By TAMI: Nice photo Foobar. Thanks for putting it up JB.I think  it’s very sad our historic district has declined as it has. We describe ourselves as one of the nations largest historic landmark districts.Obviously we have dropped the ball somewhere over the decades since we first opted for status. Otherwise we would not have the number of houses & buildings in such disrepair. Nor would we “spot zone” trailers & businesses in inappropriate areas. We do not have 133 blocks of a district worthy of being referred to as “landmark.” Instead we have blight. On a positive note-blight is not just an opportunity for change, it can also be a very good motivator. Finally, I am sad the mayor HAD to step in.If I recall correctly our historic board fought the demolition for a period of time & then failed to take positive action by pushing for condemnation. I haven’t heard much from the building inspector either. The historic board & agencies are to be commended for their dedication to preservation but perhaps a reprimand is also appropriate. They seem to struggle finding balance between real world practicality & the desire to save every brick, building or piece of glass. Foobar is right, because we take too long to deal with these types of historic district problems economic development efforts in the historic district are severely impaired.

written by: FOOBAR – This is the crazy town that is my home and I love. It’s crazy in the sense that 3 million dollars plus can be raised and spent on a clearing house, while a excellent taxpayer owned building goes for $30,000. This while the county continually complains about space and wants to spend millions they don’t have. When we have more parks downtown than the city can property maintain and upkeep, we can take $800,000 from roads for a parking lot for a trail and to ‘clear’ a rail incline for walkers. The town where a burned out shell can be ‘preserved’ for years with no real action yet a home owner can’t install thermal windows in an upper floor of their home. Where ordinances are enacted for a few, seldom enforced if ever, while the rest of us have to just deal with them. Where the city government will spend countless dollars on some of their historic building and let another fall into disrepair. This is the town where $100,000 can be spent on out of town consultants for ‘solutions’ when the answers are all right at home. A main street where truly historic period signage is rejected, yet cartoon(ish) ones are allowed because they ‘comply’. I’m thinking we have become a quilt of sorts. You are right Tami, the contrasts are astounding and blight is a cancer.

That said, there are options for the Elks building and the one I don’t want to see is it leveled. A couple problems can be dealt with in it’s current state other than a knock down, giving willing entities and participation. Obviously the Cornerstone Society and Historic Madison want to see it saved, as I’m sure most everyone else does too. It appears the sad truth is that it will never be rebuilt as originally hoped for let alone profitable for anyone. That company that was formed at the 11th hour(literally) that it was given to along with the cash… well quite frankly must be broke and/or in way over their head. I’ll stick with flat broke because money can make anything happen.

So modify it. Let the building solve two problems and let it become an attraction and asset to the community at the same time.

Now put on you’re imagination glasses for a moment and ponder a brief concept. We have a terribly damaged historic building, a somewhat historic river crossing bridge being demolished and ‘consultants’ are continually talking parking downtown.

The facade of the Elks is absolutely awesome. Just save that part. Encase the perimeter, the sides and top with I-beams from the Madison Milton bridge to stabilize (frame) it for the future years. It wouldn’t take many feet of material and I guarantee the demolition company will donate the material needed. Look at the picture again and imagine that concept for a second. A clean front, in a frame of steel about it’s perimeter. Remove the side walls of the building down to an 8 foot level (about where the limestone window sills are now). Now you have a facial front and three short walls, a fence of historic brick.

The little gazebo and water fountain, the historic bell of Lytle Park across the street… place them inside the Elks building on the brick walkways made from the side wall bricks. Place some period lighting in there and you have a place to relax that is full of history and with a couple nice plaques position with the history of the bell, building and bridge. Then the city parking lot between Lytle Park and Girls Inc can be doubled in size (some 60 spaces or more?)

Everyone can win on this with some ‘re-Vision’.

Anyway, my 2 cents and now I have grass to mow.

It’s Time To Draw The Line!!

If you haven’t figured it out yet, there has never been an avenue to the real truth about MIDCOR in Madison. until now and powerful forces are hard at work to remove the last protections of Freedom of speech we have and they want us to go away…

So what’s all this about? The high rollers in Madison and Jefferson County are here for one purpose only – to make money. They are clever, unscrupulous, corrupt and greedy. Their corruption has always been kept secret by the local media and therefore the individual behavior of our corrupt politicians and lawyers is almost impossible to observe systematically in real life.

“CORRUPTION…As I see it…is the use of…power…for…profit, preferment or prestige, or for the benefit of a class, in a way that constitutes a breach of law or of standards of high moral conduct.” This statement will form my working definition. It possesses the advantage of avoiding the emotionalism ordinarily attached to the term, for, as all “right thinking” men would agree, corruption denotes the corrosion of traditional values–thus moral decay and disintegration of standards of poor behavior. It pronounces judgment on the social desirability of particular practices , whatever they may be.

