UK election 2019: Is the scene set for a return to Scottish independence?

Thursday's UK election brought a huge majority to the Tories amid Labour's cataclysmic defeat, which makes Brexit a prospective fact after three and a half years of political gridlock. Brexit will be a long, drawn-out process, but now it will happen.

Interestingly, leaving the European Union might set into motion the dissolution of the United Kingdom.

It isn't easy to explain the election's implications for perpetually fragile Northern Ireland, although it should suffice to use the word "destabilizing" -- to say the least.

DUP and Sinn Féin under pressure to restore power sharing, by Rory Carroll (The Guardian)

DUP loses big name as voters punish parties for Northern Ireland’s political dysfunction

... Boris Johnson’s election victory, which has liberated him from dependence on DUP votes in Westminster, has added to the sense of urgency. He is expected to push through a Brexit deal that will create checks and inspections on trade between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Mike Nesbitt, a former leader of the Ulster Unionist party, told the BBC the election’s great irony was that for decades, unionists had feared Irish nationalism as the main threat to the union. “Then more recently it was Scottish nationalists, but it’s actually English nationalism which is posing the existential threat to the future of the union,” he said.

Lots of eggshells and tightropes in Northern Ireland. Meanwhile in Scotland, things have become very interesting. The previous Scottish independence referendum in 2014 didn't favor detachment. It might a second time, given a general pro-EU opinion.

Scottish independence vote a 'democratic right', says Sturgeon, by Severin Carrell and Libby Brooks (The Guardian)

Boris Johnson rejects first minister’s call as his spokesman says result of 2014 vote ‘should be respected’

Nicola Sturgeon is to publish a blueprint next week for a new Scottish independence referendum but Boris Johnson has rejected any moves towards a fresh vote.

The first minister said the Scottish National party’s “overwhelming” election victory in Scotland, where it won 47 of the country’s 59 Westminster seats with 1.2m votes, gave her a clear and undeniable mandate to hold one.

Sturgeon said she would publish the “detailed democratic case” for the transfer of the legal powers from Johnson’s new Conservative government, which has to authorise the Scottish parliament to stage any referendum that changes the UK’s constitutional structures.

“This isn’t about asking Boris Johnson or any other Westminster politician for permission. This is instead an assertion of the democratic right of the people of Scotland to determine our own future,” she said in a short victory speech in Edinburgh, where she declined to take questions.

snip

Sturgeon said the scale of the victory proved again that a large majority of Scots wanted to remain in the EU, three years after the country voted against Brexit by 62% to 38%. The election was a “watershed moment”, she said.

“Westminster has ignored the people of Scotland for more than three years. Last night, the people of Scotland said enough,” Sturgeon said. “It’s time for Boris Johnson to start listening. I accept, regretfully, that he has a mandate for Brexit in England but he has no mandate whatsoever to take Scotland out of the EU.”

She made a direct appeal to EU citizens – a group expected to be given a vote in any independence referendum, saying the SNP would protect and champion their interests. “I will fight with everything I have to protect your right to call Scotland your home.”

Since when is Brad Snyder the superintendent of schools? We thought Jeff Gahan claimed credit for education, too.

It's all about the foundation of a strategic plan for the school corporation ... oh, and by the way, in the small print, there'll be yet another referendum.

I wonder if Mayor Seabrook will give the school corporation back to Brad Snyder -- assuming the departing Deaf Gahan doesn't try to sneak the education budget out the back door in his lunch pail on December 31.

NAFC schools seek input to decide future of district, by Tara Schmelz (Tom May Biblical Inerrancy Compendium)

NEW ALBANY – The New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. is finishing up an $87 million capital project, thanks to the approved 2016 referendum.

Now, Superintendent Brad Snyder said he's being asked, "What's next?" for the district.

He talked to the school board Monday evening about starting three committees, dubbed strategic pillars, to help decide the direction the district will take for the next seven to eight years.

"This is not a strategic plan. This is the foundation of one," Snyder told the board. "I think we could have one by next summer."

The groups will focus on three areas: raising the academic bar, helping the social and emotional needs of students and master planning for the construction/renovation/upkeep of buildings.

Snyder said the purpose of the groups is to give all stakeholders, such as teachers, administrators, parents, board members and community members, a chance to have a role in the planning process.

"This is not my plan. This is the community's plan," Snyder said after the meeting.

Though the second group will also discuss the proposed school safety referendum, Snyder said the referendum is its own separate piece. He said he is meeting with various parent groups, the school safety commission and will meet with first responders and other community members to decide whether to move forward with requesting up to 10 cents per assessed valuation over the course of eight years, opening up $3.33 million per year for the district to fund additional security measures.

Snyder said if all goes well, he plans to ask for a town hall style meeting in late October/early November, where the community can voice concerns and/or support for the referendum prior to bringing it to spring of 2020 primary ballot.

Breathtaking school building bunk goes to show lies are lies, whether they're Trump's or Gahan's.

Note the use of the word "we" in this shameless whopper from Slick Jeffie.

SUPPORTING EDUCATION: With the help of school administrators and concerned parents, we succeeded on an initiative that rebuilt 2 brand new city schools, remodeled current facilities, invested in new equipment and technology, and created better spaces for learning for our children and families. Let’s keep moving New Albany forward!

Note to Abigail.

A simple rule for using numbers in writing is that small numbers ranging from one to ten (or one to nine, depending on the style guide) should generally be spelled out. Larger numbers (i.e., above ten) are written as numerals.

You'd think they'd teach this rule in school.

Rebuttals?

MC: "Wow. Talk about taking credit when none is due. The voters of Floyd County, through a referendum, approved all of this. What’s next? Taking credit for the sun coming up tomorrow? I mean, how desperate do you have to be to come up with actual accomplishments? How about telling us the total debt load of New Albany now versus when you came to office. I’ll even let you off the hook by excluding the sewer department, which has it’s own budget."

RC: "Exactly HOW did either the mayor or New Albany government make this happen?"

SW: "Let me get this straight -- so he supported education by taking property tax money away through TIF, forcing the school system to run a deceptive referendum campaign for a huge tax increase?"

KC: "Help me understand what the city had to do with this."

BM: "Heard Gahan was taking credit for the incredible full moon tonight as well."

Calling yourself a "progressive"?

Here's an idea:

Hold Jeff Gahan to the same standard of truthfulness that you maintain with Donald Trump. Think you can do that?

Has Gahan done anything "progressive" in eight years?

Running up debts for your children and grandchildren to pay isn't really "progressive," is it?

