Friday, October 05, 2007
Open thread: What does it mean for a public works project to pay for itself?
Bluegill asked this question in another thread after a discussion developed about the existing downtown parking garage and prospects for a new one:
What does it mean for a public works project to pay for itself? Is it the direct repayment of dollars like collecting parking fees at a garage or something else, like a quality of life issues that indirectly lead to more dollars by making someone want to be around, raising property values, private spending levels, and economic opportunities?
We already know how the conjoined councilmen feel. Your opinions?
What does it mean for a public works project to pay for itself? Is it the direct repayment of dollars like collecting parking fees at a garage or something else, like a quality of life issues that indirectly lead to more dollars by making someone want to be around, raising property values, private spending levels, and economic opportunities?
We already know how the conjoined councilmen feel. Your opinions?
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Has anyone seen the senior editor?
Hey, what ever happened to me, anyway … or, as Ronald Reagan once said, “Where’s the rest of me?”
Note that Reagan actually spoke these words long before he became the nation’s favorite “just remember the good times” President.
Well, I’ve been busy. Here is the Top Ten list, with room for a dozen more.
10. Keeping up with the conclusion of the baseball season and the beginning of the playoffs. My Oakland Athletics were eliminated early, but just wail ‘til next year.
9. Watching all 16 hours of the Ken Burns documentary, “The War,” and concluding that in spite of the epiphanies and rare color footage, the series was a noble but flawed effort, in desperate need of editing, and in the end, something that failed to live up to the premise.
8. Listening to the reformed Crowded House’s elegiac “Time on Earth,” yet another nearly perfect pop rock album from Neil Finn and Co., an preparing to spin the new Springsteen.
7. Scientific sampling of Progressive Pints as the annual NA Confidential/NABC Harvest Homecoming parade party approaches (see NAC on Friday for the unveiling of this year’s official party slogan).
6. Noticing that my cheeks were wet at the conclusion of the incredible German film, “The Lives of Others,” which is available on DVD. Get it and watch it now. (Thanks, Ed).
5. Assisting my business partners in what amounts to a company-wide reorganization as we make preparations to expand.
4. Examining the floor drains, roofs and load bearing walls in downtown buildings (see the preceding). My only regret is that for us to achieve our goals, we’ll have to enrich either Steve Price’s or Dan Coffey’s council district. Perhaps we can be gerrymandered into Jeff Gahan’s 6th?
3. Reeling in shock and suspicion as erstwhile entrenched ideological opposites make seeming gestures of reconciliation. Ready for another quote from the Gipper? “Trust, but verify.”
2. Doing the chronological math in an effort to determine whether Coffey actually could be Joe McCarthy’s unclaimed love child. The resemblances are to striking for the two to have evolved independently, don’t you think?
1. Honing my credentials as a card-carrying atheist, communist, hedonist and (gasp) pagan in preparation for crawling into a local politician’s bed and giving the Luddites, know-nothings and wannabeens another well-deserved conniption fit.
Note that Reagan actually spoke these words long before he became the nation’s favorite “just remember the good times” President.
Well, I’ve been busy. Here is the Top Ten list, with room for a dozen more.
10. Keeping up with the conclusion of the baseball season and the beginning of the playoffs. My Oakland Athletics were eliminated early, but just wail ‘til next year.
9. Watching all 16 hours of the Ken Burns documentary, “The War,” and concluding that in spite of the epiphanies and rare color footage, the series was a noble but flawed effort, in desperate need of editing, and in the end, something that failed to live up to the premise.
8. Listening to the reformed Crowded House’s elegiac “Time on Earth,” yet another nearly perfect pop rock album from Neil Finn and Co., an preparing to spin the new Springsteen.
7. Scientific sampling of Progressive Pints as the annual NA Confidential/NABC Harvest Homecoming parade party approaches (see NAC on Friday for the unveiling of this year’s official party slogan).
6. Noticing that my cheeks were wet at the conclusion of the incredible German film, “The Lives of Others,” which is available on DVD. Get it and watch it now. (Thanks, Ed).
5. Assisting my business partners in what amounts to a company-wide reorganization as we make preparations to expand.
4. Examining the floor drains, roofs and load bearing walls in downtown buildings (see the preceding). My only regret is that for us to achieve our goals, we’ll have to enrich either Steve Price’s or Dan Coffey’s council district. Perhaps we can be gerrymandered into Jeff Gahan’s 6th?
3. Reeling in shock and suspicion as erstwhile entrenched ideological opposites make seeming gestures of reconciliation. Ready for another quote from the Gipper? “Trust, but verify.”
2. Doing the chronological math in an effort to determine whether Coffey actually could be Joe McCarthy’s unclaimed love child. The resemblances are to striking for the two to have evolved independently, don’t you think?
1. Honing my credentials as a card-carrying atheist, communist, hedonist and (gasp) pagan in preparation for crawling into a local politician’s bed and giving the Luddites, know-nothings and wannabeens another well-deserved conniption fit.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
It's four minutes and forty-four seconds you'll never get back
... and it would take hours to explain every lie and hypocrisy therein. Up with the volume and down with the IQ.
The senior editor thanks Bluegill, and adds: Here are three supplemental views of the Wizard in mid-tirade.
The senior editor thanks Bluegill, and adds: Here are three supplemental views of the Wizard in mid-tirade.
Once again, we provide you with abundant evidence that Dan Coffey has only one fundamental and abiding political "plank": New Albany's pie must remain forever small, and only Coffey decides how big to carve the slices.
The fact that within such a self-serving philosophy lies not an iota of hope for education, economic development, and human advancement has by now become pathetically self-evident, although it illustrates what the city is up against in its struggle to revitalize far better than the decidedly non-ironic councilman ever could fathom.
Dan Coffey vs. the future. Bets, anyone?
Conjoined councilmen ready their Bics: Rag picking, rental property management and investing in the community.
New Albany downtown plan: Hotel, conventions; Isenberg Properties wants to continue Scribner Place development, by Eric Scott Campbell (News and Tribune).A five-story hotel and adjacent convention center would sit atop a parking garage at Pearl and Main streets in New Albany in an area developer’s $20 million to $25 million plan for the second phase of Scribner Place.
When the two sincere and well-prepared ladies presenting this proposal began speaking to the council members, veterans in the crowd shuddered and scratched their heads: Hadn’t they been warned to wear flak jackets? 
Predictably conjoined councilmen Dan Coffey and his echo, Steve Price, duly clucked, wagged fingers and discoursed as to the impossibility of progress, with Coffey insisting that city government immediately pay to have an economic impact study completed for the proposed development.
NAC’s prediction: If and when the impact study is produced, Coffey will take the opportunity to lambaste it for wasting taxpayer monies, then join Price in voting against $6 million to leverage $20 million in investments.
In other words, anti-business as usual, and who suffers? Coffey's and Price's constituents, who in spite of Coffey's geograpical confusion later in the meeting, do tend to reside downtown.
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
What's it gonna be, CM Blevins?
As four cacophonous years have passed, with at-large councilman Donnie Blevins forever dangling in the legislative wind, unable to settle on a core set of beliefs that might assist him in sorting through the pressures that come with being recognized as the perpetual swing vote, I’ve nonetheless defended him more often than not – and emphasized with him almost always.
I’d sit out there in the gallery during those nights when Blevins would be forced to make a decision, and you could see the contradictory cartoon figures, an angel and a devil, one on each of the councilman’s shoulders, and watch him almost visibly buckle beneath the responsibility of casting his vote for the Gang of Four on one side or the mostly reasonable group on the other, and I always knew it couldn’t be easy for him.
There were times when it was hard to watch. Sometimes Blevins would muster heroic oratory during the course of seemingly "getting it," while other times, he'd arrive in the council chambers like a schoolboy who'd just been taken to the woodshed ... and with Dan Coffey's belt marks shadowing his face. We'd nod, and think yep -- this time the Gang got to him last, and he rolled over.
----
There is much about Monday’s last night’s city council meeting that deserves comment, and Bluegill is working on it, but before I retire for the night, something must be written – perhaps gently, perhaps still with much empathy on my part – about Blevins’s performance.
It was as bad a job of acting as I’ve witnessed in four years, and it bodes ill as we approach a period when the Gang of Four, itself about to be dissolved after the November elections, might still be able to kneecap the city for a generation to come.
The Gang's rancor is elevated, and it is increasingly rabid, and the Luddites on the council seemingly are ready to make the whole community pay for its own inability to comprehend a modern world that no longer will permit ward-heelers to conduct balloting in their garages, tell tremendous whopping lies without audience members calling them on it, or being able to avoid howling laughter when they cowardly abstain on crucial votes.
