As George Carlin said, “The reason they call it the American Dream is because you have to be asleep to believe it.”

For example.

At this precise moment, my mother's long-term care insurance provider suggests that she's benefited so greatly from the care available for her in assisted living, for which the insurer reimburses us, that it is considering erasing the benefit. It isn't yet a "done" deal, and there may be a satisfactory resolution, though not until after significant stress for all of us.

This wouldn't occur in Norway, Denmark or Sweden, would it? I'm starting to get resentful about that drunken, errant stork.

After I Lived in Norway, America Felt Backward. Here’s Why.

A crash course in social democracy, by Ann Jones (The Nation)

... Norway, Denmark, and Sweden practice variations of a system that works much better than ours. Yet even the Democratic presidential candidates, who say they love or want to learn from those countries, don’t seem know how they actually work.

ON THE AVENUES: They're surely not ROLL models.

ON THE AVENUES: They're surely not ROLL models. 

A weekly column by Roger A. Baylor.

Often I write about walking, so it may come as a surprise to some that while my aim remains to find ways of alternative transportation when it comes to shifting this bulk from place to place, ultimately I’m bound by auto-centrism just as much as the next surly curmudgeon.

It is a fact, and I thoroughly detest it. Cars don’t define my humanity; they constrain and warp it. I firmly believe that future generations will look back and ask: “What were they thinking?”

The answer is easy. We weren’t.

Earlier this week I was driving my mother back to her apartment at Silvercrest from an appointment. Nearing the eastbound I-64 ramp from I-265 W, the rear view mirror displayed a very fast-moving red pickup truck, closing rapidly at the very moment I was deaccelerating for the on-ramp.

Interstate on-ramps generally compel a driver to merge to the left, into the lane with ostensibly slower traffic. This isn’t the case at the I-64 E ramp from I-265 W. One must merge to the right, joining faster traffic as it thunders from the highlands down the “cut” toward the bridge.

For those planning to exit at New Albany, as was my intent, it requires first merging into the fastest lane, then cutting across traffic through the center lane, all the way to the right.

The red pickup already was tailgating me as we came down the sloping grade. There was daylight to the west in both left and center lanes, and as soon as I could, I merged and began easing toward the center lane, one eye on the rear view mirror, where the way would have been clear – except the red pickup jerked hard to the right, trying to make it past me in the center lane.

But I was already there, and the far right lane had a semi rig in it. The pickup’s driver slammed the breaks, veered left, and rushed around me in a flash. I had barely enough time to see two noteworthy objects: A blue municipal license plate, and a Floyd County Highway Department insignia on the passenger door.

Within seconds, the pickup easily topped 80 mph, racing toward the New Albany exit. I gave my horse the whip, but a Ford Fusion has only so much energy to give; besides, my mother was in the car with me. No rage at all, ma'am, and there simply wasn’t any chance to get close enough to record the license plate number.

County government’s red pickup truck kept going gangbusters down the ramp, rolled quickly through the stop sign on Spring Street, and instead of turning left on Market – surely the driver's speed and recklessness indicated an urgent need to get to the emergency room – it proceeded straight, toward Main.

Perhaps it was a Chick fil-A delivery to the Pine View Government Center?

---

At last Thursday’s city council meeting, according to these minutes, at-large councilman Al Knable briefly quizzed street department chief Mickey Thompson.

Dr. Knable stated that he met with a constituent at his request and walked the Coyle site and they had some concerns about ADA and some of the sidewalks not being wheelchair accessible. He said that with the construction going on the south side of Spring Street, he didn’t know if the corner project at 5th Street could be accelerated so that some ramps could be put in. He added that right now there is no continuous way for someone on a rascal or wheelchair to go east to west or vice versa. He thought maybe our attorney and the builder’s attorney could look at it to make sure we are in compliance.

Mr. Thompson stated that he could look into it.

Note that Mr. Thompson sits on New Albany's somnolent Board of Works, which has met roughly eight times since the access issue first was reported on November 29 at NA Confidential. We've been waiting on the newspaper to notice the Coyle site sidewalk failure. Unfortunately, it's been down a reporter for the NA beat,

Since September. But I digress.

(Mr. Thompson) also stated he told them that they could put up their fence but they had to keep one side open so if they closed the sidewalk on one side, the other side had to be accessible. He added that we also have the sidewalk project going on at 5th Street so that may have caused the problem.

Dr. Knable stated that there are a couple of areas where the ramps are accessible but there’s clearly one gap about midway through the site that you can’t get through.

