CycLOUvia is coming to Bardstown Road this coming Sunday October 14.

Here's the background of this car-free experiment, courtesy of the Consuming Louisville blog.

I remember sitting in Heine Brothers at Douglass Loop nearly 4 years ago with Branden from Broken Sidewalk talking about turning Bardstown Road into an automobile-free zone for a day, modeling the cyclovia concept that cities around the world use. I was skeptical that it would ever happen here, we love us some cars on Bardstown Road but my skepticism was misplaced, it’s happening! On Sunday October 14, 2012 from 2PM-6PM Bardstown Road/Baxter Avenue from Douglass Loop to Broadway is going to be free of cars, trucks and buses and filled with bikes, pedestrians, rollerbladers, baby strollers, etc. Because we like to put Lou in any word we can the event is being called cycLOUvia.

HPC and NA vs. Bradford Realty: Yep. Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Reporter Suddeath tackles the Indiana Court of Appeals ruling, and to me, it all goes back to childhood teachings: Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Krafty John thinks otherwise, but that's why we have lawyers for both sides.

Court sides with New Albany historic group; Bradford Realty should have sought approval for siding, according to ruling, by Daniel Suddeath (News and Tribune)

NEW ALBANY — The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed a ruling that had backed Bradford Realty’s claims that the New Albany Historic Preservation Commission didn’t properly notify land owners of zoning restrictions.

With a little help from a friend, here's my take on the Court of Appeals ruling. It favors the Historic Preservation Commission in three ways:

First, Bradford Realty’s “ignorance of the law” defense goes down in flames, and not a moment too soon for me. The ordinance’s notification features are deemed sufficient, and there is no violation of due process.

Second, vinyl siding is affirmed as a “conspicuous change,” one necessitating a Certificate of Appropriateness from the HPC. It bears noting that the intent of a COA is to ensure the use of methods that don’t damage the structure or compromise the district’s character. According to the HPC’s own ordinance, even an “inappropriate” COA could be approved by vote, as in a circumstance where the use of vinyl (or synthetic) siding would protect a decayed building. These forms of siding are not universally disallowed by default; the COA process is intended to determine their potential suitability, on a case by case basis.

Third, the court did not find inverse condemnation; in other words, the ordinance stating the HPC’s requirements can not be considered so stringent that it constitutes the government seizing Bradfrod’s property without compensation.

Here's the ruling itself, in unbridled legalese.

Two years later, L'il Stevie finally found his way to Bank Street.

And all I got was this lousy mimeograph.

Today's Tribune column: "Regime change now, brown cow."

I'd like to thank my family and the academy, and a special shout-out to Dan and Steve for their thoughts in the very same issue of the Tribune as my column today, illustrating how their own expertise with respect to neighborhood improvements, of which there is no known evidence, anyway, still somehow trumps actions currently being financed by grants that they opposed from the start, and have taken no interest until asked to comment.

Solid, guys; solid. I hear there are openings at the forthcoming Dollar General on Vincennes ... and that they pay slightly more than the council.

BAYLOR: Regime change now, brown cow

It is time once again to ask the question that has plagued thoughtful New Albanians almost from the moment the Scribners put ashore almost 200 years ago and began to brew ale.

Can any city that routinely elects the likes of Dan Coffey and Steve Price ever hope to be efficient and modern in any meaningful sense of the words?

Levee me this, Levy.

It took me a moment to understand why the title of this Tribune article so confused me. Then, noticing that the article itself provided no relief, it finally occurred to me. Spell check provides no relief when correctly spelling the incorrect word.

Levy: To impose or collect a tax.
Levies: Money, property, or troops levied.
Levee: An embankment raised to prevent a river from overflowing.
Levees: Multiple embankments.

If we were to ask Professor Erika (but why bother?), he/she probably would begin screeching that when it comes to $12 million for an uppity pergessive parking garage, levies levied for levees are a levy too far.

Or, in Italian: "Le imposizioni sono argini," or some such Papal Nuncio.

Meanwhile, don't forget: Tomorrow marks the return of Councilman Cappuccino and Li'l Stevie to Tribune column inches, with the latter of the historically conjoined yet again heroically abstaining from the levy/levee debate.

Perhaps New Albany's most underachieving politician in generations can be leveraged out of office in 2011.

$42M development may feature cut in levy: New Albany being asked to pay $12 million for garage, handle expenses of levy cut, by Daniel Suddeath.

The commission was not asked to approve any financing for the project, but Bobo requested the city pay for its own analysis of the development to get an independent estimate of how much tax revenue New Albany could yield, which the body approved by a 4-0 count.

