Open thread: Mayor says sell Baptist Tabernacle and Shrader Stable.

New Albany Mayor Doug England wants to sell church, stable sites, by Daniel Suddeath (The Tribune).

Mayor Doug England is asking the New Albany Redevelopment Commission to make the Baptist Tabernacle building available to private ownership interests today...

England is also requesting the historic Shrader Stable property — finished in 1875 — along Main Street be sold. The administration would like to develop stringent guidelines as to who can purchase the Tabernacle and Stable sites.

What's the best outcome? Tightly controlled development that seeks to protect the historic integrity and prime locations of the sites or undefined rehab and fixing the Tabernacle roof as Dan Coffey suggests? Or should the City sell them now at all?

Talk about changing perceptions: Cleveland's District of Design

Forty years ago, the Cuyahoga River that cuts through the heart of Cleveland caught on fire for the thirteenth time. Yesterday, I mentioned to a coworker that Mrs. bluegill and I might be headed that direction soon to visit friends. Less than impressed, my coworker only curtailed her explanation of how awful Cleveland is when I explained that she actually knew the friends we're going to visit. "Well," she said, "if you're going to see them."

Dates and plans are yet to be finalized but we will, in fact, be going to see them. Lots of them. Despite Cleveland's decades-long reputation for nastiness, somebody was smart enough to recognize its assets AND to formally announce a collaborative plan to capitalize on them in an effort to attract like-minded people.

We are those people.

The high-level objective of the District of Design Project is to define Cleveland as the product design capital of the US…the Milan of the Midwest.

Fostering a culture that values design and innovation is critical to this project and three key elements are critical to this effort: 1) creating a definable heart to the design community, 2) improving our ability to manage the creative process, and 3) raising awareness.

The District of Design takes the first step in fostering a design culture. The district is a concentrated area of Downtown Cleveland that is comprised of wholesale consumer product showrooms, design studios and the infrastructure to support world-class design and product development.

Northeast Ohio possesses many of the key ingredients to be a leader in design and innovation. By fostering a design culture, drawing on regional assets and capitalizing on the increasing design awareness, the region can position itself as a long-term leader in design and innovation. This emphasis will result in top-line revenue growth that will strengthen the regional economy.



So, regardless of how far along they actually are in realizing their vision, sometime in the near future we'll be spending time and money in the blocks above looking to find not only innovative design or redevelopment strategies to steal but little bits of ourselves as well. It's almost as if we want to identify with something and they know it.

Agreed upon message : Identified target : Intended result : Shazam.

NABC's brewery arrives on site!

Our (recent) History New Albany: Quality of Life Has Improved.

Our History New Albany scribe Ted Fulmore used weekend events as impetus for a brief then and now comparison, looking at the past few years through clearly focused lenses:

Local activists focus on the current and in many cases the ugly issues. Seldom do we take the time to look back and appreciate just how much progress has been made. We don’t do a good job of defining the outcomes desired either. I will endeavor to help change that.

As I related to a large group of people recently, the quality of life here has improved here. While I have no data to support this, I do believe the image for the area is changing in a positive way. And this is being done without any coordinated strategy whatsoever. Just imagine if we tried?

Perspective from 2005, Downtown New Albany

Well stated, Ted. While there's certainly much work left to be done, there's scant doubt its worth (and ours) will be measured in the achievement of positive outcomes rather than the persistence of woebegone wails.

Perhaps readers can lend some perspective of their own. Why is it so difficult for some to see the improvements that have already taken place? Why is it so daunting to state what we want?

Open thread: Whither the NA Country Club?

NAC readers are expected to be outdoors today, enjoying the reintroduction of the sun. Some may even be playing golf.

Chris Morris reports, and the Tribune headline says it all:

New Albany Country Club could be sold at sheriff’s sale

Ideally, what is the best outcome? Personally, golf means nothing to me, and my best case scenario would be an expansive, urban public park.

Your opinion?

