St. Louis MO: "If tax subsidies are so necessary to spur development in the Central Corridor, then why did growth happen anyway in the Cherokee Corridor?"

A succinct overview of neighborhood success without subsidies, with three factors cited, including my favorite: Individual initiative, without help or even in defiance of the political leadership in the neighborhood.

The story is very similar in downtown New Albany. Indie operators succeed in spite of City Hall, not because of it -- although to be sure, a few low level subsidies are available, and lamentably, instances of "picking winners" all too often occur.

(edited -- click through for the whole essay)

Why This Street's Success Threatens the Status Quo, by Chris Naffziger (Strong Towns)

The following essay was originally published in St. Louis Magazine and is reprinted here with permission.

Cherokee Street is dangerous.

No, not in the cliché definition we see plastered all over the nightly news. It is dangerous to the status quo in St. Louis politics. Despite very little attention from City Hall, the street has rebounded from absentee landlordship to become a thriving, multicultural community. Scanning through national coverage of St. Louis, places such as the Saint Louis Zoo, Saint Louis Art Museum, the Cardinals, and the Arch get much of the attention, and logically so, as they are large institutions with commensurate budgets. But it's Cherokee Street that should be getting into the headlines despite having a fraction of the finances of those other St. Louis icons.

In addition to being ignored by City Hall, Cherokee Street has rarely been the recipient of tax abatements of the quantity lavished on the Central Corridor. Nonetheless, the street thrives. I began to contemplate why this is; if tax subsidies are so necessary to spur development in the Central Corridor, then why did growth happen anyway in the Cherokee Corridor? Here are my observations, having watched the street mature over the past decade.

Individual initiative, without help or even in defiance of the political leadership in the neighborhood. Mexican Americans moved to Cherokee Street and began to open stores and restaurants, bringing life to a commercial corridor that was largely abandoned. Yet again, as has been shown over the past 250 years, this city has always been nourished with the blood of immigrants, and their contribution has been ignored for just about that length of time as well ...

Hard work, which tax incentives cannot replace. Look at the work required to renovate the Cherokee Brewery. Despite receiving no tax abatements, the Earthbound Beer team transformed a historic brewery building into a modern microbrewery ...

A sense of purpose beyond profit. I'm not arguing that businesses should not worry about being fiscally solvent. Far from it. But I’ve discovered over the years that most people can smell a person who’s only in business for the money ...

Joshua Poe explains how those "public input" meetings are kept meaningless to maintain pre-determined outcomes.

We've spoken often about public input meetings that actually aren't, especially the ones pertaining to development and redevelopment projects, and the way city officials -- including our own Team Gahan, but by no means restricted to New Albany's ruling elite -- stage manage the process to give the illusion of meaningfulness.

Before allowing Joshua Poe to explain how this process of public input meeting deception really works, a bit from 2013 in which our Jeff Gillenwater discusses Poe and his work.

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

Friend and former neighbor Josh Poe is the sort of engaged and educated person who regularly challenges and improves upon my thinking; in short, the sort New Albany still tends to lose too often.

He continues the good work here, reminding that certain community outcomes are the direct result of careful planning rather than random market occurrences, often for the most egregious of reasons. If you don't think it still happens and happens here, I invite you to check out the school district mapping in western New Albany sometime.

A city divided: Louisville’s urban landscape rooted in segregation, by Joshua Poe, LEO

Author and journalist George R. Leighton visited Louisville during the mid 1930s, after which he opined in Harper’s Magazine that the River City was a place that paid great “attention to food and drink, but for the rest, let well enough alone.”

Eight decades later, the city’s dining scene continues to thrive while many of the same problems that long ago plagued Louisville’s urban landscape persist — namely, the physical barriers that isolate west Louisville, dividing this city by race and class.

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Yesterday on Twitter, Poe explained "How to control community input, manage optics & corral expectations in public meetings for redevelopment efforts."

1) Encourage participants to focus only on “positivity & solutions.” So important to prevent any accountability. Dismiss dissenters as “playing the blame game.”

2) Divide participants into groups & ask them to list the “problems in their community.”

3) Now ask them what developers can do about those problems.

4) Now ask them how the public sector can help.

5) Overuse the words “equitable” “responsible” “inclusive” and “empower.”

6) Invite local government & NGOs to watch over the meeting. Make sure people feel like they’re looking over they’re shoulders at all times, b/c they are.

7) Invite people from the community to help lead the discussion to establish trust.

8) Wrap up - Praise yourself for your efforts toward inclusion. You can now justify all public spending on your private projects as being “based on community input” & at the request of “the community.” No need for follow-up meeting but promise one anyway.

9) Draft “public/private partnership” proposal where developer receives land giveaways & $ incentives for revitalization along w/ increased police budget for project’s security force (public safety). Announce that proposal is response to what community asked for.

ON THE AVENUES: Amid Deaf Gahan's "victory" over grassroots activists at Colonial Manor, the toxic paranoia is no less rancid.

There are many available spaces in the six-acre shopping center we all know as Colonial Manor. It was built in 1965, and its absentee owners are asking $4 - $6 per square foot. Leasing rates in a strip center near the hospital are twice this cost, as they are in the Elsby Building downtown.

Several weeks back, neighborhood stakeholder frustration with Colonial Manor's long decline led to the emergence of that rarest of New Albanian beasts: A well-organized, focused and potentially sustainable group of grassroots activists calling itself Colonial Manor Redevelopment Visioning.

The group will have a listening session on April 24.

Colonial Manor Redevelopment Visioning explains itself.

The purpose of this citizen-organized, grassroots, non-partisan Facebook Group is to envision possibilities and positive ideas for the potential redevelopment of the Colonial Manor center area on Charlestown Road in New Albany. It is designed to collect ideas, primarily from those living in or doing business within a one-mile radius of Colonial Manor.

