’t feel the pressure to implement a body camera program at this time,” New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan said Friday.

The NAPD has a good relationship with the community, and there hasn’t been an outcry from the public or any specific organizations to require officers to wear body cameras, he continued.

It isn't easy reducing this bizarre sentiment to its most bedrock, fundamental "WTF," but we must try. First, the link to Daniel Suddeath's piece in the News and Tribune.

No body cameras for New Albany police, yet

NEW ALBANY — A growing trend locally and in cities throughout the nation has been a call for police officers to be equipped with body cameras.

Well-documented cases, including the police shooting of a man in Louisville last month who was attacking a cop before being fatally wounded, have placed more attention on interactions between law enforcement and the public.

But the New Albany Police Department doesn’t appear likely to be getting body cameras soon, though officials said the idea has been, and will continue to be, a point of discussion.

Interestingly, my fellow mayoral candidate Kevin Zurschmiede heard the same thing I did with reference to cameras, namely that the body cameras already been purchased. Props to KZ for airing the issue, which was denied by Chief Todd Bailey.

Zurschmiede questions recent purchases of NAPD cameras (Suddeath)

NEW ALBANY — There have been some misconceptions by officers when it comes to New Albany Police Chief Todd Bailey and Mayor Jeff Gahan’s statements about a body camera program, City Councilman and mayoral candidate Kevin Zurschmiede said Friday.

After a News and Tribune article published Monday about the city’s decision not to implement a body camera program at least in the near future, Zurschmiede said multiple NAPD officers informed him that up to 45 video recorders had been recently purchased by the department.

Such is the state of polarization in America that a truly balanced discussion of the body camera issue is difficult. It may or may not be the case that the NAPD has a "good relationship with the community," but agreeing to this assertion still does not preclude working to make the relationship better (as the officers with whom I've spoken favor) or supporting technological applications capable of providing facts when what matters most is the truth.

Another Police-Involved Shooting Marks a Turning Point in the Debate on Body Cameras, by Kriston Capps (City Lab)

 ... Outstanding questions on how body cams should be implemented deserve answers. Should police themselves decide who sees the footage—and what parts people see? Should it be as easy to dial up a local law-enforcement body cam as it is to view footage on a traffic cam? What laws will safeguard the privacy rights of officers? Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Legitimate policy concerns notwithstanding, we would not have a clear picture of DuBose’s death without the officer’s body-cam footage. The dark suspicions of his family may be right: Without that body camera, we might not have ever discovered the truth.

There was no clamor, pressure or outcry to install a water park, and yet Gahan was pro-active to the tune of $20 million in park system construction. Perhaps his basic tone deafness pertaining to public safety issues best explains this weird, reactive ambivalence about body cameras.

It should make us all pause and ask: How many other public safety measures are not being considered owing to Gahan's faulty perceptions of supply-and-demand, and how many potential problems will be addressed only after they occur?

How does this make us "fundamentally better," Mr. Mayor?

ON THE AVENUES REWOUND: Complexities and simplicities in Boomtown.

ON THE AVENUES REWOUND: Complexities and simplicities in Boomtown.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Yesterday we learned there will be a sophomore edition of the Boomtown Ball & Festival, to be held on Sunday, May 24. As reported by the News and Tribune, City Hall's press release leaves a few details unreported, but the broad overview is complete.

BAND BUZZ: Houndmouth to present encore Boomtown Ball & Festival in New Albany

NEW ALBANY — A band with New Albany roots making waves on the national music scene is presenting the second annual Boomtown Ball & Festival, and is curating the event’s music lineup.

Houndmouth, along with New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan and WFPK, are staging the Sunday, May 24 event, which serves as the kickoff for New Albany’s Bicentennial Park Summer Concert Series, according to a news release from Production Simple.

The release does not state whether Houndmouth will perform at the event.

As for the band, Houndmouth's tour schedule shows the group with the weekend off, and it is as yet unclear whether the newspaper's reporter Daniel Suddeath will await their arrival with subpoena in hand.

