IS IT TRUE January 15, 1015

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IS IT TRUE we are starting off today with an opportunity to advise our readers of a grass roots effort to save the Owen-Block House that is being spearheaded by some Evansville people who are putting their money where their mouth is in an effort to raise enough money to start the refurbishment process?…while we are sticking by our analysis that this project does not pencil out for a profit driven investor, this group is not really in this for the money?…they are in it for the historical value and the beauty of this classic mansard roof structure?…they put up a Facebook page that already has nearly 1,800 likes and has attracted some donors including this writer who donated some California bucks to the effort?…their Facebook site speaks for itself very well and we submit the following words that can guide an reader who is predisposed to do so on how to support this cause?

Here’s your chance: put your money where your mouse is! Yesterday, 3 major donors stepped up with significant funds for preservation – great news! – but now Indiana Landmarks needs us. Can our community of ‪#‎blockheads‬ raise $220,000 – and quickly? We can, and here’s how:

– Head to the Indiana Landmarks site and click on ‘Donate Now.’ http://bit.ly/SaveOwenBlock. Fill in all info. THEN, be sure, on the next screen, to enter Owen Block in the comments section to earmark your contribution to this effort!

– Prefer to send a check by mail? Make it to Indiana Landmarks and mail to Development, Indiana Landmarks, 1201 Central Avenue, Indianapolis, IN 46202. Be sure to write Owen Block in the memo!

– Pledge by phone! Call Indiana Landmarks at 800-450-4534 and ask for Amy Lain. Tell Amy you’re in for a donation to the Owen Block and give her your credit or debit card number. Make Amy Lain’s day!

Here are your reassurances and promises: The Indiana Landmarks site is safe and secure. ALL donations are tax-deductible and will go directly toward Owen Block’s preservation. IF the project does not go forward (which is crazy talk), each donor will have a choice to have their donation refunded OR redirected to another preservation project in Evansville. Boots on the ground, let’s save this building together, with the power of our community and our contributions! Can we do it? We can. And we hope you agree and donate!

Many thanks to any and all who choose to give, whether a very little or quite a lot. Every dollar matters for a preservation effort such as this.

IS IT TRUE this is how support for a downtown convention hotel should have and could still be raised?…when first learning of the effort to save the Owen Block Building, this writer’s first advice was to find 3,000 people who were willing to contribute $1,000 each to support the refurbishment?…the same thing could be done for a downtown convention hotel except the gap of $6.5 Million would need 6,500 people to each donate $1,000 to close the gap?…we already know by the failure of Old National Bank to seek investors with a profit motive and the CCO analysis that the investment route is not one that will ever lead to success?…that does not mean that the donation route will not work?…desperate times call for desperate measures and the CCO wishes the Owen Block Preservation people good fortune in becoming an example for both government and their fellow citizens?…we say hats off to all who are involved?

IS IT TRUE that the days of Evansville waiting around for a handout or a bailout from the rest of the country are over and the time is now for Evansville to get really busy about saving itself from the wrecking ball?…it is engaged citizens that create atmosphere’s of achievement and a sense of civic pride?…if these people can pull this off, they will have put a stake in the ground as a successful intervention group that implements positive change?

IS IT TRUE don’t be surprised to learn that sometime in early 2015 that the City County Observer shall be launching a free in-print newspaper community newspaper that shall be distributed in area retail establishments. …the only question that needs to be resolved is will this free in print community newspaper be a weekly, bi-monthly or monthly publication? …that we shall also continue to publish the CCO on-line daily?

Please take time and vote in todays “Readers Poll”.

Copyright 2015 City County Observer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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62 COMMENTS

    • ObamaCare condensed to 4 sentences..

      As humorous as this sounds…..every last word of it is absolutely TRUE!

      1. In order to insure the uninsured, we first have to uninsure the insured.

      2. Next, we require the newly uninsured to be re-insured.

      3. To re-insure the newly uninsured, they are required to pay extra charges to be re-insured.

      4. The extra charges are required so that the original insured, who became uninsured, and then became re-insured, can pay enough extra so that the original uninsured can be insured, which will be free of charge to them.

