While the revitalization of 10th St. is an important project that needs to be well planned, the BatBlog has a problem with government overextending it's power and control over private business. While the proposal is intended to last only 6 months it still sends out mixed messages to businesses and developers wishing to locate in Jeffersonville. A free open market is important to investors, there are already enough government regulations, taxes etc. concerning business operations, more intrusion and city leaders deciding where and what kind of business is allowed, is not acceptable... and will ultimately scare potential businesses away.
The City has had this restoration of 10th St. in planning for several years now and should have already had any zoning restrictions, amendments settled beforehand. This last minute moratorium isn't a good idea and congratulations to Callie Jahn (R) and Nathan Samuel (D) for realizing this and voting NO on the 1st reading. The vote was 6-2 in favor with Moe Zastawny absent...
You have to wonder where the true Republicans were on this vote ( isn't the GOP for LESS government) ...Gill , LapDog , Maples, and Webb voted YES....
Congratulations to Calle for being independent.
ReplyDeleteAgreed...The easy thing for her would be to go along with crowd, which we saw a lot of in many members this council in the past...
ReplyDeleteHawkins voted yes too
ReplyDeleteAnd Dustin
ReplyDeleteAren't city leaders, etc. the right people to decide what and where businesses should be located? Seems so. Why have a Planning and Zoning department if that's not the case?
ReplyDeleteI thought that some politicos that that were running for office
ReplyDeleteand others said that Ms. Jahn would be an unknowledgeable "rubber stamp" ?
Hmmmm.....
Too early to tell. Maybe Noel told her this vote is going to pass. Go ahead and vote against to look independent. Your vote not needed here.
DeleteNow only if other's would figure out how Noel works things.
DeleteCity leaders don't invest in these businesses. Their ability to pay their bills does not rely on incomes from these businesses. They don't own the property on which the businesses sit.
ReplyDeleteThey have no skin in the game, just subjective opinions. Opinions, for the most part, not informed by business experience.
As HT pointed out, these types of rules will discourage further investment in the city. Why go through the hassle if a handful of city leaders with no stake in your business, no stake in its success or failure, can make all your work be for nothing?
This isn't about safety, the environment or even preventing a nuisance for neighbors. It's the imposition of arbitrary aesthetics and a small group of people imposing their vision on others' property and livlihoods.
ReplyDeleteGood points and good post !!!
Thank you, sir!
ReplyDeleteAnd as for the post about Callie, right on! Smart, independent and actually does have business expertise.
Only in school. Not in the real business world. She is only 22. Not an expert at anything just yet.
DeleteSo we can complain about all the drug stores but get mad when leaders realize we also have too many auto businesses.
ReplyDeleteZoning ordinances are necessary and useful when used in the proper manner, but they can't be micromanaged to the point of dictating too many stipulations.
ReplyDeleteIf you do that investors get the idea a community and local government is unfriendly to business and private development. That's the slippery slope the mayor and council are creating here...too many rules and zoning ordinances can kill off the development that zoning laws are meant to encourage...
It's happened before here locally...
So if I am understand this correctly this all came about because Greater Clark wants to turn the old Auto action into a Bus Depot. The mayor wants the lot turned into business or something else.
ReplyDeleteWhile I think the mayor is correct, I do not think this Moratorium is a good idea and yes I am a Republican. Also nice to see Calle be her own person.
River Fool
i hope the property gets rezoned so the GCCS cannot put a bus depot there. for one, i'm pretty sure the bus depot they already have is sufficient and it would be a waste of some really good commercial property, right in the heart of the 10th street business corridor.
ReplyDeleteNice to see district 2 has a hard working representative.
ReplyDeleteThe proposed moratorium is only a VERY temporary interim step
ReplyDeleteuntil the old planning code is undated.
The city has proposed a better alternative location
at the end of Renfroe Drive close to the city garage
for the bus depot.
The current bus depot could just lease vacant ground next to it.
Many taxpayers feel that a $6,000,000 glitzy bus storage lot in nuts.
The 10th Street location is better suited for significant private economic
construction and improvement. Jobs and taxes and appearance.
Many are question the wisdom of the GCCS' thinking
and continued excessive spending.
I don't think the school corp should spend the money or that the bus depot would be a good addition to that stretch, but these preferences don't justify this moratorium. Keeping the pressure on Greater Clark to not blow money on non-essentials while crying about the condition of facilities and to appeal to them not to blight a portion of Jeff is more appropriate.
ReplyDeleteAmen
DeleteThis is a fun Bat Blog discussion of a
ReplyDeletedi-chot-o-my.
