Matt Chalfant and Ian Hall: New apartments, Brooklyn and The Butcher restaurant to open in November.

We marvel at Chalfant's ability to do quality works sans TIF bonding. Still, this corner would have been a ideal spot for a plaque-ready New Directions structure like the ones at 922 Culbertson.

Excuse the snark, follow the link and read all about the apartments and Ian Hall's forthcoming food and drink project.

New Albany developer: New apartments, Brooklyn and The Butcher set to open concurrently, by Caitlin Bowling (Louisville Business First)

It looks like Brooklyn and The Butcher, a new steakhouse concept from restaurant owner Ian Hall, and the 12-apartment complex above the restaurant will open in November.

The apartments and restaurant are located at 148 E. Market St. in New Albany. Developer Matt Chalfant bought the property in fall 2013 for $332,500 with plans to renovate the more than 140-year-old building.


The top floors of the three-story building are being turned into 12 apartments, a mixture of studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom units, Chalfant told Louisville Business First. Rent hasn't been set but likely will be about $750 to $1,200 a month, depending on the size of the apartment.
The apartments include original features from the building, such as brick walls, hardwood floors and tin ceilings, but also newer amenities, including granite countertops and cast-iron bathtubs and showers.

“The best of the old touches with the best of the new touches," Chalfant said.

Top blog comment of the month: A COA for the NSP infill? It'd be MIA.

You know, before he changed the seal and all. 

Our post this morning ...

Life is like a street piano. What the Bored of Works gets out of it depends on how they "nay" it.

 drew an insightful comment:

Did the city ask the Preservation Commission for a "Certificate of Appropriateness" before they demolished the tavern at 922 Culbertson?

Life is like a street piano. What the Bored of Works gets out of it depends on how they "nay" it.

Previously at NAC:

New Albany's new slogan: "Truck Through City" ... Part 95: It's the return of 18-wheeler pinup porn and utter Bored of Works indifference.

Seattle alleys, New Albany street pianos and the overdue purging of bureaucrats.

The same people guarding the public participation gates on behalf of those other people who blithely toss millions of dollars at lifeguards and Indy property developers are flustered by a street piano -- again.

What is this, anyway? "Mayor Jeff Gahan Presents Groundhog Day?"

New Albany continues to review street piano request, by Daniel Suddeath (N and T)

Months after initially bringing the request to the Board of Public Works and Safety, local resident Hannegan Roseberry was told Tuesday that she will likely need a Certificate of Appropriateness, or COA, from the New Albany Historic Preservation Commission to proceed with installing the street piano.

Roseberry is seeking approval to have the piano placed under the awning of Jimmy’s Music Center from Labor Day through the Harvest Homecoming celebration in early October as part of a public arts project ...

 ... However, Warren Nash, president of the board of works, said a COA will be needed because the installation would be located in an historic preservation commission.

There are several tables, signs and other items placed on sidewalks throughout downtown, Roseberry said. She questioned whether those businesses were also required to obtain a COA.

Nash said he was “not sure” if all had.

“It’s not easy to enforce that or police it either,” Nash said.

Nash & Co. have had more than a month to think about it -- and the very best they can do is fabricate hooey about a Certificate of Appropriateness from the New Albany Historic Preservation Commission.

Because ...

Roseberry said later Tuesday that after speaking with a representative of the preservation commission, she was informed the body had never required a COA for an art installation.

Is there anyone on Planet Earth surprised by the preservation commission's befuddlement?

Is there anyone surprised by the Bored of Works all-purpose bewilderment?

Does the piano itself have poisonous tentacles?

Are the boarders themselves tone deaf?

Must public art in New Albany ALWAYS begin AND end with dogs playing poker?

Does the down-low Gahan team even begin to grasp how petty and vindictive it is beginning (?) to look?

Dunman on personal beliefs, public office, marriage licenses and why Dan Coffey should (but will not) read this.

It couldn't get any clearer.

Could it?