Even the "Father of Europe" is expected to play by the rules.

Perhaps a marquee posting will help make the point. "Remembercharlemagne," please take note.

NA Confidential believes in a higher bar than is customary in the blogosphere, and follows a disclosure policy with respect to reader comments.

First, you must be registered with blogger.com according to the procedures specified. This is required not as a means of directing traffic to blogger.com, but to reduce the lamentable instances of flaming and personal attacks on the part of the anonymous.

Second, although pen names are perfectly acceptable, senior editor Roger A. Baylor must be informed of your identity, and according to your preference, it will be kept confidential.

My record of preserving confidentiality is unimpeachable. Our disclosure policy is simple, fair, and enforced without exception. It is like a condom helpfully preventing the spread of anonymous malice, which we abhor.

To reiterate, I must know your identity for you to post comments here, so please comply, or I will be compelled to delete all future comments from you.

I've said "please" twice, and now say "thank you." There will be no further warnings.

Broken Sidewalk asks: Another bar business start-up in downtown NA?

The C-J scooped the Tribune on Wick's, and the Broken Sidewalk blog scoops all of us with this story:

Retail Watch: New Albany Preparing Another Downtown Bar

Someone, somwhere was telling me something about this, but I don't remember what it was.

Anyone know what's going into the buildings on Main ... and is there an update on Toast on Market?

Congratulations to Mrs. Baylor.

The missus has graduated from Kent School (U of L) with a master's degree in social work. Commencement begins in an hour.

Good work, chickster!

C-J sez: "Wick's Pizza is expanding to New Albany."

I've recently toyed with breaking this story, and decided in the end to wait for the "official" announcement, local media-style.

Wick's Pizza is expanding to New Albany, by Grace Schneider (Courier-Journal).

Wick's Pizza Inc., a locally owned chain in Louisville, is preparing to open a restaurant in downtown New Albany.

The store, the fifth Wick's location, is expected to open by late July at 225 State St., the former location of Speakeasy, a restaurant and live jazz club.

It's big, all right. Whether you like Wick's Pizza Parlor & Pub or not, there's no disputing the company's iconic Louisville status. To many people, Wick's epitomizes the Highlands (its original location) and is significant in a way that chain-mad Bearno's or Joe's OK Bayou simply are not. Iconic Louisville businesses tend not to come to New Albany. This is groundbreaking, indeed.

This announcement is wonderful, but it doesn't come without red flags. I hope to see the Highlands vibe, not the atmosphere cultivated at the Wick's location on Dixie Highway, with its Ms. Miller Lite bikini contests, karaoke and fight club promos. One does what one must do to survive. Let's hope that survival in New Albany can be achieved along a, er, higher road.

Make no mistake: I'm for Wick's being downtown.

I look forward to selling them beer. And, as IAH noted earlier today, the owners of Wick's noticed all those people congregating around the YMCA, a observation that puts the lie (as if we needed more proof) to the persistent troglodyte urban legend that the Y itself could not draw people downtown.

Private investment is doing its part. Now, the city needs to do its part: Two-way streets, repaving, and infrastructure investments. It's a partnership, Erika. That's the way it works in places that are functional. Perhaps it might yet work here, council permitting.

New stuff.

I’m pumped.

There’s a masters degree graduation today, we’re expecting a bouncing baby brewery to be installed during the remainder of May, and now the Manic Street Preachers have a new album due out in less than two weeks. It’s called “Journal for Plague Lovers,” and will be the third album of original material the Manics have released since D and I moved into the house where we now live in 2003.

That’s one way I measure such things.

It’s been a great year for new music of the sort that I prefer. Recent releases by Gomez, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Doves and Fastball have been in heavy rotation, supplanting U2’s “No Line on the Horizon,” which took me through late March and early April.

New grads, new music, new brewing equipment, new winery down the street, new thrills in the NBA playoffs, a new baseball season, and best of all, a new holiday excursion coming soon. I’m pumped.

