Caption contest: What Otis said.

We've heard about CM Price's recent bout of Mayberry-envy, which included a reference to today's police being too harsh on those unfortunates nabbed for public intoxication, but in the composite photo above, what is Otis saying in response?

Submit your entries as a comment. The senior editor chooses the winner, and the grand prize is a Progressive Pint at the Bank Street Brewhouse.

Well, it's not as bad as the last time we heard from a downtown antique dealer.

The letter below appeared in LEO last week. I missed it then, but the comments came up again in a conversation with Cary Stemle earlier in the week, and I consulted the on-line archives for a copy.

Forgotten Antiques

I was just reading the June 17 LEO Weekly and was surprised to see the buildings of downtown New Albany featured. I was quite happy to see my building on the front of the magazine. However, I was quite disappointed after reading the article that the only business on the block that was not mentioned was the Antique Shop at 145 E. Market St.

Since Cary Stemle made it quite apparent that he did his homework about the businesses on the block that were no longer, let me add updated info that Mr. Stemle did not seem to obtain. First of all, the Little Chef Diner is currently closed. Second, the Antique Shop has survived through many other businesses in the downtown area that have failed. That shop is the second oldest business on the block still open.

A downtown revitalization needs more than bars and restaurants to survive. We bring in people from many different states for the quality of our merchandise. We have been a vital part of the rinse and repeat of downtown New Albany and would like to take this opportunity to express our distaste for your magazine and lack of good reporting.

Ketrina Jones & David P. Scott, Antiques Attic (145 E. Market St., New Albany)

I understand feeling disappointed, but sorry, my only thought is: "You're soooo missing the point here."

Our metro alternative weekly finally catches wind of us and does a COVER STORY on New Albany, and what is useful about it isn't a line item calculation of who was mentioned and who was not; rather, it is the article fostering the positive notion that people should come to downtown New Albany and investigate the scene.

Not only is it inaccurate to suggest that Cary's failure to list every business located downtown constitutes bad reporting, it's plainly irrelevant, and more detrimentally, it plays into the single worst problem we have among business owners downtown: An absence of cooperation in collectively marketing the area. I wrote about this recently, suggesting ...

It isn’t about a single restaurant or bar downtown marketing itself to attract customers, although this remains a factor. Rather, it’s about jointly marketing the extended historic downtown business district as a destination in and of itself. To paraphrase the imbibing Founder, those of us in the food and drink business will succeed together, or fail separately.

If any business owner downtown feels that it's all about his or her own business and not about the climate of the extended area, there'll be a limit to what downtown can do. LEO's article was a gift extended in our general direction.

For heaven's sake, why spit on the platter?

Praise the Lord and pass on the left.

Classic letter to the editor in today's LEO.

Hoosier Driver?

I have an observation I would like to share with your readers — or maybe a challenge. The next time some bonehead cuts you off in traffic, take a second and eye their license plate. If it is from Indiana, note if it is an “In God We Trust” plate. In the past two years, I have found a nearly 1:1 correlation between bad Indiana drivers and those license plates. Now, I realize correlations do not denote causation. However, when I see a Hoosier on the road sporting this telltale insignia, I tend to anticipate them doing something really stupid. Maybe they should let their co-pilot drive.

Michael R. Coburn, Speed, Ind.

---

At the (perhaps) reviving New Albany Bicycle Coalition blog, Debbie's been approaching this story from a different, two-wheeled angle. She explains it here: Should Bicyclists Trust God? An Experiment. Browse her more recent posts to see how the experiment is ... er, progressing.

---

We'd best leave ROCK's latest grandstanding out of it: ROCK sues Kentucky, legislators over license plate denial.

Small wonder that the group's chosen dictator is a lawyer, eh?

Congratulations! You've won. Click below to receive your free printable decal.

Flip flops and open-air footwear, how we get from here to nowhere.

