"The establishment fears having a democratic socialist in the White House."

There's an interesting article at Vox: Bernie Sanders leads Donald Trump in polls, even when you remind people he’s a socialist.

This doesn't seem to be troubling Republicans as much as it makes Democrats absolutely frantic. Maybe this has something to do with following their money.

Why, yes.

I think it does.

The “Stop Sanders” Movement Is Worried That Bernie Can Actually Win, Not That He’ll Lose, by Luke Savage (Jacobin)

“Electability” is the public rallying cry of the Stop Bernie campaign. But look a little closer, and the real issue becomes clear: the establishment fears having a democratic socialist in the White House.

Bernie Sanders’s recent rise in the polls has elicited an entirely predictable reaction from all the usual suspects who make up America’s op-ed pages. But, personally offended as the chatterati are, there are signs that the prospect of a Sanders victory in the Democratic primary contest is awakening an altogether more vicious beast that’s long been in the Vermont senator’s crosshairs.

This week, NBC, the Associated Press, and Politico all reported on the emerging anxiety within elite Democratic circles about Sanders’s ascent in the polls and nascent efforts by operatives to arrest his momentum. As journalist Andrew Perez noted, all three reports cited one Matt Bennett, cofounder of the organization Third Way, who issued boilerplate warnings about the supposed dangers of a Sanders nomination. In a pattern that is almost certain to be repeated in the coming weeks and months, Bennett’s intervention was framed as an earnest expression of concern by a moderate Democrat mindful of taking what he believes to be a major political risk.

But it was actually something else, given Bennett’s job at a self-identified “think tank” that has received extensive contributions from corporate patrons, including health insurance company Humana and Koch Industries. Washington is packed with groups like Third Way and others in the same mold, the function of which is to provide a layer of institutional sediment separating corporate interests from the mouthpieces they fund to advance their interests. In the gelatinous mass of lobbyists, megadonors, corporate spokespeople, and political operatives resulting from this arrangement, it can often be difficult to tell where the private sector ends and the public sector or party apparatus begins.

Nonetheless, Bennett’s anguished intervention is a telltale sign that panic about Sanders is starting to spill outside the op-ed pages and into the boardrooms of corporate interests — from pharmaceutical companies to Wall Street investment firms — who have an immediate pecuniary interest in opposing his program. If Sanders’s performance in the first round of primaries and caucuses matches current expectations, big business will undoubtedly intensify its efforts to stop him — likely aided, as in this case, by centrist Democrat operatives who sit at the noxious juncture of party politics and corporate agitprop ...

The results of the 2019 Independent Business Survey from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

Learn who they are and what they do.

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance challenges concentrated economic and political power, and instead champions an approach in which ownership is broadly distributed, institutions are humanly scaled, and decision-making is accountable to communities. We believe that economic systems should embody democratic values, and that democracy can thrive only when economic power is widely dispersed. We believe that communities are healthiest when they possess the authority, capacity, and responsibility to chart their own course. We call this vision local self-reliance.

Then read the results of the ILSR's indie business survey.

The results of the 2019 Independent Business Survey from the Institute for Local Self-Reliance demonstrate the strength and resiliency of small, independent businesses. They also speak to the forces independents see as significant threats and roadblocks to their businesses: a playing field made uneven by policies that favor their bigger competitors, highly concentrated markets for key supplies and services, and difficulty securing capital, among other barriers.

As we have documented in previous surveys, independent businesses have proven nimble during a period of dramatic shifts in technology and consumer habits. Much of their resilience can be traced to the distinct benefits they provide to their customers, industries, and communities.

Yet, despite these competitive advantages and their broader importance to the U.S. political economy, independent businesses are under threat and declining in most industries. The findings of our 2019 Independent Business Survey suggest that the problem isn’t changing technology or consumer habits. Instead, independent business owners say they are often competing on a unlevel playing field. Many public policy decisions in recent years have fueled market concentration and favored their big competitors.

This survey’s findings shed light on these challenges and policy issues. In their comments, business owners also offer insight and guidance to elected officials looking to build a more equitable, entrepreneurial, competitive, and dynamic economy.

More than 1,000 independent businesses nationwide participated in this survey. Retailers made up about half of the responses, while the remainder represented a mix of industries, from service providers to manufacturers, banks, wholesalers, and more. In addition to the main questions, business owners provided hundreds of written responses on various topics. We analyzed these for additional insights and quoted a representative sample in this report ...

According to FiveThirtyEight, Trey Hollingsworth (R) is likely to defeat Liz Watson (D) in November.

FiveThirtyEight offers three House forecasts, none of which bode well for Liz Watson (D), who is challenging incumbent Trey Hollingsworth (R) in the 9th district congressional race.