Opinion: County clerks cannot use the power of public office to impose personal beliefs on others, by Joe Dunman (Insider Louisville)

 ... But more troublesome than the logistical problems these bills create is the idea that state or county officials can even have religious objections at all. It’s important to understand that public officials like county clerks are government actors. While they’re at work, they’re not acting as private individuals. They’re acting as the government. When they stand behind that counter and issue licenses, or enforce the law in any way, they effectively cease to be individuals and instead become the government.

“The government” is people. It requires public officials to act in order for it to function. And those public officials swear an oath to uphold the constitutions of Kentucky and the United States (the latter trumps the former). In exchange for the power, prestige and compensation of public office, they agree to enforce the law and perform their duties regardless of their personal religious views. It’s critical that they do so, because neither Kentucky nor the United States is a theocracy.

Thanks to the local GOP for reading NA Confidential.

After all, where else would Republicans crib "corporate welfare" as a mantra? Money's been tight, but no, I'm not ghostwriting for them.

What a fun campaign this is turning out to be ...

New Albany's new slogan: "Truck Through City" ... Part 95: It's the return of 18-wheeler pinup porn and utter Bored of Works indifference.

Today's Bored of Works and Democratic Party Safety leads off with another street piano bid from Hannegan Roseberry (let's hope she got the envelopes out this time -- wink wink, nudge nudge), followed by ... say it isn't so ... rampaging semi rigs on Roanoke.

Did any of them look like these beauties?

Houndmouth is from New Albany; the band is on the verge; and it has a beer named after it.

Photo credit: USA Today.

A quick recommendation to Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, who likes to claim Houndmouth as his city's own: Read the paragraph below.

NA was there first, chum. Get over it.

Shane, if you're reading: Thanks for mentioning Houndmouth Ale.

As you were.

On the Verge: Houndmouth

This week in On the Verge, USA TODAY's spotlight on breakthrough artists, Brian Mansfield talks to Indiana band Houndmouth.

From New Albany to Sedona. Back before Houndmouth had a hit record, or even a name, the group recorded demos at a band member's house under less than ideal circumstances. "There were these two dogs that were always too loud, and they would bleed into the mics," says drummer Shane Cody. When one member complained of hearing "too much hound mouth," they knew they had a name. Now, the rootsy indie-rock group from New Albany, Ind., also has a hit record: Sedona recently topped USA TODAY's airplay chart and is now making an impact on Alternative stations.

"Merchant's Meeting - Tuesday Morning 8:30 a.m. - White House Lobby."

This is the first chance I've had since lunch to sit down and forward notice of tomorrow morning's merchant meeting.

---

Hello friends,

We will meet tomorrow (Tuesday the 21st) morning at 8:30 in The White House lobby. Everyone is invited and as always, we do our best to hold our meetings to no more than one hour.

These meetings have proven very beneficial and well attended. If you have not attended, please consider doing so ... it's a great way to "stay in the loop," meet your neighbors and be informed.

Some of you have been confused by the meeting notices. Stacy Miller has graciously volunteered to send out reminder emails ...we always meet on the 3rd Tuesday morning of every month at 8:30 at a different location.

Please note on your calendars of our 3rd Tuesday meetings at 8:30.

Thanks so much everyone, see you tomorrow morning!

Kim Johnson

Gonder on Coyle sitecapades: "We need new rules, special rules, to guide the use of public/private partnerships."

Jeff Gahan's governing clique of down-low Reaganites will be working even harder now to unseat a dangerous dissident such as John Gonder, who actually thinks aloud, for attribution, a quality so often absent from Democratic ruling circles locally. Thanks to John for thinking, although they'll probably unseat him from Redevelopment to preclude any chance of it happening again.

What's next? Someone differing with the time-honored ritual of cash-stuffed envelopes?

By the way, did I tell you that Baylor for Mayor's theme in the Harvest Homecoming parade will be the proper use of wooden stakes and garlic cloves?

First John's link, then a prime comment.

New Rules, by John Gonder at Gonder for New Albany At-Large

... We need new rules, special rules, to guide the use of public/private partnerships ... there's a nagging voice in my head that keeps saying something about "privatizing gain while socializing loss." A hopeful voice adds a third way, "democratizing vision".