Mr. Thompson stated that he is in contact with the manager of the project so he can get with him and look at it.

Dr. Knable recommended that it be treated like if it were downtown Indianapolis and everything done with wayfaring signs and access.

Kudos to the councilman for mentioning Indianapolis, where efforts are made in the vast majority of cases to clearly delineate interruptions to sidewalk access, under the presumption that even if city officials don't see a problem during their trips back and forth by car, sidewalk users nonetheless exist -- and some of them are handicapped.

Let's be clear. It is the city of New Albany’s responsibility to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), but in this instance, those city officials who might reasonably be expected to ensure compliance meekly stepped aside, fingers crossed, and turned matters over to a contractor – and we're to believe that not a soul noticed when the handicapped ramps were blocked by temporary fencing.

If none of them noticed, and I suspect they did, it wouldn't be surprising. If institutional walkability consciousness can be measured in negative numbers, that's where you'll find Team Gahan's marks: Less than zero.

Two blocks away from the Break Wind construction site, on the east side of 3rd Street between Main and Market, the sidewalk has been blocked for years by cars allowed to park atop it.

Nothing is said, nothing is done.

The same has been true for months on the southeastern corner of 15th and Spring, where automobiles parked at the business there routinely block the public's right of way, forcing rascals and wheelchairs to detour on the street itself.

Nothing is said, nothing is done.

When it snows, municipal and private contractors alike push mounds of snow away from precious parking places, squarely into the path of pedestrians.

Nothing is said ... that's right: And nothing is done.

---

Did I mention the city’s obligation to comply with the ADA?

Perhaps the able-bodied are the only ones who matter in our brave new Gahanian pretend-world, where voters drive cars, and wheelchair users have only themselves to blame when their ramps disappear. It's as much of a human rights issue as any other, but I'll be surprised if there is any mention of it at the quarterly meeting of Southern Indiana Equality later tonight.

There are points to be made here, both great and small, though I’ll confine myself to just one.

Is it really asking too much to expect local government employees, and by extension local government itself, to serve as examples of the importance of enforcing law, rather than ease in evading it?

---

Recent columns:

January 21: ON THE AVENUES: When I grow up, I'd like to be alive.

January 14: ON THE AVENUES: Should the Queen fail to rescue us, there's always H. L. Mencken.

January 7: ON THE AVENUES: You know, that time when Roger interviewed himself.

December 31: ON THE AVENUES: My 2015 in books and reading.

December 24: ON THE AVENUES: Fairytale of New Albania (2015 mashup).

Dietbusters Unite: "All you can eat" fried chicken slated for Sundays at Gospel Bird.

Not quite yet, because Gospel Bird hasn't opened (February is the target) ...

"There's a restaurant in that truck. Delivery day!"

 ... but when it does, this is ominous news from the standpoint of my waistline. I may have to ration myself to once monthly.

Who's kidding who?

Aside from our regular Sunday brunch menu, every Sunday is ALL YOU CAN EAT FRIED CHICKEN ALL DAY LONG. We'll have all of the games on in our bar area and when the weather breaks we will have a gorgeous patio. Look for our grand opening late February and follow us here and Instagram for all of the exciting updates!

Previously at NAC:

Gospel Bird update: Mid to late February opening date as pieces fall into place.

Gospel Bird lowdown at Insider Louisville and Facebook.

A Tale of Two Cultural Guides: Ankara, meet New Albany.

Perhaps it isn't a fair comparison, given that Ankara is a huge national capital city, and we're a Louisville metro neighborhood.

New Albany's assessment surely reinforces the notion of New Albany as a place where indie businesses can survive, even if the traditional power elites don't grasp what this means.

You Really Need to (Re)Visit New Albany. Here’s Why!, by Heidi Potter (Style Blueprint)

All of this love is contained in just a few square blocks. Simply park and walk; you can even meander around like we did. Here are some of the highlights you must check out.

Perhaps the Ankara profile better illustrates a process of grassroots empowerment -- a bubbling up of culture -- that seems to be missing in New Albany. Or, is it there, and we're just not paying attention?

An insider's cultural guide to Ankara: 'Modern without being snobby' (Guardian)

From psychedelic folk music to guerrilla artists, Didem Tali takes us behind the new urban developments in Turkey’s capital.

Baby Doe ... or the antidote to Pollyanna.

(Thanks to LP for the Twitter prompt)

I'm not going to kid you.

