“IS IT TRUE” November 6, 2019

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IS IT TRUE yesterday our server crashed and it took about 4 hours to correct the problem?  …that increase readership sometimes causes a down-home on-line community newspaper problems?

IS IT TRUE that yesterday we posted the following “IS IT TRUE” concerning an announcement by the ERC concerning a new mixed-use development on the vacant IGA store property located on North Main street that was released to the area mainstream media by the City of Evansville new media relations guy?

IS IT TRUE that our prediction that Mayor Winnecke will announce that North Main Street will have a new development at the vacant IGA store property on North Main just before his re-election has become a reality?  …yesterday the City of Evansville media person sent out the announcement about this most welcomed project on North Main street to his favorite media people? …the City Of Evansville media person alleges that an Indianapolis developer plans to invest around $28 million to create a mixed-use development at the vacant IGA store site?

IS IT TRUE according to the Evansville Courier and Press staff writer John Martin “that an Indianapolis company announced plans for a $28 million, mixed-use development at the site and the plan is for 15,000 square feet of ground-level commercial space and 180 studio, one-bedroom and two-bedroom apartments, with rents ranging from $530 to $1,200 per month?”  … Mr Martin also wrote “that officials described the apartments as “workforce” housing and occupants’ annual incomes are to be from $28,000 to $57,000 and construction is to start in spring”?

IS IT TRUE on October 30, 2019, DMD Director Kelly Courses sent the following e-mail to members of the ERC Board of Directors?  …he said: “I got an e-mail from Randy this morning about the announcement of the project the former IGA site which stated that there was unawareness of the project by the ERC?  …Mr. Cources also stated that  “It was my understanding that we discussed the project with ERC at the last meeting the ERC approved the initial resolution to begin the work on issuing $1.5 million in TIF bonds for the project and we discuss the parameters of the project living units with a commercial element?  …also wrote that “you approved the funding for the grocery store market study earlier this summer which we are still working on with the developer”?.  …Courses concluded that “The announcement this morning is a nice cornerstone to what we have been doing the area the last eight years”?

IS IT TRUE we are being told by friends in the mainstream media if the once-mighty Courier and Press don’t pay strict attention to the business at hand they may become a fledgling blog?  …the City-County Observer has been there and done that?

IS IT TRUE that we only have to go back a couple of years to get to the time that the Evansville Courier and Press had a print room right here in Evansville?…Once the printing press left town the taxing authorities decided that the parent company of the Courier could not take the customary deductions for capital equipment as that particular capital equipment was not being used?…scrapping something new as though it was totally obsolete did not pass muster with the review board at the taxing authority?…that since that printing press was silenced the Evansville Courier and Press has been printed in Louisville along with other Gannett publications?…the quality of the writing with few exceptions has gone downhill over the last several years and that parallels the loss of people with a local connection who actually write or select the news?…more and more canned national articles are taking up space in Gannett publication all over the country and local news is either ignored or the writers do not have the depth of local knowledge needed to do a good story justice?…the demise of local newspapers is a tragedy that will be difficult to reverse and we are all less informed because of it?

IS IT TRUE that Gary, Indiana that is in Lake County on the Southeast corner of Chicago has been named the most miserable city in America?… Gary has 75,000 residents but lost 6% from 2010 to 2018?…only a little bit over half of the population works, and 36% live in poverty?…the most miserable city in the US was once a manufacturing mecca, but those days are over?…a drug-enforcement agent who grew up in the area told The Guardian in 2017: “We used to be the murder capital of the US, but there is hardly anybody left to kill. We used to be the drug capital of the US, but for that you need money, and there aren’t jobs or things to steal here.”…the cities of Hammond and Anderson in Indiana also made the list of the 50 most miserable cities in America?…the story was published in Business Insider?
IS IT TRUE that it was announced yesterday that Palm Springs, California will be the location of a new 10,000 seat hockey arena and has been selected to have an American Hockey League affiliate of the Seattle National Hockey League franchise?…the new facility will have two ice sheets and will cost $250 million?…this all sounds familiar to the Ford Center in Evansville but there is one very important difference?…the Palm Springs arena (not yet named) will not be using any taxpayer dollars?…the arena is a partnership between the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and a private investment group?…the arena will sit on tribal land inside a sovereign nation?…the taxpayers of Palm Springs and California will not be paying for or covering the debt on the facility in any way?…this is how stadiums and arenas should be financed as vital services like fire and police are not made to suffer to cover the payments on a temple to sports?…it would have been so great if Evansville could have done something that did not eventually bleed the taxpayers of $10 million per year for 20 years to pay for a facility that is falling well short of the projections of a former mayor’s hand-picked consultants?