House fire in the 3rd district turns the spotlight to the importance of corner buildings, and how few city officials understand it.

It's unlikely the owner will be stepping forward to save the house, given that his serial neglect over a period of years surely contributed to its demise, but maybe miracles still happen.

TIF-buffing, anyone? Duggins' personal "Lots-R-Us" housing authority might be able to take it over for voucher housing.

Meanwhile David Barksdale's right about those idiotically vacant corner lots scattered throughout town where buildings ought to be, with perhaps a dozen in Councilman Phipps' 3rd district alone.

So of course everyone involved happily agreed to build parks at the corner of 11th and Spring, and the corner of Pearl and Spring -- and of course the corner of State and Spring remains a superfluous parking lot, and there's the biggest waste of what should be prime real estate in the entire city where the Farmers Market was built ...

Yep, those corner lots.

True, the city can't control what happens with all of them, but it's too bad we can't get it right for the ones we do.

Fire crews battle blaze at historic New Albany home, by Aprile Rickert (Hanson's Chain Folly)

Building was vacant, chief says

NEW ALBANY — Fire crews continue to attack hot spots after a historic home in downtown New Albany caught fire early Friday morning ...

... The corner-lot house falls within New Albany's historic Mansion Row, adjacent to St. Paul's Episcopal Church on the west and Naville & Seabrook Funeral Home on the north. It was built in 1910 by Edward and Mary Hackett, a family that was in the furniture manufacturing business. Edward died in 1922 and the home was subdivided into apartments in 1926, years before the bulk of larger building were cut into multi-family units during World War I and II.

Mary remained in control of the property until around 1940, when it was purchased by Vincent Knabel.

Floyd County Historian Dave Barksdale said that first and foremost, he's glad no one was seriously injured or killed in the fire. But he's concerned about whether the 109-year-old building will survive the damage.

"Corner buildings are very important to a street and when you lose a corner building, it's a shame because you're losing the anchor of that block," he said. "Depending on what the owner is intending on doing, there could be a good infill project go in there. It would be great if it could be saved, but just from my vantage point, I think it would be awfully hard to save."

Greg Sekula, director of Indiana Landmarks Southern regional office, said he has hope it can be restored.

"It certainly kind of makes your heart sink, particularly when the building is in a historic district and it is a contributing property within the district," Sekula said.

He said the house is a good example of framed colonial style and was one of the more prominent homes on the street when it was built. As an income-producing property, he said there are federal grants available to help with restoration.

"You don't want to see a gaping hole there," Sekula said. "I'm hoping that either the owner or someone else would step forward and try to save the building and rebuild the structure...hopefully the structural integrity is still intact which would make rebuilding feasible."

The Floyd County Assessor's Office confirmed that the property was last sold to Timothy Hollins in 1993. Hollins was unable to be immediately contacted for comment.

The Residences at the Lofts at SoDoSoPa, or "Beware the Four-Letter Words of Vibrant Downtowns."

Gahan
Gatekeeper
Nawbany
Nash

GaGaNaNa -- be one of the beautiful peeples.

Beware the Four-Letter Words of Vibrant Downtowns, by Max Azzarello (Strong Towns)

 ... the most fun I have in such places is when I'm playing Vibrancy Bingo: The search for the four-letter words that inevitably advertise such luxury spaces. Whether they’re written on banners hanging from retro street lamps or projected onto impossibly clean sidewalks, you’re practically guaranteed to find some permutation of the words “Shop. Play. Dine. Stay.”, the rhythmic marketing mantra of the modern lifestyle center.

I think that it’s telling that for all the amenities offered, these lifestyle centers are so often interchangeable. From the four-letter words and impossibly attractive 30-somethings in ads, to the Cheesecake Factories and towering luxury condos, these developments are no more connected to the neighborhoods they inhabit than the strip malls and convention centers that came before them. It’s a modern twist on the suburban “geography of nowhere”.

(snip)

Perhaps surprisingly, a strong satire of these developments comes from South Park, a show that has consistently offered pointed societal critiques behind its trademark irreverent humor. In one multi-episode arc, the poor part of town is rebranded as SoDoSoPa (realtor-speak for “South of Downtown South Park”) and is heralded by town officials for providing necessary economic investment.

Faux commercials like this one take lifestyle centers to their absurd conclusion; The soothing narrator promises “A place to gather, a place to mingle with all economic classes, and now it’s a place to live," with both animated and live-action shots of pretty, well-heeled people enjoying the amenities. The running gag of the story arc is that the development is built surrounding the home of the town’s only poor residents (rebranded as “Historic Kenny’s House”). Though the ads promise economic diversity, the city’s poor are left completely out of its exclusive benefits.

While it may be difficult to take a cartoon best known for its fart jokes seriously, the show raises some important questions when it comes to luxury developments and lifestyle centers:

• Are these developments being driven first and foremost by the city’s residents, or do they come from outside investors with no connection to the place?
• What about the people who already live in the proposed development area? Do they have a say?
• Are such massive developments really in the best interest of the city’s residents, or do they find themselves swept up in the glitz of Adobe Illustrator mockups and four-letter words?
• What happens if the development fails? Is there another use that could take its place, or would it inevitably fall into disrepair?

Municipal comprehensive planning: "More often than not, it is a mechanism to wrap a veneer of legitimacy around the large policy objectives of influential people."

Of course, it might help to make the proper observations, ask the right questions and gather the pertinent data prior to making the decision, then presenting the decision to be rubber-stamped by those who'd been neither observed nor consulted.

MOST PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT IS WORTHLESS, by Charles Marohn (Strong Towns)

... I’ve come to the point in my life where I think municipal comprehensive planning is worthless. More often than not, it is a mechanism to wrap a veneer of legitimacy around the large policy objectives of influential people. Most cities would be better off putting together a good vision statement and a set of guiding principles for making decisions, then getting on with it.

That is, get on with the hard work of iteratively building a successful city. That work is a simple, four-step process:

1. Humbly observe where people in the community struggle.
2. Ask the question: What is the next smallest thing we can do right now to address that struggle?
3. Do that thing. Do it right now.
4. Repeat.

It’s challenging to be humble, especially when you are in a position, or are part of a profession, whose internal narrative suggests you know what to do. It’s painful to observe, especially when that means confronting messy realities that do not fit with your view of the world. It’s unsatisfying, at times, to try many small things when the “obvious” fix is right there. If only those around you just shared your “courage” to undertake it (of course, with no downside to you if you’re wrong). If only people had the patience to see it through (while they, not you, continue to struggle in the interim).