How can you "move forward" with an anchor as your official symbol?

#FireGahan2019

Property tax bills: Keep your eyes on the ball, and forget the mound of peanut shell games.

Chris Morris is on medical leave, there hasn't yet been a replacement for Elizabeth Beilman -- and hell, Tom May can be 15 or 20 places at once, but not 30, so it looks like it's Erin Walden on the education beat as the superintendent of schools explains it's not an increase at all -- and she's to be commended for keeping things straight as the numbers (and fur) fly.

Reached at his down-low command bunker, bond issue advocate Jeff Gahan said he continues to support the Taco Walk, and any tree than disagrees will find itself rendered into campaign finance broadsheets, sleeping with the little fishies.

NAFC superintendent talks tax increases, by Erin Walden (Tom May Content Coagulator)

NEW ALBANY — The truthfulness behind the 2016 referendum marketing statement “not a penny more” was called into question after taxpayers in Floyd County noticed increases on their property tax bill.

During the Monday night school board meeting, New Albany Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. superintendent Brad Snyder explained the increase was one of perception.

According to a presentation by Snyder, the debt rate in 2016 — the year the district pursued the referendum — was .5408 cents. In 2017, the debt rate dipped to .3833 cents and for 2018, the first year of the bond repayment for the referendum, it increased to .4941 cents.

“The campaign was held in 2016 with a very specific pledge to when the debts were repaid. There was a dip [in 2017]. That was the unseen, undiscussed,” Snyder said.

However, residents are only shown on tax bills what they paid last year, Snyder said, so the tax rate and total due for 2016 was not shown to give context to the 2018 figures.

Monday night's agenda was rearranged and the presentation came before public comments rather than after, and each public comment addressed the situation.

Dale Mann, who repeated his request for an independent audit of the district, said, “All these flyers – they were all lies. No increase, not a penny more. That’s all a lie. If you all support it, I’m gonna ask for your resignation ... "

At Strong Towns, Marohn says "I’m one person with one vote and, sadly, despite my strong desire to invest in our schools, I’m compelled to vote NO."

A reminder of rants past, this one from November 4, 2016.

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

Charles Marohn's testimony isn't a perfect analogy, but it's a reminder of how at times, voices raised in opposition to sacred cows are the most progressive ones of all.

MY "DISINGENUOUS" PUSH TO SAVE A NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL, by Charles Marohn (Strong Towns)

... Without knowing what else to do to nudge the school district towards sanity, I started a Facebook page to save the historic school. My thought was that if I could raise the profile a little bit, I could get the school district to, perhaps, open up to the potential of repurposing that building.

Two things happened. First, the response of this community was overwhelming. As I write this, the page has over 500 supporters — enough to tip the vote in my small town. I’ve been inundated with people wanting to talk about these issues, find ways to improve our neighborhoods and, most importantly, save the school from the wrecking ball. I’m ashamed that I did not anticipate this, but it has been a heartwarming surprise.

The second thing that happened has somewhat offset those good feelings. Not only has the school district doubled-down on their off-street parking rhetoric (and I feel somewhat compelled to say, stretched the truth beyond what I think is friendly in a situation like this), but the collection of insider voices — the newspaper, the chamber, local dignitaries, even some personal friends — have joined to ridicule, when they weren’t outright condemning, any efforts to question the approach.

People I’m very close to have suggested that I’m hurting our area students, threatening the future of the community and basically being a “disingenuous” jerk for not getting on board with the official plan. The newspaper even rolled out the tired bully tactic common to small towns: you didn’t bring up the concern years ago, so shut up, because it’s not valid anymore. I’m a little sickened by it.

I look around and I’m starting to feel the momentum shifting in this place. A sleepy old railroad town that accepted decline and second-rate status is waking up to possibility. The people in charge are no longer aspiring to be a cheaper version of the big box strip in the (showing the early signs of failure) city next door. They are starting to embrace our strengths. So are my neighbors, some of who have put their time and money into fixing up buildings in our struggling downtown. The list of things we can change is growing.

I owe it to them, and I owe it to the future residents of this community — kids and adults alike — to not support a $200 million investment that would irreversibly turn large parts of their neighborhoods into parking lot. I can’t support any more scars to the fabric of these neglected places. I won’t approve of my tax dollars making student’s walks any more dangerous, let alone their parents and those who must walk to get to where they are going. I find these site plans disrespectful.

And I won’t pay for a perfectly good, historic building to be put in the landfill instead of being repurposed, just so we can have a few more parking spots within convenient distance of the front door. The suggestion feels shameful and I can’t imagine what my Depression-era ancestors would say.

We’re making a once-a-generation decision, borrowing money for 25 years in this proposal. With the people of this community finally standing up to push back on the long-accepted decline, I don't feel compelled to settle for a choice between neighborhood schools and neighborhoods. They go together, and I’m going to keep saying that until school district officials grasp it.

Transparency in schools is a relative term, redevelopmentally non-binding in the sense of ... "Is Hibbard gone yet?"

By the way, New Albany's Redevelopment Commission spent money to support the school corporation's property tax referendum last November (minutes from the September meeting, above). Note that the President is Irving Joshua, and the Director is David Duggins ... and the secretary taking notes is Adam Dickey.

Yep, the fix remains in.

Now, to the topic of this post.

I'm the first to concede these past weeks have been fractured, to say the least. My head hasn't been in the game, but still, I'd have sworn that something appeared here at NAC about the "open door" complaint.

It's unanimous as the NAFC school board rejects Hibbard's rollover.

We think this means Dickey wants Gahan's bedmate Hibbard to keep his job, but it's such bad writing that it's hard to tell.

Lee Cotner is appointed to a third stint on the NAFC school board.

Maybe it was a Facebook discussion instead.

Obviously, I favor the greatest amount of transparency possible. More daylight and greater openness always are preferable to less.

That said, contrast the chain newspaper's headline with the content; the ruling is "non-binding," and and access counselor himself concedes it to be a "technicality."

Damn, I wish New Albany had a newspaper.

NA-FC school board violated the Open Door Law, rules public access counselor, by Danielle Grady (Hanson Pay to Play Gazette)

Board decided upon a replacement at an executive session

NEW ALBANY — The Indiana Public Access Counselor has issued a non-binding ruling that the New Albany-Floyd County school board violated the Open Door Law during the replacement process of former board member DJ Hines.

A complaint was filed against the school board earlier this year by former board member Mark Boone after the board agreed upon — but did not take a vote on — a replacement for Hines during an executive session on Jan. 18.