Two weeks ago, the council determined to form a committee, made up of the body’s three at-large councilmen, for the purpose of communicating with the plaintiffs in the redistricting lawsuit (the author is one of them) so as to avoid trial. The merits of this case have been discussed at some length here, but what is relevant at the moment is that the council approved this measure, after which the lame duck Blevins promptly let it be known that he had no interest in participating alongside fellow at-large councilmen Jack Messer and Kevin Zurschmiede.
Not unexpectedly, Blevins did not attend Monday’s 6:00 p.m. fact-finding hearing, which concluded shortly before 6:30 p.m., at which time four of us descended the steps in route to a quick dinner at the Speakeasy, only to find Blevins chatting with workers in one of the offices downstairs.
Hours later, at the conclusion of the regular meeting, and as CM Messer presented his committee’s report to the remainder of the council, Blevins – who confessed to having read only a small bit of the plaintiff’s document as discussed at the committee meeting – erupted in indignation at the suggestions presented by the plaintiffs during a gathering that Blevins scoffed at attending even though he was two floors down by the time it ended, and almost certainly was there before that.
As I said, I’ve defended Blevins before, but his ineffectual performance tonight revealed a odiferous and disingenuous hypocrisy that approaches the level of that practiced routinely by Larry Kochert and Dan Coffey. You've no idea how depressing this is for me, because I always have retained hope that Blevins would be able to move beyond it.
Blevins, after all, was named to the redistricting committee. Perhaps – just perhaps – he might accept the assignment with the seriousness it deserves rather than play the Gang of Four’s brinksmanship game without contemplating first that he is their most dispensable pawn.
That's because blatant political sociopaths like Dan Coffey are interested in congenitally indecisive people like Donnie Blevins for one reason, and one reason only, and it’s the same reason that Coffey’s second reading of an ordinance that seeks to cripple the city’s ability to lawfully assist economic development passed last night on the strength of Blevins’s veritable coin-flip of a swing vote: To keep the string of power wrapped tightly around Coffey’s own pudgy, bullying knuckle, and if Blevins thinks that after all of this is over that Coffey will be inviting him to the Wizard’s Westside dirt-floor hovel for ice-cold barbecued bologna on a stale shingle, then all my theories about the ability of humans to adapt for the best interest of their own survival can be thrown out the window.
Too bad, Donnie. You coulda been someone, really. You’ve shown those glimmers, and I know you’ve felt them, too. But when you let people like Larry Kochert and Dan Coffey twist your arm, and when you find out that they’re not really laughing with you … well, it’s just sad, and all you’ve accomplished is to keep quite a few people poor, ignorant and without hope of redemption -- and I know that really isn't your intent.
Dan Coffey cares neither about you nor about them. He must perpetuate the civic rot in order to have people like you – and people like them – looking toward him as the instrument of their salvation. They're bound to be disappointed. So are you, Donnie.
Sorry, but someone had to say it. I understand that you believe in a higher power, and I'll readily confess that I don't, but I just wish there were some way that I could make you see the power that this city ideally possesses if the doers and the capable can shake free of the shackles imposed on them by the likes of Coffey and Steve Price.
Donnie, they're not helping people to become free. They're ensuring failure by promising gullible, desperate people that the hands of time can somehow be frozen. It's only an illusion, and at times, you've seemed to grasp that, although you've not been able to shake it for long enough to offer hope of a positive legacy. Right now, your legacy is mixed. There are five meetings left, and your term will then be over. However, you're lucky, because time remains for you to be a part of the solution and not the problem.
And I mean that sincerely. Perhaps Dan Coffey will print this off for you to read. He doesn't follow the blogs, you know. But he detests us just the same, and you -- Donnie Blevins -- know that he's wrong in feeling that way.
The question, then: What do you intend to do about it?
I’d sit out there in the gallery during those nights when Blevins would be forced to make a decision, and you could see the contradictory cartoon figures, an angel and a devil, one on each of the councilman’s shoulders, and watch him almost visibly buckle beneath the responsibility of casting his vote for the Gang of Four on one side or the mostly reasonable group on the other, and I always knew it couldn’t be easy for him.
There were times when it was hard to watch. Sometimes Blevins would muster heroic oratory during the course of seemingly "getting it," while other times, he'd arrive in the council chambers like a schoolboy who'd just been taken to the woodshed ... and with Dan Coffey's belt marks shadowing his face. We'd nod, and think yep -- this time the Gang got to him last, and he rolled over.
----
There is much about Monday’s last night’s city council meeting that deserves comment, and Bluegill is working on it, but before I retire for the night, something must be written – perhaps gently, perhaps still with much empathy on my part – about Blevins’s performance.
It was as bad a job of acting as I’ve witnessed in four years, and it bodes ill as we approach a period when the Gang of Four, itself about to be dissolved after the November elections, might still be able to kneecap the city for a generation to come.
The Gang's rancor is elevated, and it is increasingly rabid, and the Luddites on the council seemingly are ready to make the whole community pay for its own inability to comprehend a modern world that no longer will permit ward-heelers to conduct balloting in their garages, tell tremendous whopping lies without audience members calling them on it, or being able to avoid howling laughter when they cowardly abstain on crucial votes.
Two weeks ago, the council determined to form a committee, made up of the body’s three at-large councilmen, for the purpose of communicating with the plaintiffs in the redistricting lawsuit (the author is one of them) so as to avoid trial. The merits of this case have been discussed at some length here, but what is relevant at the moment is that the council approved this measure, after which the lame duck Blevins promptly let it be known that he had no interest in participating alongside fellow at-large councilmen Jack Messer and Kevin Zurschmiede.
Not unexpectedly, Blevins did not attend Monday’s 6:00 p.m. fact-finding hearing, which concluded shortly before 6:30 p.m., at which time four of us descended the steps in route to a quick dinner at the Speakeasy, only to find Blevins chatting with workers in one of the offices downstairs.
Hours later, at the conclusion of the regular meeting, and as CM Messer presented his committee’s report to the remainder of the council, Blevins – who confessed to having read only a small bit of the plaintiff’s document as discussed at the committee meeting – erupted in indignation at the suggestions presented by the plaintiffs during a gathering that Blevins scoffed at attending even though he was two floors down by the time it ended, and almost certainly was there before that.
As I said, I’ve defended Blevins before, but his ineffectual performance tonight revealed a odiferous and disingenuous hypocrisy that approaches the level of that practiced routinely by Larry Kochert and Dan Coffey. You've no idea how depressing this is for me, because I always have retained hope that Blevins would be able to move beyond it.
Blevins, after all, was named to the redistricting committee. Perhaps – just perhaps – he might accept the assignment with the seriousness it deserves rather than play the Gang of Four’s brinksmanship game without contemplating first that he is their most dispensable pawn.
That's because blatant political sociopaths like Dan Coffey are interested in congenitally indecisive people like Donnie Blevins for one reason, and one reason only, and it’s the same reason that Coffey’s second reading of an ordinance that seeks to cripple the city’s ability to lawfully assist economic development passed last night on the strength of Blevins’s veritable coin-flip of a swing vote: To keep the string of power wrapped tightly around Coffey’s own pudgy, bullying knuckle, and if Blevins thinks that after all of this is over that Coffey will be inviting him to the Wizard’s Westside dirt-floor hovel for ice-cold barbecued bologna on a stale shingle, then all my theories about the ability of humans to adapt for the best interest of their own survival can be thrown out the window.
Too bad, Donnie. You coulda been someone, really. You’ve shown those glimmers, and I know you’ve felt them, too. But when you let people like Larry Kochert and Dan Coffey twist your arm, and when you find out that they’re not really laughing with you … well, it’s just sad, and all you’ve accomplished is to keep quite a few people poor, ignorant and without hope of redemption -- and I know that really isn't your intent.
Dan Coffey cares neither about you nor about them. He must perpetuate the civic rot in order to have people like you – and people like them – looking toward him as the instrument of their salvation. They're bound to be disappointed. So are you, Donnie.
Sorry, but someone had to say it. I understand that you believe in a higher power, and I'll readily confess that I don't, but I just wish there were some way that I could make you see the power that this city ideally possesses if the doers and the capable can shake free of the shackles imposed on them by the likes of Coffey and Steve Price.
Donnie, they're not helping people to become free. They're ensuring failure by promising gullible, desperate people that the hands of time can somehow be frozen. It's only an illusion, and at times, you've seemed to grasp that, although you've not been able to shake it for long enough to offer hope of a positive legacy. Right now, your legacy is mixed. There are five meetings left, and your term will then be over. However, you're lucky, because time remains for you to be a part of the solution and not the problem.