Yet what if we humbly observe where people in our community struggle—we use the experiences of others as our data—and we continually take the actions we are capable of taking, right now, to alleviate those struggles? And what if we do this in neighborhood after neighborhood across the entire city, month after month and year after year? If we do that, not only will we make the lowest risk, highest returning public investments it is possible to make, we won’t help but improve people’s lives in the process.

That is the essence of a Strong Towns approach.

Learn what is meant by "parking crater," and see why Louisville has the nation's worst.

SoBro in Louisville.

And what is a parking crater?

Angie Schmitt, editor of Streetsblog USA and originator of the "parking crater" term is blunt, "a parking crater is a depression in the middle of an urban area formed by the absence of buildings".

This video explains it further.

Parking Craters: Scourge of American Downtowns from STREETFILMS on Vimeo.

But there's more. Louisville's Number One!

Louisville’s parking lots win national attention as country’s worst “parking crater,” by Branden Klayko (Broken Sidewalk)

On Friday, Louisville received was awarded the dishonorable distinction as the city with the nation’s worst “parking crater,” a term for a vast area of surface level parking lots that deaden city block after city block. Streetsblog readers voted Louisville the winner of the “Golden Crater” trophy for a collection of parking lots in the SoBro neighborhood just south of Downtown Louisville below Broadway.

While the Parking Madness Golden Crater puts a high-profile label on a problem we all know Louisville continues to struggle with—surface-level parking lots—it can also help to focus attention to bring positive change to the area.

Many of the areas marked in red are used for parking. 

ON THE AVENUES: A citizen's eloquent complaint about the parking debacle at River Run reminds us that planners and brooms go hand in hand.

ON THE AVENUES:  A citizen's eloquent complaint about the parking debacle at River Run reminds us that planners and brooms go hand in hand. 

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Before we reprise a column from January 23, 2014, let's take a look at an unedited Facebook post from New Albany resident Joe Kraft, with whom I am not personally acquainted. It is as self-explanatory as I can imagine such a passage to be.

---

I can't help but to vent my frustration with our mayor and the city of New Albany.

I am an active member of Holy Family Catholic Church and own two small businesses in New Albany. I cannot believe the city built the River Run Water Park without enough parking for the patrons. The capacity of the new water park is 1,378 according to city records, yet there are only 155 parking places! Why so few? They have ample ground on either side of the new fire house.

The city and mayor has brought a great hardship on my parish community of Holy Family. We have had to barricade our parking lot off to the general public so we can have parking for our parishioners, especially our senior citizens. Unfortunately the busiest times of the new water park coincide with the busiest times of our parish community.

We have two masses on Saturday and 2 Sunday morning masses and 1 Sunday evening mass. We DO NOT want to be perceived in our city community as unwelcoming to those people who cannot find parking at the water park. We have agreed to park all the city employees of the water park. Usually about 20 cars a day.

We just do not have room to park the general public. Holy Family wants to be good neighbors but the city is making it impossible!

I also own two rental homes on Coyle Drive across the street from the water park. My tenants have been frustrated by the cars parked on either side of the road causing a very dangerous driving situation.

The city requires all businesses, outside of downtown district to meet STRINGENT parking guidelines before opening a business. A business is required to provide ample parking for their employees and patrons. How does the mayor and the city get away with ignoring these guidelines? It is so very unjust and unfair to our community, businesses and Holy Family. I am disgusted and dismayed!

Mayor Gahan and the city of New Albany needs to be held accountable!

---

Mr. Kraft, you're quite right. Unfortunately, the current regime is convinced it possesses an unerring touch, and that it need not heed its own guidelines. Your example is the literal tip of the iceberg. In his capacity as mayor, Jeff Gahan exists in a strange, detached, Disneyesque bubble of sheer down-low fantasy. There's only one effective cure on the horizon, and it's better than wooden stakes and garlic: An election, coming very soon, in which I'm challenging Gahan as an independent candidate, and Kevin Zurschmiede as well for the Republicans. Kevin and I do differ as candidates, but we agree on one central point: This cannot go on, and they must go. 

Good luck. Following is the reprinted column, as reiterating the point from another angle. True, eventually the professional truckers found common cause in opposing progress. In addition, the Speck study followed in due course, filled with reasons for City Hall to take the lead on street grid reform -- and it might just as well have been printed on toilet paper. Some other aspects of the following have been altered during the past eighteen months. However, by and large, I stand by it.

---

Let me tell you, it was a bizarre dream.

There I was, wearing only slippers and a jock strap, in a room filled to overflowing with planning professionals. Suddenly Tyler Allen sidled over.

He asked, “Who are these people, anyway?”

“They’re professional planners,” I said.

“Wow,” he nodded. “And they don’t know these things?”

“If they do, they’re not letting on.”

“That’s what I thought. If I had dreams like this, I’d consider foregoing sleep. You ever considered moving?”

---

But was it really a dream?

The room began shaking, and I leaped from my bed and ran to the window, all the better to view two 18-wheelers, side by side, thundering in the same direction down Spring Street as an officer on speed trap duty shone his radar gun on a box of multinational doughnuts.

Like MLK, I have a dream. Unlike him, this isn’t it. Then again, I’m not a professional planner in New Albany.

---

Well, was it a dream, or was it Memorex? At times it’s hard to tell.

In the aftermath of Jeff Speck’s library chat last week, I asked New Albany’s economic development director to explain the nature of local resistance to two-way street calming.

The reason for my curiosity? Apart from tangled, strangled, plaintive social media wails here and there, discernible organized opposition to street grid reform has not been visible. No less a personage than the economic development director’s boss once told me that in his view, there exists no community sentiment either way. Such a statement implies no pro, no con … just inert. But I’m pro. Where’s the con – that whole action and reaction dichotomy? The economic development director was quick to answer.

“Oh, it’s there. We hear it all the time.”

“But from whom?”

“We get phone calls and e-mails.”

“Look, I’m out on the street every day. I’m the face of the two-way lobby, so why aren’t they saying it to me?

“Why would they do that? Of course they won’t say it to YOUR face. They’re afraid they might have to talk to you.”

“Isn’t that what we want, a discussion?”

“C’mon, Roger; be serious. You DO have a reputation, you know.

“For what, being right?”

(pause)

“You know exactly what I mean. You and your buddies, always talking down to people with facts and evidence. These people don’t have a fighting chance if they go and reveal their identities.”