      This, ladies and gentlemen, is called “redistribution of
      wealth” …

      • Saw an interesting statement the other day: “The government wants every citizen to prove that they are insured…but people don’t have to prove that they are citizens.”

      • You are right 1countryBoy!!

        1. I never had to pay for doctors visits, broken fingers, a plugged eye or puking when I was sick. Never!

        2. I just went to the emergency room! The hospital pays for it! They just write that off!

        3. I never had to buy health insurance or nothing. Why would you waste money like that? Every year of the last few decades, people paying their health insurance went up like 20 percent a year, and every time they did go to the doctor or the hospital, the bill was like 20 percent higher. Are they crazy? How in the hell do they do that and live? I’ll tell you how! Just go the emergency room! They were all idiots! You don’t have to pay! They just write that stuff off!

        4. And all those people who whine and and complain cause their job quit paying the premiums for their health insurance? Or the people whining cause they don’t have enough money to pay for health insurance cause it just got too high? They are idiots! Just go to the emergency room! Say you don’t have money to pay, and it is free! They just write that stuff off!

        5. Me and OneCountryBoy, yep, we got this. We just think those dumb bastards before Obummacare watching their health insurance premiums and their doctors and hospital bills go up 20 percent every year, they ruined it! They just had to go to the emergency room, say you can’t pay, and it is free! They just write that stuff off!!

        I used to be able to save my money to buy guns, more tomatoes to make mater-wine. But that dumb bastard Obummer, he ruined that crap.

        • Hey 1CountryBoy!

          Wait a minute. I was all excited and all about describing me and 1CountryBoy’s perfect system under the old healthcare system, and how it was free and all, and I was like, reading it out loud to my sister feeding the baby in the other room! And she said,

          “You know, that old system of you and 1CountryBoy, the hospital and the emergency room, and the doctors, they didn’t just write that off and then do nothing!!”

          “Every year, the hospital and the doctors increased everybody else who did have insurance, they raised their rates by 20% every year, and the insurance companies raised their insurance rates 20% every year too to pay the health bills of people who didn’t have insurance.”

          “It was how the system you and 1CountryBoy liked, it was how that worked. It redistributed the costs of the health care to other wealthier people. That is what happened when they wrote that off!!”

          WFT!!

          1CountryBoy! You are a dumb bastard! You didn’t tell me that was the wealth redistribution plan? Just have everyone else pay a 20% increase every year? WFT!!

          I didn’t know the costs of my emergency room bills were being redistributed to everyone else, and that is why everyone’s doctor, hospital and insurance bills went up by 20% every year!

          Well, my sister is warning me now that you’re gonna start calling her a dumb-ass liberal cause you look like an idiot now. She’s says, she says “He’s gonna say we’re both liberals! and that we’re both spewing a bunch of liberal crap!”

          Wait. Now she’s saying “1CountryBoy ain’t gonna disagree with what I said though, cause he can’t. He’s just gonna call me names.”

          • I reread the opening comments in the IIT. It doesn’t say anything about the Care Act. Our site monitor (LKB) isn’t going to like you straying.

          • Good to see someone put in terms that ordinary people can understand. Even those that only listen to fox news can figure this out and wonder why Fox News bashes Obama Care all the time.

        • TPA, you’re a blast!!! KUTHGW.

          In America when the wealthy rig the system to become even more obscenely wealthy it is welcomed even cheered on by the hayseeds, and the likes of the tealoons, even the editors here jump on that bandwagon, sometimes,

          But when wealth is transferred to the poor and middle class(especially “other people” you know wink, wink, nod, nod) that is the end of the US as we know it! Any mentioning of wealth distribution or egalitarianism immediately strawmanned into Lenin, Trostsky and Mao marching into congress and the WH and taking over everything in our lives from A to Z and making everybody equal.

    • Obama wants a tax on methane gas. This is going to be bad for you jenkem people. With the stuff that comes out of your cranium maybe you are overdosing.

      • Collecting taxes on all of those cow farts (or bovine flatulence if you prefer) is going to be a tax collectors nightmare. Somewhere in the bowels of government is a mad scientist working on a methane detector that we will all have shoved up our asses to detect farting. The new campaign slogan will be “a nickel a fart, that’s all we ask”. This particular idea just shows how out of touch with reality that idiot is. Literally, cow farts are the highest source of methane emissions in America. So in the spirit of the Chick-Fil-A commericials, EAT MOR CHIKEN!

