Really? Walk on the auto-centric toll bridge?

Graphics credit: John Paul.

You can walk it if you want to, but unless the chintzy medallions are good for a few future jalopy crossings, you can leave me out of it.

Death to chains and bridge tolls. If you must, the C-J explains.

How to walk the new Lincoln bridge Saturday 

Grab all your saws, 'cuz the NAFD is training on the roof.

The New Albany Fire Department was conducting some rooftop exercises and training this morning at the former Coyle Dodge (And Frisch's Big Boy) building on Spring Street. Soon it will to demolished to make way for The Breakwind Lofts at Duggins-Down.

Scroll down to see ...

... what it looked like when they were finished:

I think Flaherty and Collins owes these firefighters overtime. Come to think of it, the city's subsidizing the bocce, anyway ... so it's a mag-TIF-icent wash.

"Whenever something big happens, we sprint immediately to the partisan barricades."

Photo credit.

Sifting through the social media bilge in search of shelter from the storm, I've come across three articles that stand out. Am I being partisan?

Probably. According to The Nation ...

The real reason we can’t have gun control is that "the paranoid right-wing fringe believes it needs guns to overthrow the government — and even so-called GOP moderates are pandering to them."

Bill Moyers and Michael Winship aren't mincing words.

The GOP on the Eve of Destruction, by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship (Moyers & Company)

... All of these sad examples are but symptoms of a deeper disease – the corruption and debasement of society, government and politics. It is a disease that eats away at the root and heart of what democracy is all about. Remember the opening phrase of the Preamble to the Constitution committing “We, the People” to the most remarkable compact of self-government ever – for the good of all? The Republicans are shredding that vision as they make a bonfire of the hopes that inspired it and, in the process, reduce the United States to a third-rate, sorry excuse for a nation.

Perhaps it's just exhaustion. From the City Journal.

MATTHEW HENNESSEY

American Exhaustion

We are having a political nervous breakdown.

... One thing is clear, however: politically, we are a paranoid-schizophrenic nation. Maybe it’s the fault of social media and cable news, or maybe we’re just wired to expect the worst from one another, but whenever something big happens, we sprint immediately to the partisan barricades. Unrelated events and phenomena seem part of a larger plot—launched and directed, of course, by the other guys. It feels—to borrow the title of Charles Murray’s 2012 book—as if we are coming apart at the political seams. Maybe not since Watergate has America been this mentally and emotionally exhausted.

ON THE AVENUES: Who (or what) is New Albany's "Person of the Year" for 2015?

ON THE AVENUES: Who (or what) is New Albany's "Person of the Year" for 2015?

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

It's hard to believe, but 2015 marks NA Confidential's fifth "Person of the Year" selection.

Once again this year, there'll be a formal vote at our Facebook page, but first, we need nominees. Here's the template.

Person of the Year (formerly Man of the Year) is an annual issue of the United States news magazine 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."

In 2011, the notion of selecting New Albany's "Person of the Year" was first thrown out for discussion. Some folks scoffed, asking if it wouldn't be easier to select "Underachiever of the Year." Perhaps so, although the sheer number of applicants would threaten to overwhelm our dedicated staff of one.

As a reliable harbinger of things to come, a compelling list of 2011 nominees was compiled and promptly ignored.

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 an election to Dan Coffey.

The 2011 winner was the Sherman Minton Bridge. Although admittedly an inanimate object, lots of persons were affected by its temporary closure. Even more significantly, the bridge's structural illness exposed numerous fault lines of conceptual illness afflicting self-assigned local movers and shakers.

At least the bridge made a full recovery. The conceptual plague proceeds unabated.

We renewed the conversation in 2012, and another strong list of contenders came together. Among them were these:

Mike Ladd … the Urban Enterprise Association director had to be sacrificed so that the outside world could see clearly, definitively and conclusively, the depths to which the outgoing England administration had plunged. Let's all join together in saying, "Never again."

Develop New Albany … not since Spain patiently awaited Generalissimo Francisco Franco’s passing has the future of an entity been so conclusively tied to a change in discredited leadership. Can an invisible organization win a prize? Can it win a Prozac? Regime change now, please.