“If they’re afraid of revealing their identities, then why on earth should their opinion matter? Anyway, they can always go vote, right?”

(long silence)

“Oh, I see.”

---

As I was writing today’s column, Twitter informed me of the best straight line, ever.

“Tonight's New Albany Plan Commission meeting has been cancelled.”

If a tree falls in the woods and there’s no planning commission member on hand to hear it, can we have two-way streets yet?

---

However, what started the conversation was purely semantic. On the topic of Speck’s message, I thought it was self-evident, but I was asked to be more legalistic in my dialectic.

“Roger, why do you keep saying we’re not for this, when we’re not actually against it?”

“But not being against something isn’t the same as being for it.”

“That’s my point. Right now, we can only not be against it, at least until a study lets us know whether we’re for it. Look, we can’t know we’re for it unless someone tells us to be for it.”

“Wait a minute. You’ve been for several other things lately without someone telling you to be for them. Parks, aquatic centers, Main Street improvements, farmers market upgrades … ”

“Duh! Those are for feel-good parks and hallowed rows of mansions, and everyone’s for them, including us! It’s easy to be for it when no fundamental changes are necessary. It’s when you have to change something, then obviously you can’t be for it unless an expert tells you to be for it.”

“What about the Democratic grandees? Do you need their permission, too?”

“Hell no – wait, let me get this call.”

(Yeah … uh huh … thanks Mrs. Sipes, will do)

“Now, what was I saying? Right: Of course we need their permission. What do you think this is, a red city?”

“So, assuming you need an expert to tell you to be for it even though something has to be changed to do it, are you going to hire the expert who spoke today? Jeff Speck just told you what to do. Isn’t that cover enough?”

“Seriously, Roger, will you just try to understand the way life works? To preserve the disposable appearance of objectivity, as soon as we decide what we’re against – I mean for – then we’ll hire the same experts we’ve always hired previously. That Jorge Lanz; what a great guy, and he speaks bureaucratese without an accent. Incredible.”

“But aren’t guys like him the same ones who told you to do it the wrong way in the first place? Didn’t you hear what Speck was saying today?”

“Well, yes. I guess you could say that. Politically, we’re not against doing it the right way; it’s just that we’re not for it, either.”

---

“You’re the city’s economic development director, and what we’re trying to explain to you is that for the sake of independent small businesses downtown, two-way streets ARE economic development. Can’t you do just this one thing for us as a group?”

“We already do things for you. I’d offer you a matching façade grant right now, only the UEA’s skint since we cashed it in. Don’t you know anyone from Jeffersonville?”

“Compared to what the industrial park gets … "

“What the industrial park gets is totally justified. The industrial park is about job creation.”

“Really? My 20 employees at Bank Street Brewhouse will be happy to hear that they don’t have real jobs.”

“Roger, you just want what’s right for you.”

“Are you saying TGI Missouri does not?”

“That’s different. Just quit saying we’re not doing anything. Of course we are. We’re tap dancing as fast as we can. We’re just now learning all these newfangled ideas. We have a double secret plan, and we’re not like you, with all that time to read and ask questions. We hired away someone from One Southern Indiana, for chrissakes. Just remember: We’re not against it. But being for it … well, there’s a limit to what we can do.”

---

Tyler Allen, if you’re reading … did you have a destination in mind? Too much more of this dreaming, and I may be ready for a nap.

---

Recent columns:

July 16: ON THE AVENUES: Louisville Beer, then and now ... and cheers to Rotary.

July 9: ON THE AVENUES: A mayoral petition as prologue to history.

July 2: ON THE AVENUES: "Water on the brains: Much less for far more will keep us swimming in it."

June 25: ON THE AVENUES REWOUND: Red scarf, white shirt and San Miguel beer (2012).

June 18: ON THE AVENUES: These 10 definitions will help you speak local politics like a native.

June 11: ON THE AVENUES: This is Dan Coffey, New Albany’s quintessential Democrat.

Jeff Gahan's residential goals are contradicted by his farmers market boondoggle.

Let's see if I understand recent events here in the Magic Kingdom.

Mayor Jeff Gahan has declared downtown residential construction as his latest short-term election year civic goal, and so we're about to devote $2 million or more of dwindling TIF district clout to incentivizing an out-of-town builder of "upscale" apartments to build some of them on the redundant Coyle acreage.

Meanwhile, scant blocks away, local builders like Matt Chalfant, Steve Resch and the Carters also are providing residential space by retrofitting historic buildings with little if any incentivization.

By doing so, they're making it more likely that the value of the space currently occupied by the farmers market will increase, making it a prime target for residential infill -- and a payday for the city, which owns the lot.

Therefore, instead of treating it as such, and leveraging maximum value from this property, we're about to spend $250,000 to take the farmers market property completely OFF the market, devoting the space to a farmers market inhabited primarily by out-of-town purveyors, at a time when peak farmers market may have been reached (below).

Even if the peak has not been reached, and the farmers market is a magnet worth cultivating, we're ignoring cogent and compelling reasons to move it to other city-owned properties nearby, where at least it might assist in regeneration of another block or two. Instead, we'll lavish a quarter million dollars on improving the current location, thus undermining Gahan's stated goal of maximum residential construction and refurbishment.

See what attenuated attention spans can do? It isn't pretty, but it can be remedied. After all, it is an election year.

Meanwhile, I support a farmers market funded with public money only if the public financial support is proportionate to the potential benefits. Currently, that's simply not the case.

Possible reasons for "peak farmers market" include these:

• We've Hit Peak Farmers Market
• The Local Food Economy Is Maturing
• The Recession Slowed Everything Down

Here's the rest of the story.

Are Farmers Market Sales Peaking? That Might Be Good For Farmers (NPR)

After more than a decade of explosive growth, sales of local food at U.S. farmers' markets are slowing. A January report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture shows that while more farmers are selling directly to consumers, local food sales at farmers markets, farm stands and through community supported agriculture have lost some momentum.

Nash hits target's very center: New Albany's lack of bicycle planning is "unconscionable."

Matt Nash is being all subversive again, and he's right. "Unconscionable" covers a lot of ground in this context, doesn't it?

It defines John Rosenbarger's entire wasted, self-serving career in quaint small-town job protection, masquerading as "planning.".

It references the proclivity of elected officials, both in City Hall and on the council, to fall back on "quality of life" as a mantra without once explaining what the words actually mean, or how they might be extended to cover the whole of the city, and not merely those areas targeted for extravagant expenditures.

