Tomorrow marks the debut of a new look for the New Albany Tribune.
Our best guess is that the differences will be strictly cosmetic and that there will be no serious effort to upgrade the newspaper's content.
These long-anticipated "reforms" began with yesterday’s final Monday edition, which is to be replaced by a Saturday issue.
On Sunday, Managing Editor Chris Morris verified our friend Joe Emerson’s prediction by tying the new Tribune publication schedule primarily to the lofty ideals of high school sports.
Both Chris and Publisher Carl Esposito have referred to various other aspects of life on Earth as conceivable reasons for a revamped ‘Bune, but as Joe correctly noted, basketball remains the prime mover in New Albany (and America).
Unfortunately, Chris’s Sunday morning explanation, complete with too many assurances that quality is job one, put to rest any forlorn hope that the Tribune might decide to broaden its vision and become involved in local issues that range beyond sweat and short pants.
Perhaps higher common denominators have been banned by ordinance, although in light of the city's budget crisis, an ordinance enforcement officer has yet to be hired.
Given the Wichita serial killer situation, this might not be a bad thing.
NA Confidential apologizes for its inability to offer direct quotes from Morris and Esposito. The Sunday Tribune was not delivered, the newspaper’s phone wasn’t answered on Sunday morning, a special delivery of the Sunday paper was promised us on Monday, and like stopped clockwork, it didn’t show up today, either. We read the Sunday paper over coffee at mom's.
It has been suggested that the Tribune and the Evening News will share more content as a result of the changes, and if this means that long-suffering ‘Bune readers find themselves with a larger chunk of the superior news writing available on a daily basis in the Evening News, then it will all be worthwhile.
Meanwhile, the Tribune remains a source of surreal wonderment. Its management claims to care most about sports and education, and in these areas, both athletes and students excel by training diligently and working hard to improve their performance.
If he’s reading, Carl Esposito is cordially invited to answer the following question:
Why do these qualities not apply to the newspaper itself?
Monday, February 28, 2005
Although we can't spell "obscenity," we sure as hell know it when we see it ... by the way, is that item for sale?
The Sherman Minton Bridge still stands.
The many vacated commercial buildings in downtown New Albany haven’t collapsed – yet.
People are moving, going to work, shopping, living their lives.
When the sun again sets, the highlands we know as Silver Hills will cast a long evening shadow over the city’s west side, where New Albany Adult DVD finally has opened on Main Street in spite of persistent and generally bungled efforts on the part of the city to keep the business shuttered.
The First Amendment has survived another beating at the hands of small-minded ward heelers, and now the market will commence its judgment on the veracity of New Albany DVD’s business plan.
Naturally, owing to the ongoing litigation and various settlement possibilities, we’ll never know if the store’s strategic aims were designed with day-to-day profit in mind, or whether inviting the city’s misguided wrath and collecting the proceeds was the store’s only goal from the beginning.
Amany Ali’s Sunday Tribune survey of the New Albany DVD saga concludes with this account of the Wizard of Westside’s latest bizarre rationale for self-insertion with respect to arbitrating New Albanian morality.
West end resident Dan Coffey said he is attempting to raise enough money to buy the building and use it for a senior center. Coffey is a City Councilman, but said his efforts are strictly as a New Albany resident who does not want the adult bookstore in New Albany.
Coffey said he has taken pledges so far, and said he will not actually begin collecting money until he knows that enough money could be collected to accomplish the goal.
Coffey said the new business is not an asset to the city.
"I try not to look at it," he said. "It kind of breaks your heart when you drive by it."
Coffey said he doesn't think local residents will frequent the store.
However, he said he thinks customers will keep the business open.
"I think the vast majority of people will come from Louisville," he said.
Citizen Coffey is to be commended for belatedly swapping his elected persona for a more properly expressed private one, which places him firmly within the ranks of concerned taxpayers like David Huckleberry, whose recent suggestion that we do a better job of fleecing Caesar’s-bound motorists drew enthusiastic nods from Councilman Coffey.
However, Coffey is heartbroken at the sight of New Albany DVD, a rare “new business” that even the Wizard can see fits the bill of enticing transitory Louisvillians to spend money in New Albany, something that “local residents” assuredly won’t do … but these same “local residents” still must pay, either by pledging the money they wouldn’t spend on adult DVDs toward a crusade to uproot the store, or providing it indirectly to city government to atone for its botched campaign against the First Amendment.
All the while, whether through Coffey’s congenital grandstanding or the city’s mangled legal strategies, New Albany DVD is provided free publicity and maximum exposure (pun intended) far beyond what it could receive in paid advertising.
Had the city ignored New Albany DVD in the spring of 2004, allowed it to open for business, passed ordinances restricting future projects of the same ilk, and all in all, treated the phenomenon according to a policy of containment rather than aggression, it is quite possible that New Albany DVD would already have passed into history by now.
Instead, fueled by the puritanical zeal of the Coffeyites, the city faces a lose-lose situation, with every available option standing to cost us money we don’t have to spend.
As for the Wizard himself, it is quite likely that he see the situation as clearly as NA Confidential … but when it comes to ambition, self-aggrandizement means never having to say you’re constructive.
The many vacated commercial buildings in downtown New Albany haven’t collapsed – yet.
People are moving, going to work, shopping, living their lives.
When the sun again sets, the highlands we know as Silver Hills will cast a long evening shadow over the city’s west side, where New Albany Adult DVD finally has opened on Main Street in spite of persistent and generally bungled efforts on the part of the city to keep the business shuttered.
The First Amendment has survived another beating at the hands of small-minded ward heelers, and now the market will commence its judgment on the veracity of New Albany DVD’s business plan.
Naturally, owing to the ongoing litigation and various settlement possibilities, we’ll never know if the store’s strategic aims were designed with day-to-day profit in mind, or whether inviting the city’s misguided wrath and collecting the proceeds was the store’s only goal from the beginning.
Amany Ali’s Sunday Tribune survey of the New Albany DVD saga concludes with this account of the Wizard of Westside’s latest bizarre rationale for self-insertion with respect to arbitrating New Albanian morality.
West end resident Dan Coffey said he is attempting to raise enough money to buy the building and use it for a senior center. Coffey is a City Councilman, but said his efforts are strictly as a New Albany resident who does not want the adult bookstore in New Albany.
Coffey said he has taken pledges so far, and said he will not actually begin collecting money until he knows that enough money could be collected to accomplish the goal.
Coffey said the new business is not an asset to the city.
"I try not to look at it," he said. "It kind of breaks your heart when you drive by it."
Coffey said he doesn't think local residents will frequent the store.
However, he said he thinks customers will keep the business open.
"I think the vast majority of people will come from Louisville," he said.
Citizen Coffey is to be commended for belatedly swapping his elected persona for a more properly expressed private one, which places him firmly within the ranks of concerned taxpayers like David Huckleberry, whose recent suggestion that we do a better job of fleecing Caesar’s-bound motorists drew enthusiastic nods from Councilman Coffey.
However, Coffey is heartbroken at the sight of New Albany DVD, a rare “new business” that even the Wizard can see fits the bill of enticing transitory Louisvillians to spend money in New Albany, something that “local residents” assuredly won’t do … but these same “local residents” still must pay, either by pledging the money they wouldn’t spend on adult DVDs toward a crusade to uproot the store, or providing it indirectly to city government to atone for its botched campaign against the First Amendment.
All the while, whether through Coffey’s congenital grandstanding or the city’s mangled legal strategies, New Albany DVD is provided free publicity and maximum exposure (pun intended) far beyond what it could receive in paid advertising.
Had the city ignored New Albany DVD in the spring of 2004, allowed it to open for business, passed ordinances restricting future projects of the same ilk, and all in all, treated the phenomenon according to a policy of containment rather than aggression, it is quite possible that New Albany DVD would already have passed into history by now.
Instead, fueled by the puritanical zeal of the Coffeyites, the city faces a lose-lose situation, with every available option standing to cost us money we don’t have to spend.
As for the Wizard himself, it is quite likely that he see the situation as clearly as NA Confidential … but when it comes to ambition, self-aggrandizement means never having to say you’re constructive.
Sunday, February 27, 2005
Latest issue of Jeff Roudenbush's "The Forum" mailed to NA Confidential
NA Confidential is appreciative of being placed on the mailing list of “Jeff Roudenbush’s The Forum of New Albany and Floyd County.”
Thanks for the enrollment.
The current issue of The Forum (February 2005; Volume 2, Issue 4) arrived today via snail mail, as it is a print-only product and apparently is not available on-line.
Articles are “limited to New Albany and Floyd County politics and government,” and written contributions are actively sought, with authors asked to “specify his or her party affiliation or political leaning.”
This month’s contributors include Yvonne Kersey, who compares New Albany’s 2003 and 2004 year-end financial reports, and the editor himself, Jeff Roudenbush.