And I mean that sincerely. Perhaps Dan Coffey will print this off for you to read. He doesn't follow the blogs, you know. But he detests us just the same, and you -- Donnie Blevins -- know that he's wrong in feeling that way.
The question, then: What do you intend to do about it?
Monday, October 01, 2007
Rewriting history: It's "them people," not the Devil, that makes Coffey do it.
In the following passage, which I've edited from two e-mails this morning, NAC's Bluegill clearly explains this evening's proposed council chicanery. The text of 1st district councilman Dan Coffey's parking garage/TIF ordinance appears afterward. See also our earlier posting today: City Council love-fest 2-nite: And the magic number is six.
----
Dan Coffey is trying to rewrite history.
CM Coffey's ordinance seeks to force the use of over 3 million downtown TIF dollars to repay EDIT funds used on the State Street Parking garage.
The city originally set it up so that bond payments for the State Street garage, which is now paid off in full, were funded 2/3 by EDIT funds and 1/3 by TIF funds. Because a small portion of extra EDIT dollars was used during the life of the bond to make up a TIF shortfall, Coffey is now trying to claim that TIF has to repay the entire amount of EDIT dollars used on the project, which is not only incorrect based on the original agreement but also probably illegal as state law mandates that TIF funds can only be used on infrastructure improvements.
If this passes, all downtown TIF funds collected will be used towards repaying EDIT funds from the old project rather than on continued infrastructure improvements like the new parking garage. Since Coffey is insisting that *all* downtown TIF funds go towards his faulty repayment scheme, the city wouldn't be able to do any TIF financing downtown for years.
Again, it was understood at the time of bond issuance that TIF would not be enough to cover the bond payment and that a majority of the bond payment would come from EDIT. It was purposely and knowingly set up and voted on that way.
To repeat: Coffey is trying to rewrite history.
----
Dan Coffey is trying to rewrite history.
CM Coffey's ordinance seeks to force the use of over 3 million downtown TIF dollars to repay EDIT funds used on the State Street Parking garage.
The city originally set it up so that bond payments for the State Street garage, which is now paid off in full, were funded 2/3 by EDIT funds and 1/3 by TIF funds. Because a small portion of extra EDIT dollars was used during the life of the bond to make up a TIF shortfall, Coffey is now trying to claim that TIF has to repay the entire amount of EDIT dollars used on the project, which is not only incorrect based on the original agreement but also probably illegal as state law mandates that TIF funds can only be used on infrastructure improvements.
If this passes, all downtown TIF funds collected will be used towards repaying EDIT funds from the old project rather than on continued infrastructure improvements like the new parking garage. Since Coffey is insisting that *all* downtown TIF funds go towards his faulty repayment scheme, the city wouldn't be able to do any TIF financing downtown for years.
Again, it was understood at the time of bond issuance that TIF would not be enough to cover the bond payment and that a majority of the bond payment would come from EDIT. It was purposely and knowingly set up and voted on that way.
To repeat: Coffey is trying to rewrite history.
City Council love-fest 2-nite: And the magic number is six.
First, the good news: Any combination of city council meetings remaining in the year 2007 that total six, and the Gang of Four is reduced to the Dunderhead Duo at the stroke of midnight on December 31, when progressives will take to the streets and cheap champagne will be flowing by virtue of Larry Kochert’s voluntary step down, and Bill Schmidt’s rejection by the voters back in May.
Then again, by then, their replacements might include superannuated relics like James Hollis. But that’s okay. (Most of) our collective hair is sure to grow back even after pulling out by the roots.
In the interim, much havoc remains for wreaking by the bile-infused Neanderthal bloc, beginning tonight, when the spotlight shifts away from redistricting (I might buy myself a mohair suit for the approaching court date) and comes to rest squarely on the latest exciting plan to revitalize downtown, one to be submitted by investors this evening, and one, of course, that is certain to be opposed by the very councilmen representing the areas that stand to benefit the most from it.
Whih, in a nutshell, is New Albanian socio-cultural dysfunction at its very finest.
Previously at NAC: Luddite obstructionists mobilize to fight parking garages -- the latest atheist Commie threat.
Given the intimate link between rental properties and "Re-elect Steve Price to City Council" yard signs, perhaps the best way for the city to approach the new parking garage would be to pretend it is a massive slumlord empowerment property.
Predictably, at the Gang of Four’s semi-official news agency (Six Flags over Screechia), the professorial-pretend duo of Dork and Mindy are having a cow over the looming prospect of downtown infrastructure improvements.
Taxpayers -- we are being screwed by the parking garage project and the request to spend millions of dollars to build another downtown parking garage.
Sadly, half of Freedom of Speech’s "brain" trust knows better, but prefers fomenting self-serving chicanery to putting the muzzle on her decidedly junior partner in trognonymous slime.
Meanwhile, I had breakfast this morning with another of NAC’s friendly confidants, D.T. Redux, and here are excerpts from his comments, as recorded with my favorite Sharpie on a bacon-grease-stained napkin:
The bond issue for the downtown parking garage was always intended to be paid for by a combination of TIF funds and economic development taxes. All the parties to the building and financing of the project decided that it was important to economic development and all understood that the incremental taxes gained could not and would not be sufficient to pay off the bond.
About 2/3 of the annual debt service was always intended to be paid from EDIT tax funds (that's why they called it "economic development). That would be about $400K per year. New taxes generated by the infrastructure improvement were to have paid about $200K. When TIF revenues came up short and late, the debt service still had to be paid. So, the redevelopment commission gained approval from all concerned to use EDIT to make up the shortfall.
Now Mr. Coffey and Erika are pretending to believe (or, delusion being a New Albanian birth right, perhaps they really do believe) that all of the EDIT funds dedicated to retire the bonded indebtedness were somehow a robbery from the taxpayers that must be made good.
First of all, EDIT taxes were until a couple of summers ago restricted to use for economic development projects, which the garage surely was. Second, anyone who opposed the use of EDIT funds to service the garage debt was either silent or could not garner the votes to stop it.
Accordingly, any effort to reclaim every penny of EDIT taxes used for garage debt service is an attempt to cheat the system, to declare a do-over, to repeal the acts of previous administrations and councils who lawfully chose to use those funds as they determined. The only EDIT funds even remotely subject to any "promise" to repay were those used to round out the TIF shortfall. There's no way that the $400K expended each year should even be part of a conversation in this council.
The ordinance and resolution before the city council, however, seeks to reclaim every penny of EDIT money spent to build and pay for the garage. It does not limit itself to recouping the shortfall that EDIT covered, but asks that TIF become a new "riverboat" fund instead of the means to improve and provide incentives for downtown revitalization through infrastructure improvements.
To say that the TIF "owes" $3.6 million to EDIT is grossly inaccurate. Aren’t we all tired of listening to certain members of council denigrating all economic development while trying to fool people into believing every TIF and every incentive is a conspiracy to rob the taxpayers? In fact, a TIF is exactly the opposite of what Mr. Coffey and his allies would have us believe.
What did I do with that damned flower pot?
Then again, by then, their replacements might include superannuated relics like James Hollis. But that’s okay. (Most of) our collective hair is sure to grow back even after pulling out by the roots.
In the interim, much havoc remains for wreaking by the bile-infused Neanderthal bloc, beginning tonight, when the spotlight shifts away from redistricting (I might buy myself a mohair suit for the approaching court date) and comes to rest squarely on the latest exciting plan to revitalize downtown, one to be submitted by investors this evening, and one, of course, that is certain to be opposed by the very councilmen representing the areas that stand to benefit the most from it.
Whih, in a nutshell, is New Albanian socio-cultural dysfunction at its very finest.
Previously at NAC: Luddite obstructionists mobilize to fight parking garages -- the latest atheist Commie threat.
Given the intimate link between rental properties and "Re-elect Steve Price to City Council" yard signs, perhaps the best way for the city to approach the new parking garage would be to pretend it is a massive slumlord empowerment property.
Predictably, at the Gang of Four’s semi-official news agency (Six Flags over Screechia), the professorial-pretend duo of Dork and Mindy are having a cow over the looming prospect of downtown infrastructure improvements.
Taxpayers -- we are being screwed by the parking garage project and the request to spend millions of dollars to build another downtown parking garage.
Sadly, half of Freedom of Speech’s "brain" trust knows better, but prefers fomenting self-serving chicanery to putting the muzzle on her decidedly junior partner in trognonymous slime.
