Windows? On Main Street? Is it a dream?

Windows?

No plywood or metal coverings?

Could it be a trend?

Might it extend to furniture corner on the west and the Reisz building on the south?

Kinda giddy, you know. Suddenly anything seems possible.

Wal-Mart repelled in Saranac Lake, NY: “This is more authentic capitalism.”

Capitalism as a model for empowering community rather than promoting exploitation via the Wal-Mart way? Sounds suspicious to me.

A Town Creates Its Own Department Store, by Amy Cortese (New York Times)

... So when Wal-Mart Stores came knocking, some here welcomed it. Others felt that the company’s plan to build a 120,000-square-foot supercenter would overwhelm their village, with its year-round population of 5,000, and put local merchants out of business.

It’s a situation familiar to many communities these days. But rather than accept their fate, residents of Saranac Lake did something unusual: they decided to raise capital to open their own department store. Shares in the store, priced at $100 each, were marketed to local residents as a way to “take control of our future and help our community,” said Melinda Little, a Saranac Lake resident who has been involved in the effort from the start. “The idea was, this is an investment in the community as well as the store” ...

... Think of it as the retail equivalent of the Green Bay Packers — a department store owned by its customers that will not pick up and leave when a better opportunity comes along or a corporate parent takes on too much debt.

NA First's "Be Local" seminar series continues on Tuesday night, Nov. 15, at Destinations Booksellers.

Previously, we passed along this information about New Albany First's next event on Tuesday night:

Join us starting at 7 pm on Tuesday, November 15th at Destinations Booksellers for the second of our "be local." seminars. Our panel includes Cisa Barry of Sew Fitting, Todd Antz of Keg Liquors, and Blayr Bernard of the Small Business Development Center.

Today, we note this change in the program:

Blayr Bernard of the SBDC had to postpone because she's in the hospital this morning giving birth. We knew this was a possibility, so Mike Ladd of the Urban Enterprise Association will be filling in for her. Mike will speak on the programs available for businesses through the UEA. We thank Mike for filling in on short notice and wish Blayr all the luck in the world.

Patticakes & Pies Cafe is winding down.

There is little choice except taking the bad with the good. The food and drink business is volatile in the best of economies, and sometimes life gets in the way of well laid plans. Pat Cianci has made many friends and fans with her establishment, and it's sad to see it go away. Best of luck to her and her family.

Closing of Patticakes & Pies Cafe
Time: Today at 8:00am - November 19 at 6:00pm
Location: Patticakes & Pies Cafe, 155 E. Main, New Albany, IN
Created By: Patticakes & Pies Cafe

I'm very sad to announce that I will be closing Patticakes & Pies. Many of you know that I recently lost my father. His hopitalization for 2 months prior in Owensboro took a tow on me emotionally and physically. Due to now having to settle my dad's estate it is in my, my family and Patticakes best interest that I make this decision.

I will continue to take as well as fulfill any orders I have Thanksgiving week. For those who have enjoyed my cooking & baking I will continue to bake desserts and do catering in the future. I can be reached by emailing me @ patiticakes.pies@gmail.com or 502-314-1813.

I want to thank everyone in New Albany & the surrounding areas that patronized Patticakes making my life long dream come true. I hope you will miss me as much as I will miss you!! Please stop in, say goodbye and enjoy one last lunch at Patticakes this week.

We will be open till 6 pm on Saturday November 19th and offering 1/2 price desserts with any entree and free coffee drinks, while supplies last. I will be having an equipment, smallware sale on Nov. 29th, 30th & Dec. 1st.

Papa may be in the house, but "Shift Your Shopping" anyway.

It has been written that "anything less than consistency comes across as a profit-driven way of dividing people," which is why we refer to this point at selected intervals:

The Multiplier Effect of Local Independent Business Ownership (from AMIBA)

There's nothing divisive about the multiplier effect, and the forthcoming holiday shopping season strikes me as the perfect opportunity to put theory into practice. With striking consistency, advocates of the local, independent business sector have suggested shifting a percentage of one's expenditures. Neither Rome nor Veteran's Parkway was built in a day, and as consciousness is raised, incremental shifts will continue to reaffirm the central argument.