It describes the currently surreal situation, wherein city officials will ferociously swear fidelity to bicycles, walkers, two-way streets and street grid revolution, so long as they do so privately -- never aloud, never from a position of leadership in front of this topic, as opposed to cowering behind it. This is the part that utterly eludes me. Why the consistent secrecy, the non-transparency, the cloak-and-dagger coded spy novel of a decision-making process?

Private reassurances are one thing. Leadership is another very different quality, and it's presently absent.

Mayor Gahan: If you really believe in these ideas ... if it's really you "leading" from the back rooms and darkened corridors ... then damn it, get out in front and lead. You ... not underlings and hired hands and attorneys and acolytes.

Not them. You!

NASH: Where are our bike lanes?

... The people that we have elected to run our city haven’t done enough to provide the citizens with the quality of life that we deserve. They spend millions on asphalt for cars to get from one place to another as fast as they can and forget about alternatives. Spending $20 million on recreational facilities and then not providing a way to get there besides an automobile is unconscionable.

We have wasted too many years and too much money while other cities have sped ahead of us when it comes to building bike lanes. We could have been building a healthier community all these years while we were updating our infrastructure, but our leaders have not had the foresight. We should have had a master plan years ago that included connecting high traffic roadways to recreational amnesties and local attractions. Maybe one day we will learn, but I’m not too optimistic.

Applying the Bloomington solution to New Albany's farmers market.

From New Albany to Bloomington. Ninety miles, and at least that many years.

Let's go right ahead and spend lots of money on the farmers market.

But let's not do it at the current location.

Rather, let's do it in a way that has multiple uses and has potential ripple effects, serving higher purposes beyond temporal paybacks to the same old suspects.

Let's move it down to the city parking lots shown above, thus improving what frankly are perennial, decrepit eyesores. They'd be daily parking lots just as they are now, except on Saturdays and Wednesdays (in season).

Meanwhile, the corner of Bank and Market could function as a pocket park until sold some day for infill. The city's parks department could run both farmers market and the future infill pocket park.

DNA would be out of the equation, and could return to doing whatever it is that a New Albany Main Street organization is supposed to be doing ... like selling real estate in Georgetown and Jeffersonville. What it should be doing are things like this: Mission Pedestrian.

We'd be moving the center of farmers market gravity a few blocks west, which is good for Westendia. Putting some love into this area might encourage Schmitt Furniture to uncover its windows. Furthermore, there'd be a natural affinity between the farmers market and the forthcoming Seeds and Greens Natural Market and Deli.

It wouldn't be the parking garage, with all its nasty oil spots and shadows and spiders and snakes.

It makes sense to me. What about you?

The farmers market in Madison WI lacks facilities. No one goes there any longer because it's too crowded.

Yesterday: DNA can come out of the farmers market dust-up smelling like the proverbial rose. All it needs to do is follow this script.

For almost a decade, NABC has joined in the fun at the Great Taste of the Midwest each August in Madison, Wisconsin. The festival takes place in the afternoon, giving the crew time to visit the Dane County Farmers Market during the morning hours.

As noted oft times before, the farmers market in Madison occupies all four sides of the landscaped area around the statehouse. Looking at the photo above, the street lies behind the viewer, with urban landscape behind the street. My experience with farmers markets is by no means exhaustive, but it is fairly clear that Madison makes the most of the physical setting it has; the statehouse occupies the highest point between two lakes ... and the farmers market "occupies" the statehouse.

There is no permanent farmers market infrastructure in this picture. Nor does any exist elsewhere outside of this picture. Vendors bring their infrastructure -- they put it up, and they tear it down.

In New Albany, it is not possible to argue that the current location of the farmers market matches the aesthetic grandeur of Madison's. It isn't even possible to argue that we make optimal use of what urban grandeur we have; if so, we'd have espoused the idea of multiple use and folded a farmers market design into Bicentennial Park, or used the monies spent on Bicentennial Park (and allocated for farmers market expansion) and actually finished the Riverfront Amphitheater instead, because the closest thing we have to impressive physical presence is the Ohio River itself.

Either an Amphitheater duly embraced, or what became Bicentennial Park, might have been the perfect integration of farmers market into bigger ticket project. Now we are asked to accept the notion of another big ticket for the farmers market.

Meanwhile, Madison's farmers market is "big ticket" in every conceivable sense of the phrase ... and possesses no big ticket infrastructure in terms of cash. And did I mention, packed with people every Saturday?

How is this possible?

2. There'll be a talk about historic houses as we count the felled tree's rings to see how long it's been since Elvis mattered.

Memories are made of this.

First, there was a photograph, both asking and answering the question, "How many peanut butter and 'nanner sammies, placed end to syrupy end, does it take to fill a 13' lane width?"

Then it dawned on me: John was just giving a STUMP SPEECH.

No wonder it got chopped down.

1. There'll be a talk about historic houses amid the felled timber.

3. There'll be a talk about historic houses as we celebrate IL's Paradise by the Ongoing Blight.

ON THE AVENUES: Why does DNA happen to good people?

ON THE AVENUES: Why does DNA happen to good people?

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

I’d love nothing more than to attend tonight’s council meeting and use my scant moments of speaking time for some necessary, well-chosen truth-telling about the future of the farmers market, as directed toward the perpetually self-aggrandizing, self-interested, self-obsessed usual suspects within Develop New Albany, which currently seem unable to function honestly and transparently in any appreciable way apart from lately comprising what amounts to an ad hoc “Re-Elect King England for the Nth Time” committee, as opposed to the non-profit it pretends to be in normal circumstances, when it yawns ever so deeply in its enduringly (note my failure to use the word “endearingly”) geriatric way while instructing our dear sweet Vanna to spin the wheel again, and again, and again until at long last, the desired and fully politicized “non-political” knee-jerk result clicks finally into place.

I’d love to, but I cannot.

You see, I have a previously scheduled beer dinner at 610 Magnolia to emcee, and a chance to be overfed by Chef Edward Lee’s crack culinary team while sipping on some wonderful brews from NABC, Three Floyds and Against the Grain.

Understand that compared with a beer dinner at 610 Magnolia, New Albany city council meetings generally resemble squalid time spent face down in a stagnant pool of leftover snow collecting around the muddy edges of a moldering Main Street tree stump across from the VFW, with John “My Way IS the Highway” Rosenbarger slouching beneath an umbrella nearby, quoting cost estimates for gently used trolleys to run from the vicinity of the body shop on Spring Street to one or the other fundamentalist churches near IU Southeast, or harkening back to the installation of a couple of bump-outs on State Street for only $200,000 and declaring it "completed"  – and mind you, bilge like this violently invading one’s sensitive apertures comes before Develop New Albany begins yet again to misrepresent the whole farmers market question.