This story is not easy reading, but there are times when Americans need to leave behind our founding Pollyanna Principle, divert our gaze from mindless entertainment and cheap plastic baubles, and think.

Does it make your brain hurt?

So very sorry about that.

For as long as I can remember, the mantra has been repeated again and again: It's their own fault. Those among us who are impoverished or ill equipped for whatever reason to make their way in life, well, its their problem. They must get better, so as not to disturb the self-congratulatory reverie inhabited by the rest of us. Can't they just clean up after themselves and look improved?

It's a variation of the Richard Nixon's words in the movie, Where the Buffalo Roam: "Fuck the doomed."

That's one thing if you're an adult. We can coerce compliance with an endless cycle of consumer debt, further your addiction to substances ranging from meth to Rally burgers, and if that doesn't work, incarcerate you. Fuck the doomed, right?

But what about the children?

Baby Doe: A political history of tragedy, by Jill Lepore (New Yorker)

 ... More than a hundred inches of snow fell in Boston last winter, storm after storm. So the Blizzard of 1978 was on my mind when, not long after daffodils poked up through the last of the long-lingering snow, the lifeless body of a little girl was discovered in a trash bag on Deer Island, cast away.

Further background is here.

SHANE'S Excellent New Words: après moi le déluge.

Warm human beings everywhere. In Flanders Field, they’re piled 10 high. 
The Mekong, it’s just a long, soft river.
I’ll do this, I’ll do that –
You can’t fight City Hall, it keeps changing its name –

Ah pooey on 'em – you pays your taxes and you passes to your grave, why study their "matters"? Let them present their problematical matters before the zoning board, or present complaint SIX on matters before the kidnaped Dean (problem planning committees for planning problem solutions] 'cause "I've got," as Neal Cassady said, "my own lil' old bangtail mind."

-- Jack Kerouac, "After Me the Deluge," Chicago Tribune, 1969

Welcome to another installment of "SHANE's Excellent New Words," a regular Wednesday feature at NA Confidential.

Why new words?

Because a healthy vocabulary isn't about trying to show you're smarter than the rest. To the contrary, it's about selecting the right word and using it correctly, whatever one's pay grade or station in life.

Even municipal corporate attorneys are eligible for this enlightening expansion of personal horizons, and really, all we have is time during the period of the occupation. This week we'll up the ante and consider an idiom, and a French idiom at that.

après moi le déluge
[a-pre mwa luh dey-lyzh]

French.
1. after me, the deluge (attributed to Louis XV, adapted from après nous le déluge “after us the deluge,” credited to Madame de Pompadour: said in reference to signs of the approaching Revolution).

Exactly what is meant by "after me, the deluge"?

It's more nuanced than you might think. For a tolerably brief yet incredibly detailed exploration of the idiom’s origins, it’s hard to beat this 2006 blog post, which has generated almost 450 comments. I’ll skip straight to the conclusion.

The Expression “Après moi le déluge”, and Its Classical Antecedents, by Gabriel Laguna (Tradición Clásica)

... In sum, from this journey through the classical (as well as modern) antecedents of the royal phrase issue two main facts: 1) practically all of the examples cited suggest that the French king’s phrase means: “It matter not at all to me whether, after my death, the flood or any other catastrophe comes”; 2) the idea that we must not worry about what happens after our death is quite widespread in classical antiquity, and belongs to the ideologies of several philosophical schools (Epicureanism, Cynicism) but, more specifically, the mention of the deluge in this context is documented in both Lucretius and Strato of Sardis. It is difficult to ascertain whether Louis XV (or Pompadour) was directly inspired by one of these two poets, or whether he coined the phrase independently.

The Free Dictionary takes it a step further, into how the idiom has been reinterpreted in more recent times. In short, there is an element of prophecy involved.

après moi le deluge

A disaster will follow. The French phrase, translated as “After me the deluge,” has been attributed to King Louis XVI or to his mistress, Madame de Pompadour. He or she was referring to the centuries of excessive living enjoyed by the aristocracy and paid for by the rest of France and what would happen as a result when His Majesty (or Madame) went to their heavenly rest. Whether the king or his main squeeze was predicting a cataclysm or simply indicating that he or she didn't care what came after them isn't clear. Nevertheless, whoever spoke the words was a prophet in his or her time: fourteen years after Louis's death came the revolution that swept away the old order, including Louis's son. No one could have been ideologically further from the Bourbon monarchy than Karl Marx, who repeated the phrase in his Das Kapital: “Après moi le déluge! is the watchword of every capitalist and of every capitalist nation. Hence capital is reckless of the health or length of life of the laborer, unless under compulsion from society.”

