Tax dollars for religious schools? It's so simple even a Republican can periodically grasp it.

REWIND: After Andy, the deluge (2009).

When asked whether this Tribune column from July 23, 2009, should be reprinted, Councilman Price voted "no".

On May 3, when voters from the 3rd council district are asked whether Price should non-serve another non-term, they will vote "no", too ... and the travesty of intentional non-representation finally will cease.

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BEER MONEY: After Andy, the deluge.

By ROGER BAYLOR, Local Columnist

“When confused and uncertain, we often recoil from the challenges of the future, reverting instead to comforting visions of one or the other redemptive halcyons from a past viewed with rose-tinted hindsight … Cultural mythology is aimed at supplanting rational thought, not buttressing it.”

I first wrote these words in January, describing Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana’s (ROCK’s) ongoing tent revival, wherein the lawyer/preacher on the soapbox beseeches us to turn back the hands of time, all the way to a state of being that never existed in the first place. It’s another pipe-dream panacea that we’re assured can be recaptured if only we forget everything we’ve learned since kindergarten.

No matter, because I’m not here today to rattle the cages of ROCK’s dues-paying moral guardians. Rather, it’s time to consider an entirely different golden age – parallel reality, if you will – possessing an ethos ostensibly capable of providing workable solutions to the pressing problems of contemporary times.

Who knows the Way?

Why, the saintly Andy, of course.

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At the July 6 city council meeting, during a brief and typically ephemeral discussion of community policing “wants and needs,” 3rd district councilman Steve Price launched into a strange tangent addressing contemporary methods of law enforcement.

Untangling Price’s stream-of consciousness syntax to the best of my ability, it sounded like he was lamenting the disappearance of old-fashioned, user-friendly drunk tanks, those helpful domiciles that used to provide inebriates a warm place to sleep and voluminous black coffee before releasing them into waiting streets (and barstools) the following morning.

Price concluded that nowadays, such harmless transgressors actually have to pay their way out of jail; lacking the cash, they contribute to the overcrowding problem there. His council colleague (and full-time police officer), Jack Messer, asked Price to explain how the city might better handle such time and space continuums, and Price responded with this bit of advice:

"We need to do things like Andy used to do 'em."

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To which Andy was the councilman referring?

Andy Warhol? That’s unlikely, because the Ruthenian-American pop artist certainly was too avant-garde for a devotee of Dave Ramsey.

To Andy Kaufman, the late and lamented inter-gender wrestling champion and performance artist? Obviously, too weird.

Andy Roddick? Too athletic for New Albany, and in the wrong sport.

Andy Dick? Too clever by half.

Andy Capp? Too impenetrably English.

Andy Garcia? Too confusingly ethnic.

But: Recalling councilman’s Price’s preferred homilies, nostalgic utterances and ceaseless non sequiturs, it’s a safe bet that he was fondly recalling the law enforcement techniques of Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry, as played on television by comedian Andy Griffith in his eponymous show, which was produced back in the Golden Age of Post-War Imperial America, a time period coinciding with Price’s blissful youth and visions of Otis Campbell’s nightly resting place dancing soothingly in his head.

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My councilman’s Mayberry fixation comes as little surprise, paralleling as it does so many instances of his confusion about the modern world’s inherent complexities and his recurring preference for simplistic slogans instead of thoughtful considerations as we seek solutions.

Unfortunately, Price isn’t alone in suggesting that running a city of 37,000 people in the age of the Internet, crystal meth, iPhones, EPA sewage treatment decrees and state-imposed starvation budgets requires little more than traveling backwards in time to derive lessons from a television series originally broadcast in black and white, featuring a folksy sheriff in a town far smaller than New Albany, a switchboard operator listening in on party lines, and a town vandal whose repertoire does not extend beyond rocks thrown at picture windows.

I also watched The Andy Griffith Show as a child, but then something happened to me. I grew up. Four decades have passed since the series went off the air, and in light of experience, I see Mayberry a bit differently than my councilman does.

Sheriff Taylor’s town didn’t boast much in the way of ethnic and religious diversity, did it? In fact, it was the era of enforced segregation in the South, and there wasn’t a Hispanic to be seen. Most of the women depicted on the series were in the kitchen frying chicken or baking peach cobbler, and Helen Crump’s job as schoolteacher was about the highest point on the professional ladder for a female. Suffrage might have been bragged about, but was it truly universal?

