Floyd County Nexus is here.

AK tipped me off to the existence of a new discussion board about Floyd County.

Floyd County Nexus

While it has been tried before, with mixed results, one never knows when the time is right. Best of luck to the organizers and administrators.

Water management: Perhaps Tom Galligan understands the word "multifunctional" in this context.

My first glimpse of the Deltaworks was in 1992, and then later, in 2008, we rode bicycles up the coastline, atop several of the giant structures. It's an amazing feat, but as Kimmelman's article suggests, nothing lasts forever.

Going With the Flow, by Michael Kimmelman (New York Times)

... The Netherlands has successfully held back the sea for centuries and thrived. After the North Sea flooded in 1953, devastating the southwest of this country and killing 1,835 people in a single night, Dutch officials devised an ingenious network of dams, sluices and barriers called the Deltaworks. Water management here depends on hard science and meticulous study ...

... (Now) the evidence is leading them to undertake what may seem, at first blush, a counterintuitive approach, a kind of about-face: The Dutch are starting to let the water in. They are contriving to live with nature, rather than fight (what will inevitably be, they have come to realize) a losing battle.

Why? The reality of rising seas and rivers leaves no choice. Sea barriers sufficed half a century ago; but they’re disruptive to the ecology and are built only so high, while the waters keep rising ...

... The local buzzword is “multifunctional.” The Dutch are putting retail and offices on top of new dikes, designing public squares and garages to double as catch basins for rain and floodwater, constructing floating houses and reservoirs that create recreational opportunities.

From PPS: "Walking is Not a Crime: Questioning the Accident Axiom."

A longer Sunday read, applicable to bicyclists, too, and overall, well worth the time to read. The excerpt below offers solutions only, but please, read the whole piece.

Walking is Not a Crime: Questioning the Accident Axiom, by David M Nelson (Project for Public Spaces)

Solutions
There are many things that can be done to keep pushing the message back to a place that values human life first, and speed and efficient movement of automobiles second. On the policy side, get a Vulnerable Users Law introduced into your state legislature. Vulnerable Users Laws shift the burden of evidence onto the more dangerous individual. Drivers are responsible for cyclists, cyclists for pedestrians. I’m a huge fan of these laws, because pedestrians are put on a pedestal. They’ve been popular in Europe and are catching on in the United States.

You can also pursue other policies like Vision Zero, famously applied in Sweden and currently being campaigned for by Transportation Alternatives in NYC. Essentially, Vision Zero is a directive to eliminate all pedestrian and cyclists fatalities in quick order. The central premise being, “that no loss of life is acceptable.” Concerning law and order, you can find local lawyers to represent and advocate for justice on the behalf of pedestrians and cyclists injured or killed by drivers.

You can work to lower the speed of traffic. More specifically, advocate to decrease the range of speeds driven over a segment of road. A fundamental belief in traffic engineering is that differences in operating speed causes higher risks of crashes. Spread can be reduced by lowering speed limits and using roundabouts instead of signalized intersections. The end result is travel times remain the same but maximum operating speed and the range of speeds are significantly lowered. Other geometric changes include narrower lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, neck-downs and Rightsizing.

However, only so much will be accomplished until our local papers and the nightly news starts putting pressure on state DOTs and public works departments to keep our citizens safe on foot. So, first and foremost, pay closer attention to the way that pedestrian deaths are portrayed by the local media in your area, and don’t be afraid to put pressure your local news outlets when you see improper coverage that blames the victim. It is easy to find language in your State Statutes that debunk published misconceptions about crosswalks and jaywalking. We all have the right to walk—and like most rights, it’s one that must be defended.

"New Albany is Louisville's best borough."

Earlier this week, I was delighted to pass along Robin Garr's fine review of the Exchange pub + kitchen.

Another stellar review of Exchange pub + kitchen, this time in LEO Weekly.

Given the antipathy to independent small business regularly exhibited by certain of the News and 'Bune's largely unsupervised reporters, do you ever wonder where they eat?

Druthers?