Jeff discusses a request by township fire departments to consider reorganization into “fire districts,” the New Albany Fire Department’s proposed change in hiring policy (as presented before the City Council), and developments in the Linden Place subdivision controversy.
His editorial, “NA’s ‘Marketplace of Ideas’ Is Expanding,” expresses pleasure that “more citizens are taking an interest in city politics,” and introduces The Forum’s readers to Blogging in the form of NA Confidential (“runs pretty hot”), Volunteer Hoosier (“a civil level of discourse”) and New Albany Renewal (“downtown preservation and renewal.”)
As a longtime observer of the local political scene, Jeff has advice for the new generation of Bloggers:
“If I have any concerns about the bloggers at this point, it’s their newness to the process, the people and the personalities, the rules and regulations. Unrealistic expectations can cause undue anger when change does not happen as fast as you would like.”
He urges Bloggers to take account of issues, regulations and restrictions, as well as other, more instinctive factors.
“I had the wife of a candidate in a recent election tell me that she could not believe how many times her husband was asked whether he was a native of Floyd County (he wasn’t). She didn’t understand that natives will know and understand our issues – will know us – best.”
Jeff kindly adds:
“I think Roger Baylor of NA Confidential and Randy Smith of Volunteer Hoosier are going to have a positive impact on political discussions here in New Albany. I wish that someone like Warren Nash, retiring chairman of the Floyd County Democratic Party, a man who was Mayor of New Albany at an earlier age than these men began to take an interest in its politics had the interest and skills to moderate a blog. With his knowledge of the history of New Albany politics, what he could say if he were willing to say it … that would be fascinating.”
He concludes by asking public officials who might be tempted to participate on the Blogs to remember the potential pitfalls.
“Every word you say and especially every word you write is a part of the public record. Do your best to maintain your dignity and to make sure that nothing you say can come back to bite you.”
Speaking only for itself, NA Confidential knows and appreciates the sweet caress of the rhetorical stiletto, but nonetheless is delighted and honored to be one of the neighbors permitted to discuss the local news.
Again, sincere thanks for the issue.
Thanks for the enrollment.
The current issue of The Forum (February 2005; Volume 2, Issue 4) arrived today via snail mail, as it is a print-only product and apparently is not available on-line.
Articles are “limited to New Albany and Floyd County politics and government,” and written contributions are actively sought, with authors asked to “specify his or her party affiliation or political leaning.”
This month’s contributors include Yvonne Kersey, who compares New Albany’s 2003 and 2004 year-end financial reports, and the editor himself, Jeff Roudenbush.
Jeff discusses a request by township fire departments to consider reorganization into “fire districts,” the New Albany Fire Department’s proposed change in hiring policy (as presented before the City Council), and developments in the Linden Place subdivision controversy.
His editorial, “NA’s ‘Marketplace of Ideas’ Is Expanding,” expresses pleasure that “more citizens are taking an interest in city politics,” and introduces The Forum’s readers to Blogging in the form of NA Confidential (“runs pretty hot”), Volunteer Hoosier (“a civil level of discourse”) and New Albany Renewal (“downtown preservation and renewal.”)
As a longtime observer of the local political scene, Jeff has advice for the new generation of Bloggers:
“If I have any concerns about the bloggers at this point, it’s their newness to the process, the people and the personalities, the rules and regulations. Unrealistic expectations can cause undue anger when change does not happen as fast as you would like.”
He urges Bloggers to take account of issues, regulations and restrictions, as well as other, more instinctive factors.
“I had the wife of a candidate in a recent election tell me that she could not believe how many times her husband was asked whether he was a native of Floyd County (he wasn’t). She didn’t understand that natives will know and understand our issues – will know us – best.”
Jeff kindly adds:
“I think Roger Baylor of NA Confidential and Randy Smith of Volunteer Hoosier are going to have a positive impact on political discussions here in New Albany. I wish that someone like Warren Nash, retiring chairman of the Floyd County Democratic Party, a man who was Mayor of New Albany at an earlier age than these men began to take an interest in its politics had the interest and skills to moderate a blog. With his knowledge of the history of New Albany politics, what he could say if he were willing to say it … that would be fascinating.”
He concludes by asking public officials who might be tempted to participate on the Blogs to remember the potential pitfalls.
“Every word you say and especially every word you write is a part of the public record. Do your best to maintain your dignity and to make sure that nothing you say can come back to bite you.”
Speaking only for itself, NA Confidential knows and appreciates the sweet caress of the rhetorical stiletto, but nonetheless is delighted and honored to be one of the neighbors permitted to discuss the local news.
Again, sincere thanks for the issue.
Saturday, February 26, 2005
Where men are men and hillsides are scared
When I was in high school, there were at least four taverns in the general environs of Floyds Knobs, all clustered tepidly along Paoli Pike as the highway swung left at the crest of the Knobs and set out westbound toward Mt. St. Francis.
To have spent one’s childhood years in a parsimonious, Baptist-inflected place like Georgetown is to grasp how important it became to win friends and influence classmates living in predominantly Catholic towns like Floyds Knobs.
A seemingly inexhaustible supply of big brothers and family friends to help the under-aged consumer buy beer was but one benefit of these hard-earned contacts.
Irvin’s, the most primitive and archaic of all the Floyds Knobs taverns, was located a few miles north of “downtown” in the shadow of St. Mary’s. It has been gone a very long time.
Herman’s Tavern also disappeared many years ago, although his widow Grace kept the bar open, sans signage, for short afternoon hours well into the 1980’s.
The Schupperts Corner beer joint that served me Falls City at age 17 didn’t survive the gentrification of the structure into “Mooresville Station,” circa 1980.
Happily, the venerable Mike’s Tavern remains alive, and will be open so long as there are Freibergers freely floating around the county.
The other bar still operating on Paoli Pike, Sammy O’s, not only has stayed in business, but it has undergone a complete metamorphosis. It is a transformation so incredible that if “surreal” were not a word, I’d have to invent it. The “new” Sammy O’s strikes me as a metaphor of sorts for the transformation of Floyd County from pastoral farmland to carefully crafted exurb.
I was reminded of this fact last week when Kyle Lowry’s front-page Tribune news story highlighted potential problems for Sammy O’s, as certain issues arising from its refurbishment have yet to be addressed:
Trust me, you must see the Tribune photograph before reading the remainder of this article.
In my fading recollection, the old Sammy O’s was a 1950’s-era brick structure divided into a bar and family room, with the familiar patina of cigarette smoke and grease, and a palpable aura of familiarity.
Today’s Sammy O’s is a completely new building, one-half tavern (facing the street), and one-half banquet facility in the rear.
The owner’s decision to expand his business certainly was influenced by the shape of the new Floyds Knobs, still a scattershot community laid out along creeks, valleys and accompanying roadways, but now utterly dominated by high-dollar developments like the Woods of Lafayette, a sprawling, garish subdivision complex that predictably necessitated the obliteration of its namesake woods to make room for something that the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu might have planned had he been born in Galena and not Wallachia.
Having little reason to venture into the county apart from occasional trips to Georgetown to visit my mom, I’d taken little notice of the evolution of Floyds Knobs until the summer of 2004, when my cousin’s wedding reception was scheduled for a place I’d never heard of, which was because it was the first such party to be held in the recently constructed hall … which of course turned out to be the catering arm of the “new” Sammy O’s.
All this faded into irrelevance as we drove into Floyds Knobs and saw the missing hillside behind the place where Sammy O’s used to stand.
I didn’t remember a rock quarry there.
Across Paoli Pike was a jagged, scarred and denuded slope where a wooded ridgeline used to be, and where landscaping apparently was about to begin as part of a Woods of Lafayette entrance, but at the time it was a barren tableau of mud inhabited by puttering bulldozers.
A strip mine? In Floyds Knobs? Perhaps the quarry and the mine were a package deal.
Torrential rain had made it impossible to finish the parking lot of the new Sammy O’s, which was slated to fill the space formerly occupied by the dynamited hillside, so fresh-faced teenagers were ready and waiting to park cars in the mud so wedding guests wouldn’t have to do it and get their shoes dirty.
Inside, the wedding reception proceeded without incident. With nary a good beer to drink, I became bored and wondered from the banquet hall section of Sammy O’s into the new barroom.
At first, it seemed as though I’d been beamed down into a sterile, gingerbread airport lounge – such was the airy, almost pastel-driven contrast to the gritty barroom décor of olden time.
Was that a spittoon hidden behind a potted plastic plant?
The tavern’s regulars were there just like they always were, but even they were vice-gripping their frozen longnecks like frightened children pawing the safety bars on an amusement park roller coaster, slack-jawed and gaping at clean walls entirely undecorated except for a Budweiser NASCAR banner, which is required by Indiana statute.
