Wednesday Weekly: "Beer and council."

Glad to hear you’re running for city council. You should make grade-school promises of your beer filling the water fountains.
-- Evan

Prior to 2004, local politics and municipal governance were not among my preferred topics. I could have provided a six-hour lecture on European beer history with numerous examples, and still not been able to name a single New Albany elected official other than the mayor.

As of tomorrow, I’ll be running as a Democrat for an at-large seat on the city council. The primary is on May 3. With a top three finish, I’ll go through to the general election in November, when voters choose three from a field of six candidates, divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans.

If you live within the city limits of New Albany, kindly consider voting for me, please. One of the reasons for running at-large is that there are many more people living citywide with whom I’ve shared good times and beers in the past than in my home district alone. At least, it strikes me as a reasonable assumption.

On Thursday there’ll be a link to my last column in the New Albany Tribune, where my musings will be on hiatus until the election results are final. My other blog seems the appropriate place to comment on the daily sensation of office-seeking, and so it’s my guess that the routine here will proceed as normal. It isn’t like I can take a leave of absence from work for campaigning. I wouldn’t even if I could.

As the accompanying photo plainly shows, I'm no graphic designer, but the notion of melding left-leaning politics with Progressive Pints always has appealed to me, although there is little purpose in arguing about whether the craft beer revolution is inherently left or right. My intellectual fermentables are brewed to one set of influences. Yours might well be different.

Mayor and now Governor John Hickenlooper might actually combine the two – or not: High hopes for one of our own in Colorado, fewer for the same tired faces in New Albany.

The NABC company logo may have to be removed from the pint glass, but maybe the keg lifter can stay. As I have been reminded, a kilt lifter might be a more clever reference in my working world, but there's already a beer by that name, and I’d hate to risk campaign copyright infringement.

Do I have a chance? I think so, at least in the primary, and more so if I can order a few additional “These Machines Kill Fascists” tees so that they can be a part of the daily campaign (by bicycle) wardrobe.

Whether I advance or not, it’s worth noting that already two local ministers, one of whom is a supporter of a group called Reclaim Our Culture Kentuckiana (ROCK), have filed to run as Republicans. They’ll be unopposed in the primary.

Why does this matter? Imagine ROCK as a sort of regional Moral Majority, leading crusades against various forms of wickedness as defined by their narrow Biblical interpretation, and trust me when I say that among the many “cultural” conditions the organization would like to “reclaim” is the halcyon era of Prohibition. It is the inexorable direction that all such extremist groups travel.

Elected or defeated, it is a personal priority to oppose ROCK's efforts. Craft beer excites me. Violations of church-state separation enrage me. Remember that.

I’ve spoken quite a lot lately about the arc of my epiphany. Steadily over a time, I’ve been drawn into re-examining almost every assumption about being in the beer business, and many, perhaps all, of these dialectics are intimately connected with a sense of place and the community in which we live and work. My business helps the community, and the community prefaces the business. All of it fits together, although I’m not always sure how. Now’s the time to keep pushing, and see where this path leads. Maybe it’s up, and maybe down. It might lead nowhere. But I’ve already been involved, and the step seems logical.

As the county clerk told me, “Why not? You go to most of the meetings anyway.”

Progressive Pints as strategy and tactics? Why not?

Take it away, Vincent.

Contact NABC's councilman and weigh in on the smoking ban.

As reported previously, on Thursday, August 21, the Common Council of the City of New Albany will consider 2nd and 3rd readings of an ordinance to prohibit indoor smoking in all workplaces in New Albany.

The proposed ban is comprehensive and would include Sportstime, Rich O's and, in fact, the entire building. As in Louisville, all smoking would have to take place outdoors. As with other such bans, the ordinance is predicated on workplace safety for employees with reference to second hand smoke.

The vote on the first reading two weeks ago was 5-4 in favor. If passed and not vetoed by the mayor, the smoking ordinance would become law in 60 days (circa October 22).

Our business is located in the 6th council district. Our councilman is Jeff Gahan, who is also council president. Mr. Gahan is a ban proponent, has voted in favor of the ordinance, and presumably will do so again.

I am not telling you what to think, only asking that whether you are in favor or opposed, please take the time to convey your thoughts to our councilman:

Jeff Gahan
1122 Eastridge Drive
(812) 949-9314
gahan@insightbb.com

For further reading, go to http://www.cityofnewalbany.blogspot.com/. It might take a while to read what I've written to date, so light a nice cigar first.

On the status of the proposed New Albany workplace smoking ban.

On August 4, New Albany’s city council passed the first reading of an indoor smoking ordinance.

The vote was 5-4, and two more readings are required, with the tally on the third being the final determinant. If vetoed, an overturn would require six votes. The council intends to vote for both second and third readings on August 21.

Those are the bare facts, and in terms of legislative politics, this is a topic better considered in depth at my other blog. Accordingly, here are a few links to it (two written by me and one by my blogging partner Jeff) and another piece I wrote at the request of the New Albany Tribune.

Council smoking farce: I'm taking it personally, too.

If you've been a slumlord for more than 100 years, are you exempt? (by Jeff Gillenwater)

Doesn’t New Albany have more important issues?

Hypocrisy meter nudges "tilt” as council’s smoking ordinance is revealed.

As we await the shoddy melodramatics to come, end games must be considered. What do we do at the pizzeria and pub if the ban comes to pass?

At work yesterday, we took a few minutes to pace 20 feet from the public entry doors. On the pizza side, smoking patrons can exit the rear door into the back yard, which we’ve intended for some time to convert into permanent outdoor seating. Short-term, we’d have to put down a hard surface and build a roof. Longer-term, we could dust off the old conversion plan and extend both along the length of the building, but equipment, and be in the business of outdoor seating.

On the pub side, it’s more complicated. The rear fire exit is behind the bar, and Indiana state alcohol law forbids customers from using it except in emergency situations. Cigarette breaks for pub denizens will have to be accessed from the front door, within an area to be constructed in front of the Prost windows. It's imperfect.

Currently, we have smoking and non-smoking areas at the pub. Because of customer demand, the non-smoking area has gotten larger over the years, and in general terms, most customers have at least seemed satisfied by the arrangement. We’ve yet to have an employee complain about being forced to work in smoke, but if so, we'd certainly try to accommodate the request.

The preceding is intended as raw information. My public stance on the matter may seem unusual to some, although to me, it reflects the best possible resolution of a deep personal division, and I’m content with that because life is rarely black and white.

We’ll see what happens next.