Mr. Haney, DNA support "trickle back" from River View.

I keep intending to ask whether DNA ever did a full board vote on its advocacy of this project, or whether it was an executive decision, but no matter. We've written much about River View, including this sampling:

ON THE AVENUES: How do we pick the winners?

The Wizard of Oz, or maybe Pearl Street.

Gonder on forks and forms (Form Based Codes).

Here's the official DNA case, made with increasing urgency as the vote draws near and community skepticism rises.

---

Thursday June 16th is an important night for the future of downtown New Albany.

New Albany’s City Council will hold its regular meeting this Thursday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the 3rd floor Assembly Room of the City/County Building. In this meeting, the Council will vote on whether or not to pass the resolution to include the River View project into the existing downtown TIF district. This vote is critical to the project advancing to the next step! While this is not the final vote that will make the project a go (but rather to simply include the project into the existing TIF district), this is however, a CRITICAL vote because, if the resolution is not passed at this meeting, the project is dead in the water! Mainland Properties MUST get the resolution passed in order to advance to the next step which is secure their private financing. Without the resolution getting passed, the lending institutions will not go any further with working out lending terms until they know we have an actual project. Once the resolution is passed, we’ll then be able to get into the ‘meat’ of the matter on the financing details.

In case you’ve missed the recent public forum / public hearing meetings which Mainland Properties and the City Council have jointly held in an effort to disseminate all of the information and details about the project, let us share with you now some of the more pertinent facts about River View:

River View is an estimated $49 - $53 million project, consisting of retail, office and residential space including;

40,000 sq. ft. of retail space

40,000 sq. ft. of office space

550 space (2-levels) underground, parking garage
… and, a 70,000 sq. ft. public plaza which will offer handicapped parking, water fountains, various art features, park benches, shading devices, beautiful park-like landscaping/trees, bike racks, ample lighting, etc.

150 sq. ft. of residential space (approximately 111 condos, varying in size and price point)

We believe River View is a huge opportunity for the City of New Albany … not only will having such a development bring a dramatic increase in the number of families living downtown (111 estimated families), but also a sizable number of jobs within the development (conservatively, 456 estimated jobs … 230 during construction and 226 afterwards), and significant local income and property tax injections into the TIF district. The positive impact of having such an influx of new residents and workers will certainly trickle back out into the rest of the community and only serve to positively enhance the momentum already enjoyed with the various new shops and restaurants who have recently located within the downtown area. Much like the phenomenal success the YMCA has enjoyed, we believe River View will also enjoy similar success, while at the same time, further supporting the momentum which the YMCA has generated.

So, what is Mainland Properties ‘asking’ of the City?

1. To have the River View project be added into the existing TIF district, which will allow us the opportunity to move forward with the private financing piece.

2. A $12 million Economic Development Bond (NOT to be confused with a General Obligation Bond), to offset the total cost of $19 million to construct the parking garage.

(Keep in mind that Mainland Properties absorbs the remaining $7 million of the garage, as well as the remaining $37 - $41 million of the building masses)

Why should you support the River View project?

1. The risk to the City is ZERO! The $12 million Economic Development Bond will NOT be funded by taxpayers, but rather underwritten by Mainland Properties.

2. The City will not release ANY money from the bond until Mainland Properties has their private financing secured, guaranteed and ready to implement.

3. Mainland Properties’ credit worthiness MUST be strong enough for them to secure financing in order to move the project forward. If it’s not, then NO project and NO bond.

4. If, at some point, there should be a shortfall in the tax revenue accrued from the development, then Mainland Properties will be liable for the bond payment, NOT the City and NOT the taxpayers. The risk truly lies with Mainland Properties … NOT the City!

If you’re anxious to see New Albany experience a remarkable, long-awaited rebirth and have a downtown area which invokes the mood and atmosphere of a much simpler time when people took pride in their community, walked to the store and talked to their neighbors, we believe NOW is New Albany’s chance! There are few opportunities in our lives to be associated with the rebirth of a community, and yet New Albany is on the verge of just such a moment.

Please join us this Thursday, June 16 at 7:30 p.m. at the City/County Building and show your support for River View.

So true, so true.

Courtesy of my blogging co-conspirator:

"If the next mayor of New Albany does little except bust up preexisting cliques rather than enforce them, they'll be successful for creating breathing room where oxygen is sucked out now."

Apologies, but I've been wanting to say that out loud, and Jeff phrasing is perfectly. Is it beer-thirty yet?