Strange days had found us … and it was an unsettling picture.
The reception ended, we tipped our valet, and it was over. I haven’t been back to Sammy O’s since, and probably won’t go – nothing against ‘em (in fact, I admire the owners for plunging ahead and investing in the future), but in the end, there’s no beer there for me.
And that strange missing hillside gives me the willies.
Here's to the hope that the Sammy O's regulars did well at the re-education camp. Change can be a very scary thing.
To have spent one’s childhood years in a parsimonious, Baptist-inflected place like Georgetown is to grasp how important it became to win friends and influence classmates living in predominantly Catholic towns like Floyds Knobs.
A seemingly inexhaustible supply of big brothers and family friends to help the under-aged consumer buy beer was but one benefit of these hard-earned contacts.
Irvin’s, the most primitive and archaic of all the Floyds Knobs taverns, was located a few miles north of “downtown” in the shadow of St. Mary’s. It has been gone a very long time.
Herman’s Tavern also disappeared many years ago, although his widow Grace kept the bar open, sans signage, for short afternoon hours well into the 1980’s.
The Schupperts Corner beer joint that served me Falls City at age 17 didn’t survive the gentrification of the structure into “Mooresville Station,” circa 1980.
Happily, the venerable Mike’s Tavern remains alive, and will be open so long as there are Freibergers freely floating around the county.
The other bar still operating on Paoli Pike, Sammy O’s, not only has stayed in business, but it has undergone a complete metamorphosis. It is a transformation so incredible that if “surreal” were not a word, I’d have to invent it. The “new” Sammy O’s strikes me as a metaphor of sorts for the transformation of Floyd County from pastoral farmland to carefully crafted exurb.
I was reminded of this fact last week when Kyle Lowry’s front-page Tribune news story highlighted potential problems for Sammy O’s, as certain issues arising from its refurbishment have yet to be addressed:
Trust me, you must see the Tribune photograph before reading the remainder of this article.
In my fading recollection, the old Sammy O’s was a 1950’s-era brick structure divided into a bar and family room, with the familiar patina of cigarette smoke and grease, and a palpable aura of familiarity.
Today’s Sammy O’s is a completely new building, one-half tavern (facing the street), and one-half banquet facility in the rear.
The owner’s decision to expand his business certainly was influenced by the shape of the new Floyds Knobs, still a scattershot community laid out along creeks, valleys and accompanying roadways, but now utterly dominated by high-dollar developments like the Woods of Lafayette, a sprawling, garish subdivision complex that predictably necessitated the obliteration of its namesake woods to make room for something that the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu might have planned had he been born in Galena and not Wallachia.
Having little reason to venture into the county apart from occasional trips to Georgetown to visit my mom, I’d taken little notice of the evolution of Floyds Knobs until the summer of 2004, when my cousin’s wedding reception was scheduled for a place I’d never heard of, which was because it was the first such party to be held in the recently constructed hall … which of course turned out to be the catering arm of the “new” Sammy O’s.
All this faded into irrelevance as we drove into Floyds Knobs and saw the missing hillside behind the place where Sammy O’s used to stand.
I didn’t remember a rock quarry there.
Across Paoli Pike was a jagged, scarred and denuded slope where a wooded ridgeline used to be, and where landscaping apparently was about to begin as part of a Woods of Lafayette entrance, but at the time it was a barren tableau of mud inhabited by puttering bulldozers.
A strip mine? In Floyds Knobs? Perhaps the quarry and the mine were a package deal.
Torrential rain had made it impossible to finish the parking lot of the new Sammy O’s, which was slated to fill the space formerly occupied by the dynamited hillside, so fresh-faced teenagers were ready and waiting to park cars in the mud so wedding guests wouldn’t have to do it and get their shoes dirty.
Inside, the wedding reception proceeded without incident. With nary a good beer to drink, I became bored and wondered from the banquet hall section of Sammy O’s into the new barroom.
At first, it seemed as though I’d been beamed down into a sterile, gingerbread airport lounge – such was the airy, almost pastel-driven contrast to the gritty barroom décor of olden time.
Was that a spittoon hidden behind a potted plastic plant?
The tavern’s regulars were there just like they always were, but even they were vice-gripping their frozen longnecks like frightened children pawing the safety bars on an amusement park roller coaster, slack-jawed and gaping at clean walls entirely undecorated except for a Budweiser NASCAR banner, which is required by Indiana statute.
Strange days had found us … and it was an unsettling picture.
The reception ended, we tipped our valet, and it was over. I haven’t been back to Sammy O’s since, and probably won’t go – nothing against ‘em (in fact, I admire the owners for plunging ahead and investing in the future), but in the end, there’s no beer there for me.
And that strange missing hillside gives me the willies.
Here's to the hope that the Sammy O's regulars did well at the re-education camp. Change can be a very scary thing.
Friday, February 25, 2005
Coffee shop at 1515 E. Market taking shape
As reported by New Albany Annie some weeks back, the retail space at 1515 E. Market looks to be evolving into a coffee shop.
One clue is the "California's Coffee" sign on the front of the building. Another is the new flooring and counter being constructed inside.
Marvelous.
And only two blocks away ... perhaps the new coffee shop will stay open for more than 30 hours a week and thus make possible our patronage.
One clue is the "California's Coffee" sign on the front of the building. Another is the new flooring and counter being constructed inside.
Marvelous.
And only two blocks away ... perhaps the new coffee shop will stay open for more than 30 hours a week and thus make possible our patronage.
Thursday, February 24, 2005
On disappointment, epiphanies and progress
One might say that a strong sense of disappointment motivated the birth of NA Confidential.
The accumulated experiences of a lifetime spent living and working in and around New Albany gradually coalesced, unexpectedly presenting me with a bouncing baby epiphany.
It flared while riding a bicycle or walking through the streets of New Albany, when considering the way it is here and the way I’ve observed it to be in other places, as I wetted a finger to lift into the breeze … after looking into the mirror and seeing the now middle-aged face smirking back at me … as a quarter-century of often reluctant adulthood finally made the persuasive case that neither I nor anyone else close to me stood to succeed in changing the world.
But helping to change my own little patch of turf might be another story entirely.
In turn, this simple observation both begs an important question and frames the subsequent political implications.
In short, why change?
Why prepare for the inevitability of tomorrow when the reality of today is itself such a challenge?
The answer is simple. We do it for the children.
From the beginnings of recorded history, thinking men and women have known that the only constant in life is change. We may honestly disagree as to the specific merits of this change or that one, but we cannot ignore that the world is in a continual state of flux.
We cannot, but for various reasons many among us do, and this is the element of the equation that is so very difficult to reconcile.
As one example of many, for a disturbingly large proportion of the world’s population, sewage disposal remains the open ditch running down the middle of a village street.
Yet, as beneficiaries of education and the wealth it creates – as the beneficiaries of progress – not one of us reading these words can avoid recoiling at the thought of living in such a place.
Assuming, of course, that we think at all.
And that's the problem.
It follows that at every juncture in human history, as a skilled researcher or incisive thinker provides incontrovertible evidence that open sewers cause suffering and disease, and that the quality of human life itself stands to be improved immeasurably by channeling and treating the effluent, someone in a position of power has looked on and said, “no – that’s not the way we do it here.”
Which is to say, the way we do it “here” is broken … and it needs fixing.
To understand what needs fixing in a place like New Albany does not imply the necessity of reading the complete works of Proust, earning an advanced degree in business administration or acquiring basic computer skills, although each is useful in its own way.
Rather, a short stroll though the downtrodden downtown area should be quite enough to convince the most casual of observers that there is much work to be done to improve economic opportunities, to upgrade sub-standard housing, and to provide an enhanced quality of life for the residents of the city.
It should be equally obvious that political “leadership” founded on the notion that the fulfillment of minimum standards and the maintenance of the lowest common denominator provide “success” in solving these problems has proven to be discredited, exhausted and bereft of the vitality necessary to move New Albany into the 21st century.
Political “leadership” of this ilk fails most spectacularly when it cynically surveys the certainties of what is to come, and in essence, takes the unfathomable position that it really isn’t necessary to act now so as to provide children of today with the possibility of better lives tomorrow.
Instead, it’s more important to hoard short-term political power today, to be the big fish in the little pond, to lubricate the ward heeler’s machine, and to insure that unexpected climatic change doesn’t disrupt the way things should remain.
To keep the lid on the dynamism that the small-time political power broker fears most because it can’t be controlled, our local Neanderthal populists must create and deploy a bogeyman.
Sadly, in New Albany, that bogeyman is the all-purpose notion of progress.