The unchecked economic power of those with corrupt business practices has contributed to us, the tax payers, owning a defunct railroad, an illegal industrial development corporation, maybe a car wash and a Marina, and a downtown that is a ghost town with its infrastructure falling apart.

If you think of yourself as a decent, rational person, and you support MIDCOR,the mayors forty plus boards, Coreys 4+ million dollar slush fund, corporate welfare in the name of tax abatements and the gang of thieves then you are misinformed…either about what really is happening or about your decency and rationality.

We attempt to obtain new insights by reporting to you the real facts and pointing out the real scumbags of Madison and Jefferson County. The unchecked economic power of those with the corrupt business practices will most certainly cause harm to “Our Town”, its people, and its infrastructure and schools.

We are looking for anyone who is willing to help us with our fight, anyone with information and anyone who would like to contribute to this column. E-mail us at email JB

This is a new forum for Madison. Yes, we have many but this is where you will find “The Real Deal” backed up by facts not speculation or rumors.

I am still working on this forum so it will be a while before it meets your expectations.

JB

Madison is located in the triangle formed by Indianapolis, Indiana, Louisville, Kentucky, and Cincinnati, Ohio known as the “Golden Triangle” because of its unique combination of economic potential and attractive life style. There are nearly five million people seated on our Historic Madison doorstep.

We offer more open space for recreation than any other area in the Midwest, ranging from the Ohio River and large reservoirs to diversified State and private recreation areas offering camping, hiking, fishing, hunting and golf, plus Madison has its Old River town atmosphere, its paddle wheel boats that stop on our riverfront, its old unique buildings and a Main Street that is unlike anywhere else.

We have the opportunity to be the largest tourist attraction in this region of the country if not the entire Mid-West. Madison an 18th Century style attraction featuring grand homes, old commercial buildings on Main Street, and a scenic riverfront with steamboats stopping by in the summer. Downtown Madison could be the most sought after premier destination anywhere, yet most of the time it is a ghost town.

What holds us back? We have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars doing worthless studies, which have come up with nothing. Linda, Annie and her gang, the Chamber gang, City/County Government and MIDCOR continue to take us backward instead of forward. Take a look around us; look at Nashville Indiana, in Vevay they built a casino in the middle of a corn field, in KY they built a race track in the middle of a cow pasture and the roads could not handle the traffic.

Okay so what do we do to make Madison the Hot Spot of the Middle West?. We hide our visitors center and spend our tourism dollars on a new castle for Linda. We pay salaries to people who know nothing about anything or marketing Madison to the rest of the world. Maybe, we could just do another worthless study or perhaps we buy another worthless piece of dirt for the already shovel ready MIDCOR park.

Like downtowns across the country over the last several decades, Madison’s once-bustling heart has suffered at the hands of residential, retail and business flight to the sprawling fringe developments like the move to our “Hilltop”.

To get the people back downtown, first we must understand and agree that the movers and shakers of the Madison Area Chamber of Commerce, Madison Area Convention and Visitors’ Bureau, Madison Main Street Program, and the MIDCOR Economic Development Partners have failed us immensely.

Not to criticize but it is obvious that whatever the above mentioned organizations are or are not doing they have done nothing to bring people back downtown period. Their lip service and huge funding has been a wasted effort.

Our current Mayor has done a good job of beautifying the Main Street with landscaping the sidewalk curb areas, planting new trees, cleaning the streets and sidewalks daily. His effort to beautify the heart of downtown has made a huge difference but more is needed; we need to create some excitement downtown.

So, how do we create excitement downtown, encourage consumer traffic, and showcase our downtown as the place where people can celebrate the unique and dynamic community as much alive today as it was a century ago in the great steam boating era?

Have you ever been to Orlando’s Disney world? If you have you surely did not miss the 15-minute, high-energy, afternoon procession of “The magnificent menagerie of Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade”. click here The streets came alive during the Jammin’ Parade with music and colorfully-costumed performers.

We can do the same thing on Saturday’s mid-afternoon in Downtown Madison. A procession down Main from Jefferson To Broadway. A mid 1800′s river town theme. No sirens, fire trucks, ambulances, politicians or such nonsense. Mark Twain with Dynamic Drummers, spectacular dancers, musical vehicles, wacky wacky wacky stuff and retail events.

No need to stop parking or special preparations by the city; just a 15- minute stroll down the middle of Main. A police car in the front and back, Reserves on the side streets, stop traffic going east from Broadway for 15 minutes.

This will create some excitement, maybe bring people off the hill and maybe bring some visitors in town for lunch and overnight. Everybody gets in on the action by sing-alongs and dancing to the wild music.

Before you dismiss this as a dumb idea, you must remain nimble in your thinking. Do not become so attached to any one belief that you cannot see past it to another possibility. JB

I think some have the wrong impression of recent post about Madison and the upcoming city elections. No one here is implying Madison is a bad place to live as a matter of fact it is the opposite.

