Service amenities: "The Real Source of America's Urban Revival"?

But they'd still have to drive to the water slide.

The Real Source of America's Urban Revival, by Eric Jaffe (City Lab)

Millennials, housing costs, and shorter commutes are the usual explanations. But a careful new study points to another reason young college grads returned downtown in the 2000s.

 ... New living habits of Millennials and Baby Boomers, delays in starting a family, a tougher home-buying market, a hatred of long commutes—those social factors have all altered cities in recent years. But Couture and Handbury pin the return of downtown on a new fondness for service amenities: music venues, theaters, bars, gyms, and the like. Not the growth of these things but a fresh taste for living near them, a broad cultural shift that could make urban revival more durable.

“If this revival comes from a change in preference, then it could be a long-lasting phenomenon,” says Couture. “We have ruled out various explanations based on temporary trends.”

Long range outlook: Biers on Parade approved for Oct. 1 at the Farmers Market (City Square).

BOW approved it, so mark your calendars for October 1.

The New Albany Restaurant & Bar Association's second annual pop-up at the Farmers Market (now called City Square) will begin after the market ends, and is intended to coincide with the Harvest Homecoming Parade. It also will serve as a "parade after party" of sorts, for all ages, with food, drink and music.

Last year's inaugural took place on a cold and blustery day; maybe we'll get better weather this year. Thanks to Matt McMahan for representing NARBA at yesterday's meeting.  

Chris Morris' story.

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: From ignis fatuus to fatuous and back again.

Welcome to another installment of SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS, a regular Wednesday feature at NA Confidential.

But why new words? Why not the old, familiar, comforting words?

It's because a healthy vocabulary isn't about trying to show you're smarter than the rest of them. To the contrary, it's about selecting the right word and using it correctly, whatever one's pay grade or station in life.

Even municipal corporate attorneys are eligible for this enlightening expansion of personal horizons, and really, for those of us fascinated by the mayor's determination to rechannel his inner Walt Disney, all we have is time on our hands -- moments enough for us to learn something.

This week, we consider two manifestations of the same Latin word, fatuus.

ignis fatuus
[ig-nis fach-oo-uh s]

noun, plural ignes fatui [ig-neez fach-oo-ahy] 

1. Also called friar's lantern, will-o'-the-wisp. a flitting phosphorescent light seen at night, chiefly over marshy ground, and believed to be due to spontaneous combustion of gas from decomposed organic matter.

2. something deluding or misleading.

Origin of ignis fatuus 

1555-1565 < Medieval Latin: literally, foolish fire

Historical Examples

It must surely have been a light in the hut of a forester, for it shone too steadily to be the glimmer of an ignis fatuus.
-- Guy Mannering, or The Astrologer, Complete, Illustrated ... Sir Walter Scott

A light which illuminates centuries must be more than an ignis fatuus.
-- Ten Great Religions ... James Freeman Clarke

In the second sense, we've used it here before:

Ignis Fatuus: Duggins says "I think we did an excellent job" removing snow.

A more commonly seen word in English is the adjective fatuous, also from the Latin fatuus (silly, foolish, idiotic).

1. foolish or inane, especially in an unconscious, complacent manner; silly.
2. unreal; illusory.

The fun doesn't stop there. Fatuous becomes fatuously as an adverb and fatuousness as a noun.

Duggins exemplified fatuousness with the remark, "I think we did an excellent job removing snow."

Isn't knowledge fun?

The essay Jeff Gahan doesn't want you to read: "Want Community? Build Walkability."

I've said it for years, and will continue to say it.

If Jeff Gahan has any intention of implementing street grid reform, as he continues to hint privately and evade publicly, his base instinct will be to "sell" the idea of street grid reform to the public on the basis of cars alone.

He'll say, "It's all about traffic safety."

When Gahan has bothered referring to the Jeff Speck study -- and this has been very seldom -- he has studiously avoided referring to the concept of walkability, which after all is Speck's entire rationale, a variation of which appears on almost every one of the study's pages.

To Gahan, the fact that he cannot comprehend walkability himself implies that no one else can, either. Suburbanites are like that, aren't they? If Gahan somehow does get it, better late than never. The mayor might still manage to make something positive from the muck he has created through his silence and timidity. He needs to come out from hiding, say aloud what's true, and lead the city.