City council recap, by Grace Schneider in the Courier-Journal:

… At its first reading, the panel voted 5-4 against an ordinance to back an additional appropriation of EDIT funds, or economic-development income tax money, for the hiring. The money is normally used to supplement the general fund ...

… Council member Bob Caesar, who'd voted on a resolution to support the hiring plan on June 18, said he decided to vote no this time over concerns about the city's tight budgets.

"I've just got to see some numbers before I vote on it," Caesar said.

With this comment, CM Caesar leaps feet first out of the closet and declares to the city that he’s a swinger -- specifically, the swing vote on this particular issue. With two readings remaining, proponents of the EDIT-for-police ordinance may freely target the 2nd district councilman with advice, persuasion and ardor.

How might those wishing to lobby this self-identified swing voter proceed?

Since Caesar wants to see numbers, show him numbers. Lots and lots of numbers: Phone books, spread sheets, personal bank statements, a prospectus or three, and the stack of Tommy Lancaster cocktail napkins dating to 1956 with the real, unadulterated sewer utility receipts scrawled in pencil.

But why all those messy napkins?

If any one secure point emerged from last evening’s grandstanding-laden scrum, it’s that every politician involved, whether executive or legislative in origin, agrees that the sewer utility is the proverbial cash cow that needs to be appropriated from EMC at the earliest legal maneuver.

Trouble is, not a one of them trusts any of the others to fondle the trophy first, for fear that some of the money will rub off. It's "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" -- make that "Treasure of the Sewage Treatment Plant" -- in living, New Albanian Techno-Color.

That said, pro-police lobbyists also need to ensure that they provide the final five phone calls to Caesar’s cellular just prior to the beginning of the next meeting … wait, sorry – that’s the chosen methodology of the 4th district’s Pat McLaughlin, not Caesar, but what the hell – it might work with Bob, too. Dressing up like Sheriff Taylor might help neutralize CM Steve "Mayberry Reverie" Price, but I doubt it. He's pickin' ... and no one's grinnin'.

---

It couldn’t have helped city council attorney Stan Robison sleep last night to hear both Price and Caesar publicly concede that it’s the council’s responsibility for sewage and storm water invasions in the ‘burbs.

In the sense that numerous decisions at different times over long periods of years contribute to the way things are now, yes, then we’re all responsible for the present. In New Albany, it all adds up to a living heritage of penny-wise, pound-foolish, and sadly, this is the philosophy that returns politicians to office to make decisions in the same futile vein that come back to haunt future voters – who, in the main, don’t so much as blink before repeating the process.

Doing the same thing over and over while expecting a different outcome? That’s the popular definition of insanity. In New Albany, it's politics as usual.

Who’ll change his or her vote next time?

To learn this and other tales of the Open Air Museum, you'll have to heed the wisdom of Emerson, Lake and Palmer: "Come and see the show."

The next council meeting is on Thursday, July 16. By then, I hope to have secured the Coney dog and beer concession – if a sewer tap-in is still available.

Can someone just tell me who to pay?

City council postscript for July 6, 2009.

A-09-09 ($ from EDIT to the police department) defeated 5-4.

The first reading of A-09-09, an additional appropriation from EDIT to the police department to hire new officers, was defeated 5-4.

Previously, a resolution to do this passed 5-4. Changing his vote was 2nd district councilman Bob Caesar. He explained this to me afterward by saying that the reasoning behind a resolution is very different from the reasoning behind an ordinance, although he did not explain the difference.

No Caesar
No Price
No McLaughlin
Aye Benedetti
No Gahan
No Gonder
Aye Messer
Aye Zurschmiede
Aye Coffey

Fails to pass on first reading, 5-4 against. 2nd and 3rd readings next time.

I'm having a beer now.

Live blogging (4): Mayor's bravura performance ends, so it's on to business, and police funding.

Gahan begins by publicly debating whether or not to pull the resolution. Says he will introduce his request alongside the mayor's (garbage rate fee increase) at the next meeting.

R-09-16 is pulled.

A-09-09 Additional appropriation from EDIT to the police department.