Reckon now’s the time for my written statement … not that the superannuated DNA cadres ever read actual words, or anything.

But God, do they know how to host one wicked restaurant seminar.

---

A digression: Do my railings constitute ageism?

Yes, they do.

I’m 53 years old, and understand quite well that already, it’s no longer about me; it’s about people thirty years younger than me. What’s more, I know how utterly hopeless folks my age (and older) can be when it comes to gauging precisely that: Their own passé and hilarious irrelevance. If grasping reality makes me an ageist, then so be it.

The envelope, please.

---

The farmers market’s current location on the corner of Bank and Market may or may not be the best spot for anchoring it into place, for the foreseeable future, through the expenditure of a somewhere between $270,000 and $340,000 for the build-out of a structure that cost only $17,000 in 1984 (adjusted for inflation at a factually compounded 30-year rate of 125%, as opposed to 2,000%, that’s $38,273 in 2014).

Visit The NewAlbanist for a more detailed rendering of the issues at the corner of Bank and Market.

At very best, the farmers market’s location is a toss-up, and so is the market’s very conceptual nature. It is a valuable amenity so long as it makes dollars and sense, although it is not as essential to everyday living as sewer pipes or unenforced parking ordinances. A private green grocer downtown open six days a week throughout the year, as opposed to the farmers market’s 40 or so prime Saturday dates, quite possibly scores more economic development points as a recipient of municipal subsidy than an expanded farmers market, which would remove a potentially valuable piece of corner infill property from future use.

To calculate the relative merits of any such claim, cities like ours customarily consult useful mechanisms known as economic studies and development plans, but since the city of New Albany fails to possess any of these, adhering instead to the random political payback generator to channel its efforts, and because no known economic development plan exists for a central downtown business district rapidly escalating in importance owing to the lone-wolf efforts of unsubsidized entrepreneurs, there is no template for reference.

In fact, we don’t even have a plan to have a plan, even if we’ve deforested most of the city by now … according to a plan.

Instead, probably owing to the timeless wisdom of the Thrasher Theorem (“We’re all here because we’re not all there”), we’ll now rush off to don our gaily painted pantaloons for yet another performance of the perpetual petitionary pageant before the council – which possesses plenty of ways to waste valuable time without enduring another drooling floor show.

---

A forever petulant Develop New Albany is demanding to be paid back, and to be given collective credit, for volunteer work performed by individuals who needn’t have been affiliated with DNA from the start; in fact, the impetus for the farmers market as we now know it came from the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association prior to the at-the-time-moribund DNA’s involvement.

In fact, there is no eleventh commandment stipulating that the farmers market “belongs” to Develop New Albany. The fact that the market’s winter component currently is housed in the Marktmeister’s own business less than a block away? Merely coincidental, entirely apolitical … and the size of Pinocchio’s protuberance means absolutely nothing, neither now, nor in the era of the infamous $108K solution.

Right. Nothing at all.

Some members of the city council cannot even recall where the 2014 farmers market appropriation of $275K originated, and instead of breaking into what’s needed most – a study group – it will sit, stone-faced and riveted, through another silly, shrilly, staged mass demonstration, as the prospective ruin of the farmers market is documented amid crocodile tears and canned inanities.

(Given that DNA is stacked to the rafters with real estate agents, you’d expect one of them to venture the question of what the current market property might be worth if a building were constructed there. Then again, they’re mostly peddling residential property out in the soulless ‘burbs, aren’t they?)

City Hall, which has expressed full support for the mysterious appropriation, and seems intent on sacrificing as-yet valuable downtown urban corner property on the basis of a coin flip as to whether it’s the best place for a farmers market to become rooted forever, now serenely stands to the side as the idiotic squabbles mount, unwilling or unable to exercise that quality periodically known as leadership, and say:

“Whoa. Let’s cool this off, slow this down, and decide via transparency and consultation what’s actually best for the city as a whole.”

The same good old boys and girls club, the same tired and scripted procedure, and the same dully repetitious civic dysfunction. This is déjà vu, Groundhog Day and Cocoon rolled into one huge cow pie about to be liquefied, poured into a water cannon and used to hose all of us down … so that DNA, for reasons unknown to faux deities, Bicentennial ghost writers or surviving Scribner descendants, can … can …

Can do what, exactly?

Pretend a little bit longer that it matters, like some washed-up main character in a Tennessee Williams play?

There exists no good reason why the farmers market question must be settled rightnowhurrypaymebeforethemoneygoesawayoohoohI'mcomingand going.

It can and should wait, while the many viable options existing outside DNA’s stultified comic book duality are studied in a larger and more precise context. It is ridiculous to waste council time on this matter by organizing the usual petition parade on Thursday night.

It likely will occur, anyway, and once again New Albany will look really, savagely, innately dumb.

Can someone remind me why I invested my life savings here?

(psst … quality homes in Cobbler’s Crossing, cheap … ask for the DNA realtor’s discount)

New Albany Now: John Rosenbarger meets Leni Riefenstahl, and a situation comedy is born.

The problem, as it has been for 30 years, is that John simply isn't funny.

Bluegill writes:

When Jeff Speck was in New Albany, he spoke directly to the folly of spending millions on one street - citing New Albany's number exactly - when so much more could be done holistically for the grid for less money. His comments, along with many others damning to NA's current projects, elicited knowing chuckles from the crowd. Here, though, city hall manages to make it seem as if the Main Street Mistake, their own multimillion dollar, single street project that contradicts Speck and likely won't slow auto traffic owing to poor design, is an example of his thinking. It features the same J. Rosenbarger who's been preaching that Speck's approach won't work in New Albany. Sometimes the absurdity of it all ...

The NewAlbanist: "Here’s what a market vendor wants: A market where (many) people come to buy their farm products."

The Bookseller nails it.

Somewhat tongue in cheek, he gauges the probable reaction were the city announce the farmers market's move to his building, for the same price. It made me think of a comment in a newspaper column by Jason Thomas devoted to ruminations on living spaces (and the lack thereof) in downtown New Albany.

Construction has happened in fits and starts in New Albany. River View, the proposed $42 million mixed-use project just east of the YMCA that included condos, would have done wonders, but fizzled financially in 2012. The Coyle property on Spring Street also is a prime spot, but a recent deal also fell through, according to (Mike) Kopp.