Councilman and commission member Steve Price abstained from voting on the financial analysis hire, as he said he would need more information before feeling comfortable casting a ballot regarding anything to do with River View.

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.

---

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.

Annexation deferred as Steve "Apocalypse Now" Price presents bold plan to house police in tent cities.

The evening's bext theater came after the closing gavel fell. Tribune coverage here.

NYT readings from Rich, Friedman.

Required Sunday reading from the New York Times, and not only for Li'l Stevie and the Drifters before they embark on their Oblivious Rocks! concert tour of the 3rd council district.

First, Frank Rich:

Rich: Weddings, Divorce and ‘Glee’

... Domestic partnerships and equal economic benefits aren’t antidotes, (David) Boies explains, because as long as gay Americans are denied the same right to marry as everyone else, they are branded as sub-citizens, less equal and less deserving than everyone else. That government-sanctioned stigma inevitably leaves them vulnerable to other slights and discrimination, both subtle and explicit. The damage is particularly acute for children, who must not only wonder why their parents are regarded as defective by the law but must also bear this scarlet letter of inferiority when among their peers.

Next, Thomas L. Friedman on the "best reaction I’ve seen to the BP oil spill," in the form of a letter written by his friend Mark Mykleby to a newspaper in South Carolina.

Friedman: This Time Is Different

"I’d like to join in on the blame game that has come to define our national approach to the ongoing environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

"This isn’t BP’s or Transocean’s fault. It’s not the government’s fault. It’s my fault. I’m the one to blame and I’m sorry. It’s my fault because I haven’t digested the world’s in-your-face hints that maybe I ought to think about the future and change the unsustainable way I live my life. If the geopolitical, economic, and technological shifts of the 1990s didn’t do it; if the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 didn’t do it; if the current economic crisis didn’t do it; perhaps this oil spill will be the catalyst for me, as a citizen, to wean myself off of my petroleum-based lifestyle.

"‘Citizen’ is the key word. It’s what we do as individuals that count. For those on the left, government regulation will not solve this problem. Government’s role should be to create an environment of opportunity that taps into the innovation and entrepreneurialism that define us as Americans. For those on the right, if you want less government and taxes, then decide what you’ll give up and what you’ll contribute.

"Here’s the bottom line: If we want to end our oil addiction, we, as citizens, need to pony up: bike to work, plant a garden, do something. So again, the oil spill is my fault. I’m sorry. I haven’t done my part. Now I have to convince my wife to give up her S.U.V."

The return of Blevinsian neutrality.

Council president John Gonder would like for you to know that in spite of what those pesky anonymous troglodytes say, he's not up the mayor's you know what.

Besides that, there's the perennial council problem with locating the information. It's never there when they need it, it's always being hidden from them, and when on occasion their stopped clocks strike the correct time, the information is ... is ... in code (gasp).

Today's Tribune asks: All the cards on the table for New Albany sewer rates?

If the will of the New Albany City Council coincides with its president, only one of the final two votes on a sewer rate increase will come Monday. Council President John Gonder still has some questions he’d like answered. “If there’s $1 million of excess fat in the operating budget of the sewer utility, why didn’t we know that in the very beginning,” he asked.

Maybe it was a conspiracy. Meanwhile, just as I predicted on Friday, Pat McLaughlin's transformation into Donnie Blevins is so utterly complete that he'll be offering a rote prayer to kick off Monday's council session.

A potential swing vote on a sewer rate increase, Councilman Pat McLaughlin maintained he’s undecided. “I’m just right now so neutral, there’s so many things to look at,” he said.

As you ponder the impact of neutrality sans information, let's turn to a council member who absolutely, positively knows how he'll be voting.

Councilman Steve Price is opposed to both options ... “This decision will have an unbelievable impact,” Price said. “It’s probably the biggest vote I’ve ever had to make.”

If it's the biggest vote the Babe Ruth of "no" votes has had to make, and if he already knows he'll vote "no", in reality, is it a big vote at all?

It's just another nay, isn't it? Price votes "no" the way that some folks say, "you know."

Except, he doesn't.

R.O.C.K.'s chapter in Athens stocks up on petrol and Bics.

The Guardian talks sex lives of the ancient Greeks, and we can only hope that the exhibition described within eventually comes to rest across the street from the creation museum up in Kaintuck.

The ancient Greeks were never at a loss for words when it came to love and lust – and an exhibition that opened in Athens today laying bare the practice of sex in classical times through an unprecedented collection of eye-popping art partly explains why.

Eros, the god of love and the great loosener of limbs, was many things: irresistible, tender, beautiful, excruciating, maddening, merciless and bittersweet. There was no position, no touch, no predilection too outre to pay homage to him. From the affectionate embrace to group sex, love came in many forms.

