Bank Street Brewhouse is the Holiday Store Window Contest winner.

Okay, not really.

But we should be.

Check the tricked-out exterior, photographed earlier this morning.

And the lavish interior. By the way, BSB is open today from noon to 5:00 p.m. Ditto the Pizzeria & Public House (11:00 a.m. to 5, maybe 6).

See, nothing at all -- perfect for me, and I've never been prouder of our staff. I didn't even have to issue orders to do nothing. They just felt it. But I couldn't resist this one, solitary late addition.

It's from the Freedom from Religion Foundation.

Meanwhile, for those more conventionally inclined, look at the other downtown contestants here: HOLIDAY STORE WINDOW CONTEST.

New Albany's new slogan: "Truck Through City" ... Part 63: Just imagine the lovely dining ambience in nice weather.

You never see city officials dining outdoors there, do you?

Does diesel exhaust enhance the al fresco experience?

It's really too bad that none of our third-floor luminaries ever spend time occupying sidewalks. They might learn something.

Now you see Bella Roma ...

Now you don't.

New Albany's new slogan: "Truck Through City" ... Part 61: Our catatonic Board of Works naps as the trucks thunder past -- morning, noon and night.

New Albany's new slogan: "Truck Through City" ... Part 62: 45 Seconds on Spring Street on December 23 -- strangling walkability, one monster truck at a time.

Roger's Year in Music 2014, No. 8: Lullaby and the Ceaseless Roar, by Robert Plant.

Led Zeppelin never was a go-to band for me, even in its prime. Give me the Who or Deep Purple from that era, in that "heavy" of a genre.

From Led Zeppelin's final years through 2002, I paid almost no attention to the group and its surviving members. Robert Plant's Dreamland album of covers changed that. I saw him open for the Who that summer in Indianapolis, beginning with this:

It's a Bukka White song, one I already knew from an old blues compilation snagged from the library and taped back when I was in junior school, and granted, it doesn't fall very far from the center of the Led Zeppelin canon -- but the arrangement fascinated me. My thinking: Maybe I should pay attention to what Plant was doing, and what's he's done in the 12 years since then is invigorating.

The Led Zeppelin "reunion" at the Ahmet Ertegun tribute in 2007 was powerful, but Plant was right to view it as a one-off. He won't be locked into a formula, and if I weren't an atheist, I'd say "God Bless Him" for it. Plant's recent musical explorations are as compelling as any late period rock god's, and more innovative than most.

Over to Stuart Berman at Pitchfork:

So for those who worried Plant was settling into a roots-rock comfort zone post-Raising Sand—a theory reinforced by a move to Austin and reports he would only reunite with Jimmy Page on acoustic material—Lullaby reasserts his sense of globe-trotting adventure while retaining the low-key elegance of his post-millennial output. While the song rarely remains the same for Plant, the methodology does: Really, what he’s doing here stays true to the original spirit of Led Zeppelin—i.e., retrofitting Depression-era folk and blues for contemporary audiences—in a 21st-century globalized, WiFi-accelerated context, bringing together sounds archaic and modern, rustic and exotic, visceral and vaporous. But after years spent reinterpreting the work of others, Lullaby sees Plant stepping up with his first batch of original songs in nearly a decade, answering his band’s derring-do with some of the most bravely confessional writing of his career.

Peanut butter, an adjacent "spa" and 211 Pearl Street, then and now.

Seriously -- peanut butter ground WHILE YOU WAIT? Come to think of it, they might still be doing that at the "health" spa across the street in Kevin Zurschmiede's building. Boy, if the walls (and peanut shells) could only talk ...

New Albany's new slogan: "Truck Through City" ... Part 61: Our catatonic Board of Works naps as the trucks thunder past -- morning, noon and night.

Roger's Year in Music 2014, No. 9: Present Tense, by Wild Beasts.

"Don't confuse me for someone who gives a fuck" ranks with "hope I die before I get old." There comes a time when a simple statement is enough: This band is utterly unique. NME's Ben Hewitt elaborates:

Wild Beasts have always been fantasists: four young men from Kendal who, finding the humdrum world around them wanting, escaped through the back of their wardrobes to explore other universes. Their 2008 debut ‘Limbo, Panto’ invented its own playground of archaic, dandyish guitar-pop. 2009’s ‘Two Dancers’ upped the ante with its paeans to caddish courting and knee-tremblers down back alleys. And 2011’s ‘Smother’ saw them replaying memory tapes of lost loves, endlessly self-flagellating and cut off from reality.