As for NABC's beer of the same name, of which somewhere between 15 and 20 kegs were vended to eager fest goers in 2014, readers from Timbuktu know exactly as much as I do. Really.

The same consideration applies to speculation about the fest's difficult and intricate layout, which (I'm guessing) will change owing to construction under way at the farmers market. Without a trace of irony, permit me to wish the best to whomever works out the "drinks enclosure" details this year.

It won't be me. After all, I'm on leave of absence. Following is last year's Boomtown preview.

---

Complexities and simplicities in Boomtown.

(original 2014 text)

Friday is a very important day. That’s because I’m getting a haircut. Personally, it is slated to be a timely and symbolic act, considering that my year to date has constituted a journey from complexity to simplicity – and for me, taking care of foot-long hair has become far too complicated.

This hirsute situation, which has taken several years to create, will be rectified in short order with the generous assistance of Strandz & Threadz, which will be staging its annual Cuts for a Cure. My original aim was to solicit donors for the occasion, but unfortunately the daily grind has been a bit too … well, complicated, so instead, I’ll make a donation on behalf of those friends who would have been subjected to the hard sell. It’s simpler that way.

---

By all rights, Tuesday should have been a day for New Albanians to triumphantly remind the world that while Jeffersonville’s connecting ramp to the Big Four Bridge finally was open, those many months of barred, inaccessible ineptitude could not possibly be forgotten – and, by comparison, New Albany still had its act together as the Brooklyn/Hoboken/Boomtown/Not Jeffersonville of the Falls Cities.

In fact, one can conceive of only a handful of ways for us to flush such a commanding lead in the waning seconds, among them photos of a Democratic grandee in bed with a sheep, a Padgett truck wedged into two Spring Street buildings while trying to make a turn, or 387 Little Leaguers forming a human chain across the Plan Commission.

But where there’s a will, there’s a way, and somewhere in the world an elderly Franco Harris donned a Red Devils uniform, grinning broadly in approval as we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, yielding the usual media spin:

Reporting from Jeffersonville: Look at these delighted folks crowding the Big Four in their spandex with Bibles, ice cream cones and homespun drooling.

Reporting from New Albany: POLICE SCANDAL! NEWS AT 11!

Two days later, it has gotten even more Byzantine. Sifting through the usual stenography from the same Jimmy Olsens:

First, a police officer registered a complaint over alleged incidents some years back, and threatened a lawsuit.

Next, the chief of police suddenly quit for “family” reasons, followed by her second in command, albeit of a different family.

Then, a grand jury made a report on a recent alleged episode involving a police officer, but declined to issue an indictment.

An agoraphobic City Hall seemingly shaken to its core by the grudging necessity of appearing in public to address any issue other than “quality of life” in EDIT-funded parks gradually rushed forward to reassure the citizenry that each of these policing occurrences took place in a hermetically sealed vacuum similar to that surrounding municipal parks construction decision-making.

Now our choices are to ignore these protests of non-linkage and retreat to our favorite watering holes to formulate conspiracy theories, a habit sometimes referred to by cultural anthropologists as the “old lady Internet troll with dangling cigarette” theorem, or to go even deeper by pondering which is worse, multiple acts of weirdness taken together or separately?

As far as I’m concerned, it’s Rosenbarger’s fault, and nothing a few bump-outs wouldn’t cure.

But seriously: At this precise moment, the only thing crystal clear about any of it is that we’ll have a new police chief. Beyond that, it’s all innuendo and murk. I’m not jumping to conclusions.

When we’re finished gossiping, might someone – City Hall, police department, Democratic central committee, Kim Jung-un – take an interest in the escalating speeds on our almost entirely unenforced one-way arterial streets?

---

This brings me to Sunday, when there’ll be a new event downtown called the Boomtown Ball and Festival. Boomtown is the brainchild of Houndmouth, a Southern Indiana musical group with strong ties to New Albany. The city has played a leading role in this celebration, as with the Bicentennial Park Concert Series, which begins on Friday, May 30.