Shift Your Shopping: Choose Local and Independent This Holiday Season

Let’s build an annual tradition that strengthens local economies, expands employment, nurtures a sense of community, and provides a more relaxed, fun, and rewarding gift-buying experience.

As customers, we are about to collectively spend a large portion of our annual shopping budget between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31. If you join us in shifting those dollars to locally owned, independent businesses, we’ll all generate 2-3 times as much economic activity in our community than if we had spent our money at a national chain. Across North America, that could mean billions of dollars of economic impact.

Camel-Backing Nouveau: Is it art, revitalization or plywood?

A cursory Google search of 527 East 9th Street reveals a listing as headquarters of Sydney Ballard, d.b.a. ABL Disposal. There is no other information, and all I know is if he'd paint the wood pink and leave it alone, it would brighten up the neighborhood and be a powerful artistic statement. As it stands ...

Three downtown NA business interiors under construction.

I'm tall enough to elevate cameras over window coverings.

Quill's, the coffee shop coming soon to the old Fair Store Building on Market (adjacent to Thorpe and Toast).

Louis Le Francais, perhaps already open, in the Bergman Building on the same block as Quill's.

The forthcoming New Albany location of Keg Liquors on Pearl Street.

REWIND: Five years ago, and the St. Marks demolition.

(Edited with "after" photos)

It's interesting to go back a few years and recall the issue of the day, and I'll try to throw one of these out every now and then. Consider it a follow-up of sorts, even if such reconsiderations are not common in the local media.

R.I.P.: The Swiss Cheese effect claims another downtown victim.

This is the last I’ll have to say about the St. Marks demolition issue; what’s done is done, and there are times when it’s best to move on, though not without a handful of photographic observations.

Nash: "What would a New Albany that is run with cooperation look like?"

Matt Nash is as omnipresent in the newspaper as those Alabama pensioner-endorsed OSIN pop-up ads.

READER JEERS ... to the News and Tribune for printing Matt Nash’s nothing column basically saying he had nothing to write about.

If one commits to writing a column, they should certainly be able to find something to write about. Since he doesn’t have Steve Price to kick around anymore, due to the paper’s hatchet job, he doesn’t have anything to write about.

The frequent jeer contributor Granny Larner obviously is upset that with his council seat gone with the wind, Li'l Stevie now actually must go back to work. Too bad there are no available positions in the private sector that pay 12k yearly to repeat the word "no," although Price might consider applying for a job at a bank's loan department.

Meanwhile, Matt remains an undeterred optimist.

NASH: The future seems brighter in New Albany

By MATTHEW NASHnewsroom@newsandtribune.com

NEW ALBANY — The votes have all been counted and the winners have all been declared — pending a challenge from Floyd County Republicans. Hopefully, all of the signs have been packed away and will not return until late next spring.

The election is over and we finally know who the new mayor of New Albany will be. We also know who he will need to work with on the city council when the new year begins. Now it is time to start planning for the future of our city.

Beginning Jan. 1, mayor-elect Jeff Gahan had better be prepared to hit the ground running, because the residents of New Albany have a track record of turning on our leaders pretty quickly. The president of the United States usually has an unofficial deadline of 100 days to make his mark on the American people; the mayor of New Albany usually gets called out by the time of the first snow storm.

We will not forget you.

It's been a year since Lloyd left us, and a week since I laid out this first-year memorial page in the hope of finding the photos and writing a paragraph without crying. I couldn't. One of these years, maybe it will be easier, but not this one. Lloyd, we miss you. Rest in peace.

FLASH: Mayor refuses to extend statute of limitations for 2007 promises, blames council.

At a morning press conference held outside his favorite table inside La Bocca, outgoing Mayor Doug England vowed to kill his 2007 campaign pledge to achieve downtown two-way street conversions.

“What’s done is done,” said England. “I can’t let that turncoat b*****d Mike Moore get all the d****d headlines for stopping Tommy’s canal.”

Reminded that he’d chosen a Republican to pretend to be a Democrat and succeed him as mayor, a plan scotched by Democratic primary voters even before his own council bid was repelled, England snapped.

“That’s why this town doesn’t deserve two-way streets,” he thundered. “Party, schmarty -- it’s all about not gittin’ her done. With Carl back at the wheel, Irv as figurehead and me on the council working part-time, the three of us easily could have renewed my unkept campaign pledge all the way through 2015 – and we’d have had four more years not to fulfill it!”

