R.I.P. Alfred E. Neuman (1952 - 2019), or how "Mad Magazine Told the Truth About War, Advertising, and the Media."

"(Mad founder Harvey) Kurtzman didn’t inherit his parents’ (left-wing) politics, but his background left him hostile to conventional American culture, which he regarded as filled with lies."

Don Martin may have been my personal favorite, but Mad was a many-splendored piece of work for a very long time.

Here's Don Martin's classic National Gorilla Suit Day, soon to be a DNA fundraiser.

One Fine Day in Front of Jimmy's Music -- with apologies to the late, great Don Martin.

The Nation gets it.

‘Mad’ Magazine Told the Truth About War, Advertising, and the Media, by Jeet Heer (The Nation)

Patti Smith: “After Mad, drugs were nothing.”

... Born in the troubled era of McCarthyism, Mad is dying in another squalid political epoch. Mad was arguably America’s greatest and most influential satirical magazine, a strange claim to make of a publication that was mostly read throughout its existence by children and teenagers, but still justifiable.

Mad was often rude, tasteless, and childish—which made it all the more potent as a tributary of youth culture. The kids who read Mad learned from it to distrust authority, whether in the form of politicians, advertisers or media figures. That was a lesson that successive generations took to heart. Without Mad, it’s impossible to imagine underground comics, National Lampoon, Saturday Night Live, The Simpsons, The Daily Show, or Stephen Colbert. In the historical sweep of American culture, Mad is the crucial link between the anarchic humor of the Marx Brothers and the counterculture that emerged in the 1960s ...

Cheerleading clinic: "Downtown New Albany's largest yearly pep session was held Thursday afternoon at The Grand."

Anything I might say about DNA's Pillar Awards would be superfluous (not to mention likely to be misinterpreted), so I'll confine my remarks to just one statement, which is not to be taken in any other way than straightforward and accurate:

For so long as Todd Coleman doesn't receive one of these awards, they'll continue to be meaningless.

Why am I saying this?

Because it's true. Now on to the boilerplate.

CHEERING ON NEW ALBANY: Develop New Albany hands out Pillar Awards, by Chris Morris (Hanson's Ongoing Tragedy)

NEW ALBANY — Downtown New Albany's largest yearly pep session was held Thursday afternoon at The Grand ...

The partial first sentence is followed by the obligatory inclusion of our Genius of the Flood Plain, as eloquent as usual without someone literate to spoon-feed him a script.

New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan praised the organization for promoting the downtown and hosting events to bring people to the area.

"They do a great job," he said.

GREEN MOUSE SAYS: Hill or valley? mural or statue? Bison or weasel? Evidently Team Gahan needs reinforcements.

Reporting from a greasy gin mill somewhere near Birdseye, the Green Mouse is stupefied. 

---

Only now does it makes sense -- and you simply can't make up things like this.

At the merchant meeting on Tuesday morning, the city's spokeswoman noted that there'd be a statue dedication on Wednesday at Summit Springs, and while the details eluded her, she'd send the group the info by e-mail.

I expected it to be another monument to Dear Leader, and wasn't contacted, anyway, which isn't unusual because Develop New Albany blacklists NA Confidential.

Now it turns out to have been a Hoosier National Forest event, attributed to a "Chamber of Commerce" New Albany doesn't possess, about the historic migratory route called Buffalo Trace, now drowned in asphalt, down the hill from the atrocious strip mine, at the art park no one knew existed, next to one of the city's busiest and loudest automotive intersections.

Soon it will be hailed as a "bikeable" destination, so expect to see one of Jeff Gahan's frequent campaign donors -- toss a coin -- so why not Allterrain Paving, since it got the bid for the million-plus (or two?) roadway clinging cliffside to the Taco Bell and chain hotels ...

 ... being paid a few hundred thousand to draw deadly sharrow symbols in chalk under the supervision of Pinocchio Rosenbarger, hovering above six lanes of traffic in an air-conditioned helicopter, nursing a daiquiri, making like Marlon Perkins while Jim Fowler distributes the campaign finance treasure.

Like Grandpa Jones used to say: "In NA, truth is always stranger than fact."

He had no idea.

Trump, Gahan (whatever): "Journalism wants the status quo more than the truth."

Amid the agitated slurping sound of beaks being wetted and the low moans of sated local Democratic Party grandees ... thanks to TS for the link.