Governmental thoughts about Colonial Manor's future have been bubbling tepidly on the back burner for so long that a balanced context is difficult, although as long ago as 2009, former council person John Gonder's discussion of a different kind of redevelopment for sites like Colonial Manor was falling on Deaf ears (Gahan was council president at the time).

Suffice to say that in 2019, when Team #MyNA Gahan belatedly learned there was a grassroots neighborhood initiative underway, the ruling clique reacted to this thoughtful, well-conceived and firmly non-partisan effort by sending Warren Nash in riot gear running through inhumane City Hall corridors screaming "EBOLA! We're all gonna DIE!"

And so the Redevelopment Commission's upper echelon of fixers went into late-night hyperspace. Boilerplate plans from a campaign donor firm quickly were cobbled together, a public comment session with no public comment allowed was held, the battered TIF piggy bank was shaken down to its hooves, and voila -- here's the official plan, straight from the unprecedented mind of Dear Leader, ready to be rubber-stamped just in time for the primary election.

City one step closer to purchasing Colonial Manor Shopping Center, by Chris Morris (Religion Today Newspaper)

New Albany City Council must approve purchase

... The New Albany Redevelopment Commission unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday to purchase the property for $2.6 million. The city council will also have to sign off on the purchase before the lot is put on the market. The commission will then take proposals from developers on not only a purchase price, but what vision they may have for the property.

"If we don't do something there I am pretty sure whoever owns the property is not going to do anything with it," said Irving Joshua, redevelopment commission president. "At this point for us to move forward we have got to go get this."

The money to purchase the property would come out of the Charlestown Road Tax Increment Financing fund.

Then, down at the housing authority where he works at a job given to him by the Democratic Party's power brokers, councilman Matt Nash received a text from Adam "Tricky" Dickey informing Nash that the Colonial Manor TIF Plan was his, to be used wisely in an uphill re-election campaign.

Okay, this is satire. But is satire still satire when it's true?

Meanwhile the surgeon general (or maybe it was Dr. Tom) has advised rational, fact-based onlookers in New Albany to stop shaking their heads so often, lest spinal damage result. After all, TIF can do anything, but can it pay for community chiropractic?

It's endlessly fascinating to watch Gahanism in action. It's about power, money and control; all ideas must emanate from the same centralized "genius" source, although it bears repeating that if absolute power corrupts absolutely, you'd have to go to Belarus or Pyongyang to find a better example of it than right here in Anchor City.

ON THE AVENUES: Gahan's hoarding of power and money is a threat to New Albany's future.

Gahan's pursuit of power has been relentless, marked by an insatiable thirst for money and a fetish for silence and secrecy, as opposed to discussion and openness.

Gahan's primary objective has been the accumulation of as much unrestrained political power as can be gained by a big fish in this otherwise small pond; to raise as much money as he possibly can through pay-to-play campaign finance patronage; and to deploy his concentration of power and money to limit decision-making to an inner circle of cliquish elites.

And yet with the monkeys uncaged and the circus clowns manning the wheel of the paranoid Good Ship Gahan-plop, the Colonial Manor Redevelopment Visioning effort marches forward, oblivious to the murmurings and innuendo from City Hall, which cannot imagine that anyone would differ with its narrative of goodness and perfection -- and those who do, well, whose payroll are THEY on, anyway?

Have something you want your New Albany City Council members to hear about Colonial Manor, the importance of citizen input and oversight, and your concerns about the process so far and into the future? The council will act this Thursday, 7 p.m., in the 3rd Floor assembly room, on the recommendation for the city's purchase of the six-acre tract of land that is presently Colonial Manor and propose a process for how decision making will proceed from here. Yes, it is Holy Week and a lot of us are busy with that but this is very important, too. Please come if you can to speak your thoughts or just to cheer some of your neighbors and friends on, as we continue to work so tirelessly to build accountability and transparency into the Colonial Manor decision-making process. Can't attend? Contact your city council representative in advance to voice your thoughts and ideas. If you need to know who your council representative is and how to contact them, PM or post up here and one of our team will help you. For all you continue to do for our New Albany neighborhoods, thank you! #colonialmanorrising

Let's wish those amazing Colonial Manor neighborhood stakeholders the best. I'll be live-tweeting from the council chambers this Thursday evening.

Who knows? The 5th district councilman might actually speak this time.

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Recent columns:

April 9: ON THE AVENUES: It's time for a change, and David White understands that change begins with a whole lotta scrubbing.


April 2: ON THE AVENUES: Donnie Blevins tells his story.

March 26: ON THE AVENUES: Gahan's hoarding of power and money is a threat to New Albany's future.

March 19: ON THE AVENUES: In 1989, six months of traveling fabulously in Europe.

Innovative ways of redeveloping Colonial Manor -- or, things John Gonder was talking about ten years ago.

In 2015 after two city council terms John Gonder ran afoul of the mayor's DemoDisneyDixiecratic patronage machine and lost his re-election bid, moving on to other things in life. John had a blog but didn't use it all that often; when he chose to write, the results invariably were thoughtful and indicative of interests outside our city's self-imposed political boxes.

On Sunday evening John made this comment to yesterday's Colonial Manor post: Colonial Manor redevelopment visioning to be the subject of a public meeting on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.

This run at revitalizing Colonial Manor caused me to look back at something from ten years ago. It might still be worth considering. The points relevant to the current situation appear in the final three paragraphs. Here's the link.

That's right. Colonial Manor was being discussed ten years ago during Barack Obama's first term -- and Doug England's last. Since John no longer actively blogs, I'm reprinting the entire post from March 22, 2009, but consider clicking through to view the comments.

There seems to be one big question about future prospects for refurbishment at Colonial Manor: Can anything positive happen there without the use of tax increment financing (TIF) money?

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Back to the Drawingboard. Please.

At the most recent City Council meeting, March 19, a development which could have resulted in the relocation of the Charlestown Road Wendy's to a site farther out Charlestown Road was nixed by the Council.