Meanwhile, Louisville media has been taking notice of downtown New Albany's expanding restaurant scene. Congratulations to Ian, Rick and everyone at the Exchange, which collectively is helping us all to step up our games.

Typically, Robin posts his reviews and columns on the Louisville Restaurants Forum for discussion. Following is a comment by Shane Campbell that illustrates downtown New Albany's higher profile in metro food-think circles. On the same forum thread, Ryan Rogers of Feast BBQ took this sentiment one justifiable step further:

"New Albany is Louisville's best borough." 

Perhaps as someone who is not "from here," Ryan sees what natives sometimes miss: All New Albany has to fear, whether the topic is food, drink, complete streets or downtown housing, is the city's own heritage of low self-esteem -- the same old "can't do" melancholy, where "can do" spirit might just send a few of the demons running for cover. It isn't about who gets credit. It's about who does something. That's why I'm proud to be a part of New Albany's emerging dining and drinking strata. We're achieving.

Who's next?

---

Discussion of Robin Garr's Exchange Pub review, by Shane Campbell 

Ian Hall told me Robin had been in, so I decided to wait to say anything about the new Exchange. I've been twice now and honestly, I'm just blown away by the place. While the space is familiar a la Doc Crows and Manny and Merle's in character; it's somehow a level above in my opinion.

I've had many meals at the previous location off Grantline and I'll readily attest to the quality of the cuisine on this menu. I'm pretty sure I noticed that the Ruben is back now, which definitely made me smile, and I'm a huge fan of the braised short ribs.

Donna especially likes the steak frites and we are looking forward to our next visit which will be on the 19th. We stopped by on Saturday around seven. The place was packed and we were told the wait was over an hour. Surprisingly, I was nothing but happy for Ian and his staff at the obvious popularity of the place.

We put our party of six on the list even though we had no intention of waiting that long. Our next quandry was which of the other excellent options within easy walking distance we would select. Two of us had been to Feast recently for lunch and the chicken salad and pulled pork as well as the beer selection were top notch. We also had a bourbon from what must be the most extensive stock this side of the river.

Even though it was a chilly night we reveled in boisterous company shouting out options as we walked over to Market St. We could indulge in the outstanding wood fired pizza, crab cakes, and wine at the River City Winery or fajitas and margaritas at the re-energized La Rosita. I've been dying to give the Frenchman's another go and maybe partake in some more biere de garde. Of course I'm at Bank Street Brewhouse nearly every week and the cask ale they have on, a stoutly hopped wheat if you can believe it, goes down with the best qualities of an IPA and a Hefe.

We ultimately decided to check out Habana Blues, which several of us had been to before but not recently. We were seated immediately and a pitcher of premium Mojitos and the best Cuba Libre ever soon had us congratulating ourselves on our choice. The interior of this place is like an old house with multiple-connected rooms and soaring ceilings. I spotted Todd Antz at a table nearby and went over to see what he was eating. His newest version of the Keg is just around the corner so I figured he was a regular here.

Todd and his table mates shared their recommendations and wished us a good meal. That is what we had all agreed. The service was prompt and the meal was delisciosa. I had Habana Blue's version of the braised short ribs as I was Jonesing for the same at the Exchange. We didn't linger after dinner but started to head over to the Frenchman's for a drink when the phone rang. Our table at the Exchange was ready! We ducked in out of the cold a few minutes later and were seated in a separate room near the front of the restaurant. The VIP section I'm sure!

As we entered, a young man dressed in flannel with an acoustic guitar was tearing up Neil Diamond's "Sweet Caroline"! Of course we all joined in the chorus as good Red Sox fans must. We ordered drinks and deserts and marveled that the place was still slammed. I drank Bell's excellent Smitten Ale paired outrageously with a bowl of Comfy Cow's Coconut ice cream. A match made in heaven!

Ian came over and spoke with us for a while and as we were leaving insisted that we see the second floor room. If there is a better space in the Metro area, I'm not aware of it! Ian and his staff have truly exceeded all expectations with the new restaurant. When I said as much, Ian said he was hurt that I would say so. Ian it was not that I didn't expect great things from you, it was just that my imagination was not equal to what you have achieved!