Journalism wants the status quo more than the truth, by Allison Hantschel (First Draft)

Something an editor told me once, when we were digging into a story about public malfeasance:

“It is always worse than you think it is.”

At the time, the story we were in the middle of, I thought it was pretty bad.

“Always. It’s always worse.”

He was right. Every story’s an iceberg; for every single sharp thing you see there are a thousand others below the surface waiting to gouge holes in your boat.

I thought of that when I read this thread today, about Trump and Russia, though to be honest it could be about Trump and just about any other thing ...

BOOM

... Every story out now is the result of one or two or six people overcoming that just-keep-walking impulse and doing the damn dishes. Taking the fiction that makes it possible to go home at 5 and have a drink and exist in the world absolutely apart until every ugly machination on the part of the GOP is exposed and raw and of COURSE it’s all just too outrageous, that’s how things usually are under their skins. What made journos skeptical wasn’t reluctance to believe the breathtaking scope of Trump’s venality. What drove their skepticism was a sober assessment of the amount of work it would take to prove it, weighed against a desire to get away on the weekends.

When you get right down to it, journalism as an industry wanted the status quo more than it wanted the truth. That’s not a condemnation; all our systems are made up of people and people are what inertia eats. It makes it all the more laudable that there are journalists who are able to overcome the desire to sink into the couch for the next four years binge-watching Call the Midwife, because this is gonna get worse than we can even imagine.

It always does.

---

As an addendum, NAC has been unable to confirm whether New Albany Mayor Jeff M. Gahan or anyone working in the city's administration is under federal investigation or indictment for corruption, bribery or racketeering. It is standard policy of the U.S. Justice Department to refuse to confirm or deny the existence or non-existence of investigations or subjects of investigations. A similar policy exists at the F.B.I.

The Baylor for Mayor meme, October 25: Truth and circumstances.

From October 12, 2015:

Commentary worth repeating: Gahan's "balanced budget" claims are bogus.

What do you mean, "may" ask the Sewer Board for tap fee waivers? You already rammed it past them a week ago.

At last Thursday's (March 19) city council meeting, there was a discussion about perfect marriages.

Luxury rental housing project in New Albany gets another blessing, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

NEW ALBANY — The city is moving a 154-unit downtown apartment project along at a swift pace after the development garnered a $3.3 million commitment from the state.

The New Albany City Council voted 8-0 Thursday to place the planned apartment project site — the former Coyle auto property along East Spring Street — into a tax-increment financing district.

“This is a big project that could not be done without a perfect marriage between the state, the city and Flaherty Collins,” said David Duggins, director of economic development and redevelopment for the city.

As part of the deal, Flaherty Collins signed-off on a minimum assessment agreement stating the developer will be responsible for paying the TIF tax ...

... The city is expected to foot some infrastructure improvements near the apartments, which could be under construction by late summer, and the New Albany Sewer Board may be asked to waive tap-in fees. Councilwoman Diane McCartin-Bendetti asked the administration to consider other incentives to waiving the tap-in fees.

It wouldn't be the first "perfect" marriage undermined by loose interpretations of the truth, because it seems that the Sewer Board already had been asked -- in fact, actually had approved the waiver at its meeting of March 12, a full week before the council's gathering, saving the developer somewhere in the neighborhood of $350K. From the board's March 12 minutes ...

I wonder when City Hall was planning on breaking the waiver news to council ... or perhaps they did, and Paddy Mac just torched the memo on sterno, like Mission Impossible.

This comes after the recent revelation that city attorney Gibson forgot the contents of the stormwater ordinance he wrote, and Pat McLaughlin forgot that council appointments are supposed to be made by council -- and is this really the sort of "fix always in" game-playing we need?

Yes, they build lots of nice things with your grandchild's future tax revenues, but where's the transparency?

And as pertains to the sewer board's waiver, where's the truthfulness?

Where's the hologram?

Gibson on Summers on Stormwater: "The simplest answer is that it was an error on my part."

I don't care what anyone says; the alligator should have stayed ... as well as the truth of what really happened.

(Photo from the Landmarks article)

I suppose we can all be happy that a buyer finally was found for the Weinmann-Hess building at 8th & Culbertson, or, as I always thought of it, the Gator Tavern.

What's done is done, but at the risk of reviving tired old allegations of "toxicity," might I inquire as to the purpose of historical revisionism in the Indiana Landmarks report?