Gahan: Wait for the budget process.

Price: Concerned that we might not be able to make payroll. "Watch the money" right now.

Benedetti: Police manpower a necessity. After the annexation (if it happens), there won't be enough cops on the street.

England: Annexation on January 1.

Messer: What you don't see are the prospective retirements, which could be 20 people within the next few years. Have to begin replsnishing now.

Kevin Zurschmiede: Appreciates frankness all around. Real tough issue for him, but crime's a problem. Credits the police proposal for bringing the city back under control. We have to do it right now.

McLaughlin: Holds copy of the Holland (Michigan) Sentinal. Tells story about the fire department there. The firemen there recommended a pay freeze and cut for the next year. Their departments recognize the need for reductions. Expresses fear that if the council raises rates, he'll get more phone calls.

Benedetti now lectures Price on annexation. Price replies that we have to watch the money, because the annexation bonus might be a while in coming.

Coffey supports Messer (gasp) and says, "Jack's right." Bottom line is that the general fund will never have enough in it, which is why the other monies are used. Points to crime stats in Louisville as evidence that crime is out of control.

Price: "We need to do things like Andy used to do 'em." That's a direct, exact quote.

Gonder: A delay of 18 days until budget hearings won't hurt.

Both England and Benedetti pounce on this, as the budget hearing is for next year.

Benedetti: "Protect the public."

Coffey: "We don't want to address" crime?

Here's the vote. $1 million from EDIT for the police?

No Caesar (changed his vote since the resolution - he explains this to me afterward by saying that the reasoning behind a resolution is very different from the reasoning behind an ordinance)
No Price
No McLaughlin
Aye Benedetti
No Gahan
No Gonder
Aye Messer
Aye Zurschmiede
Aye Coffey

Fails to pass on first reading, 5-4 against. 2nd and 3rd readings next time.

G-09-13 Kemper Project ordinance (2nd and 3rd)
Unanimous both times; passes.

Mayor appeals to the council not to let the 5-4 vote sway them from working together.

Live sewage and stormwater blogging, version 3.0: Council members, city officials and the mayor weigh in.

Jeff Gahan thanks the residents for coming in tonight, and shows a few photos to accent his point. He seems to be trying to use the resolution as a means of calling attention to the problem.

Not knocking anyone, but these problems are getting worse. Wants a resolution for $75,000 to help alleviate distress, and knows it's a band-aid, but thinks it may not be enough ... city picked up branches after previous storms ... those were acts of God, too ... may not formally introduce the resolution, but may come back with a full ordinance.

Resolution is read aloud. Gahan is satisfied that the resolution will start a conversation. Be on the lookout for explanations and further action.

Bob Caesar (D-2nd): Agrees. So does Diane Benedetti, and Stan Robison looks like he's in very real pain.

Price: Short term things wouldn't cost much, like a hotline phone number, check things, talk to John Rosenburger (ROSENBARGER, Mr. Preece), and now he's in full grandstand and concedes the council is responsible, fgkfgkey, gfrkegfeygr, feyrgfkey, gfrakuegf ... back up valves ... insurance money ... won't be able to live there.

NOTE: Both Price and Caesar have conceded council responsibility for the situation because of previous rulings on development ... Stan is incredulous.

Gahan: People who make all these payments should not be told that it isn't the sewer system's problem.

Benedetti: Stormwater back in house, and she has been working diligently, and she will take up for the stormwater people ...

Gahan: Be aware of the patterns.

Coffey: Wants to move on to the mayor.

Doug England: "I'm not going to make a campaign speech."

Kudos to the retention pond idea, according to the mayor. Makes a Freudian slip, referring to Ethridge as "Eastridge." Supports the stormwater people.

England: This and previous councils are to blame because they will not risk unpopularity to actually charge for the changes that need to be made in the sewage system. Challenges the council: What's it going to cost? Says we'll now decide what it will take to make the repairs and changes needed. Finger wagging directly at the council. And, if no one want's to live in New Albany, how can development be the problem?