All too often our political luminaries inform us that progress is bad, and stagnation is good – it’s preserving our way of life, we’re told – except that in the absence of movement forward, there is no standing still because the only constant is change, so instead, there is regress, and regress is the lifeblood of the populist political cadre that has dominated New Albany for decades, content to obfuscate progressive attitudes and impede the efforts of progressives because the atmosphere engendered by progress is incompatible with the retention of control by the traditional system.
After all, nothing scares the big fish in the little pond more than the pond becoming bigger.
NA Confidential came about as a primal scream and a visceral response to these pathetic champions of regress, to these venal community pillars, and to those who continue to profit from keeping other people down.
To be disappointed in the foot-dragging, narrow-minded, small-time, dirty river town mentality of people who style themselves as political “elites” is one thing, but to see it worn almost as a badge of honor is to be profoundly embarrassed ... and to become angry.
Emotions aside, it all comes down to a simple comparison, one that I intend to continue using as the best means of examining the New Albany scene and the participants therein.
The comparison is far from absolute, and there is room for honest disagreement over its components. There will be trade-offs and compromises, but that’s always the case when there’s more than one person in the room.
Progressive or regressive?
Yesterday we considered the forthcoming Democratic Party leadership contest. A slate was provided. On one side are names like Randy Stumler, Marcey Wisman and Tony Toran.
On the other, one name stands out: Dan Coffey.
Progressive or regressive?
In point of fact, the countywide leadership contest is a referendum on the general theme of progress.
Progressive or regressive?
Here in the city, Mayor James Garner stumbled badly during his first year in office. Much of it was his own fault, and from its inception NA Confidential whipped him mercilessly … until it became clear that those “leaders” who are allied with the most virulent strains of regressive populism were using our “anti-Mayor” motif to attack the very notion of progressivism.
Progressive or regressive?
Thank you for asking, because that’s where I draw the line. Individuals come and go, but ideas and worldviews remain.
Progressive or regressive?
These are the stakes as New Albany contemplates its future, and as the Democratic Party prepares to select its leaders.
Na Confidential espouses progressivism and the implementation of a visionary and dynamic plan of action to move New Albany forward.
If our current Mayor’s instincts are in fact progressive (and there is evidence to suggest that in spite of his gaffes and missteps, this is the case), and if his opponents continue to espouse the politics of regressive populism, there should be absolutely no confusion as to which camp this Blog and its author propose to inhabit.
The progressive one.
The accumulated experiences of a lifetime spent living and working in and around New Albany gradually coalesced, unexpectedly presenting me with a bouncing baby epiphany.
It flared while riding a bicycle or walking through the streets of New Albany, when considering the way it is here and the way I’ve observed it to be in other places, as I wetted a finger to lift into the breeze … after looking into the mirror and seeing the now middle-aged face smirking back at me … as a quarter-century of often reluctant adulthood finally made the persuasive case that neither I nor anyone else close to me stood to succeed in changing the world.
But helping to change my own little patch of turf might be another story entirely.
In turn, this simple observation both begs an important question and frames the subsequent political implications.
In short, why change?
Why prepare for the inevitability of tomorrow when the reality of today is itself such a challenge?
The answer is simple. We do it for the children.
From the beginnings of recorded history, thinking men and women have known that the only constant in life is change. We may honestly disagree as to the specific merits of this change or that one, but we cannot ignore that the world is in a continual state of flux.
We cannot, but for various reasons many among us do, and this is the element of the equation that is so very difficult to reconcile.
As one example of many, for a disturbingly large proportion of the world’s population, sewage disposal remains the open ditch running down the middle of a village street.
Yet, as beneficiaries of education and the wealth it creates – as the beneficiaries of progress – not one of us reading these words can avoid recoiling at the thought of living in such a place.
Assuming, of course, that we think at all.
And that's the problem.
It follows that at every juncture in human history, as a skilled researcher or incisive thinker provides incontrovertible evidence that open sewers cause suffering and disease, and that the quality of human life itself stands to be improved immeasurably by channeling and treating the effluent, someone in a position of power has looked on and said, “no – that’s not the way we do it here.”
Which is to say, the way we do it “here” is broken … and it needs fixing.
To understand what needs fixing in a place like New Albany does not imply the necessity of reading the complete works of Proust, earning an advanced degree in business administration or acquiring basic computer skills, although each is useful in its own way.
Rather, a short stroll though the downtrodden downtown area should be quite enough to convince the most casual of observers that there is much work to be done to improve economic opportunities, to upgrade sub-standard housing, and to provide an enhanced quality of life for the residents of the city.
It should be equally obvious that political “leadership” founded on the notion that the fulfillment of minimum standards and the maintenance of the lowest common denominator provide “success” in solving these problems has proven to be discredited, exhausted and bereft of the vitality necessary to move New Albany into the 21st century.
Political “leadership” of this ilk fails most spectacularly when it cynically surveys the certainties of what is to come, and in essence, takes the unfathomable position that it really isn’t necessary to act now so as to provide children of today with the possibility of better lives tomorrow.
Instead, it’s more important to hoard short-term political power today, to be the big fish in the little pond, to lubricate the ward heeler’s machine, and to insure that unexpected climatic change doesn’t disrupt the way things should remain.
To keep the lid on the dynamism that the small-time political power broker fears most because it can’t be controlled, our local Neanderthal populists must create and deploy a bogeyman.
Sadly, in New Albany, that bogeyman is the all-purpose notion of progress.
All too often our political luminaries inform us that progress is bad, and stagnation is good – it’s preserving our way of life, we’re told – except that in the absence of movement forward, there is no standing still because the only constant is change, so instead, there is regress, and regress is the lifeblood of the populist political cadre that has dominated New Albany for decades, content to obfuscate progressive attitudes and impede the efforts of progressives because the atmosphere engendered by progress is incompatible with the retention of control by the traditional system.
After all, nothing scares the big fish in the little pond more than the pond becoming bigger.
NA Confidential came about as a primal scream and a visceral response to these pathetic champions of regress, to these venal community pillars, and to those who continue to profit from keeping other people down.
To be disappointed in the foot-dragging, narrow-minded, small-time, dirty river town mentality of people who style themselves as political “elites” is one thing, but to see it worn almost as a badge of honor is to be profoundly embarrassed ... and to become angry.
Emotions aside, it all comes down to a simple comparison, one that I intend to continue using as the best means of examining the New Albany scene and the participants therein.
The comparison is far from absolute, and there is room for honest disagreement over its components. There will be trade-offs and compromises, but that’s always the case when there’s more than one person in the room.
Progressive or regressive?
Yesterday we considered the forthcoming Democratic Party leadership contest. A slate was provided. On one side are names like Randy Stumler, Marcey Wisman and Tony Toran.
On the other, one name stands out: Dan Coffey.
Progressive or regressive?
In point of fact, the countywide leadership contest is a referendum on the general theme of progress.
Progressive or regressive?
Here in the city, Mayor James Garner stumbled badly during his first year in office. Much of it was his own fault, and from its inception NA Confidential whipped him mercilessly … until it became clear that those “leaders” who are allied with the most virulent strains of regressive populism were using our “anti-Mayor” motif to attack the very notion of progressivism.
Progressive or regressive?
Thank you for asking, because that’s where I draw the line. Individuals come and go, but ideas and worldviews remain.
Progressive or regressive?
These are the stakes as New Albany contemplates its future, and as the Democratic Party prepares to select its leaders.
Na Confidential espouses progressivism and the implementation of a visionary and dynamic plan of action to move New Albany forward.
If our current Mayor’s instincts are in fact progressive (and there is evidence to suggest that in spite of his gaffes and missteps, this is the case), and if his opponents continue to espouse the politics of regressive populism, there should be absolutely no confusion as to which camp this Blog and its author propose to inhabit.
The progressive one.
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
Here are ALL the candidates for the upcoming Floyd County Democratic Party election
Na Confidential has received the full slate of candidates for leadership positions in the Floyd County Democratic Party. The election takes place on March 5 at the Bonnie Sloan Post of the American Legion. Precinct committee representatives do the voting, but the public can come and observe.
Chairman – Randall Stumler vs. Maury Goldberg
Vice-Chair – Marcey Wisman vs. Nikki Price
Secretary – Tony Toran vs. Dan Coffey
Treasurer – Adam Dickey vs. Beth Hardin
A quick note: We'd be more than happy to publish information pertaining to the workings of the local GOP, but to date, we've received no information.
Chairman – Randall Stumler vs. Maury Goldberg
Vice-Chair – Marcey Wisman vs. Nikki Price
Secretary – Tony Toran vs. Dan Coffey
Treasurer – Adam Dickey vs. Beth Hardin
A quick note: We'd be more than happy to publish information pertaining to the workings of the local GOP, but to date, we've received no information.
'Bune axes Monday edition; city's parakeets restless
On January 16, NA Confidential asked: “Is the Monday edition of the Tribune headed for redundancy?"
