2011 Highlights & Lowlights: Picking and rewarding the River View winners.

"Seriously, what does that man think he's going to find in a dumpster, except garbage?"
-- from the posting, "Beautiful People Alert" (June 19)

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During the past year, a month's worth of daily NAC postings (at least 34 in all) were devoted to the proposed River View development project, in which the city of New Albany would provide a group of presumably penniless investors with $12-15-18 million (is there a number, really?) of publicly funded collateral in the form of a parking garage, which in turn is necessary for the group to borrow the money necessary to build expensive for-profit condo units atop it, with the whole ball of "Korbel gurgling" twine to be erected on perhaps the most significant slice of waterfront property left in downtown New Albany.

I tried to show them how much transformative brewing capacity could be purchased for a few measly million tax retention dollars, but it only made the messenger even more toxic.

Speaking for myself, I already feel the tickle of the trickle, because believe it or not, at a public meeting staged to fluff the stuff, one project backer actually referred to this process of TIF-inspired "economic development" as trickle back -- as in gravy, not gravity -- prompting one wag to rename the proposal Reaganomics Platz (later, we mischievously redubbed it Trickle Platz).

Surely the most revealing aspect of the predictable year-long spectacle was the decidedly non-demure eagerness of another penniless entity, Develop New Albany, to rush headlong into a headlock of a deeply political economic development proposal, when previously the organization could not bring itself to take a principled stand on proposals to toll existing transportation infrastructure to enable the ORBP boondoggle, out of a fear of appearing to be political and annoying local elected Mitch Daniels disciples: Mr. Haney, DNA support "trickle back" from River View.

The ensuing stench became even more wonderfully and delightfully odiferous, approaching Louisiana dimensions, as our merry civic connect-the-dots game played itself out through the year. We now see the very same DNA stalwarts who’d been designated to carry City Hall's rapidly dulling spears profiting from federally-provided featherbed monies pouring into the Midtown neighborhood stabilization effort, even as they propel the eager abandonment of DNA's supposedly anti-political stance, thus immersing the organization in rotgut TIF-disbursement politics designed to create a purely for-private-profit condo project standing to benefit yet other DNA stalwarts, while throughout it all, a whole lot more downtown houses than those currently being rehabbed with Federal stabilization monies might be upgraded with the same bucks required to enable upscale condos in a market pitifully unlikely to support them.

So, how do we pick the winners?

With other people’s money, that’s how.

ORBP: Comment process and upcoming public meetings.

(submitted)

No2bridgetoll Supporters:

Federal Highways and the Ohio River Bridges Project Team will be taking comments on the SDEIS. (The reduced two bridge solution.)

All comments are part of the environmental process. Take part in process and address your tolling concerns, and alternative ideas.

Residents that work on either side of the river will have to pay tolls each way daily. This is unfair because drivers using the new Kennedy Interchange will not pay tolls. This portion of the project represents a third of the projects total cost. Only users of the bridges paying tolls will be unfair and a direct cause of regional division.

• Southern Indiana residents will pay a highly disproportional amount of tolls.

• All of our affected local governing bodies have passed resolutions that oppose tolling our existing transportation routes because they know it will be bad for our community!

• Southern Indiana businesses will pay a highly disproportionate amount of tolls.

• Southern Indiana retail and tourism businesses will be negatively affected by tolling.

The recent closing of the Sherman Minton Bridge is an example of how this will happen. Reduction in Kentucky consumers has resulted in significant losses for Southern Indiana businesses. When challenged with the inconvenience of the bridge closure, Kentucky consumers chose not to shop Southern Indiana. Tolling I-65 will create a worse scenario than this because it requires participation in a process and money. In time this combination wil eliminate Kentucky consumerism in Southern Indiana.

Submit written comment using below link:

https://kyinbridges.wufoo.com/forms/z7x3k1/

Or to:
John Sacksteder
Community Transportation Solutions
305 North Hurstbourne Parkway, Suite 100
Louisville, KY 40222
Email: jsacksteder@ctsgec.com
(502) 394-3847

Attend these public meetings:

December 19, 2011
4:00-8:00 p.m.
Papa John's Cardinal Stadium
Brown & Williamson Club
2800 S. Floyd St., Gate 6
Louisville, KY

December 20, 2011
4:00-8:00 p.m.
Holiday Inn Lakeview
505 Marriott Drive
Clarksville, IN

Thank You,

Paul Fetter
Co-founder
Organization For A Better Southern Indiana, Inc.
No2bridgetolls.org
(812) 283-5555 Ext 27
paul(at)clarkcountyaa(dot)com

"There's a Fire Down Here."

Ye of the way too late in the marketing curve, highly subsidized, disconnected, overpriced, overproduced, soulless uppity Korbel gurgling honkies on the balcony photos take note:

East Lake Neighborhood Association, winner of a "My Neighborhood Rocks" competition in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Cities for people first, then their cars.

The Urban Indy blog takes a look at pedestrians and cyclists at risk in our cities, and it's a timely consideration. Only recently, Broken Sidewalk reported on a spate of traffic accidents, with five peds/cyclists dead and one injured on metro Louisville streets in ten days. It would help if every now and then, motorists were held accountable. That's probably why you almost never hear bicyclists (or pedestrians) bitching about traffic calming.

For all the progress that has been made in recent years in raising consciousness about alternative solutions for mobility, we are reminded of how far there is to go, as was the case earlier this year when Kentucky State Fair officials concluded that bicycles might make their scrum even less organized than it already is. However, good news on a tiny scale still leaks out of Louisville, as when we learn that new bike parking has been installed on Frankfort Avenue. If only the riding can be made as safe as the parking.