Bob Caesar … seldom has a local political figure become so reliably consistent in occupying the entirely mistaken side of any given issue, especially when it comes to anything pertaining to the general concept of "urban". CM CeeSaw's Bulova Watch Time? It's round about 1938, give or take a Roosevelt administration.

River View Project … it seems to have died in 2012. Maybe now something good can happen, although we might wish to dispose of the corpse.

Rent Boy Park, a.k.a. Somnolent Estates, a.k.a Caesar’s Folly; also known only by its enabling commission (the Coup d'Geriatrique) as Bicentennial Park. A truly monumental waste of time and money when so many other projects go wanting, and as such, utterly and ironically indicative of the city's first two hundred years.

The choice was Bill Allen, whose stunning decision to paint one portion of his dilapidated Main Street properties was meant to obscure the plain fact that a quarter-century had passed since he did anything whatever to improve them, perfectly symbolizing the enduring Potemkin village mentality prevailing in New Albany. Three years later, the rubble is marginally more attractive, but it's still a ruin -- and a city that claims to be obsessed by public safety ... that's right ...

It does absolutely nothing.

In 2013, there was a tie:

Houndmouth ... Four youthful musicians possessing consummate skill and a collectively precocious sense of irony, such that their city benefits immensely from the band's mere existence without ever really grasping why this might be the case. Long may they wave.

And …

Quality of Life ... Or our seldom-urban priorities here in the city. As we've come to grasp throughout the year 2013, "quality of life" as a pretext for spending money invariably reflects a mayor or council person's subconscious suburban mores first and foremost, because these leanings are safely white and mostly understood, whereas urban living suggests racial diversity, social chaos and rampant book reading. In addition, "quality of life" always applies far more to the area just around an elected official's home, and might be subtitled “automotive only”; far less importance is accorded those areas located even a short walk away. Because, of course, none of them ever walk or bike, do they?

Other nominees included holdovers Mayor Gahan, the Democratic Party, Bob Caesar and the Horseshoe Foundation, as well as the Main Street Disprovement Project and Dr. Tom "Fuck Off, You Filthy Degraded Peasant" Harris.

Most recently, there were nominees aplenty in 2014, including New Albany's one-way street grid, our $19-million gold-plated parks upgrade, Jeff Speck, John Rosenberger's Main Street Deforestation Project, the Floyd County Republican Party and monster trucks running amok.

The three finalists for 2014, based on reader responses:

Heroic Non-Incentivized Downtown Developers ... Chalfant, Resch, Carters, among others. They're rehabbing buildings, and the city's industrial-park-centric economic development team has nothing to do with it.

Jeff Gahan … during three years on the job, municipal government's daily operations bear the mayor's stamp: Inward, paranoid and hermetic. Agoraphobia never had it this good, but his hologram is the hardest working computer-generated image in show business.

Our local Democratic Party … but logically speaking, can non-corporeal bodies capture corporeal awards? Quick, someone find a theologian, a ham-fisted censor, Connie Sipes or even Walt Disney. Meanwhile, let your mind's eye conjure an ongoing implosion.

There were creative write-ins, but after all ballots were scrubbed clean of hanging chads, the winners were our Heroic Non-Incentivized Downtown Developers.

Following are five thoughts as we assemble a starter list for 2015.

• The 75%, or those registered voter declining to participate in the 2015 election
• New Albany Street Piano
• Jeff Gahan. After all, he did win re-election
• Street Grid for the Semis: Padgett's ongoing lawsuit rebellion
• State Representative Ed Clere, as slapped on the wrist for disobedience by the GOP

Give me some feedback, and I'll arrange a poll at Facebook.

---

Recent columns:

November 26: ON THE AVENUES: Faux thanks and reveries (The 2015 Remix).

November 19: ON THE AVENUES: Beer, farthings and that little-known third category.

November 12: ON THE AVENUES: The mayor’s race was about suburban-think versus urban-think. The wrong-think won.

November 5ON THE AVENUES: Confusion, exile, ignobility and resistance.

October 29: ON THE AVENUES: A year later, the backroom politics of pure spite at Haughey’s Tavern still reek.