"Let’s Explore Anti-Local Craft Beer Unconsciousness," at LouisvilleBeer.com

Shall we?

Let’s Explore Anti-Local Craft Beer Unconsciousness

“Art can never take the place of social action … but its task remains forever the same: to change consciousness.”

– Amos Vogel, from “Film as a Subversive Art”

When will craft beer finally change the consciousness of the American beer-drinking mainstream?”

I’m tempted to answer one question with another:

Should mainstream consciousness ever be the desired outcome for craft beer?

But let’s play it straight. Some might say that craft beer consciousness already has arrived. Craft beer’s availability is wider than ever before, and statistically, most Americans live within close proximity to a craft brewer, even if the average measurement is skewed by Michigan as compared to the Deep South.

Slowly, even this imbalance is changing, and craft beer consciousness is penetrating all geographical areas of the country.

The kids are alright, then as now.

Unless he or she or it is a Native American, this is even denser than usual.

On the heels of selecting a deceased man as one's of last year's prime community movers, Erika lowers the hilarity bar even further with a Valentine's Day attack on political correctness, the anonymous hooded non-professor courageously telling immigrants just to go on home ... and yet, as we know, nearly one hundred percent of her/his/its readers ooze from a lineage of -- that's right -- immigration.

Here's the link. Don't forget your HazMat apparatus.

Finally, a 'Bune popup that really tells it like it is.

Why yes, it is (unretouched, non-photoshopped).

New Earth Friends Cafe location in NuLu now open.

Yesterday, with time to stroll prior to watching Richard tap firkins at The Garage Bar in NuLu, I hunted down Earth Friends Cafe's new location at 829 E. Market (that's Louisville). It opened on Wednesday.

The Earth Friends page at Facebook has details.

The New Albany location inside the public library remains open, but the original space off Grant Line Road is no more; this is a relocation, not an expansion. The new digs are pleasant, and the espresso (my personal yardstick) was good. Because my appearance came just as Earth Friends was closing for the afternoon, I didn't take photos, but will next time.

Another instance of rightsizing: "Improved Safety and Pedestrian Experience."

Quite possibly I'm repeating myself, but so be it. Here's an excellent example of what New Albany needs to be considering ... not INSTEAD of potential recreational facility upgrades, but as a NECESSARY COMPONENT of any such upgrades.

Sorry to be yelling, but sometimes it's the only way they'll pay attention.

Raymond Avenue: Rightsizing Improved Safety and Pedestrian Experience

Poughkeepsie, NY
4 → 2 Lane Configuration + Roundabouts and Pedestrian Infrastructure

Raymond Avenue borders Vassar College, residences, the Arlington Business District, open space, and an elementary school in the Town of Poughkeepsie. It is also known as Route 376, and was converted into a four lane minor arterial in the 1960s. This rightsizing project reconfigured 1.5 miles of Raymond Avenue to two lanes, calmed a previously unsafe corridor, and added a range of pedestrian and aesthetic improvements.

In 1999, Project for Public Spaces was hired by Vassar College and the Arlington Steering Committee to study the Arlington Business District. Recommendations for the area included traffic calming, which prompted a redesign of Raymond Avenue by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYS DOT).

Red Room redux: Welcome to genocidal grammar and tyrannical misspelling.

I never cease to be amused by the era of lunacy empowerment, and this sort of trolling seems to be happening with more frequency since last year's election, suggesting that one tormented person is responsible for multiple comments under different names.

"Manny" uses the words "shrine" and "idolized," as did the previous offended party, to whom I forwarded a prompt reply and received no response or acknowledgement. That's because the last thing he wants is dialogue ... and that's because thinking is so very hard.

"Manny" sent no e-mails, unless he botched the .com address; even dud newalbanian.com addresses are forwarded to me for examination.

