IS IT TRUE May 15, 2013
IS IT TRUE the first two of six community forums to describe the City of Evansville’s plan to reduce the discharges of raw sewage into the Ohio River were held yesterday?…some light was shed at these meetings on why the Environmental Protection Agency and the Evansville Water and Sewer Utility are in disagreement on what the project will cost by $275 Million?…the EPA’s estimate of $815 Million is a full 51% higher than the City of Evansville’s estimate of $540 Million?…the City will be proposing that its plan be implemented over a 28 year period while the EPA mandate calls for implementation in 20 years?…when the City of Evansville submits its plan the gap between the City’s plan and the EPA expectation from a dollars and schedule perspective is $275 Million and 8 years?…two cities out of many have been successful in persuading the EPA to extend the time requirement so the odds are not great that Evansville’s schedule will be accepted?…if the only criteria is the economic impact on the people of Evansville the fact that the bill for the average user will rise to $87.10 from the current $26.30 in 28 years instead of 20 years will not be all that compelling?…if the reason for the delay is some exceedingly complex construction need it may be a different story?
IS IT TRUE that a gap of over 50% in estimates is a large enough gap to explore into just what the substance driving that difference is?…the real driving force behind the EPA mandate is the number of discharges of raw sewage per year into the Ohio River?…right now in a year that Evansville gets the precipitation that is historically expected there are about 50 discharges of raw sewage per year?…the $815 Million plan that the EPA is pushing is designed to reduce the number of discharges down to 4 per year?…such an implementation has enough margin in it to keep Evansville in compliance with federal regulations?…the $540 Million plan concocted by the City of Evansville is only designed to reduced the number of raw sewage discharges to 12 per year?…the City of Evansville is going to the EPA with a plan that allows for 200% more sewage to be dumped into the Ohio River than the EPA mandate calls for?…you readers can be the judge of this but this looks very much like the City of Evansville is heading into a buzz saw and will be standing before a federal agency pleading to pump 200% more crap into the Ohio River to save money?
IS IT TRUE Evansville’s begging to dump more sewage into the Ohio River will be coming during a decade in which $127 Million was spent for a temple of sports, the City is mulling over GIVING at hotel developer $37.5 Million, the City is mired up in a lame duck contract to spend $53 Million on water meters, and Mayor Winnecke wants to “invest†between $10 Million and $20 Million on dog parks, skateboard heaven, and ball parks?…the amount of money that has either been spent or is in the consideration pipeline is darn near equal to the gap in bringing the sewers into full EPA compliance and doing the job on the cheap?…if the EPA has even a little bit of James Ramsey or a good Dutch Uncle in their demeanor the City of Evansville is about to get a lecture on responsible spending and on crying poor in a disingenuous way?…the City of Evansville has one shot to fix this problem and this is not the time to scrounge on infrastructure so we can see our money squandered on non essential things like entertainment?
IS IT TRUE if four raw sewage discharges per year are what it takes to become a city with a first class sewer system then that is exactly what Evansville should do?…if we have some sewage geniuses on staff that can achieve full compliance for $245 Million less that the EPA estimates then let’s celebrate their brilliance and enjoy the savings?…if the only way our would be geniuses can really save money is by dumping more sewage into the Ohio River then they are not geniuses at all, they are cheapskates and need that Dutch Uncle lecture and a trip to the woodshed?…scrimping on essential functions while spending lavishly on entertainment sends a strong message to job creators the Evansville is not serious about prosperity and quality of life?…for once dear elected officials, will you please break the cycle of perpetual mediocrity and bottom feeding when it comes to infrastructure and commit to reduce our sewage discharges to four per year?…half doing this job may just be the last nail in Evansville’s coffin?
IS IT TRUE we wonder just how much the excessive raw sewage discharges contribute to disease and poor health in Evansville?…we also wonder how much legal liability there is for willfully failing to implement a compliant sewer system?…the legal liability, the disease, and the depressed property values due to the dilapidated sewers may be higher than $245 Million?…Rome used the Gladiator games to placate the babbling hoard of its citizenry and distract them from failing catacombs and poverty?…it seems as though the last 60 years of Mayors of Evansville have taken a page from Ceasar’s playbook when it comes to using fun and games to distract their citizens from reality?…it is time to rule thumbs up or thumbs down as Caesar did on our sewer?…the CCO will only give a full thumb up for full compliance?
I hope the City Council remembers Curt John’s motion, which passed, to limit the current excessive surcharge to county residents for sewer services.
After all, 35% of $90 is a hell of a lot more than 35% of $25; and to charge such an exceedingly disparaging rate between two service areas is almost inconceivable considering much of the urbanized area of the unincorporated County is no further from the sewer treatment plants than are the nether reaches of the recently annexed city areas.
Do you mean Dave Ramsey?
yes
“…this looks very much like the City of Evansville is heading into a buzz saw and will be standing before a federal agency pleading to pump 200% more crap into the Ohio River to save money?”
Shouldn’t that be 300%? EPA wants 4, EVV wants 12. Your analysis there seems even a little kind.
Nevermind, you’re right. My pre-coffee mind isn’t working.
No. Double the the 4 to 8 and you are at 100% more. Add another 4 to 12 and you have 200% more than the 4. Mathematically doubling something is adding 100% and tripling is adding 200%.
Yeah, I know. My bad. While it would be correct to say the EVV total is 3x the EPA total, it’s 200% “higher than”.
Again, coffee solves so much.
Good parallel drawn between the leaders of Evansville and the Caesars of the Roman Empire… The Coliseum and the Ford Center have a lot in common in that regard. Both were were built in the city center. The reason the Coliseum was built and had games was because the people on the street were starving. They couldn’t afford bread. The living conditions were growing poor as their infrastructure suffered due to long military campaigns. They would tax the people from throughout the Empire to produce lavish games in which they would throw loaves of bread to the starving crowds, hence the term “bread and circus”. It was supposed to keep the plebs’ minds off of the failures of their government.
It is likewise interesting to follow the history of Rome’s coinage. In the early days of the Republic, you found much more precious metal content in the coinage. Far more silver and gold coins were produced than in the later days of the Empire, which produced far more bronze bits. This follows our pattern here in the US quite nicely. With the increase in our bread and circus and our military adventures, our coinage has become akin to the prizes in a box of Cracker Jacks, or the currency in a Monopoly game. It really doesn’t take a genius to figure out where this is all heading.
“sewage geniuses” used in penultimate paragraph ? Think of the null set theory.
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