Just like always, NAC's co-editor Jeff Gillenwater summarizes the Coyle site debacle with the following incisive remark.

Partnership implies sharing risks AND rewards. That's not the case here. It rarely is in public/private "partnerships". In this case, the public has taken on over half the total investment risk while giving up any claim to profits. This development won't even contribute to our property tax base for a couple decades if it ever does. The only thing transformational here is that others in the district will be required to give up the sorts of shared, public improvements that could have been funded with the same money while facing the possibility of higher taxes themselves if the project is "successful". Ethical lapses aside, that's just a dumb investment, public or private. Good for you for having the good sense to say "no".

I'm delighted to eavesdrop on today's Indiana Regional Cities Initiative session.

I very much appreciate Wendy Dant Chesser, One Southern Indiana's President and CEO (and online.org/web-pages/professional-development/certified-economic-developer-accreditation/">CEcD), writing to invite me to Regional Cities Initiative discussion this afternoon.

The other candidates for mayor have received this invite because they already hold office. You are welcome to attend, as well.

I'll certainly be there this afternoon to learn more, although my level of skepticism is extremely high, because from what I've seen from this so far, it's classic bait 'n' switch boondoggle.

Council Night 3: The Regional Cities Initiative's bait 'n' switch comes to a Greenway near you.

 ... Here was the mayor himself, spending half an hour describing the Regional Cities Initiative, a strictly "might be" iffy proposition, tantamount to time spent allocating future lottery winnings to the background noise of a Disney soundtrack instead of counting the change actually occupying the jar. If only someone other than a dissident like me would have said: "But if it would help businesses downtown, couldn't we change the streets (to two-way) next week?"

I believe it is a mistake to become enamored of supposed windfalls and panaceas when we can't even keep the storm drains clear or design streets correctly. Fundamental infrastructure comes first, then afterward, whatever emanates from getting the basics right. Basketball players are advised to dribble first, then practice slam dunks.

Even if the Regional Cities plan weren't a probable funding chimera, somewhat similar to economic planning according to a random spin of the wheel, it would make no sense to speak of any other application in our immediate vicinity than some configuration of enhanced multi-modal transit options.

If we've spent a couple billion on roadway expansion via the ORBP, can there be a bus or two traveling between New Albany and River Ridge as a corrective?

Indiana Secretary of Commerce to speak Monday on Regional Cities plan, at N and T

Will there really be gigabit internet service at the Mayor Gahan Presents One-Way Bocce Ball Domiciles on Spring?

A friend incisively comments below.

If any readers are conversant in exactly what is being proposed at the Coyle site development with respect to internet service, please enlighten us.

Roger,

No one in the area offers gigabit internet services to my knowledge. The lux-ur-eee apartments claim they'll have it. I'm sure they're referring to "gigabit ethernet" which is like a Fiat 500 having a speedometer that shows 150 mph - nice to talk about, but it ain't happening.

Gigabit ethernet just makes you wait more quickly while your internet traffic squeezes into the old twisted pair copper telephone lines that were hung in 1890.

Not from AT&T

Not from Time Warner

Is there a fiber optic trunk line running in New Albany we don't know about or is the administration just full of bullshit?

Ethan Kent interview: Placemaking as antidote to "top-down solutions."

Given that so many of the New Albany governing clique's stalwarts view the sexist, racist and anti-Semitic myth merchant Walt Disney as some sort of god, perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that they keep patting citizens condescendingly on their heads, pointing the way to the water slide, and treating us like ignorant little children.

But you see, New Albany doesn't need any more multi-million dollar monuments to make-believe. We need a reality check, and win or lose, this is what I aim to provide in my race for mayor. I'd appreciate your support.

For me, loveability begins increasing once the need to channel and control urban management for purely political funding reasons begins receding. It's time to open this place up, not add further rings of hermetic security to the down-low bunker.

What Makes a City Great? It's not the Liveability but the Loveability, by Irene Pedruelo (Policy Innovations)

There is a lack of consideration for "place" in American urban planning that Ethan Kent finds concerning. It offends him the way ugly typography offends graphic designers. He works as senior vice president of Project for Public Spaces (PPS) in New York, where they are trying to turn the way we shape cities upside down. Over its 40-year history PPS has focused on turning public spaces into great places. How? Just visit their offices in Manhattan. The entrance is like the jungle.