How do you like your House forecast?

Lite: Keep it simple, please — give me the best forecast you can based on what local and national polls say

Classic: I’ll take the polls, plus all the “fundamentals”: fundraising, past voting in the district, historical trends and more

Deluxe: Gimme the works — the Classic forecasts plus experts’ ratings

It's a grim prognosis.

Lite forecast: 98.2% chance the Republican (Hollingsworth) wins 61.8% - 38.2%

Classic forecast: 78.3 chance the Republican (Hollingsworth) wins 53% - 47%

Deluxe forecast: 90% chance the Republican (Hollingsworth) wins 55% - 45%

From a national perspective, FiveThirtyEight provides a bit of relief for Democrats.

Considering the source? I read something at FiveThirtyEight almost every day.

FiveThirtyEight. | Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight uses statistical analysis — hard numbers — to tell compelling stories about politics, sports, science, economics and culture.

Amanda Beam's excellent newspaper column is called "Polling position."

The recent poll generated by Liz Watson's campaign was snapped up with lightning speed by the News and Tribune, elevating just another social media tout redolent of the AdamBot's knee-pants DNC tactics primer to the status of genuine news item. I find this regrettable, given that the newspaper hasn't offered the same freebie to surveys subsequently released by Dan Canon's campaign.

Either both these question-asking efforts are sufficiently reputable for newspaper coverage, or neither. I can't determine why one is, and the other isn't, although it is at least gratifying that management allowed Amanda Beam's excellent column to be published.

The past week has been critical for me in making a final decision about how to vote in May. I've leaned Canon from the start; admittedly, there's a final piece of the puzzle to be pressed into place, and I trust it will.

In the interim, merely remember that when the party establishment is the problem, party establishment candidates push no favorable buttons with me. If you have access to the newspaper's articles, I strongly encourage reading the entire column. Meanwhile, here's the middle section of it.

BEAM: Polling position, by Amanda Beam

... Fast forward a few days. I noticed an article on social media that revealed one of the results of the poll I had taken. However, not included was who had commissioned the survey or the questions they asked in the order they had appeared.

Call me crazy — again — but if a campaign paid for a survey I find it difficult to treat the results as valid.

So if you know me and my big mouth, then you would understand I could only do one thing. I spoke up not so eloquently on social media. Citing my own experience with the survey, I questioned who commissioned the poll and, ultimately, its validity.

Sometimes when you ask questions you get great responses. Other times you get insinuations that you are a mindless twit.

I got both ...

Today in Dueling Polls, Team Canon returns fire: "Canon for Indiana’s Voter Survey Shows Commanding Lead and Unprecedented Field Program."

It's a contested primary, and you always knew at some point, as sides began to be chosen ...

AdamBot and Pinocchio photo credit: N and T.

... there'd be a volley or three. After all, one of them must lose in the primary; it truly can be about Tennessee Trey only after there is a winner between them.

Yesterday Liz Watson landed the first poll punch, and the News and Tribune swiftly swallowed the bait.

Poll shows Watson with double-digit lead over Canon

Today Dan Canon's forces strike back (text pasted below).

Does this mean the newspaper's next bold headline will read, "Poll shows Canon with double-digit lead over Watson"?

Enquiring minds and all ...

---

For Immediate Release
March 8, 2018
Contact: Dustin Collins
812-946-0181
DCollins@CanonForIndiana.com

Canon for Indiana’s Voter Survey Shows Commanding Lead and Unprecedented Field Program

New Albany, Indiana - As of March 6th, the Canon for Indiana team - with more than 250 interns (the most in Indiana University history) and over 1,200 volunteers - have made 118,417 voter touches. Results from these show Canon with a commanding lead, particularly with the 30,000+ new voters registered across the district - more than 14,000 of whom were registered by the Canon campaign.

Canon’s lead is overwhelming when including leans, despite 47% of voters remaining undecided. Additionally, the campaign has already identified enough supporters who have committed to vote for Canon to win in a typical turnout scenario and is approaching necessary voters to win with a record turnout.

“These results are based on tens of thousands of conversations. Unlike a paid poll conducted by a D.C. firm with a few hundred respondents, this method is designed to find our supporters, to mobilize them when voting begins, and to identify supporters of other candidates and undecideds so we can target who we speak to. It’s not a question after a long list of positives on our candidate and negatives of others. We simply asked, ‘who do you plan on supporting in the upcoming primaries’. There were no options provided and respondents self-picked Dan or another preferred candidate,” Campaign Manager Dustin Collins said. “We do not believe numbers for our opponents are actually this low, but the larger story is we are close to finding an outright majority that has committed to voting for Dan in the primary.”