Bill Allen's shit hole properties on Main Street are decades-long festering eyesores.

Remember back in 2012, when the city "got real tough" with Denny Andres and his State Street dump truck depot ... before hastily sounding the bugle for a retreat that has lasted for three years?

Just have one question: How is Bill Allen's building on Main Street any different?

Ah, yes; the sheer grandeur of sidewalk furniture when the Google street view cameraman comes rolling past.

These enduring symbols of New Albany's futility belong to a cadaverous 115-year-old lawyer who hasn't given a shit for longer than most of us have been alive, although back in 2012, he bought a few gallons of paint and declared victory.

In fact, we were so enamored of Allen's 2012 paint job that the blog selected him Person of the Year for 2012.

Bill Allen an early 2013 Pillar Award front runner with stunning Main Street paint job.

I can hear City Hall now: "But Main Street Improvement Project."

Let's put it this way: Bill Allen isn't laughing WITH us.

Pedestrian struck by police vehicle, and more accidents like this waiting to happen in wrong-way New Albany.

Item: Woman struck by NAPD vehicle has minor injuries (N and T; photo by Christopher Fryer)

I might as well say it for the thousand-and-first time.

Our high-speed arterials are unsafe for walkers, if for no other reason than the culture of driver obliviousness they support on an everyday basis.

There is inappropriate speed for densely populated urban areas. but moreover, again and again I see drivers turning onto one-way streets from side streets, and never once looking both ways. Instead, drivers look only in the direction of oncoming one-way traffic. \

But walkers have the right of way, don't they?

Just a few days ago, I experienced this with a police car. The lights were not on. He simply as not paying attention. He never looked to see if anyone was walking from the opposite direction. Someone less in tune than me could have been hit.

If the police fail to acknowledge walkers, who will?

If Jeff Gahan or any other mayor truly values walkability, then (a) he must lead the community-wide education effort from the bully pulpit, and not from the down-low, and (b) every city employee must be on board with the objective and serving as positive examples every single day, including the police, who still routinely block sidewalks to set up speed traps on streets that shouldn't be speedways to begin with.

How is it not brazen contempt for walkers that the city itself constantly blocks sidewalks and blithely ignores the dictates of the ADA? ]

For example: Bored of Works just laughs: ADA compliance? In New Albany?

Are we serious about walkability?

THEN COME OUT FROM THE BUNKER AND LEAD THE EFFORT, JEFF ... or please, just stop pretending.

Top Ten posts at NA Confidential for November, 2015.

#1: You really want fried chicken, don't you? 

The November Top Ten is determined by numbers of unique hits, as reported by Blogger.

Thanks for reading. Obviously, you are reading, even if some observers in City Hall are fond of pretending otherwise. The more they ignore us, the closer we get.

The list begins with fifteen honorable mention posts, before concluding with the Top Ten, escalating to No. 1.

---

FIVE HONORABLE MENTION

163

HWC Engineering, municipal cowardice, Jeff Speck and reading the tea leaves through dry heaves.

181

Limp Disney.

185

C-J critic ham-fistedly hammers Southern Indiana dining options.

195

City officials giddy as New Albany finally makes Guinness Book of World Records (REPOST).

202

ON THE AVENUES: Beer, farthings and that little-known third category.

TOP TEN

230

The Baylor for Mayor meme, November 4: Thanks, everyone.

244

ON THE AVENUES: Confusion, exile, ignobility and resistance.

276

The Padgett PAC comes to grips with electoral rejection.

277

Guest column by Nick Vaughn: "We all want New Albany to succeed."

278

The Baylor for Mayor meme, November 1: Baylor's the only real Democrat in this race.

292

The Baylor for Mayor meme, November 2: Let's try something different ... for a change.

314

The Gospel Bird is coming, so let's remember what preceded it in the Bader Building and Parthenon.

337

David Thrasher's alley cats and blockheads.

370

BREAKING: New Albany’s Mayor Jeff Gahan announces refugee acceptance program, effective immediately.

684

We welcome Staggers, Morris and the Gospel Bird with open arms and our senseless one-way streets.

Dec. 12 C-J event about "big pictures" and deeper meanings of life in Southern Indiana.