Worst of all, having selected Yelp as platform for sharing his dullardry with a mass audience, "Manny" files his one-star review under Bank Street Brewhouse, while the supposed "shrine" to which he refers is at our Grant Line location.

Yep, we're all experts now. Even when we don't know Jack Schitt.

Gravity Head Daily Gravity Form 2013: The .PDF and the t-shirt.

Gravity Head kicks off at 7:00 a.m. on Friday, February 22.

This year's Gravity Head program WILL NOT BE PRINTED FOR PERUSAL AT THE PIZZERIA & PUBLIC HOUSE. You must print it yourself, or save to your pad or mobile device, or whatever's easiest for you. It has become too expensive for us to print, and at any rate, most customers already are using their mobile devices for such information.

The program is here: http://newalbanian.com/gh2013.pdf

There WILL be a one-page black & white Gravity Head cheat sheet with updated daily selections and basic information, printed and available at the venue.

And, the official t-shirt design, front and back:

ON THE AVENUES: “Adam and Evelyn,” a novel by Ingo Schulze.

ON THE AVENUES: “Adam and Evelyn,” a novel by Ingo Schulze.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

It is the summer of 1989, and East Germans are busy arranging their annual summer holidays to approved Warsaw Pact hot spots: The Black Sea beaches in Bulgaria, Baltic coastal resorts, and Hungary’s Lake Balaton.

The dictates of the Cold War as yet ensure that their choice of vacation destination is restricted to those fellow Communist nations observing a strict reciprocity of border enforcement; in short, members of the Soviet Bloc agree to keep their fellow passport bearers safely inside the perimeters.

For reasons that aren’t readily apparent, quite a few East German vacationers are modifying their itineraries to include Hungary as Ingo Schulze’s novel, “Adam and Evelyn,” begins on August 19, 1989. Posterity knows exactly what the novel’s protagonists do not; in fits and starts, the Hungarian border with Austria is fast becoming that most precious and precarious of conditions in the East Bloc: Porous.

This permeability is of particular interest to citizens of the German Democratic Republic, East Germany’s former moniker. In 1989, it is alone among fraternal Communist nations in having a western counterpart, the Federal Republic of Germany, this traumatic division resulting from great power horse trading after World War II.

West Germany’s constitution bestows citizenship on any and all ethnic Germans elsewhere in Europe and the world, who merely must arrive, alive, in West Germany to claim residence. It is a requirement difficult for East Germans to meet owing to the Berlin Wall and the obliging cooperation of the Iron Curtain itself, except now the latter is a barrier slowly being dismantled, one rusty strand of barbed wire at a time, by the ever-cagey Hungarians.

In far-off Moscow, Mikhail Gorbachev is aware of the situation. For reasons of his own, he is not acting to place a Soviet lid on Eastern Europe. Matters are about to get epochal, both for the restless countries lying within the USSR’s sphere, and also for Adam and Evelyn.

---

Adam knows nothing about these geopolitical developments, even if the East German grapevine is furiously humming with hints and guesses. Perhaps his obliviousness can be explained by circumstances, because by the standards of his police state milieu, Adam has it remarkably – nay, apocryphally – easy.

Neither a Communist nor a collaborator, and with no previous contact with the Stasi, Adam is entirely content with the East German status quo. Born in 1956, he has missed the worst of the gritty post-war rebuilding and collectivization, and he cannot remember a time before the Wall. He doesn’t yearn to be free, and accepts his station.

Why would Adam agitate? He owns a detached, pre-war house inherited from his parents (yes, it was possible to be a homeowner in the GDR), and he actually has a back yard lawn for tending, with afternoon cocktails and entertaining. His mint condition 1961 Warburg automobile is the envy of the local state-employed mechanic, and he even works independently, as a tailor and dress maker, with a clientele composed primarily of the dowdy wives and frumpy mistresses of the aging Communist ruling class.

Hence Adam’s weakness: A gigolo-like fetish, one surely destined to bring his dossier to the secret police’s gentle attentions, of being sexually aroused by the product of his superior sewing skills and habitually bedding his eager customers while his live-in girlfriend, Evelyn, is conveniently away at work.