“Our campaign has been about building a majority since day one. We’ve contacted more voters than every other Democratic candidate in the state combined and as a result we’re identifying the voters needed to win and have built a volunteer infrastructure to ensure these voters turn out to cast their votes for Dan,” Collins continued. “I am incredibly proud to be a part of such a record-setting team that is laying the groundwork needed to beat Trey where it actually matters: in hearts and minds, one-on-one. We know that Trey can dig into his deep pockets and outspend everyone, but he will not meet people where they are and he will not outwork us. No one will outwork us. These numbers show that when we talk to voters they see what we know: that only Dan can beat Trey in the general election and only hard work and shoe leather will make it happen.”

The breakdown by county is as follows:

As part of our continued commitment to transparency, following are details to help provide context on these results:

• All contacts have been made since August of 2017.
• When voters were contacted multiple times their most recent response is recorded.
• Numbers include likely primary voters, young voters who are unlikely to have built a primary voting history, and all-new voters who have registered since November 2016.
• There has been no meaningful shift in responses over the last month.
• 5% of voters ended the call before responding, which would equate to approximately 11% of the responses above had they responded.
• “Other” includes those supporting a write-in candidate, Robert Chatlos, and Trey Hollingsworth III.
• Callers and canvassers identified themselves as volunteers with the Canon campaign.

All hail Pinocchio: The Liz Watson campaign says it has a huge lead, based on tiny polling numbers.

Ever since I saw the Liz Watson yard sign illegally placed right there in the verge by Pinocchio Rosenbarger's house, it has seemed likelier than ever that in the ongoing congressional case of Watson v. Canon, the Bloomingtonian is the preference of the local Democratic Party's tightly scripted establishment.

The parallels with goings-on in the national party are fairly obvious, and I needn't repeat the tired litany.

And, a poll of 400 voters, among them 33% undecided, isn't very much of a damning verdict apart from serving as campaign hype generator.

So it goes (insert yawn here).

Me?

I've no issues with Watson, but my preference remains elsewhere. Knowing that Pinocchio's nose knows Dickeyformity is a nudge, to be sure, but I have these other fish yet to fry.

Until they are, I remain a passive observer.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Liz Watson Has Double Digit Lead in Indiana 09 Democratic Primary

Bloomington, IN -- On Tuesday, the Liz for Indiana campaign released poll numbers that show Liz Watson with a 13-point lead over Dan Canon in the Democratic primary to replace Trey Hollingsworth in November.

“This poll proves what we already know. Democrats are ready to vote for Liz in May, and they see Liz as the best candidate to take on Trey Hollingsworth in November,” said Brian Peters, Campaign Manager for the Liz for Indiana campaign.

The poll, together with Liz’s support from 27 labor unions and a slew of progressive organizations, as well as the campaign’s $165K cash on hand lead over the rest of the field combined, shows a commanding advantage in the May 8 primary.

“Not only do the poll numbers show our campaign with a large lead, but we also have the resources to get Liz’s message out to every voter in this district. That is a good thing, because they like what they’re hearing.”

The poll was conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research in the field from March 3-5 and sampled over 400 Democratic primary voters.

The Green Mouse reveals Irv's stunning rate of return on propaganda investments.

The Green Mouse's two-way streets poll at the drive-thru window.

The Green Mouse posted himself at the MacDonald's drive-thru window and took a man-in-a-car poll.

How should city streets work?

Irv Stumler, Silver Hills

Bob Caesar, Silver Hills

Crane Padgett, Industrial Boulevard 

Jeff Gahan, Suburban City Hall

Back at the office, the Green Mouse asked me. Here's what I said.

Roger Baylor. Spring Street

As bridge tolls approach, Team Gahan stocks up ... on industrial strength blinders.

Summer Guthrie, originator of the Southern Indiana-based Cabin Grill food truck, posted this photo on Fb.

Bluegill finds the target's center.

The two most popular choices are both the most practical for a majority and the most destructive for urban neighborhoods. Excellent planning and design.

Meanwhile, Jeff Gahan stays firmly on point.

Thursday Must Read Part 1: Upsides and downsides in a national independent business survey.

A survey of 3,200 independent businesses reveals both good and bad news.

Independent Businesses Report Growing Sales and Hiring, but Policies Tilted in Favor of Large Companies Hold Them Back, by Olivia LaVecchia (Institute for Local Self-Reliance)

A large national survey has found that public support for independent businesses led to brisk sales and a sharp increase in hiring in 2015, but biased policies and other obstacles are limiting their success.

Here's the pivot.

Local First initiatives are part of what’s strengthening independent businesses, the survey found. Two-thirds of respondents in cities with an active Local First, or “buy local,” campaign said that the initiative is having a noticeable positive impact on their business, citing benefits such as new customers and increased loyalty among existing customers.