Our big fat Hibbardendum emerges fully erect: If all them Democrats got beat, how did they manage this tax increase?

Surprised?

Shocked?

Me, too. With numerous themes of societal disaffection combining to produce an overwhelming local landslide for Donald Trump, who gathered almost 59% of the votes cast for president in Floyd County, the NA-FC school corporation’s Hibbardendum – a shiny object construction bond issue – sailed effortlessly past the post, with almost 54% in favor.

This result is complete flip of the totals from the corporation’s first toss of the beanbag in May of 2015, and as such, it’s the only genuine head-scratcher amid Tuesday’s election returns in Floyd County.

In fact, even the Hibbardendum’s staunchest proponents can’t explain its success against the tide of status-quo-wrecking sweeping the planet. The familiar sentiments prefacing Trump’s rise, Brexit and “change” uprisings occurring all around the world have usually been expressed in heated defiance of hoity-toity “expert” opinion; if the usual suspects are for it, then mad-as-hell voters are against it.

Locally, with every political and economic power elite expressing support for the Hibbardendum that verged on the erotic, voters rose up … and agreed.

Was it the sheer force of money and propaganda?

Was it some sort of inner harmonic balance restoration, in that having offered to tear the system down right here, perhaps voters thought it wise to toss alms in the direction of “those kids” over there, albeit without paying very close attention to the devil lurking in the details?

Beats me. Is there a sociologist in the house?

At the same time, accepting Monty Python’s timeless advice at face value and gazing resolutely at the bright side of life, an obvious effort to pack the school board with handpicked Hibbard toadies failed miserably, such that the superintendent might be wise to keep his back facing the nearest wall, at least until he bolts for greener pastures, an inevitability now likely to occur sooner rather than later in spite of his success at relieving rate payers of a cool $87 million.

The corporation was well prepared, and will appear next week before the Plan Commission’s pre-greased and appointed wheels to begin garnering the necessary preliminary approvals to build, build and build some more.

Okay; fine, but to me, these two years of Hibbardendum politicking represent a profound missed opportunity to stage a discussion about the future of public education in a time of social cholera.

Instead, we’re going to do what we do best: Skip the substantive chat, stroke the power elites and construct bright shiny objects in another orgy of campaign finance trickle-down cash.

I say the sooner Superintendent Hibbard leaves town, the better.

Go already. You’ve done enough here, so please, can you do it to someone else, somewhere else?

Endorse THIS: Metro United Way completes seven whole days of pre-referendum stonewalling.

Team Gahan must have tipped them off.

"Not a partisan matter."

Rote verbiage. If I hadn't already determined to vote "no" on the referendum owing to its content, evasions like this, coupled with the hands-interlocked conformity of the community's usual suspects, would have sealed the deal.

Now we'll see.

Our big fat Hibbardendum (1): Follow the PAC-besotted usual suspects' beak wetting in the $87 million schools referendum.

As a preface to this daily ritualistic banging of heads against award-winning splash park water slides, has anyone noticed that D.J. Hines serves as a member of the NA-FC school board member right up until his testimonials are needed for the pro-referendum effort, at which point he reverts yet again to humble real estate mogul?

Do they really believe we don't notice things like this? But Tom Jones over at the Hartfield Company -- that guy can still effing bring it.

It's not unusual at all, so the Courier-Journal's Kirsten Clark follows the money, including D.J.'s cool thousand, in a survey of the most concentrated lobbying effort on behalf of beak-wetting-as-usual in Floyd County since ... since ... well, since when?

This well-lubricated, pile-driven offensive might well be classified as sui generis -- and you can look it up, Shane, though I doubt you'l bother. The underlining is mine.

Campaigns ramp up spending in school referendum

Political action committees on both sides of a $87-million referendum for Floyd County schools have upped their organization and spending from last year after a similar attempt to improve school buildings failed by a narrow margin.

"The Families for Floyd County PAC has done things differently this time," said Michele Day, an organizer of pro-referendum PAC, which is campaigning on behalf of New Albany-Floyd County Schools. "The PAC is considerably larger than it was previously."

On the other side of the issue, a Greenville-based citizens group this year formed its own PAC, not so much to be more competitive with Families for Floyd County, but just as a safety precaution, said P.J. Moore, speaking on behalf of Preserve and Protect Floyd County. While the group spent more than last year, it's still less than a tenth of the pro-referendum PAC.

"They've doubled down. They've increased the bond. They've hired a PR firm so they can be slick about it," Moore said. "It's David versus Goliath, and Goliath is cheating."

Families for Floyd County has nearly doubled its spending over last year – which organizers at the time called a “grassroots” effort of less than $10,000 – with tens of thousands of dollars poured into mailers, signs and other advertising, records show. In contrast, Preserve and Protect Floyd County spent just under $1,800, records show.

Moore's "David versus Goliath" analogy is apt, and while my previous comparison to the pre-Brexit mood in the United Kingdom still resonates ...

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

... the "leave" campaign across the pond was able to match the sheer weight of monied "remain" endorsements from society's best and brightest with invaluable assistance from the tabloid press.

There has been no such counter-balance during our most recent referendum push, with the possible exception of NA Confidential's persistent gutter journalism, because as Mayor Jeff Gahan once noted, we've "never done anything in a positive manner to help the city of New Albany.”

Hear hear! But enough about the wording on NAC's ceremonial plaque, to be nailed to the alley facing a deforested verge during the approaching end times, and back to the referendum itself.

Did it fail "by a narrow margin" last time out?

Not exactly. Here's an excerpt from WDRB's coverage in May, 2015.

New Albany Floyd County Schools tax referendum fails in Indiana primary

Voters in Floyd County rejected an $80 million plan to build two new schools and renovate three others in a special referendum on the Indiana primary ballot Tuesday. The measure was voted down with almost 55 percent of voters saying no. According to Floyd County's election returns, 5,524 ballots were cast, with 2,531 voting 'yes' and 2,993 voting 'no'.

Granted, it was a primary election, and vote totals were low (you don't think Bruce "Bags Packed" Hibbard gamed that slot on purpose, do you?), yet it's inaccurate to characterize a 55-45 tally as "narrow." That's landslide territory these days, in this sad-sack country.

As of Saturday, more than 18,000 early votes in the 2016 general election have been cast in Floyd County. Will far heavier voting during a presidential election season alter the percentages? Obviously, we have no public polling numbers on the referendum, and Nate Silver cannot participate in the discussion.