But one day Evelyn is fired, returns home early, and abruptly walks in on one of Adam’s “fittings.” Disillusioned with Communist life even before this shock, she now seeks refuge with a friend and plans a jaunt to Lake Balaton. An odyssey of rejection and reconciliation begins, and serendipity doesn’t begin to describe the ultimate destination.

Adam and Evelyn will stay together, removed to a place unimaginable to either of them only months before, one far away from a seemingly rock-solid, systematized society vanishing with astonishing speed.

---

Just like Schulze’s fictional Adam and Evelyn, I was in East Berlin on August 19, 1989. It was the middle of my month-long “volunteer” work assignment in the GDR, as one of a hundred or so foreigners assigned to the summer youth work brigades around the capital city. We were cleaning a public park and making it ready for the triumphant national anniversary party in September, when Gorbachev came to town and advised the geriatric East German leadership to learn history’s lessons.

It’s easy to see how Schulze speaks to me, although as a writer, he can be annoying. As an example, most chapters in “Adam and Evelyn” begin with a device of unattributed dialogue, making it difficult to know which of the characters is speaking. However, quibbling aside, Schulze is a solid and believable storyteller, and achieves high marks for establishing the sense of a place now inexorably lost.

To Western eyes, it wasn’t that everyday East Germany was primitive in 1989. It was modern, but in a jarring way, with an element of time lag and an out-of-datedness. In numerous subtle ways, Schulze captures this feeling – in the sandwiches the travelers pack, the clothes they wear, and the appearance of the Wartburg’s engine block.

More importantly, Schulze is obsessed with eliminating obvious and omniscient references to the changes about to come, and while this may seem minor, it lies at the heart of his narrative. Adam, Evelyn and their friends and fellow travelers do not have the luxury of knowing, as we do, that in a few short months, East Germany will no longer exist. Their world is in flux, and the ground is giving way. Nothing is clear. Bono remains a bard, and not the Fly … yet.

The tone is non-elegiac, and by novel’s end, there is hope without an expressly happy ending. Things might yet work out for Adam and Evelyn, and then again, they might not. That’s probably the way life felt like in the two German states as unexpected unity dawned in the spring of 1990.

It might be the way each of us feels, every single day.

Tierney: "Sorry we disagree on the Forecastle news-release."

I've been cross-posting these articles at Potable Curmudgeon, where an alert reader spotted the most glaring of Michael Tierney's gaffes (in his note, below). Do you see it? 

True insiders should know better, shouldn't they?

---

The topic is Insider Louisville's writer Michael Tierney's two recent pieces about Sierra Nevada's (California, North Carolina, etc) sponsorship of the Forecastle music festival (held in Louisville).

Let's review.

First, Tierney's Sierra Nevada-Fluffs-Forecastle, and I do the insider "leaking" around here.

My reply: Seriously, local brewers enjoy being thrown under the bus.

Then, Tierney's labored explanation and lengthy rumination as to which non-local musicians can best help achieve trickle-down nirvana.

Followed by my observation that when it comes to Forecastle, Sierra Nevada and conveniently variable localism, some dudes desperately needing an editor just can't seem to find a clue.

Somewhere between Tierney's first and second unsuccessful efforts to argue that we must always kill localism to save it, he authored a message addressed to NABC, via Facebook.

Sorry we disagree on the Forecastle news-release, I found the news exciting for all of Louisville, and from an "inside" perspective know that Sierra was a major part in booking this year's headliner, who is supposedly going to be huge... we'll have to see.

In regards to beer-writing, I would like to include the brewery in a business piece I've been working on, with a much more serious tone than a news-release. If you'd like to submit information for a basis of comparison to the other craft beers in the state (BBC, West Sixth, Alltech, Against the Grain, Falls City) please feel free to answer the questions below. I tried to contact you all from the website, but never heard back.