About one-third of businesses in Local First cities also said that the initiative had led them to become more engaged in advocating on public policy issues, and 44 percent said that the campaign had made elected officials more aware and supportive of independent businesses.

That’s significant because the survey also found that independent businesses are facing a number of challenges, many related to public policy.

Public policy challenges, eh?

In New Albany, one virulent 800-lb public policy gorilla is downtown's one-way street grid, which study after study has proven to be harmful to the interests of small, local, independently-owned businesses.

And yet, more than a few business owners in New Albany either don't wish to "rock" the boat, or worse, to take the time to understand the issues involved.

Think about it: If one-way streets hurt businesses like yours, then they do so 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Conversely, reversion to two-way would help your business -- 24 hours a day, every day of the year. You're fighting a battle with one arm tied behind your back -- by the city itself. The fact that the likes of Bob Caesar lobbies against reform should be the clearest possible indication that reform is both correct and necessary.

Here's another public policy issue.

On the policy side of these challenges, majorities of the businesses surveyed said they would support legislation to cap the dollar value of the economic development tax breaks that companies are eligible to receive, and that they think regulators should more vigorously enforce antitrust laws against dominant companies.

Or, what happens when one type of business (for example, Flaherty and Collins) receives preferential benefits and tax breaks unavailable to others.

NA's Person of the Year 2015 is very nearly all of you.

First we explained it:

ON THE AVENUES: Who (or what) is New Albany's "Person of the Year" for 2015?

A person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse ... has done the most to influence the events of the year."

Then we narrowed the list of nominees:

• Jeff Coffey and/or Dan Gahan ... not since the 1939 non-aggression pact have two chummy leaders combined to exert such consistent influence on a captive city.
• "Quality of life" projects ... Striking, isn't it? Nowadays it's "my doggie needs a spray park," and not, "I need a real job."
• New Albany property tax payers ... because they're ones actually paying (TIF-ing) for all of Dan Gahan's big-ticket "quality of life" projects.
• The New Albany Street Piano ... Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, but as Jeff Coffey's Bored of Works showed, tone deafness is like Kryptonite when art's on the agenda.
• Al Knable ... he came out of nowhere to record the highest vote total in the Republican at-large council race.

Finally, you voted ... and every nominee got at least one vote. Even the mayor inadvertently "presented" his preference in this remark to the newspaper's head steno:

"We want residents to have a great experience living here. We appreciate our taxpayers."

And why not? After all, his hand remains in their pockets, and so New Albany property tax payers are NAC's Person(s) of the Year for 2015 ... especially those property owners in TIF districts (in truth, virtually all of us), who are serving as involuntary venture capitalists for Jeff Coffey-cum-Dan Gahan's emerging Disney on the Flood Plain, but really, all rate payers are being honored here, as it is becoming increasingly evident that over-reliance on the TIF mechanism as a Magic Kingdom-style ATM has serious ramifications across the board.

Heller: Indiana’s Favor-Ridden TIF Districts, by Thomas Heller (INpolicy.org)

 ... Indiana appears unique in allowing the erosion of the TIF “Base” (one of two calculated parts of the total tax base within a district). The Base is supposed to continue producing revenues for school, libraries, cities and counties. The Base erosion occurs in a series of steps termed “neutralization,” the complexity of which acts to shield the Base erosion — and its adverse effects — from the view of legislators, journalists and the public.

In fact, a TIF district can work against a sound economic-development plan, eroding the Base and imposing tax increases beyond its boundaries. Worse, this erosion can hide a significant write-down of value on existing properties already within the district.

... and ...

White paper: TIF – It’s not Working the Way We Were Told It Would, Heller/INpolicy.org

 ... Was the public aware of these TIF secrets? Almost surely not, but a skeptic might ask whether the secrets indeed were known, albeit closely guarded, by the legal, eco-devo and architectural-engineering consultants who make up the cottage industry TIF has created in Indiana.

TIF distributes largess to consultants, contractors and apparatchiks, who redistribute the bounty to campaign finance coffers. Call it corporate welfare or crony capitalism, or just call it straight: It's a ticket Gahan will continue punching until it is pried forcibly from his hands. Our city council can do that.

Will it?

On TIF, Gahan and lessons from the Irish property bubble.

Coyle site TIF abuse: "Because subsidizing wealthy, out of town developers is the only thing our economic development director knows how to do with our tax money."

Clere: "(River Run) and other spending may leave New Albany taxpayers swimming in debt."

Fire station bidding questions, Part Three: A $1.5 million sale to enable a $2.75 million spending orgy.

Are we TIF enough? New study shows that TIFs are "popular but ineffective economic development tools."

Gahan's plan for keep Pillsbury: A $7 million TIF issue.

