New sign for New Albany's Spring Street entrance still in the works

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The sun shines down behind the New Albany welcome sign located on East Spring Street just beyond the Silver Creek bridge on Thursday afternoon. Keep New Albany Clean and Green has proposed that the sign be replaced, but the city is looking into options for the design of the sign before proceeding. Staff photo by Christopher Fryer

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May 21, 2012

New sign for New Albany's Spring Street entrance still in the works

City may request public input, Stumler said it’s time to get it done

By DANIEL SUDDEATH daniel.suddeath@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Mon May 21, 2012, 09:29 AM EDT

NEW ALBANY — Sprucing up the gateway — at least the public portion of the segment — into New Albany from Clarksville via Spring Street has been on Irv Stumler’s mind for three years.

“It’s an awful way for people to make judgments of New Albany,” said Stumler, who is the president of the nonprofit Keep New Albany Clean and Green.

“We need to put on a better face for people who come into New Albany.”

Stumler added that not only is the entrance the first impression people get of New Albany, but also of Floyd County.

“And that can be made so much better with a little bit of money,” he said.

Stumler has been going to municipal meetings this year. Lots of meetings.

He has attended nearly every New Albany Board of Public Works and Safety meeting since January. In March, the body OK’d a plan for Keep New Albany Clean and Green to install a new welcome sign along East Spring Street near Silver Creek.

A component of the plan was for the organization to remove the guardrail and take down the current sign, pending approval by the administration.

Keep New Albany Clean and Green has installed two other wayfaring signs in the city this year without cost to the public, each near Interstate 64 ramps along Spring and Elm streets.

But the latest plan has been put on hold, as Mayor Jeff Gahan said recently the administration is investigating whether the rails should be removed and the possibility of accepting proposals from residents in terms of a design for the sign.

“Various solutions are being vetted internally for that location on Spring Street,” Gahan said.

The administration is considering a contest to allow members of the public to submit ideas for the sign, but no official decision has been made on how to proceed, he added.

The area does need to be improved and the administration is considering ways to deal with the median near the Clark County-Floyd County entrance to keep trash from accumulating there, Gahan said.

While Stumler was defeated by Gahan in the 2011 Democratic primary for mayor, he insists he’s not pushing the issue for political gain.

“I don’t care who gets the credit, I just want it fixed and fixed as soon as we can,” Stumler said, as he added “I’m not the only one” who wants the entrance improved.

He said the rail around the sign was only installed to protect the post, and that if it were removed, Keep New Albany Clean and Green could landscape the area and plant flowers there.

Stumler said there are other traffic islands along Spring Street coming in New Albany that are in need of beautification.

The entrance into New Albany from Clarksville is a concern to the administration, but it’s public property so providing residents the opportunity to suggest ideas on upgrading it would only be fair instead of limiting it to one person or organization, Gahan said.