"The Greeks were anything but prudes," said Nicholaos Stampolidis, director of the Museum of Cycladic Art, where the show will run for six months. "Theirs was a society of great tolerance and lack of guilt."

Female Art Collective event at the Public House on Thursday, November 12.

Tanks, brownstones, video poker machines and stunted theatrics.

It doesn't exactly qualify as John Galt stopping the engine of the world, but considering the dumbed-down circumstances of politics in the Open Air Museum, conspiring with the Wizard of Westside to hold up approval of the masterplan for a month just might qualify as the heaviest legislative lifting that Stave Price has done this term.

Price: I won’t hold up masterplan; Scribner Place phase two likely to see Nov. 2 council vote, by Daniel Suddeath (News and Tribune).

A few years hence, when the VFW proposes moving the tank, using its (by then) far-too-large-for-its-declining-membership parking lot, and building brownstones to capitalize on the downtown housing boom, should we say no, you cannot.

You wanted the tank to stay where it is, remember?

Say hello to the Steve Price Memorial Bike Lane: Version Two.

Progressives provide the audience, but the performer would rather sing to an empty house.

We went to the library book sale this morning, followed by a visit to the Farmers Market, where we enjoyed a bountiful selection of vegetables and herbs. Tickets were purchased for the forthcoming historic home tour, which again this year includes entry into upstairs apartments in downtown that for decades simply did not exist -- until very recently.

The market was crowded, which is a clear testament to the hard work of so many people during the past few years. Interestingly, the more one gets to know them, the more one realizes that they're are not in lockstep agreement on every facet of life, and yet they work together and are succeeding in pushing back against the forces of inertia and oppositionist sentiment that have characterized New Albany for so long. They share an interest in restoring a notion of community to an undervalued part of the city, something that benefits the entire city by using it to its best effect.

They're saying "yes," and many people are starting to listen.

Some still say "no," which brings us to today's Farmers market musical attraction. It was karaoke, with councilman/musician/nay sayer Steve Price performing classic rock, pop and soul vocals to lush backing tracks.

There's no doubt that he's a good singer. No one should question his credentials as a musician, even if we frequently disagree with his customarily incoherent but numbly repetitive political philosophy of "no," repeated as often as possible whenever conscious, and accompanied by the sound of a stringless guitar when it comes to offering alternatives to the progressive agenda.

To look back through five and half years of CM Price's council votes and positions pertaining to downtown revitalization is to see an overwhelming majority of actions (or more commonly, inactions) that taken together, as a whole, define Price's consistent, mind-numbing opposition to the very conceptual basis of all that has been done by the people mentioned above to bring downtown back to some semblance of life.

The majority of the council's deliberations on revitalization have punctuated by Price's denigration of such efforts. He has lacked any discernable grasp of the concepts involved, and when flustered, can be relied upon to express contempt for the decisions that have resulted from "yes" votes, these being the "yes" votes that have led to there being a crowd of locals to listen to his karaoke this morning. This morning, without the efforts of "them people," he would have channeling Steve Perry and John Fogerty to crickets and tumbling tumbleweeds.

I know my councilman does not possess the ironic gene. He's not alone in that. I know that never in a thousand years would he fathom the pure hypocrisy involved, understand how his positions and votes have been against the interests of his own council district, or see that this morning's Farmers Market was thriving in spite of his political career, not because of it.

I know why he is invited to sing, and I don't deny that as a musician, he's talented.

But why do we work so hard to provide an audience for a performer who advocates the abolition of the audience?

Price bleeds conservative red ink, blood and homilies -- and other Tales from the Council, tonight.

On the 16th, Daniel Suddeath previewed tonight's city council meeting: New Albany City Council to weigh new cops request Thursday.

Yesterday, publisher Steve Kozarovich critiqued a comment from 3rd district councilman Steve Price that appeared in Suddeath's piece:

Jeers ... to New Albany City Councilman Steve Price for a lack of self-awareness. In response to the upcoming request for more New Albany police officers to combat the crime epidemic in the city, Price stated, “Right now, I’m in a conservative state of mind because we’re bleeding red ink.”

Actually, Mr. Price, that conservative state of mind is long-term. It was among his campaign pledges to constituents when he was re-elected. I believe he promised to watch out for our nickels and dimes. That’s good because I’ll need to have something to give the criminals.

Put on your grandstanding clothes, folks, because CM Price is going to be working the crowd tonight.

What remains to be debated and has not, either by the newspaper or members of the council, is how year after year of penny-wise, pound-foolish urban decay management has created the ideal ground for dysfunction, whether criminal or otherwise, to flourish hereabouts.