Do you really think any of those toilets led to a sewage treatment system? Think pipes emptying into yonder creek, and maybe a septic tank or three. Television news was a monopoly of three major networks, newspapers toed a Democratic or Republican line, and American foreign policy strove to support “our” murderous tinhorn dictators so as to forestall Communist versions of the same.

And then, there’s the part we always forget about places like Mayberry in the 1960’s: Young and talented people left towns like those in droves, and as soon as they possibly could, leaving older citizens and second-raters to navigate the demographic decline into irrelevance, something that should be all too obvious to New Albanians today.

Mayberry was, and is, an entertaining place, but like Andy Taylor himself, it was, and is, entirely imaginary. I’m sure we can find a place in Councilman Price’s throwback public policy manual for role models like Rooster Cogburn, Captain Kirk and maybe even Puff the Magic Dragon.

But seriously, in the year 2009 – how does that help us?

Letters and election-related content in OSIN as the primary nears.

Hmm, you say that I can write a letter endorsing another candidate, just so long as it isn't me? That's good, because I have some perfectly impartial, politically neutral, non-ideological "reporting" to do. He he he.

Some election housekeeping, by Shea Van Hoy

As we near May 3 — Election Day if you’d forgotten — I wanted to remind readers of some policies we’ve had in place for the past few elections and set deadlines for submissions for the Opinions page.

Dirty old town: Stumler donors and Stumler Dixiecrats.

As my blogging partner noted earlier today at Twitter:

"Stumler's biggest donor a slumlord and his main expense a PR firm while current employees fawn. Bad scene."

Here's the official media take.

Stumler out to big fundraising lead in New Albany mayor’s race; Three Democrats are seeking seat, by Daniel Suddeath (OSIN)

The Committee to Elect Irv Stumler raised more than $40,000 during the initial filing period for this year’s New Albany city elections, giving the Democratic mayoral hopeful a sizable financial advantage over his opponents.

... Stumler reported $40,770 in contributions, more than tripling the money raised by the next closest mayoral candidate in Democrat Paul Etheridge ...

... The Committee to Elect Jeff Gahan filed contributions totaling $7,942 during the period.

... Stumler reported he spent $29,375 during the period, leaving his committee with $11,395 on hand. Stumler reported that he personally paid $1,000 toward campaign expenses. The Louisville public relations firm handling his campaign, Peritus, was Stumler’s largest expense during the period. He reported he paid $12,333 to the firm.

His greatest contributors included Louisville based Neace Enterprises, which gave $2,000 during the period, as did the Grant Line Garden Center & Nursery.

While we're on the topic of Irv Stumler, here's a lovely snippet from Kitchen Fable news agency (anonymous, of course) directed at me, because the author has no clue how to register at Twitter. Still, there's a point or two worth considering therein.

It's going to be hard to sell you on Irv Stumler because he is a card-carrying, business-worshiping, monied, white-bred REPUBLICAN. No matter what kind of deal he made with England, he will ALWAYS be a Republican.

You can count on his family (to which I belong) to keep him as a Republican, because the Dixiecrats are ignorant. Always have been and always will be.

Let me add, Irv has no, I repeat, NO, comprehension of your "progressive" ideologies and no interest in learning about them.

So, just don't worry about voting for him. You don't have to. But he'll get all the votes he needs from non-progressives, I can assure you of that. They'll have no idea they're voting for a Republican, and that's just fine by me.

I hope he wins and wins big, and I hope he cleans this town of its trash. For good.

My, my. And you thought New Albany was a vicious scrum before?

The stakes, they are a risin'.

Reminder: "Baylor for Progress At Large 2011."

As the unreconstructed troglodytes gather at the Luddite Bar & Grill for a round of Denhartian bacchanalia (damn, them big ol' thesaurus words), and as Flatulence Over Louisville (literally) rains in all directions, it's worth remembering that the primary draws near.

Roger Baylor for NA City Council At-Large

Click on photos, and read platform positions in the form of photo captions. Your support is appreciated.

Gonder on River View.

I've listened to John's comments at the public campaign functions to date, and they're always excellent, delivered in a casual and disarming way, as though he's conciously trying to break down complex thoughts into more easily digestible components. He can write, too, as the following links most recently attest. I voted for John last time, and will again in May. He's simply too valuable not to have on the council as an at-large representative.