I wish them luck. NA Confidential has been trying to answer these questions since 2004, and we haven't even gotten a lousy t-shirt.

Topics we won't be seeing include "Origins of the Dissident Movement in New Gahania," and "Are They Apparatchiks or Are They Nomenklatura?"

Wait: When's the News and Tribune forum?

CJ event to look at past, present, future in S. Ind., by Lexy Gross (C-J)

Southern Indiana is known for its sense of community.

The Courier-Journal wants to help the region share ideas about how to improve the lives of residents and continue the missions of many local leaders. On Dec. 12 from 2-3:30 p.m., Hoosiers will have a chance to meet some of those leaders and hear about the changes happening in their own backyard.

With the theme, "A new year: Southern Indiana's past, present and future" we will have the opportunity to look at the "big picture" of the region and what it means to live in Southern Indiana.

The event will be held in New Albany at the Carnegie Center for Art and History - an award-winning museum that's dedicated to remembering our region's heroes.

"Politics is the art of persuasion and rhetoric a weapon of mass persuasion."

And they're not finished yet, unfortunately.

Philippe-Joseph Salazar: the philosopher whose essay on Isis has shocked and enlightened, by Agnès Poirier (The Guardian)

To win a war on the ground, you need first to win the war of words, says in essence French philosopher Philippe-Joseph Salazar in his latest essay, Paroles armées: Comprendre et combattre la propagande terroriste (Armed Words: Understanding and Fighting Terrorist Propaganda), which has made a mark on the public debate about the Paris attacks. It is through words that statesmen galvanise their compatriots, and call to arms. Words have the power to spur millions of people into action. La Marseillaise, the French anthem which has echoed through the world since the Paris attacks, as a symbol of defiance and a cry to defeat the oppressor, is a perfect example. And so is the jihadi propaganda freely available on the internet. Politics is the art of persuasion and rhetoric a weapon of mass persuasion.

But if rhetoric is the art of influencing the thought and conduct of an audience, and the ability to use language effectively, we democrats, we French republicans, have lost, and they have won. Who are they, he asks. An enemy whose name we cannot even start agreeing on. And that’s not the least of our problems.

World AIDS Day, Randy Shilts, his book and why it matters.

I'm aware that Randy Shilts' 1987 book And the Band Played On: Politics, People, and the AIDS Epidemic is not without its detractors. In particular, his speculation about Patient Zero was controversial from the very start.

Almost three decades later, we know so much more. This fascinating podcast is well worth 30 minutes of your time, and let me tell you: I'm not a science kind of guy.

The Cell That Started a Pandemic (Radiolab)

Gaetan Dugas ... was soon dubbed Patient Zero, and labeled by the media as the cause of the AIDS epidemic. But as Carl Zimmer and David Quammen explain, Dugas was absolutely not Patient Zero.

On the occasion of World AIDS Day 2015, Shilts' name entered my mind, and I combed my bookshelves in search of And the Band Played On. Alas, it appears to have disappeared, perhaps as a loaner never returned. I've spent the evening thinking about it.

Obviously, journalists strive for accuracy. Three decades later, we can look at Shilts' book and uncover inaccuracies. But I'd argue that these errors are far less important than his achievement in bringing consciousness of AIDS to a wider audience, and moreover, in educating these readers about what it means to be gay.

By which I mean: I needed to be taught these things, and when I read Shilts' book in 1990, finally I learned some of them.

Shilts died of AIDS-related causes in 1994. His book was tremendously influential for me, and I plan to buy another copy.

Hmm: "Peter Hook files multi-million dollar lawsuit against ex-New Order bandmates."

Am I supposed to be taking notes or something?

Peter Hook files multi-million dollar lawsuit against ex-New Order bandmates, by Alex Young (Consequence of Sound)

... Hook’s attorney Mark Wyeth says New Order’s “clandestine, premeditated, and deliberate” establishment of a new company sans Hook has cost his client £2.3 million ($3.5 million). Wyeth added, “This is not about musical direction or musical differences or personality clashes, but first and foremost about wrongdoers taking control of a company and stripping it of its property.”