Since such a debate would expose the complicity of so many locals who strive to the status of community pillar, without the commensurate requirement of actually doing something for the community, don't expect it to happen.

In addition to serving as unnecessary sewer subsidies, I suppose that economic development funds now can be diverted to serve as Band-Aids for our collective unwillingness to fund police and fire protection. Just imagine if instead of enabling slumlord enhancement, we'd have used the money to, er, economically develop. We might not need the extra cops. We might have more nickels and dimes for Price to fondle.

Then again, we wouldn't be wonderfully and delightfully New Albanian.

Who's going tonight? The agenda's up, and I'm there.

Why bother? Not sure about that one.

Open thread: Neighborhood forum of February 11, 2009.

Newspapers are different from blogs for a number of reasons, among them the nasty reality of the deadline. Accordingly, my hunch from the beginning was that last evening's neighborhood forum would be little different from previous meetings, and so I wrote my Tribune column last weekend with a larger picture in mind.

BAYLOR: Stand united, fall divided

While listening to the proceedings, I found myself thinking about the gaping chasm between the ability to think, which prefaces every achievement in human history on planet Earth, and the default sensory mechanism whereby a rubber mallet striking the knee causes the lower leg to stand at attention.

So much has been discussed in this and other venues. Co-editor Bluegill has observed on numerous occasions that neighborhood revitalization must proceed with desired outcomes in mind. Earlier in the week, reader Brandon Smith offered much the same outline, suggesting that support be rallied for certain desired outcomes irrespective of ideology on the part of those advocating for it.

My column today argues that without the messy work of grassroots organization in neighborhoods throughout the city, and a shared sense of purpose, little of substance will be accomplished in reaching these desired outcomes. As was the case last night, concerned residents are capable of articulating matters that are symptoms of the problem, but for so long as we settle for temporary solutions, we'll all be back at the same place in another year saying the same thing again, and hoping that somehow in the end, there will be a difference.

Isn't that the clinical definition of insanity?

Look, I'm not trying to be difficult here, and I'm not criticizing anyone except those deserving of it, like our perennially clueless 3rd district councilman Steve Price, who can sit through two hours of earnest discussion about neighborhood revitalization and conclude that if we only had a licensed garbage transfer station, all would be well. This is a staggering feat of willful non-comprehension, but give him his due: He does have a desired outcome in mind, albeit one where a dumpster would be positioned for him to accept a decrepit patio chair when the people next door complain about it.

Yes, that's all the vision mustered by the typical houseplant, although it does qualify as vision. It should serve to illustrate the virulence of the obstructionism that we're up against, and it should suggest very strongly that the time to plan, to organize and to raise money is now.

That's enough of my tilting. If you were there, please post a comment and give readers your impressions.

Jethro on the economy.

Steve Price just announced that he saw all of it coming, and that he knew it all along, and that he even told it to former Mayor Gardner ... except, of course, after five years on the council, Price still doesn't say "Garner" -- but pardon, I'm missing an anti-union screed from my uncouncilman.

(pause)

Price wants people to know about the have-nots. It always sounds like he's talking about himself, although the LLCs might differ. Mayor England now is responding, and the gist of it is "tough times."

England: "We're going to make this thing happen."

Looking ahead to a bicentennial in 2013, and whether it's already behind an eight ball.

The Sunday editions of our local newspapers feature reports from the bicentennial celebration underway in Charlestown, Indiana (founded 1808), and for New Albanians, this event in a neighboring town presupposes a question.

Will our city be doing anything special to mark its 200th birthday in 2013?

Five years isn’t much time when one considers the reality of the situation. New Albany does self-defeating ennui the way New Orleans cooks piquant gumbo, and the same small group of energetic and capable organizers inevitably will at some point be charged with planning and executing a celebration, while another small band of embittered flat-earthers hurl brickbats and mock the entire process from their typically anonymous perches.

All the while, roughly 80% of the city’s residents will remain oblivious to the occasion, although at least some of them will turn out for the festivities if there’s the promise of a swill walk, free elephant’s ears, a fundamentalist prayer breakfast or the ritual burning of a progressive or three.

Seriously ... since I'm one of those destined for the stake, my fear is that for the sake of expedience, we’ll pass up the chance in 2013 to showcase the good things about New Albany in a unique and fresh way, and opt instead to make the bicentennial a part of Harvest Homecoming. Nothing against the latter (really); it’s just that a branded bicentennial event would be the ideal platform from which to declare the victory of progressive thinking in a revitalized urban area.

Or, conversely, to perform last rites. Wanna buy your door prize tickets now?