River View, Look Again

Yesterday I recounted the circumstances surrounding the ill-fated project known, only to me, as Gonder Platz. That was intended as simply a preface to a more critical look at the River View project. I will lay out my thoughts on it here. Such an excercise may have little sway upon the reader or value, or even readers. It is more an attempt on my part, to get some thoughts on this once-in-a-lifetime project down in writing.

I am neither a proponent nor an opponent of the project ...

Now open: Earth Friends Cafe & Coffee Bar (Grant Line Road near NABC).

Earth Friends Cafe & Coffee Bar opened just last week. It is located in the Summit Square strip, off Grant Line Road (roughly behind El Nopal, in the direction of the funeral home).

This spot is a stone's throw from both NABC Pizzeria & Public House, and NA Exchange. I had a well-poured double espresso there on Wednesday, and as you will see by following the Facebook link, the owners have evolving plans to widen the cafe's scope.

It's another welcome addition to the Northside/IUS entertainment district. Good luck!

You have your annual rites, I have mine.

Surely the top news item of the week comes to us from the turbulent Ohio River, itself paying no attention whatever to ephemeral human affairs, and rising up to interfere with profits generated by Flatulence Over Louisville.

Louisville’s annual exaltation of phantom King Larry-sized male packaged potency generally attracts a half-million easily amused people to the vicinity of the riverbank in an orgiastic expectation of raising their middle fingers to the planet during the militarized air show (“precision bombing -- coming soon to a Third World backwater near you”), and an unspeakably garish fireworks extravaganza that will allow them to forget – if only for a brief span of time – that the dollars in their pockets are increasingly worthless, but at least somewhere there’s a NASCAR race underway here in the last, greatest hope for mankind.

No, I’m not a fan of Louisville’s foremost annual celebration of bread and circuses, which inaugurates Derby Festival and signals the beginning of mint julep season in the metro area. However, I know that many of my friends and acquaintances enjoy the pomp and circumstance. Have fun. I’ll be in hiding until the idiocy ceases.

I'm telling you, don't ask.

Develop New Albany's lobbying effort on behalf of the proposed River View project has raised quite a few questions. The potential conflicts of interest - the organization's most recent past president and current membership chair listed on the development's "About Us" page, the current president's employment with the city administration pushing the project - are apparent. That the lobbying effort exists at all directly contradicts a recent DNA press release outlining their reluctance to lobby as a non-political 501(c)(3) non-profit and a citation of organizational by-laws which state "the Program shall not engage in the carrying on of propaganda or shall not attempt to influence any legislation."

The questions are so central to the group's credibility that it's difficult to imagine concerns weren't raised by DNA's board when asked to approve the River View communication. Call me oversuspicious, but past experiences lead to another question: Was the board even asked or was some sort of quasi-executive pronouncement simply foisted on them without process?

It would almost be better for the group's reputation if the question wasn't asked, allowing some room for explanation. It would also be a call for reform for an organization who lists city government as a top sponsor.

Are you TIF enough?

Look past the first part of reporter Suddeath's article, which confirms yet again that despite the city's urgency to expedite a vote on the River View project, perhaps no one really knows how a levee cut fits into the plan, how much it would cost or who pays for it, and see that very soon we'll be reviewing the merits of two other downtown TIF projects.

New Albany’s River View project doesn’t get vote; Scope of proposed levee cut to be reviewed, by Daniel Suddeath (News and Tribune)

The redevelopment commission approved amending the State Street TIF district to include funding up to $250,000 for a New Albany bicentennial park and $400,000 for refurbishing the downtown Farmers’ Market.

A campaign tout, a petulant incumbent and the usual fluffers.

There was a very flattering letter in yesterday's Tribune advocating my candidacy for city council at-large ... and King Larry was too busy distributing his atheist's holiday broadsheets to have written it: NEWS AND TRIBUNE LETTERS: April 12, 2011

Meanwhile, Rep. Ed Clere coincidentally appeared on the very same page to explain his demotion to every-other-week status as columnist:

I disagree with the new policy. Its practical effect will be to preclude publication of my column for more than half of my two-year term. I’m sure the policy is aimed at promoting fairness, but it’s unfair to readers, who will receive less information about their state government.

Not unexpectedly, the fiercely partisan GOP operative still believes that his St. Daniels apologetics and ideologue's agitprop count somehow as "information," and that's plainly sad. By day's end, Kent, Amy and the Clere Channel Fluffers had descended, demanding that the torture continue. I may be a drunkist, but I'm not a masochist, and so I switched the channel.

