Top Ten posts at NA Confidential for November, 2017.

Surprise #1? "The Ripple Effect When You Shop Local."

Thanks for reading NA Confidential, where we enjoy scanning the neglected periphery for uniquely local perspectives. NAC's November numbers stayed strong, yet again attesting to a keen ongoing interest in grassroots New Albany stories, perhaps because they're being chronically under-served elsewhere.

After all, stenography and inexorably multiplying religion columnists can get us only so far.

The November list begins with ten "honorable mention" posts, before concluding with the Top Ten, escalating to No. 1. Stats are derived from Google's internal numbers listings.

NOVEMBER HONORABLE MENTION

446

Unless the Redevelopment Commission or City Hall granted permission, Dan Coffey illegally parked cars on city property during Harvest Homecoming. Period. Censure, anyone?

So, neither BOW nor Chalfant gave the okay. It's possible the Redevelopment Commission authorized it, or even the mayor himself, though it's unlikely. Coffey's wasting no time; he's already skipped ahead to the inevitable excuse: charging drivers to park their cars on city-owned property without permission may have been illegal and all, but it was for a good cause.

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461

Esteemed interim executive director Duggins gives a fresh, contemporary look to that boring old New Albany Housing Authority Fact Sheet.

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475

"When internet justice is likely the only justice": Allegations of rape against Matthew Landan result in the closing of Haymarket Whiskey Bar. Are we learning yet?

At least for the moment, the Haymarket Whiskey Bar has ceased to exist. For Matthew Landan, the bar's owner, the feces hit the fan on November 13, via rape allegations on social media. It's been a week and a half, and my aim is to digest the news to date in three sections.

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502

UPDATE: BOW suggests it wasn't informed about councilman Dan Coffey's Harvest Homecoming parking profits at 32 Bank Street.

"I asked Mr. (Warren) Nash yesterday about your concern and he said he is not sure that the board of works knew about that situation."

Consequently, I asked for this issue to be placed on the agenda of next Tuesday's BOW meeting, if for no other reason than ensuring it becomes part of the permanent public record by making the board aware of it.

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582

The plaque-ing of the New Albany Riverfront Amphitheater began with the late Darrell Sweet, drummer for Nazareth.

Way back on October 4, 2008, a bar bet was settled here at NAC.

Mark Keeler said that the drummer for Nazareth died in New Albany after 1995. I said he died before the pub started business in 1992. Let the record show that Darrell Sweet died in 1999, which means that Mark was right and I was wrong. Can anyone remember why Nazareth decided to play New Albany in the first place?

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600

Grid Control, Vol. 29: Market Street now is two-way the entire way, though it complicates parking garage access.

Interestingly, the reversion has a side effect in the sense of restricting access to the parking garage for traffic traveling eastbound on Market -- including those drivers eastbound on I-64 who exit into New Albany and approach downtown from the west.

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620

Louisville Orchestra recap: A big crowd for Rimsky-Korsakov at the Ogle Center on Saturday night (and beers at Pearl Street Taphouse afterward).

On Saturday, the Louisville Orchestra performed at the Ogle Center on the campus of Indiana University Southeast, performing two of the composer's most popular works. Both crowd and orchestra were large; there were only a few empty seats scattered among the spectators, and something like 55 musicians on stage, including six (!) percussionists.

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624

COMMENTARY: Deaf Gahan mentioned "opioid crisis" in a press release, but this probably doesn't mean what you think it does, so let's clear it up.

It seemed like big news earlier this week, but with a wee bit of scrutiny, the spiel is exposed as more of the same New Gahanian institutional flatulence. Three years after Southern Indiana's opioid crisis exploded into widespread consciousness, both here and throughout the nation ...

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661

Explore New Albany at this website, appropriately called "Explore New Albany."

A great deal of effort has been put into Explore New Albany, a new and evolving website. There may never be a "one stop shop" for fluid situations like downtown, but this portal has definite potential, so check it out. Congrats, Dan. Looking good, indeed.

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671

City Hall goes glib on proposed handicapped-friendly park: "..............."

When Team Gahan's most recent handicapped-user initiatives turn out looking like this, and all the operatives can do is express public confusion over potential repair options, it's no surprise to learn the functionaries are on notice to refrain from acknowledging any questions as yet not subjected to formal study in the form of a lucrative contract with HWC Engineering. It's not Red Tape, it's Red Alert -- and you can expect a reply in a year or so, though only when Jeff Gahan is prepared to "present" it.