News from the region: A landmark save in New Albany (Indiana Landmarks - Southern Regional Office)

 ... The c.1858 landmark’s fate looked dim back in 2011, when powerful spring storms in southern Indiana caused a rear corner to collapse. When the owner decided to demolish the structure, Indiana Landmarks teamed up with the city and the New Albany Urban Enterprise Association to save it.

With additional support from Horseshoe Foundation of Floyd County and Develop New Albany, we repaired the damage, added a new roof and period-appropriate windows, repointed the masonry, and gave the building a tasteful new exterior paint scheme before marketing it with preservation covenants. Inside, the building retains many original features, including a staircase, pocket doors, and wide-board pine flooring on the second floor.

Holy Whitewash, Batman. From quintessential example of back-room, non-transparent cluster reaming to shining example of cooperation and the victory of the human spirit, in one euphemism-ridden press release. Following are random references (2011 and 2012) to that rarest of local commodities, the truth.

ON THE AVENUES: They didn't ask.

Swank penthouse to crown 8th & Emery’s development.

Dan Coffey is right: The UEA is not City Hall’s ATM.

ON THE AVENUES: Brother, Can You Spare $12,500?

8664: better, cheaper, faster and completely reasonable

I'm sure it's no surprise for those who, like me, watched Bridges Coalition spokesperson Kay Stewart on the local news last week inexplicably announcing that there's a consensus in favor of two Ohio River bridges just minutes after a Louisville Metro Council committee held its first meeting to explore alternatives, but the Coalition hasn't been exactly forthcoming with relevant information.

The first clue may have been the council chambers shown overflowing with 8664 supporters, but the second was the testimony of veteran traffic engineer Walter Kulash, who last night, along with advocates Tyler Allen and J.C. Sites, shared his feasibility study with an enthusiastic group of citizens in the Bomhard Theater at The Kentucky Center for the Arts.

Some highlights:

*It's the proposed expansion of Spaghetti Junction to over 20 lanes (dubbed Fettucini Junction by an attendee as it's way too fat to be spaghetti) that's radical, not the 8664 proposal.

In searching the entire country, Kulash could only find one project similar in size and complexity to the Spaghetti Junction expansion on the Bridges books. It's in the Los Angeles metro area. Downtown freeway removal, though, is common. Portland, San Francisco, Milwaukee, and Chattanooga have all done it successfully. There's a current initiative in Portland to remove a second water-blocking freeway.

Other numerous, similar projects are in various approval and planning stages around the country with traffic models proving their meddle. Some were redesigned after initial planning as engineers began to figure out the advantages of smaller, surface level parkways over freeways.

* Fears of more endless studies and project delays are overblown. Even though much has been made by Bridges advocates of the dire consequences of trying to amend a federal record of decision, it just isn't that big of a deal. Kulash quoted an engineering friend who said that most major transportation projects in the country are operating under an amended ROD.

The initial approval process to reach a record of decision is made up of five steps that take years to complete. However, changes in plans require two questions to be answered: Does the changed proposal meet the purpose and need addressed by the original project and, if so, does it do so within the original project footprint so as to not further disturb the environment? If the answers are yes, all the original steps can be skipped and the record of decision can be amended in a matter of months. Kulash's work shows the answers to both questions are yes.

* Using numbers from the existing environmental impact study done for the Bridges Project, Kulash was able to show that the 8664 plan can handle the same traffic volume as the current proposal. Spaghetti Junction, greatly simplified under 8664, will have more than ample capacity to meet the peak hour, peak direction, year 2025 projections outlined in the Bridges study.

Waterfront traffic on I-64 was estimated by the Bridges project study to reach 100,000 ADT (average daily traffic) in the year 2025. 8664 would reroute 20,000 ADT to the northern, Indiana loop, leaving 80,000. The riverfront parkway would handle 40,000 to 50,000, leaving 30,000 to 40,000 ADT for the existing street grid. The east-west grid in and around downtown currently has 174,000 ADT in spare capacity, four to six times what's needed.

* Besides the obvious reclamation of riverfront property (valued between $130 and $260 million in real dollars, incalculable as a centerpiece), areas within sight or easy walking distance (calculated at 1/4 to 1/2 mile based on the experiences of other cities) would be greatly enhanced in value. Using the two mile stretch of the current waterfront 64 as a measuring stick, that equates to 300-600 acres or 60-120 city blocks.

* 8664 costs half as much as the current Bridges Project proposal and can be built faster.


The full feasibility study is available as a PDF on the 8664 web site.