"Now batting, in the leadoff spot..."

It's 2008 now from Chicago almost to Denver. The New Albany City Council has been in office for about an hour, and so far, they've done nothing!

There is a contingent within the narrow confines of the six (unequal) districts of New Albany that consider that a plus. Shadow5 is at work. Why isn't the new mayor and council?

Seriously, there is plenty that can be done in just the next 31 days to move New Albany forward, to build a legacy for the "seventh generation," and to make our city a magnet for innovators, creators, and inclusive cohabitants, whether newcomers or members of Hoosier Heritage families.

Although I wasn't born here (an impediment in the minds of some), I had the good taste to set my hat for New Albany's best and brightest, coincidentally descended from New Albanians that preceded even the Scribner brothers.

Couldn't WE, the new and the old, agree that our children deserve a city to be proud of?

Project One for the new mayor and council: Clean up our streets, put an end to street flooding, and create through enforcement a regime where lawfulness replaces the current lawlessness on our streets.

Has there ever been a city where traffic laws were less obeyed? Has there ever been a city where the system says "anything goes" when it comes to stop signs, traffic signals, and freakin' parking on the sidewalks? This council, especially District 5 council member Diane Benedetti, needs to make a comprehensive study of traffic patterns, vehicular compliance with basic laws we all were required to know before being licensed, etc.

Which streets in your neighborhood ought to have "one side of the street only" parking? Which intersections in your neighborhood are the most dangerous? Which streets, designed as neighborhood streets, are being forced by oblivious traffic planners and scofflaw drivers into being arterial thoroughfares? And on which streets in your neighborhood are the speed limits routinely disregarded?

Are these to be ignored? Shouldn't you pick up the phone and call the city, your council member, the Board of Public Works and Safety, the mayor?

I have my targets. How about you?