NA Confidential

Kingpin for a Week, Part 3: This week's 1Si CEO is ...

2012-03-09T08:54:00.000-05:00

The Wassmer error is over, and somewhere amid the solicitations for cell phone smut, One Southern Indiana has dusted off its craigslist help wanted posting. NAC is delighted to offer weekly headhunting assistance, because we're just community minded that way.

Who'll be the next hot seat occupant to take 1Si's oath of office?

I would like to announce that I have accepted the post of CEO of One Southern Indiana. I regret that I have to step down on Monday. I treasure our time that we have worked together.

Last week's winner was Vaughan Scott, and before that, Scott's pretend son, Benny Breeze, but they've both put in their time. Today’s choice as 1Si CEO for the week of March 9 - March 15, 2012 ...

... is none other than Rush Limbaugh.

With advertisers abandoning him left and right, Rush is on the verge of skint, but until the heat is off and the money returns, he has the perfect credentials for a week at One Southern Indiana. After all, 1Si venerates the model of politicization-masquerading-as-economic-development model offered by the US Chamber of Commerce, and in the past, Rush has defended the Chamber against the scurrilous attacks of Barack Obama. Rush, the US Chamber, Mitch Daniels -- why, they're so many peas in a pod, aren't they?

But Rush's 1Si tenure clock already is ticking down. Who will One Southern Indiana's kingpin be next week? Tune in, and we'll tell you.

We couldn't lose any better if we tried.

2012-03-09T02:15:00.001-05:00

Anyone paying attention to local Bridges Project inanity is probably aware that the Bridges Authority has successfully maintained its .000 batting average in regard to the U.S. Department of Transportation's TIGER grant program.

Meanwhile, in more rational parts of our country, other cities are enjoying the investments and paid work such a program makes possible.

TIGER transforming Kansas City's Green Impact Zone, U.S. Department of Transportation

The Green Impact Zone is a 150-block area in urban core of Kansas City that has been devastated over the years by high rates of poverty, unemployment, crime, and high concentrations of vacant and abandoned properties. Local and regional leaders have come together to jump-start the zone's economic recovery by upgrading its infrastructure.

Crews are fixing broken sidewalks, repaving roads, and coordinating traffic signals. In addition, the Green Impact Zone project will provide better access to regional opportunities through expanded transit facilities. Describing the Troost Avenue improvements, which include a new pedestrian bridge separated from vehicle traffic, the Kansas City Star editorial board wrote, "This is a tremendous investment to support redevelopment in Kansas City’s urban core."

When one calculates the ultimate costs of the Bridges Project, it's important to consider such missed opportunities as well. It's especially saddening when one realizes that our lack of such investment makes us less competitive for other programs like HUD's housing initiatives as well, including FHA loans. Below, HUD Secretary Donovan on the spiraling costs of sprawl that the Bridges Project seeks to increase:

Watch Housing + Transportation costs adding up on PBS. See more from Need to Know.

But we can't say the Feds didn't let us know.

The first three rounds of DOT's TIGER grants have funded high-impact transportation projects in all 50 states, in Puerto Rico, and right here in Washington, DC. Across the country, this competitive program is fostering beneficial and innovative solutions that:

*Contribute to long-term economic competitiveness,
*Upgrade the safety and quality of existing transportation infrastructure and facilities,
*Increase energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and
*Improve the quality of life in communities through better transportation choices and connections.

What we're seeing in the Ohio River Bridges Project is a failure of leadership that will regurgitate back onto us for decades to come, both in terms of what we'll get if not significantly changed and in what what we've already lost. That they want us to pay for it with 40-50 years of tolls is nothing more than proof of their long-standing inability to garner support for a project that citizens, planners, and bean counters around the world view as a compounding of previous mistakes rather than a solution.

ON THE AVENUES REWOUND: The Bridges Authority has no clothes.

2012-03-08T09:27:00.000-05:00

ON THE AVENUES REWOUND: The Bridges Authority has no clothes.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

I seldom indulge in wholesale reprints, but will do so today in the wake of Monday's triumphal announcement by the Bridges Authority of its preference for tolling rates. This column originally was published in the newspaper on November 18, 2010. Almost 16 months later, there is neither evidence of an economic impact study on Hoosier small business, nor any indication that the idea ever has been broached within the star chambers.

"That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence."
-- Christopher Hitchens

“The future is never more important than to a people on the verge of a cataclysm.”
-- Nathaniel Philbrick

I’m the co-owner of an independent Hoosier small business. Teaching, selling and living better beer are my workday preferences, and admittedly other “minor” details occasionally elude me. However, after two decades in the food and beer business, pristine clarity periodically emerges from the gloaming.

Based on samplings of my experience, permit me to submit the following propositions.

1. We’ve always tended to our Southern Indiana backyards, but as an independent, niche-oriented small business, we’ve found that an aggressive focus on marketing to potential customers in Louisville is necessary for survival and growth.

2. Basic metropolitan area demographics justify this approach. Better beer costs more, but it resonates with a specific (and happily, ever expanding) demographic. Large numbers of our target demographic – higher incomes, better education, more extensive travel and life experience – live in more populous Louisville.

3. Marketing to a Louisville demographic never is easy, owing primarily to ancestral assumptions and clannish prejudices of the sort common along borders. Although those not engaged in bricks and mortar retailing might dismiss such intangibles as apocryphal, they’re far from imaginary to those who actually occupy the independent small business trenches.

4. I’ve accumulated sufficient knowledge about NABC’s consumer base to know that an important segment of it comes from Louisville. I am vindicated by knowing that a plan patiently pursued over a long period of years has proven worthy. Looking around, I can see that we’re not alone, and similar strategies are working for other independent Hoosier small businesses nearby.

5. Tolls on existing Ohio River bridges absolutely would alter this playing field to the detriment of independent Hoosier small businesses. Whether a quarter or $3 each way, the sum would constitute an increase on the price of Hoosier goods and services for Louisville consumers. Hoosiers crossing the Ohio to work would have no choice except to pay tolls (and have less money to spend at home), while Louisvillians would have the option to remain at home and spend discretionary monies in Kentucky.

6. Tolling burdens absolutely are tantamount to the erection of a physical barrier to interstate commerce. Furthermore, it is quite likely that even now, the mere mention of tolling is having a measurable influence on the decision making process of Louisville consumers. Clearly, I can see how tolling will damage my independent Hoosier small business, and I can plausibly infer that it will hurt my brethren just as badly.

Why, then, are Hoosiers acting against the interests of Hoosiers?

---

Numerous Southern Indiana businesses just like mine have done exactly what the reigning experts at organizations like One Southern Indiana endlessly preach at their costly seminars: To gather information, know the customer, plan strategies, and over time, nurture these strategies in pursuit of success.

We’ve all done so, and we’ve all learned from these many years of experience, but suddenly, overnight, what we’ve learned apparently no longer matters. It’s a commandment-level article of 1Si faith that business owners know what’s best for them – except now, when those of among us daring to demand evidence are ignored, muzzled, and dismissed as vitriolic cranks with hidden agendas and Communist leanings.

Most ironic of all: Ever since objections have arisen and evidence has been presented as to why tolls will negatively impact independent Hoosier small businesses, certain tolling advocates with no evidence … who have not spent two decades marketing their businesses as destinations Louisville customers … who are not engaged in bricks and mortar retail … who’ve never, ever been engaged in any semblance of independent small business … haughtily roll their eyes, gazing loftily at the clouds whenever it is suggested that maybe, just maybe, independent Hoosier small business owners actually know perfectly well that tolls on existing bridges will be catastrophic for them, destroying decades of outreach to Kentucky in one, huge $4 billion swoop.

Here’s the rub: You can believe the lessons of my business experience, or you can delete them, but throughout it all, amid high-handed imperiousness and ham-fisted diversionary tactics, not once has the Bridges Authority actually offered answers to these questions, as asked by independent Hoosier small business owners.

No economic impact study has been cited. No outside information has been referenced. Pins drop, crickets chirp, and the Bridges Authority can only mumble mantras about inevitability, accuse sincere questioners of spreading myths, and when rattled, hide behind St. Daniels’ billowing robes.

And so it is my contention, borne of experience, that the imposition of tolls by an unelected body with nary an independent small business owner seated on it will have the undeniably harmful effect of indirectly taxing independent Hoosier small businesses, burdening their Louisville and Greater Kentucky customers price hikes, denying needed sales tax revenue to Indiana, and isolating a sizeable market that we’ve finally come so close to capturing in recent years.

Because the Bridges Authority refuses to answer legitimate questions, we must conclude that as an entity, quasi-evangelical construction zeal is trumping every other human concern, and that independent Hoosier small businesses soon will be expected to meekly surrender, patronizingly receive pat on their heads, ceremoniously bow to their betters, and take the full brunt of the financial hit -- for the greater “good” offered us by 1Si’s gospel of economic elitism and St. Daniels’ future D.C. job prospects.

There’s neither myth nor negativity in any of this, because after all, I have my evidence.

Where on earth is theirs?

Two more classic links: Ed Clere and Develop New Albany duck and cover on tolling.

2012-03-08T09:20:00.000-05:00

Think of them as two of the greatest ever hits of "Praise the Lord and Pass the KYJelly," New Albany-style. First, DNA's cowardly deferral:

DNA releases impenetrable verbiage masquerading as a statement on bridge tolls.

The community looks to the self-described revitalization leaders for leadership. Instead, they're given evasive chickenshit, from top to bottom.

And, a wonderful example of connecting the dots from my co-editor Jeff:

Clere has a toll to pay whether they build bridges or not.

Months before Roger or the News and Tribune asked for Clere's position on tolls, he'd already volunteered to give up his ability to vote on them.

District 72: Alternatives begin here.

2012-03-08T08:54:00.001-05:00

As of February 15, candidate Grabowski has a FB page. Her opponent in the Democratic primary is Thomas Lenfert. If Grabowski wins the primary, there is an outside possibility the fall race might be interesting. Will the éminence grise Connie Sipes permit it to be interesting? That's the question.

For a list of candidates (all local races) as of February 13, go here.

The Sherman Minton Bridge: It's the gateway to Horseshoe, isn't it?

2012-03-07T11:36:00.002-05:00

That explains a lot about the horsetrading, doesn't it?

Return of the "No Tolls" cat: Remember when?

2012-03-07T11:24:00.001-05:00

At NAC's posting on Monday, Tolls: Hoosiers selling out Hoosiers as ORBP funding agreement inked, regular reader Matt Nash left this comment.

"I was sitting in city council chambers one evening and a member of the Bridges Authority came in and sat down right in front of me next to a former member of the city council. The three of us were the only people in the room at the time. They proceeded to have a conversation about tolls and he (Bridges Authority member) said tolls would eventually be around a quarter and he would vote against anything else."

Hmm, I wonder which Bridges Authority member this one is?

If it's Stella Artois, it means that Churchill Downs does not give a flying **** about local-anything.

2012-03-07T10:01:00.000-05:00

So why give a **** about Churchill Downs? I sure don't.

With all due credit to Sara "Bar Belle" Havens (her complete LEO story is reprinted below), here's the other side of my writing assignment for Food and Dining Magazine's next quarterly issue, May/June/July, which is to be released just prior to the Kentucky Derby. My job? Inform the magazine's readers, many of whom will be visitors from out of town, about the nature and whereabouts of Louisville's craft breweries, and relate them to Derby. Included are bits of recent history, as in this brief preview from my piece.

The Kentucky Derby has taken place right here in Louisville every year since 1875. From 1979 through 1992, there was no locally brewed beer to celebrate the Run for the Roses, but when Sea Hero captured the race in 1993, a few hardy and pioneering microbrew fans could be found drinking Silo Red Rock Ale. Later that fall, Bluegrass Brewing Company was founded, and there Louisville’s present-day craft beer story really begins.

And so Derby is all about Louisville, except that is isn't; amid the usual fanfare surrounding Derby "tradition", Churchill Downs has declared putrid Eurolager as Derby's official beer.

Stella named Derby’s official beer

Stella Artois has been named the “official beer sponsor” of Churchill Downs, Oaks and Derby. According to the press release, “Churchill Downs Racetrack today announced a multi-year partnership, naming the world’s best-selling Belgian beer Stella Artois as ‘The Official Beer Sponsor of Churchill Downs, the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby.’ While attending this year’s Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks, fans will be able to experience classic Belgian lager Stella Artois and its iconic Chalice, which will feature the Kentucky Derby 138 logo. Continuing its affiliation with Churchill Downs, Stella Artois also will serve as the presenting sponsor of “Opening Night” and four “Downs After Dark” nighttime events in 2012.”

I’m not a big fan of Stella, but I suppose it’s better than PBR or something. I will stick to the Mint Juleps.

Subway's new Italian Collection is more authentically local (in a Neopolitan sense of genuine) than Churchill Downs' embrace of AB-Inbev's "classic Belgian lager" (but lager just isn't a classic Belgian style, is it? It's German, isn't it?) as the beneficiary of soulless sponsorship dollars, all of which happily reinforces my usual bilious point:

Instead of Stella, it should have been AB-Inbev's Goose Island. At least Goose Island was once upon a time legit craft before its big-bucks absorption, and Chicago's considerably far closer as a source than Leuven.