Kendal is "The Auld Grey Town," located in Cumbria (northwestern England).

It looks like a nice place to visit and enjoy a pint or three, although perhaps a bit stifling for musicians with an exceedingly singular vision.

News and Tribune to sell its building and relocate NA HQ to a handy laptop at Quills.

The Green Mouse reports what may be old news: The News and Tribune's local crew will relocate very soon to offices within Matt Chalfant's National City Bank rehab on Pearl Street, and Chalfant has purchased the building pictured here (but not including the fork-in-road-cheese sculpture).

Chris Morris is expected to write a glowing review about his years in this featureless building, many of which were spent admiring Ted Heavrin from afar. Morris is not expected to mention how, in the 1990s, the newspaper's then-chain owner (three or four times removed from the current chain owner) demolished the historic Park Christian Church building to build a pole barn, which in turn became obsolete a decade later.

Philistines.

I've never forgiven 'em for that one, if you want to know the truth.

FLASH: Building Commissioner David Brewer has announced that if he cannot demolish the former Tribune building or the old National City/Mutual Trust Bank building, could he at least fulfill the city's quota with CCE by letting the city's preferred demolition contractor demolish the fork-in-road-cheese sculpture?

City Hall snorts: "But if we have two-way streets, we'll have to replace all these crappy old faded street signs."

Viewed from the southwest.

Viewed from the northeast.

So ... which city entity is responsible for restoring luster to faded signage? It's that elusive Traffic Commission ... in fact, so very elusive that we don't have one.

Did you know that in New Albany, a Traffic Commission is stipulated by ordinance?

So, who's taken over the job?

§ 70.27  ERECTION OF SIGNS.

   (A)   Whenever any ordinance of the city designates and describes a through street, it shall be the duty of the Traffic Commission to place and maintain a stop sign on each and every street intersecting the through street or that portion thereof described and designated as such by any ordinance of the city.

   (B)   The Traffic Commission is hereby authorized to determine and designate intersections where particular hazards exist upon other than through streets and to determine whether vehicles shall stop at one or more entrances to any such stop intersection, shall erect a stop sign at every such place where a stop is required, or in the event the Traffic Commission determines that reduced speed rather than a stop is adequate for safe operation of any such intersection, it shall erect signs upon the approach to the intersection, giving notice of the speed.

   (C)   Every stop sign shall bear the word "stop" in letters of not less than six inches in height, shall be provided with reflector button or, if not, then shall be self-illuminated at night. Every stop sign shall be located as near as practicable at the proper line of the street at the entrance to which the stop must be made, or at the nearest line of the crosswalk thereat or, if not, at a limit line to be indicated by the Traffic Commission.

   (D)   Whenever, by any ordinance of the city, a one-way street is described or any time-limit parking is imposed, it shall be the duty of the Traffic Commission to erect appropriate signs giving notice thereof.

(Ord. 4139, passed 11-27-1939)

Roger's Year in Music 2014, No. 10: Somewhere Under Wonderland, by Counting Crows.

It's easy to be disdainful of Counting Crows, and even easier to aim barbs at frontman/songwriter/lyricist Adam Duritz. I've often heard the Crows denounced as whiny, pretentious, and worse. Original material comes slowly to this band; Somewhere Under Wonderland makes six albums in 22 years.

Overall, I've always thought these complaints were bum raps. The band's 1990s releases comprise a soundtrack of my fractured existence during the founding pub days. If anything, Duritz has gotten less morose since 2008's Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings, and a mischievous and playful Duritz truly takes some getting used to. Matt Melis comments at Consequence of Sound:

The band find that same type of balance in the album’s musical direction, a colorful and emotionally rich palette of sounds that combines past recording styles, flavors from covers album Underwater Sunshine, and the spontaneous spirit of their live performances. “Elvis Went to Hollywood” (which sounds like a mingling between old tracks “Einstein on the Beach (For an Eggman)” and “New Frontier”) and “John Appleseed’s Lament” scale back the muscle and flesh out the character of the full-throttle guitar tracks from Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings that left a bad aftertaste come Monday. The rambling, piano-plinking “Cover Up the Sun” and Southern rock-indebted “Scarecrow” both venture further into that country rock territory the Crows have always nestled up against, highlighting the impeccable harmonies that dance around and underpin Duritz’s unpredictable delivery throughout the record.