New Albany's specific sorrows continue to be symbolized by a piecemeal approach, although Matt Nash kept it positive when considering the relationship of bicycle to bike lanes and Luddite to political promises in Nawbony. My unsolicited advice to the Gahan Administration is this: Get as pro-active as possible to make the historic inner city a place where pedestrians and cyclists are safe. Two ways streets and traffic calming are two places to start reclaiming the notion of a city being about its people, not about its cars.

1Si backs away from candidate endorsements.

The Green Mouse has been digging. For 1Si to back away from endorsements is an unqualified plus. Now we need only convince the organization to curb the rhetoric, ditch the unnecessary downtown bridge, and realize that tolling and "prosperity" are not the same objective.

One Southern Indiana announces it will not endorse candidates in 2012; Group will continue its support of Ohio River Bridges Project

NEW ALBANY, Ind. – (December 12, 2011) – One Southern Indiana, the chamber of commerce and economic development group serving Clark and Floyd counties, announced today it will not endorse candidates running for public office during the 2012 election cycle.

“We have listened to our members and investors, many of whom have told us they prefer that we not endorse candidates,” says Vaughan Scott, chairman. “There are other ways that we can work to be pro-business and pro-Southern Indiana.”

The organization endorsed in the races for Congress and state elections in 2010 and for mayor of New Albany, Jeffersonville and Charlestown earlier this year after interviewing all candidates.

Scott says One Southern Indiana will be very active in public policy and advocacy in other ways as outlined in a new strategic plan also approved by the board of directors last Thursday.

“We intend to start new programs and work with our elected officials to promote and advance our area,” says Scott. “For example, we will sponsor a reception in Indianapolis during the budget sessions of the Indiana General Assembly and provide forums for local elected officials to share their ideas with business leaders.”

As part of its Legislative Policy Priorities for 2012, One Southern Indiana will continue advocating for the Ohio River Bridges project to build a new east end bridge as well as a new I-65 span. The long-awaited project recently received federal environmental approval for a revised cost of $2.9 billion.

“The closure of the Sherman Minton Bridge was further proof that we need to start building the new bridges in 2012,” says new One Southern Indiana President & CEO Jody Wassmer. “We will do all we can in coming months to move the project forward for the long-term prosperity of the region.”

“Building the east end bridge to complete the I-265 corridor, in particular, promises huge economic development opportunities for Southern Indiana,” says Scott.

One Southern Indiana’s full Legislative Policy Priorities include promoting several other pro-business issues, including local government efficiency and simplification.

Its complete Legislative Policy Priorities can be found online under the Public Policy tab at www.1si.org

New Albany's "Person of the Year"?

This sounds like fun.

Person of the Year (formerly Man of the Year) is an annual issue of the United States newsmagazine Time that features and profiles a person, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse ... has done the most to influence the events of the year."

So, who/what would be the winner if the consideration were to be restricted to New Albany in 2011? Here is an admittedly incomplete starter list, followed by the presumptive winner:

Jeff Gahan … for winning big in his mayoral bid

Doug England … for making change possible by rallying so many people against institutional top-down nepotism

DNA’s/Dudgeon’s “Come to City” slogan … for rallying so many people against institutional top down nepotism

The River View Project … for rallying so many – well, you know the drill by now

Steve Resch … for doing redevelopment right

Professor Erika … for spending so much time in Italy that she managed to lose to Cappuccino

But surely the biggest influence on events in New Albany’s year 2011, for better or worse, was the Sherman Minton Bridge’s sudden health problems on September 9.

What do you think?

"Punched Out: The Life and Death of a Hockey Enforcer," a series in the New York Times.

This is a sad, compelling New York Times series on the life and death of the hockey player Derek Boogaard. In today's NYT, sportwriter George Vecsey makes a pertinent observation, one not asked by John Branch's investigative piece:

Has there ever been such a dismal month in sports — a time to question why we are so enthusiastic about spectator sports, particularly as part of so-called education?

It's worth remembering, lest our attachment to the spectacle overwhelm considerations of fundamental humanity.

Punched Out

The Life and Death of a Hockey Enforcer

• PART ONELearning To Brawl
• PART TWOBlood on the Ice
• PART THREEA Brain 'Going Bad'

Achtung Baby and the greatest rock reinvention.

It was roughly three weeks before Christmas in 1991. My afternoon classes were over, and a brisk stroll into the old town landed me at the Zlaty Dukat restaurant for a dinner of pork, dumplings and draft Pilsner Urquell. Returning much later to my hillside residence hall, I stopped by the sliding glass window for mail call, and to say hello to the ever-friendly night porter. With a smile, the old man gave me a handful of letters, a shoebox-sized package, and a warm seasonal greeting in Slovak: “Veselé vianoce.”

“Merry Christmas to you, too,” I responded -- in English.

Upon closer inspection, buried deep in the box was the real prize of the day, a cassette copy of U2’s album “Achtung Baby.” It had been released only a short time before, and some of the tunes were just beginning to be played on Bratislava’s weird, joyful Rock FM radio station, a figment of pre-Communist imagination sprung amazingly to life two years after the Velvet Revolution. The signal was relayed to a local transmitter in Kosice, Czechoslovakia, and then came to rest on the FM band of my South Korean boom box.

Popping the top on a locally brewed Cassovar lager, I listened with rapt attention. Indeed, U2’s sound on “Achtung Baby” was different – very much so – but at the same time, the band was the same one I’d seen perform in Ireland during the 1987 tour backing “The Joshua Tree” album.

What in the hell had happened? It took me a while, but eventually it made sense, and when it finally did, I was hooked for life.