On Sunday evening, the band will play a sold-out indoor show at The Grand. During the afternoon preceding Houndmouth’s performance, other bands will play on an outdoor stage at Market and Third, as selected and booked by Houndmouth and Production Simple, while in the farmers market space and on Bank Street, there will be vendors of all varieties as organized and arranged in the loose aggregation known as the Flea Off Market. It’s an all-ages, all-interests event.

A consortium of downtown food and drink businesses will operate the Boomtown Tavern, located within the confines of the farmers market pavilion. Owing to Indiana state law, the entire Boomtown festival will be located within a fence and enclosures, but of course, the full range of downtown’s independent businesses are a short walk away. Many of them will observe special Sunday opening hours for the occasion.

In a conceptual sense, if the Boomtown festival were to declare its relationship status, the likely choice would be “It’s Complicated.” Nothing about it has been simple, and yet the day slowly is coming together. By Sunday, we’ll be ready to muddle through it, and I’m sure everything will work out acceptably.

It’s worth remembering that when it comes to serving the cause of simplicity, communication goes a very long way toward reducing complexity to manageable levels, if not eliminating it outright. During the course of my involvement with Boomtown, I’ve tried to make decisions and urge solutions on the basis of more communication, not less, and in the simple recognition that downtown stakeholders already have issues with unanswered questions pertaining to pre-existing impositions (read: Harvest Homecoming) without needing any more of them.

I’m hoping that in spite of the many rough spots experienced while planning and executing this complicated first-time event, all those working so hard to make it happen will learn from the input offered by those doing business downtown, every day of the year. I can’t speak for everyone, but it has been revealing for me.

Downtown has changed, and we just can’t persist in top-down planning without seeking some measure of consensus first, from those who stand to be affected by the actions being considered.

Granted, the Boomtown Ball will bring commerce downtown on a Sunday, and of course, that’s a good thing, but it must be grasped by those in positions of authority that starting the Ball rolling by emphasizing the importance of a Louisville-based flea market – a fine and reputable institution in its own right – sent an immediate and frankly insulting signal to local merchants, which sounded like this: “We’re not good enough here, so we’ll bring in someone else’s panache.”

No, this was not the city’s intent. However, it was ill-considered just the same, and it has complicated every step of the process since.

Simplicity? Please, and here’s an example.

“Do you mind if we use your space?”

What they're saying: Noah McCourt clarifies his RFRA viewpoint, supports police and public safety.

As the weeks go past in route to May's primary election, I'm providing periodic candidate statements of substance, mostly unretouched, as lifted from social media and news reports. Familiar gems such as "yard signs win elections, not people" and "donate to my campaign first, and maybe I'll have something of merit to say much, much later" will be omitted. That's because it is my aim to determine whether our declared candidates have anything to say at all, and I'll quote all candidates, from any and all parties, whether or not they're in a contested race. Just promising change and new ideas without divulging them won't cut the mustard, aspirants.


---

On March 31, candidate viewpoints on Indiana's controversial (and since "amended") Religious Freedom Restoration Act were presented in this space. I made a judgment call with respect to 6th district (Republican) city council hopeful Noah McCourt's position.

What they're saying: On RFRA, 8 council and 1 mayoral candidate with viewpoints.

While the 6th district Republican candidate Noah McCourt does not directly address RFRA, his support of Ron Grooms in the context of "principles and values" and the posting date strongly suggests his support for the bill. If this is not the case, please let me know and I'll make a correction.

McCourt messaged me yesterday with a clarification.

I wanted to clarify my stance on the RFRA. When I made the comment on Grooms it wasn't an endorsement of the legislation. It was more so just thanking him for meeting with me. I met with him the day after the bill was signed and as I stated on my page last night as many young conservatives do I stray from the official platform stance. I have a much more libertarian viewpoint on gay rights. I think consenting adults should be free to make their own decisions. I support legalization of gay marriage. There's a lot better discussions to be having nationally and locally.

McCourt quoted Rep. Ed Clere (R-72), one of only five Republicans to buck RFRA in the House.

"Do we want our sign to say ‘Welcome?’ Or do we want our sign to say ‘Closed for Business?’ Or ‘Certain people aren’t welcome?’ Or, as some have suggested, ‘We don’t accept fill-in-the-blank?’"