Meanwhile, I had breakfast this morning with another of NAC’s friendly confidants, D.T. Redux, and here are excerpts from his comments, as recorded with my favorite Sharpie on a bacon-grease-stained napkin:
The bond issue for the downtown parking garage was always intended to be paid for by a combination of TIF funds and economic development taxes. All the parties to the building and financing of the project decided that it was important to economic development and all understood that the incremental taxes gained could not and would not be sufficient to pay off the bond.
About 2/3 of the annual debt service was always intended to be paid from EDIT tax funds (that's why they called it "economic development). That would be about $400K per year. New taxes generated by the infrastructure improvement were to have paid about $200K. When TIF revenues came up short and late, the debt service still had to be paid. So, the redevelopment commission gained approval from all concerned to use EDIT to make up the shortfall.
Now Mr. Coffey and Erika are pretending to believe (or, delusion being a New Albanian birth right, perhaps they really do believe) that all of the EDIT funds dedicated to retire the bonded indebtedness were somehow a robbery from the taxpayers that must be made good.
First of all, EDIT taxes were until a couple of summers ago restricted to use for economic development projects, which the garage surely was. Second, anyone who opposed the use of EDIT funds to service the garage debt was either silent or could not garner the votes to stop it.
Accordingly, any effort to reclaim every penny of EDIT taxes used for garage debt service is an attempt to cheat the system, to declare a do-over, to repeal the acts of previous administrations and councils who lawfully chose to use those funds as they determined. The only EDIT funds even remotely subject to any "promise" to repay were those used to round out the TIF shortfall. There's no way that the $400K expended each year should even be part of a conversation in this council.
The ordinance and resolution before the city council, however, seeks to reclaim every penny of EDIT money spent to build and pay for the garage. It does not limit itself to recouping the shortfall that EDIT covered, but asks that TIF become a new "riverboat" fund instead of the means to improve and provide incentives for downtown revitalization through infrastructure improvements.
To say that the TIF "owes" $3.6 million to EDIT is grossly inaccurate. Aren’t we all tired of listening to certain members of council denigrating all economic development while trying to fool people into believing every TIF and every incentive is a conspiracy to rob the taxpayers? In fact, a TIF is exactly the opposite of what Mr. Coffey and his allies would have us believe.
What did I do with that damned flower pot?
Sunday, September 30, 2007
The Jeeebus link.
Jeeebus - that's with three E's
The statue itself is located between Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio.
I haven't laughed this hard in a long, long while.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
In a manner of speaking ... from the front porch ... next Saturday.
Yes, it's that time again.
In the fall of 2006, we removed the ancient draft beer box beneath the bar at the Public House and installed a new one.
The old one, which had been in place since 1992, was still functional, but because of corrosion and leakage, it became impossible to use indoors. Our worker at the time built two sets of casters and rolled it out the back door, where it remained parked, fully exposed to the weather and scrap metal thieves, throughout the winter and into 2007.
That is, until a month ago, when I paid my itinerant handyman an unspecified sum to move the keg box to my garage for the ostensible aim of rehabbing it in preparation for the annual NA Confidential Harvest Homecoming Parade Party at my home.
Life promptly intruded, and just yesterday I finally remembered to plug in the venerable appliance and see if it actually still worked. I’m delighted to report that she’s cooling as I write. All that's needed is a good scrubbing.
And so …
Saturday, October 6 is the date for this year’s HHPP at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Confidential. If you know us well enough to know where we live, and if you’re not embarrassed at the prospect of being spotted drinking beer on the porch with me, you’re a default invitee.
Festivities will start circa 10:00 a.m. with the institution of cigars, White Castles (jalapeno cheese) and espresso as we watch the city workers prepare the parade route. The taps will be open during this time, as it is well known that somewhere in the world, it’s after 12 noon.
This year’s draft beer selection will be NABC Bob’s Old 15-B (porter); Bluegrass Brewing Company (Main & Clay) Oktoberfest, and our traditional Poperings Hommel Ale from Belgium. A fourth surprise may be on tap if it arrives in time.
Please bring a beer snack. There will be a main course of yet to be determined food, likely a pot of vegetarian chili, and day-long grazing. Anything that goes well with beer is eligible.
If you’re in the parade itself, stop by for adult refreshments afterward. There’ll be bottles of Sprecher sodas for non-alcoholic thirst quenching.
As a final note, please contribute your suggestion for the wording on our banner this year.
The best suggestion yet was inspired by last year’s plan (sadly, we didn’t follow through) to actually have a “stealth” float in the parade, seemingly innocuous, but at the last moment (a la “Animal House”) to reveal that we’ve all dressed in women’s clothes, with the theme being: “NA Confidential: DRAGGING New Albany into the 21st century.”
Ah … what might have been … but perhaps a banner denouncing our do-nothing councilman would be enough. Let me know.
And, come by for a beer next Saturday.
Here is the coverage from last year: Time for just one more -- beer, not parade float.
In the fall of 2006, we removed the ancient draft beer box beneath the bar at the Public House and installed a new one.
The old one, which had been in place since 1992, was still functional, but because of corrosion and leakage, it became impossible to use indoors. Our worker at the time built two sets of casters and rolled it out the back door, where it remained parked, fully exposed to the weather and scrap metal thieves, throughout the winter and into 2007.
That is, until a month ago, when I paid my itinerant handyman an unspecified sum to move the keg box to my garage for the ostensible aim of rehabbing it in preparation for the annual NA Confidential Harvest Homecoming Parade Party at my home.
Life promptly intruded, and just yesterday I finally remembered to plug in the venerable appliance and see if it actually still worked. I’m delighted to report that she’s cooling as I write. All that's needed is a good scrubbing.
And so …
Saturday, October 6 is the date for this year’s HHPP at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Confidential. If you know us well enough to know where we live, and if you’re not embarrassed at the prospect of being spotted drinking beer on the porch with me, you’re a default invitee.
Festivities will start circa 10:00 a.m. with the institution of cigars, White Castles (jalapeno cheese) and espresso as we watch the city workers prepare the parade route. The taps will be open during this time, as it is well known that somewhere in the world, it’s after 12 noon.
This year’s draft beer selection will be NABC Bob’s Old 15-B (porter); Bluegrass Brewing Company (Main & Clay) Oktoberfest, and our traditional Poperings Hommel Ale from Belgium. A fourth surprise may be on tap if it arrives in time.
Please bring a beer snack. There will be a main course of yet to be determined food, likely a pot of vegetarian chili, and day-long grazing. Anything that goes well with beer is eligible.
If you’re in the parade itself, stop by for adult refreshments afterward. There’ll be bottles of Sprecher sodas for non-alcoholic thirst quenching.
As a final note, please contribute your suggestion for the wording on our banner this year.
The best suggestion yet was inspired by last year’s plan (sadly, we didn’t follow through) to actually have a “stealth” float in the parade, seemingly innocuous, but at the last moment (a la “Animal House”) to reveal that we’ve all dressed in women’s clothes, with the theme being: “NA Confidential: DRAGGING New Albany into the 21st century.”
Ah … what might have been … but perhaps a banner denouncing our do-nothing councilman would be enough. Let me know.
And, come by for a beer next Saturday.
Here is the coverage from last year: Time for just one more -- beer, not parade float.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Luddite obstructionists mobilize to fight parking garages -- the latest atheist Commie threat.
Proposal: New Albany builds garage, developer builds on top, by Eric Scott Campbell (News and Tribune).
A local group wants to build a second component to downtown New Albany’s public Scribner Place development, city administration officials say.
A proposed deal would see the city build a parking garage immediately east of the under-construction YMCA and aquatic center. The private developer would then build a structure atop the garage, obtaining a unique view of the Ohio River.
At the most recent city council meeting, as Dan Coffey and Bill Schmidt outlined their newest old plans for an obstructionist jihad against the 21st century, in this particular instance by renewing the battle against the parking garage that's already been built, Mayor James Garner requested (and in a quite effective deadpan, no less) that the council wait to do so until it hears the proposal outlined by the Tribune's Campbell in the article above.
However, by the informal Gang of Four protocol specifying that the council's lead opposition to progress come from within the council district "threatened" with progress, the logical candidate to lead the Luddite battle against this latest perfectly sensible proposal isn't Coffey, but fellow conjoined councilman Steve Price. The location of the new garage would be just east of Scribner Place (itself located in Coffey's 1st district), which should place it within Price's long-suffering 3rd.
Given the intimate link between rental properties and "Re-elect Steve Price to City Council" yard signs, perhaps the best way for the city to approach the new parking garage would be to pretend it is a massive slumlord empowerment property. Dave Thrasher's art students could disguise the architect's drawings by adding cheap vinyl siding, porch appliances and nice, homey touches like virtual graffiti (for example, numerous "Property tax crisis" slogans) to the cement. Instead of the formless metrosexual people that typically populate such renderings, there could be shirtless meth users with pants around the ankles, unsupervised children in the streets, and unregulated boom cars running them down.