Madison has an attractive life style is a great place to live, work, visit and play. We or should I say some are weary of the old boy gang of thieves that tax and spend us into no money left for schools, roads and ETC. MIDCOR, TIF zone, tax abatement’s aka corporate welfare and all the boards in my opinion are doing us more harm than good. The only way to rid Madison of these good old boy clubs is through a new City Council that is on the side of the tax payer not the interest groups.

The high rollers in Madison and Jefferson County are here for one purpose only – to make money. They are clever, unscrupulous, corrupt and greedy. Their corruption has always been kept secret by closed doors and local media and therefore the individual behavior of our corrupt politicians and lawyers is almost impossible to observe systematically in real life.

This unchecked economic power of these business practices has contributed to us, the tax payers, owning a defunct railroad, a defunct industrial development park/corporation, maybe a car wash and a Marina, A 250K piece of worthless swamp, 600K handout to a private hospital 800K for bleachers and on and on. Needless salaries to offices that accomplish nothing except handouts.

As with so many other small rural counties and cities, Madison and Jefferson County is in effect ruled by a small clan of 30 or so wealthy, powerful, or influential individuals who perpetuate their rule by moving from board to board, appointing their friends etc (who in return appoint them). They operate outside of the electoral process while pandering to it and continue in power for generations. They need the local media to operate, so they either make the owner one of them or pretend to. Hence,no facts or accountability. Even more so than with elected officials, they truly believe they are better stewards of our money and future than we are ourselves.

Would the school board have spent $800,000 (or there about) on bleachers had we peons had had a chance to vote on it?

Would the City/County have bought the 60 acre wetlands aka Industrial Park had we peons been given the facts and had a chance to vote on it?

Would a sitting mayor be allowed to make himself and his cronies permanent members of a taxpayer board such as Midcor?-even after he is voted out of office if we peons could vote on it?

The list goes on and on, 600K to KDK free and all the while lip service is given to bringing more jobs to Jefferson county to replace the ones lost Are we really to believe “they” give a hoot??

For those of you who did not grow up desperately poor and were deprived of the experience, here is an analogy (experience) that I keep in mind in such situations: Cockroaches and rats feed at night, when you enter a dark room and turn on the lights, they all head for the nearest crevice ~scatter like rats. In the secular world, newspapers are (or should be) the political “light” -is yours?

Light them up by being part of the solution, clean out the City Council and start over anew. JB

Downtown will greet you with a pleasant surprise , unexpected finds and uncommon treasures.

I was downtown yesterday evening just before sunset. The Harvest moon was low in the east and beginning to rise over Madison. There was enough light still available to see the warm yellow and orange glow of the changing leaves of the many Downtown trees. I stopped and sat on the bench in front of Joe’s old store. There were people on the sidewalks everywhere and the lights were on in the old stores and buildings. Shopping was apparent with many people carrying their gift bags. As I sat there I could hear down the street guitar music and singing on the sidewalk. Cars were moving slow as if they were part of the sidewalk traffic, maybe just enjoying the fall evening mood. Down in front of the ice-cream store kids were sitting on the bench enjoying a scoop or two of their favorite ice cream. People were walking and holding hands a couple of young folks were obviously taking advantage of the hand holding.

It was obvious to me that Downtown was “alive”. It was like looking down the street in an open story book. On down the way the Broadway Fountain Park was a hustle of people, kids playing with the water in the fountain and the fountain had that warm glow in the light with the yellows and oranges. The fountain urns had beautiful yellow and orange mum plants that matched the color of the tree leaves.

On down Broadway the hotel/tavern appeared to be jam packed with patrons. On the riverfront, the same thing as with Main Street folks were everywhere. Walking, talking holding hands some even brought their own lawn chairs looking and watching the river. I think they were maybe guarding us from a KY invasion.

I sat on the riverbank and watched the water and barges for a while. I thought how lucky I am that I landed here in Madison. I could of have landed anywhere in this universe but somehow I am here. I am fortunate to be here to have a great family and many friends. Somehow I thought I was blessed with being put here.

On my walk I did not see any road kill or Hobo’s. I did not hear any complaints about Wallace or Hartman or Hoffman cheating. Not even a bad word about Bush or Obama.

Meet me Downtown on Joe’s bench “it is alive”.. JB

The long-anticipated replacement of the Madison-Milton Bridge will be completed years ahead of schedule, at 20 percent less cost and with significantly less disruption than originally estimated.

According to the new plan, the bridge will close for only 10 days during construction rather than an anticipated year-long closure of the U.S. 421 bridge connecting Madison, Indiana, with Milton, Kentucky.

An interesting article of the The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana. Filed a suit Friday in federal court in Indianapolis for A Plainfield businesswoman suing the town, saying officials forced her to censor her window display and violated her constitutional rights.

The Madison Historic Board of Review determines the size and quantity of display signs in storefront windows and will have them removed if they do not meet their guidelines.

The outcome of this law suit could impact the legality of Madison’s Historic Board requiring store owners to remove window displays they do not like.