On engineering and the devaluation of 1,000-year weather events.

2012-03-07T09:02:00.001-05:00

At Monday's city council meeting, as the discussion turned to how many dollars per inch it will require to restore Spring Street Hill to viability as Councilman Bob Caesar's fastest route home, engineers became weathermen.

New Albany council wants review of Spring Street Hill work; $540,000 project receives initial approval, but second opinion requested, by Daniel Suddeath (News, Tribune and Pop Up Generator)

The city hoped to receive aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA, as Jacobi, Toombs and Lanz President Jorge Lanz said almost 9 inches of rain fell on Silver Hills between April 19 and May 2 of 2011.

But FEMA denied the city’s request earlier this month, though administration officials declared Monday they will appeal the decision within 60 days. Lanz said the “historic” problems associated with the road were part of FEMA’s decision to deny the request, though he said much their reasoning for the ruling was still “cloudy” ...

... Lanz said crews had to dig about 30 feet into the ground before the ravine was discovered, and he added that kind of testing is unusual for such a project.

The drainage installed met city standards, but it’s not feasible to design a system capable of dealing with a 1,000 year storm like April’s rain event was, he continued.

“For this kind of structure, I don’t know what else we could have done,” Lanz said.

If umbrellas were necessary, were they to protect us from rain, or exaggerations? A blog reader delved into the archives:

Indiana Precipitation Records

Driest location ranked by lowest annual average precipitation: English, southern Indiana, 49.72"

Wettest location ranked by highest annual average precipitation: Monroeville, northeast Indiana, 33.74"

Snowiest location ranked by highest annual average snowfall: South Bend, northern Indiana, 76.6"

State precipitation maximum for 24 hours - Princeton, southwest Indiana, 8/6/1905, 10.50"

State precipitation maximum for 1 year - Marengo, southern Indiana, 1890, 97.38"

State snow maximum for 24 hours - Seymour, south-central Indiana, 12/22-23/2004, 29.0"

State snow maximum for 1 season - South Bend, northern Indiana, 1977-1978, 172.0"

It's hard to believe that nine inches of rain falling in a 13 day period qualifies as a "1,000 year storm" - especially when you consider 10.5 inches fell in 24 hours in 1905 in Princeton, Indiana.

Indeed, and another friend asks: "Didn't this much rain fall in two days back in 1997?" In the end, it probably doesn't matter. Caesar wants his handy commute fixed -- and that's not a request.

... Caesar, who is sponsoring the measure, agreed that a second opinion is “imperative” but doesn’t believe it will greatly delay the project to obtain a review.

“I think this could happen in a very short amount of time,” he said.

Gonder on tolls: "So, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em."

2012-03-07T08:35:00.001-05:00

Tongue planted firmly in cheek ...

TUESDAY, MARCH 6, 2012

I'll Take Door Number Three

The results are in. Those with a say, say it's time to toll bridge traffic. The deliberative process surrounding the question of how to pay for the Two Bridge Solution yielded the answer which can surprise no one.

Equal time for dogs ... of a sort.

2012-03-06T23:08:00.000-05:00

CDC says: "March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month."

2012-03-06T08:25:00.000-05:00

In the end, it wasn't anywhere close to the pain in the rump I'd imagined. I'm referring to my first ever colonoscopy yesterday. It came a year later than recommended (I'll be 52 in August), and for an inveterate trencherman like me, 36 hours spent without solid food while gulping laxatives was annoying, but worth it.

First, here's how it works. You get a good inner cleansing courtesy of the laxatives, are hooked up to an IV with some groovy local anesthesia (conscious, but susceptible to Pink Floyd), and yield to a tiny camera so the doctor can explore your colon's nooks and crannies.

If precancerous polyps are found during the course of the examination, they are removed on the very same dime, and that's a bargain, because scientific studies now are beginning to show conclusively what has been suspected all along: Those polyps can become cancerous, and colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths yearly in America.

Yesterday two polyps were removed from my colon, one benign and the other precancerous. If you think their elimination wasn't worth a Sunday spent in proximity to a toilet, think again. It's simple: Timely screening and the removal of precancerous polyps translate into a 50% to 60% better chance of avoiding colorectal cancer in the future. Those are way better odds than you'll get at any casino, aren't they?

March is National Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Colorectal cancer screening saves lives. If everyone who is 50 years old or older were screened regularly, as many as 60% of deaths from this cancer could be avoided.

Tolls: Hoosiers selling out Hoosiers as ORBP funding agreement inked.

2012-03-05T14:29:00.000-05:00

If the Indiana-based members of the Bridges (Tolling) Authority retain any semblance of intellectual honesty, they need to eavesdrop on conversations today, whether electronic or voiced, to the effect that Louisvillians will stay where they are if tolls are required to cross bridges traveling northward.

Have each of you you been willfully blind to this eventuality from the start?

And where's that economic impact study (on Hoosier small businesses) that at least one of you promised to look into, what, more than a year ago?

Benedict Arnold did less damage to his country than you have to Southern Indiana. Shameful. Absolutely shameful.

Governors agree to financing plan for the Ohio River Bridges Project, by John R. Karman III (Business First)

The plan approved by the governors today calls for tolls to be collected on the two new bridges and the revamped Kennedy Bridge. Tolls will begin as soon as the first bridge is completed.

Under the current plan, tolls would be in the range of $1 per crossing for frequent commuters in cars and sport-utility vehicles. Tolls for other cars and SUVs would be in the $2 range.

The rates would be about $5 for panel trucks and $10 for tractor trailers.

Tolling has been among the most controversial aspects of the bridges plan.

Henry Miller, on growing up in New York City.

2012-03-05T07:38:00.002-05:00

In which Mrs. Baird previews tonight's council agenda.

2012-03-05T05:35:00.000-05:00

(7:00 a.m. update: "A" pointed me in the right direction, as the agenda is here at the city's new website. I'd been looking under the council heading, and it is located under the clerk's).

The city clerk’s site seems to have disappeared, and with it the city council meeting agenda. Whether this is temporary or permanent is not yet clear. Instead of publishing verbatim the agenda for tonight’s council meeting, we turn instead to a brief, unedited preview as provided by at-large council member Shirley Baird.

ANGENDA FOR CITY COUNCIL MEETING 3/5/12

R-12-04 Resolution Concerning Procurement of Electronic Devices for City Council Use (Zurschmeide)

This was discussed at an earlier work session. The council members receive so much information and documentation in paper form that it may be more cost efficient to supply the members with a small device such as a tablet PC, small laptop or iPad. CM Zurschmeide would be assigned to gather the information to see which device is most cost effective, should this resolution pass.

G-11-13 Ordinance Allowing the Appropriation of $8,000 for the Purpose of Paying for a 2011 State Board of Accounts Audit Assistance Proposal (Coffey 1 and 2)

Our State Board of Accounts has found numerous errors in 2011 as in the past. The proposal is to hire the London Witte Group LLC to assist in solving our audit problems. This is to help the city be in compliance with the State Board of Accounts on several issues bank account reconciliation, financial transactions, records entries and fund reporting.

A-12-03 Appropriation for Spring St. Hill Road Repairs (Caesar 1 and 2)

The low bid for this project was $540,000. The city has been asked to help fund the repairs in addition to requesting disaster relief from FEMA. There will be a work session Monday 3/5 to discuss Spring St. Hill

You mean there's another King Larry?

2012-03-04T15:58:00.005-05:00

It is rare, indeed, when I even bother reading the business section of the Sunday edition of the New York Times, much less care very much about what I see when I do. As the exception that proves the rule, I give you my unusual experience today, and the new book about Larry Hillblom prompting it.

The Bizarre Road of a DHL Founder, by Bryan Burrough

Imagine the billionaire founder of a major American corporation suddenly waltzing away from his executive duties to spend the rest of his days as a glorified sex tourist, trolling the dives and brothels of Vietnam and the Philippines for pubescent girls. Hard to picture, right? Yet that is exactly the story that James D. Scurlock tells in his terrific new book, “King Larry: The Life and Ruins of a Billionaire Genius” (Scribner).

Speaking of the riverfront, let's check the class warfare front.

2012-03-04T13:19:00.000-05:00

Pictured above is the rear of what New Albanians long have referred to as the Reisz Furniture Building, which has been vacant for as long as most of us can remember, apart from being used by Schmitt Furniture as storage. Recently a proposal has been advanced by a Mishawaka-based firm (Sterling) to restore this long-term eyesore and replace rapidly decaying structures adjacent to it with new buildings, all for the purpose of creating affordable senior housing.

Largely at the behest of members Kevin Zurschmiede (R) and Bob Caesar (PD - Pretend Democrat), New Albany's city council rushed forward a resolution opposing affordable housing tax credits for this project, and these credits subsequently were denied by the state agency.

A half-block to the west, a sign has been erected to tout the "proper" use of governmental incentives to private developers.

For the River View development to proceed, it must be the beneficiary of -- yes, you guessed it -- various governmental subsidies and incentives, without which the utterly cashless Mainland Properties cannot so much as turn one single spade of downtown dirt.

What's more, while Zurschmiede, Caesar and four other council persons took the opportunity of their vote to rail publicly against the very possibility that the Reisz plan might someday, far in the future, be modified to permit differing uses of dwelling spaces than those originally specified in order for construction to be incentivized, not one of them has yet indicated a similar level of internal disturbance with the fact that Mainland has completely changed the nature and intent of its River View project, from enabling downtown condo ownership and residency from the outset, to pushing its ownership society to the very end, with intervening phases of retail, office and (gasp) apartment rentals all to occur first, whether they're needed or not.

Neither Zurschmiede nor Caesar have commented publicly as to what they feel might be a better way to rehab the long neglected Reisz building than the Sterling proposal. Concurrently, they both seem to approve subsidies to build something on the part of a development group with absolutely no money, rather than to incentivize another development group with money enough to a least complete plans without its open palm garishly extended.

If class warfare does not explain these attitudes, then what does?

Amid rapidly proliferating plaques, curiosity about New Albany Venues.

2012-03-04T02:42:00.000-05:00

Way back on October 4, 2008, a bet was settled here at NAC.

Mark Keeler said that the drummer for Nazareth died in New Albany after 1995. I said he died before the pub started business in 1992. Let the record show that Darrell Sweet died in 1999, which means that Mark was right and I was wrong. Can any one remember why Nazareth decided to play New Albany in the first place?

Ever since then, I've intended to show the plaque facing the river on the back side of the New Albany Riverfront Amphitheater. Here it is:

But wait -- what's that new plaque above the late Darrell Sweet's?

Hmm, must be the one the Democratic Party presented to her last year: Cessante ratione legis cessat ipsa lex.

It mirrors the plaque installed on the other side of the stage, facing the audience, and oddly, there still is no mention of the Clark-Floyd Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau's enabling donation:

I'm told that work is underway on an amphitheater use plan for this and coming years, and as we await the details, there remains confusion over the role and composition of New Albany Venues, which was incorporated in 2010 by then-city attorney Shane Gibson, with ex-first lady Michele England as sole principal and an address of the former mayor's office. I'll repeat the questions, in slightly modified form.

Seeing as Mayor England is (gone), does his wife's name remain on the charter of New Albany Venues incorporation, or is there an election/appointment procedure for a succession?

Do the non-profit incorporation rules permit the establishment of a truly non-political, community-infused, pluralistic board or committee, one not entirely dependent on personnel decisions made by future mayors?

Are there any plans for a succession of this sort, or for the establishment of the type of pluralistic, inclusive governing riverfront body?

We have plaques aplenty, and maybe someday there'll be answers, too. Until then, a number.

John Miller is running for Congress.

2012-03-03T23:14:00.000-05:00

John Miller has filed to run for 9th District US Congress as an "American-style Democrat." Details can be found at his web site.

John Griffin Miller for Congress

John Griffin Miller has been a nonprofit manager for about 10 years following a 25-year career in executive retail management. With experience in church governance, purchasing, construction, information technology and human resources, he works for a military charity near Fort Knox, after building houses for low-income families in southern Indiana for 8 years.

He is 55 and the father of four grown children. He lives in Corydon.

Progressive Pints unite for tornado damage relief.

2012-03-03T10:22:00.000-05:00

The long and the short of it is this: Yesterday's tornadoes ravaged areas very near to us. The city of New Albany already had designated today as a civic celebration of the Sherman Minton Bridge's return, and everyone I've heard from agrees that it's the ideal opportunity to bounce back the karma to those who are in need of assistance. Grand gestures aren't necessary, just some common sense.

I'm sure there'll be much information circulating today via social media as to what various entities will be doing, so I'll restrict my comments here to NABC. We'll have jars out at both locations today for tornado relief donations. I recommend dedicating a dollar for every beer; toss a greenback into the bucket, and at the end of the day, NABC will match the total. It's simple, easy and to the point. Proceeds will go to relief agencies to be named; we'll consider the several choices (Red Cross, Salvation Army, Henryville High School) and decide where to transmit the monies raised.

In short, don't just drink today - think, too. Thanks for doing so.

Kingpin for a Week, Part 2: This week's 1Si CEO is ...