Pausing as the maître d' topped off his red wine, England continued.

“Now, without me and Carl to appoint our friends and relatives to all those boards, who the f**k is going to take the credit for all the two-way streets that didn’t come into existence while we were mayor? They sure don’t stay one-way on their own, bi****s.”

(“Forgotten Old Campaign Promises” is scheduled to run through December 31st on the third floor of the City-County Building. For box office and ticket information, contact the the mayor’s web site: www.EnglandForStumlerForMayorOrMaybeEvenCouncilInA Pinch.org)

REWIND: Armistice Day column, 2009.

Heavens, has it really been two years since this column was published?

BAYLOR: Forgotten fields in Flanders

By all such standards, the Great War was especially horrible. The specific horror of this conflict, which eventually came to be known as World War I out of a contextual necessity to keep our historical accountings of human suffering clearly ordered, surely represents societal innocence shattered on an unfathomably massive scale.

"A story of some really dumb choices being made for us."

Another gem from Annie Leonard and the Story of Stuff Project-- The Story of Broke.

It isn't always my decision.

The Sherman Minton Bridge was shut down on September 9, and the general election followed on November 8. During that two-month period, NAC has averaged close to three posts a day. Usually I aim for two. Some admittedly were throwaways, but overall, considering everything that's been happening around these parts, the greater workload has seemed justified. Readership has nudged up accordingly, and you are duly thanked.

For those afflicted by a fatal facility to write, compulsion and obsession can become easily intertwined. During periods like this one, it isn't just that I feel obliged to report what's going down. It's that I feel driven to interpret events, to relieve my muse's incessant demands and to comment for posterity. For me, it remains much as blogs were originally conceived, in the sense of them serving as public diaries.

But never let a writer tell you that he or she doesn't care if anyone reads their work. Whenever I hear of being bashed for something I've written, I laugh loud and long. Seems they just can't help reading what annoys them most, and they're weaker for it. It matters less that they're anonymous, and more that they've beaten themselves from the outset by being unable to look away.

Having made these observations, I sense that this spike of productivity may be coming to a close. It isn't the first time you're heard me say it. There's a lot to do at those two places where no one ever goes, because we keep selling more of the beer no one ever drinks, and as a result, I'll be forced to cut back at the blog no one ever reads. Time to take it easy for a few days -- if the muse permits.

ON THE AVENUES: Meet the new reshuffle.

ON THE AVENUES: Meet the new reshuffle.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

"The only way I can lose this election is if I'm caught in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy."
-- Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards

Tuesday’s results proved conclusively that an independent candidate dares not defy the two-party political establishment, and cannot hope to win a contested race in the city of New Albany – in fact, an independent cannot even come close, even after planting more yard signs than his opponent and declaring victory two weeks prior to election day.

That is, unless the independent candidate is Scott Blair.

The local political lexicon is now enriched, because in the 6th district, “pulling a Blair” now means not “pulling” a straight party lever. This bodes well for the future. Straight party voting should be removed as a ballot option, and what’s more, local races should be rigidly non-partisan. If they were, we’d be spared the indignity of Republicans demanding recounts (I seem to recall them opposing the concept in Florida way back in the year 2000).

Will the congenitally ineffective GOP chairman Dave Matthews endorse my reverse historical analogy and scurry to the state attorney general’s office for relief if Diane Benedetti’s 21-vote lead holds? Let’s hope so, because I could use a laugh.

Or, perhaps Ed Clere will introduce legislation to redress the municipal voting imbalance by introducing a new, innovative, St. Daniels-approved user fee for voting, not a poll tax per se, but the joyful, semantic improvement offered by a Poll Toll: Buy a coupon book of existing Ohio River bridge crossings, and get a Republican ballot absolutely free of charge.

(Alas, it’s just bad karma to campaign on behalf of any candidate who feeds his sign-planting workers mega-chain pizza.)

Speaking of pervasive Daniels envy, what are the odds of Doug England’s ballot-box-enforced “retirement” being permanent?