An example of the question-and-answer:

IRENE PEDRUELO: Then why are many trying to suppress this kind of urban planning?

ETHAN KENT: The culture of global development is very much trying to order and organize chaotic streets and communities, often undermining the emergent creativity of these places. It is not to glorify the problems but it's to say that in some ways they are creating better public spaces, better community outcomes, than the more top-down solutions that are being introduced to solve their problems.

"Minneapolis has a surprisingly simple plan to cut traffic and make housing more affordable."

It's my firm belief that business owners in downtown New Albany would benefit more from exploring territories lying outside the usual boxes, with parking policies being an excellent case in point, than continuing the traditional and largely failed pattern of trusting City Hall to do their thinking for them.

"Why free parking is bad for everyone" at NAC (June, 2014)

... To cities where he serves as a parking consultant, Shoup's recommendation is simple. "Charge the right price for on-street parking," he says. "I see this as the lowest price you can charge and still have one or two open spaces per block." This means the market sets the price — and people are paying as little as possible for parking without creating the cruising problem.

Each day, the city enforces parking ordinances outside of downtown but not in the historic business district, apparently from a misguided belief that "free" parking is necessary for independent small business advancement. It's simply poisonous to arbitrarily enforce one set of laws and not another, especially when the premise of parking as being valueless is what prefaces many of the current problems with abuse.

A second article explores reasons why parking space requirements negatively impact affordable housing.

Minneapolis has a surprisingly simple plan to cut traffic and make housing more affordable, by Joseph Stromberg (Vox)

 ... "The worst thing that many American cities have done, for low-income people, is create a world in which you need a car," retired UCLA economist Donald Shoup told me in an interview last year. "Parking pushes everything farther apart, and even if you're too poor to own a car, you have to pay for all the free parking you don't use."

Ever the team player, Tiger Trucking beautifies the entrance to Loop Island Wetlands.

Coyle site luxury giveaway: "The people that they want to attract can't afford to live there."

Even a Democratic loyalist grasps the obvious.

The argument against (the Coyle site residential development) is right in front of everyone's face. The people that they want to attract can't afford to live there.

Since Thursday evening's city council meeting, I've received almost a dozen e-mails and messages from New Albanians publicly identifying as Democratic, but expressing personal confusion (and in some instance, revulsion) at the Reaganite corporate welfare nature of Jeff Gahan's trickle-down Flaherty and Collins deal for luxury apartments.

Of course, you know I agree with you; the local Democratic Party has run aground, and yet it will be difficult for you to take a public stand in recognition of this reality.

That's okay. I get it. Knowing there's a problem is the first step toward resolving it. Just remember that we're here to do the right thing for the right reasons, as the late Hank Jacoby once put it, and it comes down to conscience.

A brief note about conscience.

... Lots of voters who ordinarily choose a side based on factors beyond the actual issues (family, habit, compulsion at work, etc) will choose to preserve the outward appearance of "this or that" conformity, while resolving internally to opt out of politics as usual and vote differently in 2015. If so, and conscience is their guide ... well, that's why the ballots are secret. No one should be looking over your shoulder.

As for the impending Coyle site giveaway, taxpayer subsidized big-city pricing to live within an errant bocce toss of fundamentally neglected one-way arterial streets, slicing through neighborhoods dominated by slumlord mentalities, just might be working at cross-purposes with millennial aggrandizement. It's complicated, as the following essay suggests.

Then again, New Albany's governing Democratic clique seldom bothers to read.

Millennials Will Live In Cities Unlike Anything We've Ever Seen Before, by Alissa Walker (Gizmodo)

... Then came some interesting data, pegged to the release of 2014 Census information this spring: Millennials have indeed started moving out of big city downtowns—but not necessarily in favor of a quiet rural or suburban life.

"Do you REALLY know where your farmers' market produce comes from?"

Groan, redux.