Facts: Dollars, dollars, dollars. Fix it all? We receive less each year than the year before. "Hate to tell you," but it's about money. Can't promise lies and tell stories. Came back from a better job and doesn't know why.

RARE FORM TONIGHT.

Council needs to decide. City has no control over the sewer lines, and disagrees with those who privatized it in the previous administration. Have to stand up and do something. If you want to fix something ... where's the money come from? EDIT's almost dry. Get the sewer and stormwater bills in line. None of you were sitting here when this problem started.

But what I came here for ...

England: Will bring an ordinance to the next city council meeting to raise the garbage collection. We pay $15.18, and charge $13.75. The difference comes from the sewer utility. Wants to raise it $5 to cover inflation. Now goes on another flight to decry the previous administration's privatization. Explains that the street department is too busy collecting trash exempt from the current collection contract to do street work. England wants to put streets and garbage where they belong.

England: Police here tonight. We're fighting for survival, because the federal stimulus money comes into Indianapolis, and then we don't get any of it.

Extols the riverfront during the 4th of July.

England: Speaks for Kemper, which is the ordinance coming up tonight for 2nd and 3rd readings. Wants to make a nice clean factory his legacy. Calls out Jeff Gahan in a humorous aside.

Coffey: Returns to drainage. Any studies done?

England: EMC has the only study. We haven't spent money because the city doesn;t control EMC.

Marinaro: In 2003.

Coffey: No masterplan. Need to see what we're dealing with.

Price: Joins the scrum against EMC's contract by grandstanding to the crowd about EMC's annual $3.5 million annual take.

Wants the garbage done, beginning next meeting. Addresses the citizens, departs.

Live blogging continues (2), as sewage yet again bubbles to the service in the 5th and 6th districts.

PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS TIME, continued.

The sewage/drainage issue in the 5th and 6th districts has appeared out of nowhere in light of the heavy rains in June.

4. Tom (didn't catch the name) (same neighborhood) - has been putting up with the water for a quarter-century, this time it was in his basement, too.

5. Peg - same answer as everyone else (act of God) and is concerned that the lift station was being repaired earlier in the week. Was it working properly? Her mom's basement was ruined. Valuable lost. Previously, her deceased father was told it wouldn't be necessary to use the sewer lock in longer. Looking for compensation owing to it being a closed system. Intends to petition the sewer board. Insurance getting hard to obtain for such. Why are they now in the flood plain (as of July 1).

Steve Price (D-3rd) asks about the back flow valves. Clarifies that to have turned the key would have removed the problem, and that it is attached to each house.

She explains the key apparatus. "Not the kind of thing" to be easily turned. Crowd starts to get out of hand, Coffey reigns 'em in. He's furiously calculating as the testimony unfolds.

6. Marilyn Shumate - Lynnwood Drive. Accustomed to flooding (5 times in three years) but this time water moved her backyard shed and ran it into a tree. Thinks a new unconnected drainage ditch is to blame. The problem is getting worse. She's been told, "there's no money for it."

Coffey: Previous administrations took control of sewers and stormwater from the council ("in their infinite wisdom"), thus fulfilling his need to grandstand. Blames this lack of control.

Marinaro: Spent $200,000 roughly in 2003.
Gahan: Can we read the resolution aloud (it wasn't made public)?
Coffey elaborates: "This mayor" has taken stormwater back "in house."

Confusing exchanges as everyone tries to get a word in simultaneously.

7. Randy Ryall - "Not much to complain," from Woodside Drive. Too busy sandbagging his door to take photos. There's been water since 1984, but now it's heading for his house. Could be a new house diagonally across from him. "Strange" that all these people are having the problem now.

8. Bobby Bauman - Mellwood Drive. Has a vacant lot across the way that is acting as a retention basin. If a house is built there, he suspects that there'll be flooding in his part of the neighborhood. "At times I have lakefront property."