I've no way of handicapping the referendum vote, and won't try. The Green Mouse says Hibbard will be down the road in 2017, yea or nay. One local wag put it like this way:

Don't want to say the referendum is dead ... but it has gone to a farm in the country where it can run and play out the rest of its days.

I'm not so sure, but if "no" wins again, I'd advise all and sundry to take a look at the off-the-grid methodology of Preserve and Protect Floyd County, a virtually invisible PAC with almost no electronic presence, which still manages to inspire fear and loathing on the part of community pillars. I like medicine like that.

Waiter, I'll have some of what they're having, please.

Back to Brother Tom, in a track recorded during the early days of consolidation.

What's new, pussycat?

Nothing, and that's the problem.

See also:

Our big fat Hibbardendum (2): The more things stay the same, or our school bond referendum, 2016.

Our big fat Hibbardendum (3): City voters, take note, because just as in 2015, the NA-FC bond referendum is a "driving oriented, suburban school model."

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

Our big fat Hibbardendum (2): The more things stay the same, or our school bond referendum, 2016.

I was asked to "clarify" my stance on the school bond referendum in the wake of Friday's day-late column.

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

... as with the vote that preceded it, the stated terms of this referendum are fundamentally deceptive. The chicanery accompanying them is rampant and frankly odious. This exercise is about bright shiny objects, not the education of kids. This is not a community discussion about the future of education. It’s a top-down edict, and a call for the rabble to bow to their betters, form a line and stand in order.

Seeing as nothing much has changed since Bruce Hibbard's first might heave at the bond issue Wheel of Fortune in May of 2015 -- apart from the corporation's target number increasing to $87 million -- my words at the time should suffice. The following was originally published on May 4, 2015 as "On the school bond referendum," and I stand by it.

See also:

Our big fat Hibbardendum (1): Follow the PAC-besotted usual suspects' beak wetting in the $87 million schools referendum. 

Our big fat Hibbardendum (3): City voters, take note, because just as in 2015, the NA-FC bond referendum is a "driving oriented, suburban school model."

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

---

There were 106 posts at NA Confidential in April, 2015, and to my surprise, this one took the title of most viewed.

News release: "Greenville Concerned Citizens, Inc. (has) voted to oppose the upcoming $80 million school bond referendum."

Obviously, there exists a palpable level of interest in the school bond referendum, which impacts the entire county, but is appearing on the ballot during a city election cycle, during the often forgotten primary. This fact alone might provide a modicum of insight as to why some residents might be piqued, apart from the relative merits of the referendum's "for" and "against."

From the start, there has been a well-organized, prolific advocacy effort for a "yes" vote: Families for Floyd County. It's a well-named PAC, too; it's hard to imagine the converse, as in Families AGAINST Floyd County.

Meanwhile, by its own admission, the organized "vote no" push was slow in getting off the ground, and in spite of the press release here at the blog that performed so well, the News and Tribune didn't pay very much attention until after the Louisville Courier-Journal tipped things off.

Group rallies against $80M Floyd referendum, by Kirsten Clark

In the final weeks before an $80 million referendum for New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation appears on the ballot, a group of concerned citizens has been rallying against it, calling some of the proposed construction it would fund "completely unnecessary" and the school administration's actions "sneaky."

Shortly thereafter, N and T revealed the counter-punch.

Greenville group may have illegal sign campaign, by Jerod Clapp

... Pete Palmer, a local attorney and president of Families for Floyd County — a PAC encouraging voters to favor the referendum — said he may file a formal complaint against Greenville Concerned Citizens.

“I am exploring the issue because I think the manner in which they have approached this is unfair,” Palmer said. “To the extent I consider it to be a violation of Indiana election law, I consider it to be an appropriate remedy.”

Speaking only for myself, I find it very disappointing that the well-heeled Families for Floyd County would seek intimidation via technicality. The pro-bond PAC has been ubiquitous in presenting its case in favor of the school bond issue.

Need it crush dissenting viewpoints to succeed?

---

There simply isn't space here to recap the many instructive conversations taking place recently on Facebook about the school bond issue. Thanks to all who have taken part. To me, perhaps the best short summary remains Jeff G's Fb post several weeks back, which is clear and economical in explaining the case against.

The school referendum on the primary ballot in Floyd County attempts to refute both science and basic economics, assuring the school corporation continues on the wholly unsustainable path started with closing smaller, walkable, neighborhood schools. Proponents of the referendum have continually attempted to separate the school closings from the referendum but both are part of the exact same plan-- a reliance on fewer, larger, driving-oriented school campuses. This is a school corporation that thinks nothing of purchasing and demolishing hundred-year-old housing to build more parking lots. All the pro-kids, pro-community, pro-environment arguments made in response to the proposed closings are still true and applicable. This referendum just insures that they won't ever be taken seriously until we reach genuine crisis stage, something that will occur sooner if the referendum passes. We can deal with reality now as a part of an improved referendum or we can stick our heads in the sand with this one and continue pretending as though a misguided 60s era model will work ad infinitum. Looking forward rather than backward requires voting NO.

Consequently, there exist two fundamental considerations pertaining to the "yea or nay" thought process as it exists in my own interior world.

First, while I believe we always should do things "for the kids," which is to say, "for the future," parsing the equation and defining the meaning of "things" is by no means simple, and the process lends itself to deployment as an emotional argument -- which I view proponents as having done in this instance. What must we do for the kids? Build better buildings. Why? Because better buildings lead to better education. Are there alternatives? Not really -- after all, it's for the kids. The argument is emotional, and circular.

Second, the bond proposal cannot be divorced from its progenitor. The NA-FC school corporation is the very essence of 800-lb gorilla, absorbing huge amounts of money and sucking the air out of rooms from Silver Creek to the Harrison County line, and yet existing forever as an autonomous, extra-governmental entity. There is little or no connectivity between school corporation leadership and the community; if the city resolves to pour money into neighborhood revitalization, you can almost bet your paycheck that the neighborhood school located there is next to be shuttered, with the decision-making process customarily based on a staggering degree of non-transparency, and absent communication with elected officials.

As recently as mid-April, during the run-up to the referendum, and almost as though school corporation administrators were bound and determined to prove once and for all how utterly tone deaf to criticism they can be, the upper echelon reacted harshly and openly to suggestions that it might do more to inform the public about agenda items at school board meetings:

“We wrote to you so you could make good decisions,” (deputy superintendent Brad) Snyder said. “We didn’t write to 70,000 people. We didn’t write to people who have axes to grind or issues against us. If we start writing that way, our vernacular, our language will probably shift to nouns and verbs. Our relationships will change and we will be required to do less work.”