For those who don't know, the Wendy's project cuts out a portion of a large lot for the restaurant while leaving the current zoning in place for an "L" shaped piece of property surrounding the restaurant on two sides.

In an attempt to extract something meaningful from the proceedings, I would like to offer an idea that could have possibly yielded a different outcome. At least it could have changed my vote. Unfortunately I'm not holding my breath waiting for the missing ingredient, because that missing ingredient is found in such short supply among developers hereabouts. The ingredient? It goes by several names: innovative thought, creative approaches, getting ahead of the curve, anticipatory development in recognition of the changes suggested by new environmental realities.

That is, after three or four years on the New Albany Plan Commission and now starting the second year on the City Council, I have yet to see more than about two developments that might fall outside the unflattering catchall categorization of cookie cutter sameness.

Look at any of the patio home developments. These are offered as a response to a demographic change in our culture. Aging people are downsizing their households yet still want independence and convenience. So far, so good. A curbside assessment of the typical patio home,however, looks like, in Jeopardy fashion, an answer to the question "Where can my car and I go so both of us feel at home?" The street presentation is of struggle for dominance between the garage and the living quarters. From all appearances, the cars are winning out with the most prominent digs.

Are the developers stupid? The buyers? No, I don't think so. On the contrary, the patio homes I've seen from the inside appear well built and comfortable and suited to the needs of the people living there. But it would be difficult to find a current mode of housing design that more glaringly exemplifies the cookie cutter school of thought.

But the Wendy's development, ( if indeed it is a Wendy's, and there's truly no way to know that at this juncture, according to counsel ) is a commercial development, so what's that got to do with cookie cutters and patio homes? Again, it's the lack of a creative or innovative approach to the puzzle of what to do with that parcel of land. Clearly no one who holds an economic interest in the land sees doing nothing, or next to nothing, as a viable option, otherwise they might consider leasing it to an agricultural entrepreneur who could open an "in-town" small scale u-pick farm. Would there be enough customers for such a thing? Surely not in that end of town.

I just erased several paragraphs in which I suggest what the developers could do with the land. The reality is, that just like with the patio homes, the developers failed to offer anything innovative. As if to underscore the fact that they were offering nothing innovative, they weren't even offering a plan to bring in a new hamburger joint, they were simply going to move an existing hamburger joint to a new location; on the same road yet. And for this accommodation of the developers' plans, the existing neighborhood residents were being asked to suck it up in the cause of progress and free markets.

So maybe it shouldn't all be left up to the developer.

One of the best ways this type of situation could be headed off in the future is for the City of New Albany to begin a reorientation away from greenfield development and toward REdevelopment. (As was stated in the Council meeting, fast food restaurants typically use up a building in a pre-ordained period of years and then move to a new location.) Charlestown Road from Eighth Street out to Klerner Lane is showing signs of commercial and residential neglect and deterioration.

A prime example is the Colonial Manor shopping center, across the street from the current Wendy's site, abandoned several years ago by Kroger in favor of a new site across from the proposed Wendy's site. If the city were to acquire the property it could solicit proposals from developers to take that property back to the level of vibrancy needed to make a strong neighborhood. The use of Economic Development Income Tax (EDIT) funds could be used to buy the property thus freeing the developer from the carrying cost of the project during development. Direction by the Plan Commission, through the RFP, could shape the REdevelopment in ways most beneficial for the entire community. The developer would make a profit but only by producing a worthwhile, cohesive project. And when the developer is out of the deal the EDIT funds would be returned.

This would be a better way to steer the development of the community in ways that truly benefit the entire community, not simply the narrow interests of the developers. If Colonial Manor were, in fact, redeveloped it is quite possible that the entire Charlestown Road corridor would be seen as more desirable and unfortunate situations such as the one involving the Wendy's project might be avoided.

"To transform the former tack factory into 50 senior housing units, the city of Madison is partnering with Denton Floyd Real Estate."

Maybe I'm missing something, but ever since HWC got the contract to oversee the contract at the future Reisz-Stag, has any construction actually taken place at the re-election campaign's centerpiece?

Following the money: HWC Engineering made city streets even safer for speeding cars. Now the company will oversee the Reisz Mahal. Can campaign donations be far behind?

The primary's right around the corner, with lots of banners and photo-ops. This just won't do.

Good luck, Madison.

Community program helps former tack factory become senior housing, by Rachael Krause (WAVE-3)

MADISON, IN (WAVE) – A redevelopment project will keep an historic building standing in one small Indiana town. The project is the first step toward revitalizing the entire community, made possible because of a stellar community designation from the state.

Built in 1896, the former ‘tack factory’ in Madison, Indiana used to be where locals worked making tacks, nails and hangers. The factory sat empty since 2007 when it shut down.

“It’s kind of an eyesore for us,” said Nicole Schell, city planner for Madison.

The city was designated a stellar community by the state of Indiana in 2017. The program provides access to grants for projects to revitalize unused spaces and renew interest in rural communities. To transform the former tack factory into 50 senior housing units, the city of Madison is partnering with Denton Floyd Real Estate ...

Eight Days of Gdansk, November 6: The Lenin Shipyards yield to Młode Miasto, or "Young City Gdansk."

Jeffersonville has something in common with Gdansk. Both cities have extensive tracts of waterside property once devoted to building boats.

The former Jeffboat, meet the former Lenin Shipyards.

There's an obvious difference in scale as well as historical experience. The shipyards in Gdansk occupied a huge expanse of ground, while Jeffboat's footprint is long and narrow.

Clark County has no alumni with quite the pedigree of Lech Wałęsa, although the latter never refereed NFL games, as former Jeffersonville mayor Dale Orem did.

In both instances, there is considerable redevelopment potential.