One can only imagine the pride swelling Price's chest as he votes in favor or assisting the constituency that benefits most from his, er, stewardship.
Once approved, the project can be changed back to its original form and the city of the future, as opposed to the past, can reap the benefits. Yes, the Gang of Two will spend the next four years bitching and moaning, but that's okay. They would, anyway, and we'd have another piece of the downtown revitalization puzzle in place.
Get 'em started, Dave. And make it comfy, will ya?
A local group wants to build a second component to downtown New Albany’s public Scribner Place development, city administration officials say.
A proposed deal would see the city build a parking garage immediately east of the under-construction YMCA and aquatic center. The private developer would then build a structure atop the garage, obtaining a unique view of the Ohio River.
At the most recent city council meeting, as Dan Coffey and Bill Schmidt outlined their newest old plans for an obstructionist jihad against the 21st century, in this particular instance by renewing the battle against the parking garage that's already been built, Mayor James Garner requested (and in a quite effective deadpan, no less) that the council wait to do so until it hears the proposal outlined by the Tribune's Campbell in the article above.
However, by the informal Gang of Four protocol specifying that the council's lead opposition to progress come from within the council district "threatened" with progress, the logical candidate to lead the Luddite battle against this latest perfectly sensible proposal isn't Coffey, but fellow conjoined councilman Steve Price. The location of the new garage would be just east of Scribner Place (itself located in Coffey's 1st district), which should place it within Price's long-suffering 3rd.
Given the intimate link between rental properties and "Re-elect Steve Price to City Council" yard signs, perhaps the best way for the city to approach the new parking garage would be to pretend it is a massive slumlord empowerment property. Dave Thrasher's art students could disguise the architect's drawings by adding cheap vinyl siding, porch appliances and nice, homey touches like virtual graffiti (for example, numerous "Property tax crisis" slogans) to the cement. Instead of the formless metrosexual people that typically populate such renderings, there could be shirtless meth users with pants around the ankles, unsupervised children in the streets, and unregulated boom cars running them down.
One can only imagine the pride swelling Price's chest as he votes in favor or assisting the constituency that benefits most from his, er, stewardship.
Once approved, the project can be changed back to its original form and the city of the future, as opposed to the past, can reap the benefits. Yes, the Gang of Two will spend the next four years bitching and moaning, but that's okay. They would, anyway, and we'd have another piece of the downtown revitalization puzzle in place.
Get 'em started, Dave. And make it comfy, will ya?
Thursday, September 27, 2007
GOP’s six-week saturation sliming of Doug England begins – and yes, NAC told you so.
I was elected the Floyd County Republican Party Chairman back in March. One of my top priorities was the upcoming New Albany mayor and city council races.
--David L. Matthews, chairman of the Floyd County Republican Party
That’s six long months for the Republican chairman to formulate a platform plank – any platform plank will do, thanks – that pertains to the city of New Albany in this day and time.
Instead, from the relative solitude of his suburban Greenville command bunker, Matthews has leaped into the New Albany mayoral fray by unleashing the first salvo of his party’s forthcoming negative campaign against Democrat Doug England, with the intended beneficiary being Republican candidate Randy “Silence Is Golden, Golden” Hubbard.
But with yesterday's letter to the editor of the Tribune, Matthews uncannily (and surely unintentionally) corroborated something I wrote in this space just two weeks ago:
It’s beyond debate: Hubbard “tete-a-tete” avoidance mode noted by city residents, Tribune columnist, the Who’s Tommy, and man in moon.
In this continually widening Republican void, where platform planks and ideas go to die, I’m left to surmise that Hubbard’s “duck ‘n’ cover” defensive posture circa the Labor Day opening political campaign weekend is merely a tactical prelude to calculated fireworks later in the autumn. It’s just about the only thing that makes sense at this point.
My best guess would be an 11th hour outburst of negative campaigning in October, with the saintly Hubbard himself deigning to remain “above” the muddy fray while local confederates do the dirty work of contrasting Hubbard’s purportedly impeccable law enforcement credentials with patronage abuse questions that linger in the public consciousness from England’s two previous terms as mayor.
Such a late attack strategy would at least explain Hubbard’s odd reticence as England has aggressively lapped the somnolent ex-sheriff early in the contest, and twice opening bloody cuts: First, with the Democratic candidate’s city hall relocation press conference and Hubbard’s subsequent conceptual disorientation, and second, in the aftermath of the GOP candidate’s inexplicable debate withdrawal …
It is highly flattered to have been proven absolutely correct, even if I erred slightly in thinking that the Republicans might wait until October to begin dropping napalm.
Silly me, although when you have a dog that won’t hunt, perhaps it’s best to periodically squeeze off a few noisy rounds to make the folks back home think they might be having meat for dinner instead of the same tired soup bone.
If only the voters in New Albany might be gifted with red meat from the Republican party.
Of course, it cannot be denied that Doug England carries baggage from previous administrations, and by the terms of political engagement, it’s certainly not unfair for the GOP to play dirty and to go negative, even this early in the contest.
It's just that for once we'd love to see these terms of engagement altered to reflect the power of ideas rather than the soiling capacity of spitballs.
Given that Hubbard has failed to articulate any platform planks of substance … given that he refuses to debate England one on one and ask questions of England himself rather than permit Matthews to carry his lunch pail … given that neither Hubbard nor his party chairman have shown any willingness or ability to address New Albany’s big ticket urban issues at this decisive time, we must regard Matthew’s swift boat pyrotechnics as strictly diversionary in nature, and we’ll continue to do so until Hubbard shows signs of a pulse.
Whether NAC’s opinion matters of not (hold your catcalls, Troglodyte Nation), we’ve spent much of the past three years bemoaning the lack of substantive dialogue on pressing local issues, and positing that we stand at a particularly important juncture with respect to the city’s future viability.
Meanwhile, Matthews can do no better than deploy a Republican Youth League operative’s second-hand smirk to mock England’s willingness to discuss issues on any street corner, and before any size crowd, even as Hubbard’s catatonic silence threatens more of the same cautious, caretaking “conservatism” that has managed to “conserve” only those numerous bad political and governmental habits that have led to regress in the first place.
And, without a debate. How short-sighted (read: arrogant) is that?
England has made one thing perfectly clear, and arguably, it is the most important point that any candidate for public office in New Albany needs to make in 2007: Doing nothing is not an option at this point in the city’s history.
The sooner Matthews, Hubbard and the GOP grasp this self-evident wisdom -- shall we accompany the GOP brain trust on a walking tour of the historic city core to promote much needed consciousness-raising? -- the sooner a genuine debate can be joined and a legitimate alternative offered.
With the mud already flying, there seems depressingly little hope for optimism … but somewhere, at least, Karl Rove is smiling.
--David L. Matthews, chairman of the Floyd County Republican Party
That’s six long months for the Republican chairman to formulate a platform plank – any platform plank will do, thanks – that pertains to the city of New Albany in this day and time.
Instead, from the relative solitude of his suburban Greenville command bunker, Matthews has leaped into the New Albany mayoral fray by unleashing the first salvo of his party’s forthcoming negative campaign against Democrat Doug England, with the intended beneficiary being Republican candidate Randy “Silence Is Golden, Golden” Hubbard.
But with yesterday's letter to the editor of the Tribune, Matthews uncannily (and surely unintentionally) corroborated something I wrote in this space just two weeks ago:
It’s beyond debate: Hubbard “tete-a-tete” avoidance mode noted by city residents, Tribune columnist, the Who’s Tommy, and man in moon.
In this continually widening Republican void, where platform planks and ideas go to die, I’m left to surmise that Hubbard’s “duck ‘n’ cover” defensive posture circa the Labor Day opening political campaign weekend is merely a tactical prelude to calculated fireworks later in the autumn. It’s just about the only thing that makes sense at this point.
My best guess would be an 11th hour outburst of negative campaigning in October, with the saintly Hubbard himself deigning to remain “above” the muddy fray while local confederates do the dirty work of contrasting Hubbard’s purportedly impeccable law enforcement credentials with patronage abuse questions that linger in the public consciousness from England’s two previous terms as mayor.
Such a late attack strategy would at least explain Hubbard’s odd reticence as England has aggressively lapped the somnolent ex-sheriff early in the contest, and twice opening bloody cuts: First, with the Democratic candidate’s city hall relocation press conference and Hubbard’s subsequent conceptual disorientation, and second, in the aftermath of the GOP candidate’s inexplicable debate withdrawal …
It is highly flattered to have been proven absolutely correct, even if I erred slightly in thinking that the Republicans might wait until October to begin dropping napalm.