Later, he posted at his Fb campaign page.

Today I noticed that Governor Mike Pence signed a bill clarifying the Religious Freedom Restoration act. There's been a lot of controversy as of late regarding the intentions of this legislation and it's effect on the LGBT community. Mayoral candidate Roger Baylor inferred from my commentary on my meeting with senator Ron Grooms that I support the RFRA in its entirety.That is not necessarily the case. I merely objected to the entirely inappropriate smear campaign from the left on him and his Facebook page which ultimately accomplished nothing. There are more appropriate ways to handle controversy. I was asked for clarification of my viewpoints on gay marriage and the honest answer is I could never truly find a justification constitutionally for an all out ban. Like a lot of other younger conservatives I stray from the official platform and I tend to look at this issue from a more libertarian viewpoint being "Consenting adults should be free to choose their own sexual practices and personal relationships". I personally believe there are a lot more important discussions to be having both nationally and locally.

Last night, McCourt had cause to consider police and public safety needs (also at Fb).

I had a bit of a public disturbance at work tonight in which we had to call the New Albany police department. The call was responded to by officer hall,who is also the president of the local police union. He couldn't say a whole lot while in uniform but we did talk a little generally about the community and it's concerns. I have made several prior comments concerning municipal government and it's role in public safety. In the future I would like to see an Administration that is more supportive of the officers working diligently to respond to emergency situations. I'd like to see a city that is more responsive to the needs of the police department. Please remember to vote Noah McCourt for a better equipped police department and a safer New Albany.

Thanks to Noah McCourt for following up.

What they're saying ... about each other.

As the weeks go past in route to May's primary election, I'm providing periodic candidate statements of substance, mostly unretouched, as lifted from social media and news reports. Familiar gems such as "yard signs win elections, not people" and "donate to my campaign first, and maybe I'll have something of merit to say much, much later" will be omitted. That's because it is my aim to determine whether our declared candidates have anything to say at all, and I'll quote all candidates, from any and all parties, whether or not they're in a contested race. Just promising change and new ideas without divulging them won't cut the mustard, aspirants.

--

Thus far, we've tried to stay focused on the positives, and so this edition of the ongoing political survey is a departure. However, I'm prepared to argue that while the developments reported here might be viewed as "negative," each actually pertains to a differing position on a genuine topic, whether parks expansion or police bargaining. So ...

As primary election day approaches and early voting begins, races for city council in the 5th district and for mayor are getting a wee bit contentious, at least on the Democratic side.

Note that in other contested races (council 5th and 6th district Republican and Democratic council at-large), friction has yet to occur, although a Democratic at-large council candidate's comments help to frame the situation in the 5th.

Brad Bell, writing at his Fb campaign page:

The 5th District is my home district, and I am deeply concerned by Ms. (Diane) Benedetti’s comments towards Mr. (Dustin) Collins. To stoop to that level in a campaign shows that she is weak, small minded and scared that she is losing her seat. Furthermore, I feel that the hate filled nonsense coming from her campaign shows that she is no longer fit to lead our great community. In New Albany we are welcoming and hospitable toward others. She has shown neither of these qualities. She has dodged several keys votes that have come before the council, either by abstaining or not even showing up to vote. How can you call yourself a community leader when you refuse to help lead?

To be perfectly clear, no evidence has yet been submitted to corroborate widespread rumors that supporters of Benedetti have encouraged homophobia with respect to Collins, but these rumors persist, and we must assume these are the basis for Bell's social media remarks. Coincidentally or not, Collins has gotten more aggressive on social media in recent days. At his Dustin Collins for New Albany City Council page at facebook, he refers to a WDRB television news story from January 30, 2013.

Unfortunately, this post isn't an April Fools joke. My opponent actually served the City of New Albany with a lawsuit for full time benefits while serving in a part-time capacity. Throw in her votes against benefits for part-time employees and you get to see what she really thinks about the City and its employees. I'm ready to serve my constituents instead of serving my city with a lawsuit.