“Après moi le déluge,” Marxist-style. I'm enamored.

Personally, the prophetic element of this idiom has always suggested self-justification, in the sense of a powerful leader or dictator rationalizing excesses as necessary (paraphrasing): “Only my own skills and ability stand as a bulwark against catastrophe, so while I may need to be harsh at times, it’s better than what might follow in my absence – and surely will once I’m gone.”

Thanks for reading. I've reached my syllable limit for fancy-schmancy words, as mandated and enforced by the Bored of Works.

See you next time.

BOW -- wow. Board of Works' refusal to communicate reaches bold new lows.

At the Tuesday, January 19 meeting of the Board of Public Works and Safety, Jim Ziegler of the Blackberry Ridge Homeowners Association returned (again) to speak with the board about the dangerous entrance to his subdivision, and the lack of action in addressing it.

(The BOW minutes are reprinted below as images. The weekly minutes are disseminated in the .pdf format, although certain other city boards use the far handier Word)

Ziegler first brought this to the board's attention on August 18, 2015, at a time when board's de facto dominatrix, Warren Nash, was busy seeking ways to thwart the street piano. On January 19, Ziegler noted his difficulty in keeping up with the board's apparent non-progress on his issue. In short, he's reading those .pdf files just like the rest of us.

Can there be a better way?

Following a lengthy digression, during which Ziegler tried his best to hold a recalcitrant city's feet to the fire, making the point that while the city didn't botch these safety issues in the beginning, it's the city's responsibility to correct them now, he asked who his point of BOW contact should be.

Nash replies: Why, these meetings, of course, and only these meetings, the Internet being a figment of the imagination of some geek who probably never attended a basketball game in his life.

As my colleague MC eloquently summarizes:

Yes, the meetings that always occur at 10 a.m. on weekdays. Yes, the board that has no e-mail address, no contact information for members of the board, no phone number, etc. Yep, lets make it easy for the public to communicate with the administration. Sickening.

That's right. Sickening.

The Board of Works currently exists for the convenience of city employees, not the general public. City Hall insists there is nothing wrong with BOW's non-communicative tradition.

City Hall is mistaken. Again.

Bicentennial Park Snow Schlong: Or, when City Hall stamped out public art (literally).

To send light into the darkness of men's hearts - such is the duty of the artist.
-- Robert Schumann

Bamiyan, Palmyra ... Bicentennial Park.

Even before the snow melted, minions had been dispatched to obliterate a spontaneous outburst of public art.

R.I.P. Bicentennial Park Snow Schlong.

You were not with us for long, but you brought joy to countless observers, both up close and personal, as well as on electronic media, including 1,317 viewers of this post ...

Bicentennial Park Snow Schlong proves conclusively that public art can be turgid, indeed.

 ... and 245 for this one.

Mayor Jeff Gahan Presents: The Bicentennial Snow Schlong Remix.

We can only hope that next time winter intervenes, the entire city of New Albany will blossom with creative public art.

That'll keep Team Gahan running ...

Social media crickets chirp, pins drop as Planned Parenthood scores some justice.

Now, about that Hillary Clinton endorsement ...

A Little Justice for Planned Parenthood, by Charles P. Pierce (Esquire)

A remarkable thing happened late Monday afternoon in a courthouse in Houston. It was a victory of sorts for ACORN, and for Shirley Sherrod, and for Mary Landrieu, and for the Kerry for President campaign, for that matter. Criminal ratfcking was treated as, well, a crime.

Prosecutors in Harris County said one of the leaders of the Center for Medical Progress—an anti-abortion group that made secretly recorded videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials trying to illegally profit from the sale of fetal tissue—had been indicted on a charge of tampering with a governmental record, a felony, and on a misdemeanor charge related to purchasing human organs. That leader, David R. Daleiden, 27, the director of the center, had posed as a biotechnology representative to infiltrate Planned Parenthood affiliates and surreptitiously record his efforts to procure tissue for research. Another center employee, Sandra S. Merritt, 62, was indicted on a felony charge of tampering with a governmental record. The record-tampering charges accused Mr. Daleiden and Ms. Merritt of making and presenting fake California driver's licenses, with the intent to defraud, for their April meeting at Planned Parenthood in Houston.

This is an altogether remarkable event, even more so because of where it occurred. A Texas grand jury did this.

In fact, Mayor Gahan has nothing whatever to do with "Free Help for College Financial Aid Applications" ...