Silly me, although when you have a dog that won’t hunt, perhaps it’s best to periodically squeeze off a few noisy rounds to make the folks back home think they might be having meat for dinner instead of the same tired soup bone.
If only the voters in New Albany might be gifted with red meat from the Republican party.
Of course, it cannot be denied that Doug England carries baggage from previous administrations, and by the terms of political engagement, it’s certainly not unfair for the GOP to play dirty and to go negative, even this early in the contest.
It's just that for once we'd love to see these terms of engagement altered to reflect the power of ideas rather than the soiling capacity of spitballs.
Given that Hubbard has failed to articulate any platform planks of substance … given that he refuses to debate England one on one and ask questions of England himself rather than permit Matthews to carry his lunch pail … given that neither Hubbard nor his party chairman have shown any willingness or ability to address New Albany’s big ticket urban issues at this decisive time, we must regard Matthew’s swift boat pyrotechnics as strictly diversionary in nature, and we’ll continue to do so until Hubbard shows signs of a pulse.
Whether NAC’s opinion matters of not (hold your catcalls, Troglodyte Nation), we’ve spent much of the past three years bemoaning the lack of substantive dialogue on pressing local issues, and positing that we stand at a particularly important juncture with respect to the city’s future viability.
Meanwhile, Matthews can do no better than deploy a Republican Youth League operative’s second-hand smirk to mock England’s willingness to discuss issues on any street corner, and before any size crowd, even as Hubbard’s catatonic silence threatens more of the same cautious, caretaking “conservatism” that has managed to “conserve” only those numerous bad political and governmental habits that have led to regress in the first place.
And, without a debate. How short-sighted (read: arrogant) is that?
England has made one thing perfectly clear, and arguably, it is the most important point that any candidate for public office in New Albany needs to make in 2007: Doing nothing is not an option at this point in the city’s history.
The sooner Matthews, Hubbard and the GOP grasp this self-evident wisdom -- shall we accompany the GOP brain trust on a walking tour of the historic city core to promote much needed consciousness-raising? -- the sooner a genuine debate can be joined and a legitimate alternative offered.
With the mud already flying, there seems depressingly little hope for optimism … but somewhere, at least, Karl Rove is smiling.
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
A submission to NAC: On the government we deserve.
The following is an unsolicited submission to the blog. Regular readers know that NAC’s general policy is to require disclosure, with exceptions sparingly permitted so long as the senior editor knows the identity of the contributor.
Such is the case today with this thought-provoking piece ... or, at least, close enough for rock and roll, by proxy.
Pop quiz essay question: How do the thoughts expressed below jibe with social devolution?
----
“Wannabes” - Getting It Backwards
“If you want change, then change your habits, beliefs and thinking; if you don’t want change, keep repeating what you already do.”
New Albany gets the government and services it deserves. It does so, because New Albanian’s don’t participate at the level they should.
New Albany is like a homeless person sitting on the street corner, unwashed, unemployed, while shaking a Styrofoam cup, looking for a handout - depending on others to do for them, while muttering “poor me“ over and over to themselves.
A thoughtful person - maybe even a blind person - should be able to see the obvious: New Albany is at a crossroads. But can its citizens figure that out? A community that expects its government to lead loses. Look at Gary, Indiana or any other down-at-the-heels community. When will locals take control of their present and future and stop expecting others to provide for them, lead them and take on tasks that should be partnerships between the citizenry, business community and the elected officials?
Larry Kochert calls unelected citizens concerned about their government “wannabe’s”. While this ludicrous, pithy and really stupid comment refers to the failure of the city council to perform its legally mandated responsibility, this ludicrous, pithy and really stupid remark goes further to reflect “public officials” attitudes toward citizen participation.
About two years ago citizen participation forced four idiots on the city council to vote in favor of a project they had spent months trying to kill. The idiots failed; but they wasted valuable time and made the town look like fools in the process. Now that project is being built at the end of State and Main streets.
New Albany’s elected “elite” believe that they alone have the right to define the direction of the city. Unfortunately many of its citizens seem to believe the same thing.
Talking with various people about what citizens can do this election year I keep hearing “Wait until the election is over, then we’ll know what the new mayor wants.” These citizens are concerned about the “new administration” taking ownership of any plans or programs that they may not control. Why give up the power the voters have – why not define the city YOU want, not what THEY choose.
This is an election year. This is EXACTLY the time these plans should be updated; this is EXACTLY the time for citizens to take control of their town and their future. They did it once with Scribner Place; they can do it again, and again, and again. Any actions SHOULD take place NOW - before the election. This would be considered an unstoppable citizens movement by the most intelligent elected official. And what elected official doesn’t follow the crowd?
It doesn’t matter if England or Hubbard is elected . . . That decision is up to the voting citizens of New Albany.
But stop letting the “elected elite” set the community agenda. This is the time – BEFORE the election - for those officials to be telling us exactly what they plan to do for the city - “for” not “to”.
But this is also the time for the citizens to be telling the candidates exactly what THEY expect of them once the election is over. Consider this a call to arms - a manifesto if you will - but a philosophy New Albany should adopt.
As long as the citizenry refuses to take responsibility for themselves and their community - others will do their thinking for them. And then you get the government you deserve.
Seize the day, the day is now.
Such is the case today with this thought-provoking piece ... or, at least, close enough for rock and roll, by proxy.
Pop quiz essay question: How do the thoughts expressed below jibe with social devolution?
----
“Wannabes” - Getting It Backwards
“If you want change, then change your habits, beliefs and thinking; if you don’t want change, keep repeating what you already do.”
New Albany gets the government and services it deserves. It does so, because New Albanian’s don’t participate at the level they should.
New Albany is like a homeless person sitting on the street corner, unwashed, unemployed, while shaking a Styrofoam cup, looking for a handout - depending on others to do for them, while muttering “poor me“ over and over to themselves.
A thoughtful person - maybe even a blind person - should be able to see the obvious: New Albany is at a crossroads. But can its citizens figure that out? A community that expects its government to lead loses. Look at Gary, Indiana or any other down-at-the-heels community. When will locals take control of their present and future and stop expecting others to provide for them, lead them and take on tasks that should be partnerships between the citizenry, business community and the elected officials?
Larry Kochert calls unelected citizens concerned about their government “wannabe’s”. While this ludicrous, pithy and really stupid comment refers to the failure of the city council to perform its legally mandated responsibility, this ludicrous, pithy and really stupid remark goes further to reflect “public officials” attitudes toward citizen participation.
About two years ago citizen participation forced four idiots on the city council to vote in favor of a project they had spent months trying to kill. The idiots failed; but they wasted valuable time and made the town look like fools in the process. Now that project is being built at the end of State and Main streets.
New Albany’s elected “elite” believe that they alone have the right to define the direction of the city. Unfortunately many of its citizens seem to believe the same thing.
Talking with various people about what citizens can do this election year I keep hearing “Wait until the election is over, then we’ll know what the new mayor wants.” These citizens are concerned about the “new administration” taking ownership of any plans or programs that they may not control. Why give up the power the voters have – why not define the city YOU want, not what THEY choose.
This is an election year. This is EXACTLY the time these plans should be updated; this is EXACTLY the time for citizens to take control of their town and their future. They did it once with Scribner Place; they can do it again, and again, and again. Any actions SHOULD take place NOW - before the election. This would be considered an unstoppable citizens movement by the most intelligent elected official. And what elected official doesn’t follow the crowd?
It doesn’t matter if England or Hubbard is elected . . . That decision is up to the voting citizens of New Albany.
But stop letting the “elected elite” set the community agenda. This is the time – BEFORE the election - for those officials to be telling us exactly what they plan to do for the city - “for” not “to”.
But this is also the time for the citizens to be telling the candidates exactly what THEY expect of them once the election is over. Consider this a call to arms - a manifesto if you will - but a philosophy New Albany should adopt.
As long as the citizenry refuses to take responsibility for themselves and their community - others will do their thinking for them. And then you get the government you deserve.
Seize the day, the day is now.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
In spite of the neglect of its owner, the Daisy Medical Supply building may survive.
NA Confidential has learned that the Daisy Medical Building at 117 E. Oak Street, which has been threatened with demolition owing to the partial collapse of building’s west side, may have been saved from the wrecker’s ball with the help of Develop New Albany.