[dahy-kot-uh-mee]
..."division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory
groups or ideas:
a dichotomy between thought and action."
Some like the TEMPORARY moratorium,
others do not.
Some pro-business and prosperity advocates
support a very short term moratorium.
The GCCS big taxpayer spending currently elected "trustees"
support a $6,000,000 BUS PARKING LOT
to be forced into in a high visibility
and very significant economic development location.
Tax money would be utilized by a governmental taxing unit
to take the property OFF the market
so that businesses could not locate there
and it would be used for bus storage.
Is there a contract ?
Is this best for prosperity?
A very successful and well thought of businessman wants to sell the land
as he is moving his business to a new location. His motivation is very understandable. It is also his property and he wants to sell
it to the highest bidder as soon as possible to pay down
the costs of moving his successful business
to the new location.
Some might say that zoning usage and common sense might well dictate
that the 10th Street location is not a good place
to put a BUS STORAGE LOT .
A sage asked if former Mayor Tom Galligan
would have wanted this to happen....
Mr. Galligan has been criticized in some quarters,
but was very pro-growth and pro jobs
just like Mayor Mike Moore.
What would Mayor TG say about this plan?
Yepper, this a dichotomy
for sure.
?
That dern Callie Jahn
ReplyDeletehas the temerity to not be a "rubber stamp"
and vote as she see fit?
Heh...heh...heh...
Does one of the council members work for the auto auction?? full or part-time??
ReplyDeleteIt seems that of the two that voted against
ReplyDeletethe TEMPORARY moratorium,
Callie Jahn
is the marketing and communications director
for the World Trade Center in Louisville.
Nathan Samuel
is involved with some sort of assisted living
alternative program gig that MIGHT receive some sort
of additional support, directly or indirectly, from government funding,
but not from any auto business.
They were the two city council persons
that did not support the temporary moratorium
that seeks to block the GCCS board of trustees and superintendent
from placing a $6,000,000 bus storage lot in the heart of 10th Street.
I don't think that either
could be threatened for their jobs
to have to allow the bus depot to go there.
Ed Zawstawny is an insurance dude,
and it doesn't seem that he has any
direct insurance business income with GCCS or the auction.
He missed the first meeting.
Would anyone else
have had their family
or livelihood threatened
by supporting the 10th Street bus storage lot gig ?
They failed to block the temp moratorium,
so if there were any threats of employment, so far they have not worked.
The vote seemed to have been handled very straight up.
Congrats ht the batblog has become the local goto place for discussion far surpassing the chatter which has barely touched on this subject or some of your other topics. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings on this...I'm not comfortable with the moratorium for reasons others have stated...But on the other hand 10th St. is sooooooo...Well we all know how it looks...And right or wrong there are certain types of businesses that just don't give off a great aesthetic look or feel...(Only in general and especially if there are too many of them)...How many flea markets or tire stores do you need??...At least the drugstores look pretty good for what they are.
ReplyDelete10th St. is never going to look as if you're driving into Carmel ( which is fine ) but would like to think we can do better than having it look as much of it does right now.
It just needs a really good tidy-up with something being done with some of the buildings no longer in use either being razed or rehabbed in some way...I think we're so use to it that it doesn't really register when you're on it everyday but if I were on a similar road in a town I was unfamiliar with I wouldn't come away with a good impression.
Thank you CCC member, yeah the Chatter is beyond dead lately sad really... We can all look forward to the 1000th post "Obama's taking our guns" by the idiot in charge the Big Q...
ReplyDeleteJules is right 10th St. is the pits... It's hopelessly outdated, and I just see little or no chance of bringing it to a vital destination for residents. There are too many other more attractive options for developers and investors and consumers.
ReplyDeleteThe east end with Amazon and other facilities is the trendy place to be right now, and with new roads and traffic patterns what they are I see very marginal growth or improvement on 10th unless the city wants to spend a boatload of money acquiring run down out of date properties....
I am glad to add my congratulations to HT for out doing the Chatter. The favorites, the incessant "warnings" and crying of Quasar have just dragged that site down to a huge YAWN.
ReplyDeleteBut, if you want a place where someone will be sure to hop up and post how if anyone breaks in THEIR house why...they will be SHOOTING THE HELL out of them with their BIG GUN. The Chatter is still the place to hear about it.
And you can hear ALL about how OTHER Chatter bugs have EVEN BIGGER guns.
HT has a much better format than CCC. And his pictures are hilarious!
ReplyDeleteThere is a down side to the popularity of the BatBlog my phone pings every time someone leaves a comment #annoying...