9. Sonya Brummett - Awoke to sewage on the floor. Insurance covered $10,000, but still owes five. Never a problem in 19 years. Plumber told her that a valve cap in her house would send sewage into someone else's house. Understands the water, not the sewage. Had to temporarily send her mother to a nursing home.

Steve Price regales us with descriptions of a tort claim, but correctly points out that unchecked development is the culprit. It's hard to argue with that, really.

Coffey: "There's no one here from EMC, is there?"

Stan Robison (city attorney): Discourses on definitions of negligence ... attorneys will have to confer, but this is "a common sense problem" with the vendor (EMC) ... administration decides whether it's an act of negligence. Used to have meetings to discuss these claims, and will have to do it with these, too.

10. Bob Chism - Hollee Drive. Garage filled with runoff, and no one called him back. Wants a catch-all. How to get someone to come look? Has made previous repairs, but it can't handle the volume of runoff. Would like some help.

11. Paul Etheridge - State worker on Grant Line. Daughter's problem owes to clogging of pipes. City needs a sewer jet. We have city workers, and they need to do the job. No reason for these pipes to be clogged. Will try to do what he can to handle some of these things, but the maintenance workers have to unclog pipes!

12. LeAnna Humphrey - Elmwood. Has already done $30,000 of remodeling, now it's flooded again. Lives in the basement, so no alternative. Health ramifications are scary. He can be gotten to examine houses for healthiness? Commends police and fire departments. Elmwood floods every time.

Live blogging at the city council meeting, for no plausible reason at all.

Full house tonight for three fairly big things: EDIT funds for police, Kemper foods (2 & 3) and something new, a resolution sponsored by Jeff Gahan (D-6th) to use EDIT funds for flooding and storm damage.

Quick run-throughs of the usual preludes. CF-1 forms are advanced to the front. Dan Coffey (D-1st) explains to the gallery of many new faces that these approvals are formalities, although he does not use the term "rubber stamp."

PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS TIME

People evidently signed up on the wrong sheet, and Gahan makes the point that they're here for his resolution about sewers and drainage. This issue has appeared out of nowhere in light of the heavy rains in June. So, here goes ...

1. Cliff Staton - Had sewage in his basement on June 26th. Lost carpet and clean-up costs. Neighbors has worse. "Not an expert on sewage," but has lived here for a while. Insurance no longer pays for everything, and the response of officials that it is an "act of God" rings false in light of the damage done. Asks for the city to address the problem. Refers to city council as a "deliberative" body. Ooh.

City engineer (Marinaro?) describes the volume of rain, and flat concedes: "It's not designed to handle it, and it never will be." He's in a combative mood.

Pat McLaughlin (D-4th) asks him how old the neighborhood is. A give and take ensues, with the engineer asking why he didn't turn off his cut off, and the public member responding he wasn't at home at the time.

Others pass, citing Staton's testimony as sufficient.

2. Mike Smith - Never used to be a problem Jacobs Creek that runs through this neighborhood. Has talked to engineers about it. Thinks there is clogging.

3. Nathan Garvey - lives on Castlewood, massive damages. Staying with in-laws. Mostly stormwater in his case.

More to come ...

Comparing police staffing levels.

Due to the Fraternal Order of Police's current request for $1 million in EDIT revenue to temporarily fund an additional 10 officers and 2 crime scene investigators, there have been a lot of figures thrown around concerning proper police officer staffing levels.

Here's a look at some comparative numbers, taken from the FBI's 2007 Crime in the United States:

Officer staffing levels are most often shown as a ratio, the number of officers per 1,000 inhabitants.

New Albany: 1.8 officers per 1,000.

National (for cities with populations between 25,000 and 49,999): 1.8 officers per 1,000.

There are 806 cities reported in this category nationally. The largest group, 283 cities (35.1%), have staffing ranges between 1.5 and 2.0 officers per 1,000 inhabitants. The second largest group, 231 cities (28.7%), have staffing ranges between 1.1 and 1.5 officers per 1,000.