Postscript

On May 19, 2013, we expressed amazement: On lottery wins, shimmering new parklands and the persistence of a sow's ear.

In a world fairly reeking of tea party crashers and Norquistian finger-waggers, New Albany somehow has succeeded in ridding itself of self-identified citizens' anti-tax protesters. They simply have disappeared, and the new atmosphere is strange, to say the least. Gads. Am I feeling nostalgia for Citizens Faux Accountability?

Where have you gone, "Concern Taxpayer?"

Here's the ballot for New Albany's "Person of the Year" in 2015.

Previously, we explained it:

ON THE AVENUES: Who (or what) is New Albany's "Person of the Year" for 2015?

A person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse ... has done the most to influence the events of the year."

Now we've narrowed the list, and here are the contestants for 2015.

Jeff Coffey and/or Dan Gahan ... not since the 1939 non-aggression pact have two chummy leaders combined to exert such consistent influence on a captive city.

"Quality of life" projects ... Striking, isn't it? Nowadays it's "my doggie needs a spray park," and not, "I need a real job."

New Albany property tax payers ... because they're ones actually paying (TIF-ing) for all of Dan Gahan's big-ticket "quality of life" projects.

The New Albany Street Piano ... Music has charms to soothe a savage breast, but as Jeff Coffey's Bored of Works showed, tone deafness is like Kryptonite when art's on the agenda.

Al Knable ... he came out of nowhere to record the highest vote total in the Republican at-large council race.

Make your choice in comments here, at Fb, or through e-mail: roger@newalbanian.com ... vote early, and often, and try not to drink too much while doing so.

ON THE AVENUES: Who (or what) is New Albany's "Person of the Year" for 2015?

ON THE AVENUES: Who (or what) is New Albany's "Person of the Year" for 2015?

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

It's hard to believe, but 2015 marks NA Confidential's fifth "Person of the Year" selection.

Once again this year, there'll be a formal vote at our Facebook page, but first, we need nominees. Here's the template.

Person of the Year (formerly Man of the Year) is an annual issue of the United States news magazine Time that features and profiles a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse ... has done the most to influence the events of the year."

In 2011, the notion of selecting New Albany's "Person of the Year" was first thrown out for discussion. Some folks scoffed, asking if it wouldn't be easier to select "Underachiever of the Year." Perhaps so, although the sheer number of applicants would threaten to overwhelm our dedicated staff of one.

As a reliable harbinger of things to come, a compelling list of 2011 nominees was compiled and promptly ignored.

Doug England … for making change possible by rallying so many people against institutional top-down nepotism.

DNA’s/Dudgeon’s “Come to City” slogan … for rallying so many people against institutional top down nepotism.

The River View Project … for rallying so many – well, you know the drill by now.

Steve Resch … for doing redevelopment right.

Professor Erika … for spending so much time in Italy that she managed to lose an election to Dan Coffey.

The 2011 winner was the Sherman Minton Bridge. Although admittedly an inanimate object, lots of persons were affected by its temporary closure. Even more significantly, the bridge's structural illness exposed numerous fault lines of conceptual illness afflicting self-assigned local movers and shakers.

At least the bridge made a full recovery. The conceptual plague proceeds unabated.

We renewed the conversation in 2012, and another strong list of contenders came together. Among them were these:

Mike Ladd … the Urban Enterprise Association director had to be sacrificed so that the outside world could see clearly, definitively and conclusively, the depths to which the outgoing England administration had plunged. Let's all join together in saying, "Never again."

Develop New Albany … not since Spain patiently awaited Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s passing has the future of an entity been so conclusively tied to a change in discredited leadership. Can an invisible organization win a prize? Can it win a Prozac? Regime change now, please.

Bob Caesar … seldom has a local political figure become so reliably consistent in occupying the entirely mistaken side of any given issue, especially when it comes to anything pertaining to the general concept of "urban". CM CeeSaw's Bulova Watch Time? It's round about 1938, give or take a Roosevelt administration.

River View Project … it seems to have died in 2012. Maybe now something good can happen, although we might wish to dispose of the corpse.

Rent Boy Park, a.k.a. Somnolent Estates, a.k.a Caesar’s Folly; also known only by its enabling commission (the Coup d'Geriatrique) as Bicentennial Park. A truly monumental waste of time and money when so many other projects go wanting, and as such, utterly and ironically indicative of the city's first two hundred years.

The choice was Bill Allen, whose stunning decision to paint one portion of his dilapidated Main Street properties was meant to obscure the plain fact that a quarter-century had passed since he did anything whatever to improve them, perfectly symbolizing the enduring Potemkin village mentality prevailing in New Albany. Three years later, the rubble is marginally more attractive, but it's still a ruin -- and a city that claims to be obsessed by public safety ... that's right ...

