The Ties That Bind Can Also Strangle

George Rogers Clark

“Every day of our lives we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference.”
~ Mignon McLaughlin

There is no arguing the fact that our fair city is in a state of crisis. Crisis in the form of economics, infrastructure, politics and operations. Of that the vast majority of us can agree on.

The question is often asked “how did we get to this point?” or “Whose to blame?”. Some of us consistently point fingers and shake them blazingly in the face of our elected officials. Some of us blame other Joe Citizens who dare to express their concern or opinions. And others still feel it is prudent to keep slapping the surface of shit creek with the only paddles we have left by constantly attacking and belittling those who have valid points.

We can easily blame Colonial John Paul who purchased the land that is now New Albany from George Rogers Clark, who in turn let Joel, Abner, and Nathaniel establish the city of New Albany on this particular geographic location, or we can blame Mayor Alexander Burnett Sr. whose turn at wheel had seen the Indiana State Fair ground turned into Camp Noble, a civil war mustering grounds for Federal Troops. Or we can blame Mayor William Hart for being at the Helm when the last Steam Boat, the Robert E. Lee, was built in New Albany, sending the city into economic turmoil for a period. ( but the same railroads that some of curse is the one thing that saved this city from certain economic doom), or who can we blame for the city losing the American Plate Glass Company and its 2,000 jobs in 1893? Or what about blaming Jacob G. Hauswald for the devastating flood, which to this date is still the worst disaster ever to befall this city.

New Albany, Circa 1876

We place blame everywhere, and on everyone we can. The uncooperative business owners who bring blight and corruption to our neighborhoods, the shady slumlord who skirts his/her legal, moral, and ethical responsibilities to make a few bucks off of the backs of those who it has been said, “has no choice but to rent a place like that”.

We attack our Police and our Police Chiefs for not doing enough to deter crime, and yet other factions attack the same men and women for spending money to do their jobs.
Same with the Fire Department personnel. Blame and complain, blame and complain.
George Carlin put this best when he said: “Well, if crime fighters fight crime and fire fighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight? They never mention that part to us, do they?"

When we feel that we have begun to run out of figure heads to blame and complain about, we start on one another. What group are you aligned with? What Blog do you read? Who are your friends? Who are you related to?

The Reno Brothers Gang, Famous for the first peacetime train robberies, and for being killed by Lynch mobs in New Albany, the members of the Lynch mobs were never Identified or Charged with a Crime, the lynching creating an international incident, and international newpaper coverage. Yet today, factions in this city seem to think that sections of sidewalks being fixed is worthy of international protest.



Folks there is plenty of blame to go around, and there is plenty of situations going on that is worthy of placing blame somewhere, but in the end exactly where will that get you? It hasn’t worked in the last 30 years, and I doubt this game plan will start working anytime soon.

The ugly, undeniable truth is it is really easy to find who is to blame for all of these problems that are plaguing our city, and it doesn’t fall on the shoulders of the Mayor, nor does it fall on the shoulders of the City Council, the Code Enforcement Officer, or even the Police Chief, it doesn’t fall on the shoulders of the department heads of the building commission, street department, sewage department or private contractors who deal with our trash.

Steamers Robert E. Lee and the Natchez in the race from New Orleans to St. Louis, lithograph by Currier and Ives

If you want to find the people to blame, we need not look any further than our own mirrors. For generations now we, the citizens of this city, have sat back and complained and looked for people to blame, and each election that rolls around, we get wrapped up in the promises made, “elect me and it will be peaches and cream, and sunny days on easy street”, then we wait for the peaches and get the pits, and no one specified that it wasn’t going to be sour cream as we roast under the scorching sun on pothole riddled, cracked and broken Easy Street surrounded by run down rentals and mounts of yard debris.

Yes, its an ugly truth, and as the opening quote said: “Every day of our lives we are on the verge of making those slight changes that would make all the difference.”, and that’s the problem, we are always on the verge, but never quite cross the line to making a difference.

Little victories have been accomplished, but the British kept winning victories during the revolution, and we all know how that turned out for them, which leads us right back to George Rogers Clark selling what is now New Albany to Col. John Paul.

The point of this is simple, New Albany has a lot of history, some good, some horrid. And yet the city has survived. We ALL have a lot to offer this city, unique skills, and talents, but above all else we all share one thing that is more powerful than any “crooked” politician, or ineffective council member, we each have a vote, and if we each use that tool wisely we can change the landscape of this community.

Though it has become readily apparent that my opinions do not mean a damn thing to CFA, I would suggest that we come together as a community, leave the politicians out of it (Sorry John Gonder, I know you are one of the good guys), and we work TOGETHER to come up with plan to bring about change.

On its trip through New Albany's neighborhoods north of downtown around 3:30pm, widespread death and destruction resulted across a 90-block area. Many homes were destroyed and blown away and 54 people lost their lives. Several children were killed as the storm destroyed a school on the northwest side of town. Damage in New Albany, in current dollars, amounted to nearly $19 million.