2012-03-02T23:39:00.000-05:00

Jody Wassmer's gone back to Owensboro with his cell phone on his knee, and One Southern Indiana has the frayed "help wanted" sign hanging on the front door, so we've decided to provide weekly headhunting assistance.

Who'll be the next hot seat occupant to issue this statement?

I would like to announce that I have accepted the post of CEO of One Southern Indiana. I regret that I have to step down on Monday. I treasure our time that we have worked together.

Last week's winner was Benny Breeze, but he's put in his seven days. Today’s choice as 1Si CEO for the week of March 2 - March 8, 2012 ...

.. is Benny's conceptual father, Vaughan Scott, who is quite experienced at multi-tasking and will wear numerous hats these next seven days: CEO, Oligarchy Board chairman, improvement agent of the region's bottom-feeder line, and because Benny's contract has expired, chief Goebbelsian "fact"-finder for the bloated monstrosity known as the Ohio River Bridges Project.

But his tenure clock's already ticking. Who will One Southern Indiana's kingpin be next week? Tune in, and we'll tell you.

Step aside, Carlito: It's "Caesar's Way" (home, that is).

2012-03-02T15:47:00.000-05:00

Jeff already wrote the story:

Head for the hill: Caesar leading another self-serving charge.

2012-03-02T11:28:00.001-05:00

Despite Hill Bob Caesar's silly claims to the contrary, Spring Street Hill Road is not a major city artery. It's a low volume, local access road serving a very limited number of residents who have not one but two alternate routes for entering and exiting their relatively isolated neighborhood(s).

The entire path in question is approximately 1,900 feet long. If Caesar's latest proposition receives council approval, the imprudently championed and poorly executed 2/5 of a mile update will have cost citizens $1,000 per foot, assuming the same engineers who didn't sufficiently account for the watershed last time get it right this time.

But Bob lives up there, so nothing's more important.

New Albany’s Spring Street Hill fix to be heard, by Daniel Suddeath

NEW ALBANY — The New Albany City Council will be asked Monday to appropriate $540,000 for Spring Street Hill Road repairs, which if approved, would bring the total amount of money spent on stabilizing the street to nearly $1.9 million.

The road was again closed by the city in May after a section of the street shifted following heavy rains last spring. In 2009, Spring Street Hill was reopened after being shutdown for several years due to erosion problems.

More than $1.3 million in tax-increment financing, or TIF, proceeds were poured into the project three years ago, as engineers and officials believed the road that connects the city’s West End to Silver Hills was finally stable.

Bicycling safety ... two more links ... it's the drivers, stupid.

2012-03-02T09:12:00.000-05:00

From the East Coast:

We Need 'Broken Windows' for Traffic Crimes (The Atlantic Cities blog)

There's outrage in New York City over how many drivers get away with killing people every year. Here's one idea to help save lives.

And from the Guardian in the UK:

Cycling: on your bikes ... Bicycle safety will come through changes in attitude and in the law, but it also needs investment

The social prize now is to turn this greater awareness and engagement into something really practical, lasting and safe, by leaning hard on planners and road and vehicle designers to integrate big improvements in bicycle safety.

"The Dutch philosophy is: Cyclists are not dangerous; cars and car drivers are."

2012-03-02T09:11:00.002-05:00

Food for thought, from a place where life is not dysfunctional by design.

---

In the Netherlands cyclists are fairly vulnerable, given the chance of injury per kilometre covered. However, in recent decades, the safety of cyclists has steadily improved. The annual number of road accident victims has halved since 1980, both in terms of cyclists and those in cars.

This decline must also be set against the enormous rise in car and bicycle use. In total, both cars and cyclists covered 32% more distance in 2001 than in 1980. Statistically, the number of potential confrontations between cars and bicycles should thus increase exponentially.

Consequently, the decline in danger is spectacular.

More traffic and a high bicycle use do not therefore automatically mean more traffic danger. Besides making a comparison over time, this can also be demonstrated by comparing countries and even Dutch municipalities.

Figure 8 (page 14) clearly shows that the risks for cyclists are lower in countries with a higher bicycle use. The same pattern is visible when Dutch municipalities are compared. In municipalities with high bicycle use, the risk of a cyclist being injured in a traffic accident is on average 35% lower than in municipalities with fewer cyclists.

The same pattern recurs in various studies: the higher the bicycle use, the safer it is for cyclists.

There are a number of explanations for this, involving the conduct of road users and the attention that policy-makers pay to the bicycle.

Firstly, higher bicycle use leads to modified conduct on the part of all traffic participants, because cyclists are more dominant in the overall road picture and because more traffic participants have cycling experience.

Secondly, higher bicycle use often goes together with lower car use, thus reducing the chance of conflict with car traffic.

Thirdly, almost every car driver is also a bicyclist (60% of the Dutch cycle at least three times a week, 80% at least once a week), which implies that car drivers know how cyclists behave.

Finally the policy explanation: high bicycle use creates more support for bicycle policy, so that more is invested in a safer cycling infrastructure.

Something that should not be overlooked in the safety section: Liability.

In some countries, bicycling is seen as causing danger, which sometimes ends up in an anti-cycling policy. The Dutch philosophy is: Cyclists are not dangerous; cars and car drivers are: so car drivers should take the responsibility for avoiding collisions with cyclists. This implies that car drivers are almost always liable when a collision with a bicycle occurs and should adapt their speed when bicycles share the roads with cyclists.

What's up at Bank Street Brewhouse during Saturday's downtown Welcome Back Sherman Minton Celebration.

2012-03-02T09:07:00.003-05:00

Gravity Head always gets squarely in the way of planning other events, but now that the first weekend has passed and we’re holding on for dear life until the Founders wave hits on March 9, there’s finally time to chat about what contribution NABC will make to festivities downtown this coming Saturday, March 3.

The occasion this Saturday is downtown New Albany’s celebration to congratulate the Sherman Minton Bridge for its successful comeback after a five-month shutdown for repairs.

A downtown walkabout is slated for Saturday afternoon between 2:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m., with shops hosting various wineries and breweries. Here’s what NABC’s Bank Street Brewhouse has in store for the day:

A special guest:
Starlight Distribution’s sales manager and head bottle washer, Tim Eads, will be on hand to pour free samples of a few lesser-known beers from the Shelton Brothers portfolio, including examples of Jolly Pumpkin (they’re back), Pretty Things and St. Somewhere. He may also have a few drams from Louisville’s Against the Grain brewery.

A special on Frites:
Tuesday discount Frites pricing until 4:00 p.m.

A special set of music:
Members of Vessel will perform at the patio.

A special NABC release:
Rye-barrel-aged Yakima, one keg only, pint pours, while it lasts … and I suspect it won’t last long.

A special NABC Bomber sale:
Yakima Rye IPA bomber bottles to go, at only $7.75 each, or $90.00 a case (all day Saturday).

Consider coming downtown on Saturday and roaming around for a while. It’s a work in progress, but progress is being made.

ONE THE AVENUES: Smoke rings and political hypocrisy, again.

2012-03-01T00:15:00.000-05:00

ON THE AVENUES: Smoke rings and political hypocrisy, again.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

There are so many exemptions in the Orwellian “smoking ban” approved yesterday by the Indiana Senate that it is difficult to discern whether any single enclosed location in the entire state that doesn’t already outlaw smoking might be faced with the looming of forced compliance.

After all, the vast majority of workplaces already are smoke-free by choice or previous governmental fiat. Perhaps a few lonely greasy spoons without alcohol permits would be affected by this toothless “ban” if it is enacted, but the relevant points remain these:

When is a “ban” genuinely worth referring to as such, without running the twin risks of hypocrisy and absurdity – and speaking of both, how unbearably strong are the twin cravings for nicotine and cold, hard lobbying cash when these miserable addictions compel our fumbling collection of lawmakers to ignore the stated wishes of the state’s single most venerated political idol, Governor Mitch Daniels, who’d requested a bill with as few exemptions as possible?

Indeed, the Senate has littered this year’s “ban” model with more exemptions than spent butts on the sidewalk just outside the doorways of the smoke-free Statehouse. Now there’ll be attempted reconciliation with a slightly less watered-down measure approved by the House, and a Frankenstein regulatory monster will emerge amid rampant disgust.

---

Last week, the Courier-Journal’s Harold Adams posted a video of his chat with Sam Anderson, founder and operator of New Albany’s venerable Sam’s Food and Spirits.

Listening to Sam’s comments, and generously conceding that it took quite a few years for my own restaurant business to convert to 100% smoke-free status (at the beginning of 2011), it seems to me there are a few unexamined premises therein.

Sam’s main point is that during hard economic times, a restaurateur cannot afford to alienate a single customer. I’ve always questioned how far this way of thinking really goes, especially when it comes to the invasive act of public smoking.

Sam seems to be suggesting that his restaurant’s smoking area is essential, because the smokers accustomed to using it might go away at a time when every dollar matters to his operation. However, the converse is just as likely a scenario: Those who object to smoking actually might visit Sam more frequently than before if the smoking previously annoying them no longer is permitted.

I’ve experienced this phenomenon personally. As noted, NABC’s original location on Plaza Drive went smoke-free during the recession, and yet business demonstrably increased, even during the bridge closure. By Sam’s logic, this outcome was impossible, but it happened, and I can prove it.

Also, Sam notes the proximity of the county line to his establishment, and posits that any ban must be statewide and not subject to messy local autonomy, because there would be a distinct competitive disadvantage to any no-smoking policy in a geographical sense unless there are no exemptions to the policy within easy commuting distance.

Really?

When’s the last time you saw an all-smoking restaurant created for the express, stated purpose of providing alternatives to the proliferation of smoke-free venues? It plain doesn’t happen. Furthermore, as already noted, the converse to Sam’s viewpoint is equally plausible: Clark County residents might cross the county line in greater numbers, and more frequently, to visit Sam’s and have an accessible smoke-free dining place.

To his credit, Sam is willing to say aloud what most bar owners and restaurateurs won’t: As long as there’s someone else to blame (the state legislature), then it’s all good; until then, individual operators cannot possibly accept the existential burden of being pro-active about banning smoking on their own initiative.

Unfortunately, this is the weakest argument of all, and I respectfully disagree with it. I strongly suspect if Sam were asked whether in other conjectured regulatory instances, allowing state legislators such a degree of participation in his business decisions would be a desired outcome, he would express considerably more doubt about their ability to regulate effectively. My hunch is that he would decry legislative interference -- but in the case of smoking, he welcomes it, because fingers can be pointed at “big government,” and it lets him off the hook.

My words to Sam: You are a giant among local establishments; a legend. We did it, and you can, too. It’s far easier than you think.

---

Unsurprisingly, the rumors we kept hearing to the effect that this year, at long last, a statewide smoking ban with few exemptions would pass through the legislature have been duly negated by the gutted legislation, as currently riddled with the usual lobbyists’ caveats. I must oppose such conceptual Swiss cheese, precisely owing to the tilted-playing-field favorites it cynically enables, especially Indiana’s loftiest of sacred cows, the casino industry.

Non-smoking legislation only makes sense if employee health is the objective, and if employee health is the objective, exemptions simply cannot logically be made – if exemptions are in fact illogically made, then Indiana lawmakers are implying that workplace safety matters more at a solitary breakfast-only diner with twelve employees than at a casino with two hundred.

Not only is this sort of non-thinking pure drivel from the get-go; given the Indiana Senate’s recent record, it’s impossible to believe it is populated by officials capable of arbitrating matters that require the application of science, logic and ethics in roughly equal measure without inducing grand mal seizures in the general populace.

Since tobacco remains a legal product, albeit it one very heavily controlled, there is only one exception I can imagine sanctioning – and even then, it’s a tough call. Perhaps tobacco purveyors should be let off the non-smoking hook, but in this instance, I believe they cannot also be in the business of food and drink, so as to preclude their conveniently ceasing to be tobacco emporiums and becoming de facto taverns instead, which would fulfill Sam’s fears of competitive disadvantage.

Because retailers like New Albany’s Kaiser Tobacco and Billow are not licensed for alcohol sales, they would ease through such an exemption.

But in truth, as much as I appreciate and patronize both these businesses – I remain a cigar smoker, albeit one who cannot puff in either of my company’s two buildings – the mere thought of rationalizing exemptions for them and not others transforms me into a drooling hypocrite.

Alas, in the end, perhaps hypocrisy is unavoidable whenever the talk turns to topics like to tobacco use, personal responsibilities and societal freedoms.

But for the love of Lucky Strikes, does the discussion really have to be as hypocrisy-ridden as the Indiana Senate has made it?

In which "Bats, Baseball, Beers & Bucks" are examined.

2012-02-29T11:46:00.000-05:00

My second of two February columns has been posted at LouisvilleBeer.com, which is the repository of most of my beer writing these days.

Bats, Baseball, Beers and Bucks

Posted by Roger Baylor in Baylor on Beer | 0 comments

Photo by Flickr User: Andrew Malone

Professional baseball’s spring training is underway, and it isn’t too early to begin considering the prospects for locally brewed craft beer at Louisville Slugger Field in 2012. The Louisville Bats begin play in April, and only then will we know if the fragile, halting forward progress of craft beer availability during the past three years will be repeated this season.