Today, in news so earth-shattering that the full page ad announcing it is buried on page 10, the Tribune reveals that … its Monday edition is headed for redundancy, and a new Saturday edition will soon appear.
Publisher Carl Esposito promises that breaking Monday news will appear on the newspaper’s web site on those rare occasions when it is updated in a timely manner.
Class, holding your breath can be very bad for your health.
Today, in news so earth-shattering that the full page ad announcing it is buried on page 10, the Tribune reveals that … its Monday edition is headed for redundancy, and a new Saturday edition will soon appear.
Publisher Carl Esposito promises that breaking Monday news will appear on the newspaper’s web site on those rare occasions when it is updated in a timely manner.
Class, holding your breath can be very bad for your health.
Floyd County Demos seek new leader
The Courier-Journal’s Ben Zion Hershberg reports that veteran politico and former mayor Warren Nash, chairman of the Floyd County Democratic Party since 1993, won’t seek re-election to his post when the party meets next week.
The outgoing chairman assesses the current political balance of power:
“With the development of many higher-priced subdivisions near Charlestown Road and in Lafayette Township, Nash said the Republican Party has gained strength in Floyd County in the last 12 years.”
Indeed, portraits of Grover Norquist and James Dobson are most often seen displayed lovingly on the mantles of walled exurbians.
“But in New Albany, Nash said, ‘we're stronger than ever.’ Democrats hold all the city's elected offices except one seat on the City Council.”
How’s that for consolation? With some members of the current City Council vying publicly for the coveted title of “least read” New Albanian, it’s not the place to look for threads of progressive leadership … at least at until the more reasonable members of the body come to the fore.
However, Hershberg leaves us with an extremely hopeful factoid.
“So far, Nash said, the only person who has notified the party of his intention to seek the chairmanship is Randy Stumler, a member of the Floyd County Council.”
Although Randy may have disqualified himself for a party leadership role by daring to express a progressive vision for the city of New Albany, and at half Nash’s age would undoubtedly frighten the stodgier party pillars, the thought of a bona fide teacher manning the controls of Floyd County’s Democrats is a pleasant one.
Consider the indigestion it likely would induce in Dan “Wizard of Westside” Coffey’s Anti-Thought Gang. That alone would be worth the price of admission.
Nash says, 'It's time for new blood'; Top Democrat in Floyd to step down, by Ben Zion Hershberg of the Courier-Journal.
The outgoing chairman assesses the current political balance of power:
“With the development of many higher-priced subdivisions near Charlestown Road and in Lafayette Township, Nash said the Republican Party has gained strength in Floyd County in the last 12 years.”
Indeed, portraits of Grover Norquist and James Dobson are most often seen displayed lovingly on the mantles of walled exurbians.
“But in New Albany, Nash said, ‘we're stronger than ever.’ Democrats hold all the city's elected offices except one seat on the City Council.”
How’s that for consolation? With some members of the current City Council vying publicly for the coveted title of “least read” New Albanian, it’s not the place to look for threads of progressive leadership … at least at until the more reasonable members of the body come to the fore.
However, Hershberg leaves us with an extremely hopeful factoid.
“So far, Nash said, the only person who has notified the party of his intention to seek the chairmanship is Randy Stumler, a member of the Floyd County Council.”
Although Randy may have disqualified himself for a party leadership role by daring to express a progressive vision for the city of New Albany, and at half Nash’s age would undoubtedly frighten the stodgier party pillars, the thought of a bona fide teacher manning the controls of Floyd County’s Democrats is a pleasant one.
Consider the indigestion it likely would induce in Dan “Wizard of Westside” Coffey’s Anti-Thought Gang. That alone would be worth the price of admission.
Nash says, 'It's time for new blood'; Top Democrat in Floyd to step down, by Ben Zion Hershberg of the Courier-Journal.
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Who's your mandate?
If, as the saying goes, prejudice is the child of ignorance, then ignorance is the father to us all, at least to judge from the prevailing winds of the American political climate.
It's mourning in America, so here's your complete forecast: Self indulgent skies this morning will become dunderheaded this afternoon. Very slight chance of redemption, highs few in number, lows in the suicidal range. IQ's at 5 to 10 mph, except during NASCAR.
While epiphanies are like steroid-induced homeruns in an era of televised talk-show psychology, the shallowness of the mass-marketed balm should not be permitted to detract from the periodic internal fireworks display somehow achieved autonomously and without the assistance of Oprah or “Your Life for Dummies.”
Mine came on he morning of November 3, 2004, as I surveyed the lunar landscape of election results and examined the newspaper for signs of how America had come to this.
Arguably, no nation in human history has been as determined to ignore the lessons of its history by turning its collective back on the precepts that brought it to a position of power and affluence.
Of the 60% of Hoosiers casting their votes for the trickle-down, tinkle-on economics of George W. Bush, how many (a) are sufficiently well-heeled that their tax breaks will magically translate into the sort of community-wide investment that programs like Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) achieve, and (b) are at an income level where the absence of such grants will be keenly felt?
By the way, the necessity of trimming the federal budget to account for the regressive shift of wealth away from what is intended to comprise a permanent underclass has led to a proposal to eliminate the CDBG program.
George W. Bush thanks you for your mandate.
As the Tribune’s Amany Ali notes today, CDBG money funds New Albany’s redevelopment effort, helping to pay for handicap-accessible ramps, replacement windows and new sidewalks.
The White House insists that a revamped grant program will help put the money where it is needed most – in the hands of faith-based initiatives operated by volunteer evangelicals who will insist on loyalty oaths and public prayers before doling out rolls of quarters,designer Bibles and “Saddam Bombed the WTC” coloring books.
Okay, okay … the White House didn’t say that.
Out loud.
Did I mention that Dick Cheney thanks you for your mandate?
From The Nation: The Daily Outrage … What would MLK think?
New Albany could feel brunt of federal budget cut, by Amany Ali, Tribune City Editor
It's mourning in America, so here's your complete forecast: Self indulgent skies this morning will become dunderheaded this afternoon. Very slight chance of redemption, highs few in number, lows in the suicidal range. IQ's at 5 to 10 mph, except during NASCAR.
While epiphanies are like steroid-induced homeruns in an era of televised talk-show psychology, the shallowness of the mass-marketed balm should not be permitted to detract from the periodic internal fireworks display somehow achieved autonomously and without the assistance of Oprah or “Your Life for Dummies.”
Mine came on he morning of November 3, 2004, as I surveyed the lunar landscape of election results and examined the newspaper for signs of how America had come to this.
Arguably, no nation in human history has been as determined to ignore the lessons of its history by turning its collective back on the precepts that brought it to a position of power and affluence.
Of the 60% of Hoosiers casting their votes for the trickle-down, tinkle-on economics of George W. Bush, how many (a) are sufficiently well-heeled that their tax breaks will magically translate into the sort of community-wide investment that programs like Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) achieve, and (b) are at an income level where the absence of such grants will be keenly felt?
By the way, the necessity of trimming the federal budget to account for the regressive shift of wealth away from what is intended to comprise a permanent underclass has led to a proposal to eliminate the CDBG program.
George W. Bush thanks you for your mandate.
As the Tribune’s Amany Ali notes today, CDBG money funds New Albany’s redevelopment effort, helping to pay for handicap-accessible ramps, replacement windows and new sidewalks.
The White House insists that a revamped grant program will help put the money where it is needed most – in the hands of faith-based initiatives operated by volunteer evangelicals who will insist on loyalty oaths and public prayers before doling out rolls of quarters,
Okay, okay … the White House didn’t say that.
Out loud.
Did I mention that Dick Cheney thanks you for your mandate?
From The Nation: The Daily Outrage … What would MLK think?
New Albany could feel brunt of federal budget cut, by Amany Ali, Tribune City Editor
Monday, February 21, 2005
Dr. Thompson checks out
'I really love (Kentucky),' Thompson told Courier-Journal reporter Bill Cox in 1972. 'But you have to leave it to ever get to do what you want to do.'
After a time, I could not read Hunter S. Thompson.
That is, I could not read him without trying to write like him, and this had a very bad effect on my work.
Not so with my primary influence, H. L. Mencken, whose essays and newspaper articles remain a stylistic reference and a rhetorical inspiration, but can be read and digested while remaining on the tracks.
Over at Contrarian55, Joe Kerstiens a remembrance of the Louisville native Thompson:
...you mus'n't miss...excitement like this...
After a time, I could not read Hunter S. Thompson.
That is, I could not read him without trying to write like him, and this had a very bad effect on my work.
Not so with my primary influence, H. L. Mencken, whose essays and newspaper articles remain a stylistic reference and a rhetorical inspiration, but can be read and digested while remaining on the tracks.