The point Gahan needs to make is eloquently stated in this essay:

Changes are needed. We need to fix our zoning codes to enable traditional mixed-use neighborhoods. We need to challenge our transportation policies and stop prioritizing car travel over all other modes. And we need to eliminate the regulatory obstacles that make it difficult to obtain financing for renovation or construction of small, mixed-use buildings in walkable neighborhoods.

Cities evolve. We create our future one building at a time. So there's no time like the present to start building -- and rebuilding--places that are great for people and communities (again).

Does Jeff Gahan understand, or not?

Every day he waits, we lose ground to places like Jeffersonville. Too bad NA's civic spirit doesn't approximate its zeal in cheering for a basketball team.

Want Community? Build Walkability, by Sarah Kobos (Strong Towns)

Municipal zoning ordinances separated commercial uses from residential ones, and enshrined car-oriented design at the local level. Transportation engineering standards transformed our city streets into high-speed stroads. Meanwhile, changes to lending practices and federal mortgage insurance regulations made it easy and cheap to get a loan on a single-family home in the suburbs, while making it significantly harder to finance mixed-use buildings in the urban core.

We pay for these mistakes with our bodies, as decades of car-centric design have transformed us from active humans into motorists reliant on machines for movement. But our communities also pay a price, as people who drive are more isolated and detached from the cities they call home.

I don’t mean to knock people who drive. (I live in a city where driving is often the only practical choice.) I simply mean that when you walk or bike, you experience your hometown in a much more intimate way.

Diet plans tossed from area windows as Gospel Bird's all-you-can-eat Sunday fried chicken starts THIS SUNDAY, February 28.

Courtesy Gospel Bird's Fb page. 

The Green Mouse has learned that Gospel Bird's all day, all-you-can-eat Sunday fried chicken nirvana begins this Sunday, February 28.

Owner Eric Morris explains:

All you can eat fried chicken will be $14. We will sell buckets of beer with them as well if desired. Purchase includes all the chicken you can eat and sauces. Does not include sides. Sunday hours are 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

As a wise man once sang: "Put me in, coach. I'm ready to play."

Previously:

Take a look at these Gospel Bird soft opening photos. Opening night is Tuesday, February 23.

New Albany: It's Where You Should Be (!) UNLESS You Want to Hear Mayor Gahan Give a State of the City Address.

Too bad we're an Irony Free Zone.

Earlier today Mayor Mike Moore of Jeffersonville gave his fourth State of the City address from a meeting room of a Clarksville hotel. The CJ's Lexy Gross had the best comment:

Millennials -- they're the rich ones, right?

But seriously: Think we might be able to bring Moore to New Albany?

It might be our only chance to hear a State of the City address during Jeff Gahan's time in office.

One-way streets damage businesses and neighborhoods. Two-way streets help businesses and neighborhoods. Why are we waiting?

The medicine's right there in his hands, and yet the delay continues. The silence, the non-engagement, and the unwillingness to face facts ... they continue, too.

Most regular readers already know where I stand, and have been standing for more than a decade as it pertains to the city's street grid. Normally I would't repeat a column so soon, but in recent weeks, this blog has many new readers, attracted by coverage of Brooklyn and The Butcher, Gospel Bird and the Fest of Ale move.

Hence, a repeat. Every day that passes with one-way streets in New Albany is a day in which city government depresses value, whether of property, quality of life or potential for business growth. Study after study proves this point.

When will Jeff Gahan finally listen and LEAD?

---

How many businesses already have died because of City Hall’s street grid procrastination?

October 28, 2015

Speck's downtown street network proposal finally was released early in 2015, only to be shredded one page at a time for use as toilet paper by a captive Board of Works charged by Mayor Jeff Gahan with gutting and delaying it during an election year.

As recently as this week, Gahan was unable to take a substantive public position on a topic (two-way streets) that he is disinterestedly willing to concede addresses public safety, but seeks to defer until long after his presumed political re-enthronement -- never mind all the promises he made four years ago to me and others in downtown business community as to his eagerness to support them with precisely this long overdue and fundamental infrastructure improvement.

It's been a cynical gamble. If Gahan genuinely understands that traffic speeds are excessive, and in densely populated urban areas, that speed surely kills, then every moment of delay in implementing a solution comes with the risk of death and injury.