Some will say that voting "no" as a form of protest, as I have done, is improper, seeing as it places children in the position of suffering collateral damage. I cannot entirely dismiss this objection. There are opportunity costs to all decisions, and we rely on our minds and consciences to help in the process of weighing them. But in the end, if we're genuinely serious about long-term futures, then there must be an open, principled break with unhelpful policies and behaviors from the past.

Education, community, sustainability, connectivity ... it's a minefield. The school bond referendum was a tough call for me. I merely hope that we can agree to disagree.

Our big fat Hibbardendum (3): City voters, take note, because just as in 2015, the NA-FC bond referendum is a "driving oriented, suburban school model."

Originally published on April 6, 2015. 

The "yes" arguments favoring the 2016 variant of the school corporation's bond referendum are essentially the same as before, when it was defeated by voters during the 2015 primary election. Perhaps unsurprisingly, so are the "no" arguments. Here is one of them. See also:

Our big fat Hibbardendum (1): Follow the PAC-besotted usual suspects' beak wetting in the $87 million schools referendum. 

Our big fat Hibbardendum (2): The more things stay the same, or our school bond referendum, 2016.

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

---

Unctuous, thy name is Bruce Hibbard.

Back in February, when the reigning superintendent of the NA-FC schools appeared at a city council work session along with Brad "Actually Earns HIS Pay" Snyder to tout the May referendum, at-large councilman John Gonder cut straight to the chase and said aloud what everyone in the room should have been thinking.

Gonder said school officials didn’t actively lobby the public in support of Silver Street Elementary School when it was on the chopping block.

Now the system is wanting to build larger facilities while a school that children once could walk to has been closed, Gonder added.

“I do think that the school corporation has a strong responsibility to neighborhoods in the city,” he said.

Of course, "neighborhoods in the city" have tended to be the last thing on the school corporation's mind, apart from demolishing houses near existing schools (does Dan Coffey get a cut of that CCE action, too?), but if we were expecting introspection from Hibbard, it wasn't happening.

The decision to close those schools — which was made almost five years ago — was in reaction to state funding cuts and other issues facing the system at the time, Hibbard said.

“When we closed those four schools, we didn’t need those four schools,” Hibbard said. “It was really about efficiency for the district so we could survive.”

In short: The school corporation, without which Hibbard's pay packet is rerouted to a tar paper-lined sewer ditch on West 9th Street, must live even if our neighborhoods die.

A subsequent suggestion that "efficiencies" in school administration might include periodic examinations of past policy failures and current golden parachutes was greeted with disingenuousness in the form of Hibbard's gurgling sounds and palpable condescension; apparently Snyder is quite accustomed to dual duty as primary plan presenter and bucket o'sawdust-bearing cleaner of his boss's puke piles.

As the referendum's primary slot draws nearer, let's fast forward to last week's NAC post about the built-in lies of America's transportation system.

Marohn on transportation funding: "Facing the Unknown with Courage."

... We’re locked into a transportation system that requires us to lie to ourselves about what we can know about the future and then spend huge amounts to support that lie. When we underestimate our needs, it confirms our bias for building more. When we overestimate, we can explain it away – if we are ever asked to, which we hardly ever are – by citing factors beyond our control (oil price, recession, fickle humans, etc…). This is a dumb system.

JeffG, from whom the link was borrowed, then used Marohn's main point as a mirror, and held it up to the school corporation.

(Marohn's point) pretty well sums up the upcoming school referendum, too, in which the school corporation seeks to solidify its commitment to a driving oriented, suburban school model for the foreseeable future.

NA-FC buses already drive enough to circle the globe multiple times in less than a week. We know that's extremely costly and not sustainable. We know that children, neighborhoods, and our biosphere do better with walkable, neighborhood schools. But, when I suggest refocusing efforts on such walkable schools, I'm told I'm rehashing previous decisions.

The truth is, the current $120 million plan is the one looking backward, extending and exacerbating the misguided trends of the 50s and 60s while ignoring current and future reality. We can't afford the vehicles, roads, and fuel usage we have now, so what's the school plan? To use what's being called a rare financial opportunity to make sure we keep it that way for as long as possible.

We've often made the argument that the single worst aspect of New Albany's archaic one-way street grid is the way it incessantly rows in the opposite direction, 24 hours each day, negating all expenditures and well-intentioned efforts to revitalize urban neighborhoods. The school corporation often functions in similar fashion. It would be easier to support this referendum if it might somehow be a part of a deal to bring Hibbard to the table, to improve the school corporation as a participating stakeholder in the process of civic improvement, rather than an entity seemingly always pursuing autonomous agendas. Pie in the sky, perhaps.

Meanwhile ...

From what can be seen on-line and in social media, pending corrections, the only two May primary candidates to make public their views on the referendum are Al Knable (at-large council) and Cliff Staten (6th district council), both in favor.

There doesn't seem to be an organized anti-referendum effort, although the comments appended to two posts from January in the Floyd County IN, GOP group at Facebook, most of them by former Floyd County Republican Party chairman Dave Matthews, amply summarize the opposition from a "no new taxes" perspective.

First one
Second one

The pro-referendum case is made on Facebook at Families for Floyd County (the group's web site is here).

A final link: Referendum tax rate slightly higher than estimated for NA-FC Schools (Jerod Clapp, News and Tribune).

 ... (Snyder) said the district’s reasoning with the .1937 rate was to anticipate some growth in the assessed valuation of properties across the county.

The DLGF came back and told them to avoid assuming any growth in the values and keep them essentially flat, slightly raising the estimated rate.

Let's avoid the TIF discussion for now, shall we? It's only Monday morning, and we're already exhausted.

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

ON THE AVENUES: It’s our big fat Hibbardendum, and Jeff Gahan is carrying the superintendent across the threshold as Metro United Way tosses rice and One Southern Indiana steals all the liquor.

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

It's extremely bad form for Gahan to be using our tax dollars to push the referendum. Yet one more reason to vote no. Also noteworthy along ethical lines is how the PAC (Families For Floyd County) threatened to sue last time over a bunch of neighbors putting out yard signs but seem to have no problem with this. The longer this type of chicanery goes on, the less I and others are inclined to financially support those who so consistently perform it.
-- Bluegill

On October 31 a typically breathless post appeared at New Albany's stand-alone City Hall web site, which begs the first of many questions almost certain to remain unasked by local reporters, their perennial omissions being why I crawl back from my stupor most weeks to make some semblance of an effort in this space, because damn it, someone should.