The word shipyard is synonymous with Gdansk, due in the main to the social and political phenomenon that was Solidarity, the trade union movement which exploded out of the shipyard amid the strikes of 1980. Since then, the name Gdansk for many has conjured up images of masses of striking workers led by a small man with a bushy moustache, while in the background hulked the giant cranes of the shipyard – the Lenin Shipyard. Well it appears that this shipyard is about to change forever and in doing so reflect changes, more than anywhere else in Gdansk, that it helped bring about over 30 years earlier.

In the spring of 2013 plans were presented to the public showing the future of a large swath of the Gdansk Shipyard. These plans, as we will see later, propose to revitalise this historic area and to re-connect it to the main city of Gdansk a short distance away along the Motlawa river. The new development is to be called Mlode Miasto (Young City) and while this name might look like the result of months of work by a high-powered PR agency’s image team, it in fact in recognition of the first organised settlement of the area over 600 years ago.

Although work connected to ship building and maintenance continues in many parts of the shipyard area today, the bulk of what was once the Lenin Shipyard in Gdansk has slowly been rotting away since the fall of communism. The collapse of the system which Solidarity helped to bring about, saw demand for ships that were built here to collapse as well. The yard today stands largely empty and as work begins on the initial projects relating to the creation of Young City Gdansk, there is an opportunity to take a look at what is left of this historic area.

As for the high-powered PR agency, this might be the one. The quality of the mock-ups exceeds those typically produced by New Albany's redevelopment commission.

Młode Miasto or Young City Gdansk has always had a significant role in the development of the City. Since the first official mentioning in historical chronicles in 1380 it has been recognized as a new and attractive settlement area for future generations. More than 600 years of different purposes for this land will have a continuation now. With such a rich past the identity of the new neighbourhood should be built around it.

In closing, stay tuned for the inevitable photographs of this and other experiences in Gdansk.

Truth is stranger than fact: Back in 2012, the Reisz building was to become a senior living complex. Bob Caesar kneecapped it -- and Deaf Gahan DISAGREED with Cee-Saw.

Earlier today, it was noted hereabouts that Bob Caesar, a social climbing Faux Democrat, is among the bloc of five council votes favoring the expenditure of a whopping $8.5 million to reclaim with requisite posh the long dormant Reisz Furniture building for use as a luxury government center.

ON THE AVENUES: Histrionic preservation? $8.5 million to gift Jeff Gahan with a new city hall "want" is inexcusable and simply obscene in a time of societal need.

The others favoring financial profligacy are Matt Nash (5th district), Greg Phipps (3rd), Pat McLaughlin (4th), all Gahanocrats, and from across the aisle, David (Buildings Not People) Barksdale.

Memories are short, and it has been only six years since since the most hopeful Reisz resuscitation idea in decades passed through the Redevelopment Commission with glowing reviews.

The Sterling Group approached city council in 2012 with a plan to transform the degraded structure (and the adjacent property now occupied by Underground Station) into Legacy at Riverside, a 74-unit senior living complex for eligible low- to middle-income older folks.

Caesar promptly allied with former councilman Kevin Zurschmiede, the latter an actual Republican, to summarily derail Sterling's project, successfully floating a resolution that tarred Legacy at Riverside with the aporophobic brush usually reserved for public housing denunciations, although the proposed development had nothing whatever to do with NAHA.

At least in part as a result of Caesar's and Zurschmiede's hatchet job, the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority did not approve low-income tax credits for the Legacy at Riverside. At the time, a rising local political leader had this to say about it, and we turn to the newspaper's Daniel Suddeath for the rest of the story.

Mayor Jeff Gahan released a statement Friday expressing disappointment with IHCDA’s decision.

He said the Legacy at Riverside “would have given a dilapidated city block $12 million worth of development. The seniors that would reside there could have visited our downtown restaurants and shops, and contributed to the local economy in a big way.”

The administration estimated the property tax base would have risen from about $10,000 to $40,000 annually on the lot due to the Legacy at Riverside project.

However, Councilman Bob Caesar estimated the city would lose millions of dollars in property taxes over the life of the developments if they received credits when he voted in favor of the opposition resolution.

Louisville company LDG is proposing Summit Springs, which is not offered as an age-based development. The earnings ceiling would be 60 percent of the Area Median Income for residency at Summit Springs.

Attempts to reach LDG for comment on the status of Summit Springs were unsuccessful Friday.

Gahan said that at least a conversation has begun about housing in New Albany.

“Both public and private housing issues need to be a part of our public discussion,” he said.

See: Gahan's been stuck on the word "dilapidated" for six years.

I suppose Caesar is at least consistent in resolutely opposing affordable housing, seeing he has forever confused lower-income citizens with a lower class of citizenry.

But what the hell happened to Dear Leader?

Here he was, at the beginning of his reign, vanquishing Caesar's myopia with well-chosen comments about housing issues. Now he's demolishing public housing units and building statues to himself -- and almost none of it has been conducted publicly.

Shall we affirm the truth of the old saying, "absolute power corrupts absolutely"?

It's also instructive that during the very same IHCDA low-income tax credits award cycle, credits were denied to another project: "The proposed 104-unit Summit Springs project that would be located near the Interstate 265 interchange off State Street."

Welcome to Weird New Albany. Now that Summit Springs has been rendered into a partnership of sorts between its greed-headed developers and City Hall, and since it is being devoted to hotels and retail, not apartments, those bumps from 2012 are forgotten, and Caesar and Gahan can hold hands while praising the view from the Taco Bell by the strip mine.

Moreover, having chased away Sterling, these two political lovebirds can bond over Reisz as a paean to luxury governance.

A skin-in-the-game skin flick, as it were. There's something eternal about this ... and thoroughly nauseating, so make it "infernal" instead.

Following are some posts from the period in question.