There sits the old Frisch's/Coyle Dodge building with garage doors and voluminous parking, just across the street from the book store; what if the city's inevitable abatement package of corporate-only incentives with a developer included a provision to transform it into a farmers market hub?

Whoa; sorry. Minting an idea like that violates the "no outside the box thinking" ordinance, and also would yield no opportunity to provide the Marktmeister with another cash infusion.

It Costs Far Too Much

Building a new shelter and bathrooms for New Albany’s farmers’ market is a bad idea made worse by a stunningly high price tag attached to it. Very little I’ll say here that I haven’t said before, but it clearly needs to be said again. The farmers’ market needs no expansion ...

 ... And yet, here we are trying to stop the city from pouring vast sums into a farmers’ market that’s open 216 hours a year.

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

A business owner on the farmers market: "I do want what is best for my community."

Katrina at Antiques Attic posted this comment earlier today at As the farmers market follies morph into farce, City Hall just stands there. Why is that?

This strikes me as an uncommonly sensible position. There are both good points and bad points, as well as insight and wisdom from a local business person. It's precisely the sort of discussion that isn't being had at present; as Jeff notes elsewhere, such a chat very nearly took place at DNA's Fb site prior to being scrubbed clean. 

If you haven't already done so, go to the DNA potted polling page and disrupt the organization's bush league propaganda tactics by voting for the parking garage. Want real poll questions for real people? They're here.

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I love the Farmer's Market; I shop it myself in the summer months. I love the location, and yes, it brings me some additional foot traffic one day a week during the summer. Does that mean increased revenue? Some times yes, but usually not because the public has come to shop the market and then maybe explore what else is downtown, but has already accomplished their goal for the day. Still, great exposure for my business because some people will return on another day after spotting my store.

Do I want to see it moved to a different location? Not really, BUT ... I do want what is best for my community. SO, I have been trying to use what I consider to be common sense logic for my decision on what side I should stand on the issue.

Let me start with the use of the word EXPANSION being used. Is it truly an expansion when it will still have the same footprint in square footage? Will it not lose one or two vendor spots to make room for a restroom? Adding shelter roofs and a restroom could be considered an IMPROVEMENT but EXPANSION and capability for growth in vendor size in the future?

Cost of doing business; something I deal with regularly in making decisions concerning my business. Once again logic jumps in my face about the cost of this so called EXPANSION (IMPROVEMENT). To add additional roof structures and a bathroom at this cost appears extreme and I would definately get as many estimates as possible to come to a decision before acting out.

Another question I keep having is why does it need a restroom and who will maintain and clean this restroom and at what taxpayer cost?

Lastly, none of this addresses future growth and especially does not solve the problem of the winter months.

As the farmers market follies morph into farce, City Hall just stands there. Why is that?

It ain't rocket science.

lead·er·ship
ˈlēdərˌSHip
noun
1.
the action of leading a group of people or an organization.
"different styles of leadership"
synonyms: guidance, direction, control, management, superintendence, supervision

Everything about the current farmers market expansion discussion is spasmodic and misdirected. It came surreptitiously from the crypt to the Board of Works last fall ...

Budgetary back alley to the Farmers Market? Let's face the music and dance.

 ... and managed to arouse in council person John Gonder and a handful of others that singular quality always guaranteed to  arouse suspicion and bile amongst the fogies -- namely, daring to think outside the box -- and in turn, this provocation sent the oft-indemnified farmers market queenpin into a tizzy ...

The farmers market discussion to too important to be left to the Marktmeister alone.

 ... leading us now to yet another repulsive example of Develop New Albany's amazing inability (read: unwillingness) to decide what "non-political" really means, and to apply the definition with consistency. Spin the wheel again, Vanna.

Develop New Albany's on-line farmers market "poll" is a reeking, juvenile cesspool of intellectual dishonesty.

So, I decided to give them a dose of their own shamelessly propagandistic medicine.

Yo, DNA: Here are some examples of OUR propaganda. You can have the hearts. We'll take the minds.

Then it occurred to me that perhaps the farmers location matters more in proximity to the Marktmeister's own building than the city as a whole.

Maybe the city could buy indoor space for the Winter Farmers Market. Would $108K do it?

Not really; I'd been holding on to that one for a while.

Back to the tip-off: Leadership.

Is City Hall exercising any of it as this annoying spectacle unfolds?

Or is the general idea to allow otherwise well-meaning people to metaphorically bash each other's brains in (speak for yourself), until none are left standing ... to demand a Speck study for the street grid but reject an economic development strategy for downtown ... to just stand there and be non-participatory?

One more time: The city needs to be stirred from its present somnolent resting place and take a share of the farmers market issue back into its possession. It is city property, and it consequently "belongs" to us all. What this looks like at present is a transparent payback to Develop New Albany's self-interested cadres, but the farmers market is far more important than just that, and its future needs to be studied with the city's active, directed, interested participation -- not the bizarrely detached passivity it has displayed thus far.

ON THE AVENUES: I’ll take “Farmers Market” for $108K, Alex ... or maybe I won't.

ON THE AVENUES: I’ll take “Farmers Market” for $108K, Alex ... or maybe I won't.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Resolved: 

The New Albany Farmers Market is a significant, vital part of our downtown experience, and of course we support it, although we do so with appropriate qualification, namely, that the market’s permanent location should be the subject of due diligence, further study and public participation into the process.

We feel it would be mistaken to permanently anchor the market to its current location at the corner of Market and Bank, or to spend additional monies to improve it, at least until further research is conducted as to the full range of options, and more importantly, as to the future (and value) of the present street corner for infill construction.

Tails should not wag dogs. Thank you.

---

Earlier this week, the News and Tribune’s Daniel Suddeath reported that the downtown farmers market’s direct overlord, Develop New Albany, is demanding its $300,000 cut for a build-out and permanent improvements, and by God, DNA wants it all, and wants it right now.

The property is owned by the city, but the farmers market is operated by Develop New Albany, and the lead organizer is Susan Kaempfer. “It’s our preference that we move forward with the improvements to the existing farmers market and get that done as quickly as possible so we can utilize it,” she said Tuesday.

Toward this end, Kaempfer raised the ante by threatening – gasp – to instigate political participation.

Kaempfer said the farmers market has dramatically helped downtown businesses, and added that some vendors and local business owners likely will attend next week’s council meeting to voice their support for it.