Degrees of separation: DNA, Kopp, Mainland, River View and the "apolitical" blues.

At NAC, we're still scratching our heads over Develop New Albany's well-documented failure, when asked, to take a stand on bridge tolls.

In sidestepping the issue, DNA cited non-profit organizational restrictions that may or may not apply to the strong probability of an involuntary tax on mobility harming DNA's "Main Street" by reducing an influx of consumer money from Kentucky, while at the same time taking money out of the pocketbooks of local residents.

Expressing such a logical sentiment about dollars and sense, especially given the ongoing and inexplicable absence of an small business economic impact study from the clerely unreliable Bridges (Tolling) Authority, could not possibly be construed as political -- could it?

It is curious, then, that after indicating an institutional reluctance to be involved with "politics," DNA now regards the controversial River View riverfront development project as conflict-free fair game for announcing an opinion.

Accordingly, DNA turned out in force at the April 4 city council meeting to show the organization's support for Mainland Property's proposed use of anywhere between $12 and $18 million in captured TIF tax revenue to build a parking garage to serve as collateral to complete the developer's for-profit condos and shops. As we've pointed out time and again, supporting a similar public-private partnership for the YMCA is one thing, and for a for-profit firm quite another ... especially when DNA's former president and current membership chair, Mike Kopp, is listed in the "about us" section at River View's website.

This is by no means "personal," even if New Albanians as a whole insist on believing that differing viewpoints constitute epic blood feuds. They do not. All I'm saying is this: There was a palpable stench when council person Bob Caesar, whose business is a member of One Southern Indiana, vigorously advocated giving economic development money to 1Si.

Granting the existence of varying interpretations of conflict of interest, is it not fair to note in the most general of senses that Mike's involvement with both the project's developer and the non-political organization touring the development is, shall we say, unusual?

Even if the answer is "no," why aren't we discussing this aloud? Let's at least hope that Mike abstained from the vote -- if there was one.

Michael Kopp

Founder and Principal Broker of Blue Sun Real Estate Services. Michael “Mike“ Kopp, has served the Indiana and Kentucky commercial real estate markets since 2003. Prior to becoming a Commercial Real Estate Professional, Mike held positions of supervisor, plant manager and general manager in the environmental field for 15 years handling hazardous and non-hazardous materials.

Mike served as President of Develop New Albany during 2009 – 2010, and as an active member since January of 2007. Develop New Albany is a not-for-profit Main Street Program, whose mission it is to preserve the history and architecture of the local downtown area and revitalize the downtown businesses. Mike encourages everyone to join Develop New Albany (or like organizations) within their communities to help build and grow their community to make it a better place to live for all.

Grasshoppers: Fresh local food for easy pick up at BSB.

Many of you may know about community supported agriculture projects (CSAs), local food distribution networks that help provide stable, predictable incomes to farmers in return for a share of their crops and production.

You may also know about Grasshoppers Distribution, a local CSA that distributes out of their warehouse in Louisville's Portland neighborhood.

From their web site:

Grasshoppers has improvised on this (CSA) model, to offer a multi-farm, all-natural and organically grown program that provides beef, chicken, pork, milk, cheese, and eggs as well as produce. Many of our CSA farms also have their own CSAs and sell at Farmers' Markets or other outlets. Our program provides them with a stable market and fair prices for the additional crops they can produce, creating another stream of income on the farm.

The income generated for Grasshoppers helps us pursue the new frontiers of local food opportunity, such as hospitals, schools, and other institutions. Our farmer-owned business is dedicated to building a local food economy on all levels, and we enthusiastically invite you to join us!

What you may not know is that Grasshoppers has been making deliveries to its New Albany customers each week at the New Albanian Bank Street Brewhouse for the past couple of seasons and wants to continue.

That's where you come in. In order to justify continued weekly deliveries for BSB pick up, Grasshoppers needs to increase its New Albany customer base. If enough people sign up for a CSA share of $18 or more per week and specify New Albany as their pick up location, Grasshoppers will deliver a box of fresh, local, organic food for them weekly or bi-weekly direct to the BSB patio for easy pick up every Wednesday from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m. The spring/summer season runs from May 4 - November 18.

There's a wide variety of farm-fresh products available including fruits, vegetables, assorted meats, milk (in real glass bottles), cow and goat cheese, eggs, Blue Dog bread, and even locally produced desserts. You can mix and match the above items, choose a share for two or four people and weekly or bi-weekly delivery, and pay for it all with an upfront investment or on a monthly installment plan. Shareholders can also usually add extra, individual items to their regular weekly or bi-weekly deliveries.