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Shambolic NA: Big ticket jewelry and lower-income tax credits. (February 25, 2012)

As the excerpts here illustrate, rental housing owner Kevin Zurschmiede voted both ways while wearing different hats, putting him into position to tie King Larry's all-time flip-flop record by abstaining the next time it comes up ... and the developer did not fail to notice it. The administration took no public position until after the state declined credits. Councilman Caesar, who has contributed no known plan for assisting downtown revitalization beyond opposing two-way streets, outsourcing Bicentennial projects to out of state mercenaries and enabling condos-for-the-wealthy-some-time-way-down-the-road, was able to blithely rationalize his contempt for the less well off by waving a mimeograph of the tax code.

Fiction is dead and buried in New Albany, because everyday life is so consistently entertaining ... and so enduringly futile in a political sense. Do any of these people have a better idea for how the Reisz Building might realistically be used any time soon? Is it that we just couldn't run the risk of poorer old people living that close to Mr. Bobo's champagne-sipping penthouse dwellers? Doesn't Sterling actually have the money to do what they propose, and some semblance of a track record that might hint at an ability to succeed in doing it? If the answer to the last two questions is yes, shouldn't we give them the parking garage, because that way, at least something might get built?

Legacy at Riverside not dead yet in New Albany; Mayor Gahan disappointed that low-income tax credits weren’t awarded for developments, by Braden Lammers (Hanson Compendium of Pop Ups and Roll Overs)

Councilman Kevin Zurschmiede voted in favor of that resolution while on the redevelopment commission, but sponsored the measure opposing the developments for the council.

“We did have support unanimously [from the redevelopment commission], and then to find out after the fact in the new year that we might not have support I guess we were a little confused and not sure what was going on,” (John VanMeeter director of development for The Sterling Group) said.

(Mayor Jeff Gahan) said the Legacy at Riverside “would have given a dilapidated city block $12 million worth of development. The seniors that would reside there could have visited our downtown restaurants and shops, and contributed to the local economy in a big way.”

The administration estimated the property tax base would have risen from about $10,000 to $40,000 annually on the lot due to the Legacy at Riverside project. However, Councilman Bob Caesar estimated the city would lose millions of dollars in property taxes over the life of the developments if they received credits when he voted in favor of the opposition resolution.

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Speaking of the riverfront, let's check the class warfare front. (March 4, 2012)

Pictured above is the rear of what New Albanians long have referred to as the Reisz Furniture Building, which has been vacant for as long as most of us can remember, apart from being used by Schmitt Furniture as storage. Recently a proposal has been advanced by a Mishawaka-based firm (Sterling) to restore this long-term eyesore and replace rapidly decaying structures adjacent to it with new buildings, all for the purpose of creating affordable senior housing.

Largely at the behest of members Kevin Zurschmiede (R) and Bob Caesar (PD - Pretend Democrat), New Albany's city council rushed forward a resolution opposing affordable housing tax credits for this project, and these credits subsequently were denied by the state agency.

A half-block to the west, a sign has been erected to tout the "proper" use of governmental incentives to private developers.

For the River View development to proceed, it must be the beneficiary of -- yes, you guessed it -- various governmental subsidies and incentives, without which the utterly cashless Mainland Properties cannot so much as turn one single spade of downtown dirt.

What's more, while Zurschmiede, Caesar and four other council persons took the opportunity of their vote to rail publicly against the very possibility that the Reisz plan might someday, far in the future, be modified to permit differing uses of dwelling spaces than those originally specified in order for construction to be incentivized, not one of them has yet indicated a similar level of internal disturbance with the fact that Mainland has completely changed the nature and intent of its River View project, from enabling downtown condo ownership and residency from the outset, to pushing its ownership society to the very end, with intervening phases of retail, office and (gasp) apartment rentals all to occur first, whether they're needed or not.

Neither Zurschmiede nor Caesar have commented publicly as to what they feel might be a better way to rehab the long neglected Reisz building than the Sterling proposal. Concurrently, they both seem to approve subsidies to build something on the part of a development group with absolutely no money, rather than to incentivize another development group with money enough to a least complete plans without its open palm garishly extended.

If class warfare does not explain these attitudes, then what does?

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Recalling how the human progress retardant helped keep the Reisz building dilapidated into 2013. (January 5, 2013)

Still wonderfully and delightfully decrepit, the old Reisz Furniture building and adjacent rotting structures greet the New Year. Remember last year, when there was a proposal afoot to rehab these spaces, and Councilman Bob Caesar took time from his busy schedule of Crutchfield-fluffing to sabotage it?

Looking for the best New Albany bicentennial legacy of all? Keep reading.

CeeSaw's in the news again as Redevelopment defies the CM's weighty IRS tome (August 15, 2012).

Meanwhile, the affordable seniors project involving the long dormant Reisz building -- you remember, the one Bob Caesar defeated by doing a dramatic council rain dance with an Internal Revenue tax concordance held aloft to catch rays of Mitt Romney's abstinent light -- made preliminary sense to Redevelopment, although without the presence of dual council/commission members who dashed away lest they learn something, and now can be expected to solemnly swear that they were cruelly the information they missed by leaving before the second act.

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Speaking of the riverfront, let's check the class warfare front (March 4, 2012).

Neither Zurschmiede nor Caesar have commented publicly as to what they feel might be a better way to rehab the long neglected Reisz building than the Sterling proposal. Concurrently, they both seem to approve subsidies to build something on the part of a development group with absolutely no money, rather than to incentivize another development group with money enough to a least complete plans without its open palm garishly extended.

If class warfare does not explain these attitudes, then what does?

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Shambolic NA: Big ticket jewelry and lower-income tax credits (February 25, 2012).

As the excerpts here illustrate, rental housing owner Kevin Zurschmiede voted both ways while wearing different hats, putting him into position to tie King Larry's all-time flip-flop record by abstaining the next time it comes up ... and the developer did not fail to notice it. The administration took no public position until after the state declined credits. Councilman Caesar, who has contributed no known plan for assisting downtown revitalization beyond opposing two-way streets, outsourcing Bicentennial projects to out of state mercenaries and enabling condos-for-the-wealthy-some-time-way-down-the-road, was able to blithely rationalize his contempt for the less well off by waving a mimeograph of the tax code.

