IS IT TRUE? September 2, 2011

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The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE? September 2, 2011

IS IT TRUE that it was pointed out to us by several readers who spend time reviewing the police reports posted daily in the City County Observer that the number of meth related arrests seem to be increasing?…that meth related arrests are reported sometimes as much as 5 per day and rank right up there with shoplifting and domestic disturbance on the frequently reported crimes?…that today is Friday before a three day weekend and we expect that the lines of meth heads will be forming at every pharmacy in town to legally purchase the maximum allowed amount of pseudoephedrine that the law allows?…that the CCO, law enforcement, and the pharmacies that are profiting from these sales know full well that much of this medicine is not going to be used to treat an allergy?…that the exploding house phenomena is now by our count up to 28 houses in Evansville this year?

Unabomber
IS IT TRUE that if a terrorist had been buying illegal or controlled explosives like dynamite, lesser forms of dynamite like M-80s or cherry bombs and using them in some way to blown up houses that the authorities would have Evansville on lock down and it would be a nationally publicized case?…that the Unabomber took 20 years to kill three people and cause 24 injuries and that earned him national attention and an extended manhunt?… that the Unabomber was one of the first people to be designated as a “domestic terrorist” by the FBI?…that the Unabomber in his 20 years of creating mayhem did just about the same amount of damage to life and property that Evansville’s “Meth Head Population” has done since New Year’s Day 2011?…that there are good reasons that enriched uranium, dynamite, plastique, and cluster bombs are not made available in retail outlets to the general public?…that as unfortunate as it is these same reasons apply to the pseudoephedrine based allergy medicines?…that the reason that the CCO supports following Oregon’s lead in making these chemicals prescription based is not about keeping meth heads from getting meth?…that our reasons for supporting this are so the meth heads do not blow up houses and cause injury and death while cooking it?

IS IT TRUE that as much as patience is a virtue that too much patience leads to laziness and complacency?…that Evansville has been “patient” with regard to demanding a solution to the Combined Sewer Overflow problem for over 50 years?…that the result is a fine and a federal order to get off of our patient-complacent butts and repair this?…that the EPA is being patient by allowing Evansville 20 years to find a way to design, implement, and pay for this problem?…that if the people of Evansville and the government had been as patient as the EPA back in 1960 that this problem would have already been solved?…that patience in many cases leads to complacency, which leads to settling for less than the best, which leads to being uncompetitive, which leads to low wages, which leads to poverty, which leads to dilapidated housing, which leads to the breakdown of civic pride, which leads to crime, which leads to the flight of wealth, which leads to brain drain, which leads to the situation that Evansville is experiencing RIGHT NOW?…that it is complacent places that pay $260,000 to an outside firm to validate their obvious problems with a “study”?…that in most cases endemic complacency leads to study after study with the same conclusions followed by no action?

IS IT TRUE that the scores in the recent report card for our schools make it obvious that there needs to be some sense of urgency about repairing them so that our public schools can get A’s by both state and federal standards?…that to be asked to have patience when the future of our children and grandchildren in being fiddled away by Nero like administrators is not acceptable?…that as much as the City of Evansville needed an outside intervention to tell it what to do to become competitive that the public schools need an outside intervention to tell them that C’s, D’s, and F’s are not acceptable and the time to raise those grades is RIGHT NOW?…that Evansville does not have the luxury of wasting another generation of our children as we have wasted the best and brightest of the last 50 years of generations?

IS IT TRUE that studies like the one that Greg Wathen just published depend on execution to achieve results?…that execution depends on having capable and energetic people on the executive teams to get it done?…that patience and complacency in the area of education binds the hands of well meaning people with good plans and makes our community unattractive?…that if we can’t keep the most capable people that we grow and we are not able to attract capable people from the outside world that this little corner of Indiana will really become a lost cause?…that if patience and complacency continue to rule the day in Evansville that those who are left in 2020 will need to appeal to St. Jude, the patron saint of lost causes for help because the capable people will all be gone?

IS IT TRUE that we are finally beginning to see some good plans now all we need is a sense of urgency to implement them and 117,400 people to buy into making them happen?

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22 COMMENTS

  1. Man, not to be a suck-up but that is really good.
    Nail,meet head.

    Especially the studies.
    If we were the Titanic we would commission a study of how many people must be bailing in order for us to remain afloat.

  2. No time table, No “foot” soldiers indentified, This “Study” comes across as more of a brainstorm, or roundtable discussion, of what “we oughta do”. My impression of the “Study” is that it appears to be a Wish list rather than a plan of Action.
    What a waste of resources.

  3. So if for every one person who does their civic duty and picks up litter there are 500 half wit, toothless, fools tossing McDonalds bags out their window how do we ever get ahead? This article gives us to 2020 before the last decent person gives up and leaves town. It seems like there are only a few decent and responsible people remaining now and at least they have plans. How long before these few holdouts like Greg Wathen, the City County Observer, and a few others just throw their hands up and walk leaving the pigs of Evansville to just wallow in the Bee Slough mud. Forgot, that isn’t just mud in Bee Slough is it?