Concurrently, if he grasps the empirical record of success in other locales of assisting local independent business growth through street grid reform, he's actively abetting daily infrastructure conditions that work against economic development.

The following was published on December 14, 2014. Almost a year has passed.

What has been the opportunity cost of Jeff Gahan's cowardice?

---

Oh where oh where, can our Speck study be?
(There’s no hope if Duggins is the addressee)
Speck’s gone to Portsmouth, so we’ve got to be good
So we can see the study before we’re dead

Let's go all the way back, a full 200+ entirely wasted, squandered and lost civic days ago – not to mention the 730 ones ticking past before these – to April 18, 2014, and what should be required reading for owners and employees of each and every independent small business located in downtown New Albany.

Grace Schneider’s article in the Courier-Journal on that day was about Jeff Speck's then-ongoing (and since forever-impending) streets study.

The streets study was supposed to have been finished in September, but now it's almost Christmas, and if the city of New Albany actually possesses a copy of the study, not one of its supposed "proponents" at City Hall is saying a single word about it. “Coy” hardly does the silence justice. “Gag order” comes closer.

I’m holding out for “sheer primal terror.”

In fact, when the topic of Speck’s streets study is publicly raised, the muzzles come out faster than Wyatt Earp’s six-shooter, with those who claim that Speck’s recommendations are their first priority are transformed into inward and outward censors, seeking only to suppress discussion of what they purport to support.

Luckily, a Third Floor insider explained it to me last week in plainer English:

Two way streets? You won't get them from Jeff Gahan. He doesn’t think there’s a problem, and if there is, he thinks it will just go away and solve itself. He’s scared to death – and he’s getting most of his information from Duggins. All the trust is gone.

Strong words … but so far, amply buttressed by observable reality and the administration’s own bizarrely frank admissions. For the benefit of those readers who own and operate businesses downtown, only one brief pull from Schneider’s article is necessary.

Walkability advocate studying New Albany street grid

(Speck) said he expects to recommend removing all one-way streets and converting them to two-way because "the data shows very clearly (one-way streets) hurt businesses."

Granted (and ranted), we’ve known since the Reagan administration that mayoral teams in New Albany simply do not have economic development plans for downtown, although it is striking that in the past, “lifer” luminaries like the since-deposed Carl Malysz would at least offer periodically creative lies to the contrary: “That’s DNA’s job,” or “Mainland Properties should do the trick for a mere $15 million.”

In today’s Down Low New Albany, various functionaries can do little better than make limp excuses, assuming they can be roused to so much as even try. In fact, they seldom do.

The polar Inuit have fewer words to describe "snow" than Mr. Duggins possesses excuses as to why a downtown economic development plan isn’t only implausible on his watch, but impossible.

But please, read Schneider’s paragraph again.

If one-way streets hurt businesses, then removing them helps businesses.

And, by readily logical extension, if helping businesses is a function of economic development – and this seems both reasonable and widely accepted – then simply removing one-way streets and retrofitting them into two-way streets is a function of economic development.

Are you still with me, Mr. Duggins? I know, I know ... books, reading and all that shit.

Two-way streets are economic development tools of the precise sort this administration persistently denies it can manage to conceive.

Two-way streets stand to lift all boats, pro-actively, without the need for selective interpretation and random political awards.

In short, the Gahan administration need only calm and retrofit the city’s streets to rightly lay claim as steward of the only discernible downtown economic development plan in recent memory.

And yet, not only does it obfuscate and delay consideration of Speck's streets study, owing almost surely to the coming election cycle, it also refuses to speak aloud about any of it, seemingly terrified of its own shadow ... or, perhaps, more pathetically, of its own Luddite supporters among locally unreconstructed Dixiecrats.

But there’s even more.

Walkability is a key component of any rational definition of “quality of life,” providing “better access” to all users and enhancing “public safety” in the process.

The ripple effects of any and all measures promoting walkability, as forcefully advocated by Speck (traffic calming, complete streets, two-way traffic and other measures to support increased levels of walking and bicycling) would extend into the neighborhoods nearest the city center. Walkability actively supports other revitalization efforts, not negates them in the fashion of the defeatism inherent in one-way arterial streets.

According to Richard Florida, just last week:

Walkability is no longer just an ideal. The evidence from a growing body of research shows that walkable neighborhoods not only raise housing prices but reduce crime, improve health, spur creativity, and encourage more civic engagement in our communities.