        • That’s just plain stupid. Everyone knows that Chickens fart more than cows. Geese.

          Beside we already eat more chicken as it’s less expensive and there are a lot more chickens running around this planet than cows. Everyone knows that! A penny for your thoughts?

    • Joe Biden that is. BTW Why is a poster allowed to use the name of a public figure as a screen name?

      • Spokeo lists about 250 “Joe Biden” named individuals in the US including 6 in Indiana. Since the “Joe Biden” that posts here is able to spell correctly and doesn’t make any really obvious gaffes, it is apparent that he isn’t the VPOTUS.

  4. I’m kind of thinking if it were decided that all Americans should have full coverage auto insurance, and it was made a law that you have it, then the auto insurance industry would be up by at least 140% also.

  5. what happens to donations to the owens block if enough money to do the job isn’t raised?

    • Okay, since you asked: ” Up yours, gimmeabreak. ” From now on, you really should say “please” when you make a request. Apparently you were not reared by very civilized people, or you’d have better manners. You’re welcome, btw.

      • LKB

        Thanks !!
        You actually made me laugh, and mam, I am sorry I didn’t say please. This site is very entertaining at times, and you shouldn’t take it or your views seriously.
        Good day to you !!

    • Good one! I wonder if Owen can hold on until the money for the building is raised. Maybe we can renovate him next.

      • I think Local P has already determined that the clock is ticking down on Owen. It’s time to call in his relatives.

        • I will now walk back 50% of my comment as it relates to Local Personality. Local pu seems to be making a genuine move to save that old building. The other Owen Block, the one purporting to be human, is on his own and I would suggest he straighten up pretty damn quick or he’ll be dealing with a razor order.

          • The ‘pu’ in the above comment was not of my doing. I now see why there is no edit function here, so the unseen demons can gambol freely.

      • The Kunkel group are the current owners. Has a list Code violations like the McCurdy landmark, as well. Another stage is set from the looks of the all cavorting around.
        It’ll take a half a million just to stabilize the structure. The environmental clean up is going to be extensive also. The building has , also like the McCurdy seen plenty of vermin and other pesky wildlife inside for quite some time. That buildings utility for sewer and water isn’t environmentally acceptable for human habitation anymore either.
        Preservation efforts should concentrate on a period medical practices museum. Tours and daily forums per the late 19th century era stuff. Daily hours and no apartments or standard living space per footprint profile. Might save it through the private venues with that plan. Otherwise it’ll most likely catch the wrecking ball.

        http://www.tristatehomepage.com/story/d/story/in-depth-kelley-coures-discusses-future-of-owen-bl/18681/xPscM0Xoh0aO8bRCDdg9ug

        • Another example of how local politicians use public money to favor the politically connected. The politically connected get the money, do nothing and aren’t held accountable.

  9. I think the idea of making the Owen-Block restoration a public project is a great idea. It might be a good idea if they solicit “in kind” donations from contractors and look into some of the grants that large employers in the area, like Toyota, award to worthwhile projects.

    • I think they should tear it down and build a C-store/gas station on the site. That would give people somewhere to gather at night.

      • There it is. Right there.

        COWBOY is the kind of person who skips Thanksgiving Dinner with all the fixins, skips the meal actually and turns on COPS with his favorite HOT-POCKET.

        We should put COWBOY’s kind of brilliance in charge of Evansville economic development priorities.

        • Shem, Do not see any connection with your first paragraph. In your mind i’m sure there is one. Second paragraph, now that makes sense. I’m looking out for the low income people in the area. There isn’t any grocery or gas available in that area and many don’t have a car to go to the grocery. You should show a more compassion.

  10. The Indiana landmarks group has stepped up to save the old Greyhound Station. They’ve been working on it for several months now and are doing it right. They are a worthy spot for your restoration dollar. No reason to think a demonstration of community support wouldn’t give the Owen Block at least a chance for survival in some form.