He also takes issue with Benedetti's park-side etiquette.

My opponent has no trouble taking credit for a successful park. She's seen here holding the ribbon for the Silver Street Park opening. There's just one problem: She voted against it. My opponent has frequently cast votes that lower the quality of life for families. We deserve someone who wants to raise the quality of life for everyone! I am that person; I want everyone to have a better New Albany.

With respect to Benedetti's participation in the lawsuit (with fellow council members Bob Caesar and Kevin Zurschmiede) and her park vote, Collins appears to be entirely factual.

In short, welcome to Politics 101: While a Democrat, Benedetti often has differed with the mayor, and candidates aligned with the mayor will be expected to take her down a notch. It's in their job descriptions, and City Hall would like nothing more than to keep the seat in the party, without her physically occupying it. Let the voting begin.

Speaking of the Democratic mayoral primary race, David White is beginning to jab. At his David White for Mayor of New Albany page at Facebook, he points to a News and Tribune article.

Doesn't it say something that the mayor won't even come to the bargaining table, with our own police officers?

Then, linking to another News and Tribune piece about an area lifeguard shortage ...

$20 million dollar bond for an aquatic center, but the city is finding it difficult to find lifeguards! ‪#‎lifeguardshortage‬

With four weeks to go, will tempers begin fraying?

One fine morning at Endris Jewelers.

We ducked into Endris Jewelers on Saturday morning to check the bargains as the store winds down. I'll always have political, cultural and sociological issues with the owner, Bob Caesar, but even I'm not so vicious a curmudgeon as to deny the man his victory lap. Small business is hard, and he managed it for a very long time. He deserves the praise being lavished on him by his longtime friends and customers. If I don't die in the saddle, it's something to look forward to.

But please, Bob: Retire from city council, too.

Since the closing was announced and the sale began, we've learned what must occur for the local gendarmes to watch over your business 24-7: You gotta go out of business.

This car may actually be engineless.

And then there's this painting of New Albany, as mounted inside Endris. It's an old-time view of the city, as glimpsed from Silver Hills.

The big street in the middle is two-way.

You know, Bob -- the way things used to be.

Henderson: No criminal violations v.v. allegations against NAPD officers.

For the historical record.

Floyd County prosecutor won't file charges following investigation into NAPD; Chief Todd Bailey brought in ISP to investigate (N and T mobile)

NEW ALBANY — After a “complete and thorough investigation” by Indiana State Police, no criminal charges will be filed against New Albany Police Department officers accused of working on private jobs on taxpayer time.

The newspaper finally finds itself a crusade. Are we blessed yet?

Looking at it another way, the newspaper's own lack of factual verification raises questions about the presumed nature of "innocent until proven guilty," which is rapidly jeopardizing my trust in the state of the newspaper.

In short, if the newspaper can't get the information it desires pertaining to Officer Humphrey, then what it has been printing in the absence of such verification must, by definition, be non-factual innuendo. It isn't clear to me how this is helping anyone or anything, but then again, the newspaper's forays into investigative journalism are about as rare hereabouts as a registered Democrat who actually voted for Barack Obama.

The newspaper is unhappy because its questions are not being answered? Maybe it should ask questions more often ... and not routinely accept the glib answers it gets in return. Is city (and county) government guilty of stonewalling, reticence and a serial unwillingness to proffer information unless it is pried away? Pretty much, although the time it has taken for the newspaper's editorial board to grasp this fact does nothing to strengthen the paywall's grip.

OUR OPINION: New Albany needs transparency from NAPD

Recent events involving a New Albany Police Department officer and the reassignment of the chief and assistant chief have raised questions about the state of the department.

Many of those questions remain unanswered, jeopardizing the public’s trust in the NAPD.

The city’s administration is doing a poor job of communicating with you, our readers, and it’s not from a lack of asking questions by the media — including this outlet.

Erika swoons as Todd Bailey returns as police chief.

The last time Todd Bailey's name appeared at NAC, it was attached to one of Professor Erika's whacked-out-standing-men lists. Luckily for Todd, unlike some of her previous honorees, he wasn't dead yet.