It does absolutely nothing.

In 2013, there was a tie:

Houndmouth ... Four youthful musicians possessing consummate skill and a collectively precocious sense of irony, such that their city benefits immensely from the band's mere existence without ever really grasping why this might be the case. Long may they wave.

And …

Quality of Life ... Or our seldom-urban priorities here in the city. As we've come to grasp throughout the year 2013, "quality of life" as a pretext for spending money invariably reflects a mayor or council person's subconscious suburban mores first and foremost, because these leanings are safely white and mostly understood, whereas urban living suggests racial diversity, social chaos and rampant book reading. In addition, "quality of life" always applies far more to the area just around an elected official's home, and might be subtitled “automotive only”; far less importance is accorded those areas located even a short walk away. Because, of course, none of them ever walk or bike, do they?

Other nominees included holdovers Mayor Gahan, the Democratic Party, Bob Caesar and the Horseshoe Foundation, as well as the Main Street Disprovement Project and Dr. Tom "Fuck Off, You Filthy Degraded Peasant" Harris.

Most recently, there were nominees aplenty in 2014, including New Albany's one-way street grid, our $19-million gold-plated parks upgrade, Jeff Speck, John Rosenberger's Main Street Deforestation Project, the Floyd County Republican Party and monster trucks running amok.

The three finalists for 2014, based on reader responses:

Heroic Non-Incentivized Downtown Developers ... Chalfant, Resch, Carters, among others. They're rehabbing buildings, and the city's industrial-park-centric economic development team has nothing to do with it.

Jeff Gahan … during three years on the job, municipal government's daily operations bear the mayor's stamp: Inward, paranoid and hermetic. Agoraphobia never had it this good, but his hologram is the hardest working computer-generated image in show business.

Our local Democratic Party … but logically speaking, can non-corporeal bodies capture corporeal awards? Quick, someone find a theologian, a ham-fisted censor, Connie Sipes or even Walt Disney. Meanwhile, let your mind's eye conjure an ongoing implosion.

There were creative write-ins, but after all ballots were scrubbed clean of hanging chads, the winners were our Heroic Non-Incentivized Downtown Developers.

Following are five thoughts as we assemble a starter list for 2015.

• The 75%, or those registered voter declining to participate in the 2015 election
• New Albany Street Piano
• Jeff Gahan. After all, he did win re-election
• Street Grid for the Semis: Padgett's ongoing lawsuit rebellion
• State Representative Ed Clere, as slapped on the wrist for disobedience by the GOP

Give me some feedback, and I'll arrange a poll at Facebook.

---

Recent columns:

November 26: ON THE AVENUES: Faux thanks and reveries (The 2015 Remix).

November 19: ON THE AVENUES: Beer, farthings and that little-known third category.

November 12: ON THE AVENUES: The mayor’s race was about suburban-think versus urban-think. The wrong-think won.

November 5ON THE AVENUES: Confusion, exile, ignobility and resistance.

October 29: ON THE AVENUES: A year later, the backroom politics of pure spite at Haughey’s Tavern still reek.

DNA asks: Would you rather have bagels or two-way streets?

Would you rather have your bagels in the parking garage, or at the farmers market? Verily, there comes a time when satire is overwhelmed by the earnestness of mediocrity.

By the way, here is DNA's latest poll.

---

2015 DOWNTOWN WISH LIST: Tell us what is on your wish list for Downtown New Albany in 2015!

Vegan / vegetarian restaurants
Bagel Shop
Bicycle Shop/Store for Running & Fitness Items
Two Way Street Conversions
New Bicycle Racks & Benches
Creative Crosswalks
Dedicated Bicycle Lanes
would have more local small
Repaint center lines on downtown streets
Sherman Minton bridge desperately needs to be cleaned (curb)
Tear out the island sticking out from curbs on State Street.

ON THE AVENUES: Who (or what) is New Albany's "Person of the Year" for 2014?

ON THE AVENUES: Who (or what) is New Albany's "Person of the Year" for 2014?

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

The notion of selecting New Albany's "Person of the Year" was first thrown out for discussion in 2011, and a compelling list of nominees was both compiled and ignored.

Doug England … for making change possible by rallying so many people against institutional top-down nepotism.

DNA’s/Dudgeon’s “Come to City” slogan … for rallying so many people against institutional top down nepotism.

The River View Project … for rallying so many – well, you know the drill by now.

Steve Resch … for doing redevelopment right.

Professor Erika … for spending so much time in Italy that she managed to lose an election to Cappuccino.

The 2011 winner was the Sherman Minton Bridge. Although admittedly it is an inanimate object, lots of persons were affected by its temporary closure. Even more significantly, the bridge's structural illness exposed numerous fault lines of conceptual illness afflicting self-assigned local movers and shakers.