I shan’t be holding my breath, but as usual, I hope I’m mistaken.

UK 360: Grassroots "up and down the country".

2012-02-29T10:41:00.001-05:00

A new television series in the UK:

Community Channel's UK 360 is a brand new fortnightly television magazine show bringing you inspiring news and stories from local communities up and down the country. UK 360 gives a voice to these communities and to the local individuals and organisations that are positively improving their neighbourhoods at a grass-roots level.

In the first episode we head over to Cornwall to find out how Wadebridge is on it's way to becoming Britain's first solar powered town. They have set themselves a target to generate at least a third of its electricity from solar and wind power by 2015.

and...

Headliners: a charity that works with young carers
Eastside Roots: an interactive garden in a disused railway station
World Film Collective: working with young people to explore the issues of the England Riots
Your Square Mile: empowering local communities
somewhereto: Turning 10 Downing Street into a Parkour playground

To check out other episodes or get more information on UK 360 visit http://communitychannel.mediatrust.org/featured/uk360/.

One Southern Indiana: Reaching out to make lemonade from Wassmer's, er, lemons.

2012-02-29T09:18:00.002-05:00

Coming soon to River Ridge ...

"To End All Wars" redux.

2012-02-29T00:01:00.000-05:00

I happened upon a blog entry by Eric Schansberg, and it's always interesting to note when someone else reads the same book you did.

Hochschild's "To End All Wars" on World War I (Schansblog)

A really important and under-emphasized war...

I knew too little about it, something remedied to some extent by Adam Hochschild's excellent book, To End All Wars.

My own thoughts on Hochschild's work came last summer:

ON THE AVENUES: For no reason at all (August 4, 2011)

... A century later, it all seems preordained, but we forget that amid an unholy flurry of secret treaties coming to deadly fruition in the aftermath of Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s messy demise in Sarajevo, Europe’s prevailing warmongers retained a nagging fear: The continent’s socialists might actually make good on their “brotherhood of mankind” rhetoric, oppose mobilization, reject conflict, and require heightened internal warfare against the indigenous working class so as to conduct external warfare against neighboring countries.

Councilman Greg Phipps's blog makes Erika blow a superannuated gasket.

2012-02-28T21:08:00.000-05:00

Boy, Erika's sure steamed. He/she/it hasn't been this agitated since Greg Phipps toppled Steve Price in 2011 like a house of Legion video poker machine cards, providing hope of literacy to the long suffering residents of the 3rd council district.

MAIL CALL: IS THIS COUNCILMAN FOR REAL?

... Well Mr. Phipps, The Constitution of the United States gives you the right to say how you feel.

As Christians we find this highly offensive. We've never met missionaries who forced Christianity on other cultures and believe us we know several.

It can mean only one thing: An elected official is displaying independence, intelligence, or probably both; and yes, upon further perusal, we find the little peoples' target right here:

Greg's Social, Political and Religious Commentary

Views expressed on this blog are presented from a liberal, progressive perspective with the intent to encourage a critical view of the problems facing our society. Views expressed are not presented in a mean-spirited way, nor are intended to offend; however, those with different political and religious views may be challenged by what is presented here.

Disruptive Wonder. Better Block.

2012-02-28T09:33:00.000-05:00

"The world is full of order that doesn’t necessarily deserve our respect. Sometimes there is meaning, justice, and logic present in the way things are — but sometimes there just isn’t. And I think the moment that we realize this is the moment we become creative people. Because it prompts us to mess things up and do something better with the basic pieces of experience.” - Kelli Anderson

Kelli Anderson is an artist, designer, and tinkerer who enjoys the challenge of seeking out hidden possibility in the physical and digital world. From interactive paper to layered, experimental websites, everything begins and ends in Kelli's Brooklyn studio which houses a 1919 letterpress and an assortment of other benevolent contraptions.

Opposite to the 'top down' concept of urban design is BETTER BLOCK, founded in Dallas' Oak Cliff by Jason Roberts and Andrew Howard. The Better Block project is a demonstration tool that temporarily re-visions an area to show the potential to create a walkable, vibrant, neighborhood center.

Kerry Stemler did NOT approve this massage.

2012-02-28T08:46:00.000-05:00

Another repressed conservative bites the dust as News and Tribune breaks Choady WassmerGate.

2012-02-27T22:32:00.003-05:00

So, One Southern Indiana's CEO turned out to be an e-flasher. There's nothing quite as entertaining than a hubris before a fall.

But frankly, Kerry Stemler's oligarchic economic development plans are more far obscene than Wassmer's digitalized willie ever could be. If every 1Si operative who ever sent a copy of the Ohio River Bridges Project via work e-mail were to be canned tomorrow, the organization would be as depopulated as the area around that crippled nuclear reactor in Japan.

Source: Explicit email sent from Wassmer’s work account; Former 1si leader resigned Friday; email date stamp shows email with naked man was sent Nov. 30, by Daniel Suddeath.

NEW ALBANY — An email allegedly sent to multiple women from the business account of former One Southern Indiana President and CEO Jody Wassmer shows a man exposing his genitals.

The man’s face is not shown, though the person who received the email claims it is Wassmer who is pictured.

Wassmer resigned Friday from 1si after giving notice Feb. 20 that he would be leaving the Chamber of Commerce organization of Clark and Floyd counties after just four months on the job. Wassmer said he was returning to Owensboro, Ky. — where he had served as president of the Greater Owensboro Chamber of Commerce — to be closer to his family.

Reminder: Louis Le Français, NABC and Starlight beer dinner on Thursday, March 1.

2012-02-27T14:44:00.000-05:00

A reminder: We have a special beer dinner coming up this Thursday, March 1, at Louis le Français. You can read all about it by following the links below.

ON THE AVENUES: From Cassel to New Albany.

Menu for the Louis Le Français beer dinner on Thursday, March 1.

The city of New Albany's new website prompts a handful of observations.

2012-02-27T08:21:00.000-05:00

The city’s revamped website has gone live.

www.cityofnewalbany.com

The web site was mentioned just the other day in the newspaper.

Formally tabbed as a legal assistant for the administration, Gahan also announced that Michael Hall will serve as the head of city operations. Hall is a University of Louisville graduate and was a founding member of Gahan’s 2011 mayoral campaign committee … Gahan credited Hall with preparing the new city website for launch in an effort to improve communications with the public.

Meanwhile, at Twitter, we see this posting from Lesa Seibert, a Louisville web designer:

Looks like we didn’t localize at all on that one, did we?

Are we to surmise this was Hall’s choice of contractors?

Whom do we thank?

The site itself looks fairly good. Here are three random observations

Develop New Albany is listed at least three times, under sections for Residents, Business and Visitors. One Southern Indiana appears under Business, the Urban Enterprise Association is briefly noted under Boards and Commissions, and New Albany First – the sole entity in the city dedicated to independent local business – is not listed at all.

The late Kevin Hammersmith’s name still tops the Parks Board.

The two Bicentennial Commission slots created by the council for Mayor Gahan to make appointments appear to have been filled with John Coffman and Pat Harrison, boosting the average age of commission members even higher.

Readers, how does the city’s new website look to you?

At least Amy wasn't dozing during art appreciation class.

2012-02-26T12:40:00.000-05:00

For Chris's complaint to make sense ("I don’t know what it has to do with our historic city"), he must be prepared to explain what art of any sort actually DOES have to do with our historic city -- and he can't cheat by asking his fellow literalist Bob "CeeSaw" Caesar, who believes that art is so important that it must be outsourced to Tennessee to truly matter.

At least Amy was around to offer the counter-point. Either of them, or preferably both, might ask the best available question: Why is there a fork painted on the road in front of the Cardinal Ritter House?

CHEERS AND JEERS — For Feb. 25-26

JEERS

... to the art display of a fork stuck in a piece of cheese along Market Street in downtown New Albany.

Who approved it and what is it supposed to signify — that we have a few restaurants in the downtown area? I don’t know what it has to do with our historic city. Maybe it would work better at the Carnegie Center. Unless I am mistaken, I don’t think we are the fork or cheese capital of the world.

— Chris Morris, Assistant Editor

CHEERS

... to the giant fork stuck in a piece of cheese sculpture along Market Street in downtown New Albany.

While I didn’t really plan to cheer the cheese, reading Mr. Morris’ preceding jeer reminded me of the chuckle I got when I saw the cheese for the first time last week. It’s fun and whimsical. So what if it doesn’t have anything to do with New Albany’s history?

Just let it be what it is. It’s art. Don’t you just love it?

— Amy Huffman-Branham, assistant editor

The sign says it all.

2012-02-25T10:18:00.000-05:00

Shambolic NA: Big ticket jewelry and lower-income tax credits.

2012-02-25T06:12:00.000-05:00

As the excerpts here illustrate, rental housing owner Kevin Zurschmiede voted both ways while wearing different hats, putting him into position to tie King Larry's all-time flip-flop record by abstaining the next time it comes up ... and the developer did not fail to notice it. The administration took no public position until after the state declined credits. Councilman Caesar, who has contributed no known plan for assisting downtown revitalization beyond opposing two-way streets, outsourcing Bicentennial projects to out of state mercenaries and enabling condos-for-the-wealthy-some-time-way-down-the-road, was able to blithely rationalize his contempt for the less well off by waving a mimeograph of the tax code.

Fiction is dead and buried in New Albany, because everyday life is so consistently entertaining ... and so enduringly futile in a political sense. Do any of these people have a better idea for how the Reisz Building might realistically be used any time soon? Is it that we just couldn't run the risk of poorer old people living that close to Mr. Bobo's champagne-sipping penthouse dwellers? Doesn't Sterling actually have the money to do what they propose, and some semblance of a track record that might hint at an ability to succeed in doing it? If the answer to the last two questions is yes, shouldn't we give them the parking garage, because that way, at least something might get built?

Legacy at Riverside not dead yet in New Albany; Mayor Gahan disappointed that low-income tax credits weren’t awarded for developments, by Braden Lammers (Hanson Compendium of Pop Ups and Roll Overs)

Councilman Kevin Zurschmiede voted in favor of that resolution while on the redevelopment commission, but sponsored the measure opposing the developments for the council.

“We did have support unanimously [from the redevelopment commission], and then to find out after the fact in the new year that we might not have support I guess we were a little confused and not sure what was going on,” (John VanMeeter director of development for The Sterling Group) said.

(Mayor Jeff Gahan) said the Legacy at Riverside “would have given a dilapidated city block $12 million worth of development. The seniors that would reside there could have visited our downtown restaurants and shops, and contributed to the local economy in a big way.”

The administration estimated the property tax base would have risen from about $10,000 to $40,000 annually on the lot due to the Legacy at Riverside project. However, Councilman Bob Caesar estimated the city would lose millions of dollars in property taxes over the life of the developments if they received credits when he voted in favor of the opposition resolution.

Taibbi: "This is where the Republican Party is now."

2012-02-25T06:00:00.000-05:00

I'd dearly love to hear Ed Clere and Ron Grooms explain how this analysis is (a) incorrect, and/or (b) does not apply to them, or to their idol, St. Daniels. Perhaps the Urban Enterprise Association might be compelled to fund a forum so that we can listen intently to the inevitable obfuscations.

Arizona Debate: Conservative Chickens Come Home to Roost, by Matt Taibbi (Rolling Stone)

... Most importantly, though, the conservative passion for divisive, partisan, bomb-tossing politics is threatening to permanently cripple the Republican party. They long ago became more about pointing fingers than about ideology, and it's finally ruining them.

Oh, sure, your average conservative will insist his belief system is based upon a passion for the free market and limited government, but that's mostly a cover story. Instead, the vast team-building exercise that has driven the broadcasts of people like Rush and Hannity and the talking heads on Fox for decades now has really been a kind of ongoing Quest for Orthodoxy, in which the team members congregate in front of the TV and the radio and share in the warm feeling of pointing the finger at people who aren't as American as they are, who lack their family values, who don’t share their All-American work ethic.

The finger-pointing game is a fun one to play, but it’s a little like drugs – you have to keep taking bigger and bigger doses in order to get the same high.

Gravity Head begins.

2012-02-24T09:41:00.000-05:00

CEOs come and go, but he's still against tolls.

2012-02-24T09:34:00.001-05:00

With Wassmer out, meet our first selection as 1Si's "Kingpin for a Week."

2012-02-23T12:54:00.000-05:00

It's now official, but on Wednesday, as we paused to consider that Jody (Wassmer), we hardly knew ye, loyal reader TLB posted this perceptive note at Facebook.

I would like to announce that I have accepted the post of CEO of One Southern Indiana. I regret that I have to step down on Monday. I treasure our time that we have worked together.

He’s stumbled upon a fantastic idea, and it is our pleasure to introduce a new NAC reality series, “Kingpin for a Week.”

We now are accepting applications, suggestions, nominations and inquisitions for this prestigious honor, because we’ll be selecting a new 1Si head cheese each Friday -- that is, until a real one is temporarily positioned by the rudderless organization itself , after which we’ll play it by ear.

Today’s choice is the easiest of all, so let's have a drum roll, please:

Meet the new 1Si CEO for the week of February 24 – March 1 of 2012

It's Benny Breeze!