Twenty years have come and gone. I didn't spring for the Super Deluxe Edition of "Achtung Baby", just the remastered original album with an accompanying disc of B-sides, most of which I'd heard before. No matter. This essay-length review on Pitchfork by Ryan Dombal uses the re-release as an excuse to recall the context of a time, and indeed, Dombal does a fine job of it. In particular, his assessment of the subsequent Zoo TV tour's impact is spot on. Two excerpts are offered, but by all means, read the whole piece.

U2 Achtung Baby

[Super Deluxe Edition] Island; 2011
By Ryan Dombal; November 9, 2011

"If you give a pop star a shit pile of dough and he refuses to self-destruct, I think it is a bit wet," said a smoking, slicked-back, black-sunglasses-clad Bono in a 1993 interview on the UK music show "Naked City". "I think it's part of the deal. If they don't die on a cross by 33, I'd ask for your money back ...

... Achtung Baby is rightly known as one of rock's greatest reinventions because it was so complete. Sure, U2 changed their sound from chiming melodics to lurching, distorted rhythm. But they also changed their attitude, their demeanor, their look, their ideas on how to deal with celebrity. All of a sudden, they were funny, sexy, a bit dangerous-- three things few would've associated with U2 in the 80s. And yet, at their core, the band's values remained constant. They were still ethically minded and interested in the real-life connection between living beings. But the way they went about projecting those core tenets flipped. In TV-news parlance, their attitude switched from "60 Minutes" to "The Colbert Report".

2011 Highlights & Lowlights: “Pearl Street will NOT be one-way.”

Two-way street conversions were a full-bore campaign promise back in 2007, but after four years of the third England administration, how many of New Albany street's had been converted to two-way traffic? That'd be none, and perhaps part of the reason was the desperate opposition on the part of community pillars filled with old-fashioned Kool-Aid, but not a dollop of reasoned contemporary urban thought.

Merchant Mixer notes (2): Empty storefronts, Harvest Homecoming and Bob Caesar's all-way street confusion.

Amazed, I wrote at the time:

I realized (yet again) how so many of the older generation of merchants sincerely believes that whatever works out yonder in the soulless exurb should be implemented downtown, whereas the way I see it is that whatever can be done to create the polar opposite atmosphere downtown – including people-friendly, slower-moving traffic to accommodate humanity, and alternative modes of transportation apart from the automobile – should be the desired goal.

Two-way traffic: A city permitted to function as designed is good for business.

2011 Highlights & Lowlights: Old tavern building confusion and related fears and loathing.

When it came to historic structures, we spent the year somewhat confused about priorities.

When we weren't looking, Pauline's disappeared.

But a different Götterdämmerung was performed at 8th & Culbertson.

And Dan Coffey was right: The Urban Enterprise Association is not City Hall’s ATM.

Although the Horseshoe Board later changed its mind, the weirdness surrounding decision-making at 8th & Culbertson caused even these charitable pillars to cock a collective eyebrow.

Autonomous visions experience unexpected Horseshoe board dissonance.

In the end, it was easier to blame the messenger than articulate a coherent case.

Toxicity: In a nutshell, here is the case against me.

Clark County Cadavercrats: "And nobody said a damn thing about it."

The only reason why the same cannot be written in almost identical words about the Floyd County Democratic Party is the Floyd County Republican Party's sheer ineptitude. At the same time, the chief irony emerging from the report below is that Rep. Steve Stemler still calls himself a Democrat, and some people actually believe him. Talk about delusional ...

Clark County Democrat Christmas Party: One Huge Lifeless Donkey, at Goliath's GAW News Bureau.

Why is everyone dressed up? This is a god-damn autopsy for the Clark County Democrat party?! We’re here to examine this lifeless political party, and figure out if it still has a pulse. But happy faces are to be expected from a few. You know, those delusional ones.

Plenitude.

We know how to do it, or at least our grandparents did. It's the way we used to do it until we let get-rich-quick financiers and pandering politicos sucker us out of it. Sans artificial life support, their model is effectively dead. I'd rather live a while longer. And better.

Geez, it's been a whole month.

Time to collect your signs from this scenic location on Rolling Creek Drive.

2011 Highlights & Lowlights: My rejection at the polls.

In 2011, I declared for a city council at-large seat as a Democrat, and was defeated fair and square in the primary, finishing fifth in a six-person race, but garnering a respectable vote total while spending nary a penny.

My reward for this exercise in downward civic immobility was two-fold: First, it cannot be said that I didn't try (up yours, troglodytes), and second, the newspaper took away my weekly column sans coherent explanation, although we can surmise that somewhere in Alabama, someone became irate at the tone of my pants-down progressivism. But they do sports mighty fine, Verle.

Following are links to five somewhat randomly selected pieces published here during the campaign. These strike me as representative of my failed campaign's overall tone.

A Candidate's Progress (4): Platform planks and opening salvos.

A Candidate’s Progress (11): Suit yourself. Plaid?

Groomsian "freedoms" from a Republican Party intent on keeping women barefoot and pregnant.

REWIND: Starving for education (2010).

Tanned, rested, ready and appreciative.

ON THE AVENUES: Concrete or chimera.

ON THE AVENUES: Concrete or chimera.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

In retrospect, it seems highly auspicious that we moved into our newly purchased Spring Street home on Halloween 2003.

In 2013, when New Albany celebrates its bicentennial, our second five-year plan will be concluding. I never imagined how exhausting it would be to simultaneously seek the reinvention of my personal life, my business, and an entire city.

This blog came to life in 2004 as a means of appeasing a motley collection of muses and demons inhabiting my inner world. To silence them, I resolved to write more regularly. Following is a piece published on December 7, 2004: New Albany will be worth the work.