Photo credit.

The rescheduled Downtown Light Up will be Friday, December 4.

Teresa Baxter, president of Develop New Albany, provides an overview of rescheduled holiday events.

---

Good Evening,

The Downtown Light up will be on Friday December 4th. The Oath of Office Ceremony will begin at 5 pm and the light up will follow. Everything will be at Bicentennial Park. You may want to stay open a little later on that evening. Santa will be arriving on the Fire truck. We will be giving out presents to the children, hot cocoa, cookies, etc. so hopefully we will have a good crowd that will want to shop and eat at our restaurants after Santa. The City should have this on Facebook, etc. tomorrow, so please share and let us know if you will be extending your hours on Friday.

Jingle, Mingle & Shop on Saturday December 5th from 10 am to 8 pm. Please share and post your discounts & specials.

Thanks to everyone that participated at the Jingle Walk/Holiday Fest. From what I've been told everyone had a great day and I think we all enjoyed the day.

Other events that may bring more people to your shops and restaurants, keep these dates in mind.

December 1st - Raq'n Around the Christmas Tree tomorrow, Holiday Toy drive, Taste of New Albany & Belly Dance Extravaganza. 6 pm
5th - Jingle, Mingle & Shop 10 am to 8 pm
5th - The Culbertson Mansion Christmas Open House 1 pm
6th - The Culbertson Mansion - Visit from Santa 1 pm
11th - Uptown Ornament Walk 5 pm

If I have missed any dates, please let everyone know. Tis the Season and I want to do it all.

Thanks

Teresa

Limp Disney.

Subtitled: "The Powder Blue Victory of Form Over Substance."

I'm so old I can remember when we had a green city flag and a steamboat on the seal. What I just cannot seem to recall is the date of the referendum when we changed them.

Wait, that's right: We didn't.  

"Cold Old Fire," by Lynched: "Born to live and lie and die in embers of a cold old fire nobody remembers."

Just know that the "button factory" refers to the dole office. The band Lynched bears a self-description as "Dublin Folk Miscreants." The resonance is striking.

We always sing, even when we're losing
'Cos Dublin's drone is hard enough especially when you're down and you're boozing
We sing the Oul' Triangle and then the Tommy Ryan
'Cos all the world's a jail and we can't remember why

Why we agreed to live and lie in embers of a cold old fire nobody remembers
They hand the ashes back to me down the button factory, we're cattle at the stall

We look for signs that Dublin's heart's still beating,
That concrete and glass and peelers and mass, they haven't stopped the people from screaming,
Being trapped by all the cameras you're inclined to stay at home,
And forget some songs were written to remind you you weren't born

Born to live and lie and die in embers of a cold old fire nobody remembers
They hand the ashes back to me down the button factory, we're cattle at the stall

We see the cracks under the foundation,
Smoldering on the faces of the people on the drip of isolation,
We hear the sounds come streaming across the crackling air,
The broken words of swine who would tell us that we were

Born to live and lie and die in embers of a cold old fire nobody remembers
They hand the ashes back to me down the button factory, we're cattle at the stall
And when did we agree to live and lie and die in embers of a cold old fire nobody remembers?
They hand the ashes back to me down the button factory, we're cattle at the stall.

10 years ago: "Street spam, sign sharks and the sheer joy of litter removal."

The following was published at NAC on December 1, 2005. It was the beginning of my sign sharking career, and while cumulative totals are not known, I'd estimate the number of signs personally confiscated and destroyed during the past decade to be in the range of 400. 

This is where it started. The CAUSS site is still active, although the forum is down. 

---

Street spam, sign sharks and the sheer joy of litter removal.

Here’s a far too common scene around town.


No doubt you've grimaced at the many "Buys Houses" signs, both on utility poles and in medians or along city streets. The circus posters were put up in September, and many still can be seen, rotting, where they were stapled.

These are examples of "street spam."

Q: What is Street Spam?