As usual, it's impeccably performed and filled with compelling storyscapes. It really did go wrong when Elvis went to Hollywood, didn't it?

I like it. You don't have to.

Big box dry humping in Sellersburg: In TIF poker, does a major unnamed retailer trump a minor named retailer?

Geez, this one's so breathless I could have sworn it was a banner at Insider Louisville.

It appears these professional, rotating development "pros" all learn to speak a variant of nonsense language: It's the best thing since sliced bread, but we can't talk about it too loudly ... and boy, you'll want to erect a plaque to us when it's finished, but seriously, let's not get our hopes up and all -- and meanwhile you know I like my fluffing slow and easy. 

Big Sales Pitch: Sellersburg hopes to attract major unnamed retailer, by Gary Popp (Alabama Business Fluffer)

SELLERSBURG — Sellersburg officials are working to bring a big-box store to the town, but they aren’t disclosing the name of the retailer as of yet.

Still in the early phases of attracting the business, the Sellersburg Redevelopment Commission met Wednesday to assess their next steps in getting the unnamed business to establish itself in the town’s tax increment financing district.

Mike Hostetler, the redevelopment commission’s president, said the project will be the largest commercial boost in Sellersburg’s history if it comes to fruition.

“There is nothing that can compare to this,” he said.

Hostetler said negations are ongoing with the retailer, and that is better for the community to not be privy to the identity of the business, until plans have further progressed.

“The negotiations are not completed yet, so [there] would be no purpose in giving somebody a name, and then it may not happen,” he said.

The initial public reaction is predictable: WE NEED THIS NEW PLACE TO SHOP DAMN IT BUT FIRST BUILD US MORE ROADS DAMN IT.

Then there's this.

It's a WalMart proposed for the west end in Louisville, and provides insight into pesky little things like principles, these being mere disposable flotsam for the gibberish-speaking economic dishevelment "pros." NPP provided these thoughts prior to last week's hearing.

Neighborhood Planning & Preservation (NPP) Kentuckiana

WALMART (Proposed for 18th & Broadway) CASE HEARD TODAY

NPP REQUESTS PLANNING COMMISSION DEFER DECISION on
CASE "14DEVPLAN1036and1400STREETS1004"

 ... NPP continues to be concerned about the lack of public input on this project thus far. Though we feel a Walmart does not represent the best use for this space, we have supported neighborhood efforts for an urban design--which could meet a broader range of needs in a community that has been neglected and undermined by needless destruction and sub-par development. Walmart has responded with urban designs in other markets (e.g. Washington D.C. and Chicago). Why not Louisville? There are many legitimate concerns about imposing a suburban design in an urban setting. Yet, there were no opportunities to discuss the ramifications on public safety and access among the public. Since taxpayers have footed the hefty bill for most of what has transpired at 18th and Broadway, decisions made behind closed doors suggests a willfully exclusionary process that was not in the public's best interest. The lack of accountability here is troubling.

That being said, we urge the committee to heed the staff report and not claims of economic benefits of said project. The short and long term benefits are debatable and should be addressed in a public forum---not solely among parties having a vested interest in this development. We would also ask the Commission to defer this case and instruct the developer to return with a new plan consistent with the neighborhood guidelines.

The purpose of the land use codes and staff evaluations is to protect communities from the profit agenda of a few, who may find it more convenient to ignore the community's heritage or concerns. We urge the Commission insist our guidelines be followed. Please compel the interested parties to return with plans complying with the standards before moving forward. There is still time to demonstrate a respect for our community that has been lacking to date. In doing so, we believe a win-win is possible for all concerned.

Perhaps miraculously ...

Zoning board delays West End Walmart, by Sheldon Shafer (C-J)

Metro planners delayed acting Thursday on a controversial plan for a Walmart superstore at Broadway and Dixie Highway and strongly implied they want the chain to redesign the site to put the store closer to Broadway and to reduce the amount of parking.

Kevin Thompson, an Indianapolis-based public affairs director for Walmart, said Walmart will consider a redesign. But Walmart officials asked the Metro Planning Commission to vote on the plan that had been submitted and said alternative designs had been thoroughly "vetted" and rejected —mainly because other layouts would be less efficient for operations and would likely reduce profits.