CSAs shares work really well in conjunction with local farmers markets, too, potentially helping to supply items that may not be regularly available at the markets. Do both and consider the Downtown New Albany Farmers Market as well.

An updated Grasshoppers web site with added features like community areas for recipe sharing, guest bloggers, and online order add-ons should be launched soon, but for now:

A Grasshoppers brochure that specifies everything available and prices is here.(PDF)

Online registration and payment is available here.

Be sure to specify New Albany as your preferred pick up location. The spring registration deadline is April 18.

Any questions can be directed to April at Grasshoppers, april(AT)grasshoppersdistribution(DOT)com

Economic development thread elevation: "Who gets priority?"

Last evening's post is generating precisely the caliber of discussion I hoped it would: A Candidate’s Progress (9): It’s time to answer those River View questions."

Following is a comment of Bluegill's that strikes to the very core of the point we're trying to make here. Whatever happened to two-way streets, anyway?

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Dan Chandler wrote: "The opportunities available to Mr. Bobo are available to anyone else who wants to invest here in a similar manner."

Bluegill responds:

There's at least a part of the rub. In reality, this translates to opportunities being available only to those who have already achieved a certain level of personal wealth, creating a rich get richer scenario.

We're not talking about an incentive program that's open to everyone and scales according to investment level say, on a percentage basis up to a certain cap, but rather about creating singular opportunities exclusively for those who already have a lot of money.

Do we have public money to make scalable opportunities available to people at different income levels? Yes. Could those opportunities increase the tax base via property improvements, employment, etc? Yes. Could they save us money in other areas in which we regularly spend? Yes. Do we do it? Typically, no.

TIF is only one way to approach the situation, so simply saying it wouldn't be viable to use TIF for certain smaller projects doesn't really address the issue.

In terms of the resource prioritization that Gina has mentioned, I think two-way street reclamation provides one good example among others.

While campaigning, Mayor England regularly made promises that two-way street conversion would be a major priority for his administration. He got quite a bit of electoral support from downtown residents and business people as a result and was elected by a narrow margin.

The cost of that street reclamation was estimated at $2 million with the purchase of new traffic signals given as the single largest individual cost. Thanks to a federal stimulus grant of ~$900K, most if not all of those signals have now been in place for some time.

What have we heard from the administration in terms of two-way streets? Hardly anything, even though the initial expenditure would be a lot lower and both tangible and intangible public benefit more clearly understood.

At one point, I was told that an additional study/plan would be needed and that staff had a contractor in mind to complete it. What they didn't have was the money to pay for it, so two-ways were stalled.

Wanting to help and knowing that a) two-way reclamation was important to many in the neighborhoods and b) neighborhood groups would have some opportunity to acquire funds, I asked for a cost estimate of said study/plan to determine if perhaps a neighborhood group(s) could help or completely pay for it if doing so would move things along. After asking several times for over a year and not getting a number, I gave up asking.

More recently, another resident trained in urban planning volunteered to help with traffic/pedestrian/bicycle studies or plans (including helping with grant writing) for free. He was turned away under the guise of city staff not having time to deal with it.

However, it was no problem to come up with funds for an RV feasibility study nor to devote staff time and other administrative costs to it.

So, which is better for the people who live here and pay the lion's share of taxes? Two-way, pedestrian, bicycle, and business friendly streets or a single development?

Who gets priority? Multiple downtown neighborhoods who helped put the mayor in office, who have been asking and volunteering for years, and are concerned about safety and quality of life (in addition to their own property values/profitability) or a single developer whose primary goal is to extract money from the community for out-of-town investor profit?

River View isn't occurring (or not) in a vaccuum. We have an overall development/redevelopment attitude that says providing corporate air conditioning is a bigger priority than basic housing safety. I'm not sure how to calculate that as a good deal for anyone besides out-of-town investors.

A Candidate’s Progress (10): Read into it what you will.

People keep asking me: “How’s your campaign going?”

Most of my closer friends get the joke when I answer: “Swimmingly.”

(For those unfamiliar with irony, my eccentricities, or both, it’s because I don’t know how to swim).

As I suspected from the very start, there has been very little available time to “campaign” -- depending on what is meant by the concept.