Here in a bit, I'll walk downtown for the weekly purchase of tomatoes at our farmers market. I like to buy the misshapen, dirty and slightly unripened ones. It's just a quirk, I suppose.

Frequent readers will recall many blog posts on the topic of farmers market infrastructure and location, as here.

Jeff Gahan's quarter-million dollar farmers market fluff job commences this week. (March 30)

Yes, every City Hall argument deployed in favor of the Coyle site development simultaneously argues AGAINST the farmers market build-out. The build-out begins this week. By the way, it’s an election year.

On two separate occasions this summer, I've been asked a variant of the same question: Is there any standard, or regulation determining whether the food sold at the farmers market actually is grown by the seller, or came from another secondary source?

In short, is the food really what they say it is?

I don't know the answer to this question, although it isn't unique to New Albany, and is discussed in greater detail here.

Do you REALLY know where your farmers' market produce comes from?, by Katherine Martinko (Treehugger)

Every market has its own set of regulations. In New York City, most of the major farmers’ markets are run by a non-profit organization called GrowNYC, which ensures that markets are producer-only. That means that vendors can only sell items that they’ve grown themselves; no reselling, even if clearly labeled, is allowed. As Modern Farmer reports, GrowNYC maintains its high standards by employing investigators who keep an eye on vendors, taking note of any suspicious things such as retail boxes, waxed fruit, or consistently high volume of produce.

By contrast, markets in Los Angeles allow for resale, as long as it’s clearly marked.

I'm told there is an informal standard at the New Albany Farmers Market expressed as a percentage of food grown by the purveyor, versus what he or she has purchased for resale.

However, there isn't any mention of this formula at the FAQ section of the web site, and I've never seen clear labeling at the stalls which might help make the distinction more clear.

Who can sell at the Farmers Market?

Items sold must be created/produced locally in our region (from Southern Indiana, Northern Kentucky, Ohio, etc).

What about YOU, the consumer? You have responsibilities, too, and here's a list of annoyances straight from the producers' mouths.

9 Annoying Things You Do at Farmers' Markets, According to Farmers, by Jessica Leigh Hester and Vicky Gan (City Lab)

Recently, CityLab interviewed a number of farmers and vendors at some of our favorite markets. Their responses were overwhelmingly enthusiastic—they love that locals are excited to support small-scale local agriculture. But after a little while, they loosened up and swapped tales of nightmare customers, such as serial produce nibblers or sample snatchers. Then there are the aesthetic elitists, who sniff at the “misshapen” heirloom tomatoes.

Below are some of these vendors’ most common—and most surprising—complaints. They just might help you make the farmers’ market experience more bucolic for everyone.

Let's ask Dale Bagshaw what he thinks.

Let's ask Dale Bagshaw, Republican candidate for New Albany city council in the 3rd district, what he thinks about some of the issues that blog readers think are important.

Dale Bagshaw for City Council New Albany District 3

Here and at Facebook (or through the usual communications channels), publish your questions. They'll be collated into a list, and provided to the candidate. We'll see what he has to say. I've always found Dale to be open and forthcoming, even if we do not agree on particular issues.

Make 'em good, and when the results are in, the answers will be published here.

Coyle sitecapades: In New Albany, Democrats WILL be Republicans ... and Jeff Gahan WILL stay on the down low.

TH, a first-time council attendee, was in the crowd last night. As the crisply tailored suits from Flaherty and Collins made their case for "high level" coddling, with frequent assistance from David "Our Corporate Welfare Clerk" Duggins, TH messaged me on Facebook.

If anyone is allowed to ask questions, the question or statement to be made should be that their job creation numbers have to be horribly off. He said target renter would be 50k per year. After taxes, utilities, and a rent of $1,100 dollars the person will not have disposable income to spend downtown.

I observed that the decision had been made long before last evening's propaganda exercise.

Back door politics. I couldn't comment good or bad if the complex is a good thing, but I think it would be deceitful if it was sold to the public as a job creator with a tenant target that only makes 50k, thus having no leftover money to spend. Or heck, maybe there are a lot of 50k earners better at budgeting than I was.