And we all know how important those profits are to the lives of ordinary Americans -- including those clamoring for more roads to reach WalMart.

The Walton Family: America’s New Robber Barons

Walmart’s ruling family, the Waltons, has more wealth than 42% of American families combined.

Bleak houses, outhouses and soused Green Mouses.

Look -- it's the annual love note from the troglodyte who isn't a man, but plays one on her blog. In the spirit of the season: Right back at you, Ms. Denhart; please don't choke on your ... Gucci.

CHRISTMAS GREETINGS FROM OUR HOME TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH ...

Roger's Year in Music 2014, No. 11: Safety in Numbers, by Scars on 45.

I'm told this band's big break came when its songs were used on popular television dramas like Grey's Anatomy. Thankfully, I watch almost no television, and stumbled across the self-titled Scars on 45 debut in 2012 at the recommendation of a friend.

I thought he meant Stars on 45, which remains the originator of my nomination (along with any and all Christmas music) for the perfect torture/interrogation/psychological warfare procedure.

Stars on 45 was a Dutch novelty pop act that was briefly very popular in the United Kingdom, throughout Europe, the United States and Australia in 1981. The group later shortened its name to Stars On in the U.S., while in the U.K. and Ireland it was known as Starsound. The band, which consisted solely of studio session musicians under the direction of Jaap Eggermont, formerly of Golden Earring, popularized medley recordings made by recreating hit songs as faithfully as possible and joining them together with a common tempo and underlying drum track.

Rather, the name refers to an Emmylou Harris comment about playing with her father's records as a child and being scolded for putting "scars" on his 45s.

Note that I've now used two arcane references, to the year 1981 and the very existence of 45 rpm records (that's right, pre-dating even 8-track tapes). Meanwhile, the band members are 30 years old or less.

Aging? It sucks.

I see little underlying profundity in Scars on 45, and that's fine. The group writes and performs tuneful and jangly pop songs with folksy good taste. The hooks are meaty, just like the way I prefer my ribs. May they endure.

I believe drinking more Radeberger is not a potential key to resolving Russia's economic difficulties.

It's worth noting that Mikhail Gorbachev's response to the 1980s-era problems cited below was not to dismantle the Soviet Union, but to reform it, something only an "insider" could hope to achieve. However, once Gorby the Insider went under the hood and began tinkering with rotted parts, dismantlement was the direct result.

There was far too much sand and not enough cement.

Putin's new edition of Mother Russia may not be quite that dilapidated. If it is, we may wish to be ready for the consequences. I enjoyed drinking beers in Volodya's general proximity while in Dresden all those years ago, but as I've learned time and time again in my own life, nostalgic beer memories seldom pay the bills.

Russia's Economy Is Collapsing. Here's What You Need to Know, by Jenna McLaughlin (Mother Jones)

... Why did the Soviet Union lose control of its satellite states behind the Iron Curtain in 1989? Lots of reasons, but the proximate cause was a disastrous war in Afghanistan; plummeting oil prices; and a resulting economic crisis.

War, sanctions, an oil crash, and finally bankruptcy. And while history may not repeat itself, it sure does rhyme sometimes: 25 years later Vladimir Putin has managed to back himself into a situation surprisingly similar to the one that led to the end of the Soviet Union and the final victory of the West—the very event that's motivated almost everything he's done over the past few years. This is either ironic or chilling, depending on your perspective.

Roger's Year in Music 2014, No. 12: La Petite Mort, by James.

Apart from a few very vague and fleeting memories of James during the late 1980s (or perhaps early 1990s; I drank a lot back then), there was no personal basis for comparison for La Petite Mort (The Little Death). It's the 13th album by James -- and my first. Now there's a whole, lengthy back catalog ripe for exploration, because the current release has brought much pleasure in 2014.

Entitled La Petite Mort, the album is an excavation of the mind of frontman Tim Booth, whose lyrics were triggered by a range different events – from living in the US and watching the battle there to prevent gay marriage, to grief following the loss of both his mother and best friend in quick succession ...

... The album's title itself is a French euphemism for the feeling of post-orgasmic unconsciousness and the painted skull adorning the cover is a reference to Mexico's Día de los Muertos celebration, which honors the dead through vibrant, colorful artwork and gift offerings.

