IS IT TRUE JANUARY 11, 2018

We hope that todays “IS IT TRUE” will provoke “…honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?”

IS IT TRUE that some dogs that chase cars get run over but only the dumbest dogs get run over time and time again without learning that chasing cars is an activity for getting hurt?…the same can be said for playing three card monte in the streets of New York City?…for those who don’t know three card monte is a card game designed to always take the money from suckers often referred to as “marks”?…there are literally some people in local government who keep on playing three card monte and losing time and time again just like the dumb dogs that get run over by many cars without learning their lesson?

IS IT TRUE that not-for-profits governmental agencies subsidizing a grocery store in an impoverished census tracts in and around downtown Evansville has proven to be as much of a losing venture as playing three card monte or chasing cars?  …yet some people in local government never learn? …we now are hearing that the City of Evansville Redevelopment Commission and the not-for-profit Echo Housing, Inc are scheming to become partners in investing in a questionable grocery store business venture in the North Main Street area?  …that the City of Evansville Redevelopment Commission seems to lack the capacity to learn from a past losing efforts when they invested hundreds of thousand dollars of our tax dollars on another questionable grocery store business venture located in the downtown Lincoln Avenue area? …that the many hundred of thousands dollars of our tax dollars were lost because this not-for-profit grocery store closed within a year after it opened?

IS IT TRUE isn’t the mission of the not-for-profit ECHO Housing, Inc is to provide affordable housing for the residents of the economic disadvantage people living in the Jacobsville area and not investing in a very risky grocery store business?

IS IT TRUE  the mission of the not-for-profit City of Evansville Redevelopment Commission shouldn’t be the landlord of the newly renovated CVS building located on North Main Street?  …the ERC shouldn’t be funding the operational expenses of the Thunderbolts hockey team? …its obvious that the City of Evansville Redevelopment Commission shouldn’t be spending our tax dollars on another risky grocery store venture? …its obvious that they should spend some time and effort in trying to attract a for profit grocery store similar to Simpson’s Food Mart located on Covert Ave, Evansville to locate on North Main Street?

IS IT TRUE that word has it that the City of Evansville and Echo are conspiring to bankroll a losing grocery store venture in the same location were Bueler’s IGA is just about ready to close on North Main Street?…the Jacobsville neighborhood where this failed enterprise is located has around a 30% poverty rate and a median income of just over $20,000?…the reality is so far that this neighborhood has proven it doesn’t have the economic demographics to support a large discount grocery store?…that some employees of Bueler’s explicitly stated that one of the reasons for closing the North Main store was the excessive “leakage” that the store had? …”leakage” is the technical term used to describe theft?…theft, or the so called 5-finger-discount has been alleged to be the downfall of another grocery store in the depressed census tracks in the downtown Evansville?  …at this point its obvious that using taxpayer dollars to fund another grocery store is a risky venture isn’t going to solve the problems associated with the current poor economic demographic of that area?  …it looks like we may have another “SNEGAL” deal being cut by the Evansville Redevelopment Commission? …the word “SNEGAL” stands for is “SNEAKY BUT LEGAL?

IS IT TRUE the recent decision made by the Evansville City Council that homes located in certain areas on the Westside will be charged a $10 parking fees associated with parking in front of one’s own home makes no sense at all?…there are certainly places in big cities like Chicago and New York where the overbearing big city mayors impose fees for parking in front of one’s own home but this seems like a big stretch for doing this kind of thing in a part of Westside Evansville?

IS IT TRUE in a move that the Evansville Courier and Press called for 10 years ago it appears that the institutions known as township trustees will be consolidating?…it has been proposed that 300 townships and the 300 trustees that look over them like Red Mosby will be seeing their jobs get eliminated?…the CP once mocked township trustees and compared them to driving a horse and buggy in a world filled with cars so they are getting part of their wish?…Evansville’s Knight Township made the national news years ago when a politically unknown person named Linda Durham was caught pilfering Knight Township funds to pay for personal bills and purchasing panties with boy band pictures on them?…since that time the Knight Township Trustees office is being ran in an exemplary manner by the current Trustee, Kathryn Martin?

IS IT TRUE that this evening a group of citizens are holding a community forum to discuss the recent increase in violent crime in Evansville?  …this event will be held at 5:30 p.m. at the Memorial Baptist Church on Canal Street?  …this gathering is organized by 4th Ward City Councilwoman Connie Robinson, the Rev Adrian Brooks and Rev Turner, Mothers Against Senseless Killing (MASK), the Coalition of Inner City Neighborhoods (COIN), and the Brothers Out Saving Souls Inc. (BOSS). …we urge you to attend this forum?

EDITOR’S FOOTNOTE:  Any comments posted in this column do not represent the views or opinions of the City County Observer or our advertisers