 ... apart from announcing it, which in turn allows city government (i.e., taxpayers) to foot the bill for this flyer bearing the mayor's photo, so as to stuff into envelopes along with inflated sewer bills, thus suggesting that somehow Gahan has made the event possible.

Of course, when a cult of personality is the goal, fudging facts is what you do. It's as though the campaign hasn't ever stopped, so let's go to the College Goal Sunday website to clarify matters.

There we find no mention of Jeff Gahan, but several useful factoids.

• College Goal Sunday takes place on the same day at 42 sites in Indiana.
• College Goal Sunday is a program "that helps college-bound Indiana students, who qualify for undergraduate admission to a college or technical school in 2016 and their families to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). College Goal Sunday provides on-site help from financial aid experts, primarily from Indiana colleges and universities."
• College Goal Sunday is free to users because of its funders and supporters, including the Lilly Endowment, NCAN and several state agencies. Neither Jeff Gahan's nor the City of New Albany's name appears. Cue Gomer Pyle: "Surprise, surprise, surprise."
• College Goal Sunday makes use of volunteers, including "semi-experts to help the experts." This sounds like a job for the Board of Works, so long as members are obliged to spend the previous evening in a Holiday Inn Express.

This insistence on the part of Gahan's to be viewed as the leading force, the source of guidance, the originator of wisdom -- the genius of the flood plain -- it can be explained by insecurity, right?

I mean, does anyone really believe it?

'Cept for Elena, of course.

Amid the local intellectual carnage, it's worth thinking about George Orwell's fundamental truthfulness.

The embedded video, complete with photo of George Orwell wearing a bizarre Hitler mustache, features Christopher Hitchens and George Packer, circa 2009.

George Packer and Christopher Hitchens talked about George Orwell and his work. Mr. Packer selected the pieces that appear in two recently published volumes of George Orwell’s work: Facing Unpleasant Facts and All Art Is Propaganda. Mr. Hitchens, essayist for The Atlantic Monthly, is the author of Why Orwell Matters.

Hitchens and Packer manage to stay on task for most of the program, though things start coming off the rails near the end, when Hitchens indulges in Iraq War apologetics. Overall, it's a thought-provoking hour with two erudite men.

At YouTube, there is a five-part BBC Arena series on Orwell's life. The segments are just shy of an hour, each. It's a bit dated, but invaluable for the testimony of interviewees now long dead.

Part 1 - Such, Such Were the Joys

Part 2 - Road to Wigan Pier

Part 3 Homage to Catalonia

Part 4 The Lion and the Unicorn

Part 5 Nineteen Eighty Four

Finally, here's something I wrote back in February, 2010: New York Times: "Why Orwell Endures." 

It strikes me as the stuff of wretched cosmic injustice that while Orwell and Hitchens died far too young, Sarah Palin remains a recurring part of our lives.

Thanks, Donald.

---

A collection of George Orwell’s essays proved to be the surprise reading hit of my Christmas vacation. I picked it up at the library book sale, and tossed in the carry-on bag as an afterthought. It's a good thing I did, seeing as the remainder of my magazines and books were stowed in delayed luggage.

Essay topics in the ancient paperback, which became shredded into unbound pages soon after opening, ranged from memories of shooting a rampaging elephant while posted as a policeman in Burma to researching the origins of bawdy English postcards. Orwell wrote not only of lofty topics such as his service for the Republic during the Spanish Civil War, but also described in excruciating detail his recollections of boyhood boarding school days, experiences so quintessentially English that they might be lampooned by the likes of Monty Python without we Americans never really imagining the real-life sources.

As a piece in today’s New York Times makes clear, Orwell may not have been right 100% of the time, but his pursuit of truth and unwavering intellectual honesty remains noteworthy by comparison to many of his ideologically compromised peers. As fairy tale life in Sarah Palin’s Amerika reminds us, they are qualities worth cherishing.

Secret City Hall memo revelation: Jeffersonville's "auto moratorium" is New Albany's golden ... shower.

January 26, 2016

Dear Mayor Gahan

Yo -- now HERE's what I've been talking about. 

Those eggheads over in Jeff must be reading Gillenwater's blog posts (not that I ever read, those things, I hope you know that) and they want to chase the auto businesses off 10th Street. 

Well, here it is, on a silver platter for us -- we're talking JOBS at auto parts stores and parking lots, all up and down Spring Street because heck, that's the first place they see crossing that creek from another county like I do every day, and I bet ol' smarty-pants Speck never even THOUGHT about us swooping in and stealing those JOBS from Mike Moore. 