Therefore, I knew of the band but had no working knowledge of its music, and I found the music from the new album on YouTube after reading a purely random mention at an English newspaper's web site. Maybe I'm just a sucker for intelligent lyrical ruminations on death and mortality, especially when they take on an elegiac quality. However, La Petite Mort isn't altogether that elegiac, and the references to the Day of the Dead are purely intentional; there's a festive carnival atmosphere weaving through more solemn considerations.

Very unexpected for me, and equally moving, La Petite Mort merits my high accolade of being increasingly rewarding with repeated listens, and is a high point in a remarkably solid year when it comes to The Kind of Music Roger Likes Anyway.

A trail of leaf crumbs to find its way home, but kudos for the effort.

Last year, the city never really got around to removing leaves, and it may have been the fault of the weather in the form of early snowfalls. This season, I've noticed the efforts, and they are appreciated.

"Don’t be intimidated by haters. Keep doing what you can to build a strong town."

Jeff G. shared this on my Fb timeline two days ago. It was my intention to read it aloud to the city council last evening, but doing so would have required three times the allotted time for comments, and so instead, I read them this during my last at-bat:

ON THE AVENUES SUNDAY SPECIAL: How many businesses already have died because of City Hall’s street grid procrastination?

... But if City Hall already knows the answer and perpetually procrastinates, then how many businesses has it already caused to die?

It's a 3,000 word essay, but consider it must reading. I'm teasing here with the first few paragraphs. GO THERE AND READ THE WHOLE PIECE.

Come to think of it, this comes pretty damn close to being a ready-made campaign platform.

---

BEST OF BLOG: STAYING STRONG, by Charles Marohn (Strong Towns)

Over the past two years I've been quietly offered a number of job opportunities. All of them would have paid substantially more money than I make now and most would also be pretty high-profile and impactful, at least in the geographic area in which they were located. I only seriously considered one of them, and that one became a non-option once it was made clear that moving to Washington DC was not negotiable. I love what I do and feel very fortunate to be able to work in a calling well-suited to my strengths and desires.

When I was asked a couple of months ago if there was a position I would leave Strong Towns for, the only one that really came to mind was the opportunity to work here locally. City planner, city engineer or even city administrator for my hometown of Brainerd. The more I thought about it the sillier the notion became -- I would be miserable, would not fit in at all and there is really nobody there who would embrace my ideas -- but the fact that it was my first thought reinforced to me how powerful my connection to this place is.

Which is actually kind of bizarre. I generally loath Brainerd. To me this place is like that star athlete who, instead of using their gifts during their prime, spent their time partying and goofing off. Not only did they fail to reach anything near their potential, now they are a pathetic old man, body breaking down prematurely, looking back at the glory days of the past and not grasping what happened. Worse, they go put on a pair of Zubaz and strut around trying to recapture a little of that past magic, not realizing everyone else is shaking their heads behind their back. They don't get that the thing that makes one great isn't the flash and the style but doing the little things day after day after day.

The reason I loath Brainerd is because I see all the little things that need to be done, things that are easily within our grasp, and I watch them not only be overlooked by others, but actually be discounted with a certain level of disdain by those who could actually do something. Instead of using diet and exercise to get back into shape, we prefer the quick (but elusive) promise of the diet supplement. Our latest is a huge sewer and water project out on the far reaches of town, millions being spent on another old-school scheme to create jobs and growth, while the general decline of our city continues unabated. Don't worry, Chuck, it isn't our money. It's so maddening.

And when we get a chance to do something nice -- something that would actually made things better like fix the main north-south boulevard of the city to bring some life back to it -- we're given the option of the three lane stroad or a five lane stroad, neither of which even begins to acknowledge the fundamental lack of investment along that corridor.

This week the Brainerd City Council raised the local levy 10% and borrowed millions of additional dollars for road maintenance and nobody really stops to ask why. Why? Why is this not working? Why is our unemployment rate so much higher? Why are people moving to the area but not moving here? What is our plan to turn this around beyond ever increasing taxes and debt? Where is the prosperity that was supposed to happen from these past megaprojects? Why are the people who orchestrated them allowed to continue to be employed by the city to do more?