NOVEMBER TOP TEN

715

A personal request to sign this on-line petition to Jeff Gahan: No demolition without a plan to replace public housing in New Albany.

If you're in agreement and haven't already done so, please sign the on-line petition.

In Spring 2017, New Albany, Indiana Mayor Jeff Gahan announced his intention to demolish more than half of the town's public housing stock. Apart from vague promises of housing vouchers, residents have been told almost nothing about the plan or what will become of them. Sign the petition: No demolition without a plan to replace!

We Are New Albany is a grassroots movement being organized by Hoosier Action.

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721

ON THE AVENUES: Harvest Homecoming chairman of the board David White replies to Cisa Kubley's column of November 2.

Readers, it's up to you to decide what to think. My position remains firm, in that Harvest Homecoming is an organization partnering with the city, and as such, because public time and money is "invested" in Harvest Homecoming, it is subject to the same transparency and open dialogue as we customarily (and damn well should) expect from elected officials and their appointees. Far more prosaically, having reserved my usual column length for David's reply and readied no essay of my own this week, there is space to fill.

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721

Harvest Homecoming guest column follow-up: Our peculiar institution has no basis in ordinance, only habit.

I'll add only that the very weakest arguments mustered in response to critiques of Harvest Homecoming are these: It's inevitable; it's always been done this way; if you don't like it, just leave. Apart from the fact of the city's existence for 150 years prior to the advent of Harvest Homecoming, it should be pointed out that the festival's inevitability has no absolutely no basis in statute.

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854

ASK THE BORED: It's Mt. Tabor Road's turn to be pillaged as our lumberjack fetishist mayor readies another round of clear-cutting -- for the sake of the cars, of course.

It's been four months since the mayor triumphantly announced what amounts to a survey of previously sawed stumps; having felled hundreds and perhaps thousands of trees during the course of his Ceausescu-esque TIF and Green(!)way projects, he'd now prove there was the beginning of the precursor to an embryonic "master" plan to reforest the city by 2065 or so.

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972

Mathes Pharmacy will expand into a new building. Congrats to a New Albany indie stalwart.

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994

Chain and big box subsidies cost us far more than we imagine, but who cares so long as Starbucks is there?

In short, government picks winners, and the chosen winners usually are the ones who had enough money to start with.

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997

THE BEER BEAT: It's a cornucopia of ephemera, from Quaff On to Lazlo Toth.

What I didn't anticipate in 2014 was (first) that Big Woods/Quaff On would be the next brewery to fulfill my prediction, or (second) that it would do so not on the Indiana side, but in the vacated Doc's Cantina space in Louisville.

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1,024

THIS JUST IN: ‘We Are New Albany,’ a campaign to save the homes of more than 1,700 New Albany residents from planned demolition, will publicly launch on Thursday at 4:00 p.m. at the City-County Building.

“I was born and raised in New Albany, bouncing around house to house because of unaffordable rents” says ‘We Are New Albany’ campaign Deputy Chair Brandon Brown, a resident of one of the properties slated for demolition. “I will not let the homes in my neighborhood be demolished, forcing children into the insecurity I struggled with at their age. Mayor Gahan, we call on you not to demolish a single unit without a plan to replace it.”

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1,119

ON THE AVENUES: A downtown business owner's open letter to Harvest Homecoming.

These aren’t new issues, these aren’t new complaints. At what point will the Harvest Homecoming committee and the city finally make adjustments for the betterment of the whole community, not just those who enjoy the festival?

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1,566

Well, truck me: Padgett and friends' Main Street lawsuit finds its way to history's dust bin.

" It took more than two years, but a judge ruled the city of New Albany was not at fault concerning the redesign of East Main Street. On Nov. 6, Judge Daniel Donahue ruled in the city’s favor and against the plaintiffs which included Padgett, Inc., Tiger Truck Lines, J&J Pallet Corporation, Kaiser Wholesale, Inc., E.M. Cummings Veneers, Inc., Maximum Fleet Service, LLC, Mr. “P” Express, Inc. and W-M Lumber & Wood Products, Inc."

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1,726

These handy visuals illustrate "The Ripple Effect When You Shop Local."