1. What's your current brewing capacity at?

2. How many bottles did you ship out last year?

3. Any big plans for new-beers or facilities in 2013?

4. What's your relationship to Kentucky craft beers, and the Kentucky Brewers Guild?

5. Is there an advantage to being across the river from the city?

6. What's your all's most popular beer?

That's all if interested in being included in the analysis...

MHT

P.S. I had my first visit to the brewery and just finished a sixer of your Ale sponsored by Sam Adams. Enjoyed both.

My reply follows, as fashioned to post here:

Your previous posts at Insider Louisville about a lack of support for local music seemed to indicate that you understand the over-arching notion of localism, at least to some extent. Then you wrote about West 6th IPA and the Holy Grale's mention in Draft, and while flawed in terms of historical perspective, these articles at least suggested that while you have a great deal to learn, you might come to understand localism in the context of craft beer, too.

But with the Forecastle fluff piece, you essentially regressed to this: While local beer and local music are important, if Forecastle can use California beer to bring in national music and throw local beer under the bus, then that’s great. Your cliched win-win-win shtick ignores one basic fact: Whether it’s ABInbev or Sierra Nevada, if independent small brewers cannot be a part of the equation because we can’t afford pay-to-play as usual in such venues, then it IS NOT A WIN for us. We are EXCLUDED either way.

I’m sorry that you sent a message to the website and didn’t get a reply, although at the same time, if you knew anything at all about local beer, you’d know how incredibly easy it is to get in touch with me. What you don’t seem to grasp is that given your nonchalance about local beer in the Forecastle equation (i.e., too bad about brewing indies so long as we music fans get what we want), and taking into consideration your beer writing track record so far, which is profoundly underwhelming owing to a basic absence of factual knowledge and seeming unwillingness to acquire it, I can’t say that I really want you writing about us. Twice or thrice bitten, quadruple shy.

On the other hand, if you’d genuinely like to try and see this issue from another side, spend some time with a local brewery, and take a stab at actually learning something, then I’ll consider hosting you for a day in our shoes.

It’s up to you. I'll do my best to inform you, but you must want to be informed.

Right now, I've precious little interest in either Forecastle or Sierra Nevada, especially the latter. If Sierra's going to start acting like ABInBev and spend money to exclude indies in this way, I suppose it’s finally time after two decades or more for me to wean myself from being a fan of theirs. It isn’t like we don’t have a dozen regional breweries as good, albeit unable to play that corporate money game.

That's where it stands. Note that another of Tierney's "insider" scoops since this story broke is that local breweries will indeed have a place at Forecastle. We'll have to wait and see.

Another stellar review of Exchange pub + kitchen, this time in LEO Weekly.

Given the antipathy to independent small business regularly exhibited by certain of the News and 'Bune's largely unsupervised reporters, do you ever wonder where they eat?

Druthers?

Meanwhile, Louisville media has been taking notice of downtown New Albany's expanding restaurant scene. Congratulations to Ian, Rick and everyone at the Exchange, which collectively is helping us all to step up our games.

Theory of Relativity is demonstrated at Exchange Pub, by Robin Garr (LEO Weekly)

NA Exchange got a new name when it moved down the New Albany hill: Now it’s The Exchange Pub + Kitchen. It got a new look, which is actually an old look, as it makes creative use of a historic building in New Albany’s rapidly gentrifying downtown. But it didn’t get new food, insists Chef Rick Adams, who swears that the menu he forged at the previous location — including his signature shrimp and grits — hasn’t changed a bit.

Toast on Market in New Albany is on hiatus until February 19.

The sidewalk's been uprooted in front of the New Albany location of Toast for quite a while. Finally it was put back into place, and now this. I don't know the details, and the primary reason I'm posting this is that there seems to be no information on-line about the temporary closing, and if knowing it saves someone a trip, it's a good thing. If this closure is Indiana American Water's doing, and such matters usually are in these parts, I renew my call for utility monopolies to be brought to heel. But for once, I'll refrain from referring to INAWC as rat bastards, although they quite simply are.

New Albany kiddie athletics: More money than balls.