Midwest (for cities with populations between 25,000 and 49,999): 1.7 officers per 1,000.

Nine Indiana cities with populations between 30,000 and 40,000 were reported. They show a broad range of 49 to 114 officers employed. New Albany was reported as having 66 officers for 36,840 inhabitants. The two closest cities in population reported, Portage (36,701) and Richmond (37,129), show 58 and 77 officers employed, respectively.

Jeffersonville: 1.9 officers per 1,000.

Clarksville: 1.6 officers per 1,000.

Have at it.

Develop New Albany's "First Tuesday" at Precision Compounding Pharmacy, July 7.

Appetizers now available Wed. - Sat. at the River City Winery.

Gourmet pizza is coming soon, but not quite yet. There's a short appetizer menu (crab cakes, cheese plate, shrimp, Caesar salad) being served evenings from Wednesday through Saturday. I think the winery's open every day now, and of course, wine is pouring by the glass (bottles sold to go, too).

The winery's located at 321 Pearl Street in downtown New Albany. The phone number is (812) 945-9463, and in addition to wine and nibbles, you'll be awed by the interior and exterior remodeling work that was done in preparation for business.

Politics: Wiseheart is Republican, will ditch school board, challenge Sipes, emulate Sarah Palin.

The Tribune's web site makes no mention of a staffer for an article that's primarily a press release, anyway.

Wiseheart throws name in for Indiana Senate seat

“I really feel like this is a path that God has opened doors in areas [for me], and we can see where this is a calling for me in this time in our life,” Wiseheart said with her husband, Jim, and her friend and fellow board member, Rebecca Gardenour, sitting by her side.

At least we know who the next female mayoral candidate will be.

Meanwhile, I was following a golf cart down Main Street when a seemingly empty Chick-Fil-A bag tumbled off the back. Stopping to snag it and dispose of properly, I found these ketchup-smeared, Wiseheart for Senate platform notes protruding from it:

Jobs: Taking a cue from those nice, clean, private religious schools where God is still openly worshipped, all employed Hoosiers should wear uniforms. That way, it’s easier for us to spot the ones too lazy to work.

Education: In the interest of nickels and dimes, we must close Silver Street Elementary immediately so my previous board doesn’t have to refund that pricy consultant’s money.

Sports: No more high school stadiums to be named after terminally ill coaches, especially if they're alive to acknowledge the tribute.

Environment: Return Linden Meadows to the overgrown and abandoned condition it was in before those uppity people wanted to house poor people there inside all those stupid old houses.

Taxes: As a fiscally responsible licensed insurance appraiser, I will work nights and weekends to personally establish the correct property tax rate on your house so that we can better continue starving local government of revenue and drown city hall in its own bathtub.

That was satire. S-A-T-I-R-E.

For the candidate's real web site, go here.

Okay, here: Team Wiseheart. Really.

ATC hearings: Steinert's to Redmen Club, Redmen to former B & B, and Wick's not yet on the docket.

Wondering when Wick’s Pizza will be coming to the former home of the Speakeasy?

Me, too.

Taking a glance at the schedule for the next two local alcoholic beverage board hearings (July 7 and August 4), which take place for the purpose of issuing final approval on permit applications, Wick’s isn’t yet on the docket for either of them -- yet.

This implies an answer of “September at the earliest.” They'll also presumably need an Indiana resident to make it happen, which I'm assuming will be the building's owner unless another local partner has come on board.

But here’s the answer to another pressing question, also gleaned from the local board’s published agenda for August.

SMOKEY BEAT INC
RR2226083
221-3 Historic River Vessel
New
DBA: STEINERT'S GRILL & PUB
401 E MAIN ST
New Albany IN 47150

IMPROVED ORDER OF REDMEN 276
RC2203244
211-4 Fraternal Club
Transfer
DBA: REDMEN CLUB
211 E MAIN ST
New Albany IN 47150

And so the declining Redmen hastily vacate their shiny new building for the tiny former home of Ermin’s and B & B (adjoining Studio’s), while the name attached for generations to the historic Charlestown Road building destroyed by fire last year resurfaces on Main Street.