ON THE AVENUES: Bridge localism lesson boogie.

2012-02-23T11:43:00.000-05:00

ON THE AVENUES: Bridge localism lesson boogie.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Last September, my first reaction upon hearing the Sherman Minton Bridge had been closed to traffic was intemperate panic, and my second was to be profoundly embarrassed for having ever panicked in the first place.

So it goes, and fortunately, it took only a few minutes to progress from the first response to the second, thus sparing my conscience a considerable amount of accrued annoyance, of which there was plenty falling outside my immediate zone of control without having to grapple with any more dissonance internally.

It didn’t take long to grasp that amid the wailing and flagellation, public morale actually does matter, and the Sherman Minton situation taught us that there are times when it is best to ignore the recently escalating American talent for tearful talk-show disclosures, and instead emulate the stiff upper lip renowned of our British cousins. It isn’t necessary to agree with Winston Churchill’s often repugnant conservative politics to recognize his talents as a unifying symbol amid the genuine chaos of wartime.

Taken as a whole, New Albany had sufficient resolve to acquit itself well, and even if the extent of the Sherman Minton situation was exaggerated in the beginning, most of us got it right in the end.

I persist in thinking it was shortsighted of local businesses, leaders and movers of any stripe to conflate the bridge closing with any notion of disaster, particularly using the enduringly aggravating “Shermageddon” tag in reference to what was an entirely imaginary apocalypse.

I might have grudgingly accepted “Shermageddon’s” usage had the bridge fallen into the river, but happily, it did not, and when all was said and driven, it was an inconvenience, not a catastrophe. Surely the real heroes of the closure were our Southern Indiana commuters, practically all of whom had no other transit options available except automobiles for use in reaching their jobs in Louisville.

Pathetically, they still won’t have options for the foreseeable future, and this neglected future transport tense is why it was sadly predictable (and as a bonus, often outrageously hilarious) to watch One Southern Indiana and other regional oligarch enrichment cadres rushing forward like so many smirking Keystone Kops, cynically leveraging the area’s mounting commuter ire by intensifying the propaganda broadsides in favor of their pathologically (un)necessary Ohio River Bridges Project -- itself perhaps the ultimate in bloated, auto-centric “immobility solutions,” as meant to dictate regional development choices for the rest of our lives, and far beyond.

---

Did an off-line Sherman Minton Bridge under repair somehow “prove” the need for the ORBP?

No, but it amply illustrated the common-sense case for the East End Bridge component of the ORBP, while just as obviously explicating the sheer, breathtaking folly of another downtown bridge to be thrown merrily into the already bottleneck-laden scrum in that vicinity.

What’s more, five months of commuter pain resulted in something so obvious that we’ve already been saying it for years:

Having a modicum of discretionary choice, numerous Louisvillians chose to remain firmly ensconced on the Kentucky side, and to my knowledge, not once did we hear a Louisville eatery in the Highlands complaining aloud about the drop in business owing to the bridge closure. Meanwhile, far larger numbers of Hoosiers grappled with their daily, entirely non-discretionary delays to travel into Kentucky and accomplish nothing more than to arrive at work on time.

If this isn’t the best-ever, real-world argument against tolling, which if implemented will inequitably tax working Hoosiers in a regressive, unforgivable manner, I’m not sure what is.

But facts are the peskiest of irritants, and we can expect none of these considerations to lodge in the granite-set craniums of ORBP advocates, whose faith in the ORBP more closely pertains to mystical religious zeal than anything remotely objective in nature.

---

From a local markets standpoint, what I’m hoping will be the result of our five-month bout of bridge deprivation is an increased awareness of localism’s economic potential. We speak often of shifting, in the sense of changing ways of spending, thinking and doing, and surely a degree of shift demonstrably occurred during the time the bridge was out of service.

Although my optimism may be misplaced given New Albany’s fatal proclivity for territorial pissing, I continue to believe that lessons learned from the Sherman Minton’s convalescence will result in greater recognition of the possibilities inherent in ideas like those represented by New Albany First.

In part, this is because I believe in the utility of rising expectations, and crazily persist in thinking that the business owners doing the most to create jobs and revitalize the local economy are doing it at the small, independent, grassroots level, and should have a greater voice in economic decision-making commensurate with their greater achievements.

It’s as simple as that, and it isn’t necessarily a “political” pronouncement. Think of it as a pronouncement of personal intent during the coming months, because there’s been some measure of confusion, and I’m determined to allay it.

From its inception, New Albany First has been intended as an association of independent, local, small businesses, as defined by specific criteria – not as an arbiter of foreign-owned industrial park occupants, not as a dispenser of funding via Indiana’s enterprise zone legislation, not as a pillar of historic preservation, and not as the city’s designated event-planner.

Know this: Nothing that New Albany First might choose to do now or in the future threatens in any conceivable way these other worthy pursuits, as pursued by other variably useful community organizations. In fact, there is no reason whatever why all these aims cannot be complementary and coordinated, but this must be done in an atmosphere of shared equality; from the bottom up, and from side to side, but not from the top down.

2011 was compelling proof of top-down’s dismal Englandish failure, just as the portion of the year spent without the Sherman Minton Bridge in service was evidence that we must row in one direction when it comes to local economic development. It’s not about picking one winner and endowing it. It’s about improving the odds for as many potential winners as possible, using all the resources available.

Which tunes will we be dancing to in 2012?

Me? I like all kinds of music.

Spay Now or Stay Stupid: World Spay Day is February 28, and here's why it matters.

2012-02-23T09:38:00.000-05:00

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Theresa Stilger, David Hall

Animal Care Co-Ordinator, Director

Phone: (812) 948-5355 shelter (502) 376-8430 cell

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NAFC Animal Shelter Partners with

Humane Society of the United States

to Promote World Spay Day

February 28, 2012

SPAY NOW OR STAY STUPID!

New Albany, In., February 15, 2012— The New Albany Floyd County Animal Shelter will participate in World Spay Day, an international campaign of The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International, to promote the life-saving benefits of spay/neuter, when it hosts a SPAY NOW OR STAY STUPID! event on Tuesday, February 28, 2012. During this event, the NAFC Animal Shelter will be altering forty felines for FREE! Preregistration is required, is limited to Floyd County residents with proof of income under 30k per year. Limits on the numbers of available spaces for males and females will be in place. All cats will receive a rabies vaccination and license if needed for a fee of $5 each.

“Spay/neuter saves pets' lives while lessening the burden on animal shelters and taxpayers,” said David Hall, Director of The New Albany Floyd County Animal Shelter. “In today’s economy, many people cannot afford to have their pet or the local neighborhood cat altered. This only contributes to pet overpopulation. We are inviting our citizens to take advantage of this free spay or neuter day, or help by sponsoring the spay or neuter of at least one animal—their own, a friend or family member's,—in honor of World Spay Day 2012.” Go to the shelters website www.nafcanimalshelter.org to donate or for more information.

Since Spay Day's inception in 1995, it is conservatively estimated that participants have spayed or neutered more than one million animals. It has been a proud achievement of Spay Day participants like the NAFC Animal Shelter and other spay/neuter programs that the number of homeless cats and dogs euthanized in the U.S. has fallen from approximately 13.5 million in 1973 to fewer than four million currently.

Over two thousand animals a year come through the doors to the New Albany Floyd County Animal Shelter seeking homes. Hundreds of pet owners have been assisted in spaying and neutering of their animal by the shelter, the Floyd County Humane Society and the Floyd County Animal Rescue League. Together, we can make a difference.

Shelter Adoption Hours:

Mon through Fri: 12-4 p.m. Sat: 11-2 p.m.

Cats also at both New Albany Feeders Supply Pet Stores

Adoption fees Cats: $20

Kittens under 4lbs: $60

Dogs: $80

Oddly, no mention of the Clark-Floyd Counties Convention and Tourism Bureau's donation.

2012-02-23T00:06:00.000-05:00

Unrelated question: Has anyone heard if there's still a plan to put the late Kevin Hammersmith's name on the Amphitheater as a memorial?

Jody, we hardly knew ye.

2012-02-22T18:55:00.000-05:00

It's a wicked scoop by Insider Louisville's Terry Boyd. Wassmer, who was profiled recently by the C-J's Dale Moss, made one appearance at Bank Street Brewhouse. I should have gotten an autograph while I had a chance, eh?

Breaking news: Sources say new One Southern Indiana CEO Jody Wassmer will depart this week

By TERRY BOYD | Published: FEBRUARY 22, 2012

Just a few weeks after the exit of Joe Reagan from GLI, One Southern Indiana‘s CEO is exiting, according to multiple sources.

Those insiders have confirmed Jody Wassmer’s last day at 1SI will be Friday.

You saw it here first: The Emery/Culbertson Connection, Phase 453 ...

2012-02-22T10:16:00.000-05:00

January 5, 2012: Swank penthouse to crown 8th & Emery’s development.

So, who'd like to be the ATM for this one? After all, the UEA's tapped out after the first round of non-collaborative 8th & Culbertson rescues. River View, can you spare a dime?

Newspaper poll results indicate "slight" trend against Hibbard pay raise.

2012-02-22T08:22:00.001-05:00

Ouch ... if this minor "nudge" continues, school board members who voted in favor of the superintendent's elevation in remuneration may have to enroll in the witless protection program.

Meanwhile, Kate Caufield's letter (viewed here last week) also made the News and Tribune today.

... If my household has a tough month, or year, I don’t get a bonus for being a good mom — and a working mom, who relocated back here because of the schools. No matter how much my husband and kids appreciate me, if we don’t have it, we don’t have it. Same for you and the school corporation.

Rep. Bob Morris: The conspiratorial face of domestic douchebaggery.

2012-02-21T13:22:00.000-05:00

I have it on the best authority that Rep. Bob Morris was born in rural Paraguay, the illegitimate and illiterate son of Maj. Frank Burns and an escaped Nazi spy named Greta, and served as a professional misogynist in Ft. Wayne before turning to selling used cars to John Birch Society members. Morris’s birth certificate, driver’s license and elementary school diploma were forged on Photoshop. How do I know all this? I saw it on the Internet, and until Rep. Clere tells me otherwise, you can’t convince me.

Roger A. Baylor

I use this word so seldom, but what an asshole!

Lawmaker opposes Girl Scout honor » Recent Local News » News and Tribune

newsandtribune.com

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indiana lawmaker won’t support a resolution celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts because he believes it is a “radicalized organization” that supports abortion and promotes homosexuality. Rep. Bob Morris of Fort Wayne has sent a letter to fellow Indiana House Repu...

"Saul Alinsky: The activist who terrifies the right," at Salon.

2012-02-21T12:48:00.002-05:00

Good stuff, indeed. Time to read “Rules for Radicals,” which I confess to not having done.

Saul Alinsky: The activist who terrifies the right; Newt and other conservatives are obsessed with tying Obama to Saul Alinsky. Here's where their hatred comes from, by Thomas J. Sugrue (Salon)

... Here is the root of the right’s suspicion of Alinsky. His goal was giving the dispossessed agency—empowering them to “fight privilege and power, whether it be inherited or acquired.” In Gingrich’s view, by contrast, the “have nots” are fundamentally incapable, responsible for their own fate because of their immorality, indolence and inertia. They will only be uplifted through the discipline of the market. Put poor elementary school children to work to instill in them a work ethic; cut welfare to promote “personal responsibility,” take away food stamps and reduce unemployment benefits so that the jobless are forced to work.

That wasn't a pipe bomb, actually.

2012-02-20T19:57:00.001-05:00

I was told by two neighbors that the destruction shown above was caused by two drunk drivers in a week's time. That's unverified, but makes sense.

"Urge Republican Senators in Kentucky to Support SB 128: Keeping Kentucky's Freeways Act of 2012."

2012-02-20T14:13:00.000-05:00

(Press release from Paul Fetter)

On January 31, 2012, Louisville State Senators Perry Clark and Denise Harper Angel, both Democrats, reintroduced a bill from last year in the Kentucky Senate called the Keeping Kentucky's Freeways Free Act of 2012 (SB128).

Here's the summary:

An ACT relating to the imposition of tolls or fees on federal interstate highways. Create a new section of KRS Chapter 177 to prohibit the imposition of tolls or user fees on any portion of the interstate highway system currently in existence; name the Act the "Keeping Kentucky's Freeways Free Act of 2012."

Tolls are a tax, not a "use tax" as Wall Street likes to call them. They disproportionatley tax the working families in our community. With tolls, those who have no choice but to use the infrastructure to get back and forth will bear the full burden of the costs of the infrastructure. The interests behind the push for tolling I-65 are those who will benefit from the new infrastructure with no concern of how it will affect the community it is supposed to serve.

What this bill needs is Republican co-sponsors, and this is why we need 10 minutes of your time. If you are opposed to tolls on the Kennedy Bridge, this is one of the few shots you have left to prevent them.

There are 22 Republicans in the Senate, and they are listed below with a link to their contact information and the counties they represent.