For those who may find it curious that this web site is devoted to life and times in the seemingly inconsequential city of New Albany, let it be understood that NA Confidential is dedicated to the simple proposition that the place where we live is important.

Otherwise, why bother living there?

For many readers, the significance of a place of residence may seem self-evident, but I submit that this reaction is far from universal.

America’s helter-skelter physical and emotional mobility is its greatest blessing – and its most destructive curse. Mobility promotes flexibility, improvisation and growth. And it contributes to a mindset of transience, substituting long-distance anonymity for the intimacies of familiarity and discourse.

To live and work somewhere, to find that place on a map, to plot the route that takes us there – all are mundane compared to the tasks of building and nurturing a community. To so, we must know who we are, why it matters and how we intend to achieve it.

Individuals make up the community, and the community reflects the dreams and aspirations of individuals. Without vision, without a sense of possibility, without a desire to improve, neither individuals nor their communities can be expected to thrive in a world that never has and never will stand still.

The ongoing process of urban reinvention begins with these dreams and aspirations. Public works, feats of engineering, financial prowess – all are absolutely essential, but none suffice as indicators of creativity and imagination because they cannot measure the limitless horizons afforded by an idea.

Without these vital qualities of community self-knowledge, which aid us in knowing who we are, efforts aimed at “renewal” predictably are undertaken in piecemeal fashion, lack unifying direction, and are doomed to mistake the ephemeral attractions of new objects for the lasting benefits of new thinking.

The architectural carnage of the 1960’s and early 1970’s stands as the perfect illustration of the unwillingness or inability (or both) of a clueless generation of political and civic leaders in New Albany to articulate an ideal for the city.

It isn’t that sincere people haven’t worked for decades before and since to make things better. They have.

It is that much of their hard work has been all but nullified by the continuing lack of an overall, unifying community principle in New Albany, primarily because such a principle is erroneously seen as posing a threat to the prevailing political and civic elites for whom the preservation of fiefdoms, however small, represents a principle more to their liking than thinking outside the box for the benefit of others.

Unsurprisingly, genuine political and civic leadership – thinking, challenging, lifting up, providing the plan, organizing the troops, mustering the energy – has all but disappeared from the equation in New Albany.

As embodied by the self-absorbed empty suit currently masquerading as Mayor, local government seems to have abdicated altogether when it comes to any recognizable principle of community leadership.

At a City Council meeting last evening, where citizen representatives of neighborhood associations spoke passionately about the need to create a position of ordinance enforcement officer and thus provide them with some measure of recourse to influence those who do not contribute to the progress of the community, at no time did Mayor Garner avail himself of the bully pulpit to offer encouragement and empathy to the speakers.

Not once.

Mayor Garner may well be in perfect harmony with the citizenry, and after all, the topic at hand involves enforcing existing codes to make the city a better place, to which there is no discernable opposition, and yet presented with an opportunity to lead, Garner could not be bothered.

Our objective, then, is to lead the community-based effort ourselves, to locate the like-minded, the ones for whom life in New Albany need not represent a grudging compromise, one maintained for lack of better options over the long and steadily unfolding period of time that we hope to remain living here.

Rather, we see no reason why New Albany cannot preserve the best remnants of its important historical heritage while providing contemporary elements of the finer things in life, virtually all of which flower from enhanced diversity – culturally, creatively and artistically.

We know who we are. With unity, we’ll see what can be done.

Unity – what a concept. It’s true that with time, I came to regard Mayor Garner in a different light, as one endowed with a sophisticated level of comprehension, though not possessing the communication skills necessary for effective action.

This observation aside, how much progress have we really achieved in seven years? You’ll undoubtedly say: But just LOOK at all the progress! I agree that there have been numerous strides, and yet the most obvious lesson to be learned from the past four years is that dysfunctional paradigms have been slow to change. There has been hard work. Has it been smart work?

I’ve no glib conclusions to offer, just a question: Where are we?

"Till the day when I'll be going down/That long, long trail with you."

Gonder on "rebuilding the infrastructure of a vital, functional, and sustainable economy."

Councilman Gonder keeps getting it right.

Here and Now

New Albany owes much to those who are actively engaged in reshaping our local economy through the local production of goods, and to those independently offering goods and services, such businesses build a strong foundation for our economy. We owe it to them to support their efforts and to help those who would promote their efforts. The Kia girl on TV talks of the "new economy". The new economy is local, and in that direction lies the new prosperity. It's not just about the money.

2011 Highlights & Lowlights: Paybacks? They're slaps in the face, too.

Few developments in 2011 better symbolized the final England administration's descent into crass and self-serving nepotism than its predilection for seeding committees and boards with as many of the same operatives as possible, and then producing novel ways of reimbursing them with someone else's money -- in this case, cash tithed by taxpayers nationwide for the purpose of stabilizing a neighborhood. Featherbedding simply doesn't do it justice: Douglas England will be remembered primarily for fixes like this one. It's why he had to go.

In this November 19 posting, NAC linked to an article at OSIN (THE HOUSE IS IN ORDER: Administration defends DNA president’s NSP contract), itself a worthy expose withheld from publication until after the November election for reasons known only to Alabama pensioners and their media mavens. Reporter Daniel Suddeath provided this helpful tidbit:

(Susan Kaempfer's) contract was to expire June 20, but was extended six additional months through the end of the year. The amended contract states her expenses are not to exceed $50,000 for the remainder of the year.

NAC reader w&la then responded in a comment that many readers may have missed at the time.

Re: the $ 50,000 "remainder" salary - according to Census Bureau statistics:

"The median income for a household in the city was $34,923, and the median income for a family was $41,993.

Males had a median income of $31,778 versus $24,002 for females.