Why does City Hall need its own official web site when the City of New Albany already has one?

There it was, a strange Twilight Zone head-scratcher of a pre-election promo by an elected political entity, for a property tax referendum to which it has no direct connection – unless, of course, Mayor Jeff Gahan already has plotted a wee puddle for campaign finance beak-wetting amid $87 million, and yes, while they may be little puddles, they cumulatively add up to more than small beer.

Did you know that in 2015, Dan Cristiani Excavating was one of the city’s best-remunerated vendors at $650,214?

Just a spoonful of beak-wetting elixir from a splash pad like this goes a long way in staging a State Senate race, doesn’t it?

Right, Jeff?

Right, Chuck?

C’mon, guys, who is it going to be? Inquiring minds want to know ... and flee.

As an aside, in September, when the Floyd County Democratic Party publicly endorsed the Hibbardendum, teacher/candidate/sacrificial lamb/bro-in-law Steve Bonifer introduced the enabling resolution, prompting yet another question.

Who’ll be the next AARP-member teacher to run against incumbent Ed Clere in 2018?

---

City Hall’s virtual advertisement boosting the Hibbardendum sought yet again to convey the heroic inevitability of the NA-FC school corporation’s ballot initiative, primarily by gathering together in one spot as many slavish endorsements by local elites as permitted by OSHA standards of pile-driven redundancy. It slipped around like a greased pig, from one presumed community pillar to the next.

It was as though Team Gahan's functionaries were slouched on a grimy one-way street corner selling NA anchor seal pencils, apparently without a parks opening ribbon to cut or a tax abatement to lavish on reluctant industrial park occupants, its shiny paean of a press release apple being polished, and celebrating the Hibbardendum by endeavoring mightily to toss any remaining intellectual integrity out the window.

Something that's awfully hard to do when you inhabit a bunker.

There was a predictable reminder of Gahan’s previous personal endorsement, presumably written by one of his many immediate family members employed by … that’s right, the school corporation. You could tell Gahan didn't write it himself, as it came perilously close to coherence.

After touring the schools and reviewing the conditions in New Albany and Floyd County, I am excited to support the many improvements in store for our students in New Albany-Floyd County Schools.

Or, translated: “Ask not what Bruce Hibbard can do for you, ask what you can do for Bruce Hibbard.” It’s not exactly JFK, but at least spellcheck was activated.

Next came a gushing tout from the Southern Indiana Realtors Association.

“We fully support the NAFCS Referendum which will bring much needed improvements to nine area schools,” stated Sara White, President-elect of the Southern Indiana Realtors Association and managing broker for Semonin Realtors Southern Indiana.

Try finding it on SIRA’s web site; more on that in a moment.

My personal favorite was the link to a letter from Tsar Hibbard himself, a man whose bags have been kept packed since arrival, 24-7-365, in expectation of verdant pastures to come, just over that glorious horizon where the golden parachutes grow like greenhouse ganja ... if Prosser were located in California.

In this era of competition for students, NAFCS is doing quite well. For the sixth consecutive school year, we have a record of number of transfer students! This provides our operating fund with over four million dollars of added revenue. Why are so many people choosing NAFCS? Our leadership team believes there is a simple answer: It’s our teachers and support staff. We have the hardest working, incredibly intelligent and most collaborative group of people working with our students. Furthermore, our entire staff embraces a model based upon results and improvement. This is why NAFCS provides our community with highly rated rigorous academic programs, championship athletic teams and world-class performing arts.

Please Vote “Yes” for NAFCS!

Given that Hibbard and the school system are prohibited from engaging in pro-referendum agitprop, this paragraph is highly instructive. It reveals that the primary mission of today’s school corporation is to lure students away from other neighboring school corporations, hence the importance of artificial turf on football fields and gold-plated bathroom fixtures last seen being looted from a fleeing Mobutu’s presidential palace in Zaire.

Consequently, when it came time to design a graphic interface for recruitment signs, a remarkable coincidence occurred. The imagery of saying “yes” to the general concept of NA-FC schools almost exactly mirrored that of saying “yes” to this particular property tax referendum, such that when Hibbard closes his pep talk with a resounding “yes” to schools, well, he’s not saying anything about the vote, just the rah-rah.

Clever devils, aren’t they?

---

Wile E. Coyote isn’t the only genius enrolled in this adult education outreach program.

According to City Hall, One Southern Indiana has thrown its considerable dead-as-roadkill weight behind the Hibbardendum, as Wendy Dant Chesser indicated in a letter to the News and Tribune, dated October 30, though found only on City Hall's web site, not anywhere on the newspaper's, except that interestingly, on September 19, in a newspaper article about the Democratic Party’s gratifyingly Boniferian resolution, it was mentioned that 1Si already had endorsed it.

Well, hell, everyone has endorsed it.

The NAACP, the NCAA, the SPCA, the CIA, the FBI, the city’s fire chief, its police chief, the building commissioner, and surely five or six bushels of indifferent city officials and employees who astutely reason that their failure to be seen plumping for the featherbedding might result in skinnier pay packets, or even worse, a 1:00 a.m. phone call from His Serene Highness.

Couldn't they at least get their dates straight?

Meanwhile, with the upper strata ready to start moving some dirt, Metro United Way has made a late entry into the fray with this.

Just today, committed community partners Metro United Way released an endorsement of the NAFCS Referendum.

“Metro United Way’s top priorities are for our young children to arrive at kindergarten prepared to succeed and for our students to graduate on time, prepared for college, life and career. We are also know that learning environments play a large role in student success. That is why, we are hopeful that the New Albany Floyd County School referendum will be embraced by the Floyd County community on November 8th,” stated Joe Tolan, President & CEO of Metro United Way.

Just like City Hall’s recitation of the Southern Indiana Realtors Association servile bootlicking, Metro United Way’s mash note seems to exist at no other planetary portal than City Hall’s own propaganda arm.

Why?

Since Tuesday, I’ve been asking Metro United Way for clarification. I was asked to please move the conversation from public social media (where folks can see it) to private messaging (where they can't), and I did, with the entirely expected result being three days of absolute do-nothing stonewalling.

Metro United Way, whose board includes a who's who of regional luminaries, including NAFC schools lifer Dr. Louis Jensen, briefly waved off questions about its 501(c)3 non-profit status before retreating into hiding.

How is this organization in any position to "endorse" the Hibbardendum?

