Joe Dunman on media failures and the Great Mall Riot of 2015.

"I was shocked to hear about the Mall of St. Matthews. I couldn't believe people still shopped at malls." 
-- a clever friend of ours

Saturday, December 26, will be remembered as the Bloody Mall St. Matthews Riot.

Yeah, right.

Estimates of the rioters began in the thousands, and have been dropping each day since the incident began being reported completely out of proportion. Give it another couple of weeks, and it will turn out the mall was completely empty at the time.

Dunman dissects the story/non-story, refers to "local media stenographers" (my heart grew three sizes, natch), and ends with a nod to The Who.

Commentary: Uncritical reporting of one-sided police accounts sparks fear over ‘riot’ at Mall St. Matthews, by Joe Dunman (Insider Louisville).

... Despite a nationwide decline, some malls remain prime gathering places for young people. A policy that youth would no longer be welcome in a mall unless they have a focused shopping agenda or are tethered to a chaperone is absurd, not to mention unenforceable. What would mall security need to do? Search the pockets of every entrant for cash, credit cards, and shopping lists? Tail every teen to ensure they remain securely under the helicopter watch of their parents?

HH Friday: We're joining together with united communities because a low common denominator is better than no newspaper at all.

When you awaken at 3:00 a.m. with stomach rumbling and thoughts of tacos and smoked lager, it isn't a hopeful prescription for sleeping any longer. Thunderstorms always keep me awake, anyway.

Meanwhile, after just one day of Harvest Homecoming 2014, a newer generation downtown business owner shared a few thoughts with me.

After hearing about all the theft from my buddies with stands I had to bring all my decor in.... then I get to clean up all the straw (in the store) in the morning. Hope this pays off for the business owners down here and not just the trucks from out of town. I see what Roger A. Baylor was talking about. Next year I'm just gonna go on a vacation.

Indeed, experience is the best teacher. Conversely, we might all grimace, go for the Astroglide, take one for the orange-clad team, and ingest some more of Papa Morris's medicine, as reiterated by Edwina Anger on Fb.

Leave it the way it has been for years. Anyone that knows anyone downtown can already guess who is complaining the most about it. Thinks he owns downtown. Don't think so.

I've no idea who she's referring to, but speaking only for myself, the ol' Klout score wouldn't have risen from 56 to 61 in a single week if y'all weren't discussing the issues being raised, yay or nay. Consequently, lost in the hue and cry are a few valuable points.

The one that amuses me the most: Why did the customarily directionless News and Tribune status quo appeasers precede Booth Days with Chris Morris's pre-emptive shot across the bow, aimed squarely at "a few folks" who, of course, are not named?

It's because the 800-lb gorilla finds itself in an unusual position: On the defensive, being questioned. Given that Morris might as well be a paid copywriter for the festival, and the newspaper itself never met a low common denominator it didn't fellate, he performed his "anything except change" nostalgia pitch right on cue, with added drivel. But it's all fine by me. I believe this year's a watershed, and that there's no longer space under the rug for sweeping.

Enjoy this Fb chat from Thursday, with photos. The storefronts pictured below are part of the National City Bank rehab currently underway on Pearl and Bank.

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Pete Lyons
I was told to leave my own property yesterday, and informed it's none of my f^^king business what they do to my building. "They don't give a f^^k". And this was ll before the first booth was up.

PL
This building was just finished being painted yesterday. I can't imagine the cost. And these people could care less...

K'
Why are they allowed to store stuff like that within the entrance and against the building like that?? Isn't that a fire hazard beyond the fact that it's private property at that point?

PL
According to HHC rules "sidewalks must remain clear at all times" and "all items must be contained within your booth space".

PL
A couple years ago, a booth had literally blocked the entrance to a business that was open. They had to get an official to unblock the door. I asked him why they were not made to comply with with regulations, and he said "because I just made an exception". He was the HHC president at the time.

K
Sure looks like alot of people and things on the sidewalk proper rather than within the booth space on the street...


Roger A. Baylor
(Because) the city signs off on this. HH? It's culpable, too, but without the city's sign-off, the 800 lb orange gorilla has no teeth.

K
The building/shop owners need to complain early and often any time there's anything stored in their doorways like that. And pictures, like above. Hard to argue with pictures ... maybe the complaints need to be CC'd to the fire department?

PL
I told an HHC official that I would contact the fire department and he said "I'll call him right now! For the next 3 days I own this town."

K
Wow...that doesn't sound like trying to help store owners see the benefit of HH ...

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This really is city government's problem, isn't it? I mean, even David White is listening to downtown business owners ... and he's just a candidate for mayor.

Morrison on River Ridge: "When did we start farming brownfields?"

The newspaper dutifully “reports” a press release, while it is left to a citizen blogger to provide the background necessary to even begin asking the many obvious questions raised by the guileless stenography. So it goes in Stemlerstan.

When did we start farming brownfields?, by Curt Morrison at Louisville Courant

As a kid growing up in rural Southern Indiana, I knew the 10,000+ acre, Indiana Army Ammunition Plant was blighted by long-term pollution. My step-dad had told me. It wasn't a secret back then.

That's why I was surprised to hear in it's last meeting of 2011, the River Ridge Development Authority which has owned and controlled the former Plant since 1998, announced they're offering more than 360 acres of land to farmers. (News and Tribune: River Ridge offering land to farmers: Farm leases expected to bring in additional revenues)