As an aside, kindly note an instance of supreme irony: In their zeal to defend the Main Street Improvement Project beautification boondoggle, some friends among home owners living on the street have taken to contesting my assertion that they’ve been the prime beneficiaries of selective largesse, in the sense that any street changes benefitting walkability, even those botched as thoroughly as John Rosenbarger’s use of state money to butcher theirs, still will have the effect of raising property values. If not, the “improvement” project is more indefensible than we reckoned, correct?

The opportunity cost of Jeff Gahan’s neglect is irrefutable, and the evidence to support my position is overwhelming. 

When cornered periodically into stating a position, Gahan’s team insists it believes the evidence, and intends to implement every last one of Speck’s recommendations – when, and if, the study ever materializes to provide them with requisite political cover.

However, it is precisely this interminable wait for political cover, and damningly, this element of wasted time, that should be at the forefront of each downtown business person’s and surrounding neighborhood resident’s mind, because contrary to the administration’s feeble protests, there most certainly is something it can do in terms of economic development downtown: Remove one-way streets.

At a time when times are tough, can there be any excuse for a doctor waving a prescription before an ill person’s eyes, all the while saying, “I’ve got just what you need to help you feel better, but you can’t have any just yet, and we’d rather not talk about it, so don't ask. Maybe later. Try to stay alive, okay?”

One month ago, David Duggins told me that if City Hall publicly touted the benefits of two-way streets for independent small businesses, the mayor’s team would be blamed for the failure of just one business.

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

Tell us, Mr. Duggins.

How do you defend such abject and purposeful neglect of the “economic development” brief you pretend to carry?

Not to be giggled away like a hung over frat boy over a recuperative Miller Lite longneck, but for attribution?

Not privately, but aloud.

To the very business owners you’re so poorly serving.

But of course I'd live in Vienna. In a heartbeat.

Note that this assessment of "quality of life" is found in the newspaper's business section. It reads like a campaign ad for Bernie Sanders, who if he lived in Vienna would be considered center-right.

Vienna named world's top city for quality of life, by Patrick Collinson (The Guardian)

Vienna is the world’s best city to live in; Baghdad is the worst, and London, Paris and New York do not even make it into the top 35, according to international research into quality of life.

Bullet points from the article:

• The study examined social and economic conditions, health, education, housing and the environment, and is used by big companies to assess where they should locate and how much they should pay staff.
• (Vienna's) social democratic government has a long tradition of investing in high-quality social housing, making Vienna almost uniquely affordable among major cities.
• US cities perform relatively poorly in the study, largely because of issues around personal safety and crime.
• “You don’t realise how safe Vienna is until you head abroad,” said (Helena) Hartlauer. “We also have terrific public transport, with the underground working 24 hours at weekends, and it only costs €1 per trip.”
• “The fall of the Berlin Wall helped define Vienna as the hub for companies wanting to do business in central Europe.”
• Zurich in Switzerland is named by Mercer as having the world’s second highest quality of life, but the Viennese say their city is far more fun.

Novelist Tim Dorsey will be at Destinations Booksellers, this Sunday (Feb. 28).

For additional background from 2008:

A Storm "Serge": Tim Dorsey author appearance Tuesday at Destinations Booksellers.

Now it's 2016, and he's coming around again. Click through to read all about it.

Tim Dorsey Returns to Destinations Feb. 28 at Destinations Booksellers

We're thrilled to bring back one of our all-time favorite novelists, Tim Dorsey, as part of his 2016 National Book Tour in support of his newest novel, Coconut Cowboy.

Tim is the most recent recipient of the John D. MacDonald Award for Excellence in Florida Fiction, an honor first awarded to the late Elmore Leonard in 1992. Tim is just the seventh honoree.

New Albany has been honored with a visit by Tim Dorsey twice before, including the day our mayor declared "Tim Dorsey Day" back in 2006. Tim has dozens of local fans and his tours draw visitors from hundreds of miles around.

This trip will be his first Sunday afternoon visit and we'll be open at noon (Feb. 28) with special food and drink offerings from Taco Steve and Destinations Booksellers. Tim's presentation begins at 2 p.m. and will be followed by a book-signing. The event will conclude at 4 p.m.

Night Thoughts, by Suede: "The band’s seventh studio effort cares little for ’90s nostalgia."