All that stuff about new hope in springtime might amount to something, after all.

Saturday morning downtown: Gym, Gems, and “Guice.”

(Submitted)

----

Gym, Gems, and “Guice” seen together only on a walking tour of historic downtown New Albany

On May 9, 11 AM, meet at the new YMCA, 33 State Street, New Albany, to participate in a tour of the “Gems” of Pearl Street. This exclusive tour, based on the year-old guide to historic downtown New Albany, not only browses the facades of the wonderful buildings.

Participants explore the inside of the old Fashion Shop at 213 Pearl, the White House Centre at 222 Pearl, and the old Kresge Building at the corner of Pearl and Market. It’s the opportunity for the curious to see how the Fashion Shop and the Kresge Building have evolved since they’ve been closed to the public. The tour ends at River City Winery, the historic Baer Building, where participants sample “Guice,” exclusively named for this event.

With the tour ending at noon, participants can visit the Farmers Market, open 8 AM–1 PM, at the corner of Bank and Market, and downtown merchants during the First Saturday event, 10 AM–5 PM.) Floyd County Historian David Barksdale, leads the tour, which is free and open to the public.

This event is co-sponsored by New Albany Historic Preservation Commission, Develop New Albany, and Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana.

Submitted by the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana

Development, intervention -- what to write, what not to write.

One passage struck home in this balanced review of what sounds like a must-read for me at some point in the near future.

Bright Continent: 'Africa - Altered States, Ordinary Miracles,' by Nicholas Kristof, New York Times book review

... I’ve thought a good deal about these issues, partly because I’m often a purveyor of columns about war and disaster in Africa, from Darfur to Congo to AIDS in southern Africa. And frankly, it’s discomfiting to feel that I’m helping Africa by exposing such catastrophes, and then have African leaders complain — as they do — that such reporting undermines their access to foreign investment and their ability to expand their economies and overcome poverty.

It's a variation of the theme we grapple with here in New Albany. Do we continue explicating the insanity of what doesn't work right and risk losing the positives, thus scaring away people we're trying to attract?

But don't those people deserve to know what they're getting into before committing to the investment?

Ladd: Community Development Course and Tribune column.

From Mike Ladd, Executive Director of the New Albany Urban Enterprise Association, comes this notification of interest to more than a few readers:

There are so many people interested in community development in New Albany, I thought you might like to post this: Community Development Course at Ball State University, June 1 - 3. They'll need to get registered fast. I'm going to try to go.

Mike also had a column in the Tribune on Tuesday:

Mike Ladd offers New Albany ideas for using EDIT funds

Models abound across Indiana for the successful use of EDIT funds. Why not consider borrowing one or more of those models and implementing them here?

Don't worry, Mike. NAC can help clear up your confusion.

If the question is "why not?", the answer is easy: Because destructive, short-sighted city council/Coffey/reactionary politics comes first -- always and forever.

That's why not.

Old and new at River City Winery and Bank Street Brewhouse.

Seeing the breathtaking renovation of the River City Winery on Tuesday had the curious effect of enhancing my confidence that the modernistic approach we've taken at the Bank Street Brewhouse was the proper way to go. A winery and a brewery, two radically different design ideas, and a city block separating the two.

Q: That's progress, don't you think?

A: Yes, unless you're a conjoined councilman.

Taking extreme caution not to be too self-promotional, here are three recent postings at my beer blog that show our recent progress toward the exterior build-out. With the walk-in and grain room almost finished, and pieces of the brewhouse beginning to arrive, the current aim is to finish the outdoor seating area on the north side of the building as soon as humanly possible. As always, thanks go to Mose Putney and the saintly crew of Resch Construction.

Bank Street Brewhouse: Modified outdoor seating plans.

Bank Street Brewhouse walk-in update.

The grain room at Bank Street Brewhouse.

Beer money: "Down low camp meeting," today's Tribune column.