The per capita income for the city was $18,365.

About 11.4% of families and 13.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.6% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over."

In short, Mayor England's proto-Machiavellian "I alone pick the winners" approach to governance in the barest of breaches has enabled a mechanism encouraging too few cooks to spoil the broth. When the clock strikes 2012, Jeff Gahan will be in the unenviable of performing the cleanup.

Anyone got a bucket?

A brief note for Councilmen CeeSaw & KZ.

In New Albany, we do not have too many economic development organizations.

Seriously, in an economy like this, can there be too many helping hands?

Rather, we have too few people who take the time to understand the differences in role, mission and intent between existing economic development organizations. This is an example of intellectual laziness, to be sure, and while troglodytes are to be forgiven, I expect more from elected officials.

If one is an independent small business owner in New Albany, downtown or otherwise, consider this question:

Which currently chartered economic development organization exists for the primary stated purpose of protecting and expanding his or her interests as an independent small business owner?

Yes, One Southern Indiana performs a needed function in attracting and servicing larger businesses and industries. Develop New Albany is at its best when it adheres to Main Street's four pillars and executes visitor events like the well-regarded Jingle Walk. Then there's the Urban Enterprise Association, with a narrower state-drawn mandate and plenty of useful programs therein.

What about the city of New Albany, which decades ago out-sourced the bulk of its traditional economic development activities to other entities?

Don't make me laugh. The outgoing mayoral tandem has tried to force-feed its own chosen winner for four years running, and succeeded only in harvesting a crop of even hardier mistrust. Can Jeff Gahan improve on this sorry record?

Again, I ask:

Which of these economic development organizations exist for the express purpose of protecting and expanding one's interests as an independent small business owner?

The answer: None of them.

However, New Albany First is in existence precisely to fulfill this purpose, and as such, it performs a function otherwise left untouched by the others.

New Albany First is an independent small business association; that's what it does, that's why it is here, and since virtually all reputable economic analysts point to the enduring importance of just this sort of grassroots business activity, it should be obvious that whether NA First's advent is of recent vintage, or dates from a point earlier in time, is utterly irrelevant to considerations of its worthiness.

For Councilman Zurschmiede to suggest earlier this week that NA First is somehow unworthy because it is youthful, and for him to use words like "slap in the face" to imply that existing hierarchies must be monetarily fluffed sans attention to what they've actually ever achieved to merit monetary fluffing, is beyond regrettable. For Councilman Caesar subsequently to remark there are "too many economic development organizations" is equally (and typically) short-sighted.

Both elected officials would benefit from sticking to facts, and it those facts are not in their possession, taking a few spare moments to gather the pertinent truths before venturing forth with poorly informed opinions that masquerade as "leadership."

Perhaps the incoming class of council persons will display greater comprehension, and exercise a more vigorous work ethic, when it comes to spotting the fundamental differences between the organizations we have, and encouraging each to hoe its row.

Quills Coffee is open today, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The physical space is beautiful, and I'm delighted Quills is here in New Albany.

Quill's on Facebook

I know it, you know it, and the Quills ownership knows it: For Quills to become the "third space" option downtown New Albany so desperately needs, its hours of operation will have to extend further into the evening; the Baxter Avenue location is open until 10:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday (6:00 p.m. on Sunday). By contrast, in New Albany the hours will be 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., seven days a week.

My (and their) opinion is that they'll get there soon enough, and by mentioning it, I'm merely pointing to the obvious. We have numerous fine dining establishments downtown, but few (perhaps none?) offer an evening coffee option beyond the standard drip. Much to my regret, my own establishment does not. Also, a coffee shop like Quills can be a huge factor in training the next generation to look downtown; if this seems odd, consider the demographic inhabiting Coffee Crossing on the north side. Those too young or disinclined to hang out in bars find a home at coffee shops.

Later this morning, I'm heading to the newly minted New Albany Quills to sample the espresso, which remains the true test, sans milk, cream, sugar and all the other extraneous substances. Is Billow, the cigar dispensary next door, open mornings? I'm already seeing a decline in disposable income -- and I'm loving it.

2011 Highlights & Lowlights: Parson Clere finally takes notice of the ORBP.

After 143 long days, Clere finally notices the ORBP, gets all cutesy, repeats discredited Stemlerisms -- and says nothing ... posted on January 11, 2011.

We kept putting hash marks on those calendar pages, until finally ... well, nothing, but at least there was acknowledgement from the representative, albeit without any clere sense of the economic double-whammy of bridge tolls to working Hoosiers.

Finally, enlightenment: Economic development via craft beer in Wildomar, California.

This is more like it: Economic development via craft beer. Whether it ever might play in New Albany, a place where the 20th-century barely was noticed, is another question entirely. Adam Nason of Beer News Dot Org provides the lead:

You’re a city manager with a need to build your local economy and a penchant for #craftbeer. What to do? Start a campaign.

Ladd: "New Albany Needs New Albany First."

Yesterday, we considered puzzling comments by at-large city council member Kevin Zurschmiede to the effect that when it comes to supporting organizations engaged in economic development efforts, the council wouldn't want to insult those who've been ignored for doing so little for so long, assuming it can continue avoiding a determination of who is actually doing what for whom, or not.

The following is submitted by Mike Ladd, speaking for himself as a private citizen, and not in his capacity as Executive Director of the Urban Enterprise Association.

---

“We have met the enemy and he is us!” ... New Albany Needs New Albany First.

Why shouldn’t the New Albany City Council vote Economic Development Income Tax (EDIT) monies for New Albany First?

Only a few months old, without full-time paid staff, with a minimal budget, this organization has demonstrated an ability to produce a high quality product. Simultaneously, it has demonstrated a want existing amongst local businesses (independent and not) to keep dollars local.

