BAYLOR: After Andy, the deluge.
I also watched “The Andy Griffith Show” as a child, but then something happened to me. I grew up. Four decades have passed since the series went off the air, and in light of experience, I see Mayberry a bit differently than my councilman does.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Today's Tribune column: "After Andy, the deluge."
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9 comments:
A little true grit may do him good!
Mattie Ross: [watching Rooster load his revolver] "Why do you keep that one chamber empty?"
Rooster Cogburn: "So I won't shoot my foot off."
Speaking of Mayberry, Roger how did you get permission to eliminate appox. two parking spaces on Bank St. in front of you bar, when parking in New Albany comes at a premium, especially during Harvest Homecoming, Just curious.
P.S. Also, who paid for this?
Questions are directed to Roger but just have to comment on one greedygus1's points.
God forbid that New Albany lose two parking spaces for one week of Harvest Homecoming when it might help a business(you know, with people actually earning wages)for the other 51 weeks.
Now, that's exactly the type of thinking that has made New Albany what it is today.
Unfortunately.
The answer is simple. The building owner/contractor (our landlord) asked the city if there was any way of (a) replacing a sidewalk that was last repaired in the 1950's, and (b) if so, pushing the expanse into the street, sacrificing three parking spaces that primarily would be used by NABC, anyway.
The city said yes, and I assume the notion was approved by the Board of Public Works. I haven't seen the minutes, so I don't know for sure. There were bids, one was chosen, and the work was completed. We'll be doing the finishing work and landscaping just as soon as the brewing gets underway, and there will be tables in front with a barrier dividing them from the street.
So many anonymites at VOP ask this question, and I've answered it so many times, that I'm considering starting a FAQ for the purpose. It's a pleasure to deal for once with a known entity.
And when are people going to quit attacking what is becoming a successful business and economic draw to downtown over such petty items?
We have a new business that is celebrated, busy and a nice spot to go, cant we just leave it at that and congratulate the owners/operators?
That's right, Chris. Roger's business helps a lot more people than just Roger. He's contributing to the economy and creating jobs. He's also making it nicer for professionals to locate downtown (nice place to take clients, etc.)
So, if you love New Albany but have a beef with Roger, wishing his business to fail is idiotic. Of course, I've never been there when it wasn't busy and I keep hearing from my Louisville colleagues how much they love it, so I doubt the naysayers are having an impact.
If Toyota said it was going to build a new assembly plant in Floyd Co. and hire 1000 people, but would do so only on condition that the taxpayer funds were used to build a new road connecting their plant to the interstate, I don’t think there would be much objection. Most members of the public understand that employers can locate anywhere; to get private investment and new jobs, sometimes it helps it government provides economic incentives. A new sidewalk at Wicks or BSB is the exact same concept, just on a much smaller scale. It would be favoritism if only Roger were eligible. However, it’s not favoritism since the city likely would make a similar public investment to anyone else making a similar private investment. To say that the city was wrong in installing a new sidewalk is similar to say that government should never provide any economic development incentives to anyone at any time. We don’t have to provide economic development incentives. But nothing we do is going to stop Jeffersonville or Louisville from doing the same. If we don’t provide incentives, private investment and jobs just won’t locate here.
There are all sorts of critics who accuse Roger of not "doing" anything, hiding behind a keyboard, etc.
More often than not, Roger and his NABC cohorts have done more to engage in, invest in, and improve New Albany than those critics combined.
Personal score keeping is generally counterproductive but, at the very least, you'd think those on the wrong end of the score would avoid highlighting it.
Moving away from a personal conversation about Roger, and moving back to the them of his piece, he makes a major point.
My sense is that "Mayberry" is the reference to the perfect and ideal town. It is, of course, not perfect. Not one soul is married if my memory serves me well. Crime is actually more in terms of humor, and everything is solved in 30 minutes and everyone likes each other a lot.
Mayberry was and is, and has always been and will always be, fiction. It had 0 diversity and showed us that 1950's America was a perfect place if you were a white, middle class male.
It is a fantasy and fantasies have their place in life (please curtail dirty minds) but, when speaking about life in a real, modern day community, it's important not to allow ourselves to be confused between the fantasy ideal we have of life, and real life.
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