Also, to R: There appears to be no limit to the number of “riverfront” three-way permits allowable within the delineated geographical boundaries, and subject to the usual considerations of proper distance from churches, which I view as a violation of church-state separation.

Downtown's getting crowded.

Who'd have thunk it?

Did you know that a drummer named Steve Price once played for Pablo Cruise?

Last night a councilman named Steve Price (no relation to Pablo Cruise's thumper) was among the opening acts for Ambrosia, which headlined the 4th of July gig at New Albany’s reconstructed riverfront amphitheater.

It wasn’t Pablo Cruise, but what’cha gonna do?

It wasn't Player, either, and I know what you’re probably thinking, but I thought Ambrosia was fairly good. They’re pros who’ve been at it for years, and the band boasts at least three songs you’ve heard before: “How Much I Feel”, “Holdin’ on to Yesterday” and “Biggest Part of Me.” Their only stinker was a cover of the Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour."

And now, for the record …

Player did “Baby Come Back.”

Pablo Cruise’s hits were “What’cha Gonna Do” and “Love Will Find a Way.”

And, as a final note to DH: “So Into You” was one of the handful of 70's hits performed by Atlanta Rhythm Section, which I previously had gotten confused with the Amazing Rhythm Aces … not to say Ace, which had hits during the 1970’s, but were not American. Ace was from Sheffield, England (home of my beloved Def Leppard), and don’t get me started on Ace's woefully underrated singer, Paul Carrack.

Where was I?

The mayor predicted a crowd of 6,000 - 7,000 for the fireworks. My guess would be closer to 3,000 – 4,000, but small matter either way. The crowd seemed well-mannered, and the Budweiser swill wagon was doing decent business.

Meanwhile, a committee is organizing entertainment for remaining warm-weather Fridays, including music and perhaps some theatrical performances, and city hall, eager to bill subsequent festivities as not being funded from taxpayer coffers, says it remains committed to these events always being “free” to the public.

Short-term, I agree with this effort to placate the tea drinkers – except, as we know, someone, some time has to cover the costs.

Longer term, a different strategy should be pursued. The vicinity of the amphitheater should become a template, easily convertible on a scheduled basis into a profit-making arrangement between the city and a private concessionaire/booking agent/entertainment entity.

Name acts cost money, and both risks and rewards can be spread among a public-private partnership. Potentially, it’s a great venue. It could be far better, with rewards for city coffers and private wallets alike.

Last night we walked downtown, had a touch of wine at River City Winery, took in Ambrosia and the explosives, had a beer at the Brewhouse with friends, and walked back home. Five years ago? Not quite possible.

We’re winning – 2.78 yards and a cloud of dust each down, but winning nonetheless, and neither Pablo Cruise's drummer nor my councilman can do much about it.

Albany would resent the comparison if Joel came from Tibet.

Reader corrects Baylor’s history mistakes (scroll down)

Yes, I know all that, but Miss Caudill, the joke's way funnier if the Scribners came from Albany, New York. You get the joke, right?

(crickets chirp, pins drop)

And, that part about Joel gambling and flipping properties -- that was satire, Miss Caudill.

(grass heard growing)

Okay, okay. I promise never to talk louder than a whisper in the library, ever again ... OUCH ... quit hitting me with that ruler ... that huuuurts ...

Yawn, but God bless you, each and every one.

Earlier this spring, I was struck by the words of a member of the band Gomez. He was referring to the frequent question as to why, more than ten years into the band’s career, it doesn't make music that sounds just like the songs on the very first album.

Paraphrasing, he said: “Because you can’t forget what you’ve learned.”

Of course, left unspoken is the assumption that something actually has been learned, but in the case of Gomez, one need only listen to the various recordings to chart the arc of the progression.