Already they have brought in a nationally recognized leader to speak about “Buy Local, Buy Independent”. They did this by finding a local sponsor. They have hosted educational discussions on various subjects featuring local businesspersons who have opened new and independent businesses. If past is prologue; these events will only grow. The topics are timely and the desire to share experiences is tangible. It is obvious local businesses are seeking the support and forum this organization provides. Finding local support, this new, completely volunteer organization has demonstrated a steady membership growth in a remarkably short period.

New Albany comes late to the table. Jeffersonville has three such buy local programs. Clarksville has its English Avenue Business Association, as well as the Green Tree Mall business association. One Southern Indiana has created a shop local program north of the river. Within the tri-county area (Jefferson County Kentucky and Clark and Floyd Counties, Indiana) there exist 101 recognized cities, towns and villages. I can’t prove it, but I would bet each of those communities has some form of local group working to keep their dollars home and bring ours into their community. Yet, New Albany has no such program of its own.

This funding request is an experiment. If it works, it creates parameters for future requests. Organizations making similar demands will have to meet the same rigid standards that NAFirst will have set; under the same exacting conditions. That is – and should be - a daunting prospect. The bar will be set high.

Functionally, project-by-project funding will not work. Too much time will pass, the group cannot do any long-range planning, and opportunities pass quickly. NAFirst has submitted a program of work, as I understand it with a proposed budget. Those are real projects. Fund their projects fully and let the seminars get underway. To be required to approach city council every time for program funding creates the exact situation that we wish to avoid. It gives control of the program to the council, not the organization.

If funding administrative costs is the issue, then remove it for the time being. Fund the organization so its projects can be carried out, at the same time, set a fair deadline by which they must succeed and then return for a second round that could include admin costs. At that time, if the product is not as advertised, don’t fund the request.

Take a chance, let’s take a walk on the weird side and do something positive. If NAFirst fails, at least we tried. If we don’t make the attempt . . . we’ve failed anyway.

Stop arguing about the route and concentrate on the destination. Let’s begin keeping our dollars in New Albany (and bring in theirs) and compete against them as hard as they compete against us.

With everything NAFirst has already accomplished, I wonder what would happen if we stopped bickering over small details and actually supported them, gave them a solid financial footing and allowed them to work their magic. Now wouldn’t that be something?

Pogo said, “We have met the enemy and he is us!” That certainly seems true in New Albany. When the next group makes a similar request, it will be under different circumstances and conditions. Then the discussion begins anew.

In the meantime . . . Get over it. Let’s stop stepping on our own feet. Let’s do this thing.

2011 Highlights & Lowlights: Free at last, free at last.

Another fevered dream ... wait, it actually happened! ... posted on May 7, 2011.

As 2011 draws to a close, I'll be looking back at a few prominent stories.

For jubilant residents of the city's long-suffering 3rd district, the May primary provided abundant relief, with two-term Uncouncilman Steve Price being handily dispatched by newcomer Greg Phipps. Like we'd been saying all along, Price simply could not survive a two-way race in the primary. In the November election, Phipps easily defeated his Republican adversary, Jameson Bledsoe, and after eight long years, the 3rd district awoke to the prospect of genuine representation on the council.

The final city council conclave of 2011 takes place on Thursday, December 15. Who'll join me in issuing heartfelt goodbyes on that evening?

O magnum mysterium ... back about 1977.

I heard "O magnum mysterium" (Tomas Luis de Victoria, 1572) this morning on 90.5 FM, and it utterly floored me. Maybe it was the rain and the seasonal blahs, but what a sucker punch! Recollections of my bass part are fading after almost 35 years, but the many fond memories of high school choir came rushing back. Thanks yet again to Mick Neely for teaching me this music.

CM Zurschmiede's holiday gift: Pretzel logic, or can of worms?

Flushing time draws ever nearer, but two city council meetings remain on the 2011 calendar, with the first one coming tonight.

In today’s preview, the News and Tribune ‘Bama Pop-Up Machine’s reporter Daniel Suddeath considers one item that will not be on tonight’s agenda: Last month’s tabled funding request from New Albany First, the city's first ever grassroots advocacy group for independent small business.

I find it slightly odd that CM John Gonder’s explanation herein, to the effect that such future funding requests should be for specific economic development projects, merely repeats what was said aloud during council discussions when the idea was first minted.

But far richer is CM Kevin Zurschmiede’s “slap in the face” line.

In a muddled piece of sophistry, Zurschmiede seems to be saying that existing organizations like Develop New Albany (a) get pride of place at the table, but (b) have been underfunded by the council in the past, and (c) would be insulted by monies devoted to any new organization which (d) seeks to accomplish something the existing ones have not attempted.

Any disinterested observer might respond by asking a few basic questions of Zurschmiede:

Why is an organization disqualified from requesting money just because it is new?

Isn't it possible that "new" trends, ideas and programs sometimes come along, and are worthy -- like when telephones replaced smoke signals?

Exactly what have these existing organizations done to help businesses?

If existing organizations actually have helped businesses, why has the council underfunded them?

If the $75,000 set aside by the council must be earmarked for existing organizations, why haven’t any of them yet followed the stated guidelines and come to ask for the money?

If they have not asked for money, aren’t they under-performing when it comes to helping businesses?

Of course, there’s the much-debated objection that NA First’s tabled request for monies included salary for a director. I understand why this is an issue. At the same time, DNA’s current president is being amply remunerated, albeit indirectly, with Federal cash via the mayor’s fix with the Midtown neighborhood stabilization program.