Experts say golf is dying, and if so, expect the redevelopment vultures to circle New Albany Springs.

For as long as I can remember, during unguarded moments, certain of our city officials have been musing about the potential value and redevelopment potential of the area occupied by the New Albany Housing Authority's property on Bono Road.

They no longer speak with me, but I'm assuming this moistening of lips to have escalated since Jeff Gahan seized control of NAHA early in 2017.

Looking at the map, it's easy to see the military reasoning of these C-minus students, graded on the curve. NAHA is the high ground (topographically, though not morally in terms of Gahan's putsch), from which command of the battlefield is assured.

Just to the south, there's the expanse of Padgett. Some day, and I'm guessing sooner rather than later, someone at Padgett finally will do the math, begin negotiating with state agencies, score incentives and treasure chests, and move those cranes out of the city, into industrial space near an interstate, or River Ridge, probably both.

That's because Padgett is landlocked and can't grow where it is now, and the redevelopment potential (read: money) of its downtown property will become too great to ignore.

At this point, all we'll need to complete the scene is for the current New Albany Springs golf course property to become worth more as housing (alas, probably not as affordable as we'd like to see) than recreation, and the dominoes will fall.

Baptismal Hospital to "cleansed" NAHA land, down the hill to Binford Park and the golf course, continuing through the Padgett redevelopment bonanza, and all of it anchored by a cemetery that might as well be another park. It's the closest thing we're likely to have to the Clarksville South and future JeffBoat makeovers, and it's why the sycophants salivate.

And right there, in the middle of it, completely unchanged, with precisely the same long-necks and Democratic Party Walt Disney Film Nights, there'll be the Roadhouse, like a working museum.

Remember, the Green Mouse told you so.

Dead Golf Courses Are the New NIMBY Battlefield, by Nolan Gray (CityLab)

As the sport’s popularity wanes, vast amounts of underutilized land will open up. Can it be developed?

Golf is dying, many experts say. According to one study by the golf industry group Pellucid Corp., the number of regular golfers fell from 30 to 20.9 million between 2002 and 2016. Ratings are down, equipment sales are lagging, and the number of rounds played annually has fallen.

Part of the bust can be blamed on the fallen fortunes of a single person: Tiger Woods. Golf boomed in the 1990s and early 2000s as the charismatic superstar raked in titles. Then, beginning in 2009, it faced a one-two punch of recession and bad press when its star golfer’s chronic infidelity came to light.

But the bigger story involves the sport’s aging demographics and the athletic tastes of Millennials, who just aren’t that into an expensive, poky sport that provides few health benefits. Unless the golf industry can change its ways, the decline will mean a lot of empty greens across the country. How that land is used—or isn’t—could reshape America’s suburbs for decades to come.

Golf courses and country clubs currently consume massive amounts of relatively underutilized land in cities and suburbs. Across the country, as courses and clubs begin shutting down, hundreds of thousands of acres of land could soon start opening up for infill redevelopment. While not so great for golfers, this could be a boon for cities, especially those facing a housing crunch ...

Quiet no longer, Josh Staten makes the newspaper: "New Albany reveals new redevelopment, economic development director."

Previously we grappled with the implications.

Redevelopment welcomes Josh Staten as its new director. So does this mean Duggins is 4-ever NAHA? Let's follow the money.

Former councilman John Gonder's viewpoints always are well-considered and thoughtful, which surely is why Mayor Gahan brutally sabotaged Gonder's re-election bid in 2015. Gonder appended this comment to NAC's post.

I would consider the appointment of Josh Staten as the Director of Redevelopment to be the most hopeful sign I've seen in New Albany's City Government in a long time. I wish him well.

That's reassuring.

City Hall's strangely subdued stealth in introducing its new redevelopment and economic development director stands in stark contrast to the hosannas accorded David Duggins, Staten's matinee idol predecessor, who came to us with the persona and press clippings of a rock star, and proceeded to trash his share of hotel rooms.

Staten is highly qualified and young, and that's a good start. He's also intimately connected to the AdamBot's hypocritical-by-design DemoDisneyDixiecratic party apparatus -- and that's not as good. We'll have to wait and see.

Hey, Irving Joshua -- how's that job search for a permanent bulldozer maintenance mechanic going over at NAHA? Inquiring minds want to know, even if you don't want to tell us.

New Albany reveals new redevelopment, economic development director, by Danielle Grady (News and Tribune)

NEW ALBANY — Josh Staten, a New Albany High School graduate, has mostly worked in the Kentuckiana area throughout his life. Well, except for a recently ended 10-month period when he was a planner in Florida. But now Staten is back in Southern Indiana for a position to which he couldn’t say no: redevelopment and economic development director for the City of New Albany.

“I always wanted to work in redevelopment, economic development. That’s just where my background is as far as studies are concerned,” said Staten, who has two master’s degrees from the University of Louisville, one in public administration and the other in urban planning. “And the idea of me getting a chance to come back to my hometown where I grew up and do this job was something I definitely jumped at immediately.”

Staten quietly started working for the city on Feb. 28 after an eight-month search by the city to replace the former director, David Duggins, who now is the interim executive director of the New Albany Housing Authority.

Mike Moore has a Jeff Boat dream ... we have a JeffBot luxury dog park.

River Ridge, the Clark Maritime Center, potential redevelopment at the soon to be vacated Jeff Boat property, and the South Clarksville/Colgate project.

All of it stops at Silver Creek. And what are our Floyd County Democratic Party leaders doing?

That's right. They're attempting to slime a Republican councilman with bogus charges of lying.

