“IS IT TRUE” JULY 30, 2018

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We hope that today’s “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 last week the City of Evansville Water and Sewer Utility launched a lawsuit against the owners of the McCurdy Hotel to collect roughly $861,000 in unpaid sewer bills?…it is understood that this is not for water that has been used or consumed in the operation of the historic old building?…these charges and others that have been disputed by the Kunkel Group were incurred as a result of discharging groundwater into the storm sewers?…this means that this is not quite like running your own tap that has water that the City Utility has treated into the storm drains?

IS IT TRUE what is being done at the McCurdy is pumping up groundwater to be used in a geothermal temperature control system and then discharging that water into the sewer?…any treatment that needs to be done is not as intense as taking it from the Ohio River or from the toilet so some of the posturings by the City Utility is just that?…we understand that discharging natural groundwater into the sewer is worthy of some charge but the reality is that this level of charge makes the McCurdy an impossible building to operate at a profit?

IS IT TRUE we expect unless both accommodations and rational pricing can be extended to the Kunkel Group that the next thing that will happen is that the City of Evansville will own the building and no one with two brain cells will want it?…then after 10 years of questionable dealings by the City of Evansville, the Redevelopment Commission, and a couple of political cronies, the historic McCurdy could still meet the wrecking ball of obsolescence?…for many years the McCurdy was a candidate for destruction until the Kunkel Group stepped in to renovate it?

IS IT TRUE the legacy Alles Furniture store in Henderson, Kentucky has announced that it will be closing its doors forever?…this is another mom and pop style furniture store like South 41 Furniture, Buchannan’s Furniture, the Sturgis Furniture Company and many others in the Tri-State that have died at the hands of big-box retailers that take their profits off to other places?…it is not just furniture either?…dozens of shoe stores, bookstores, local restaurants, Kuester’s Hardware, Wesselman’s Weinbach, Ayr-Way, K-Mart, Sears, the Evansville Store, DeJong’s, Strauss, F’s Steak House, and dozens of others have been innovated out of existence first by big-box chain stores and later by online shopping like Amazon??

IS IT TRUE the best way to say the large number of dollars that municipalities all over the United States are spending on expanding jails is to raise a generation that does not expand criminal activities?…this year it would save the Vanderburgh County taxpayers $40 million and 10 years ago it would have saved a similar amount?… Evansville may not have any population growth but the jails do?…this part of the country has seen very little economic or population growth but over the last 10 years we have set records for criminal activities of the violent kind?…we would like to remind our elected official we have always had crime problems that’s why we have jails?

IS IT TRUE that the City of Owensboro recently had a serious situation when a dilapidated old water main broke leaving the residents without water for an extended period?…the question has been raised about whether or not such a thing could happen in Evansville?…the only logical answer and it is as obvious as the nose on one’s face is that yes it could happen in Evansville?… Evansville has roughly triple as many old cast iron pipes as Owensboro and it is just a matter of time before parts of Evansville are left high and dry when an old neglected pipe ruptures?…such things have happened before and smaller versions happen every time it freezes?…it has not been very long since a car was swallowed up when an old water pipe created a small pond size pothole in a road?…that old cast iron pipe was repaired but was not replaced with a new pipe so brace yourselves people, Evansville will have the same problem for the same non-sensical reason that Owensboro did?

IS IT TRUE that McKinsey and Company recently published a study about what jobs are most likely to be eliminated by robotics during the next 5 to 10 years?…the list included food preparation, fast food workers, drivers, hospitality workers, and manufacturing?…this particular list should be etched into the minds of local government since Evansville is somewhat dependent on these kinds of workers?…the other thing of interest that is ominous for the local economy is the projections that coal will be phased out and so will certain products made of plastics?

IS IT TRUE we are hearing that the Evansville DMD may be considering some money on facade grants on buildings and giving low-interest loans to help develop loft apartments on North Main Street?  …wasn’t this tried by the Wienzapfel Administration on Main Street many years ago that turned out to be less than successful?