Suede's last album, Bloodsports, was #3 on my 2013 album countdown. I'm not sure what you have on tap tonight, but I'm taking an hour to watch (again) Suede's set from Glastonbury, 2015. It's how you forget about New Albany -- well, that and lots of beer.

Review: Suede’s Grandiose and Chilling ‘Night Thoughts’ Keep Them Awake, by Rachel Brodsky (Spin)

 ... New-ish father Anderson has said that Night Thoughts is about being a parent and revisiting your own childhood, and sings of the stuff that literally keeps a fortysomething up at night: facing your inadequacy and losing people you love — or, more specifically, losing your children.

The Jezabels: "What’s a girl to do, standing in the spotlight?"

What's not to love?

It's another fine album by The Jezabels, only two years after the last -- shades of youth, and a new release every year (sometimes twice yearly) by your fave.

Roger's Year in Music 2014, No. 2: The Brink, by The Jezabels.

New music. What would I do without it?

The Jezabels: Synthia (Sputnik)

... Synthia was the best possible move The Jezabels could have made following two uniquely successful albums. On the towering opener ‘Stand and Deliver’, Hayley Mary poses the question “what’s a girl to do, standing in the spotlight?” It’s an appropriate question given her circumstances, and in Synthia we receive a response better than any half-clever thing that I could have concocted from a writing standpoint. The answer isn’t to try to live up to past successes, as that only ever leads to disappointment. The Jezabels wouldn’t have made a Prisoner better than the original, nor could they have created The Brink: Part II with identical lasting appeal. It is, and has always been, about keeping your head up and your eyes forward - after all, that’s the only path we have any say in. It’s clear that The Jezabels are making the most of that opportunity.

SOS to WVN at BOW: "The truth is that a sidewalk is just the first step in meeting (pedestrian) needs."

Now THERE'S an idea; just don't expect it to occur to Team Gahan.

It would be very interesting to see New Albany's score for the walking environment. Until it is  compiled, this one can be filed under "More Things Warren Will Never, Ever Comprehend."

A sidewalk isn't enough, by Jon Larsen (Strong Towns)

For decades, we’ve convinced ourselves that a sidewalk is good enough -- that if we build a sidewalk, we’ve met the pedestrian’s needs. The truth is that a sidewalk is just the first step in meeting those needs.

When we build a sidewalk that is sandwiched between a 40 mph street and a parking lot, we invite humans into a world designed for fast-moving machines, and most people aren’t comfortable with such an awkward invitation. Humans are smart. We pick up on dozens of cues and hints from the world around us. We intuitively know if an environment is designed for walking or driving, but we often have a hard time explaining why. The good news is that we’re getting better at not only explaining why, but measuring why people choose to walk.

The things we measure tend to be the things we focus on, and the things we focus on tend to be the things we improve. For decades, traffic engineers have focused predominantly on measuring auto traffic. Traffic engineering has become a science in which traffic congestion is forecast with precision. There are standards which state that certain levels of congestion are unacceptable, creating the impetus for investment in wider, faster roads. Because delay can be measured and forecast, it’s easy to set standards and communicate how well the facility is performing relative to those standards.

Imagine if we could provide a score and standards for how attractive the walk environment is along a street. What if we scored the walkability of streets and flagged the blocks that are below an acceptable standard? We’d create the impetus for investment in the walkability of the street. We could also highlight blocks that score well so that others could use them as an example.

Take a look at these Gospel Bird soft opening photos. Opening night is Tuesday, February 23.

Sunday evening was the second of two "soft" opening nights for Gospel Bird, and although surely there were details to be addressed (there always are), I've seldom seen staff in such a groove at a place yet to officially open (Tuesday at 5 p.m. is it).

Gospel Bird stands to be a vibe unlike any New Albany has witnessed during the first decade (Bistro New Albany opened in 2006) of its downtown food and drink renaissance. Brooklyn and The Butcher, and now Gospel Bird. My personal challenge is to avoid regaining the weight I've lost.

Below is a reprise of the menu. The first photo above shows the Thunder Thighs (fried chicken) entree, with chorizo baked bean, biscuit and Alabama ranch sauce; Gospel frites (fries with a side of fire sauce); and the Brutus salad. The missus is also seen with the appetizer called Fever Dog (hush puppies). I had Founders All Day IPA, reasonably priced at $4.50 for a shaker pint. Our plates were cleaned of food; service was dialed in.