PowerPoint Putrid: Rest assured, it's TB -- not TR.

Bennett campaign for school changes not done

Bus 'n' Beer 'n' Baseball on Saturday, July 2.

As previously noted, NABC has chartered a bus for the Dubois County Bombers game in Huntingburg on Saturday, July 2. It's only $50 per person for the bus (with beer) and ticket. Obviously, this is an adult-oriented trip, and there'll be two craft beer refueling stops in route (Harrison County Summerfest in Corydon, and the Schnitzelbank Restaurant in Jasper).

To reserve space, let me know: Baseball with NABC and the Bombers: A Bus Trip to Dubois County on Sat., July 2.

In which the Riverfront Amphitheater calendar is examined.

The New Albany Riverfront Amphitheater's schedule of events appeared a few days ago, and the season opened last night with Henry Lee Summer.

Several of you have asked about craft beer availability at the concessions area. Here is what I know.

As exclusive craft beer vendors with requisite catering permit, NABC expressed interest in two events, Celts on the River (June 18) and Strassenfest (September 17). The understanding last year was that other caterers would offer a craft component, whether through NABC or another local brewer, but since I don't know who the other vendors are in 2011, this has yet to be codified for 2011. Your best bet is to tell the "committee" that you'd like a craft option.

Scanning the entertainment booked for this summer reveals the following genres. What do you think about the demographic balance therein? It's highly white, isn't it?

Heritage Festival Series
Celts on the River (Irish/Celtic)
Fiesta Latina (Latin American)
Strassenfest (German)

Cover bands/nostalgia acts
Kudmani
Louisville Crashers
Lunar Beach House (Jimmy Buffett tribute band)
Monarchs
The Rigby’s (Beatles tribute band)

Country and Western
Hugh E. Bir
Joe Diffie
Aaron Tippin
Sammy Kershaw
Confederate Railroad

Jazz
Bobby Falk Band
Jamey Aebersold
The Unlimited Band (jazz/funk)

Rock/Pop
Henry Lee Summer (Indiana native)
Midnight Outlaw (Hair/Sleaze/Glam/Progressive/Heavy Metal)
Cabin (Louisville band)

Can’t locate information:
Circus (with Midnight Outlaw)
Scott Kirby (Key West-based singer or jazz artist?)

With the lagering cellar as TIF-fy collateral, the rest is easy!

There's a better idea, you know.

River View.

In 1Si's Safe Place, a whole lotta fluffin' going on as English language takes a hit.

Positive? The less said about this exercise in "buy your legislator," the better.

In a nutshell: Lawmakers talk Planned Parenthood funding during legislature recap in New Albany; call latest session positive despite setbacks, by Daniel Suddeath (News and Tribune)

Five Southern Indiana state legislators recapped this year’s session including the heated debate over cuts in Medicaid to facilities that perform abortions during a question and answer forum at One Southern Indiana on Thursday.

"We Back Jack at GoDaddy.com," and other famous campaign slogans.

I get the eerie feeling we've all been here before ...

We've got mayoral candidates.

First there's Jack Messer (as an independent): Messer confirms mayoral run. He'll have to get a few signatures before the end of the month.

Then D. M. Bagshaw (as a Republican): Bagshaw to run for mayor of New Albany. It would have been a lot more fun to have of the local Sarah Palins in the race, but Dave Matthews couldn't pull it off.

Now Jeff Gahan, the Democratic nominee for mayor, has two opponents this fall.

In the Tribune article about Messer's decision, the GOP chairman claims to have a candidate for every race except clerk.

Even the 1st district?

Is there still time for an independent to run against Dan Coffey?

ON THE AVENUES: From the Liffey to the Ohio.

ON THE AVENUES: From the Liffey to the Ohio.

By ROGER BAYLOR
Local Columnist

In my memory I will always see
the town that I have loved so well
Where our school played ball by the gas yard wall
and we laughed through the smoke and the smell
Going home in the rain, running up the dark lane
past the jail and down behind the fountain
Those were happy days in so many, many ways
in the town I loved so well
-- “The Town I Loved So Well,” by Phil Coulter

The extent to which I love, and seemingly just as often loathe, my own town of New Albany is a subject requiring more column inches than time permits, not to mention occasional bouts of psychotherapy. Beer helps, too.

But another festive cultural weekend looms, and before it receives its due coverage, there’s a wee bit of back story for us to peruse. Find a chair, pour a jar, and smoke’ em if you’ve got ‘em – before someone makes fun like this illegal.