Perhaps the true moral of the story is that NA First shouldn’t have asked the city council for funding. Rather, it should have approached Doug England directly, and had him arrange a meeting with Barack Obama, who'd gladly write that $108K check.

New Albany First funding to remain tabled; Zurschmiede: $80,000 request ‘slap in the face’ to other organizations

Councilman Kevin Zurschmiede said his personal feelings about New Albany First are separate from what he believes the role of the public sector is when it comes to funding the organization.

“I stand behind what they’re trying to do, however, I don’t think the council can provide funding for a new organization like that,” he said.

Beyond being a member of the organization, Zurschmiede said the council has scarcely provided funding for Develop New Albany, which was formed in 1990.

Appropriating $80,000 for a new group like New Albany First would come as a “slap in the face” to organizations that have been established and helping businesses for several years in the city, he continued.

CLEAN FOSSILS collaborative exhibition, December 3 (Part Two).

CLEAN FOSSILS collaborative exhibition, December 3 (Part One).

"No heaven … / no hell below us …/ and no religion too."

For some reason, articles like this one always read better on Sunday morning.

Science and religion: God didn't make man; man made gods, by J. Anderson Thomson and Clare Aukofer (LA Times)

In recent years scientists specializing in the mind have begun to unravel religion's "DNA."

... We can be better as a species if we recognize religion as a man-made construct. We owe it to ourselves to at least consider the real roots of religious belief, so we can deal with life as it is, taking advantage of perhaps our mind's greatest adaptation: our ability to use reason.

Nash: "Will getting over the river get easier?"

Sensible thinking about the Ohio River Bridges Project -- not to be confused with the position of the Tolling Authority or the strangely quiet One Southern Indiana.

NASH: Will getting over the river get easier?, by Matt Nash

... A couple of weeks ago, it was announced that the Federal Highway Administration has recommended the construction of the $2.9 billion“preferred alternative” plan for the Ohio River Bridges Project. This is the plan that was announced after meetings between the governors of Indiana and Kentucky and the mayor of Louisville. The new plan — to reduce the size and scope of the project in order to reduce the cost — was brought about after plans to use tolls came under fire by locals.

While I am pleased that the plan has been reduced — after months of discussion and the insistence that the original “record of decision” of 2003 could not be altered — I am worried that the reductions are to the wrong part of the project. The east-end bridge, which has been part of the interstate masterplan for more than four decades, was reduced from a six lane interstate bridge to only four lanes.

Reminders.

Tomorrow morning at Bank Street Brewhouse, brunch begins at 10.

Also, tonight is the CLEAN FOSSILS collaborative exhibition at 501 Pearl Street. There'll be NABC beer. The other half of the NABC crew will be in Louisville at the Mid City Mall for the 3rd Annual Highlands Beer Festival, sponsored by ValuMarket.

Kentuckians reclaim their religious culture, their racism, their leech-based health plans ...

There's the Creation Museum, and now there's this. Verily, the whole civilized world busts a gut in contemplation of these displays of superstition and religious bumpkinism. Somewhere, H.L. Mencken is laughing out loud.

Kentucky churchgoer tells of deep hurt after interracial marriage ban; Stella Harville not welcome at Gulnare Freewill baptist church after ex-pastor votes to ban couples of different races, by Ed Pilkington (Guardian)

A small baptist church in eastern Kentucky has voted to ban interracial couples from joining the congregation and from taking part in all church functions other than funerals.

Friday potpourri: Three ... two ... one ... and we have flushing.

It's true that outgoing New Albany city attorney Shane Gibson often was unfairly targeted by abuse from disgruntled troglodytes, but a change was inevitable given the third England administration's downward devolution. As the incoming mayor's appointment illustrates, the city attorney works for the current occupant, and my personal belief is that Stan will be a very good city attorney.

Mayor-elect Jeff Gahan appoints New Albany city attorney; Stan Robison has served New Albany before

Gahan confirmed that Robison sent a letter on his behalf to department heads and other supervisory employees of the current administration to tell them that they must go through the application process if they wish to keep those jobs.

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Whenever the Indiana State Chamber of Commerce wields its legislative agenda to define what it means to be in business, I'm almost immediately embarrassed to be a called a businessman. There needs to be a different word so I can save face:

State Chamber of Commerce to roll out sweeping legislative agenda

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The thought of Greater Louisville Inc.'s Joe Reagan taking precious pomposity time from his position on the Tolling Authority to portray a cancer specialist, too, somehow reminds me of Elena Ceausescu's inflated portfolio during Communist Romanian times:

Curtis Morrison: GLI using your tax money to redefine the definition of cancer

Community gardening meeting on Tuesday, December 13 at the Cardinal Ritter House.

(submitted)

We have finished our community garden survey and have many exciting responses. We are hosting a meeting on Tuesday December 13 at 7:00 p.m. at the Cardinal Ritter House, located at 1218 E. Oak Street in New Albany.

All are invited to review our possibilities and the ideas shared through the Community Garden Survey. Thank you all for taking the time to help to get this possibility off the ground. Winter is a great time to plan for spring so please come gather and discuss the wonderful opportunities we have in New Albany. This is a grass roots effort with support from various organizations including Keep New Albany Clean And Green, Earthly Goods, Floyd Action Network (FAN) and Trash Force.

If we can all work together for this project we could really end up with something great! Looking forward to see you all! Bring your thinking caps!

Michele Finn

ON THE AVENUES: “Science is the only true guide in life.”

ON THE AVENUES: “Science is the only true guide in life.”

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Atatürk: An Intellectual Biography, by M. Sükrü Hanioglu

To What Strange Place: The Music of the Ottoman-American Diaspora, 1916-1929

We Americans generally spend far too much of our spare time wallet-gazing to pay much attention to the wider world outside our garishly gated exurban communities, and so in the decade since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it has been disconcerting for us to realize, belatedly, that millions of non-Christians are roaming the planet and wreaking havoc on our parochial notions of propriety.