Moreover, and the overall gist of my rant, why is the city of New Albany expending tax dollars to serve as the central information, argumentum ad verecundiam portal in support of the school corporation’s pitch for property tax dollars?

Were the SIRA and Metro United Way testimonials handed directly to Gahan?

Does Gahan work for the citizens of New Albany, or Bruce Hibbard?

I’m reminded of the top-down tone of pre-Brexit in the United Kingdom, as every last representative of usual-suspect officialdom took a turn shilling for a “stay” vote, perhaps never bothering to look outside, at the restless and sometimes angry crowds, their middle fingers raised to the heavens, because how many times must one be compelled to remind these wankers in official circles that the usual finger-wagging hypocrites quite simply are loathed?

To close, I’ll speak for myself, and for me alone.

I’ve never been cut from the anti-tax bolt of cloth. My mom was a teacher, and I've been around teachers my whole life. We’ve no children, but are perfectly willing to pay our fair share for education.

However, as with the vote that preceded it, the stated terms of this referendum are fundamentally deceptive. The chicanery accompanying them is rampant and frankly odious. This exercise is about bright shiny objects, not the education of kids. This is not a community discussion about the future of education. It’s a top-down edict, and a call for the rabble to bow to their betters, form a line and stand in order.

Consequently, it's no wonder Mayor Gahan is so attached to the grandeur of the Hibbardendum. It's exactly the same level of Disneymandered Potemkin Village Boondoggling that prefaces the sluices of his municipal governance in New Albany. The greased pig I mentioned earlier? He's in slop.

I'm ready to have a community-wide discussion about what's best for children. Anytime, anywhere -- and this referendum isn't it. Not even close. I voted against it, and I understand this act will offend some readers.

But I believe the opprobrium should be directed against the school corporation's upper management, especially Hibbard, because in the process of making a bad case for its own bad idea, it has insulted our intelligence, again, and again, and again.

In the end, it wasn't necessary for me to take into consideration the phalanx of "business as usual" pimps brought together by the Genius of the Flood Plain to perform some soft shoe and clink a few glasses.

But thanks just the same, mayor. The refresher course is much appreciated, and I'll just pass on the entree.

(Updated on Sunday, November 6)

Our big fat Hibbardendum (1): Follow the PAC-besotted usual suspects' beak wetting in the $87 million schools referendum. 

Our big fat Hibbardendum (2): The more things stay the same, or our school bond referendum, 2016.

Our big fat Hibbardendum (3): City voters, take note, because just as in 2015, the NA-FC bond referendum is a "driving oriented, suburban school model."

---

October 27: ON THE AVENUES: It's NAC's 12th birthday, and the beatings will continue until morale improves.

October 20: ON THE AVENUES: Key events in the New Albanian rebirth, but first, a piccolo of grappa, per favore.

October 13: ON THE AVENUES: They're coming to take me away.

October 6: ON THE AVENUES: His nose knows tolls and polls (2010).

Same referendum, same arguments. Same outcome?

Returning to a point we made last spring: Given the advent of early voting, the News and Tribune must move up the release of articles like this, as well as its General Election Voters Guide, so that they'll appear before ballots are cast.

On the other hand, the referendum is the perfect example of emotions outweighing logic. I suppose it doesn't matter, does it?

SATURDAY SPOTLIGHT: New Albany-Floyd County Schools try another referendum, by Jerod Clapp (News and Tribune)

FLOYD COUNTY — Taking a second shot at securing funding for upgrades and rebuilt schools, the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corp. has an $87 million referendum on the ballot for Nov. 8.

In May of 2015, the measure failed in the primary, with the vote spread at 45 percent in support and 55 percent against it. Taking some lessons from the failure and regrouping, the district aims to win next month, but an opposition group still raises concerns about keeping taxes at the same level and whether the scope is too great on the projects.

In just more than two weeks, voters will decide whether to take an overall property tax decrease or to allow the district to issue the bonds to renovate or rebuild schools, but both sides argued their points.

The annual question: Why does the "rule" of Harvest Homecoming outweigh the interests of free speech on city-owned streets?

It's an annual question that hasn't ever been properly answered. Let's get David Duggins right on it, shall we? After all, Shane's busy dodging information requests.

Or ... maybe since City Hall itself and the Democratic Party machine (is there a difference?) both endorsed Bruce Hibbard's referendum, Harvest Homecoming was merely enforcing the governing junta's own gag-me-with-a-spoon order?

These people don't understand rule of law very well, do they?

Laughing. Out. Loud.

---

JEERS...

...to the pro-referendum people at Harvest Homecoming who told us that we could not campaign against the school tax referendum at Harvest Homecoming wearing our anti-referendum T-shirts and handing out fliers. They said we were causing an “incident.” Their stern demeanor was comical in retrospect since they were faking their authority. They warned that we could be escorted off the premises by a police officer, or worse. We politely suggested that they have the proper authorities approach us and we continued on our purpose. This happened Friday afternoon and again Saturday afternoon.

— George Mouser, Floyds Knobs

Democratic Party still silent about two-way streets, but heartily endorses NA-FC referendum.

But of course.

Meanwhile, there has been no two-way streets endorsement from any of these entities, from City Hall through Party, and including One Southern Indiana -- but let's not forget the school corporation. It hasn't addressed two-way streets, has it? I mean, fair's fair, right?

Has Develop New Albany?

Floyd County Democratic Party endorses NA-FC referendum; Referendum would add improvements to 9 facilities if approved, by Aprile Rickert (News and Tribune)

"How to Get the Most out of Urban Public Schools."

Odd, but I can't find the section detailing the importance of demolishing numerous urban neighborhood homes to create fresh new parking lots. Maybe it's an oversight.

By the way, this ...

 ... and many other pro-referendum yard signs have been illegally placed. Get 'em out of the verge, Families for Floyd County. We have rules, you know.

The article is:

How to Get the Most out of Urban Public Schools, by Steven Shultis (Strong Towns)

 ... I've spent so much time defending the idea of the value of the urban school experience, often being attacked by people who assume that my decision to live in an urban place was done with total disregard for my kids, that I had forgotten how important their well-being had been in the decision-making which lead my family and I to live an urban lifestyle. I've spent so much time arguing for the urban school experience (here, here, here, here, here and here, just to start) that I had forgotten that school was only part of the education my daughters received living in a diverse, traditional, and urban neighborhood.

Your ASK THE BORED follow-up: The disappearing school recruitment banner atop the levee.

I go away for ten days, and upon returning, see that almost nothing has changed, except this.