Consider first the distinctively American sport of basketball. Although the squad didn’t make this year’s NBA finals, you may have heard of the Celtics, the perennially successful team in Boston, itself arguably the world capital of the Irish Diaspora.

To my mind, the Celtics should never be the SELL-tics, as we insist on calling the team, but the KELL-tics. The team’s name comes from the Celts (properly pronounced “Kelts”), who were ancient tribal Europeans of the Iron Age, and the ancestors of today’s Irish.

The hard “k” is easier to remember by fixing an image of Bushmill’s, Jameson’s or Tullamore Dew in one’s mind, and asking the bartender for a belt of the Kelts … or two.

Long ago, Celtic cultures expanded into many European territories. The advent of the Roman Empire gradually pushed them toward the continent’s western periphery, to remote green islands and misty, isolated coasts. In modern times, we think of the Celts as comprising Gaels (Irish, Scottish and Manx peoples), Welsh and Bretons.

It’s far more complicated than all that, but for our purposes today, it’s enough to know that a few central elements of convivial living, including music, beer, conversation and food, are stocks-in-trade of the Celts, and that among Celts, the Irish stand out as visible and enthusiastic proponents of these timeless virtues.

It’s 2011, and is there any place of consequence on the planet outside of North Korea that doesn’t have a mostly authentic Irish pub serving Guinness and some variant of fish and potatoes?

---

It’s been more than a quarter-century since I first visited Ireland, eagerly draining countless pints of the national black elixir, and depleting adjacent seas of any marine life capable of being battered and subjected to frying. About the same time, my well-traveled cousin Don Barry introduced me to classic albums recorded by the Dubliners, Wolfe Tones, Tommy Makem, the Clancy Brothers, and other Irish folk bands.

While Stouts, Porters and Red Ales do a man’s body good, his mind craves a governing context to accompany the liquid, and it is in words and music that the Irish experience truly comes alive. The recipe is simple. One adds equal literary elements of James Joyce, Seamus Heaney, John Synge and W.B. Yeats to gifted instrumental musicianship, complete with fiddles, tin whistles, guitars and banjos, which on occasion can lead to jigs and reels.

Spice the emerging concoction with everyday speaking voices that transform common English into lilting melodies, even when reading the Dublin phone book, and listen as golden-throated singers render these tunes into the realm of the ethereal and sublime. Enjoy the results as often as possible, with pints of black gold at the ready.

This is where the town we (well, something) so well, New Albany, re-enters the narrative.

On Saturday, June 18, the hard-working volunteers from the Kentuckiana Celtic Fest return to New Albany’s revamped riverfront amphitheater with the third annual “Celts on the River,” a free concert running from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

This year’s musical headliner is Brendan Loughrey, who was born in County Donegal, an isolated, rural area clinging to the northwest coast of the island. Donegal is part of the Irish Republic, but most of its land border is with Northern Ireland, and Loughrey’s childhood coincided with the worst period of the Troubles. While still very young, Loughrey’s father gifted him with a guitar and said, "You'll reach more people with this guitar son, than you'll ever reach with a rifle."

On the 18th, supporting local and regional artists will include Cloigheann, Mark Geary and John Skelton. There’ll be food from area purveyors, arts and crafts vendors, and beer from the New Albanian Brewing Company, including the 2011 releases of Haggis Laddie (Irish Red) and Strathpeffer (honey and heather ale, Scottish-style).

The Irish Exit will be assisting NABC this year with bar service, and the Exit will be hosting the Celts on the River after party (10:00 p.m. to dawn’s early light). The concert also provides support for Kentucky Harvest’s Blessing in a Backpack.

Did I mention that there is no cover charge? For more information, visit http://celtsontheriver.com, and enjoy this anecdote, as relayed by Sean Cannon of the Dubliners.

In the Irish love triangle there are three parties involved: A man, and a woman – and drink. And so the girl gives an ultimatum to her boyfriend: It's either the drink, or me. And he chooses the drink. But afterwards, he relents. They get married and live happily ever after … the three of them.

Baseball with NABC and the Bombers: A Bus Trip to Dubois County on Sat., July 2.

Baseball with NABC and the Bombers: A Bus Trip to Dubois County.

Date: Saturday, July 2; Pickups in Louisville and at Bank Street Brewhouse TBA

NABC and Rick & Jeff Tours are sponsoring a motor coach trip from metro Louisville to Hoosier points west, including the following beer related attractions for a summer day’s relaxation:

12:30 p.m.: Historic Corydon for Summerfest 2011
There’ll be a Craft Beer Garden at the Harrison County Fairgrounds, with these beers on tap: Barley Island Sheet Metal Blonde, BBC Amber, Bell’s Oberon, Flat 12 Half Cycle IPA, NABC Community Dark, Schlafly Kolsch and Upland Preservation Pils.