At least the bridge made a full recovery.

We renewed the conversation in 2012, and another strong list of contenders came together. Among them were these:

Jeff Gahan … it’s about time someone called county government’s perpetual bluff.

Mike Ladd … the Urban Enterprise Association director had to be sacrificed so that the outside world could see clearly, definitively and conclusively, the depths to which the outgoing England administration had plunged. Let's all join together in saying, "Never again."

Our local Democratic Party … but logically speaking, can non-corporeal bodies capture corporeal awards? Quick, someone find a theologian -- or Connie Sipes.

Develop New Albany … not since Spain patiently awaited Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s passing has the future of an entity been so conclusively tied to a change in discredited leadership. Can an invisible organization win a prize? Can it win a Prozac? Regime change now, please.

Bob Caesar … seldom has a local political figure become so reliably consistent in occupying the entirely mistaken side of any given issue, especially when it comes to anything pertaining to the general concept of "urban". CM CeeSaw's Bulova Watch Time? It's round about 1938, give or take a Roosevelt administration.

River View Project … it seems to have died in 2012. Maybe now something good can happen, although we might wish to dispose of the corpse.

Rent Boy Park, a.k.a. Somnolent Estates, a.k.a Caesar’s Folly; also known only by its enabling commission (the Coup d'Geriatrique) as Bicentennial Park. A truly monumental waste of time and money when so many other projects go wanting, and as such, utterly and ironically indicative of the city's first two hundred years.

The choice was Bill Allen, whose stunning decision to paint his dilapidated Main Street properties was meant to obscure the plain fact that a quarter-century had passed since he did anything whatever to improve them, perfectly symbolizing the enduring Potemkin village mentality prevailing in New Albany.

Two years later, the rubble is marginally more attractive, but it's still a ruin -- and a city that claims to be obsessed by public safety ... that's right. It does absolutely nothing.

In 2013, there was a tie:

Houndmouth ... Four youthful musicians possessing consummate skill and a collectively precocious sense of irony, such that their city benefits immensely from the band's mere existence without ever really grasping why this might be the case. Long may they wave.

And …

Quality of Life ... Or our seldom-urban priorities here in the city. As we've come to grasp throughout the year 2013, "quality of life" as a pretext for spending money invariably reflects a mayor or council person's subconscious suburban mores first and foremost, because these leanings are safely white and mostly understood, whereas urban living suggests racial diversity, social chaos and rampant book reading. In addition, "quality of life" always applies far more to the area just around an elected official's home, and might be subtitled “automotive only”; far less importance is accorded those areas located even a short walk away. Because, of course, none of them ever walk or bike, do they?

Other nominees included holdovers Mayor Gahan, the Democratic Party, Bob Caesar and the Horseshoe Foundation, as well as the Main Street Disprovement Project and Dr. Tom "Fuck Off, You Filthy Degraded Peasant" Harris.

This year, there'll be a formal vote at our Facebook page, but first, we need nominees. Here's the template.

Person of the Year (formerly Man of the Year) is an annual issue of the United States newsmagazine Time that features and profiles a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse ... has done the most to influence the events of the year."

Following is an admittedly incomplete starter list for 2014.

The heroic downtown developers ... Matt Chalfant, Steve Resch and the Carters, among others. The number of downtown properties they've rehabbed continues to grow, and now much needed housing is part of the output.

One way street grid ... for something that has existed for only 1/4 of the city's history, misplaced urban arterials exercise a profound grip on the waking lives of city officials. As examples from the remainder of the country illustrate the myriad benefits to be derived from city streets functioning as they were originally intended, New Albany power brokers glaze over with terror at the prospect of being contemporary and pro-active (see Our local Democratic Party and Jeff Speck below).

New Albany's $19-million gold-plated parks upgrade ... well, no one ever said anything about being able to visit them without the use of a car. We all drive somewhere to exercise, right? RIGHT?

Jeff Speck ... the apostle of walkability's NA streets study was awarded very early in the year, and as we await its oft-delayed and politically-fouled release, it becomes increasingly apparent that he's being paid not just to script street grid solutions, but to provide political cover for City Hall's terrified occupants.

Jeff Gahan … during three years on the job, municipal government's daily operations bear the mayor's stamp: Inward, paranoid and hermetic. Agoraphobia never had it this good, but his hologram is the hardest working computer-generated image in show business.

John Rosenberger and his Main Street Deforestation Project … Main Street also needs some gold-plated spigots for watering the flowers in the median, but because the city of New Albany has opportunistically spent "free" state monies, as intended to be used for future maintenance, on a showpiece project the engineering of which contradicts most of what paid consultant Speck is about to advise us to do, we may have to do without and use plain metal. The only sure thing is that Rosenbarger will lie so often about it that his nose will become the Greenway's Silver Creek span.