For those seeking to judge campaigns by the unleashed density of garish and illegally placed yard signs at major intersections, I’ve conducted no campaign at all; for those pre-disposed to oppose, my absence of signs is proof that I’m not serious.

However, it remains that if I would have spent thousands of dollars on signs and blanketed the city with visual pollution, these same members of my un-fan club would have accused me of trying to buy the election with money supplied by the same oligarchs and political relics I ritually oppose.

In other words, that’s politics – or what passes for it in New Albany: Land of the free to be perpetually dumbfounded.

In fact, I’m perfectly serious about my campaign. I’ve been campaigning where I drink beer, and periodically drinking beer where I campaign. It’s simple and straight up: Given the Democratic primary field of candidates for three at-large council seats, I’m as qualified as any, and more qualified than a few.

At the blog, in the newspaper, on countless street corners and atop a barstool or two, I’ve sallied forth with my views. I’ve always signed my name to them, and this fact alone is noteworthy. Contrary to the paranoid and often anonymous visions habitually passing as “facts” hereabouts, I’ve promised only this to inquiring voters: If elected, I will learn, think and reason.

That’s it in a nutshell.

I appreciate your support.

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I’d read all day if permitted to do so, but the responsibilities of adulthood have an annoying tendency to intrude upon well intentioned plans.

In yesterday’s New York Times book review section, three books of interest to me were reviewed.

When they become available, I’ll purchase them from Destinations Booksellers (not Amazon), and place at the bottom of an ever-shifting stack of books that take me far too long to finish. I’ll continue to grind away until I get to them. Life is regrettably short when it comes to reading, isn't it?

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Eisenhower, Patton and Bradley: Team of Rivals

"Brothers, Rivals, Victors: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, and the Partnership That Drove the Allied Conquest in Europe," by Jonathan Jordan. Reviewed by Michael Korda.

... To read about Eisenhower, Bradley and Patton today is to imagine how dismayed and angry they would be to see small packets of American troops spread out over a hostile landscape, defending themselves against endless attacks by an enemy that vanishes when pursued, in a war in which American speed, mobility and firepower count for nothing, and where nobody has as yet defined what “victory” would look like.

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Why the Eichmann Trial Really Mattered

"The Eichmann Trial," by Deborah Lipstadt. Reviewed by Franklin Foer.

... (The prosecutor's) strategy placed the survivors at the center of the trial, the first time that the world had heard from them at such length. According to Lipstadt, this was the moment the survivors acquired their moral stature. And their testimony was the reason the Eichmann trial so shook the world.

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The Prehistory of Baseball

"Baseball in the Garden of Eden: The Secret History of the Early Game," by John Thorn. Reviewed by Bruce Weber.

... Thorn has a vexingly complicated story to tell, and one of the strengths of this book is that he shies from none of the complexities. The development of the game took place off the field as much as it did on, and Thorn scrupulously traces the influence of a variety of social forces on its progress and popularity, among them gambling, the emergence of star players and the rise of theosophy, a spiritualist movement whose adherents included Doubleday and his chief backer as the game’s inventor, Albert G. Spalding.

A Candidate’s Progress (9): It’s time to answer those River View questions.

Wouldn’t you love to see the unprecedented expenditure of $42 million, spread among dozens of small, grassroots investors, and spent across the entirety of downtown New Albany to improve, upgrade and revitalize the urban infrastructure we already have?

Of course you would, but the reality – or so we’re often told – is that the purportedly free market isn’t interested in such a dispersed and unfocused (read: unprofitable) investment in the future. Rather, it is interested in a concentrated investment on a single profit-making project, such as the one being proposed by Mainland Properties for the waterfront at River View.

Truth be told, River View isn’t exactly the free market, either. For the development to happen, the city must spend between $12 and $18 million for a parking facility and levee improvements, so as to prime the pump in a public-private partnership. Such partnerships are described by some as the wave of the future (others, like Rep. Clere, see bridge tolls as a similar “wave,” one that I earnestly hope swamps their dinghies).

Fittingly, precisely such a big-ticket project fits snugly within the parameters of a riverfront master plan written to snugly include precisely such a project. It’s Kismet, or Instant Redevelopment Karma, or something like them.

Advocates point to a stylish building at the foot of State Street as an example of public and private funding streams coming together. Yes, it has been done before – sort of.