3:30 p.m.: Schnitzelbank
A refueling stop at the Schnitzelbank Restaurant in Jasper. Since 1961, the Schnitzelbank has been a popular regional destination for German cuisine and beer.

7:15 p.m.: Dubois County Bombers vs Terre Haute Rex
The Dubois County Bombers play in the Prospect League, a collegiate summer baseball league. Players with remaining NCAA eligibility compete with wooden bats, and they live with host families during the season. Huntingburg’s League Stadium is a retro jewel, reconstructed from an existing grandstand to serve as the 1940’s-era home for the Rockford Peaches during location shooting of the film, “League of Their Own” (1992), starring Geena Davis, Madonna and Tom Hanks.

NABC is serving beer at Bombers home games this summer: Community Dark, Beak’s Best and Tafel Bier. In addition, for the game on the 2nd, we’ll have a special NABC selection on the fourth tap at the Craft Beer Bullpen down the left field line.

The price is $50 per person, and includes motor coach transport and amenities, motor coach beer, and your ticket to the ballgame. Beers and food at Summerfest, the Schnitzelbank and League Stadium are your responsibility.

We need 30 persons to make this trip work, so send your RSVPs to me at roger(at)newalbanian.com, and payment details will be forthcoming. All timings are approximate, but will not substantially vary when finalized.

Backward ever since.

Courtesy of Bill Vandervoort at the Chicago Transit and Railfan Web Site, a time line of mass transit in New Albany and Jeffersonville:


JEFFERSONVILLE/NEW ALBANY TRANSIT HISTORY

1888 - Ohio Falls Street Railway Co. introduces streetcar service in Jeffersonville.

1889 - Ohio Falls Street Railway Co. sold to Jefferson City Railway Co.

1891 - New Albany Street Railway Co. introduces streetcar service in New Albany.

1893 - Kentucky & Indiana Bridge & Railroad Co., jointly owned by three steam railroads from Indiana, electrifies trackage across Ohio River and introduces multiple unit electric train service between Louisville and New Albany, Indiana. Service is known as the "Daisy Line". And was standard gauge, unlike the Louisville streetcars, which were broad gauge.

1894 - New Albany Street Railway Co. sold to New Albany Railway Co.

1902 - New Albany Railway Co. sold to New Albany Street Railroad Co.

1903 - Southern Indiana Interurban Railway introduces service between Jeffersonville and New Albany. Louisville & Southern Indiana Traction Co. formed, and acquires Jefferson City Railway Co., New Albany Street Railroad Co., and Southern Indiana Interurban Railway. Louisville & Southern Indiana Traction Co. arranges with Big Four steam railroad to operate service across Ohio River bridge into downtown Louisville, and lays its own standard gauge track within Louisville.

1905 - Daisy Line service assumed by Louisville & Southern Indiana Traction Co. Louisville & Southern Indiana Traction Co. lays additional rails on Ohio River bridge, enabling broad gauge streetcars to operate between Indiana side of bridge and downtown Louisville, sharing bridge with standard gauge steam railroads.

1912 - Louisville & Southern Indiana Traction Co. reorganized as Interstate Public Service Co., controlled by Samuel Insull.

1925 - Interstate Public Service Co. becomes subsidiary of Midland Utilities Co., also controlled by Samuel Insull.

1929 - First highway bridge across Ohio River to Jeffersonville completed. Bridge Transit Co. formed to operate bus service across bridge. Interstate Public Service Co. soon after discontinues local streetcar service across Big Four bridge.

1930 - Interstate Public Service Co. reorganized as Public Service of Indiana.

1932 - Samuel Insull resigns from Midland Utilities Co.

1932 - local streetcar service in Jeffersonville and New Albany replaced with buses.

1934 - Daisy Line sold to New Albany & Louisville Electric Railway, and bus service in New Albany sold to Home Transit, Inc. New Albany & Louisville Electric Railway and Home Transit are both under same ownership. Bus service in Jeffersonville would eventually be operated by Jeffersonville Bus Lines, which in the early 1950's would be acquired by Bridge Transit Co.

1946 - Home Transit replaces Daisy Line streetcars with buses, due to of conversion of connecting Louisville Railway Co. streetcar line to buses.