Over at Contrarian55, Joe Kerstiens a remembrance of the Louisville native Thompson:
...you mus'n't miss...excitement like this...
Sunday, February 20, 2005
(Off topic) Belgium and Netherlands Beer Tour, 2005
And now for a word from our sponsor.
Many of you are aware that my working life revolves around good beer.
It’s 2005, year of the triennial Poperinge hop fest, and time for another joyful immersion into Belgian beer, cuisine and culture.
Once again, I’m organizing a group tour, our eighth European beer-hunting excursion since 1995, and the first under the banner of Potable Curmudgeon, Inc., my new consulting and travel enterprise.
The same great experience is at hand. The tour dates are September 8 – 20, 2005, and all friends, beer lovers, customers, FOSSILS club members, and adventure seekers are invited to make the trip.
Please contact me if you’re interested. Participants are limited to 22, and it’s first come, first served.
Write to: Roger A. Baylor/Potable Curmudgeon, Inc.
More information: Itinerary notes and links
Many of you are aware that my working life revolves around good beer.
It’s 2005, year of the triennial Poperinge hop fest, and time for another joyful immersion into Belgian beer, cuisine and culture.
Once again, I’m organizing a group tour, our eighth European beer-hunting excursion since 1995, and the first under the banner of Potable Curmudgeon, Inc., my new consulting and travel enterprise.
The same great experience is at hand. The tour dates are September 8 – 20, 2005, and all friends, beer lovers, customers, FOSSILS club members, and adventure seekers are invited to make the trip.
Please contact me if you’re interested. Participants are limited to 22, and it’s first come, first served.
Write to: Roger A. Baylor/Potable Curmudgeon, Inc.
More information: Itinerary notes and links
If Muzak is playing but there's no one around to hear it ...
Ed, a friend and mentor, came into the pub for a pint yesterday, and we chatted about what it’s like to live in the city of New Albany.
Our verdict: There are times when one must pause, take a deep breath, and have a good laugh. It’s either that, or curl up in a corner and cry all day.
It’s either that, or the cranium again explodes at the thought of the fear, stubbornness, passivity, stupidity, blindness and mediocrity.
But enough of New Albany’s “leadership” class.
Scratch off a lottery ticket, turn on NASCAR, pop open an ice-cold Miller Lite and smoke ‘em if you got ‘em as we consider a story by Gregory Hall in today’s Courier-Journal:
Making a scene Performers sing, recite at audition for roles in summer shows
“Performers sang and recited lines before Bob Trinkle, New Albany's riverfront director who also produces and directs shows at the French Lick facility. The auditions took place at the Kentucky International Convention Center.”
Whoa -- THE Bob Trinkle, erstwhile leader of the StoneDeaf Band and New Albany’s foremost professional altruist during the forgotten decade of the 1980’s?
The man who once entered Scoreboard Liquors, ostensibly to buy chewing gum, and asked, “why do you hate me,” and when informed that it wasn’t hate, it was satire, stated that he didn’t know what “satire” meant?
How fitting, perhaps even touching, that the man who gave his name to our beloved Trinkle Dome amphitheatre on the Ohio should be appointed the director of the riverfront.
Trinkle’s stewardship ensures that solid, family-style good taste will prevail … hey, wait, that’s it!
Suddenly, the solution to the city’s nagging New Albany DVD problem is at hand!
A StoneDeaf Band reunion at a benefit concert at the Trinkle Dome, and accompanying anti-porno telethon, with speaking slots for the Mullah Goebel and Councilman Dan “Wizard of Westside” Coffey … plenty of lemonade, weenies and elephant ears, and all proceeds going to buy a couple gallons of gasoline and a Bic to help send the evil pornographers packing.
Then, concerned citizen David Huckleberry could use the leftover flammables to roust the remaining bars and taverns downtown ... and we would be free to descend into a golden era of conformity, sterility and Third World taxation rates.
Okay, laughter’s done.
It’s crying time again …
Our verdict: There are times when one must pause, take a deep breath, and have a good laugh. It’s either that, or curl up in a corner and cry all day.
It’s either that, or the cranium again explodes at the thought of the fear, stubbornness, passivity, stupidity, blindness and mediocrity.
But enough of New Albany’s “leadership” class.
Scratch off a lottery ticket, turn on NASCAR, pop open an ice-cold Miller Lite and smoke ‘em if you got ‘em as we consider a story by Gregory Hall in today’s Courier-Journal:
Making a scene Performers sing, recite at audition for roles in summer shows
“Performers sang and recited lines before Bob Trinkle, New Albany's riverfront director who also produces and directs shows at the French Lick facility. The auditions took place at the Kentucky International Convention Center.”
Whoa -- THE Bob Trinkle, erstwhile leader of the StoneDeaf Band and New Albany’s foremost professional altruist during the forgotten decade of the 1980’s?
The man who once entered Scoreboard Liquors, ostensibly to buy chewing gum, and asked, “why do you hate me,” and when informed that it wasn’t hate, it was satire, stated that he didn’t know what “satire” meant?
How fitting, perhaps even touching, that the man who gave his name to our beloved Trinkle Dome amphitheatre on the Ohio should be appointed the director of the riverfront.
Trinkle’s stewardship ensures that solid, family-style good taste will prevail … hey, wait, that’s it!
Suddenly, the solution to the city’s nagging New Albany DVD problem is at hand!
A StoneDeaf Band reunion at a benefit concert at the Trinkle Dome, and accompanying anti-porno telethon, with speaking slots for the Mullah Goebel and Councilman Dan “Wizard of Westside” Coffey … plenty of lemonade, weenies and elephant ears, and all proceeds going to buy a couple gallons of gasoline and a Bic to help send the evil pornographers packing.
Then, concerned citizen David Huckleberry could use the leftover flammables to roust the remaining bars and taverns downtown ... and we would be free to descend into a golden era of conformity, sterility and Third World taxation rates.
Okay, laughter’s done.
It’s crying time again …
Saturday, February 19, 2005
New Albany Downtown Development Plan 9 from Outer Space
How’s this for a statement of vision?
The “new” downtown New Albany will be a place people recognize as a focus of important community activities and as a destination for business, dining, shopping, and recreation. Its buildings will be attractive and clean with emphasis on the historical resources of downtown. The downtown will have a strong residential component. People will be able to move easily by motorized and non-motorized means through the area. Downtown will be a gathering place for many purposes and it will be recognized regionally as a vital element in the Louisville metropolitan area.
Very impressive, we'd say. You’ll find it on page 36 (of 47) in an exciting work of fiction that NA Confidential has been reading this evening.
It’s called “New Albany Downtown Development Plan,” compiled in 1999 and 2000, and submitted to the New Albany Redevelopment Commission, Develop New Albany and the New Albany Housing Authority in December, 2000, by the undoubtedly well-remunerated authors at the Corradino Group, McKenna Associates and Indiana University Southeast.
The plan includes charts, maps, tables and diagrams. The sections, as numbered in the original, are as follows.
1. Introduction
2. Downtown New Albany
3. Economic Analysis
4. Demographics
5. Downtown Elements
6. Coordination with Other Projects
7. Vision, Goals and Objectives
8. Development Strategies
9. Implementation
Unfortunately, pages 49 through 51 of “Implementation,” comprising “organization,” “schedule” and “funding,” have not been included in the copy provided us by Develop New Albany.
New Albany's five-year plan (that’s right, five years -- just like the five-year plans in Eastern Europe during Communist times) is stunning, comprehensive and exciting, its epic scope and encyclopedic references amazing, and its vision impeccable. Nothing at all is omitted, it’s all there in black and white, and everyone’s in the tent.
From A to Z, New Albany is transformed, timetables drawn, schedules enacted, and a veritable utopia becomes visible right here on the banks of the Ohio.
Of course, looking at the plan dispassionately, it would appear that no more than 10% of the material therein has received any measure of useful attention in the five years since it was released.
Accountability? No, there's no section dealing with that. Sorry.
NA Confidential is aware that dozens of factors have been involved in the colossal disconnect between the visions of a paper plan and the reality of a bricks and mortar world, and most of them have to do with money.
However, some don't.
If this plan is what Develop New Albany is in the “business” of achieving, and if what we see today is the best that DNA has been able to do in five years, then shouldn’t we be re-examining DNA?
Even the caged birds would have caught these Tribune fumbles
In the Friday edition of the New Albany Tribune, sports editor Mitzi Greenwell refers to a 1980’s-era star Floyd Central wrestler as Craig Allstock.
Actually, the name’s Alstott.
Elsewhere, marring an otherwise entertaining and thoughtful review of T.R. Reid’s book, “The United States of Europe,” guest columnist C.R. Reagan quotes Illinois Senator Barak O’Bama.
That’s Barack Obama.
He's not Irish.