Earlier in the week, the transgendered faux professor announced a grand victory for the "little people": LITTLE PEOPLE ~ WIN AGAIN...

It seemed like a good time to consider the ongoing phenomenon of the wee ones, which not unexpectedly is far smaller than their hype would have us believe, and so I wrote about it in today's Tribune column.

Beginning today, I'm beginning to introduce to the newspaper's readers those satirical characters and situations developed over the past few years at NAC. It's the direction I've wanted to go all along, and the result should be a parallel universe ripe for the plucking.

This is going to be fun. Enjoy.

BAYLOR: Down low camp meeting

When I saw the little people dressed in their Sunday finest, marching single file through the pet door into the crawl space below the Luddite Bar & Grill, I knew something was up and that bigger guys like me weren’t likely to be on the approved invitation list.

Lots about urban bicycling at Broken Sidewalk.

It's a very good piece, and required reading if you take you bike on the street.

Bikes Follow The Laws, Laws Follow The Bikes, from the Broken Sidewalk blog.

More from The Ville Voice's Rick Redding about the accident prompting the preceding: Irony in Bike Accident.

Mayor fesses up.

Mayor cleans up after bet, by Ben Zion Hershberg (Courier-Journal)

Visitors to Jeffersonville’s City Hall this morning weren’t seeing things — New Albany Mayor Doug England was, in fact, driving a Jeffersonville street sweeper around the building.

(photos leaked to NAC by Sometimesdeeperthandeepthroateverwas)

Yesterday's "First Tuesday" event and a chance to visit the River City Winery.

Yesterday was the monthly "First Tuesday" mixer, co-hosted by Develop New Albany and the River City Winery. The photo above was taken by Ted Fulmore, and to view more, click here. I was busy dodging paparazzi determined to catch me in the act of drinking something other than beer, which turned out to be a dryish Cabernet/Merlot blend.

The building renovation is nothing short of amazing, and the winery crew was busy bottling and applying labels downstairs as the event took place at ground level. I gleaned that there will be limited evening hours for wine tastings only beginning immediately, with food to follow later this summer (late July or August).

River City Winery website

Open thread: Preserving the building that housed Emery's Ice Cream Shop.

When this issue arose, there was a spirited e-mail dialogue among the board members of Develop New Albany. My personal opinion is that the money would be better spent elsewhere, because a closer examination of pleasant memories and nostalgia would reveal an attachment to operating family and its product, not the building itself. That's my view. Yours?

Emery's Ice Cream Shop: Demolition of old New Albany ice cream shop is frozen; Preservationists hope to move longtime New Albany fixture, by Harold J. Adams (Courier-Journal).

So Renn got a demolition permit from the city and started to tear apart the former ice cream shop early last month. He began with ripping off part of the roof one evening and then took a break.

That turned out to be a lucky break for the building -- maybe.

The next morning, an employee of the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana was driving by and spotted the gaping hole in the roof and a Bobcat loader next to the building. She realized that a symbol of countless area memories was about to disappear.

Genever for breakfast: "Going Dutch."

Encouragement for a Tuesday morning comes from the Sunday NYT magazine. Perhaps if we're fortunate, we can catch HB on break from his daily Obama bashing and elicit a comment or two.

Going Dutch, by Russell Shorto (New York Times Magazine, April 29, 2009)

But to ponder relative tax rates is only to trace the surface of a deeper story. In fact, as my time abroad has coincided with the crumpling of basic elements of the American economic and social systems, and as politicians, commentators and ordinary Americans have cast about for remedies or potential new models, I have found myself not only giving the Dutch system a personal test drive but also wondering whether some form of it could be adopted by my country.

One subtext of the World Economic Forum at Davos in January was the question of whether, amid the derailing of American-style capitalism as we have known it, the European approach, which marries capitalism and social welfare, and which in times of economic crisis seems to offer more stability both to individuals and to society, could suit the United States.