ReplyDeleteOn Ms. Jahn obviously she is intelligent, nice young woman...but it's too soon yet to say how effective she will be representing my district. But i will give her credit for voting against the majority on this issue...NO was the correct vote...
In speaking of "visions" the Republicans on Council should remember their National platform which states "We offer our Republican vision of a free people using their God-given talents, combined with hard work, self-reliance, ethical conduct, and the pursuit of opportunity, to achieve great things for themselves and the greater community.
ReplyDelete$6.000,000 to park buses.....
ReplyDeleteGulp....
Dr. Melin is a smart, well educated man,
but this adds insult to injury....
He should seek a new advisor...
....like right away.....
i heard a rumor the property out on 10th street where the new Kroger is going went for under 1 million dollars. is the acreage comparable to the cc auto auction property, i mean, is the cc auto auction property much bigger than the new Kroger site?
ReplyDeletemakes me wonder if the $6 million dollar price tag was maybe just a whole lot more than the going rate.
Note -- the $6 million is what Melin has allocated to the bus compound in his capital projects budget. $2 million per year for 3 years. This may not be the actual purchase price to the auction. At the council meeting, it was stated that GCCS plans to "design" the lot so that is aesthetically appealing etc. -- apparently a design already exists (I wonder how much Kovert Hawkins charged for that!! ha) But the total cost of the "project" over the next 3 years, including the initial purchase price, would be $6 million. However, the $6 million breaks down, it is still way, way too much.
ReplyDeleteHmmmmm...
ReplyDeleteJamey Noel is buying the site to park buses for $6,000,000
in hard earned taxpayers' money???
I didn't know that.....
It is more likely
that he will recruit
four very good candidates
for the 2016 GCCS races and get them elected.
Then GCCS won't be paying $6,000,000 for a bus parking lot....
I had Quasar's number many many years ago. He let Power go straight to his head. Sad really.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if all these board appointments are eligible for the health insurance benefits like the council members are??
ReplyDeleteWhat is the ABC board?
ReplyDeleteThe negative, personal stuff reflects more on the person talking shit than the one they're talking about, BTW. Most of us have probably heard someone got in trouble back in the day. It's only jealous individuals trying to bring someone else down that give a shit.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe Jeffersonville RDC made some very good
ReplyDeleteeconomic moves at Wednesday's meeting
to help advance the prosperity
of Jeffersonville's
citizens.
The Port of Indiana-Jeffersonville
released information that they
had another record
breaking year.
Nice, positive economic news.
Please don't make libelous statements about private citizens...Mr. Avery is a former judge and well respected local businessman from a well respected family.My apologies to Mr Avery that I didn't look close enough to that post...It has been deleted
ReplyDeleteGive the devils their due...NSBHM and Krueger added a great deal to the CCC...Whether you agreed with them or not, they had their finger on the pulse of a lot of things...And most of it had at least a little merit...If not a lot.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion it's not the same without their participation.
Hutt did add a lot to the Chatter initially, he goes to all the meetings, could report the issues and voiced his opinions. Once he was dissed by the mayor though he took it to a whole new personal level, flip flopped on every issue and people just to oppose Moore and frankly lost about all his credibility...
ReplyDeleteHe put a lot of topics on there to debate, unfortunately his personal issues with Moore consumed him and eventually made him sound like a crybaby instead of a person with an objective opinion...
Kruger had no credibility.
ReplyDeleteThe Chatter allows Savile Row to use whole pages with his Breakfast Club opinions and copy of what is already in the newspapers. Cannot understand this being allowed. What if everyone did that. Guess it's who you know. In my opinion that has attributed to the downfall of the Chatter.
ReplyDeleteWhat Term of Use is he violating? There isn't a "don't be a dork" rule," thank goodness, or else we'd all be fucked. How hard is it to just skip what you don't like?
ReplyDeleteNo.
DeleteI do enjoy reading the Breakfast Club posts.
ReplyDeleteThey are exceptional.
It is apparent that The Savile Row
has very good journalism.
training.
Why would a normal person be jealous
of the "aggregation" reports?
Aggregation.
It is sorta, kinda like the jealousy
directed toward the Award Winning Bat Blog.
Reading is Fundamental.
Actually, they suck.
Delete"I do enjoy reading the Breakfast Club posts.
ReplyDeleteThey are exceptional.
It is apparent that The Savile Row
has very good journalism.
training."
That must be why he gets so many "Likes". (NOT!)
....heh...heh...heh....
ReplyDeleteLiving "Rent Free" in their heads!
...lol...
More like living rent free in the CCC
ReplyDelete7-2.
ReplyDelete5-4.
The Bat Blog is exceptional!
No need to be so hateful. Enjoy.