And, boldly heading a full-page ad for Coyle Dodge are the words "Diamler Chrysler."
Daimler, guys. It's German, which is similar to English in the sense that all language is Greek to the Tribune.
Sad.
Actually, the name’s Alstott.
Elsewhere, marring an otherwise entertaining and thoughtful review of T.R. Reid’s book, “The United States of Europe,” guest columnist C.R. Reagan quotes Illinois Senator Barak O’Bama.
That’s Barack Obama.
He's not Irish.
And, boldly heading a full-page ad for Coyle Dodge are the words "Diamler Chrysler."
Daimler, guys. It's German, which is similar to English in the sense that all language is Greek to the Tribune.
Sad.
About the Downtown New Albany Merchant's Association
The following was added yesterday as a comment to a previous posting, but we fear that NA Confidential readers might miss it, so it's being moved here. T
The author, Rick Carmickle, is owner of Carmickle's Photography, which is located in the White House Centre downtown on Pearl Street.
Here is Rick's informative note:
"As the facilitator of the newly established Downtown New Albany Merchant's Association, I want to express that when I started this project, I sent post cards to every business located in an area of Vincennes to West 10th, the Ohio River to as far north as Arni's Pizza.
"In fact I have paid out of my pocket mailing expense for two mailings inviting any and all business to attend these meetings. Our last meeting had over 20 merchants attending, the mostever for this type of event.
"We are an independent organization, separate from any government agency, and I damn well hope to keep it that way. This is an open forum for business owners and shop keepers; our goal is to get people talking to each other, let each other know what wares and services we have to offer.
"Downtown New Albany will never be what it was when I was a kid growing up six blocks west of State Street, but it sure as hell shouldn't be a ghost town either.
"I plan on attending the forum on March 2, as I understand it is a panel discussion without input from the public, although that is not what it was touted as in the paper a few weeks ago.
"If any readers of this forum wish to attend our merchant meetings, they are an open forum held the second Tuesday of the month, in the White House Centre. You are more than welcome to attend.
"Sorry this post is long, but I feel the frustration of the little city trying to act like the big city, and for the most we get Chicken Little, 'the sky is falling, the sky is falling!'
"Thank you for your time!"
Previous NA Confidential coverage of the Merchant's Association
The Tribune: Merchants looking to improve downtown (01/16/05)
The author, Rick Carmickle, is owner of Carmickle's Photography, which is located in the White House Centre downtown on Pearl Street.
Here is Rick's informative note:
"As the facilitator of the newly established Downtown New Albany Merchant's Association, I want to express that when I started this project, I sent post cards to every business located in an area of Vincennes to West 10th, the Ohio River to as far north as Arni's Pizza.
"In fact I have paid out of my pocket mailing expense for two mailings inviting any and all business to attend these meetings. Our last meeting had over 20 merchants attending, the mostever for this type of event.
"We are an independent organization, separate from any government agency, and I damn well hope to keep it that way. This is an open forum for business owners and shop keepers; our goal is to get people talking to each other, let each other know what wares and services we have to offer.
"Downtown New Albany will never be what it was when I was a kid growing up six blocks west of State Street, but it sure as hell shouldn't be a ghost town either.
"I plan on attending the forum on March 2, as I understand it is a panel discussion without input from the public, although that is not what it was touted as in the paper a few weeks ago.
"If any readers of this forum wish to attend our merchant meetings, they are an open forum held the second Tuesday of the month, in the White House Centre. You are more than welcome to attend.
"Sorry this post is long, but I feel the frustration of the little city trying to act like the big city, and for the most we get Chicken Little, 'the sky is falling, the sky is falling!'
"Thank you for your time!"
Previous NA Confidential coverage of the Merchant's Association
The Tribune: Merchants looking to improve downtown (01/16/05)
Friday, February 18, 2005
The 'ol "cross-blog": Every man a king!
Fellow Blogger Volunteer Hoosier offers another take on Thursday night's City Council meeting.
Randy closes with this paragraph:
"Here's my question. How many of you, how many of the council, would agree with the statement made to me by a 'concerned taxpayer' just this week, to wit: 'I'd be perfectly content for New Albany to remain a third-rate city.'"
Indeed, the quest for mediocrity is alive and well here in River City.
The question is, why?
And, how do they find such perfect candidates to support?
Randy closes with this paragraph:
"Here's my question. How many of you, how many of the council, would agree with the statement made to me by a 'concerned taxpayer' just this week, to wit: 'I'd be perfectly content for New Albany to remain a third-rate city.'"
Indeed, the quest for mediocrity is alive and well here in River City.
The question is, why?
And, how do they find such perfect candidates to support?
City Council seeks "leadership" transplant; donors scarce in New Albany
At last night’s City Council meeting, a surprisingly contentious debate arose over an ordinance that would alter the procedure for hiring fire department personnel.
Fire Chief Ron Toran addressed the issue by noting that in recent years, written test scores have come to be given disproportionate weight in the hiring process.
Toran accepts the veracity of test scores as a requirement, but seeks more latitude to discern a quality that’s impossible to measure on paper.
Heart.
When Toran said that in the case of a fireman, “heart” matters as much as “smart,” he might have been echoing the same mockery of educational attainment so readily indulged by certain perpetually sensitive members of the City Council seated before him, but it didn’t come off in this manner.
Rather, Toran was trying to say that while education matters to the specific position of firefighter, intangibles do, too.
A more perfect forum for Toran’s observation could not be found, for if there were such an illness as being intangible-deprived, the current City Council, as a group, would be eligible for immediate emergency assistance.
This is not to say that the individuals comprising the City Council lack redeeming qualities, or that they ignore their constituents, or that they’re “bad” in any way. It’s simply wrong to assume such things. Obviously, all nine are interested in public service, or else they would not have run for office.
However, taken collectively, there is little in the way of chemistry or cohesion within the current City Council. As a group, there is an intangible missing.
Call it “vision,” or call it “leadership.” Call it both. If either of these intangibles exists to any appreciable degree within the ranks of the current City Council, might we be provided evidence of it?
Councilman Bill Schmidt asks solid questions about the city’s finances, but Councilman Steve Price follows with a line perhaps cribbed from Yogi Berra: “We need to live on less than we make.”
Councilman Mark Seabrook, the council’s lone Republican, wears an expression of palpable frustration suggesting that he has been mistakenly institutionalized.
President Jeff Gahan sits motionless, his gavel gathering dust, as self-styled “majority whip” Dan Coffey uses most of each meeting to prattle, pontificate and insert himself into every conceivable nook and cranny that might someday come in handy to further the pursuance of his partisan political agenda, whatever it is.
And so it goes.
The same tired attack dogs are trotted out, meeting after meeting. Like some Pavlovian experiment gone haywire, the same stimuli prompt the same responses, meeting after meeting. Observers can predict almost to the second when the imaginary red light flashes, the salivary glands take their cue, and one or the other council member launches into their time-tested grandstanding routines.
The fire chief seeks “heart” in selecting his firefighters.
We seek “leadership” from this City Council.
Yes, it is an intangible, something that does not reside in every human being, but sometimes it arises from the least expected places.
Without an injection of some of it, the city of New Albany stands to continue along its lowest-common-denominator mud path of bizarrely prideful underachievement.
This is not about the budget crunch or the city’s financial woes, although these are real and must be addressed.
It is about whether this city is going to amount to anything, or conversely, we are going to remain beholden to the “no progress at any cost” school of stagnation and ultimate decay.
We believe that there are decent, responsible City Council members who grasp the nature of the disease as it spirals out of control.
It is well past time for these and others like them to step forward and at least make an effort to put an end to the poisonous posing, plotting and hypocrisy.
As a side note, let it be understood that NA Confidential came into existence for a number of reasons, one of which definitely was not to acquiesce in being used as a tool to assist in the partisan flagellation of any one politician or public figure.
That's because New Albany’s absurd sickness is not confined to one man, one party or one electoral district.
Rather, It is epidemic.
There are a number of reasons why it was unfortunate that Mayor James Garner’s first year in office was a continuous, self-inflicted public relations disaster, but as time goes by, it becomes increasingly evident that in the wake of his problems, the city of New Albany has seen no sign whatsoever of a creative pulse emanating from the supposed pool of prospective replacements.
Words to the effect that New Albany’s citizens are being served by the current political “class” count for far less than actions, and insofar as there has been action, it has been consistently regressive.
And unless you’re a Visigoth, regressive just isn’t going to cut it any longer.
Perhaps rather than constantly stooping to the lowest, easiest and cheapest form of “villainous educated egghead vs. downtrodden common man” populism at the first sign of an emerging idea, those citizens of New Albany styling themselves as the “political elite” would do well to embrace the notion that the only way this city is going to even begin solving its problems is by getting smarter.
It may require self-improvement … even reading a book.