We’re told that Tom Johnson, masonry restoration contractor and owner of Keystone Restorations, has completed a deal to purchase the building after Develop New Albany made a grant of $5,000 to help Johnson meet the asking price of the building’s owner, a Mr. Stewart, whose persistent and disgraceful neglect of the 1840’s railroad structure brought it to within weeks of being torn down by the city.
While it continues to strike NA Confidential as odd that people like this Stewart fellow should be rewarded with cash for what amounts to serial anti-social behavior against the city at large – the lash, public stocks or stringent financial penalties all seem more appropriate – it remains that an agreement to sell has been struck, an agreement in principle has been inked by both parties, and work apparently will soon begin on stabilization.
“This will be extremely dangerous and risky work that few would attempt,” said an insider, “but Tom has a remarkable track record and feels confident that he can accomplish it.”
We’re told that Tom Johnson, masonry restoration contractor and owner of Keystone Restorations, has completed a deal to purchase the building after Develop New Albany made a grant of $5,000 to help Johnson meet the asking price of the building’s owner, a Mr. Stewart, whose persistent and disgraceful neglect of the 1840’s railroad structure brought it to within weeks of being torn down by the city.
While it continues to strike NA Confidential as odd that people like this Stewart fellow should be rewarded with cash for what amounts to serial anti-social behavior against the city at large – the lash, public stocks or stringent financial penalties all seem more appropriate – it remains that an agreement to sell has been struck, an agreement in principle has been inked by both parties, and work apparently will soon begin on stabilization.
“This will be extremely dangerous and risky work that few would attempt,” said an insider, “but Tom has a remarkable track record and feels confident that he can accomplish it.”
Monday, September 24, 2007
Flash: "The Gary" in retreat mode over misplaced Vance/Depauw duplex stinker.
The neighbors held a well-attended organizational meeting on Sunday afternoon, and today they learned that the king of adaptive cornfield re-use, i.e., pavement farming, had made a tactical retreat.
Score One for the Good Guys (Kerberos' Korner blog):
In case you haven't heard, Gary McCartin has withdrawn his variance request ...
... While this round is over, I am leery as to what the future holds. In other words, I hope this is the last of it, but I would not be surprised if something new arises from this situation.
See: Why is “The Gary” proposing duplexes for a locale so far removed from the churches that (his) people want to attend?
Score One for the Good Guys (Kerberos' Korner blog):
In case you haven't heard, Gary McCartin has withdrawn his variance request ...
... While this round is over, I am leery as to what the future holds. In other words, I hope this is the last of it, but I would not be surprised if something new arises from this situation.
See: Why is “The Gary” proposing duplexes for a locale so far removed from the churches that (his) people want to attend?
Calendar check: Ayinger Oktober-Fest Beer Dinner on Monday, October 1.
Not that I needed a 96-degree day in late September to remind me, but a visit to the Bavarian village of Aying, nestled in the foothills of the Alps and only a 40-minute suburban rail trip south of Munich, is delightful any time of the year, and never more so than in autumn.
With the harvest winding down, there is ample leisure time to kick at Aying’s cobblestones amid rustling leaves and a slightly chilly breeze presaging the arrival of winter, before pausing to admire the charming silhouette of the onion-domed church in the square.
From that spot, it’s only a few yards to the Ayinger brewery’s prominent hostelry and blessed brewery tap for a half-liter of Oktober-Fest lager ... and if you’re as lucky as I was the last time we occupied a table there, you may find yourself devouring an elk steak from the presiding Inselkammer family’s private hunting preserve.
In fact, when I escorted a group to Aying in September of 2004, the Inselkammers personally greeted us upon our return from the late afternoon brewery tour and stayed close by until we were seated and enjoying the amazing dinner.
The brewery that occupies such an important place in this bucolic setting is thoroughly modern in terms of production technique and marketing savvy, and yet scrupulously traditional when it comes to the makeup of the beer in your glass. It’s a graceful balancing act that seems almost effortless in its efficiency.
However, make no mistake about it: It’s hard work, and the Inselkammers’ business model is just as impressive as its beer. The family has invested upward of 13 million Euros since the mid 1980’s, first constructing a new distribution and packaging center, then adding a state-of-the-art, extremely green, fully computerized brewery, and finally completely renovating their hotel and restaurant.
Ayinger’s beers, which still taste as though they were crafted by lederhosen-clad villagers in the Alps foothills, are aggressively exported around the world, and are routinely rated in the upper reaches whenever the Bavarian brewing art is quantified.
As such, they’re a perfect accompaniment to our forthcoming Ayinger Oktober-Fest beer dinner at Bistro New Albany, which will commence at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, October 1.
My enduring affection for Ayinger’s excellent line of Bavarian beers has prompted me to pair them with another authentic and stellar menu concocted by Chef Dave Clancy, owner of Bistro New Albany. There’ll be fewer (and less alcoholic) beers than offered during previous beer dinners, but larger portions, as befits generally lower alcohol contents and the expansiveness of traditional German drinking and dining.
Pray to your particular Gods for crisp fall weather and a chance to dine outdoors in the friendly confines of Bistro New Albany's patio.
Here is the menu and the pairings. The price per person (excluding tax and gratuity) is $45, which includes a complimentaryAyinger glass, 1/2 liter of Oktober-Fest, and 4 x 5-oz bottled beer samples. Contact Bistro New Albany at 812-949-5227 for reservations and further details.
-Opening toast/Brotzeit (beer snack)
Ayinger’s Oktober-Fest Marzen, a tawny golden/amber autumn seasonal lager, will be on tap throughout the evening, and we’ll begin the meal with an Oktoberfest toast in an Ayinger signature glass that is yours to keep.
-Gurkensalat (cucumber salad)
-Brau-Weisse … traditional unfiltered golden wheat ale
-Gulaschsuppe (goulash soup)
-Jahrhundert-Bier … golden “export” style lager
-Sauerbraten with Kartoffelpuffer (brined and roasted beef with potato cakes)
-Altbairisch Dunkel … “Old Bavarian” dark lager
-Schwarzwalderkirschtorte (black forest cake)
-Celebrator Doppelbock … rich, dark Double Bock
Photo credit: Ayinger's web site
With the harvest winding down, there is ample leisure time to kick at Aying’s cobblestones amid rustling leaves and a slightly chilly breeze presaging the arrival of winter, before pausing to admire the charming silhouette of the onion-domed church in the square.From that spot, it’s only a few yards to the Ayinger brewery’s prominent hostelry and blessed brewery tap for a half-liter of Oktober-Fest lager ... and if you’re as lucky as I was the last time we occupied a table there, you may find yourself devouring an elk steak from the presiding Inselkammer family’s private hunting preserve.
In fact, when I escorted a group to Aying in September of 2004, the Inselkammers personally greeted us upon our return from the late afternoon brewery tour and stayed close by until we were seated and enjoying the amazing dinner.
The brewery that occupies such an important place in this bucolic setting is thoroughly modern in terms of production technique and marketing savvy, and yet scrupulously traditional when it comes to the makeup of the beer in your glass. It’s a graceful balancing act that seems almost effortless in its efficiency.
However, make no mistake about it: It’s hard work, and the Inselkammers’ business model is just as impressive as its beer. The family has invested upward of 13 million Euros since the mid 1980’s, first constructing a new distribution and packaging center, then adding a state-of-the-art, extremely green, fully computerized brewery, and finally completely renovating their hotel and restaurant.
Ayinger’s beers, which still taste as though they were crafted by lederhosen-clad villagers in the Alps foothills, are aggressively exported around the world, and are routinely rated in the upper reaches whenever the Bavarian brewing art is quantified.
As such, they’re a perfect accompaniment to our forthcoming Ayinger Oktober-Fest beer dinner at Bistro New Albany, which will commence at 6:00 p.m. on Monday, October 1.
My enduring affection for Ayinger’s excellent line of Bavarian beers has prompted me to pair them with another authentic and stellar menu concocted by Chef Dave Clancy, owner of Bistro New Albany. There’ll be fewer (and less alcoholic) beers than offered during previous beer dinners, but larger portions, as befits generally lower alcohol contents and the expansiveness of traditional German drinking and dining.
Pray to your particular Gods for crisp fall weather and a chance to dine outdoors in the friendly confines of Bistro New Albany's patio.
Here is the menu and the pairings. The price per person (excluding tax and gratuity) is $45, which includes a complimentaryAyinger glass, 1/2 liter of Oktober-Fest, and 4 x 5-oz bottled beer samples. Contact Bistro New Albany at 812-949-5227 for reservations and further details.
-Opening toast/Brotzeit (beer snack)
Ayinger’s Oktober-Fest Marzen, a tawny golden/amber autumn seasonal lager, will be on tap throughout the evening, and we’ll begin the meal with an Oktoberfest toast in an Ayinger signature glass that is yours to keep.