Pillsbury, Schmillsbury -- and heck, they don't need fiber optic to warehouse school buses or sell you some car wax, do they? 

We need to get Redevelopment right on this, TIF out some big league incentives, and start leveling some of those so-called historic houses along Spring Street  -- that councilman's on payroll, right? Shit, we don't even need Coffey for this one.

I'll show 'em complete streets. I mean, WE will. 

Respectfully,

D Duggins, Dog Park Coordinator 

---

They just write themselves, folks.

Jeffersonville City Council considers auto moratorium, by Elizabeth Beilman (Dutch Lane Plain Dealer)

JEFFERSONVILLE — With 10th Street revitalization in mind, the Jeffersonville City Council initiated the first steps in passing a six-month moratorium on all new and expanding automotive businesses throughout the city ...

 ... The ordinance states that "auto related uses are being expanded and new auto related uses are locating throughout the 10th Street corridor which are not consistent with the city's comprehensive plan ..."

The new planning and zoning director has said he would like 10th Street to attract more sit-down restaurants, entertainment businesses and other uses that would make the street a destination.

Grooms musters meaningless rearguard legislative feint, says he tried really hard to undo the bridge tolling damage he supported all along.

It's all about appearances, now and always.

Senator Grooms was a ceaseless, persistent and utterly tireless supporter of the Ohio River Bridges Project, ignoring all questions and testimony about the deleterious effects of tolling on Southern Indiana residents and businesses, right up until the detestable boondoggle was signed, sealed and artfully applied to his constituents via Kerry Stemler's preferred political method (which occurred to him when he underwent a colonoscopy with failed anesthetic), and then -- only then -- did Silent Ron, who in 2015 just as enthusiastically vamped as one of the GOP's homespun Heroes of RFRA, finally conclude that some toll "relief" posturing was necessary.

In 2012:

Groggily, belatedly ... but finally, Senator Grooms begins to fathom the toll of bridge tolling.

... “After careful review of the recently released economic impact study on the Ohio River Bridges Project, I am still primarily concerned with the burden to Indiana taxpayers and worry that the proposed tolls will put undue financial strain on the people the project is designed to help,” said Indiana Sen. Ron Grooms, R-Jeffersonville, in a statement released last week. “It is important to look at every option available to lessen the financial burden southeast Indiana residents will face, either with some type of individual tax credit or one for employers who are willing to pay employee tolls.”

And then in 2014:

Today's truthful moment: "Bridge tolls will devastate Indiana businesses, owner says."

... And then there's Ron Grooms, who said and did nothing until nothing could be done or said, and only at a dog-won't-hunt point far beyond tactical usefulness finally opened his eyes to the issues and heroically spoke out to mostly empty rooms. Posterity won't be kind. Meanwhile, the rest of us search for survival strategies.

Now, in 2016, Grooms does his homework by cribbing a Wikipedia article.

How stupid does he think we are?

Oops. Let's be more accurate.

How stupid are we?

Lawmaker: Bills seeking tax relief for Hoosiers using Ohio River toll bridges dead for 2016, by Marcus Green (WDRB)

... Federal data indicates that Southern Indiana residents who travel to jobs and school in Louisville will bear most of the toll burden. About three times as many Clark County residents commute to Louisville for work than do people who head in the opposite direction, according to Census estimates released last year.

Community wealth: Seven strikes and Break Wind's out.

That embarrassing moment when you realize ...

7 Paths to Development That Bring Neighborhoods Wealth, Not Gentrification, by Marjorie Kelly and Sarah McKinley (Yes! Magazine)

In cities across the nation, a few enjoy rising affluence while many struggle to get by.

An August 2015 study by The Century Foundation reported that—after a dramatic decline in concentrated poverty between 1990 and 2000—poverty has since reconcentrated. Nationwide, the number of people living in high-poverty ghettos and slums has nearly doubled since 2000. This situation is created in part by the practices of traditional economic development, which prioritize corporate subsidy after corporate subsidy over the needs of the local economy. Current trends threaten to worsen, unless we can answer the design challenge before us.

Can we create an economic system—beginning at the local level—that builds the wealth and prosperity of everyone?

 ... that in New Albany, we're nowhere close to any of these seven paths, because ...

1. Place
2. Ownership
3. Multipliers
4. Collaboration
5. Inclusion
6. Workforce
7. System

 ... taking them -- even considering such directional heresies -- would devolve control away from the big fish in their little ponds. Still, the article is recommended. They have their Disney fetish, and I have hopeful things like this.