Is this really all they have to do with their time on the clock? Isn't it true that if YOU wasted time in this fashion at work, you'd get fired?

Mayor envisions retail, residences for Jeffboat property in lieu of shipyard, by Danielle Grady (Tom May Gazette)

JEFFERSONVILLE — Jeffboat’s location along the Ohio River is ideal for a barge manufacturer, but good for more than that.

Now that the shipyard is closing after 80 years in business, Jeffersonville Mayor Mike Moore has ambitious dreams for the 65-acre riverfront property.

In a statement Monday, Jeffboat’s parent company, American Commercial Lines, said only that it is reviewing the best alternative for the shipyard, which is expected to close in May. But Moore says that Jeffboat Vice President Mike Poindexter called him to say that the company has already ruled out opening or selling to another shipyard.

Moore had originally hoped that another shipyard could take Jeffboat’s place. Now, he’s thinking of the next best thing: retailers and residences — boosted by the property’s proximity to the river and to Louisville. Moore said he’s already been contacted by business people interested in the idea ...

"Will the Death of Malls Save the Suburbs?"

The article speaks primarily of enclosed malls, though several points are applicable to the potential redevelopment of strips like Colonial Manor on Charlestown Road.

Will the Death of Malls Save the Suburbs? by Clare Trapasso (Realtor)

 ... But now this somewhat beloved and utterly iconic American institution—forever immortalized by teen classics like “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Mallrats,” and “Clueless”—is in danger of becoming an endangered species ... the sea change has already begun. Foot traffic in most of the nation’s largest malls is dropping ...

 ... How is the decline of the mall going to affect American life itself? Some municipalities are finding that these dead shopping meccas present a unique opportunity to reinvent—and reinvigorate—their sleepy suburban landscapes. The centers are being transformed into public parks, medical complexes, even hockey rinks. In some cases they’re even being rethought as walkable “urban developments in the suburbs” which include funky boutiques, innovative restaurants, fitness centers, entertainment, and, yes, housing.

Google New Albany? We'll just have the same architectural firm build another pole barn and stick it on a hill by State Street.

It's easy to be skeptical of such a vision, and Google's initial efforts were rejected by local planning authorities, although there has been movement recently toward a resolution: Google Might Build Its North Bayshore Campus After All.

Still, words and phrases jump out at you: Historic city models ... buildings that use less energy and water ... a humanistic spirit ... working with nature ... how transit will look in the future ... the undermining of quality of life owing to the needs of cars.

Ideas (useful or otherwise) cannot grow without passing into common currency, and they'll never become widespread without being mentioned aloud and discussed. Whether Google succeeds or not, the ideas are in the public domain at Mountain View.

In New Albany, we keep them imprisoned in Redevelopment. What we get is Summit Springs and rotary dial, not North Bayshore and Google.

Might the New Albany Parks Department annex the former Tiger Stadium's artificial turf?

Thankfully, spring training games begin in less than three weeks.

While reading this essay, which places a beam of sunlight on controversies attendant to the use of artificial turf, I couldn't help remembering the mayoral debate at Silver Street Park's sumptuous indoor training facility, and warnings that women in heels weren't allowed on the playing surface.

Dude.

The Plan for Detroit’s Former Tiger Stadium Ignores History—and Potentially Safety, by Michael Betzold (The Nation)

... Historic preservation is almost always a losing cause in Detroit, because city leaders would rather obliterate the troubling past than honor it. This attitude made a new ballpark an easy sell, since African-Americans have passed on stories of mistreatment at the Corner through several generations. Walter Briggs, the auto magnate who expanded the stadium after the Tigers’ first world championship in 1935 and owned the team into the 1950s, was notoriously racist, and the team didn’t integrate for a decade after Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier. To add to the insult, the greatest Tiger in history is Ty Cobb, the outfielder known today not only for his outstanding career in Detroit but also for his penchant for violence and racism. (A recent book tries to redeem his reputation and soften that caricature, but the truth about Cobb remains murky.)

History is a messy and contentious thing. And, in Detroit, it’s too often a battleground. But it’s unwise and unfair to cover up the complex past of Michigan and Trumbull.

"What Should Become of America’s Slums?"

It's hard to find just one paragraph summarizing this article, but here goes.

“We take both approaches. There’s the mobility model, which gets people out of concentrated poverty, and there’s the redevelopment model, which tries to make [poor] neighborhoods better,” he told me. “We do both of those things. They both can work.”

My gut feeling is that listening comes first. I can't speak for Austin, but in New Albany, there has not been a dialogue, and without a dialogue, no one is listening.

What Should Become of America’s Slums?, by Alana Semuels (City Lab)

We're counting the ways Jeff Gahan is spending millions without fundamentally addressing failed infrastructure.

To be accurate, Jeff Gillenwater is counting them, and he's doing such a wonderful job of refuting Team Gahan's exaggerated claims that I'll merely recount the point-counterpoint.

"Let us also count the tens of millions of debt we'll be paying back for the next couple of decades while the campaign brags about cash reserves only because it has handcuffed young people with such hefty credit card bills. And why is the irresponsible, neighborhood polluting former owner of this property still being granted so many demolition contracts by the Gahan administration? Was the princely, publicly paid sum for this property not enough of a reward for party loyalty? Should we look for his name on the campaign donor list?"

---

"Like I said, they try to brag about their financial prowess without mentioning the tens of millions of debt we've incurred in just over three years while doing little to address what is obviously failing infrastructure all over the city. An out-of-town developer wants a $5 million handout? No problem. A citizen wants their storm sewer drain to actually drain? Tough cookies. As I previously mentioned, if you're 45 or older, you'll likely be retired or dead before New Albany's citizens pay off Gahan's single term as mayor and we have little functional improvement to show for it. It doesn't take a genius to pay for so much on long-term credit and it certainly doesn't take one to think that doing so means the few extra dollars in one's pocket that day as a temporary, short-term result is a sign of sound fiscal management."