Contact as many as you can, but ideally the ones you have a regional connection with first, like if you have family or business in their district, for example. You don't have to live in a Senator's district, or even Kentucky, to contact them and give them your opinion. Copy and paste this and email it (or change it if you like):

Please support the Keeping Kentucky's Freeways Free Act of 2012 (SB 128). Tolls on existing roads and bridges will cause an unacceptable hardship to my family and my community.

Senators within a rock's throw of Louisville best understand how important a toll-free Kennedy bridge is to our region's vitality, they are listed below first. Tolling will pop up all over Kentucky if citizen's don't lobby their legislators to stop it!

Louisville area:

Louisville area:

Senator Julie Denton Jefferson
Senator Dan Seum Jefferson (part)
Senator Paul Hornback Boone (part), Carroll, Gallatin, Henry, Jefferson (part), Shelby, Spencer
Senator Ernie Harris Jefferson (part), Oldham, Trimble

The rest of Kentucky:
Senator Joe Bowen Daviess, Ohio
Senator Tom Buford Boyle, Fayette (part), Garrard, Jessamine
Senator Jared Carpenter Estill, Madison, Rockcastle
Senator Carroll Gibson Breckinridge Butler Grayson Hancock Hart Meade*
Senator David Givens Adair, Barren, Edmonson, Green, Larue, Metcalfe, Monroe
Senator Jimmy Higdon Casey, Lincoln, Marion, Mercer, Taylor, Washington

Senator Tom Jensen Laurel, McCreary, Whitley

Senator Alice Forgy Kerr Fayette (part)

Senator John SchickelBoone (part)**

Senator Brandon Smith Bell, Breathitt, Johnson, Leslie, Magoffin, Perry

Senator Katie Stine Bracken, Campbell, Pendleton

Senator Robert Stivers Clay, Jackson, Knox, Lee, Menifee, Owsley, Rowan, Wolfe

Senator Damon Thayer*** Grant, Kenton (part), Scott

Senator Jack Westwood Erlanger**

Senator David Williams Clinton, Cumberland, Pulaski, Russell, Wayne

Senator Mike Wilson Warren (part)

Senator Ken Winters Calloway, Fulton, Graves, Hickman, Livingston, Lyon, Trigg

These links will take you to their respective contact page where you can select the method of contact including email.

Wilbur Smith Assoc Forecasting Record Knocked Hard in Report for Reston VA group

Think target tolls are a safe assumption? This study shows WSA's projected revenues are over twice too high. "Target toll rates" would have to be more than doubled to meet their average revenue projections. A new report based on the first five years of 12 toll projects forecasted by WSA indicates a large margin of error. The analysis titled Traffic and Revenue Forecasts: Plenty of Room for Error by Terry Maynard finds that forecasts of revenue by WSA as it then was (just recently merged to form CDMSmith) are on average 2.27 times - or 127% too high - as compared with subsequently realized toll revenues. Read the full story here.

About No2BridgeTolls.org
We are a broad-based coalition of businesses, organizations and private individuals who are opposed to tolls on the I-65 Corridor/Kennedy Bridges System. Our targeted focus has been driven by recent announcements by the governors of both states to shift the financing burden for all of the downtown infrastructure needs to the Kennedy Bridge and its I-65 supporting new Downtown Bridge. We have formed under the entity of "Organization for a Better Southern Indiana, Inc." (OBSI.) Our purpose is to educate the public of the true impact of the current proposed bridge toll on both sides of the river. We are a 501-C6 non-profit organization that has been formed for the purpose of disseminating information. We are not against the bridges--just tolls or user fees on the I-65 Corridor/Kennedy Bridges System, which will divide our community, be a regressive tax that our citizens and businesses cannot afford, and will adversely affect the local economy, disproportionately affecting Southern Indiana.

All about Gravity Head 2012, at NABC's Pizzeria & Public House.

2012-02-19T20:39:00.000-05:00

Follow the links below to get the straight dope about Gravity Head's 14th edition, which kicks off at the Public House on Friday, February 24.

Gravity Head 2012: The starting lineup

Official program: The Daily Gravity Form, in .pdf format

18 Gravity Head starters named -- vote now for the 19th and final opening day selection

The Publican’s Gravity Head Diary: Thoughts on New Holland, Sun King and Founders

R.E.M. - "It's the End of the World (As We Know It)"

The New Holland delegation for Gravity Head 2012

The lost art of the self-epitaph.

2012-02-19T17:38:00.002-05:00

Catching up and cutting to the chase, straight to the end of a nice N and T recapitulation by Jared Clapp of the recent contract, er, "negotiations" with schools superintendent Bruce Hibbard. Italics helpfully provided.

Let the contract debate continue; Board members, others evaluate Superintendent Hibbard’s contract

... (Mark) Boone said though the vote appeared to be unpopular, he’s not worried about how it might affect his status as a school board member after the next election.

“I really don’t worry about that,” Boone said. “If people don’t want to re-elect me because of how I voted on something, that doesn’t matter to me. It’s not about re-election, it’s about trying to do the right thing.”

(Roger) Whaley said he thought voting in favor of a new contract with a raise was what he had to do.

“I’m satisfied that we did the right thing for the school corporation even though some members of the community don’t think we did,” Whaley said. “We will be criticized for the decision. That’s my answer to the critics.”

Excellent movie alert: The Descendants.

2012-02-19T07:37:00.000-05:00

REWIND: No el, no joyeaux.

2012-02-18T09:43:00.002-05:00

As we celebrate the Sherman Minton Bridge not falling down and the shifting of noise and traffic jams back westward, it behooves us to recall what we tore down. Originally posted December 23, 2009, the absence of the following helps explain how we found ourselves in such a preposterous position with regional "leadership" calling for more.

As gratifying as it's been over the past year to finally hear the word "rail" included in transportation planning at the federal level and as frustrating as it is that local political leaders still tend to respond to that inclusion with clinched fists seemingly aimed at modernity, it's helpful to remember that, regardless of how those responses are framed, commuter rail is hardly a newfangled idea born of fantastical daydreams. One only has to look at a 100-year-old map to see how it could and did work.

R. David Schooling has been preparing a book, tentatively titled "Louisville's Elevated Rail and Electric Trains". I've been following him around the net a bit as he contributes information to various blogs and forums. Republished here are tidbits originally shared with the Urbanophile, City Data, and Go Kentucky Homes.

* Multi-car elevated electric trains with 15 minute headways, operating nearly 24/7, were running in Louisville Ky 114 years ago. The heavy rail elevated steam locomotive commuter trains started running in 1886 and were replaced with all electric trains in 1893. They were an instant hit and wildly popular with heavy ridership.

* This commuter rail service was owned and operated by the K&I Bridge and Railroad Company. The K&I bridge across the river held commuter tracks as well as a swivel section that allowed it to open for passing ships. This only happened four times, one of which was for an Australian convict ship. You can read more about the bridge on Wikipedia.

* Louisville also had one of the highest (in elevation) el stations (from ground level) in the country, an elevated station with a subterranean entry, and electric freight subway.

* The 3rd rail train that exhibited in Chicago for a few weeks in 1883 came directly to Louisville and ran for 4 years.

* In the early 1900's Louisville had nearly 100 steam and electric commuter rail stations. Its electric commuter trains ran on till as late as the eve of 1946.

* There were pictures of sixteen car commuter trains from Louisville in Life Magazine as late as the World War II era.

* In the early 1930's Louisville had electric commuter trains that ran at 70 mph on the Indianapolis run and were capable of nearly 100 mph. They were specifically designed and built with extensive use of aluminum and with special undercarriage trucks also designed for high speed. They were clones of the Ohio "Red Devils", but rebuilt on steroids.

* Stretching from the western edge of New Albany, to downtown Louisville to the current baseball park locale, to Mellwood Ave area, to the recently demolished Baxter elevated station, to Kentucky Ave., back to over the Ohio river north over 1 mi. to 11th st in Jeffersonville.......all amounted to about 10 miles of elevated rail lines, upon which all manner (freight & passenger) of trains operated.

* This 10 mile web of elevated lines were used by about a dozen different mainlines and four separate electric train operators, ( the electrics were on the riverfront el, and on the Jeffersonville ramp up to the Big Four then out to about 1 mile southward, where an incline descended to run another mile to downtown (surface) on standard gauge. All electric trains from Indiana with one quirky exception were all standard gauge.

At long last, we can go back to bitching about the Bridges Authority.

2012-02-18T07:42:00.000-05:00

What is the percentage mark-up on defiance?

2012-02-17T08:31:00.000-05:00

Courier-Journal link

Please, Lord, help us to occupy these vacant houses.

2012-02-17T08:01:00.000-05:00

The News and Tribune's Jerod Clapp had the misfortune to draw the short straw for last night's council gathering, and somewhere amid the Rev. Burks' broken-record insistence that compelling me to listen to him pray at every single yearly meeting somehow does NOT violate my own 1st Amendment rights, a discussion about vacant houses broke out.

No, I didn't attend the function. My guild meeting in Indy ran late, and after thirty years of listening to these arguments in favor of Christian theocracy, sometimes the piety is a bit too much to bear. As for the vacant houses, many of which merely are in need of tender loving rehab and not outright demolition, it remains pleasant to consider how we might leverage the investment required to enable River View into a few hundred River Views throughout the city.

Vacant properties remain problematic for New Albany; Building commissioner says more resources needed for code enforcement

NEW ALBANY — With the only ordinance on the agenda tabled again, the New Albany City Council discussed the future of a vacant housing committee at their regular session Thursday, as well as the replacement of invocations with a moment of reflection at the start of meetings.

ON THE AVENUES: From Cassel to New Albany.

2012-02-16T01:05:00.000-05:00

ON THE AVENUES: From Cassel to New Albany.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor. This week, revealing obvious ulterior motives, I'm repeating my twice-monthly beer column as posted at LouisvilleBeer.com (where you should visit), and urging you to consider an evening at Louis Le Français on March 1. Read on.

Three of us were struggling up a fairly steep incline, our creaking rental bicycles squeaking and straining over ascending cobblestones. As a proponent of the manly cycling virtues, I found it impossible to admit that I lacked both gears and legs, and kept churning forward, but at some point I glanced backward and saw that my pal Tim Eads had given up the ghost and dismounted.

This was a delightful development, indeed. Bragging rights are oh-so-sweet.

At the end of the climb, where the old town materialized, I finally heeded the banshee wail of every muscle in my lower extremities and stopped to await Tim’s belated arrival. For me, it was a veritable stage victory on the Tour de France, which was fully appropriate, seeing as we were riding in French Flanders, perhaps 10 kilometers from the Belgian beer headquarters of Poperinge.

It was the summer of 2001, and in truth, probably the last time ever that Tim trailed me on a bicycle. He’s younger, and also more determined, so there, atop the Cassel hill, I talked mondo trash while I could get away with it, and prepared to gaze forever more upon his backside each time we went for a ride.

Fast forwarding to 2011, Tim’s fundamental drive asserted itself yet again, when he ignored a litany of potential obstacles, established a company called Starlight Distribution, and promptly bulldogged his way into becoming the sole Indiana wholesaler for Shelton Brothers International, renowned importer of legendary beers like Mikkeller, Cantillon and Mahrs.

Shelton also possesses an unparalleled portfolio of French ales, many classifiable as Bieres de Garde, and most of them brewed near Cassel, the hilltop town where we paused, panted, and resumed our progress through the town square in route to our ultimate destination, the Estaminet T’ Kasteel Hof.

---

Several of us had been in Poperinge the previous year, pioneering the concept later to be known as beercycling. We heeded sage local advice by planning a day trip to Cassel and seeking out Kasteel Hof – which is to say, I already knew about the killer incline, although perhaps I forgot to mention anything about it to Tim.

The sole point of the journey was Kasteel Hof, which harbors a beer list of up to 50 French-brewed ales. Then, as now, the concept of Bieres de Garde is mysterious even to those Americans who embrace a craft beer ethos. This lingering prejudice against French beer, while wholly justified as it pertains to mass-market lagers shipped duty-free to places like the UK for use as soccer hooligan fuel, baffles me.

Bieres de Garde are produced at farmhouse breweries located near the Franco-Belgian border. Climactically and historically, it is a transitional zone, where wine-making meets brewing, and Bieres de Garde originally came about as the thoughtful solution to problems posed by summertime heat, which rendered brewing almost impossible in the age before temperature-controlled fermentation.

The farmers brewed ale during cooler weather, bottled it in used wine and champagne bottles, and then cellared the bottles for drinking during summer until the heat subsided in autumn and brewing could resume. Bieres de Garde had to be sufficiently ample and alcoholic for cellaring, but not too heavy in body for warm-weather drinking. They also had to go well with food, because after all, it’s France. Hence, the wonderfully complex maltiness of the style’s better, enduring examples, like Jenlain and La Choulette (both in the Shelton book) and Castelain.

---

At the highest point of Cassel, there is a public park. We all pushed our bikes up the unavoidably steep path, and emerged at a windmill, the highest point in the area. It was a hazy day, yet it did not obstruct a spectacular view of the surrounding plains and two neighboring “mountains,” each actually only a couple hundred meters high, but comprising the Trois Monts brand of local brewing fame. These three hills, a prime strategic objective of the Germans in World War I, remained in allied hands owing to the stalemate at nearby Ypres.