Further notice: Southern Indiana Equality's next meeting is January 28 at the Roadhouse.

Here's a reminder that Southern Indiana Equality's next meeting is January 28 at the Roadhouse. That's Thursday.

Southern Indiana Equality will be holding their 1st quarter meeting at 7:00 pm on January 28th. It will be held in the upstairs room at The New Albany Roadhouse.

New Albany Roadhouse
1706 Graybrook Lane
New Albany, Indiana 47150

We are proud to welcome representatives from Freedom Indiana as well as Indiana Competes to discuss the new legislative session. This will be a full community meeting where questions can be answered and the future of Indiana equality will be discussed.

Food and drinks will be available for purchase.

Southern Indiana Equality is a good place to monitor Indiana's legislative foibles -- and there are many. Relevant links:

Southern Indiana Equality
Freedom Indiana
Indiana Competes

Streets for People, a Louisville initiative, to focus on complete streets.

It really isn't a city seal. Those cars really aren't moving fast. But really, we're going to do something really soon.

Bicycling for Louisville to launch Streets for People, a new advocacy project aimed at improving roads, by Sara Havens (Insider Louisville)

... Chris Glasser, executive director of B4L, said in a press release that Streets for People will focus on “complete streets,” which includes designing roadways to be comfortable and convenient for all users in all modes of transportation. A few ways to achieve this is to convert one-way streets to two-way, improve the transit experience for TARC riders, increase pedestrian access and safety, and add bike lanes when safe and appropriate.

“We’d like to see traffic calmed while increasing access for everyone,” said Glasser. “That’s what Streets for People is all about. Traffic engineers tend to design roadways to move cars as quickly as possible from point A to point B, at the expense of making the roadway a pleasant environment for people.”

Will the institution of Happy Hour return to Hoosier shores?

I was in my early twenties when Indiana banned the promotional practice of happy hours (alcoholic beverage discounts predicated on time of day) and also favoritism in pricing (i.e., ladies night).

Since then, it's been "Happy Day or Bust." If an establishment is advertising dollar longnecks during the UFC bout, the same price must be charged for as long as the bar is open on that particular business day.

Might this be about to change?

Indiana bill would bring back happy hour, at the Indianapolis Star

Justin Mack and IndyStar beverage reporter Amy Haneline talk about pending legislation that would remove the state's ban on happy hour.

As I've pointed out on numerous occasions, the Republican Party in Indiana, while monolithic, has its bizarre familial quirks. Among them are differences in outlook, albeit generally muted for public consumption, between the party's Rand Paul wing of wide open libertarian deregulation, and purely theocratic elements which would happily remove all vestiges of secular government at the drop of a holy book.

These camps seem to take turns calling the tune, and yet it's hard for me to imagine the happy hour ban being reversed. Apart from the religious-based prohibitionists, there will be significant opposition on the opposite side of the aisle from the same tired health fascists -- plus, some semblance of Mothers Against Drunk Drivers still exists, and I remember all too well its clout when lobbying for the ban the first time around. MADD has descended into parody in recent years, though it remains feisty.

A base, happy hour doesn't strike me as sufficiently important to get tourism and economic development lobbies involved; besides, they're still busy trying to soften the impact of the RFRA fatwa.

Back when the happy hour ban first took effect, I immediately lost interest in Indiana University basketball. The Tumbleweed in New Albany had a game night promotion involving "dee-fense, dee-fense": If IU held the opposition to less than 60 points, there followed an hour of 2-for-1 well drinks after the final whistle. So much for that.

In hindsight, it's regrettable that food-based happy hours never really caught on. We used to go to the long defunct Chi Chi's in Clarksville for happy hour margaritas, and when the law changed, the restaurant had a cheap food buffet instead. The cost to the consumer worked out about the same, and as a trencherman, I like it, but evidently there was no traction.

Mapping the United States of Happy Hours, by Aarian Marshall (City Lab)

Some cities are straight-up bacchanalian. Others, not so much ... why are the laws so different in different cities? Many bans were implemented in the 1980s when citizen groups led by Mothers Against Drunk Driving presented state legislatures with some scary statistics.

Crawford: "Why the water situation in Flint should matter to us all."

As a friend remarked: "Has anyone thought to have the water tested in a few different places in New Albany? Our plumbing is older than Flint's."

That's so cynical. After all, we have something Flint doesn't, an veritable ace in the hole sure to reassure you: Indiana American Water.