-Gurkensalat (cucumber salad)
-Brau-Weisse … traditional unfiltered golden wheat ale
-Gulaschsuppe (goulash soup)
-Jahrhundert-Bier … golden “export” style lager
-Sauerbraten with Kartoffelpuffer (brined and roasted beef with potato cakes)
-Altbairisch Dunkel … “Old Bavarian” dark lager
-Schwarzwalderkirschtorte (black forest cake)
-Celebrator Doppelbock … rich, dark Double Bock
Photo credit: Ayinger's web site
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Vicki Ann Denschak fails spelling, math … but since it isn’t about truth, that’s okay, right?
Today the trognonymous Denschak Duo asks:
TELL US WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PURPOSAL?
First, it’s spelled wrong: P-R-O-P-O-S-A-L, girls.
As for the numbers, which have been generated by unelected “wannabes” outside the council chamber, seemingly contradicting President Kochert’s flatulent insistence that the council itself is capable of resolving the issue without anyone’s help (except Anna’s, we presume), here is what is wrong with the numbers.
The difference between the most and least numerous is almost 600, while a truly fair redistricting would constitute a swing of no more than 100 residents between districts. With 6404 as the normative district population (2000 census figures), that would mean that a "fair" redistricting would mean the largest district would be no larger than 6454 people and the smallest would be no more than 6354 people.
There is no question that this can be accomplished. The "will" to accomplish it is another matter.
The legal principle involved is not dependent on the number of neighborhood associations represented in the mawsuit, or on the total number of plaintiffs, or won which of them serves on a board, or is running for office, or, for that matter, anything else. The lawsuit has to do with a legal principle, and this legal principle -- one man, one vote --evidently has proven inconvenient to some in New Albany who are unaccustomed to life in a democracy. That's too bad, but it doesn't change the legal principle.
The fact remains: The council serially botched its statutory duty to redistrict, and prior to last Thursday, seemed intent on botching its belated effort to make amends. In short, the council must do it, and do it correctly; so says the law, and so say the Feds. It is hoped the latter process of correction will soon begin in earnest, not in craven deference to the wishes of the radical obstructionist cabal whose sole interest is political self-perpetuation.
It’s as simple as that.
Now, back to the morning coffee.
(thanks RS)
TELL US WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PURPOSAL?
First, it’s spelled wrong: P-R-O-P-O-S-A-L, girls.
As for the numbers, which have been generated by unelected “wannabes” outside the council chamber, seemingly contradicting President Kochert’s flatulent insistence that the council itself is capable of resolving the issue without anyone’s help (except Anna’s, we presume), here is what is wrong with the numbers.
The difference between the most and least numerous is almost 600, while a truly fair redistricting would constitute a swing of no more than 100 residents between districts. With 6404 as the normative district population (2000 census figures), that would mean that a "fair" redistricting would mean the largest district would be no larger than 6454 people and the smallest would be no more than 6354 people.
There is no question that this can be accomplished. The "will" to accomplish it is another matter.
The legal principle involved is not dependent on the number of neighborhood associations represented in the mawsuit, or on the total number of plaintiffs, or won which of them serves on a board, or is running for office, or, for that matter, anything else. The lawsuit has to do with a legal principle, and this legal principle -- one man, one vote --evidently has proven inconvenient to some in New Albany who are unaccustomed to life in a democracy. That's too bad, but it doesn't change the legal principle.
The fact remains: The council serially botched its statutory duty to redistrict, and prior to last Thursday, seemed intent on botching its belated effort to make amends. In short, the council must do it, and do it correctly; so says the law, and so say the Feds. It is hoped the latter process of correction will soon begin in earnest, not in craven deference to the wishes of the radical obstructionist cabal whose sole interest is political self-perpetuation.
It’s as simple as that.
Now, back to the morning coffee.
(thanks RS)
VICKI ANN DENSCHAK’S AGENDA IS ~ AUTO-EROTIC FALLACIOUSNESS?
And what makes it even funnier is that the conjoined and trognonymous character assassins evacuated Thursday’s council meeting long before the final tumultuous act, having apparently taken umbrage at the delayed stormwater board appointment vote.
The Gang of Four's semi-official propaganda agency is spewing bile faster than we can respond, so we'll begin with yesterday’s FOS posting: WANNABE'S AGENDA IS ~ $$$$$$$
Says the faux educator therein: “Again, the "wannabe's agenda" is purely about a $$$$$$ settlement!”
It’s a lie, but so it goes here in the open air museum.
Am I the only one who finds it humorous that women pretending to be a man – pretending to be a college professor, no less – find it expedient to accuse someone else of being a “wannabe?”
Plenty of venom, but very little appreciation for irony … and, alas, you’ll observe that they didn’t bother trying to refute a solitary aspect of the case against the council, against the council’s unwillingness to enforce the rule of law, and against the revulsion generated by Bill Schmidt’s “assassinate Caesar” plan.
Seeing as Larry Kochert already has conceded the merits of the plaintiffs’ argument, refutation isn’t really possible, is it?
At the very least, the coward of the county has (for once) performed a genuine public service by reprinting Jeff Gillenwater’s statement to the city council on redistricting, which I read aloud during the non-agenda public speaking portion of Thursday’s council meeting.
Gee thanks, guys. I put that time to good use drinking Progressive Pints. Next time, let me know what you’d like to reprint, and I can provide an electronic file. No sense in requiring your elderly informant to do all that typing … but come to think of it, all of that would require you to dispense with the perpetual disguise, and you don’t have sufficient courage for that sort of disclosure, do you?
The Gang of Four's semi-official propaganda agency is spewing bile faster than we can respond, so we'll begin with yesterday’s FOS posting: WANNABE'S AGENDA IS ~ $$$$$$$
Says the faux educator therein: “Again, the "wannabe's agenda" is purely about a $$$$$$ settlement!”
It’s a lie, but so it goes here in the open air museum.
Am I the only one who finds it humorous that women pretending to be a man – pretending to be a college professor, no less – find it expedient to accuse someone else of being a “wannabe?”
Plenty of venom, but very little appreciation for irony … and, alas, you’ll observe that they didn’t bother trying to refute a solitary aspect of the case against the council, against the council’s unwillingness to enforce the rule of law, and against the revulsion generated by Bill Schmidt’s “assassinate Caesar” plan.
Seeing as Larry Kochert already has conceded the merits of the plaintiffs’ argument, refutation isn’t really possible, is it?
At the very least, the coward of the county has (for once) performed a genuine public service by reprinting Jeff Gillenwater’s statement to the city council on redistricting, which I read aloud during the non-agenda public speaking portion of Thursday’s council meeting.
Gee thanks, guys. I put that time to good use drinking Progressive Pints. Next time, let me know what you’d like to reprint, and I can provide an electronic file. No sense in requiring your elderly informant to do all that typing … but come to think of it, all of that would require you to dispense with the perpetual disguise, and you don’t have sufficient courage for that sort of disclosure, do you?
Saturday, September 22, 2007
The tank's empty.
The past week has been exhausting, so it's time for a vacation day.
We'll be back Sunday morning. Have a good one!
We'll be back Sunday morning. Have a good one!
Friday, September 21, 2007
Late rally by city council's rational thinkers brings hope to redistricting imbroglio.
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, following a contentious meeting and the final, non-agenda item public speaking round, the city council suddenly regained a measure of sanity and dramatically entertained a motion to form a committee of at-large council persons and plaintiffs in the redistricting lawsuit in the hope of achieving resolution prior to trial.
This moment came after three of the plaintiffs carefully and factually outlined the current situation. We’ll see about publishing these comments later this weekend.
After counsel was consulted, the vote was 5 to 3 in favor of the committee, with Bill Schmidt (bafflingly and incredibly) abstaining.
Needless to say, Larry Kochert and Dan Coffey remain bitterly opposed. Steve Price joined them in voting against the committee even though he almost certainly doesn’t grasp the impact of the determination of his brethren to run the bus off the cliff rather than join together to ensure equality of representation in New Albany.
Apologies for scooping the Tribune, but Mr. Campbell left early.
There’ll be more on this topic in the coming days, but before then, I’d like to thank Dan Coffey for introducing the following NAC blog post into the public record during the meeting:
Redistricted dimensions of Kochert & Ko. Koup revealed by our friendly informant, Even Deeper Throat.
This should effectively thwart any effort by the council’s vindictive bloc to resuscitate the “Caesar’s assassination” scenario that our informant previously and correctly reported, because any effort to do so in the future would only prove that our report was spot on.
And Coffey and Co. would really, really hate that.
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