When someone does ask why, the answer is never really an answer. It is just the failed belief system of that star athlete who doesn't understand what happened. It's all about jobs, Chuck. Jobs and growth. We need to spend money to make money. If you aren't growing, you die. Baxter has the bypass so we need to make things happen. We need to give that subsidy to be competitive. We need more parking. We need to make sure those long-haul trucks can get through town because that's our lifeblood. People don't walk - this is Minnesota.

And the more frequent: You're just negative.

UEA asked to foot the bill for $18,000 "luxury apartments" study. Somewhere, Maalox belches.

Two items of interest from the November Urban Enterprise Association meeting minutes.

First, the economic impact study reported earlier by the Green Mouse -- you know, the one prefacing the city's next Mainland-style, big-bucks giveaway to outside developers, even as the streets run one-way (shouldn't we implement THAT study first?)  ... and yes, the word "luxury" actually is used.

That's just garish, don't you think? Are we NuLu, or something?

Crowe Horwath Economic Impact Analysis Agreement
Tonya explained this is the next step from Crowe Horwath for downtown housing, they would be doing a more in- depth analysis on what the actual economic impact of residents and the construction of new luxury apartments would do for the entire downtown area. Banks have requested such a study since there has been no previous data for them to use to base a lending decision on. Questions from several board members were asked regarding the background on the first step of Economic Impact Analysis such as "why so much, $18,000 is quite a bit of money; why does the NAUEA have to pay the entire amount?" The board requested a written narrative that would include a more defined scope of the work, if any other department within the city would be sharing the cost, who's the company looking at purchasing the property, etc.

Of a more routine nature, there's a facade grant for the building slated to be Chef Israel Landin's future home. There'll be a different appearance than when it was his previous (La Rosita's) home.

Facade Grants:
1. 1513 & 1515 E. Market St., Sprigler Company, repair & fix overhang, new gutters, paint all overhang, new doors & fencing, as well new deck, remove existing broken glass, install new lighting, repair windows and new landscaping. Motion to approve $5,000 made by Matt Bergman, seconded by Ian Hall pending copies of cancelled checks for at least $2,500 worth of work to the property. Motion to approve fa9ade grant for amount above passed by unanimous vote.

The crappy .pdfs are below. Unless a UEA board member speaks for attribution, I'll be a month behind, seeing as the minutes cannot be shared until they're approved.

Roger's Year in Music 2014, No. 13: Hypnotic Eye, by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers.

Here's the big truth: I'm not much of a Tom Petty follower, at least not since Damn the Torpedoes back in 1979, and even then, what attracted my attention to the virtual exclusion of the man and band was a pressing need for self-pity.

"This old town just seems so hopeless" strikes me as resonant right now, at the age of 54, but at the improbably prehistoric period when I was 19, I had "my" girl -- very briefly, as it turns out, because she had a far better notion of her place in the cosmos than I did mine, and so be it. At some point amid the haze of drinking Wiedemann for breakfast with a fake ID while listening to Quadrophenia over and over on cassette deck, Petty's song became symbolic. In fact, the album's release almost exactly coincided with the breakup.

Now my Petty embrace strikes me as a borderline embarrassment, but then again many years have passed, and as I was recently tagged by a swollen head, I'm guilty of labored disillusionment in my old age.

Judging from Petty's 2014 release, he's gotten craggy, too, and quite frankly, I love it. It's a truism of sorts, but what's true about musicianship and every other artistic endeavor, as well as some others ("craft" beer?) that aren't -- there's that disillusionment again -- is that one cannot forget what he's learned. As observers, we like to go from "ragged but real" to "the lion in winter" while ignoring the decades in between. This is why the elder is praised for being old and wise, omitting the snarkier thought bubble: "But not as exciting."

This is why Petty's latest release is so interesting to me. Rarely do we encounter veterans capable of being weary old coots while at the same time conjuring some of that youthful verve. There is very little gloss, and lots of grit. "American Dream Plan B" might even be "Here Comes My Girl II: Still Don't Know Shit":

I’m gonna make my way through this world someday
I don’t care what nobody say
American dream, political scheme
I’m gonna find out for myself someday
But I’m half-lit, I can’t dance for shit
But I see what I want, I go after it
And my girl’s alright, treats me nice
Sayin’ nothin’ but a woman puts out that light

I got a dream I’m gonna fight til I get it
I got a dream I’m gonna fight til I get it right
Til I get it right

Oh well, my baby no doubt dreams further out
Makin’ moves to get us someway someday
Well my honey don’t trip, shoots from the hip
Tell me everything gonna be OK

Well, my mama so sad
Daddy’s just mad
‘Cause I ain't gonna have the chance he had
My success is anybody’s guess
But like a fool, I’m bettin’ on happiness

Yep. Still bettin' on it ... and still can't dance for shit. Rock on, Tom.