The Horseshoe Foundation pledged money to the YMCA, the YMCA raised money of its own, the city kicked in a relatively small annual tithe, and voila! Downtown New Albany welcomed a non-profit organization that pledged to accommodate citizens of all income levels to the best of its ability. As far as can be determined, it has done so, while succeeding admirably in drawing people of all demographics to downtown.

But River View is decidedly different, not to mention a more expensive proposition for the city to help facilitate. Being a for-profit housing and retail venture, River View’s backers stress myriad future benefits to a downtown repopulated with condo dwellers, including a public plaza atop privately owned property. It also is expected that oodles of needed development will ensue in River View’s wake, presumably financed in more conventional ways without the city’s assistance.

In other words, financed in the way that almost all of downtown’s recently established new businesses were financed: Without $12 to $18 million in TIF leverage to prime their pumps – and, in fact, with very little monetary assistance at all from the city.

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I’ll readily admit that for quite some time, the River View project seemed like a no-brainer to me. Now, even if my respect for the proposed developers remains undiminished, I’m not quite as sure.

For one thing, it’s a very big move, one that dwarfs the adjacent YMCA both in complexity and the potential to impact New Albany’s epicenter for decades to come. Get it right, and downtown is forever altered … maybe even for the good. Get it wrong, and the reverse likely will be both true, and ineradicable.

I’m plagued by these growing doubts, because the last thing I want to see is for the troglodytes to win. Personally, I stubbornly nurtured the hope that a project like River View might be the massive garlic-festooned stake driven through the civic lifeblood-sucking hearts of naysayers and obstructionists.

Unfortunately, there is precious little evidence to suggest that this is a possibility.

Before I’m yet again scolded for not grasping the nature of creative financing, permit me to add that the scheme seems clear as river mud to me. It goes something like this: The city wields its TIF as a magic wand to borrow against future tax revenues in order to build a parking garage beneath the buildings that the investors cannot finance without the city’s parking garage as collateral, and in time, the city gets paid back while the developers profit from their project.

In theory, the developers make money, the city loses nothing on the transaction, downtown development is spurred to greater heights, and we all have an ideal, accessible plaza for viewing the river. More or less, that’s it, right?

There’s even the railroad track running right through the center of it, which pushes dreamers like me to envision light rail connecting downtown to IUS, and across the K & I to Louisville, thus providing a mobility solution that is dependent neither on cars, nor Kerry Stemler’s orgiastic/oligarchic whims.

Maybe … although probably not in my lifetime. Mose Putney’s drawings remind me of Holland. Sadly, this isn’t Holland.

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In the final analysis, the source of my discontent is not, as some surely believe, an eagerness to deploy my infamous contrarian tendencies “against” one or the other presumed power bases in the community, although it irks me to no end to witness the involvement of hands-off-politics entities in conceptually espousing this politically charged development, while not possessing the simple courage to conceptually denounce bridge tolls.

Rather, it’s a growing suspicion of top-down thinking in virtually all its manifestations, and a concurrent advocacy of bottom-up activism. It stems from an evolving recognition of the many thoughtful and skilled urban revolutionaries incubating grassroots innovations that empower smaller, sustainable units, and do not rely on gambles of this magnitude.

I’ve learned, I’m learning, and I will continue to learn. The more I learn, the brighter the seeming future for small economic development ball, as opposed to grandiose Hail Mary plays.

It also has me thinking back to my tenure as board member of the Urban Enterprise Association (UEA), and the success of our façade grant program. Relatively small matching grants undeniably helped to achieve a good measure of improvement within the boundaries of the zone. These matching grants could not be any more than half the total cost, but usually comprised a far smaller percentage than 40-odd percent, which $18 million would be in the case of the city’s River View TIF maneuvering.

Furthermore, dipping my toes ever so hesitantly into turgid political waters (squeamish DNA members might consider refraining from reading this paragraph), if the River View development project is everything it is touted as being, isn’t it worth the outgoing mayor’s expenditure of political capital to support the idea and alleviate escalating negative public opinion?

At the same time, if River View is not worth scattering a few farthings of lame duck political capital, what are we to conclude about its veracity?

In fact, after all is said and done, River View is not the YMCA, and the much touted merits of sparkling new office, retail and housing space in a city where plenty of them exist already, merely awaiting tender loving refurbishment, quite likely are dubious.

Consequently, our city council was right to table its April 4 resolution. It is both fitting and natural for questions to be asked, and just as important that they be answered.