Quite a few of these are Muslim, and many are citizens of non-democratic countries of the sort we’re willing to retain as strategic bedmates where necessary (see addiction, petroleum), but otherwise are to be held in contempt because they’ve permitted Islam to strangle their secular societies in precisely the same way so many fundamentalist Christians in America wish they could hijack daily life in the United States – something about our supremely inconvenient Constitution stands in the way, although I seldom recall exactly why.

If my fellow ‘mericans so much as even noticed this year’s ongoing “Arab Spring” upheavals in the Middle East, it was for little more than a convenient excuse to cheer for the death of Gaddafi, and with that grisly mission finally accomplished, they scurried back to the X-Factor for kicks. Still, perhaps some observers may have briefly averted their gaze from the Quizno’s dollar menu du jour and gathered that repressive yokes in places like Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Syria are still waiting to be shed.

These countries have many things in common, but one shared experience largely forgotten by westerners is that all of them once were components of the Ottoman Empire, remembered primarily because someone in France borrowed the name to describe an upholstered footstool. But at the zenith of its six-century existence, when Ottoman forces besieged Vienna and came very close to winning the battle, the empire’s power was no joke.

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The Ottoman Empire originated in Anatolia, or modern-day Turkey, and its upward arc was closely aligned with the expansion of Islam. The empire had a Sultan, who eventually also conveniently served as the Caliph, meaning that state and mosque were neatly rolled into one decadently theocratic entity dedicated to the preservation of its multinational aggregation.

A significant chunk of the huge Ottoman imperial dominion spilled from Asia into Northern Africa, and more importantly, into the Balkans, rendering the Sultan into a player at the concert of Europe, and helping explain the term Sick Man of Europe – also the name of guitarist Rick Nielsen’s last band just before Cheap Trick was formed. To make a long story short, the Ottoman Empire became profoundly “sick” from the 17th-century forward precisely because of its foundational nature as a theocracy, one so stilted and conservative that evolution and modernization were almost impossible.

A succession of increasingly irrelevant sultans remained enamored of their eunuchs, scimitars, harems and hash pipes, even as the European continent progressed through a transformative Enlightenment, which barely registered among the Ottomans. It was only after yet another disastrous military defeat in 1878 that a “Young Turk” movement arose with the objective of westernizing the Ottoman hierarchy, and bringing it into step with modern civilization before all was lost.

In the early 1900’s, a promising young Ottoman officer from Thessalonika named Mustafa Kemal gravitated toward this Young Turk movement, immersing himself in an eclectic mix of 19th-century European doctrines. As it turned out, the Ottoman Empire was beyond redemption, and a new entity would rise from its ashes: The modern Turkish Republic, in which Kemal would meet his destiny.

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In “Atatürk: An Intellectual Biography,” M. Sükrü Hanioglu charts Kemal’s rapid career trajectory. As hero of the battle against the Commonwealth at Gallipoli in 1915, he rapidly advanced to the top of a crumbling, post-WWI regional heap, emerging during the 1920’s not just as the most powerful military and political figure in Turkey, but as the freshly minted country’s undisputed motive force, who eventually was redubbed Atatürk – Father of the Turks.

Hanioglu’s slim volume excels because it is relentlessly focused on a specific examination of Atatürk’s intellectual life and avoids narrative history from the perspective of his sex life, private proclivities or recreational drug preferences (he had a wife, read quite a lot and died of cirrhosis). Significantly, when we ask what made this man tick, the single most revealing answer is what did not: Religion, in the form of the Islam.

Here is the rare example of a leader born into a milieu of pervasive religious attachment, and who responds by rejecting it utterly. Indeed, Atatürk did not eschew his own cult of personality, resembling so many other political strongmen, then as now. However, as head of the youthful Turkish state, he relentlessly pursued secularization, advancing the proposition that “science is the only true guide in life," and acting accordingly.

Ultimately, Atatürk failed to rid Turkey of what he considered as an unnecessary, foreign religious belief. At the same time, his efforts succeeded in forging a huge measure of church-state separation where it was needed – and still is.

I accompanied my reading of Hanioglu’s text with a three-CD set, “To What Strange Place: The Music of the Ottoman-American Diaspora, 1916-1929.” Atatürk’s birthplace in what is now Greece was a microcosm of the Ottoman melting pot, whose immigrants in the United States formed vibrant urban ethnic enclaves, most often on the East Coast. These vibrant recordings run the aural gamut of a newcomer’s emotions, from lively to melancholic, and are a vital, if neglected, component of the American folk music tradition.

No more ritualistic silence.

What did YOU have for breakfast this morning? We were prepping for some Raq'n Roll tonight.

Pictured above is the payoff for hustling down to The Grand at 7:00 a.m. to help promote Raq'n Around the Christmas Tree with Keith Kaiser of WDRB-41 and a trio of belly dancers. La Bocca and Habana Blues provided breakfast, and by the time I thought to photograph the spread, those in attendance had already started carving the bird.

Tonight's Entrance Cost: 1 New Toy or a $10 donation.This year the toy drive will benefit the boys and girls of (AIM) AIDS Interfaith Ministries of Kentuckiana, Holiday Program.

AIM of Kentuckiana provides services to the HIV/AIDS population in the greater Kentucky and Southern Indiana region. AIM is committed to helping people living with HIV/AIDS by providing nutritional, emotional and spiritual support, their Holiday Assistance Program assists aproxamimately 300 children and familes infected and affected by this disease during the holidays.