It's only a matter of time until the News and 'Bune's Chris Morris gratefully defers to his county elder political heroes on this issue, so let's instead look at the story as reported by Grace Schneider of the Courier-Journal.

New Albany mayor, Little League at odds over location of new ballpark complex

New Albany Mayor Jeff Gahan and the leaders of the New Albany Little League are locked in a battle over competing plans to build a new youth baseball and softball complex.

Both the city and New Albany Little League officials have released statements saying they intend to build ballfield complexes — and each is criticizing the other’s plans.

NAC co-editor Jeff Gillenwater's thoughts at Facebook mirror my own.

All the backdoor scheming to move New Albany Little League out of New Albany reflects very poorly on county government, the Little League, the new Floyd County Parks Board, and the Horseshoe Foundation. It represents some of the ugliest politics I've seen in Floyd County, every Little League parent stereotype proven true ... people who use the terms "Little League" and "economic driver" interchangeably should be banned from activities involving children.

But the issues go deeper. In a city noted for its chaotic, poorly plotted and frankly archaic street grid, one that reduces humans choosing not to travel by automobile to a degraded status as second-class citizens, the Redevelopment Commission has indicated that up to $19 million might be bonded for aquatics, soccer and Little League ball fields.

Owing to the comprehensive absence of transportation infrastructure not exclusively dependent on private cars, all of these recreation facilities, if built, will require even more auto-centric infrastructure to use than we have now ... and what we have now needs to be drastically altered.

All this money for sports, and just two years ago, didn't the departing England administration insists that the million bucks or so needed to facilitate downtown street conversions simply couldn't be found?

It becomes increasingly evident that prioritization has been removed from the gene pool of the city's political culture.

What's missing isn't money. It's balls ... and I'm not talking about the kind you fungo, either.

"A Trip Down Market Street 1906," but in San Francisco, not New Albany.

First, watch this:

A Trip Down Market Street 1906 ... Morley Safer reports on a mystery that was solved about a 100-year-old film that we now know was made on San Francisco's Market Street just days before the 1906 earthquake.

Then browse through the treasure trove of diverse documentaries at the Full Documentary site.

What's the oldest surviving film footage of New Albany?

Dragon King's Daughter is here. Go there.

These photos of Dragon King's Daughter barely do it justice. They were taken during the soft opening on Saturday night. DKD's opening with a seven-days-a-week schedule, including Mondays and Sunday evenings. The cuisine is Japanese-Mexican fusion, and the offerings for sample on Saturday were uniformly excellent.

Speaking for everyone at the New Albanian Brewing Company: Welcome to downtown New Albany. Anyone want to do a progressive beer dinner this spring?

Norfolk Southern the problem, hundreds of crowbars the answer.

There remains only one reason why the K & I cannot be opened to non-motorized public access: The obstinacy of Norfolk Southern.

Last week, 9th District U.S. House Representative Todd Young toured the bridge. New Albany's Mayor Jeff Gahan concurrently indicated support for tearing down Norfolk Southern's wall, noting that the Vincennes Street corridor especially stands to benefit from the restored link between riverbanks. City and Greenway officials say that plans are in hand to link a reopened K & I to the Greenway itself. Shaunna Graf explains:

The City of New Albany is currently in the final stages of the design plan (working through INDOT) for the area of the Ohio River Greenway including the approach to Vincennes Street from 18th Street. Vincennes Street is the street which connects the K&I Bridge to New Albany. The approach/ramp will be at the current 18th Street and Water Street trail head continuing to Vincennes Street. There would be very little design needed to connect this feature to the eastern lane of the K&I Bridge.

The community gets it, and as we've observed previously:

The only sure way to make this happen is to pry the K & I from the cold, dead hands of Norfolk Southern, and the best leverage strategy is for local officials to work together. Think about it. Here's a project that seems to have both Todd Young and John Yarmuth sharing a goal. Such symbolism is too good to be wasted, and in terms of New Albany self-interest, a Greenway intersection with an accessible K & I virtually writes the Vincennes Street revitalization plan all by itself.

Now the prying merely needs to begin in earnest.