DNA and politics? That’s a can of worms seldom spotted for sale at the downtown farmers market, but of course the farmers market is all about politics, especially money, and as such, what are the limits to DNA’s role in lobbying for additional lucre to fund it?

Bear in mind that what’s at stake is DNA’s own organizational fixation with supposed limits on political participation, as defined thusly: “We can’t get involved with politics, unless we do … and then we get to decide what this means, and when, and how.”

You’ll sooner see city ordinances written in Sanskrit than glimpse any pattern to DNA’s purportedly apolitical mandate.

Anyone got a Ouija board?

Once upon a time, we begged DNA – after all, it’s our Main Street organization – to take a position on the Ohio River Bridges Project, but it begged off amid a blizzard of bureaucratese, pointing to its non-profit status as absolutely precluding political involvement of any sort.

Now we’re rightly examining options for coping with what DNA said it couldn’t be bothered to consider.

How very civic of it.

No politics for DNA … okay, except when it came to the $15 million parking garage sought by Mainland Properties as collateral to borrow money it didn’t have to build condos it couldn’t build, the entirety of a “plan” comprising an epic real estate pyramid scheme that fortunately collapsed long before the city lost its financing shirt, and all the while, DNA was openly and enthusiastically involved in the political process, in favor.

What about street grid changes as they pertain to two-way streets?

DNA quickly retreated to its non-profit institutional exclusion, and apart from polls and personal cheerleading, mostly has managed to keep its distance. However, DNA lobbied incessantly on behalf of the controversial East Main Street Improvement Project with no such qualms, perhaps owing to a far too literal interpretation of “Main Street” organization, and the fact that it was someone else’s money, anyway.

Hmm. Maybe there is a pattern, after all. If you can spot any semblance of consistency to these positions, climb atop one of the many Main Street tree stumps and scream in the general direction of Pinocchio.

On and on it goes, and where it stops … actually, where it stops should be right now, and who should stop it is Mayor Jeff Gahan and his City Hall team. It turns out that Thursday, March 20, is important for two reasons.

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There is a city council meeting, and as we’ve seen, Kaempfer and DNA propose to erect an Elsby-sized straw man to frighten shoppers, mobilize market vendors and supporters, and emotionally insinuate that the market’s very existence is threatened by contentious intellectuals with the temerity to suggest that the market should fit in the context of an overall downtown development plan, and not the other way around.

But earlier next Thursday morning, there is a scheduled meeting of downtown stakeholders, to include DNA, NA 1st, the embryonic food and drink association, and Clean and Green (among others). The meeting has been called by the city, and it is intended as another step toward organization and unification.

That’s wonderful. I’m for it. I fully believe city office holders when they talk of their interest in rowing uniformly in a particular direction. It’s what I want, too.

But if DNA continues to insist that it occupies a special position, inside and outside simultaneously, spinning its wheel on whim, playing the role of 800-lb gorilla, picking and choosing when it deigns to be political and when it doesn’t, and as yet displaying not a jot of past organizational performance suggesting the acumen to play a leading role – enough is enough.

DNA needs clarification. Immediately. Why is it, what is it, and do we have a choice in the matter? It’s far past time for city government to function as city government should, to refrain from the good-cop, bad-cop, passive refereeing between factions, and decide once and for all what role DNA is to play, if any.

I fail to understand why Susan Kaempfer and DNA should be the ones to decide when it comes to the city mortgaging its future prospects at the corner of Bank and Market, without first exploring all the redevelopment options. The farmers market is important, but temporary by its very nature, functioning only at certain times. Meanwhile, downtown is filled with daily bricks and mortar, year-round.

To me, the latter trumps the former ... every day.

I fail to see any transparency behind the council’s appropriation of monies for the farmers market build-out, and I fail to grasp why the money must be spent immediately. Stick it in savings, and draw some interest. If the market is jam-packed in summer in its current configuration, it is successful. If a vendor leaves, won’t another come to replace it? What’s the imperative, and why the hurry? As I stated yesterday, the farmers market is city property, and it consequently "belongs" to us all. Let’s take our time, and get it right.

And, remember: Paybacks can be Hell. They need to stop. Mr. Gahan, please lance this boil.

Immediately.

The farmers market discussion to too important to be left to the Marktmeister alone.

Congratulations to council persons Gonder and Coffey for thinking outside the subsidy-as-usual DNA box. Let's highlight the myriad (institutional?) deficiencies of Marktmeister Kaempfer's counter-argument.

But first: Shouldn't the city of New Albany take an active interest in learning the value of the current farmers market property as used now, versus what it might generate in future infill construction? Isn't this a fundamental part of the equation in this discussion? Do we know anything about the comparatives?

New Albany Farmers Market on the move? Gonder, Coffey push to move farmers market; DNA organizer not on board, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

NEW ALBANY — An alternative proposal to expanding the downtown New Albany Farmers Market is gaining steam, but the lead organizer of the venue doesn’t support the plan.

No kidding. Say, the position of Markmeister is a non-elected office, isn't it?

New Albany City Councilman John Gonder proposed last month moving the market from the corner of Pearl and Market Streets to the downtown parking garage ... the farmers market could open in the garage on Saturday mornings on the first floor of the structure, and a portion of Market Street could close so that vendors could extend out toward the median, Gonder said. The market would occupy about double the space it has now by moving to the garage.

So far, so good. Now comes the part wherein tail commences to vigorously wag dog.

The property is owned by the city, but the farmers market is operated by Develop New Albany, and the lead organizer is Susan Kaempfer. She said Gonder hasn’t contacted her about his proposal, as Kaempfer added the parking garage doesn’t have a bathroom and “isn’t a good fit” for the market.

“It’s our preference that we move forward with the improvements to the existing farmers market and get that done as quickly as possible so we can utilize it,” she said Tuesday.

In other words, Mrs. Baird (perhaps) somehow found room for an appropriation even if numerous council persons don't recall it being discussed, and now this money must be spent immediately lest someone other than DNA lays claim to it. We couldn't have THAT happen, could we?

But Kaempfer said some of (last year's) vendors are being recruited by competing farmers market, and that delaying the project could hamper New Albany’s ability to retain them ... Kaempfer said the farmers market has dramatically helped downtown businesses, and added that some vendors and local business owners likely will attend next week’s council meeting to voice their support for it.

Of course it has helped ... one day a week, mostly in summer, but if the market has been successful in its current format, why would the vendors consider going somewhere else?