Each exciting, breaking, youthful rock star appears on the scene determined to reinvent the wheel, and then, barring an early death by misadventure, he grows up and starts learning how to play his instrument.

Last evening, after returning from the ballpark, I spent a few minutes browsing the NAC archives, and I had much the same reaction. It will be five years this fall since I began writing this blog, and clearly, in the beginning, I had precious little clue as to how things actually work in a place like New Albany. There was a considerable learning curve, and there remains a considerable learning curve. It's daunting, but I relish the fact that there are so many things I don’t know, because learning them is a constantly evolving process that eventually leads to betterment -- and maybe even progress.

Just as surely, there’ll always be newcomers to any game, and they’ll travel the same road with respect to knowledge and the learning curve.

More power to them, and good luck. The only unsolicited advice I can offer is that the ability to listen is a useful, underrated skill. It helps cut the time required of the learning curve, and unless you're one of those people who learned everything in kindergarten, it will lead to you changing your mind.

Often.

I’d say that half of what I thought I knew coming in has been discarded or altered along the way. That’s the way it works, and sometimes, unbelievably to some newbies, the ones who’ve already fought the battles and figured them out can be helpful in the pursuit.

Aside from that, perhaps the newbies would benefit from the knowledge that it's all political.

Five years on, I have to admit that it’s a vicarious thrill to have become a target, and to see that we’ve done your job so well that certain obstructionist elements among those in perpetual disagreement are structuring their platforms using the language we taught them. They'll be organizing forthcoming political campaigns not "for" strategies, but "against" this blog and its contributors, and that's a high compliment, indeed.

It's also why, in the end, NAC’s reality-based community is so important.

Standing in the open makes one into an easy target, but it also provides bountiful credibility that the anonymous bile spewers will never possess. Real people with names and faces take the hits, but we also get the props when we're right, and that sort of ownership simply isn't transferable to that dude hidden behind yonder bush.

The masked obstructionists presumably will have to be themselves when registering to represent their political party the next time around. But how will they secure ownership of their self-congratulatory, pseudonymous brilliance?

Will they embrace their ongoing anonymity and campaign in leftover Rally’s bags?

Or, will they be forced to learn by conceding that voters choose names, not pseudonyms, and follow by wading waist-deep into the hoary tradition of generating yard signs bearing -- GASP -- their own names?

It could be that they're just being used as stalking horses by the party hierarchy, to be discarded for the same good old boys on the ballot when the election draws nearer.

Predictably, at least until “anonymous” appears on the ballot, they'll draft back into reality. When the anonymity they now bizarrely posit as the very source of the force and legitimacy of their ideas is stripped away owing to the immutable requirements of an election they plainly aim to contest, do the ideas themselves become powerless because they’re now to be associated with a face and a name?

If so, doesn’t that tell us a bit about their funadmental fear of being known?

“I have to keep wearing this mask, because if they know who I am, they’ll never pay attention to my ideas.”

Exactly, J.

After all, voters are not entirely stupid, are they?

According to the New Albany Syndrome, it is eternally fashionable to hide, but NAC will continue to be a place where real people write, learn and discuss issues. I’m serene, because I fully trust the verdict of posterity, and the quality of the work we've done here speaks for itself without the qualification of pseudonyms.

My goal has been to write the history of New Albany during my time of involvement in it, and to agitate for meaningful change while doing so. Along the way, I like it that we know each other’s names.

Makes it feel like a real neighborhood to me.

I am not a Republican.

I'd like to publicly deny that I'm a Republican.

Just thought I'd say that out loud. It's not really coming out of a closet, but rather being pre-emptive. I mean, just in case I decide to run for something.

Wait -- too late for candidacy. You already know who I am. I can't sandbag at trog blogs under a pseudonym. Damn.

I will not be running for office as a Republican in 2010. Promise.

Would you like to join me in publicly denying your Republicanness? File a comment below ... according to the Chinese method, of course.

You'll feel better.