Now for a few facts for business owners and holiday shoppers alike.

What does it mean to “Shop Local?”

Following is one of two information sheets distributed to those in attendance at the New Albany First meeting last Wednesday at Wick's. The other is here. I'm attributing authorship to Randy, Ann and Andy, unless otherwise advised.

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Shopping Local is not the same as Shopping Locally

Shopping local is not the same thing as shopping locally. Corporate chains would like us to think they are are the same as we are (only better). We’ve all seen it. They have launched marketing campaigns to blur the distinction between them and locally owned independent businesses. If that is all “Shop Local” means, we might as well call it “Shop Locale.”

This tactic by the chains and megastores is properly called “local-washing.” It’s an attempt to blunt the impact of campaigns by locally owned independent businesses by laundering the corporate tarnish and pretending that there’s no difference between mom-and-pops and the corporate giants. A corporate-oriented buy-local campaign that defines “local” as the nearest Home Depot or Gap store is a skeezy move but the tactic can be effective unless and until we ask
“What do you mean by ‘local’?”

A local independent is an establishment that is:

• Owned privately or by its employees or a community cooperative

• At least 50% owned by area resident(s)

• Retains full decision-making authority with its local owners/members

• Limited to a small number of locations, all within a single region

There are other ways to define the membership and objectives of our organization, should we form one, but these provide a solid starting point.

Why should anyone bother to “shop local?”

Alliances like the one we’re discussing are, all over the country, “making the case that [shopping local] is critical to rebuilding middle-class prosperity, averting environmental collapse, and ensuring that our daily lives are not smothered by corporate uniformity.”

Making that case in New Albany means we all have to know why shopping local is important – not just to us, but to every member of our community.

Reasons to shop local:

• Local economic stimulus – When we purchase at locally owned businesses rather than nationally owned, more money is kept in the community because locally owned businesses often purchase from other local businesses, service providers, and farms. Purchasing local helps grow other businesses as well as the local tax base.

• Non-profits receive greater support – Local business owners donate more to local charities than non-local owners, who naturally donate where they live or to non-local charities.

• Unique businesses create character and prosperity – The unique character of our community is defined in large part by the businesses that choose to locate here, and that plays a big part in our overall satisfaction with the place we live and the value of our homes and property.

• Environmental impact is reduced – Small local businesses usually set up shop in the existing urban core, the town’s center, providing a centralized variety of shopping alternatives that is more organic than it is manufactured. That contributes to such quality-of-life measures as our city’s “walk score” and other metrics, especially when compared to shopping malls in other cities. This generally means contributing less to sprawl, congestion, habitat loss, and pollution. And it also takes advantage of the already-built environment.

• Most new jobs are provided by local businesses – Small local businesses are the largest employers nationally. The more jobs we have in our local community, the fewer of our residents who are going to have to commute. That means more time and less traffic and pollution.

• Customer service is better – Local businesses often hire people with more specific product expertise, yielding better customer service. These individuals who live in your community are far less likely to take you for granted or fail to deliver for you.

• Local business owners invest in community – Local businesses are owned by people who live in this community, are less likely to leave or be transferred, and are more invested in the welfare and future of this community. For many, the bulk of their life’s savings are invested right here.

• Public benefits far outweigh public costs – Local businesses require comparatively little infrastructure and they more efficiently utilize public services relative to chain stores.

• Competition and diversity leads to more consumer choices – A marketplace of thousands of small businesses is the best way to ensure innovation and low prices over the long term.

• You matter more – We talk often about exerting influence with our purchasing choices – voting with our wallets. It’s a fact that businesses respond to their customers, but our values and desires are much more likely to be catered to by our local community businesses when compared to a nationalized common denominator of values and desires.

"Is it too late?"


You’re reading this right now because you know it’s not too late. The coming decades are going to be as revolutionary as the past five and no one is more suited to adapt than the locally owned independent business. What we’ve lost we can regain. Think about it this way: Did you grow up at a time when wearing a seat-belt was optional? Can you imagine putting your child or grandchild into the car without first buckling them in and then buckling up yourself?

We’ve learned from the past that seat-belts save lives. We’ve also learned that life is not so sweet when our culture tends to a bland, uniform “monoculture.” The locally owned independent business is leading the way to a better future and you’ve made yourself a part of the vanguard.

All that remains is to recognize that and join together to make that future possible.