Or, put another way: Has our farmers market become sufficiently broken to merit fixing, to the tune of 300K? It's packed now. The question is: In terms of a long-term commitment, is the current site the best possible site? If we're going to do this, why not do it right?

Sadly, all the Marktmeister can do is erect a straw man and mobilize the vendors by telling them that the farmers market is to be heinously squelched by blue meanies. She might tell them the truth, although I'm not holding my breath: There are people sincerely interested in discussing all the options for the market's future vitality and expansion, including those existing beyond Kaempfer's and DNA's solipsistic inner worlds.

Unless the council moves to remove the funding already set aside for the expansion, the New Albany Board of Public Works and Safety could accept the bid and move forward with the project without the council’s approval.

True, and yet another reason why the city needs to be stirred from its present resting place and take a share of this issue back into its possession. It is city property, and it consequently "belongs" to us all. What this looks like at present is a transparent payback to Develop New Albany's self-interested cadres, but the farmers market is far more important than just that, and its future needs to be studied with the city's active, directed participation -- not the strange passivity it has displayed thus far.

Neglect of Fairview Cemetery merely reflects generational neglect of entire downtown neighborhoods, but hey -- we'll have a pool.

I went for a long walk yesterday and found myself in Fairview Cemetery, a place I haven't been for a very long time.

Obviously, cemeteries tell us much -- at times, far too much -- about priorities, local culture and our place in history, and perhaps inadvertently, Fairview itself illustrates in mind-numbing detail New Albany's myriad deficiencies.

The photo above hints at the depth of the cemetery's message. See those houses along 8th Street? The cemetery is abutted on one side by some of the city's most degraded housing stock, ramshackle and filth-encrusted, as well as adjoining the seemingly endless expanse of industrial Padgett's "800-lb downtown gorilla" property on the other.

By contrast, think of Louisville's Cave Hill Cemetery's park-like setting or any number of places you've been where a cemetery's metaphorical peacefulness is a base for better surroundings, not slums.

With these memories still fresh, the following article came over the wire. Art, design, creativity ... not foo foo and effete, but in "once-grungy inner-city areas," precisely like those surrounding Fairview now.

And you still can't grasp how and why a $9 million aquatics center is so very annoying .. and sadly indicative of New Albany's generational missed opportunities?

A tour of Cape Town, World Design Capital 2014; Forget fancy galleries – in Cape Town, 2014 World Design Capital, the most exciting work is in the townships and once-grungy inner-city areas, by Lisa Grainger (Guardian)

... "This country is not a place for ninnies," the passionate South African says, pointing at the thousands of shacks that one in four Capetonians call home. "Our crime statistics are horrific. Our economy is in a frightening position and inflation is rocketing. Many of these people don't have food, education or healthcare.

"So why have I brought you here? Because it is in these townships that some of the most inspiring people live: people who are incredible, positive, engaging, brave. And I want visitors to see the good there is here, the real heart of South Africa" ...

On the farmers market, planning and junctures, Gonder nails it yet again.

Once again, John Gonder makes a thoughtful, well-reasoned case for thinking outside New Albany's self-imposed boxes (his previous post is here).

Whether intended or incidental, John's two recent essays point to the glaring absence of a downtown economic development plan. Such a plan is periodically given lip service; it might even exist somewhere, rolled up on a dusty shelf, or crammed into a shoebox in the corner where the 8-track tapes were tossed a generation ago.

In-fill construction at the current farmers market location should be a priority stemming from a coherent plan, and yet piecemeal randomness remains the order of the planning day, almost certainly because short-term political expediencies are better served by the latter.

Is City Hall's previously stated goal of rendering the city "physically cleaner, financially stronger and fundamentally better" being achieved by anchoring the farmers market to its current location? If so, how? Can there be a transparent public discussion of this and other development issues?

Am I asking too many questions again?

Jump Step, by John Gonder (Gonder for New Albany At-Large)

... The Farmer's Market has an enviable record of success at its current location. I applaud and support the efforts of those who have brought it to this juncture. But, New Albany has likewise reached a juncture. One where we can embrace the efforts of those who have led the entrepreneurial resurgence of the downtown. Stretch the economic development canvas so as to paint a brighter future for downtown. Or, we can hunker down, stay on the same path, and recoil from something untried and new ...

... When I originally proposed the garage as a site for the market it was done as a reaction to the higher cost the Council was being asked to agree to. But, since that idea was originally voiced, I've come to believe there are stronger reasons than cost alone supporting a move of the market to the garage. And I believe those reasons would work to the long term benefit of the Farmer's Market as a valuable, sustainable, and important part of the downtown's current success. All while setting the table for infill growth at the corner of Bank and Market Streets, which can further advance the revitalization of our city.

More disgust: "New Albany City Council questions farmers market expansion."

My initial impressions were written last evening.

Disgust

Let's agree on one point: Everyone's in favor of the farmers market -- in theory, in principle, as something of value to the community.

However, favoring the farmers market does not imply a willingness to accept without questions the infuriating opacity of the funding process, which council person Baird evidently has abetted without once considering the many counter-arguments, or how the back-door budgetary conjuring of the money appears to outsiders.

For those of us kept out of this loop, it appears as though Develop New Albany is being given a blank check to "improve" an urban corner owned by the city, when the corner might be better deployed as infill, except that to determine the respective values of its use, there would need to be a plan ... and there is absolutely no downtown plan guiding this non-thought process.

Thus, the appearance is a payback to the same old grandees, plain and simple.

Another way to look at it: If the farmers market truly is as significant to downtown revitalization as its proponents claim it to be, might not we be harming its future potential by refusing to consider other options in terms of location and operation? After all, if a swimming pool is worth nine million dollars, isn't the farmers market worth a building, or a plaza, or its very own organic veggie farm at Valley View golf course?

Where is the overall downtown economic development plan?

There is a plan, right?

New Albany City Council questions farmers market expansion; Vote on funding for new police cars again tabled, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

 ... The suggestion that more money will be needed for the project caused some council members to question the improvements, as well as the management of the market.

“That seems terribly excessive,” Councilman John Gonder said of the estimated cost for the expansion.

The market is not being managed to its “full extent” and perhaps a separate entity should be formed to help operate the market along with Develop New Albany, Councilman Dan Coffey said.

The city is putting up a lot of money and has a responsibility to ensure its investment is being handled properly, he continued.

“I want to see what return we’re getting for our dollar,” Coffey said.

He added that downtown business owners should be more involved in the design process for the market.