Stay tuned for more. I'm seeing lots of illegally placed pro-referendum signs around town. Shouldn't they have to take a class, or something?

ASK THE BORED: Can we all have a banner atop the levee, or just the school corporation?

ASK THE BORED: Can we all have a banner atop the levee, or just the school corporation?

I've had several reader questions about the NAFC schools banner currently hanging on degraded remains of the structure atop the levee by the amphitheater.

Because I'll be out of town, I cannot attend this week's BOW meeting and ask them. Perhaps someone else will.

Strictly speaking, the marketing campaign in question is about student recruitment, and in theory, the banner does not reference the referendum.

However, it's been a thinly veiled sidestep all along, with "YES" in big letters and "enroll" written very small. Rightly or wrongly, there's no doubt in the minds of many in the city that the secondary intent of these and other variously sized "yes" signs is to encourage a "yes" referendum vote.

But this isn't my point. 

Does every organization have equality of opportunity to use this elevated space for ads?

Is there a Board of Works procedure for such?

NA Confidential would love to have the exposure. Where do I register? Can someone point me to the Board of Works minutes indicating discussion and approval of the school corporation banner as currently placed?

Or, is it first-come, first-served?

By the way, here's the list of school board filings for the fall election, and here's a link to a previous letter exploring our school corporation's marketing strategies, because ...

As enrollment declines, L.A. public schools borrow a tactic from the charters: marketing, by Anna M. Phillips (Los Angeles Times)

Letter to the editor: "I've spent a lot of time thinking about the school referendum."

Submitted.

I've spent a lot of time thinking about the school referendum - years, now -- and I could never come up with any reasonable justification. The "reasons" never made sense. I've been in those buildings and they are certainly fine and have the requisite amenities.

For a 10-year period, tech could have been a reason, since building out fiber-optic and/or ethernet would have required new builds. But we are well past that interregnum. Tech is such now that we are more likely to let everyone stay home and be tele-taught.

It finally dawned on me that to assume good faith on the part of the promoters was my mistake. The default mode for the promoters is to tell a pretty lie and rely on the fact that the children their system educated will be too stoopid to see through it.

They are lying. They have a REAL reason, but as is so very often seen in these environs, they refuse to state it. Call it Gahanism.

Here's the skinny, in my estimation: Now that public tax money follows the student, NA-FCCSC has to be consumer-driven. Like Northside Church, which offers exercise classes and a gym to draw lapsed Catholics into their fold, the school system feels they have to build amusement parks to draw students. The artificial-turf football fields are but one example. Trust me, that is not common where football is actually a serious sport. Yet, our schools people complained that every 5A school but ours had one.

If they would just say "We don't like it, but your education tax dollars are being sucked away by religious and partisan charter schools with entirely different agendas and methods from ours. Practically NONE of your local tax dollars are being spent on education. Those tax dollars are spent on buses, administrators, and buildings. But with tax caps and a city that TIFs everything under the sun, including wasteful things like a lazy river and wading pool, we can't compete.

"Yes, charter schools can't tax you for their buildings. But unless we close and rapidly sell off our neighborhood schools, the law requires us to sell them to our competition for nothing. That's why we sold Silver Street School. If we hadn't, a charter school could have just taken it and started - wait for it - a public neighborhood school. That's why we sold it for $100,000 instead of the millions it would have earned if marketed. A charter school could have come in and taken it, so we pre-sold it to a church incapable of starting a school.

"So to compete in this new marketplace, we simply must build palaces."

If they had come right out and said that, I might have been inclined to accept the tax increase to help public schools compete against "public" schools. I still might have supported them if they had been honest.

We old fuckers are still stuck in the pre-privatization days where there was a ban on paying private tuitions. The Daniels-Pence putsch has still not sunken into our atrophied brains. The GOP, if only to kill unions, is committed to "school choice" but what it really means is the end of public education as we knew it.

So, to compete in a rigged game, we're supposed to indebt ourselves to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. In fact, maybe the corporation should just disband and let the Republicans have their way. Then the revolution will come that much sooner.

But with golden parachutes for all!

Council frivolity, slice number one: The council makes mad passionate love to a "referendumn."

Pretty soon the Jeffersonville paper will be reduced to hiring temps to cover New Albany news. Does Bill "Publisher of the Year for Profits" Hanson really believe ten months of neglect doesn't show on a daily basis?

It isn't that this week's revolving replacement reporter fails to note the highlights of the city council meeting on Thursday evening, which I couldn't attend owing to this being my family reunion weekend.

Rather, it is this: The primary reason for having a beat reporter in the first place is to allow the reporter time to contextualize, and to extract the important bits from the bilge.

However, it's all we have, so we'll use what we can. First, the council's embrace of the school corporation's $87 million referendum.

New Albany residents concerned road construction will lead to more flooding; Council passes resolution to support NAFC Schools referendum.

RESOLUTION FOR REFERENDUMN PASSES

The council voted 8-0 in favor of supporting the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated Schools referendum, with Coffey abstaining.

He cited concerns with the city taking schools out of neighborhoods, where parents can be involved, and leaders worrying too much about school buildings over students and teachers.

“Let's get back to the basics,” he said. “Quit worrying about buildings and worry about (teaching the children).”

Other council members spoke on the merits of having nice school facilities — it can be a greater learning environment and bring students back to their hometown to raise families if the amenities are good.

Councilman Greg Phipps also brought up that newer or upgraded facilities can more easily and safely be locked down in an active shooter situation.

(Alternative spelling of "referendum" is the paper's, not mine.)

Passage of the resolution was a foregone conclusion, but the final score is interesting for three reasons:

1. Once again, Scott Blair somehow located a banker's top-secret special exception to oft-stated principle about the disposable meaningless of council resolutions, and voted in favor of this one. That't two in a row, Scott. When exceptions become the rule, they're no longer exceptions.

2. Once again, Dan Coffey repeatedly stated opposition to a measure, only to meekly abstain when the vote came down. We've seen this so many times over the years that it has ceased to be novel, even if it remains grimly fascinating, as though watching as 71-year-old Pete Townshend tries (and fails) to smash his guitar.

3. Did Greg Phipps really say this -- and if so, given his support for gun control, was it a facetious remark, the snark of which eluded the reporter?

I suspect it was. It's all about context, Bill. It genuinely matters to those of us who actually live here, as opposed to Alabama. Can we have our reporter back yet, or are you passing the savings along to yourself?

(In Part Two, Timosoara meets Klerner Lane)