Our local Democratic Party … but logically speaking, can non-corporeal bodies capture corporeal awards? Quick, someone find a theologian, a ham-fisted censor, Connie Sipes or Walt Disney.

Our local Republican Party ... it dominated county elections in 2014. Will the hot streak carry over into 2015 when city offices are chosen? Will Steve Burks be appointed to complete Mark Seabrook's term after the latter topples Gahan in 2015? Will the chairman emeritus still have coffee with me? Stay tuned.

Monster trucks, running amok ... New Albany's new slogan: "Truck Through City" ... Part 54: Jeff Gahan averts his gaze as dump trucks keep dumping all over us.

What do you think?

Give me some feedback, and I'll arrange a short list as a poll at Facebook.

It's another ineptly worded Develop New Albany poll, this time about suburban real estate, or HH Booth Days, or something.

When the organization is a downtown non-profit ostensibly charged with doing things, and refuses to do things because of its non-profit status, it's somewhat problematic to take its polls seriously. Poll results merely confirm subsequent inaction.

Welcome to No Can Do City. Vote if you please. Is it Beer Thirty yet?

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HARVEST HOMECOMING BOOTH DAYS: What effect does the Harvest Homecoming Booth Days have on your downtown business or downtown lifestyle?

A benefit, it's a great festival and tradition for Downtown New Albany

A benefit, but it disrupts my downtown business/lifestyle

I'm neutral to it... It doesn't effect my downtown business/lifestyle

Somewhat of a disruption for me to shop/visit/run a downtown business during booth days.

Complete disruption, I stay away from Downtown/close up my business during Harvest Homecoming Booth Days

Millennials and boomers: "More faith in local governments and development than there is in Washington."

The sum total of poll findings in this instance? They want daily quality of life markers, not periodic circuses.

New Study Shows Boomers and Millennials Agree: Invest in Our Cities, by Bill Bradley (Next City)

A new study from the American Planning Association (APA) polled equal numbers of millennials and baby boomers to find what exactly they want in cities. And, well, despite what magazines tell you about how at odds these generations are, they largely agreed. They “want cities to focus less on recruiting new companies and more on investing in new transportation options, walkable communities, and making the area as attractive as possible.” Both generations also want municipalities to invest in education.

Satisfaction in Europe.

You want to know what's crazy about this poll? Rostock and Leipzig both are located in the former East Germany. In 1989, it is doubtful either would have topped such a list.

This means there is hope yet for New Albany. The only question is whether the 25 years have started already ... because if they haven't, I'm looking at the age of 78 before this starts making sense.

Which is the most satisfied city in Europe? (Guardian)

Residents of 79 cities were polled on what they thought about various aspects of their lives. Our interactive chart shows how many were satisfied with their city's healthcare, cleanliness, noise levels and more

DNA posts exciting, incisive new farmers market poll.

Thanks to DP for the inspiration.

But I thought DNA was the political arm of England Doug's re-election campaign. Either way, it isn't very non-profit of them.

Yesterday, NAC's co-editor made a pithy comment at Fb:

"Develop New Albany: The political arm of the mayor's office."

Later he noted that at present, two city operatives and a council woman are listed as being "attached" to DNA: Mike Hall and Tonya Fischer, and Shirley Baird. And yet it was David Duggins who accompanied Baird to last November's meeting at the Board of Works, when the latter revealed funding for the ill-advised farmers market fluff-up.

I'm not even sure why we're having an "interested downtown economic entities" meeting this morning. It appears that DNA already has been gifted with the brass ring. Funny, I was always under the impression that one was compelled to actually grab it. Silly me.

Bluegill has written so much of note these last two days that I'll continue to quote passages of his with which I'm in agreement.

"I vote to remove DNA from the farmers market operation altogether so that we might, as a community, have an honest conversation about its future."

And, best of all, another in a long, sad line of local luminaries unable to fathom the true nature of social media.

"After DNA rolled out its market 'poll', there was some discussion last night on their Facebook page with some for but several against, particularly after others explained what DNA had not: that their proposal will cost over $300K and that there are other potential alternatives. Went to see how it was going this morning and DNA had deleted the whole thread. Great stuff from a group whose charter calls for them to help facilitate discourse around downtown issues.

To which I'll add: It's also worth noting that the last time discussions started occurring regularly at DNA's page, postings by non-administrators were disabled.

The ineptitude would be staggering if it weren't so Intrinsically (though not Exclusively) New Albany.

Consider going to the polling page and disrupting DNA's bush league tactics by voting for the parking garage. Real poll questions for real people, here.