The Kasteel Hof remained in place, clinging to the hillside, its bricks painted a distinctive hue of mustard yellow. There were seats outside on the patio, and we duly ordered and devoured numerous and diverse platters of pates and cheeses, along with fresh, crusty bread, all the while regretting the ride home, while knowing that at least the first leg of the trip would be downhill.

I’m relating this old story today as a prelude to a cooperative venture between two cycling buddies and a chef we’ve only recently met, Louis Retailleau. The chef’s restaurant in New Albany is Louis Le Français, and along with Tim’s Starlight Distribution and my New Albanian Brewing Company, we’re staging a French (and American) beer dinner on Thursday, March 1. We’re providing beers to suit Louis’s Alasatian-themed repast, and while Alsace is a bit further east than Cassel, my guess is that numerous memories will be served along with the food and drink.

Readers are cordially invited to attend, and to partake.

Menu for the Louis Le Français beer dinner on Thursday, March 1.

At Louisville.com: "Will Bob Manning cross the Sherman Minton Bridge again?"

2012-02-16T00:03:00.000-05:00

This is an uncommonly fine human interest story by Thomas McAdam at Louisville.com, about the boy who inadvertently "opened" the Sherman Minton Bridge at the age of 13 back in 1962. Will his story repeat itself? Thanks to JP for the link.

Will Bob Manning cross the Sherman Minton Bridge again?

Thursday at the city council: A Come to Jesus Meeting?

2012-02-15T21:48:00.000-05:00

Should I read all of these pieces aloud during non-agenda public speaking time tomorrow night? Probably not possible in five minutes. Or, seeing as the issue at hand is visible public prayer versus a moment of reflection, maybe it's actually an agenda item, and up for grabs during the public speaking time up front? So much to ponder about church and state and prayer and proselytizing ... and so very little time given the genuinely important local issues in need of addressing. In any event, here's what has been written lately about the Crusades ... and only at NAC.

ON THE AVENUES: Separating church and council.

REWIND: Has anybody here seen my old friend Rollen?

Burks leads the charge to restore mandated public worship in a specifically Christian manner.

REWIND: Joining in prayer: In defense of the 'Bune's Morris, Rep. Mike Sodrel appeals for us to "put up with" him.

Them damned ath-EEE-ists, well, they're dancin' in the streets. What are we gonna do about it, Verle?

---

THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CIVIL CITY OF NEW ALBANY, INDIANA, WILL HOLD A REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING IN THE THIRD FLOOR ASSEMBLY ROOM OF THE CITY/COUNTY BUILDING ON MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2012 AT 7:30 P.M.

MOMENT OF REFLECTION

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:

ROLL CALL:

APPROVAL OR CORRECTION OF THE FOLLOWING MINUTES:

Executive Session Meeting Minutes for February 6, 2012
IT Work Session Meeting Minutes for February 6, 2012
Work Session Meeting Minutes for February 6, 2012.
Regular Meeting Minutes for February 6, 2012.

COMMUNICATIONS – PUBLIC:

COMMUNICATIONS – CITY OFFICIALS:

COMMUNICATIONS – MAYOR

APPROVAL OF CF-1 FORMS:

INTRODUCTION OF ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS: READING

BOARD APPOINTMENTS:

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS:

COMMUNICATIONS – PUBLIC (non-agenda items):

IN COMMITTEE:

TABLED ORDINANCES:

G-11-18 An Ordinance Authorizing the Issuance of Sewage Coffey 1 & 2
Works Revenue Bonds for the Purpose of Providing
Funds to Pay the cost of Certain Additions,
Extensions and Improvements to the Municipal
Sewage Works of the City of New Albany, Consisting
Of Certain Storm Water Improvement, the Collection
Segregation and Distribution of the Revenues of the
Sewage Works and the Safeguarding of the Interests
Of the Owners of the Sewage Works Revenue Bonds;
Other Matters Connected Therewith, Including the
Issuance of Notes in Anticipation of Said Bond; and
Repealing Ordinances Inconsistent Herewith.

INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES WHO MAY REQUIRE SPECIAL ASSISTANCE TO ATTEND THE ABOVE MENTIONED MEETINGS MAY MAKE THEIR REQUEST KNOWN BY CONTACTING THE CITY CLERK IN ROOM 332 OF THE CITY/COUNTY BUILDING OR BY CALLING 948-5336.

A letter, from a parent to Dr. Hibbard.

2012-02-15T06:47:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Kate Caufield for permitting me to reprint this letter, which originated as a Facebook posting. It is my understanding that she has submitted it to the News and Tribune. Let's hope it is published there.

---

My letter to Dr. Hibbard, to his FB account:

Dr. Hibbard,

I realize that you're the superintendent of this school corporation. I realize that you've earned that rank and deserve compensation.

But when I have a child in a 28 kid kindergarten class, and a second grader (being tested for the Excel program, no less) who are not being taught by certified art, music and PE teachers, I am absolutely stunned that you'd consider taking this raise and bonus.

As parents, we've been upset at the cuts that have come, but have accepted that they're necessary in order to keep the school corporation solvent. Yet, we have had new administrative positions created to the tune of 100K salaries. I had Louie Jensen in high school; he is no doubt top of the top - but a new position created just for him? That doubled with your raise and bonus is enough to put tears in my eyes, because of what my kids are missing out on- all for reasons that no matter how I turn it over in my mind, I can't justify.

Neither should you.

I don't believe in the voucher program. I'm very much against it. I'm very, very angry that my choices are voucher and the situation stated above. My kids deserve a quality education in what has always been a school district to be proud of; but that's not happening. Whatever issues you and the board have with unions are irrelevant here. Your actions are an extension of your character, and taking this raise and bonus lessens your character, no matter how you feel you can justify it.

If my household has a tough month, or year, I don't get a bonus for being a good mom (and a working mom, who relocated back here because of the schools). No matter how much my husband and kids appreciate me, if we don't have it, we don't have it. Same for you and the school corporation.

I know you have children in this system. Take a step back from superintendent, and stand completely- COMPLETELY- in the Dad role for a minute. Imagine that each year, your children have more and more cut in their classrooms, and fewer certified teachers. Now, imagine that the guy at the top gets $28K more per year, in addition to a $10K bonus...while your children continue to see less and less. Can you see it? Can you feel it? That's anger, Dr. Hibbard. That's unjust, and I know you feel it, when you completely stand back as solely- and most importantly- a dad.

Do the right thing. Don't accept this raise or bonus. When things turn around fully, THEN take it- but not until then.

Sincerely,
Kate Caufield

Beam: "The hypocrisy of a raise when so many others have sacrificed for the good of our school community is unreal."

2012-02-15T05:59:00.000-05:00

Apart from the five school board members and Bruce Hibbard himself, two days have passed with nary a single peep from anyone in the community who believes the superintendent's salary increase, and the largely non-transparent way it was pursued, were positive developments. Surely someone out there agrees with the school board's Fab Five? If readers locate anyone who does, please send him or her to me, as I'd be happy to present the other side of the story, although I suspect it's too "toxic" to touch until attention spans slacken. In the interim, Amanda Beam approaches the topic from the perspective of Cupid's arrow, and scores another direct hit.

The case of the love struck school board, by Amanda Beam (Hoosiermandy blog)

Cupid’s arrows struck early yesterday at the New Albany Floyd County School Board Meeting. That little naked cherub is good. The sharp projectiles incapacitated five of the seven board members and made them fall undyingly in love with our superintendent, Dr. Bruce Hibbard. In their adoration, the members voted to give Hibbard a $28,500 raise in his new contract as well as a one time $10,000 bonus. That brings Hibbard total salary to $170,500 effective immediately. Happy Valentine’s Day, indeed.

Letter: GOP chair Matthews and his grumbling about the "need to contribute.”

2012-02-14T18:46:00.000-05:00

In the News and Tribune letter section today, GOP chairman Matthews receives a hiding. I've included a link to his most recent letter, as cited by Mrs. Ryan.

---

Democratic leader: GOP head not looking out for you

This April, my husband and I will again send in our tax forms with thanks that we live in the United States and pleased that our taxes provide good governance and multiple public services we have benefited from our entire lives. I have visited countries with minimal governance and no organized public services, and it is not a place you would want to live.

Dave Matthews, Floyd County GOP chair, recently shared his angst at “having to contribute” to pay for U.S. budgets. How sad that he sees this in such a negative light. More than most Americans, Matthews has benefited mightily from the U.S. government. Retired from military service, he enjoys unlimited free health care for the rest of his life. He benefits from the only truly socialized medical care in the United States.

However, as chair of the local Republican Party, he will work very hard to make sure none of us ever have such fabulous medical support. Matthews was trained as a pilot at a cost to the U.S. government of $1 million (source The Air Force News). Few of us will be able to receive $1 million worth of free education. As a Republican leader, he is sure to lead the charge against Pell grants and other support for low income students. Matthews now collects a comfortable pension that is guaranteed by the U.S. government. Yet, he will fight proposed regulations of Wall Street that would protect others from having their retirement incomes decimated by unscrupulous hedge fund managers.

Coming out of the service, Matthews was able to get a job as a pilot with UPS (thanks to the $1 million of government training). According to UPS, the average salary of their pilots was $174,830 in 2004. Of course, Matthews is a member of the pilot’s union and benefits significantly from that representation. As chair of the local Republican Party, you can be assured that he will work hard to make sure others do not have strong union representation.

Matthews is doing quite well. You think he would feel blessed and pleased to support a government that has provided so well for him and his family and not approach each tax season grumbling about the “need to contribute” so others can have a fair share.

— Susan Ryan, Floyd County Democratic precinct chair, Floyds Knobs

Press release: "Wednesday event to benefit Brandon’s House."

2012-02-14T09:03:00.000-05:00

I'm at a morning meeting called fairly quickly to plan for the reopening of the Sherman Minton Bridge. Whether rumor or fact, there seems to be the widespread impression that the reopening could come later this week. One thing for sure as the discussion today continues is that there is a worthy charitable event on Wednesday evening. Here's the press release, as published by the News and Tribune.

Wednesday event to benefit Brandon’s House

Brandon’s House is ready to celebrate the opening of the Sherman Minton Bridge.

Beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 15, a party will be held at the Holiday Inn, 411 W. Spring St., New Albany, with proceeds benefiting Brandon’s House.

Valla Ann Marcus, owner of the Admiral Bicknell Inn in New Albany, has organized the event. She has collected several items for the silent and live auctions.

Entertainment will be provided by Jamey Aebersold Jazz and Raqia from Raqia Belly Dance Studio. T-shirts will be sold with a special logo designed by Stacey Freibert. Some of the items up for auction include an overnight stay at Admiral Bicknell Inn, overnight stay at Holiday Inn, floral arrangements from Nance Florist and Lavender Hill, gift certificates from Star Cleaners, Strandz and Threadz and Nance Florist. Waffle House will give away free waffles, sausage, burgers, chili, tea and coffee to those who donate to Brandon’s House.

As community gapes in disbelief, its school board rewards Hibbard for welcoming the punishment meted out by Tony Bennett's great hammer of learnin'.

2012-02-14T04:52:00.000-05:00

There probably isn't much capable of being added here that hasn't already been written, and with palpable intensity, within the comments for the News and Tribune's guest column by school board member DJ Hines. In retrospect, Hines' carefully orchestrated apologia for a move few people knew was coming until it had already concluded would have drawn more favorable responses if he had proposed mandatory nude atheism for the school board, rather than a pay raise for the school superintendent, which by any available barometer runs counter to the prevailing themes of the local zeitgeist.

New Albany school chief will receive 20% raise, by Harold J. Adams (Courier-Journal)

The New Albany-Floyd County school board faced down standing-room-only opposition and approved an immediate 20 percent raise for Superintendent Bruce Hibbard during the board’s regular meeting Monday night.

In a 5-2 vote, the board boosted Hibbard’s annual base pay by $28,500 to $170,500 and extended his contract by two years through the 2014-2015 school year. The pact also includes a $10,000 bonus for the current school year to be paid on July 1.

Hibbard’s new annual compensation package is $189,400, including previous deferred compensation of $12,000 and monthly stipends of $500 for a vehicle and $75 for a cellphone.

Board members Rebecca Gardenour and Lee Cotner voted against the raise, citing a continuing budget crunch in the district. “According to our financial officers, we still need to make at least $2.8 million in cuts,” Gardenour said.

“So the bottom line is we cannot afford to give our superintendent a raise at this time,” she said to a hearty round of applause from a board room packed with hundreds of people.

Cotner called Hibbard “an incredible talent” who has improved academic performance in the schools. “However there’s an economic reality … that is we’re spending more money than we’re taking in,” Cotner said. “In that environment I can’t support a pay raise at this time.”

Hibbard has presided over the closing of four elementary schools, the laying off of dozens of teachers, the elimination of certified teachers in elementary art, music and physical education classes, the outsourcing of custodial work and the reduction of benefits for classroom aides, all in an effort to close a yawning deficit.

Bridge to Rose Island, via Trail # 3 at Charlestown State Park.

2012-02-14T04:05:00.000-05:00

Breathtaking appeal by school board member greeted with enough rotten fruit to make a durian.