Numerous other broad assertions went unchallenged by council "Democrats" eager to prove the veracity of Ronald Reagan's trickle-down economics, as when Flaherty and Collins simultaneously asserted that walkability was a key to the project, but the firm is just fine with New Albany's one-way arterial street grid.

Uh huh.

Let's hope luxury tenants enjoy the sound of 18-wheelers streaming past, mere feet from the patio constructed with only the finest building materials ... and color-coordinated, too.

With the arterial streets representing a 24-hours-a-day incessant lowering of the property values that the apartment development supposedly will increase, and the ongoing degradation of adjoining neighborhoods, where the same tumescent council endorsing corporate welfare last night displays a persistent unwillingness to tackle basic infrastructure problems ... let's just say the idea that such renters will "choose" New Albany solely on the basis of the luxuriousness of the apartments and their proximity to exclusive bocce ball courts strains credulity.

So does the view advanced by Flaherty and Collins last night that these apartments alone will attract high paying jobs to New Albany, where the absence of relevant modern infrastructure works daily against efforts to lure them, dooming us to extractive economic development models.

Hence, the likes of Tiger Trucking, whose vehicles will actively discourage those intrepid apartment occupants daring to walk or ride their bicycles.

How long after the project's completion will the fences and gates go up?

It's important to remember that Democrats are doing this. Not Republicans or oil-rich Saudis. Rather, Democrats.

If you're a local Democrat fond of asking why the working class continues to mimic chickens voting for (Republican) Colonel Sanders, it may be time for a visit to the ideological mirror, but be careful: Some of you with a conscience may find it impossible to avoid disavowing the reflection.

Finally, to repeat: Mayor Jeff Gahan was in the building last night. He remained in his office as Duggins repeated the same tired trickle-down bromides and Democrats on the council rolled over like puppies seeking a good belly-scratching. There's a question in urgent need of an answer.

What good is a mayor who maintains that the Flaherty and Collins residential development at the Coyle site is of central importance to the future of the city, but cannot walk 100 feet down a hallway to make the point himself?

Local restaurants "join the fight against addiction" to "raise money for The Healing Place."

July 22 is the date:

Dine Out and Support THP!

Join us on July 22nd as dozens of Louisville restaurants join the fight against addiction and raise money for The Healing Place.

Thus far, the only Southern Indiana restaurant on this list is Bread and Breakfast (157 E. Main Street in New Albany). Thanks, Laura.

My friend David "Bistro New Albany" Clancy's life quite possibly was saved by this program, and when he contacted me earlier this year, I recommended NABC's participation in the event. Perhaps the memo got lost in the tall grass.

Sorry if it offends anyone, but bluntness is merited here: Substance abuse is an occupational hazard of the restaurant industry, period. If you've been part of this business, you know exactly what I mean. Please do what you can to support THP, either by dining out on the 22nd, donating directly, or just helping get the word out.

Restaurants tackle addiction among workers, by Jere Downs (Courier-Journal)

Rampant substance abuse in the restaurant industry has sparked the upcoming “86 Addiction” event, whereby dozens of local eateries will donate 10 percent of their proceeds Wednesday to help The Healing Place.

The correct decision: "Berlin Saves the Communist-Era Buildings of Alexanderplatz."

The photos above were snapped around Alexanderplatz during our visit to Berlin last fall.

2014 Euro Reunion Tour, Day 4: To Leninplatz and the Imbiss, 25 years later.

To me, these views are just as iconic as Times Square, and it pleases me to see the preservationist instinct applied to Alexanderplatz.

Berlin Saves the Communist-Era Buildings of Alexanderplatz, by Feargus O'Sullivan (City Lab)

Berlin has just said “yes” to Communist-era blocks and “no” to more new skyscrapers. On Monday, the city announced that it was listing some key Communist-era structures in Alexanderplatz, East Berlin’s central square, as historical monuments. It is an irremovable nail in the coffin of a 22-year-old plan to demolish the square and replace it with a “little Manhattan”—a set of 10 new 150-meter high towers. The decision is a contentious one: the new monuments just confirmed are in a late-1960s modernist style that many people still hate.