There may yet be a powerfully persuasive argument in favor of recasting the TIF area to give away acreage for what might be an outstanding riverside commons area, providing a parking garage for a private developer to use as collateral to build a for-profit complex, permitting the developer to take possession of all of it when finished, and perhaps even cutting through the levee and erecting flood gates – because wouldn’t it all be worthwhile if we could see the river again?

Problem is, no one has made this powerfully persuasive argument.

There is still time on the clock. I’m listening.

NA Exchange is given a stellar review in LEO.

There's fine ink for NA Exchange in the past week's LEO. It's located just down Plaza Drive from the Public House, and is a welcomed addition to "The Northside." Now, if we could just think of a snappier name for the neighborhood ...

Gastropubbing at NA Exchange, by Robin Garr (LEO Weekly)

On Tuesday evenings there’s generally a $2 special, recently taking the form of “Bells and Burgers,” with a draft beer selection from the excellent Bell’s Brewery of Kalamazoo, Mich., and a slightly downsized version of the Exchange burger going for $2 each. That was enough to bring us in. We immediately ordered two-buck glasses of hoppy, crisp Bell’s Two-Hearted Ale and examined the menus.

Subdivided into Starters, Salads, Light Fare and Specialties of the Chef, the evening bill of fare was substantial and varied, ranging from fairly traditional bar food to more upscale gastropub grub; but even the basics generally came with a tasty twist.

Robert Plant.

Plant's latest band was a joy to watch on Friday evening, except for the idiot crackers my age whom kept yelling for "Stairway to Heaven."

Rush.

At Rush's show last Tuesday at the Yum! Center, the band did not perform "Dreamline," but three hours on stage allowed for one whale of a career overview.

Clere has a toll to pay whether they build bridges or not.

When the New Albanian asked State Representative Ed Clere to explain his position on tolling Ohio River Bridges via Facebook in August of last year, the question was infamously deleted with Clere telling constituents that Roger was unfairly targeting him by politicizing the issue, even though he'd asked it of every candidate for state office regardless of party affiliation or drinking habits. It was a straightforward question of genuine concern to many voters and Clere refused to answer it for weeks.

Later, in October of 2010 just before the general election, the News and Tribune posed it to Clere this way:

DO YOU SUPPORT TOLLS AS A MEANS TO PAY FOR TWO NEW BRIDGES ACROSS THE OHIO RIVER?

His answer:

Special interests are trying to use tolls as a scare tactic to kill the bridges project altogether. Politicians have failed for decades to build the bridges, and I won’t use the issue of tolls to score cheap political points. There’s too much at stake, including tens of thousands of jobs. This isn’t a question of being for or against tolls. It’s a question of being for or against jobs, and I’m for jobs. I don’t want to pay tolls. I also don’t want to leave the bridges project as a problem for my children to solve. It’s our responsibility to find a way to move forward. I’m eager to see the financing plan the bi-state Bridges Authority will propose later this year. If the plan involves tolls, I will have the same questions and concerns as anyone else who lives here and uses the bridges. I won’t, however, take a position against something that hasn’t been proposed in a cynical attempt to win an election.

At the time, NAC pointed to Clere's evasiveness on the matter.

Little did we know.

As local citizens await the outcome of SB 473 in the current legislative session, a bill that would allow the governor to approve tolling deals including the Ohio River Bridges Project with oversight only from a small committee, the News and Tribune's Braden Lammers surfaces a gem: that outcome might not really matter.

It seems the governor had already been granted the same tolling authority by legislation passed in 2010 via SEA 382. The language of SEA 382 was decidedly similar to SB 473 and granted the governor tolling authority without the usually required vote in the legislature.

When the bill was passed in the House after being amended by State Representative Steve Stemler to specifically include tolling on the Ohio River Bridges, Ed Clere voted for it (roll call pdf). In February of 2010.

Months before Roger or the News and Tribune asked for Clere's position on tolls, he'd already volunteered to give up his ability to vote on them. When he said "If the plan involves tolls, I will have the same questions and concerns as anyone else who lives here", he knew full well that he would have no capacity to directly impact the decision; his district would not be counted. The trouble is that a majority of the public didn't know that and Ed, having had months to do so and being directly questioned again, purposefully avoided telling them, instead letting voters continue to believe that he would look out for them in reference to tolls with his "questions and concerns".

I'm not sure how one goes about defining a "cynical attempt to win an election" by scoring "cheap political points" that doesn't include such egregious obfuscation, but I bet Clere will try. His descent continues to dumbfound.