Here's the Gospel Bird menu. Regular hours begin Tuesday, February 23.

From the Gospel Bird's Fb page:

We trust that by now, you're probably hungry and thirsty. Gospel Bird will open to the public at 5 pm, February 23rd We hope to see you then. And finally: Ask and you shall receive the Gospel. You have asked, here it is: The Menu, as well as our Beverage Selections and Bar Snacks Menu.

We come not to praise Jeb Bush (!) but to bury him, and as quickly as possible.

My choice for funniest line of the week, courtesy of the inimitable Charlie Pierce at Esquire:

Now, though, Jeb (!) is merely the symbol of a political party and a nominating process gone truly rogue, burning and consuming itself, using itself as its own fuel like some great breeder reactor of rage and fear. Bush, like all the members of the now vestigial Republican "establishment," who spent 30 years developing the perfect context for something like the Trump campaign to occur, was stunned into incoherence when it actually happened. Watching him in his farewell on Saturday night was to recall what Abraham Lincoln said about General William Rosecrans after the Union's defeat at Chickamauga; Rosecrans, Lincoln mused, was "confused and stunned, like a duck hit on the head."

"Like a duck hit on the head."

Ouch, though we need a third Bush about as much as a second Clinton.

Bob Caesar: Opposes traffic calming, but wants to see kids "walking out on the street."

Way back in August of 2011, we were graced with one of those cherished reminders that Bob Caesar's thinking trends inexorably toward sheer befuddlement.

Expansion could lead to more liquor licenses in New Albany

 ... Councilman Bob Caesar said he will likely vote in favor of expanding the district, but added city planners and officials should be wary of the state’s intentions for approving the riverfront licensing program. He added that while he’s not opposed to patrons safely enjoying an alcoholic beverage, he believes the “city wants to see families with their kids walking out on the street.”

Concurrently, then as now, Caesar opposes two-way streets, which among other positives act to calm traffic, making it safer for ... that's right ... for families and their kids walking out on the street, though perhaps he meant "on the sidewalk."

That's because Caesar's jollies derive from traffic merrily racing from one side of town to the other, better to make it out the opposite end before their texting session concludes. The hypocrisy probably hasn't occurred to him, not even once.

Then again, confusion is Caesar's default condition.

“The need here is restaurants, not more bars,” Caesar said. “This was done so that restaurants could serve liquor, that’s what you want. It does no good at all to have bars that can serve a bratwurst.”

Bars without food? Even a drunkist like me finds this notion bizarre. Perhaps it depends on whether the bratwurst is locally sourced.

A rant about the fundamentals of parking space economics.

Areas colored red are without buildings, potentially available for parking. 

As noted yesterday ...

It's coming around again, folks: What about downtown parking problems and/or solutions?

I glanced around the web in search of an article that might help us understand the issues involved with parking, which in the ideal world should involve first being able to diagnose the problem, and only then to apply solutions. There are many such articles, but this one gets us started.

Don’t be Misled by Parking Space Economics, by Bill Lindeke (Streets MN; 02/26/2013).

Lindeke speaks of St. Paul, Minnesota, but the fundamentals also reference New Albany, Indiana. Specifically, the author is pulling data from Donald Shoup's seminal book, The High Cost of Free Parking, which has been spoken of at NAC on numerous occasions.

Lindeke begins with your innermost needs:

People driving around looking for parking is second only to sex when it comes to tapping into our lizard brain, our deepest core of animal urges. Parking drives people to madness, making them do crazy things, losing themselves in some sort of green Hulk rage of parallel lines and proximity.

In fact, in his book Shoup points to psychological research to show how we understand parking through almost mystical lenses, as if we are “predators” governed by “parking karma.” He writes:

Thinking about parking seems to take place in the reptilian cortex… said to govern instinctive behavior involved in aggression, dominance, territoriality, and ritual display – all important factors in cruising for parking and debating about parking policies.

Reptilian or not, parking comes down to something that has intrinsic value (a place to put one's car for a limited amount of time), a value not reflected by the space being "free" -- because "free" doesn't exist. Never has, never will. The worst use of a parking space on the street in front of a business is for it to be widely regarded as free. What's more, those spaces are not the exclusive domain of the business owner.

Rather, they're part of a whole, and must be viewed this way.