1954 - New Albany & Louisville Electric Railway officially renamed The Daisy Line, Inc.

1973 - Bridge Transit Co. ceases operations. The Daisy Line assumes operation of the bridge route, thus operating bus routes over both Ohio River bridges. And Home Transit assumes local bus service in Jeffersonville.

1976 - The Daisy Line ceases operation, replaced by Free Enterprise System.

1983 - Transit Authority of River City acquires routes operated by Free Enterprise System.

Like when I used to throw them out for drinking Miller Lite.

You can depend on the Courier-Journal ...

... because it ALWAYS will let you down.

Belatedly, I've noticed the many broken links in my various blogs, these being because the C-J has instituted for-pay archiving. I'm not sure how long ago, and for which content, but the verdict is the same: Henceforth, either I'll not link to the C-J, or if I do, the entire text will appear here until the toll-loving Gannett dweebs issue a cease and desist order against me.

Wankers.

"Marching with the SlutWalkers."

Seriously: One doesn't read about such thought-provoking matters in the Courier-Journal. Perhaps LEO, though. Given that this movement began in Toronto, and The Guardian is British, is there even an American branch?

Marching with the SlutWalkers, by Tonya Gold (The Guardian)

The SlutWalk movement has divided feminists. Should women try to reclaim the word? And is undressing the best way to protest against rape?

But there's fast "food" on every corner.

It applies to New Albany, too.

Watch your step, Louisville!, by Kirk Kandle (www.LouisvilleKY.com)

Last month I learned that my hometown, Louisville, Ky, is at the bottom of the American Fitness Index – number 49 among 50 cities studied. And a few days later I found that Louisville is among the most dangerous midwestern cities for pedestrians, according to the Transportation for America study “Dangerous By Design.”

I’m disappointed, but not surprised. I’m angry as hell. I’m embarrassed. I hope you are, too.

Exclusively New Albany: This Thursday, downtown.

Paul "No Tolls" Fetter's good ink in the Courier-Journal.

Paul Fetter, who dared push back when the regional oligarchs demanded he grovel, gets some good press in the C-J:

Newsmaker: Paul Fetter ... Clarksville businessman focused on bridge tolls fight, by Dale Moss (Courier-Journal)

... He finds time, though, to lead the charge against using tolls to pay for new Ohio River bridges. Fetter co-founded the Organization for a Better Southern Indiana Inc., better known for its No2BridgeTolls.org website, billboards and yard signs. This is a political campaign with huge stakes.

Meanwhile, Moss records a Ron Grooms sighting. It seems our State Senator and Dan Coffey share an inability to find the necessary information.

Fetter is mounting letter-writing efforts and meeting routinely with leaders such as state Sen. Ron Grooms, who said he is not taking a stance on tolls until all the facts are in.

Speaking of pertinent facts, I'm still waiting breathlessly for the economic impact study on the effects of bridge tolls on Southern Indiana small business. It's the study promised by certain Tolling (er, "Bridges") Authority members from Floyd County, and it has yet to materialize.

My guess is Kerry Stemler borrowed the Big Chief tablet on which it was written to play Tic Tac Dough with his oligarch buddies.

But what the hey -- how could we leave Rep. Ed Clere out of any thoughtful consideration of deleterious tolling mechanisms: Clere has a toll to pay whether they build bridges or not.

"Would the (bridges) project have been downsized if the pressure would have never arrived? "

The ongoing silence emanating from the general direction of the furnished oligarch's bunker occupied by Ron Grooms, Steve Stemler and Ed Clere continues to be deafening. Conceding that the cuts are being made in the wrong place -- the East End bridge, which was the only one necessary in the first place -- it remains that after a constant barrage of assurances that the monolith was impregnable, the past six months' worth of whittling proves that proponents to be lying all along. See also: Press release: No2BridgeTolls Responds to Massive Bridge Plan Reduction.

CHEERS AND JEERS — June 4-5

BACKHANDED CHEERS...

to another $700 million in “savings” found on the Ohio River Bridges project.It’s amazing what a little pressure can do to politicians. The real cheer is to the no tolls groups which created the pressure which led to a bloated project being scaled back.In just a few short months, elected and project leaders have said the projected price tag on two new bridges and a redo of Spaghetti Junction in downtown Louisville has shrunk from $4.1 billion to $2.9 billion due to simply scaling back a project that was too big to begin with.

Here’s a good question — would the project have been downsized if the pressure would have never arrived?

—Editor Shea Van Hoy