You'd think that in three weeks, SOMEONE would notice a pile of garbage.

Yesterday at Facebook, I posted this photo: "One wonders if Develop New Albany might remove its Jingle Walk trash, three weeks later?"

A range of viewpoints were posted in response.

P: Lol ... why? No one has bothered to clean the windows from Harvest.

H: I wonder if they will also remove all the housing for sale ads. I do not feel that is appropriate. Perhaps for business space, but housing?

J: Well, you could just pick it up and recycle it yourself. Or is that just not curmudgeonly enough?

DNA's Stefanie Griffith replied:

I will be happy to pick up the boxes and apologize they were left behind, I am sure it was overlooked during tear down since it was dark but wish it was brought to our attention before now. No excuse shame on us. I do have to agree with J though; sad no one would pick them up -- fellow merchants, Develop New Albany members, The City -- we are all to blame until we can pitch in as a whole to make New Albany a better place, that is my two cents.

Several readers "liked" Stefanie's reply, and I'll concede (given that she's unfailingly honest and open) that she's probably miffed with my mode of presentation, so here's why I posted the photo in the first place.

How can it be that in three whole weeks, no one, including the downtown-oriented members of an organization chartered to the improvement of downtown, noticed the Jingle Walk leftovers? 

(As an aside to J, it isn't curmudgeonly at all; it's the fact that I seldom have a car downtown to load. I usually am walking, which is why I've been seeing the boxes, all the while surmising that it's the failure of others to get out of their cars causing them not to see the boxes. I'm aiming for a larger point here.)

Surely, given what we're constantly told is a vastly improved and revitalized downtown -- this being the gist of DNA's daily social media presence -- someone on the Jingle Walk committee, or someone on the organization's board ... or someone in general ... would have walked past this spot during the course of three whole weeks and reported the debris.

Apparently this has not happened. I find this sad and noteworthy, to say the least. Then again, while P. is right in pointing to painted Harvest Homecoming windows still not cleaned two months later, reminding us of the carpetbagging mentality that "one off" events perpetuate, Stefanie also is absolutely correct in suggesting that we're all to blame.

Because we are.

I've walked or biked through the historic business district almost every day for years, and the disconnect hasn't changed at all. It has barely even budged. Yes, there are merchants who won't pick up trash in front of their own doors, exacerbated in autumn by wind and leaves, but the city never, EVER communicates who is responsible for leaf and garbage removal, downtown or elsewhere.

Sometimes it happens, sometimes not. Let there be an organization like Clean and Green taking an interest in the appearance of the area (whether its ideas are good or bad), and the city pushes back, evidently concerned lest its own delineated boundaries for doing nothing are challenged.

Amid all our trumpeting of advancement, the institutionalized neglect of downtown is the same as before, on the part of all users, and isn't THIS neglect precisely what would be addressed by a downtown economic development plan IF we actually had one? Of course merchants come to ignore the garbage. They're merely following the city's own stellar example.

Our unchanged one-way arterial street grid is a perfect point of reference. It is constructed to negate every facet of a revitalized downtown. It reinforces the point of neglect every time a semi-trailer thunders past outdoor dining areas, every time speeding cars frighten bikers and walkers -- it exists to undermine.

And this administration won't even address the topic aloud. No wonder no one else cares, if the city cannot be bothered to do so itself. 

Instead, Mayor Gahan addressed a handful of business people Tuesday (more on that later) and spoke glowingly of things that may or may not happen, far into the future, with a state program called the Regional Cities Initiative, or some such chamber of commerce blather. As he was reprising the someday maybes, mirroring the sentiments of songs ranging from "Don't Worry, Be Happy" to "Everything Is Beautiful," these cardboard boxes remained stacked where they'd been discarded three weeks before, illustrating that we cannot get even the simplest daily tasks done as we grasp for pies in the sky.

Sorry, Stef. That's why I posted the photo.