A: Street Spam is the term for illegal signs along roadways, at intersections, on traffic signs or utility poles, and even on private property. Illegal street signs are also called vertical litter, bandit signs, snipe signs, utility pole advertising and stuff on a stick (SOS). The signs may advertise local businesses, multilevel marketing schemes selling weight loss products, health insurance, sample sales, landscaping services and even pet waste removal services. Some of the most common spam signs have the come-on Work at Home, Work From Home, I Lost 30 Pounds in 30 Days, Have a PC, We Buy Houses, Affordable Health Insurance, Budget Health Plans, and Going Out of Business.

The preceding definition comes from the FAQ section of the Citizens Against Ugly Street Spam web site.

Until reading the CAUSS FAQ, I wasn't aware that I'm a "sign shark." During city walks, "street spam" has a way of coming off in my hands. As noted by CAUSS, illegal signage (exceptions being legitimate realtor's signs and the like) is nothing more than litter -- and who doesn't believe in picking up litter?

For a similar perspective, and abundant photographic evidence of the targets as identified by these and various other like-minded campaigns, visit Atlanta Street Spam Eradication Campaign.

Anyone for a "sign shark" roaming walk some afternoon?

Dust in the Wind Turbines: Welcome Closer to Home, Carl Malysz.

Thanks, M; I needed an excuse to repost what just might be my favorite city council photo ever (2011).

Community Development Director resigns publicly (WKKG)

Columbus Community Development Director Carl Malysz publicly resigned during Wednesday night’s meeting of the Columbus City Council ... Malysz says that he has accepted a job offer with the Louisville Downtown Partnership as Deputy Director of Project Management and Strategic Planning.

Newspaper shocks area with truth: "Needs assessment shows lack of affordable housing."

And no, the "ripple effect" of corporate welfare isn't helping.

The disconnect is amply illustrated by one sentence.

Business and community leaders — about 73 percent — believe the market offers affordable housing while 54 percent of nonprofit service providers disagree.

Yes, the article is Jeffersonville-centric (aren't most of them?), but Elizabeth Beilman does a fine job describing an issue with which Baylor for Mayor's team was very familiar, seeing as we were the only campaign in Clark or Floyd County to so much as discuss affordable housing publicly, for which we were poo-pooed by the Luxury Mayor for being negative and refusing to adhere to the Disney water slide dialogue.

As an aside, can you so much as imagine this story in the hands of Chris Morris?

A bunch of people who won't work for a living are whining because their rent's too high. Why don't they get jobs? 

Let's take a look at One Southern Indiana's position paper on affordable housing.

Hmm, imagine that. There isn't one.

NO VACANCY: Needs assessment shows lack of affordable housing, by Elizabeth Beilman (News and Tribune)

SOUTHERN INDIANA — It's no secret to anyone looking that the United States is in the midst of a real estate boom — and Southern Indiana is enjoying particularly low housing costs.

But while many are rejoicing in the plummeting price tag figures, Jeffersonville Real Estate Agent Lincoln Crum said it's not such a happy picture for low-income residents.

Bored of Works just laughs: ADA compliance? In New Albany?

Walking on the north side of Spring from 4th to 6th ... how is it again that wheelchair users are supposed to be able to use the sidewalk when the fencing deprives them of ramps?

Warning: The "Street Cuisine" blog will make you hungry, as with the pølsevogn in Copenhagen.

Photo credit: Street Cuisine.

As accompaniment to the most recent installment of my 1985 European travelogue ...

The PC: Euro ’85, Part 23 … A fleeting first glimpse of Copenhagen.

... here's amore in-depth look at the phenomenon of the Danish pølsevogn, which is far, far more than your grandpa's weenie wagon.

The Danish Pølsevogn at Street Cuisine

Hotdogs and hotdog stands are popular almost everywhere, but I don't think anywhere takes the concept of sausage and bread as seriously as the Danes. A Danish hotdog stand called a pølsevogn can be found on almost any major street or torv in Denmark. Much larger and more involved than a typical North American hotdog cart, the pølsevogn is more like an outdoor mobile kitchen along the lines on an imbiss in Germany.

The Street Cuisine blog is amazing, but you may wish to eat first.

All Jingle Walk/Holiday Fest events are "on" today, except the tree lighting and ...

 ... the politicized street sweeper parade review and Oaf Oath of Office. These presumably will be conducted next Saturday.