The entire parking ecosystem of downtown ... is one large market, and the city as a whole is worth a certain amount per year. The value of each parking space is directly related to the value of every other, and we need to figure out ways to get the most value out of each of them.

Again: What is the value of parking spaces, and how best to leverage that value to the benefit of everyone downtown, not one or a only a few?

As long as we keep on-street parking free or absurdly cheap, almost everyone is going to be pissed off about it. That problem will never disappear, no matter how much paradise you pave. But if you get the prices right, parking problems will melt away.

Lindeke's example is of topical significance here in New Albany. Note that we have no parking meters in New Albany, but the result is the same.

Should you be lucky and get one of these “free” spots, you will stay parked there as long as possible. Shoup gives the example of employees at a restaurant that might grab a key on-street space right when meters expire (sometimes 5:00 or 6:00 PM around here). They’ll stay in that spot all evening because it’s free, while potential restaurant patrons may have difficulty finding parking.

Shoup argues that on-street parking should be more expensive than its off-street garage and ramp competition, so that those key spots turn over faster, while the less-convenient off-street or out-of-the-way spots are used by those who intend to remain parked for longer periods of time.

And another added point:

In the first case, making on-street parking practically free (compared to off-street garages) means that many drivers will “cruise” for spots, instead of paying more to use expensive ramps.

But in New Albany, our "ramps" are not expensive. In fact, the parking garage we have at the corner of State and Market, within a few minutes walk of 90% of downtown shops, offices and eateries, is ludicrously cheap or even available at no charge during peak periods.

(Yes, this represents a governmental subsidy; those spaces still are not "free")

Why isn't every employee (and owner) of downtown businesses using the parking garage, especially during the evenings? It's so obvious that even Bob Caesar understood it, and used the garage this way during his time of business ownership.

For many years, I've faulted City Hall (all of them) for declaring downtown an enforcement-free zone, and abdicating leadership on this issue. Yes, at times there needs to be a referee, and if this isn't municipal governments's job, I don't know what is.

But -- and this is a huge one -- downtown merchants, business owners and stakeholders in a collective sense have refused to (a) educate themselves about parking, and (b) use this knowledge as a unified front to make a proposal to City Hall.

In effect, Doug England threw it at the feet of downtown stakeholders: "Here you go. Upset because we're marking tires and collecting fines? Okay, now it's open season. No rules at all. Whatcha going to do to help yourselves?"

The answer has been nothing. Sorry  if it offends you. It's true. These are small, independent business operators. I've been one, and I love them all to death, and their best hope in a jigged system is to embrace information and act for the empowerment of all, not just one. Parking is precisely such an information-driven subject. However, we must absorb it and be prepared to act on it.

Speaking personally, a status quo of  nothingness works fine for me, as I'm no longer involved with a particular business, and I do what the rest of you should be doing, which is finding alternative means of transport.

In short, I walk. I've planned my life this way, so I could walk, and I do so. It would be helpful to the parking discussion (and to the community's future prospects) if New Albany's streets and sidewalks were actually safe for walking and biking, but that's a different discussion and another set of principles to be understood.

So, let's reiterate: There is no such thing as "free" parking, whether on the street or at the parking garage. Values must be determined, and strategies to reinforce value devised. Business owners need to take responsibility for this knowledge. Government needs to enforce norms. And, if a handful of customers decide that they like suburban strip malls better than what is offered downtown, that's fine. It's their choice. Others will take their place.

Confidence and knowledge, people. It's not radicalism, just calculated collective self-interest.

It really is best served cold.

A youthful friend of mine apparently has learned one of those important life lessons about free speech. It reminds me of what I was told while living under my parents' roof, to the effect that free speech would begin only after I moved out.

It  isn't always possible to have free speech in the workplace, either. Your employer has a say in it, whether you like it or not.

Then there's the situation when a respected elder wags his or her finger and lets it be known that you've stepped over a line. It might be a teaching moment, administered with grace and compassion, but not THIS time; you're a sassy young pup, and you ruffled feathers. Older folks have a propensity toward humorlessness.

Rinse and repeat.

You need to be made an example, and they'll delight in seeing you grovel, just because they can ... and even (especially when) when they've been there themselves and are oh-so-vulnerable to reminders of the same.