Today’s “Readers Poll” question is: Do you feel that Government shouldn’t do for people what they should do for themselves?

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15 COMMENTS

  1. Is it possible for the City to cut off sewer access for the McCurdy? I understand from prior posts the water has to stay of for the sprinklers per fire code, but why not cut off the sewer access until the overdue bills are resolved.

    • Good question. Yes you could dig up the street and disconnect the sewer. that would probably violate some health ordinance as the tenants would not be able to flush their waste.

    • Joe, what I’ve wondered about is how did the city determine how much to charge Kunkel for the for the sewer use? The way I understand it the water they were using was not from the city supply but from an underground source. I don’t think waste water is metered but the water coming in is and a multiple is used to determine the sewer cost.

    • last election? hillary? really? looking back for better days joe?
      sat down had a few drinks, but all he kept talking about, glory days, pass you by, glory days, in a blink of a young girls eyes, glory days, glory daaaayyys!, glory days!
      joe is worried about trump’s attorney and accountant both talking to the fbi
      suck it up joe, you know whats coming
      the law. the law is coming joe

      • Nothing is going to happen to Trump, wishful thinking on the part of disgruntled liberals, the same ones that hate cops, want open borders, unlimited immigration, open prison doors and poop on our streets. Mueller has not had a good conviction rate. I would like to see all the defendants demand a fair and speedy trial and if they’re found guilty have Trump pardon them. Not one person being investigated by Mueller is half the criminal or done more damage than Chelsea Manning. If Mueller hasn’t got Trump after 18 months of investigating, he probably has nothing.

    • Joe, I don’t think Hillary was that bad of a candidate, she looked bad because Trump was so great. Not surprising because the Trumps of the world make things happen, the Clintons and Obama’s watch things happen and in the end people like Hillary Wonder What Happen. Hillary was honest enough that she did write a book titled, What Happen. What happened was that Hillary like the rest of the country was watching Trump and Trump marched to the WH. The liberals are upset because along comes this high performance, action biased and singularly focused old white man and caused the old white woman to reach into the mouth of victory and pull out defeat.

  3. “…dozens of shoe stores, bookstores, local restaurants, Kuester’s Hardware, Wesselman’s Weinbach, Ayr-Way, K-Mart, Sears, the Evansville Store, DeJong’s, Strauss, F’s Steak House, and dozens of others have been innovated out of existence first by big-box chain stores and later by online shopping like Amazon??”

    Sears and K-Mart were small local stores? Sear’s profits went to Hoffman Estates, IL and K-Mart to Troy, MI. They were their own generation’s big box stores that also put other businesses out of existence.

  4. There are ten people on the jail page just for today that were incarcerated for writ of attachments and misdomemer no shows. I do not feel the government should be in the bill collecting business. Most of these writs are $500 or less. While I don’t feel these people should get away from paying their bills I am not sure at what level we taxpayers should foot the bill for collections.

  5. The DMD may be considering facade grants?? That is just plain silly and a waste of money.

  6. We can add on to the jail or become like Detroit! Keep Jim out of it. Stop whining people-time to pony up- Should the city have its own jail? Some do.

    • No need to have a city jail but let’s really expand the present jail. I expect crime to explode in the coming years. We have criminals having babies and creating new criminals. We have parents teaching their children to shoplift because they know they will not get punished. We are already seeing an increase in gang activity from illegals, the new face of the democrat party. We had an extremely violent gang here in Evansville a few years ago, Zoe Pound, I’m sure they’re still here just more stealthy. If democrats ever completely take over the local government we’ll be little Chicago.

    • That is a classic picture of the Ruskies guarding Trumps star in Hollywood! Thanks for the laugh Biden.

  8. without a doubt the ruskies really own the mccurdy………….. while at the same time colluding with winnie to be elected mayor again…………………..I know this for a fact as regTATOR said so………….we need uranium mueller on this pronto😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😁😐😐

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