Having served his political penance, Todd is back as police chief. I thought he had some good ideas last time, so here's to the reprise.

Todd Bailey named New Albany Police Department chief; The former chief was named to replace Sherri Knight, by Jerod Clapp (Suwannee Democrat)

NEW ALBANY — Todd Bailey will again take the position of New Albany’s chief of police after Sherri Knight’s reassignment Tuesday.

Bailey, who was the chief immediately preceding Knight, was named as the department’s leader in a news release from Mayor Jeff Gahan’s office today, May 24. Kenneth Fudge, who was the chief of detectives, will serve as deputy chief and William Popp will remain the uniform division commander ...

... Bailey openly campaigned for Irv Stumler for mayor in the 2011 Democratic Party Primary. After Gahan was elected, he was reassigned as the department’s second-shift commander.

ON THE AVENUES: Complexities and simplicities in Boomtown.

ON THE AVENUES: Complexities and simplicities in Boomtown.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Friday is a very important day. That’s because I’m getting a haircut. Personally, it is slated to be a timely and symbolic act, considering that my year to date has constituted a journey from complexity to simplicity – and for me, taking care of foot-long hair has become far too complicated.

This hirsute situation, which has taken several years to create, will be rectified in short order with the generous assistance of Strandz & Threadz, which will be staging its annual Cuts for a Cure. My original aim was to solicit donors for the occasion, but unfortunately the daily grind has been a bit too … well, complicated, so instead, I’ll make a donation on behalf of those friends who would have been subjected to the hard sell. It’s simpler that way.

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By all rights, Tuesday should have been a day for New Albanians to triumphantly remind the world that while Jeffersonville’s connecting ramp to the Big Four Bridge finally was open, those many months of barred, inaccessible ineptitude could not possibly be forgotten – and, by comparison, New Albany still had its act together as the Brooklyn/Hoboken/Boomtown/Not Jeffersonville of the Falls Cities.

In fact, one can conceive of only a handful of ways for us to flush such a commanding lead in the waning seconds, among them photos of a Democratic grandee in bed with a sheep, a Padgett truck wedged into two Spring Street buildings while trying to make a turn, or 387 Little Leaguers forming a human chain across the Plan Commission.

But where there’s a will, there’s a way, and somewhere in the world an elderly Franco Harris donned a Red Devils uniform, grinning broadly in approval as we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, yielding the usual media spin:

Reporting from Jeffersonville:
Look at these delighted folks crowding the Big Four in their spandex with Bibles, ice cream cones and homespun drooling.

Reporting from New Albany:
POLICE SCANDAL! NEWS AT 11!

Two days later, it has gotten even more Byzantine. Sifting through the usual stenography from the same Jimmy Olsens:

First, a police officer registered a complaint over alleged incidents some years back, and threatened a lawsuit.

Next, the chief of police suddenly quit for “family” reasons, followed by her second in command, albeit of a different family.

Then, a grand jury made a report on a recent alleged episode involving a police officer, but declined to issue an indictment.

An agoraphobic City Hall seemingly shaken to its core by the grudging necessity of appearing in public to address any issue other than “quality of life” in EDIT-funded parks gradually rushed forward to reassure the citizenry that each of these policing occurrences took place in a hermetically sealed vacuum similar to that surrounding municipal parks construction decision-making.

Now our choices are to ignore these protests of non-linkage and retreat to our favorite watering holes to formulate conspiracy theories, a habit sometimes referred to by cultural anthropologists as the “old lady Internet troll with dangling cigarette” theorem, or to go even deeper by pondering which is worse, multiple acts of weirdness taken together or separately?

As far as I’m concerned, it’s Rosenbarger’s fault, and nothing a few bump-outs wouldn’t cure.

But seriously: At this precise moment, the only thing crystal clear about any of it is that we’ll have a new police chief. Beyond that, it’s all innuendo and murk. I’m not jumping to conclusions.

When we’re finished gossiping, might someone – City Hall, police department, Democratic central committee, Kim Jung-un – take an interest in the escalating speeds on our almost entirely unenforced one-way arterial streets?