Does Coffey covet Shanghai's "European-style ghost towns"?

Photo credit: The article.

Jumping Jehosaphat -- don't let Adam and the Redevelopmentals see this, or we'll be mowing downtown shotgun houses to build replicas of the Magic Kingdom.

You think I'm kidding, but is the decision-making process in New Albany much different from the top-down diktats in China?

Shanghai's European-style ghost towns – in pictures (The Guardian)

Just a decade after six European-style towns were built to absorb Shanghai’s increasing population, China’s slowing economy has left them mostly deserted. James Bollen’s images record the failure of these empty copycat boroughs.

City jumps the gun on Coyle site, forcing Indy developer to flaunt the wrong image.

Uh huh. Nothing political in any of it. Think of the image below as Jeff Gahan's "sez you" to David White's riverfront skyscrapers, and it makes much more sense.

Yesterday the city of New Albany announced a preliminary deal to incentivize an Indianapolis investor to construct "upscale" residential buildings on the former Coyle property. The story itself can be found at the News and Tribune, so take it from Daniel. I'll begin what is sure to be an animated chat by focusing on the image used to accompany the story, and leave the dissection until we know how much this is going to cost us.

To be succinct, this is not the building planned for New Albany. Michigan Street is in Indianapolis, hence the following exchange with Mike Kopp on Twitter. I really appreciate Mike replying to my questions. Most City Hall denizens don't.

Kopp: New Downtown Apartments (photo as above)

Baylor:  But the view is in Indy, right? A bit misleading. Is there a drawing of the NA project?

Kopp: They were not expecting to do a press release so soon but provided the rendering as it is similar to what they have planned.

Baylor: Thanks. My opinion: Drawing does harm to Speck street advocacy by showing a one-way street. Avoidable error.

Kopp: But again they did not anticipate the City press release. I'm sure actual renderings will follow upon review & approval.

And then this:

Baylor: But let's go a step further: What is the developer's stance on streets? Interstates or Specks?

Kopp: I can't speak for the developer but I believe they found 2 way more favorable I would imagine public discussion by summer.

Are we about to see "Mainland: The Sequel" at the Coyle property on I-Spring Street in New Albany?

The Green Mouse has been listening to an array of hot rumors concerning the redevelopment potential of the Coyle property, located adjacent to I-Spring Street, which is being listed by Mike Kopp.

As we learned on Tuesday morning, insofar as the city's economic development squad has a pattern for downtown economic piecemealing in the ongoing absence of an actual, coherent plan, it is to refrain from any substantive action until prompted by realtors like Kopp , at which point it is permissible to consider helpful infrastructure improvements, i.e., replacing sidewalks not repaired since the Eisenhower administration.

In short, we've been told on more than one occasion that pro-activity in downtown economic development simply is not possible because such a tool kit does not exist -- and, by obvious extension, city officials do not possess sufficient creative instincts (or passion) to assemble one.

However, when it comes to the Coyle ground, as with the infamous Mainland condo project debacle of previous years, the rumor mill suggests that the city is perfectly willing to ante up so long as the asker is not an independent local business.

Sounds like a One Southern Indiana memo, doesn't it?

The Green Mouse believes the Urban Enterprise Association (forcibly annexed by the Gahan administration to serve as handy ATM, and controlled by Mr. Duggins) will be asked to fund a feasibility study for "upscale" housing infill on the property, as undertaken by a big-time Indianapolis development firm.

This may seem innocuous, but almost certainly it is the prelude to the city proposing to further subsidize this company to the tune of considerably more than just chump change.

Did I mention that the current administration has no downtown economic development plan?

It was to have happened with Mainland in the form of a $15 million parking garage, and there's been no evidence of outside-the-box thinking since that ship ingloriously sank of its own hubris.

"Careerists" like Maalox may be gone, but the 1Si-indoctrinated team in place at present isn't exactly populated by people who've learned from different teachers than the time-servers who preceded them.

We need to pay very close attention to what happens next. First things first: Two way streets, now, as were promised by Jeff Gahan in 2011. Only then do we consider the next in a probable series of Mainlandings.

If City Hall elects to shovel buckets of cash to an Indianapolis company to do what Matt Chalfant is doing entirely on his own ... if there's no downtown economic development plan, and no completed streets .. then City Hall quite obviously does not deserve to be elected again, and should not be elected again.

Drinking Progressively: Let's make it Tuesday evenings, beginning on November 25.

The Green Mouse says: Is the historic Coyle building really on the chopping block?

Making waves on the rumorama: High-ranking New Albany officials are celebrating the forthcoming sale of the Coyle property on Spring Street by acknowledging that if the sale goes through, every building comes down -- including the historic front-piece on Spring.

Imbibing minds want to know: Did CM Scott Blair really refer to this impending demolition as a "no-brainer," "quality of life" issue?

Quality of Life Bond Bonuses, Episode 3: Retrofitting suburbia.

This time, quite seriously: Ellen Dunham-Jones (thanks, Jeff) explains the notion of "retrofitting suburbia," which provides numerous smaller strategies that New Albany needs to be considering for the original sprawl areas now located inside the Beltway (think: Charlestown Road by Colonial Manor).

Do we have plans and strategies for targeting redevelopment in these ways? If so, let's hear them. If not, perhaps some of the spare bond windfall might get us started thinking in this direction, and grasping that there's more to quality of life than a swimming pool.

More recent thoughts on this topic:

Quality of Life Bond Bonuses, Episode 1: Going mobile? Just put it on the card.

Quality of Life Bond Bonuses, Episode 2: What do we do with all those Bicentennial books?

ON THE AVENUES: Looking for Quality of Life bond issue bonuses? "Pick me," says orphaned Riverfront Amphitheater.

ON THE AVENUES: On quality of life and newfound loot.

Before the meeting, let's think about differing qualities of life.