Yep.

Kudos to Eric Crawford for this essay. On Facebook, I made a remark that might be construed as patronizing, to the effect that whenever sportswriters actually address important issues, we must congratulate them. This sentiment might have been phrased more elegantly, but I stick by it. Perhaps I'm jaundiced, having seen so many local sportswriters unable to grasp reality outside the games. By any standard, Crawford succeeds here.

CRAWFORD COMMENTARY | Why the water situation in Flint should matter to us all, by Eric Crawford (WDRB)

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The water turned to poison in Flint, Michigan, and why should the rest of us care?

It’s not our water. It’s just another tale of government incompetence at best, apathy or dishonesty at worst. And we’ve grown all too accustomed to that. We all have our own tales, no matter what corner of the country we come from.

But here’s why I think it should matter to us. It’s yet another example of a widespread trend in this country.

Video Jeff: We hired a study, not an engineer named Speck, 'cuz we want to be, uh, "a great place to be safe" -- and there'll be announcements soon, so WATER PARK.

On Friday, we endured the pure verbal pain of the Genius of the Flood Plain, especially this amazing head-scratcher.

#Gahansafe: In which it is revealed that quality of life is experience of living.

"We started down the road of talking about quality of life, but what we're really talking about, uh, is the quality of ... of ... of the experience of living in New Albany."

Winston Churchill he ain't, but let's look a bit more closely at Jeff Gahan's street grid remarks, beginning at the 2:05 mark of his monthly propaganda video: New Albany Now January 2016.

“The residential experience is really important. Those folks that want to live downtown and walk downtown and feel safe, you’ll see us begin to make those changes to make New Albany, again, a great place to be safe and to walk and more pedestrian friendly. You’ll also see, uh, some opportunities for bike, bicycling downtown that you haven’t seen before, so it’ll be more bike lanes. We’ve been talking about a conversion from one way to two-way streets – hired a, a study to kind of give us some recommendations on what we should do with the one way and two way streets. I expect we’ll that have some announcements soon on some changes that we’ll be making on the grid system.”

Is your two-way confidence inspired yet?

Those among us who walk understand that Team Gahan does nothing on a daily basis to indicate any comprehension of urban walkability, although at some point, he'll snap his fingers, pull a few design component s out of context, spend too much on builders so as to guarantee a fresh round of campaign donations, erect a flaccid plaque, slap an anchor seal on it, and declare heroic victory -- whether any of the fundamental conditions necessary for genuine success change, or not.

It's what happens when the imaginary world of Walt Disney collides with our nation's C-minus (or worse) student "leaders."

Speck's plan is entirely doomed, isn't it? Recall that far from providing a few stray recommendations, it offered a comprehensive, inter-connected playbook. What are the odds that Warren Nash hasn't read it all the way through, a full year after publication?

As the late Glenn Frey once noted, you can't hide those lying eyes -- even behind mangled syntax.

Top-shelf everything: The Exchange pub + kitchen's Old Forester Single Barrel Selection dinner.

Let me be the first to thank Steve Coomes for taking a photograph that makes me look so young. It's the auto-airbrush feature, right?

The occasion was The Exchange pub + kitchen's Old Forester Single Barrel Selection dinner on Thursday night, and a better excuse for skipping a city council meeting hasn't come along in quite a while.

Seeing as Steve somehow endures this sort of frivolity while making a living as a food and drink writer, we'll cite his coverage at Insider Louisville.

Thursday: To celebrate being the first Indiana restaurant to receive a private barrel bottling from Old Forester, The Exchange Pub + Kitchen hosted a special dinner for about 50 guests who — again — included some press, fans of the restaurant and fortunate hangers-on. Co-owner Ian Hall said the scramble to reserve those seats was so instant that another Old Forester dinner has been scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 28, at 6 p.m. (Call 812-948-6501 if you want to go) ...

... As you’d expect, the four-course menu featured tastes of the Exchange’s private barrel selection, in addition to cocktails and foods flavored with the historic bourbon. Featured guest and Old Forester master distiller Chris Morris talked about the selection process and the flavor individuality of each barrel selection.

Speaking for myself, it was a first-rate experience. The world of spirits remains lesser known territory for me, and although we inhabit a golden age of bourbon, almost all of it slips blissfully past me. Having acknowledged this, if bourbon always tasted as satisfying as Exchange's single barrel cull, I'd sip it more often. Thanks to Ian, Nikki and The Exchange's efficient, professional staff for a great evening.