2012-02-13T15:12:00.000-05:00

It is a profound understatement to suggest that the most recent trial balloon of Bruce Hibbard's boost in pay is being met with widespread venom at all levels of local society.

Hines makes a game effort to argue the case for the superintendent's increased remuneration, but in the end, what really gets "raised" in his piece are numerous questions about virtually every aspect of our local school system.

HINES: Should fairness be considered and results be rewarded?, by DJ Hines, Local Guest Columnist

SOUTHERN INDIANA — When people do a great job, and produce outstanding results, do they deserve to be rewarded? Why not give the New Albany-Floyd County Schools superintendent a raise?

Just as long as we don't "reach out" to surrounding areas ...

2012-02-13T14:15:00.000-05:00

The information below was received earlier today from Mandy at the Holiday Inn Express.

Of course, my suggestion would be for these Bridge To City festivities to include a significant "But We're Still Against Bridge Tolls, Damn It" component.

I'm going to assume that what follows represents some semblance of a grassroots effort, absent One Southern Indiana's typically toll-happy, leaden hand of paternalism, or other local organizations stretching out palms for someone else's seed money. Of course, I will try to attend tomorrow morning to report back to you, the loyal reader.

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I apologize for the late notice, but I would like to extend the following invitation to you:

Please join us on Tuesday morning, February 14th, 8:30 am, at the Holiday Inn Express in New Albany, located at 411 W. Spring Street, for a 1 hour brainstorm/planning discussion about a Bridge Opening celebration in New Albany.

Communities in Southern Indiana have met with Southern Indiana Convention-Tourism to identify March 2,3,4 as a Regional bridge opening celebration weekend. There will be TV and Radio ads bought to promote our celebrations. There will also be email blasts and Newspaper ads, notifying our region about the celebrations. Each of us will receive a decal to go in our windows notifying the community that we are a part of this celebration.

What does New Albany want to do -- block party, celebration at a specific location, specials for folks coming that weekend? Please join us on Tuesday to finalize the details!

Secondly, The website www.openbridgesindiana.com has been set up to share any offers businesses want to extend during the entire month of March. Please forward your information and specials to: John@interondesign.com

We have also established a Facebook Page: Open Bridges to Southern Indiana. Please like the page and feel free to post your offers on there as well. Share with all of your friends so they can "Like" the page too. Lets get some posts on this page regarding the great experiences we have had at our fellow businesses!

Please join us Tuesday to plan an event to Welcome our region BACK to New Albany! I look forward to seeing you all there!!!

Rev. Burks may choose to declare this link pornographic.

2012-02-13T13:23:00.002-05:00

Currently there is nothing whatever on the agenda for Thursday's city council meeting, which means onlookers can devote the entire evening to spurious arguments from advocates of the Christian theocracy, to the effect that there must be an "invocation" to open each of the body's meetings.

The friend who sent me this link observed:

Since Thursday will be frittered away on "religious liberty" folderol, it might not hurt to point out that the Supreme Court chose not to overturn the circuit court that outlawed the erection of a sectarian portal through which citizens must pass before participating in government.

Indeed. This isn't the decision of Legal Bagel, who plays Erika's legal advisor on her screech blog. It is actual law, and on Thursday, perhaps we'll see how Rev. Burks reacts to such inconveniences.

Supreme Court rejects government prayer case

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17 (UPI) -- The U.S. Supreme Court passed up the chance Tuesday to decide whether sectarian prayers can be used as invocations before government meetings.

The rejection of the case left in place a lower-court ruling against the invocations using Jesus' name in Forsyth County, N.C. The invocation at a county commission meeting, given by a local minister, used the language, "For we do make this prayer in Your Son Jesus' name, Amen," and made a number of references to specific tenets of Christianity, from "the Cross of Calvary" to the "Virgin Birth" to the "Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ."
Two women who attended the session filed suit, saying the invocation and the policy that allowed it were unconstitutional.

Eventually, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit agreed in a 2-1 vote.

The majority said Supreme Court precedent, and its own circuit precedents, "establish that in order to survive constitutional scrutiny, invocations must consist of the type of non-sectarian prayers that solemnize the legislative task and seek to unite rather than divide. Sectarian prayers must not serve as the gateway to citizen participation in the affairs of local government. To have them do so runs afoul of the promise of public neutrality among faiths that resides at the heart of the First Amendment's religion clauses."

Here's the menu for the Louis Le Français beer dinner on Thursday, March 1.

2012-02-13T12:52:00.000-05:00

Previously, a smidgen of background information was provided here: Beer dinner and Alsatian choucroute garnie at the Frenchman's.

Now, after consultations between the three participating entities, the menu can be announced. It looks very good. The Frenchman would like for you to know that this will be a leisurely, continental evening; plan on taking your time. The meal and beers speak for themselves, so all I have to add is my sincere hope that you can join us for this event. Call Louis Le Français for reservations.

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Louis Le Français

Special Event: Beer Dinner

Presented by Louis Le Français, Starlight Distribution and New Albanian Brewing Company

Thursday, March 1st, 2012

Door opens at 5:00 p.m.

Dinner at 7:00 p.m.

Menu

QUICHE LORRAINE -- onion and ham

Paired with Brasserie de Bretagne Saint Erwann Blonde (Abbey; 7% abv)

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CATCH OF THE DAY ALSATIAN STYLE -- mixed seafood stew, beer sauce

Prepared and paired with NABC Tafel Bier (Belgian Pale Ale; 4% abv)

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ALSATIAN SAUERKRAUT -- braised sauerkraut, bacon, pork shank, ham, sausage

Paired with Page-24 Biere de Printemps (Biere de Garde; 6% abv) and NABC Runkel Dunkel (Dark Lager; 6% abv)

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MIXED GREENS SALAD, CROUTONS

Paired with Jolly Pumpkin Calabaza Blanca (Witbier; 4.8% abv)

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GLAZED APPLE TART -- sautéed apples, custard, pastry crust

Paired with L’Hermitiere Cidre Brut (Sparkling Cider; 5% abv)

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PARTING GLASS

Trois Dames Le Semeuse Espresso Stout (7.5% abv)

$55 per person, tax and gratuity not included.

Your patronage is greatly appreciated. Thank you for supporting Downtown New Albany.

Louis Le Français, 133 East Market Street, New Albany, Indiana 47150
812-944-1222

Quills grand opening is this Saturday, February 18.

2012-02-13T10:56:00.000-05:00

I've borrowed this release from the Indiana Small Business Development Center, which included it in this morning's e-mailing. NABC is donating growlers to the general merriment, so consider stopping by and saying hello to the Quills crew on this special day.

DOWNTOWN NEW ALBANY COFFEE BOUTIQUE CELEBRATES GRAND OPENING

Quills Coffee Invites Public to Enjoy Local Goods

As one of the latest businesses to join the revitalization of downtown New Albany, Quills Coffee will be celebrating their Grand Opening on Saturday, February 18th. In addition to a morning (10am) ribbon-cutting ceremony, the event offers a day-long showcase of local food, beer, music, raffles and discounted coffee.

Occupying what was once "The Fair" Department Store at 137 Market St., Quills is a boutique coffee shop and roastery featuring artisan espresso, manually brewed coffee, and locally made pastries, chocolates and sandwiches.

Quills first opened five years ago in Louisville, Kentucky by brothers Nathan and Gabriel Quillo. The New Albany location is their second shop followed by a third recently opened on U of L's campus.

Opening Quills in New Albany was especially significant for the Quillos. Nathan says, "My brother and I grew up in New Albany so we're happy to join other local businesses in revitalizing downtown New Albany. We're excited to share our passion for coffee with our new neighbors in southern Indiana. We want to invite everyone to come see our new shop where we roast -and sell- all our own coffee and carefully craft each espresso drink."

Quills has been open in New Albany since early December but will officially celebrate on Saturday with a variety of events lasting until closing time at 8pm. All are welcome.

Quills Coffee NA is open from 7am - 8pm daily. Located at 137 E. Market St. directly across from The Grand.

"The Whipping Man" comes highly recommended.

2012-02-12T23:41:00.000-05:00

While in Cincinnati last Friday evening, we attended The Ensemble Theater of Cincinnati's production of "The Whipping Man," and it was amazing. The play is an end-of-Civil War story with significant historical and cultural twists, and if you have a chance to witness a performance, I recommend you seek it out. We spent two hours watching the play and two more discussing it.

Athevangelism?

2012-02-12T07:49:00.000-05:00

But why go door to door when one could send blank mass-email spam?

"Anonymous," but in London, not NA.

2012-02-12T07:35:00.000-05:00

At first I was disappointed. I was expecting it to be about the little people of New Albany.

But the movie was entertaining, and while I'm well aware of the controversies surrounding the screenplay, and know full well that a work of fiction need not be historically based, the fact remains that an important point is made: Words actually do matter -- just not those dispensed by Erika.

Meet The Oracle's Lounge.

2012-02-11T12:28:00.000-05:00

A new blog, The Oracle's Lounge, appeared a few weeks ago: "The Oracle’s Lounge was established in earnest on January 7, 2012 to facilitate discussions — some serious, some not-so-serious — of Clark County, Indiana."

There's some good writing there. Here are two very different examples.

Family Fun at the Lincoln Day Dinner

The governor said, “We’ve had a great seven years in Indianapolis, but, frankly, I’m glad its coming to an end because I’m running out of people to screw."

And ...

Jamey Noel’s Busy, (Seemingly) Profitable and (Perhaps) Conflicted Little World

Clark County Republican Party Chairman Jamey Noel has a busy — and seemingly profitable existence — through his role as an Indiana State Trooper and in relationships private, non-profit corporations in which Noel is involved has with Floyd County’s New Albany Township Fire Protection District in Floyd County, Clark County’s Utica Township Fire Protection District and the Clark County Commissioners for ambulance service in Jeffersonville and Utica townships.

"Prejudice tends not to arise directly from low intelligence but from the conservative ideologies to which people of low intelligence are drawn."

2012-02-11T08:25:00.000-05:00

Been to a city council meeting lately, George?

The right's stupidity spreads, enabled by a too-polite left; Conservativism may be the refuge of the dim. But the room for rightwing ideas is made by those too timid to properly object, by George Monbiot (guardian.co.uk)

Yes, conservatism thrives on low intelligence and poor information. But the liberals in politics on both sides of the Atlantic continue to back off, yielding to the supremacy of the stupid. It's turkeys all the way down.

Proving that we're "Brewing Better Local Economies with American Craft Beer."

2012-02-10T06:30:00.000-05:00

All the way back on June 15, 2005, NAC took a look at beer-fueled revitalization:

Beer Basics considers pubs, restaurants and downtown revitalization

The "Beer Basics" article referenced came from 2003, so obviously these thoughts have been floating around for a good long while.

"Certainly, one of the trends in downtown revitalization is to focus on food and entertainment -- brew pubs, ethnic restaurants, street cafes, etc.," he said. "Downtown retail has moved away from general merchandise of 30 years ago to specialty retail that, combined with food and entertainment, create a 'sense of place' downtown."

Almost ten years later, we see evidence of prescience. Thanks to A for this new and updated link to an article that enumerates an expansion of consciousness during the intervening time.

Brewing Better Local Economies with American Craft Beer, by Kai Olson-Sawyer (Civil Eats)

... Microbrewers use these advantageous attributes to encourage strong and vibrant communities, keeping customers coming back for more. In fact, it seems that in today’s uncertain and flagging America, one sign of community prosperity and revitalization is a microbrewery or brewpub in town. So one small way to encourage an economic recovery while holding to your values is to say cheers to local, sustainable beers!

"There will be live entertainment at the New Albany Riverfront Amphitheater as well as downtown this year."

2012-02-10T03:06:00.000-05:00

This is good news from City Hall.

Other than Billy's fave (Confederate Railroad), among the acts not set to return to the amphitheater this summer is the Celts on the River concert, which was poached by Jeffersonville after the Celts committee organizer did not provide the city of New Albany with notice that a bidding war was underway. But New Albany's loss will be Jeffersonville's, too, once the carpetbaggers flee to Otisco or New Amsterdam at some point in the future, given that there seems to be no sentiment for them in Louisville.

There'll be much, much more to say about Celts, so for now, a few positives.

New Albany ‘in the process of deciding’ riverfront schedule, by Daniel Suddeath (News and Tribune)

NEW ALBANY — A schedule of events has not been confirmed, but Mayor Jeff Gahan vowed there will be live entertainment at the New Albany Riverfront Amphitheater as well as downtown this year.

“We’re in the process of deciding what the schedule is going to look like this year, how it’s going to be managed and who’s going to be involved,” Gahan said.

Former Mayor Doug England’s wife, Shelle England, managed the riverfront plan last year and led the fundraising charge. Gahan said she informed him recently that she had decided to step down from the post ...

... Gahan said he hopes to include more entities, organizations and people in the process this year, as he added there likely won’t be a two or three member committee overseeing riverfront entertainment.

Several parties have expressed interest in helping with planning events and Gahan said “I want to encourage” an inclusive group to manage the program. He added his administration wants to press for more shows at the downtown farmers’ market stage off Market Street as well.