I asked the Green Mouse, who took a deep drag from his unfiltered Kool before responding: Nothing possibly could exceed the entertainment value of Hizzoner declaring for the House 72 seat currently occupied by Ed Clere. With Irv Stumler as titular England campaign manager, the vicious and predatory atmosphere of an epochal presidential election year would be the ideal moment to call in every accumulated marker from a lifetime in politics, and use the money to hammer the Republican incumbent both personally and mercilessly. Of course, it would be utterly futile, and Clere would win big nonetheless, but generational scores finally would be settled.

If a miracle occurred and England actually won, there’s already a deputy representative in waiting.

England and Jeffersonville’s deposed Tom Galligan are larger-than-life personalities accustomed to giving orders, not taking them. Both returned from the political wilderness to serve additional terms, and neither brought their A-games with them for a third ride on the merry-go-round. Now they’re back on the outside looking in, which is a place neither of them has ever been comfortable occupying.

In Jeffersonville, Galligan’s canal-side EPA edification plan has been unceremoniously aborted. Here in New Albany, Democratic party chairman John Wilcox tells One Southern Indiana Newspaper that, “(England) has made a change in New Albany that has never been duplicated and probably never will be duplicated.”

But nepotism as governing principle seems constantly duplicable. How’s that “change” working for you, anyway?

---

Once the new city council is seated, it would be unwise for anyone to bet against a resumption of the bile and acrimony engendered by the Greatly Unnecessary Smoking Debate of 2008. As I noted last evening, four of 2008’s anti-smoking voters return to their 3rd floor chairs. A fifth in favor of banning indoor smoking ban almost surely will be found among the three incoming rookie council persons. Jeff Gahan, who favored the smoke-out in 2008, now occupies the mayor’s office, meaning that another veto is unlikely.

Alas, the city’s cigarette smokers may no longer have friends in high places.

Speaking personally, I’ve precious little stomach for a return to the naked savagery of the 2008 scrum. Reviewing the written record of that time, I am surprised anew at the mutable shape of alliances on the smoking issue. Reliably as ever, Steve Price was against the ban, but Dan Coffey was for it. I pilloried council president Gahan for his pro-ban stance at the time, and then blackened his mayoral oval two days ago. Jack Messer opposed the smoking measure in 2008, and did not receive my vote for chief executive. Bedfellows seldom have been as strange as they were when indoor smoking was the topic, and when (not if) an ordinance returns to the floor, the sheets may rustle yet again. Don’t they always?

To Shirley Baird, Scott Blair and Greg Phipps: The door-to-door campaigning is about to return to your lives, except this time, it’ll be Tim Filler standing on your porches. I recommend slamming the door in his face.

---

Well, well.

Coffey dominated the hermetic 1st, and Jessica Knable, while losing, closed the GOP gap in CeeSaw’s 2nd. With the advent of Greg Phipps, the 3rd district belatedly achieves recognition as part of the city. When outgoing uncouncilperson Steve Price casts his final “no” vote on December 15, he’ll be serenaded by a karaoke version of the Manic Street Preachers’ “If You Tolerate This, Then Your Children Will Be Next.” That’ll be me, on amplified kazoo.

Pat’s back in the 4th, and at the musty King Kochert Memorial Museum of Back Alley Garage Polling Stations, rusty pins are being jammed into a spandex-clad voodoo doll. Diane Benedetti found 52% unattainable in both her 5th district 2011 council races, and yet she remains standing, albeit (politically) wobbly, with or without her other, variably interchangeable family name. As previously observed, Blair cleaned house in the 6th, making future mayoral contests potentially fascinating – assuming, of course, that Blair’s smashing win came without the new mayor’s assistance.

As expected, John Gonder and Kevin Zurschmiede resume their at-large council careers. They are joined by Shirley Baird, whose life lesson in very narrowly losing an at-large nomination to the superannuated Jimmy Hollis in the 2007 Democratic primary was to bind herself as tightly as possible to the party establishment. Now, having triumphed, she can be expected to follow the direction of the party establishment, which never exists in any substantive way once the last vote in any election is counted. With Jethro gone, who will she turn to? Only the Green Mouse knows, and he isn’t talking.

Mayor Gahan’s 64% appears impregnable, and will remain so until his 7-1-1 council majority turns on him at the second meeting in January. Then, at last, we can begin drinking heavily in preparation for the four-year siege of underachievement about to come. At least we’ll have our River View for consolation.