  4. What a striking resemblance between the Unabomber sketch and The Mole! Maybe “The Mole” needs to be under investigation. Is it TRUE?

  5. What would he CCO think about the city of Evansville financing your hotel project? Yes, you read correctly!

    • Who is this message meant for? The CCO has no interest in owning any hotel and certainly do not think that the City of Evansville would want to loan us $40 Million.

    • jack, that is an inspired idea ! I think the guys at CCO would be fantastic innkeepers. They could call it the City County Hotel (CCH). On the bottom few floors of the Hotel they could operate a tax law update service as well ! Could be just the tip of the iceberg, I could see the following businesses soon following:

      CCAP (City County Arena Parking); CCDC (City County Dry Cleaning); CCID (City County Interior Design); CCHT (City County Hockey Team); CCAB (City County Arts Boutique); CCAM (City County Area Magazine).

      Too late for the CCO to get their proposal vetted ??

    • Jack , I can not grasp your direction with this statement,
      are you infering you have went off the deep end?

      • Crash…

        I guess it would depend on what Jack means by “your” if in “your” he means our community it kinda’ makes sense, if he is truly saying that the CCO has a hotel proposal then he hasn’t been paying much attention to current issues.

        Working with the first premise, no hotel will ever be built to service the arena without the support and financing of the tax-base, the city will be a partner with whoever builds a hotel whether we like it or not the financials do not support the project without the city (taxpayers) subsidizing the hotel.

        This topic has been beaten to death, anyone who hasn’t figured it out just isn’t paying attention.

        JMHO

        • WOW, I am glad that someone is paying attention! When I said “your” hotel, I meant the taxpayers of Evansville. There has been some that are saying the city is planning on financing the entire deal. I am sure that it wouldn’t take much thought to figure out which group they are in HEAVY discussion with.

          • If the City of Evansville is circumventing the vetting process by negotiating to be a bank before the process has run its course I will predict a long and expensive lawsuit with the Mayor, the ERC, and the City Council as defendants.

            A stunt like that would be worse than the Homestead Tax grab. Kunkel and Prime have both spent a significant amount of money bidding on this project. If the city is in heavy discussion with either of them without making the same offer to the other one it would be a huge breach of fiduciary responsibility.

            If you are right Jack, big trouble is coming for whoever initiated this.

    • Well as we seem to remember that you have said you are not from here, have never even been here, and have only an interest in this hotel project for entertainment value from stirring the pot we will assume you are referring to the “people of Evansville” when you use the word “your” with respect to the hotel project.

      To have a well thought out response would take some serious thought and some examination of future revenue streams to the taxpayers but it is probably worth doing the math. Should the City of Evansville have to be the bank? The obvious answer is no. Local valuations and market conditions seem to be so poor that either the City of Evansville will have to assume the role of banker or their will be no hotel. If the numbers (highly probable numbers like yours Jack) support the investment the CCO could get on board with the city being the lender of last resort.

      The reality of the matter with the “people of Evansville” however is that we expect that such a proposal will meet much public resistance. If such a deal can be made to make sense it should be done before January 1st when the new Mayor takes office. Kicking this can down the road to the next mayor could destroy his administration before it even has a chance to start.

      • I am hearing dates the are in the VERY near future. I would next expect it to be out of the 2 week range.

          • Do you expect word of the future of the hotel project a this Wednesday’s ERC meeting? There is an executive session on Tuesday. A little more thought on the concept of the City of Evansville being the bank. I think the public reaction will be outrage no matter why this is done or who the builder will be. I also expect that there will be some legal hurdles to clear as the city does not seem to have $40 Million of free dollars laying around. They may need to issue some bonds to get the money. It also depends on the words of the vetting report. If the words are very supportive of the chosen companies ability to perform on budget and to operate a hotel the reception maybe more favorable. If the words are something along the line of the chosen company is a big risk that private money would not touch with a ten foot pole then the response will be quite different.

            So Jack, you expressed the opinion that the project as a whole is a loser so if you were a member of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission would you support the City being the bank? According to your prediction this pretty much guarantees that the City of Evansville will be the owner of the hotel at some point in the future and will have to absorb any losses. Is this good public policy?

        • jack, jack . . . oh jack, . . . who does your crystal ball have in Super Bowl 2012? Who will win at Aqueduct next Thursday in the 8th race ?

  7. So draw me the line from the Taxpayer’s moneys to, what “pockets” will see a profit? The Centre is taking taxpayer resources to the tune of over $1,000,000.00 a year and has had a hotel and a skywalk. So again I ask, tell me to whose benifit is this really all about.

    PS. Vague projections of Trickle, Trickle, everyone gets a drink of our success is just another version of a “Ponzi” scheme.

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