    Architectural Renovators is the general contractor for the Greyhound project. They are doing a great job.

    http://www.indianalandmarks.org/NewsPhotos/Pages/NewsFeatures.aspx?NewsID=1073
    http://www.docdroid.net/pa1q/greyhound.pdf.html
    http://www.evansvilleliving.com/articles/a-landmark-renovation

    • Ya, Ya, Ya, and in the end…. nothing….. no result what so ever. Except to lay waste to a commercial piece of real estate. Another feel good project that does nothing to move us forward. We need innovative, dynamic change, that will provide upward mobility for the people of this city.

  11. I can come up with thousands of things to spend money on that will actually HELP Evansville, but this does nothing for Evansville. We must stop spinning our wheels on stuff such as this and make change that counts for something.

    • A successful “feel good” community undertaking may well be exactly what Evansville needs. Some publicity that shows us to be something more than fat, dirty, and miserable would be a good thing, and so would some community pride.
      Please enlighten us on your formula for making a “change that counts for something.”

      • I disagree. We don’t need false publicity. We need real solutions to the problems. Saying it’s so, don’t make it so.

  13. this plan does not sound right. From the C&P page
    “The new plan calls for Indiana Landmarks, a nonprofit organization that holds an option to purchase the vacant and blighted building, to privately raise $340,000 toward saving it and then to buy it. The city would then purchase the building from Landmarks using $100,000 from a heretofore dormant and undisclosed 2006 bond intended to fund property acquisition, sidewalks and demolitions in the Front Door Pride area.”

  14. Drove by the historic McCurdy Hotel today. A large window or door is open over the entry way porch facing the river so that rain, snow and squatters can get in. The obvious and rapid state of decay is very sad for this once proud and historic landmark.

    • Just saying:
      I drove through Evansville in the following area yesterday, area bounded by North Main, Florida, Grand and Garvin. It is unbelievable and appalling, the number of homes which are severely in disrepair. Evansville code officials must all be on vacation. It is difficult to go more than a couple of blocks without finding trash and furniture in alleyways, in almost every block there are windows in occupied homes covered with plastic instead of glass, boarded up windows and doors, homes which clearly should be demolished that stand no chance of being repaired. Yet next door to some of these, are homes which are well preserved and look great. It is a sad day that this has been become the rule rather than the exception in our city. I wish I was able to offer a solution, yet the problem is in such magnitude that it is impossible for the city, and it’s residents, to take on financially. It is a sad day for Evansville. My children, who went away to college and did not return, have been trying to get me to move out of the area for a number of years, after yesterday it is hitting home.

      • Gimme, Amen I have been through this area many times. In many places it looks like Gary or Detroit. I hope our elected officials work hard to remedy the blighted and abandoned homes. I do not expect there to be any easy answers.

      • I hear the city does not have the money to take out the trash. The uninhabitable houses and other garbage is just too costly to haul to the landfill. The city is broke I hear. Basic services like trash removal cost too much. Just let it pile up. And when grant money is designated to help – waste it on on the Dpat lot and a few church parking lots at $ 25,000 per house when it normally cost 6 or 8 thousand. Don’t forget most of the Dpat lot homes were decent and occupied be for the move to evict. A hotel, a dog park? Evansville needs a bond issue to catch up on getting the trash hauled to the landfill. Enough with the publicity that they are going to do a few houses. Just do it.

  15. Attention Editor of the City County Observer:

    American oil should stay in America. An energy independent United States is important for national security reasons.

    But the Keystone Pipeline is authorized and capable of transporting oil from the tar sand fields of the Dakotas and Canada to the Gulf of Mexico in order to ship that North American oil to China and other countries.

    Will Representative Bucshon agree to the restriction that NO NORTH AMERICAN OIL in the Keystone Pipeline will be allowed to be transported and sold to foreign countries, and that all of the Keystone Pipeline oil must be sold only in the United States and Canada?

    Will the City County Observer invite Rep. Bucshon to answer this question?

    • This keystone pipeline will also be built with China made materials. It also grants eminent domain powers to foreign corporations. Where’s the outrage from you proud patriots?

  16. Do all old buildings fall into disrepair? Why did the Owen Block? Is it age or a deeper and more complex systemic problem? I love old buildings, but will saving it change the problem? If not, then it might be saved just to fall into the ground again.

Comments are closed.