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This brings me to Sunday, when there’ll be a new event downtown called the Boomtown Ball and Festival. Boomtown is the brainchild of Houndmouth, a Southern Indiana musical group with strong ties to New Albany. The city has played a leading role in this celebration, as with the Bicentennial Park Concert Series, which begins on Friday, May 30.

On Sunday evening, the band will play a sold-out indoor show at The Grand. During the afternoon preceding Houndmouth’s performance, other bands will play on an outdoor stage at Market and Third, as selected and booked by Houndmouth and Production Simple, while in the farmers market space and on Bank Street, there will be vendors of all varieties as organized and arranged in the loose aggregation known as the Flea Off Market. It’s an all-ages, all-interests event.

A consortium of downtown food and drink businesses will operate the Boomtown Tavern, located within the confines of the farmers market pavilion. Owing to Indiana state law, the entire Boomtown festival will be located within a fence and enclosures, but of course, the full range of downtown’s independent businesses are a short walk away. Many of them will observe special Sunday opening hours for the occasion.

In a conceptual sense, if the Boomtown festival were to declare its relationship status, the likely choice would be “It’s Complicated.” Nothing about it has been simple, and yet the day slowly is coming together. By Sunday, we’ll be ready to muddle through it, and I’m sure everything will work out acceptably.

It’s worth remembering that when it comes to serving the cause of simplicity, communication goes a very long way toward reducing complexity to manageable levels, if not eliminating it outright. During the course of my involvement with Boomtown, I’ve tried to make decisions and urge solutions on the basis of more communication, not less, and in the simple recognition that downtown stakeholders already have issues with unanswered questions pertaining to pre-existing impositions (read: Harvest Homecoming) without needing any more of them.

I’m hoping that in spite of the many rough spots experienced while planning and executing this complicated first-time event, all those working so hard to make it happen will learn from the input offered by those doing business downtown, every day of the year. I can’t speak for everyone, but it has been revealing for me.

Downtown has changed, and we just can’t persist in top-down planning without seeking some measure of consensus first, from those who stand to be affected by the actions being considered. Granted, the Boomtown Ball will bring commerce downtown on a Sunday, and of course, that’s a good thing, but it must be grasped by those in positions of authority that starting the Ball rolling by emphasizing the importance of a Louisville-based flea market – a fine and reputable institution in its own right – sent an immediate and frankly insulting signal to local merchants, which sounded like this: “We’re not good enough here, so we’ll bring in someone else’s panache.”

No, this was not the city’s intent. However, it was ill-considered just the same, and it has complicated every step of the process since.

Simplicity? Please, and here’s an example.

“Do you mind if we use your space?”

Red face, white flag and a thin blue line.

On the very same day that local media delighted in snapping 467 look-alike photos of citizens walking the just-now-walkable Big Four Bridge in Jeffersonville, the city of New Albany also made headlines, and like so often, they weren't flattering.

New Albany police chief Knight stepping down, by Grace Schneider (C-J)

New Albany police Chief Sherri Knight, the city’s first woman chief, is stepping down, Mayor Jeff Gahan announced in a brief statement Tuesday afternoon.

Knight has requested reassignment to her former position in the detective division, and a new chief will be named soon, Gahan’s administration said.

Assistant New Albany Police Chief Greg Pennell also requested reassignment Tuesday, according to city spokesman Michael Hall.

You can take a city out of medieval times, but ...

WDRB covered the story here: Top New Albany police officials request reassignment.

Naturally, during the course of crediting itself for breaking the story and promising vengeful wrath to come (between cigarette breaks), Freedom of Speech is jubilant.

As the various police department stories unfold during the coming weeks, it's going to be quite interesting to watch as the Gahan administration attempts to control the flow of information. If the past two and a half years have proven anything, it's that City Hall as currently populated is deeply (and perhaps pathologically) suspicious of transparency.

Of course, sunlight is the single best deterrent to scandal. Note this Fb comment by WDRB's Chris Turner.

That word, "contentious." We may be seeing more it it.