All four of my votes were cast for winning candidates.

Is that good, or bad?

Anti-smoking council math, and how it may (or may not) have changed.

In summer of 2008, after refusing to act in the waning months of the 2003-2007 term, New Albany's city council voted in favor of an ordinance that would have banned smoking in almost all enclosed public places, including bars and restaurants. If memory serves, exceptions for owner-operated clubs and tobacco stores were allowed.

In favor: Coffey, Caesar, McLaughlin, Gahan, Gonder

Opposed: Price, Benedetti, Messer and Zurschmiede

As you can see, in 2008, the ordinance was passed, 5-4. It is not in effect today because it was "vetoed" by Mayor England. Six votes are required to overturn a veto, and so England's decision has stood. The council might have returned to the ordinance and softened it, but did not.

After last evening's election, and of course assuming that returning council members would vote the same if asked today, it's now 4-2 in favor, with three new voters (Phipps, Blair and Baird) on board.

Unlike 2008, it is now likely that the vote of only one of these three is required to carry the measure, which almost surely is destined for reintroduction once a new council is seated in 2012. Here's the rub: With the pro-ban Gahan now serving as mayor, six votes no longer are necessary to ensure a veto-proof majority. There'll be no veto. Five will do, although proponents will aim for a higher margin just the same.

Between the dates of May 30, 2008 and September 5, 2008, the search terms "smoking ordinance" appear 32 times at NAC. There were dozens of comments posted, and things got unusually heated. As an example, just this one should do: Anger management? No, thanks. I’ve had all the placid acceptance I can stomach.

On second thought ... maybe I shouldn't have read that one again.

A new newsletter from New Albany First.

The election's over, the dust is settling, and New Albany First once again has both clear title to its moniker and another newsletter. Here's a highlight:

Join us starting at 7 pm on Tuesday, November 15th at Destinations Booksellers for the second of our "be local." seminars. Our panel includes Cisa Barry of Sew Fitting, Todd Antz of Keg Liquors, and Blayr Bernard of the Small Business Development Center. The discussion will center on the decision of both Cisa and Todd to either move or open a 2nd business in New Albany. Blayr will be on hand to discuss how the SBDC can help prospective business owners. It will be another great conversation and a chance to learn more about our local businesses.

Here are the 2011 winners.

Winners in bold (official)

NEW ALBANY MAYOR

D Jeff M. Gahan

R Dale D.M. Bagshaw
I Jack Messer
L Thomas Keister

---

NEW ALBANY COUNCIL DISTRICT 1
(Precincts New Albany 1, 17, 21, 23)

D Dan Coffey (incumbent)

R Eddie Hodges

---

NEW ALBANY COUNCIL DISTRICT 2
(Precincts New Albany 16, 18, 19, 22, 29)

D Bob Caesar (incumbent)

R Jessica Knable

---

NEW ALBANY COUNCIL DISTRICT 3
(Precincts New Albany 3, 5, 6, 7, 10)

D Greg Phipps

R Jameson Bledsoe

---

NEW ALBANY COUNCIL DISTRICT 4
(Precincts New Albany 11, 12, 13, 20, 24, 25)

D Pat McLaughlin (incumbent)

R John M. Hiatt

---

NEW ALBANY COUNCIL DISTRICT 5
(Precincts New Albany 9, 14, 15, 26, 28, 40)

D Diane McCartin Benedetti

R Tonye A. Rutherford

---

NEW ALBANY COUNCIL DISTRICT 6
(Precincts New Albany 27, 41, 42, 43, 44)

I Scott A. Blair

R Matt Oakley
D Suellen Wilkinson

---

NEW ALBANY COUNCIL MEMBER AT-LARGE
(Precincts New Albany 1,3,5,6,7,9 through 29 and 40 through 44)

D John Gonder (incumbent)
R Kevin W. Zurschmiede (incumbent)

D Shirley Baird

D Doug England

R Steve Burks
R Harry T. Harbison

Monty Python's Flying Circus - Election Night Special.

Thanks to Bluegill for reminding me of this.

Open thread: November 8 election.

Anything to say or add as we march off to pull the handle? Precinct counts? Put 'em in the comments, please. I'll be back later tonight to recap the results.