Heaven forbid.
Is that legal in New Albany?
The Louisville Courier-Journal covers the City Council meeting
Controller: budget problems were years in the making, by Amany Ali, Tribune City Editor
Fire Chief Ron Toran addressed the issue by noting that in recent years, written test scores have come to be given disproportionate weight in the hiring process.
Toran accepts the veracity of test scores as a requirement, but seeks more latitude to discern a quality that’s impossible to measure on paper.
Heart.
When Toran said that in the case of a fireman, “heart” matters as much as “smart,” he might have been echoing the same mockery of educational attainment so readily indulged by certain perpetually sensitive members of the City Council seated before him, but it didn’t come off in this manner.
Rather, Toran was trying to say that while education matters to the specific position of firefighter, intangibles do, too.
A more perfect forum for Toran’s observation could not be found, for if there were such an illness as being intangible-deprived, the current City Council, as a group, would be eligible for immediate emergency assistance.
This is not to say that the individuals comprising the City Council lack redeeming qualities, or that they ignore their constituents, or that they’re “bad” in any way. It’s simply wrong to assume such things. Obviously, all nine are interested in public service, or else they would not have run for office.
However, taken collectively, there is little in the way of chemistry or cohesion within the current City Council. As a group, there is an intangible missing.
Call it “vision,” or call it “leadership.” Call it both. If either of these intangibles exists to any appreciable degree within the ranks of the current City Council, might we be provided evidence of it?
Councilman Bill Schmidt asks solid questions about the city’s finances, but Councilman Steve Price follows with a line perhaps cribbed from Yogi Berra: “We need to live on less than we make.”
Councilman Mark Seabrook, the council’s lone Republican, wears an expression of palpable frustration suggesting that he has been mistakenly institutionalized.
President Jeff Gahan sits motionless, his gavel gathering dust, as self-styled “majority whip” Dan Coffey uses most of each meeting to prattle, pontificate and insert himself into every conceivable nook and cranny that might someday come in handy to further the pursuance of his partisan political agenda, whatever it is.
And so it goes.
The same tired attack dogs are trotted out, meeting after meeting. Like some Pavlovian experiment gone haywire, the same stimuli prompt the same responses, meeting after meeting. Observers can predict almost to the second when the imaginary red light flashes, the salivary glands take their cue, and one or the other council member launches into their time-tested grandstanding routines.
The fire chief seeks “heart” in selecting his firefighters.
We seek “leadership” from this City Council.
Yes, it is an intangible, something that does not reside in every human being, but sometimes it arises from the least expected places.
Without an injection of some of it, the city of New Albany stands to continue along its lowest-common-denominator mud path of bizarrely prideful underachievement.
This is not about the budget crunch or the city’s financial woes, although these are real and must be addressed.
It is about whether this city is going to amount to anything, or conversely, we are going to remain beholden to the “no progress at any cost” school of stagnation and ultimate decay.
We believe that there are decent, responsible City Council members who grasp the nature of the disease as it spirals out of control.
It is well past time for these and others like them to step forward and at least make an effort to put an end to the poisonous posing, plotting and hypocrisy.
As a side note, let it be understood that NA Confidential came into existence for a number of reasons, one of which definitely was not to acquiesce in being used as a tool to assist in the partisan flagellation of any one politician or public figure.
That's because New Albany’s absurd sickness is not confined to one man, one party or one electoral district.
Rather, It is epidemic.
There are a number of reasons why it was unfortunate that Mayor James Garner’s first year in office was a continuous, self-inflicted public relations disaster, but as time goes by, it becomes increasingly evident that in the wake of his problems, the city of New Albany has seen no sign whatsoever of a creative pulse emanating from the supposed pool of prospective replacements.
Words to the effect that New Albany’s citizens are being served by the current political “class” count for far less than actions, and insofar as there has been action, it has been consistently regressive.
And unless you’re a Visigoth, regressive just isn’t going to cut it any longer.
Perhaps rather than constantly stooping to the lowest, easiest and cheapest form of “villainous educated egghead vs. downtrodden common man” populism at the first sign of an emerging idea, those citizens of New Albany styling themselves as the “political elite” would do well to embrace the notion that the only way this city is going to even begin solving its problems is by getting smarter.
It may require self-improvement … even reading a book.
Heaven forbid.
Is that legal in New Albany?
The Louisville Courier-Journal covers the City Council meeting
Controller: budget problems were years in the making, by Amany Ali, Tribune City Editor
New Albany DVD: It may well depend on the pocket being picked
Cash strapped New Albany’s bungling attempts to prevent New Albany DVD from opening were laughed out of court, and now the adult store’s lawyer offers settlement options for the city to consider as the store readies for opening.
The Courier-Journal’s Ben Zion Hershberg writes that the City Council remains divided over its response to the settlement options, which range from allowing the store to go about its business to buying it out with cash the city doesn’t possess.
Self-styled majority whip Dan Coffey, the Wizard of Westside, predictably seizes center stage in the article by Hershberg:
“His own view, Coffey said, is that decisions about New Albany DVD shouldn't be only based on dollars and cents but should include the consideration of much broader issues, such as moral values and future economic development.”
Hershberg fails to identify any intelligible strand in Coffey’s relentless demagoguery on the issue of New Albany DVD that might pertain to economic development, other than the potential precedent of the city buying out any business that doesn’t fit Coffey’s narrow definition of “moral.”
At last evening’s City Council meeting, ostensible Coffey ally of convenience David Huckleberry devoted his public speaking time to a vision of economic redevelopment that promotes the passive incorporation of the city’s river port heritage into a Native American interpretive center.
This would take precedence over current proposals to build a youth soccer complex, which both Huckleberry and Coffey evidently fear will be the taxpayer-supported bastion of eggheaded, upper-income privilege, whereas an interpretive center (funded how?) would siphon large numbers of revelers headed for Caesar’s casino, allowing New Albany to “pick their pockets.”
The “morality” of picking pockets? How remarkably quaint.
Well, we’ve got news for both Huckleberry and Coffey: New Albany’s heritage as a port city has far more to do with brothels, bars and New Albany DVD than it does with the crazily futile notion of diverting gambling-obsessed, Caesar’s-bound drivers to a celebration of Native Americana.
But how silly of us to forget that it's not about morality and economic development at all. It's about "no progress at any price" on the one hand, and "self-aggrandizement at any price" on the other.
Adult video store offers to settle; New Albany given four options to suit, by Ben Zion Hershberg
The Courier-Journal’s Ben Zion Hershberg writes that the City Council remains divided over its response to the settlement options, which range from allowing the store to go about its business to buying it out with cash the city doesn’t possess.
Self-styled majority whip Dan Coffey, the Wizard of Westside, predictably seizes center stage in the article by Hershberg:
“His own view, Coffey said, is that decisions about New Albany DVD shouldn't be only based on dollars and cents but should include the consideration of much broader issues, such as moral values and future economic development.”
Hershberg fails to identify any intelligible strand in Coffey’s relentless demagoguery on the issue of New Albany DVD that might pertain to economic development, other than the potential precedent of the city buying out any business that doesn’t fit Coffey’s narrow definition of “moral.”
At last evening’s City Council meeting, ostensible Coffey ally of convenience David Huckleberry devoted his public speaking time to a vision of economic redevelopment that promotes the passive incorporation of the city’s river port heritage into a Native American interpretive center.
This would take precedence over current proposals to build a youth soccer complex, which both Huckleberry and Coffey evidently fear will be the taxpayer-supported bastion of eggheaded, upper-income privilege, whereas an interpretive center (funded how?) would siphon large numbers of revelers headed for Caesar’s casino, allowing New Albany to “pick their pockets.”
The “morality” of picking pockets? How remarkably quaint.
Well, we’ve got news for both Huckleberry and Coffey: New Albany’s heritage as a port city has far more to do with brothels, bars and New Albany DVD than it does with the crazily futile notion of diverting gambling-obsessed, Caesar’s-bound drivers to a celebration of Native Americana.
But how silly of us to forget that it's not about morality and economic development at all. It's about "no progress at any price" on the one hand, and "self-aggrandizement at any price" on the other.
Adult video store offers to settle; New Albany given four options to suit, by Ben Zion Hershberg
“Steve, sometimes we have to listen to what’s going on”
(Quote from Councilman Dan Coffey, who after three almost uninterrupted hours of listening to himself speak paused long enough to urge colleague Steve Price to do the same)
As we ponder the many forms of dysfunction and regression on display at the February 17 meeting of the City Council, readers who attended are invited to post their thoughts.
Did you know ...
Using “smart cities” as a search term on Google yields more than 3,900 hits.
Search “smart cities” and “New Albany” together, and the hit total drops somewhat.
All the way to zero.
That's where New Albany's "revolution from nothing" will have to begin.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