Which I'd dearly love to apply with a circular, rubbing motion, but will not. In the end, it has nothing to do with me, though I appreciate the story. The way this week has gone, I needed the gut laugh.

My friend, I understand. You won't always be powerless, and some day, when you have the opportunity to return the favor, for the sake of all that's holy and humorous in the world, I hope you do.

Good and hard.

R.I.P. Umberto Eco.

Insofar as The Name of the Rose is concerned yes; the novel is far better than the movie, and Foucault's Pendulum is superior to both.

Ironically, Umberto Eco's name came up only a few months ago.

On Che Guevara and semiotics.

Semiotics, or semiology, is the study of signs, symbols, and signification. It is the study of how meaning is created, not what it is.

Imagine living in a country where public use of the term "intellectual" isn't cause for derision.

Umberto Eco, Italian novelist and intellectual, dies aged 84 (The Guardian)

The celebrated Italian intellectual Umberto Eco, who shot to fame with his 1980 novel The Name of the Rose, has been remembered as a master of Italian culture following his death at the age of 84.

It's coming around again, folks: What about downtown parking problems and/or solutions?

It has been only six months since this was posted, but the Green Mouse reports that word on the street is "the parking wars have begun." 

I welcome this debate, but that's the real point: There has not been a debate, not since then-mayor England suspended parking enforcement, with the explanation that merchants wanted it that way. 

What does Team Gahan think about it? There is no known answer. It should be interesting to see how this plays out. 

---

After I reposted at NAC's facebook page, there was a question: "So what would be a possible fix?"

On parking "opportunities" in downtown New Albany.

 ... Too many employers do nothing. The city does nothing. Both point at the other, expecting solutions, when neither will expend capital to find them. Free parking comes at a price, and the sooner we recognize this fact, the easier it will be to do something.

A plan would be a good start. At the moment, all is scattershot reaction, not pro-active thought. We have crisp new signs identifying parking areas, but no explanation of how they're to be used. Too many merchants abuse curbside spaces for the use of employees (and even more sadly, owners). Pages of parking regulations have been chucked, and are non-enforced according to the England Dictate that "no rules are beneficial."

Unfortunately, the unintended side effect of "no rules" is "no value," and without a value for parking, it is impossible to plan for sensible parking. It's the Wild West.

Jeff Speck has submitted a Downtown Street Network Proposal for New Albany. In his most recent book, which provides the context and conceptual basis for his proposal, he considers two of the issues that must be recognized when planning for parking.

The key passage for New Albany is underlined.

Sidetracks in Jeff Speck’s ‘Walkable City’, by Brody Dale (Next City)

II. Parking meters are good for storefronts, and higher prices make them even better, pg. 129

It was surprising to learn that the parking meter was first deployed in Oklahoma City, a place known for sprawl. Not only that, but when the first parking meters went in on one side of the street, it wasn’t long before business owners on the other side clamored for them.

How can that possibly be when downtown business leaders across the country routinely fight parking hikes for fear that it will drive away business? The reality is simple supply and demand. When the price is right for on-street parking, people use just as much parking as they need. Which a) means customer turnover is higher and b) customers are more likely to drive to a particular block because they feel confident they will find a spot when they get there. The market should play a greater role in setting parking prices. Which brings us to our next point.

III. American parking is socialist, pg. 116-120

Speck points out that American cities nearly universally have off-street parking minimums, usually designed around peak use. Under this system, everyone pays for parking, whether they use it or not. Mass transit users, cyclists and walkers all pay for parking they don’t need when shopping in stores built under minimum parking requirements. It’s pure parking socialism (my word, not Speck’s). We would all be better off if cities let the market decide how much off-street parking they need and build to their expectation.

In my review of Michael Chabon’s Telegraph Avenue, I mentioned the growth a Metro stop brought to D.C.’s Columbia Heights neighborhood. Speck writes about the same place, adding a depressing anecdote about the millions of dollars in waste brought about by minimum off-street parking requirements in a project that has otherwise been a runaway success.

The mere mention of parking meters generally causes panic, but as the passage makes clear, they are invaluable in determining value. As for parking meter revenues, these can be put into a downtown development corporation dedicated to infrastructure projects, meaning that customer and merchant alike know to what purpose the revenues are being put. The money stays downtown.

Following are two other links addressing the parking value issue.

The High Cost of Free Parking (book)

Free Parking Comes at a Price

Thoughts, comments, input?