IS IT TRUE? September 5, 2011 Special Evening Edition

IS IT TRUE? September 5, 2011 Special Evening Edition

IS IT TRUE that there was an online poll held by the Courier Press yesterday posing the question, “How well do you think Evansville is positioned to bring jobs to the community”?…that at the time of writing that only 7% of the respondents are reported to have selected the answer “very well”?…that the other 93% either chose “needs work” or “faces serious disadvantages” with a full 54% choosing “faces serious disadvantages”?…that even though there were only several hundred votes recorded, it seems as though the people who responded have a good grip on the reality of Evansville’s present capacity to attract outside businesses?

IS IT TRUE that 25 years after the death of Elvis Presley a poll indicated that 11% of the people surveyed believed that Elvis was still alive?…that is a full 57% more than believe that Evansville is very well positioned to bring jobs into the community?…that we have to wonder just how much of the “Kool Aid” that the 7% of the respondents who think that things are “very well” poised for Evansville to be a job attraction magnet have been drinking?…that even the most delusional of cock-eyed optimists should be able to realize that “needs work” is the most positive feasible answer that was in the survey?

IS IT TRUE that an Indiana State Championship is now beyond the grasp of the Indiana University football squad after their opening weekend to the Ball State Cardinals?…that with Notre Dame taking a home field thumping in a weather delayed game from South Florida and Purdue winning over Middle Tennessee by the skin of their teeth that the Indiana D-1 Football Championship might not mean much outside of Hoosier bragging rights anyway?…that the opening weekend performance of the Division 1 programs in Kentucky did not look much better?…that the always optimistic but seldom intimidating UK Wildcats played more like mildcats in their unearned 14-3 victory over the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers?…that only four teams in the entire country had a lower offensive output than UK did against a team that only won 2 games last year?…that the Louisville Cardinals also struggled to a 21-9 victory over instate FBS program Murray State setting up the battle for the Governors Cup in Lexington on September 17th?…that maybe there should be a matchup of the Indiana and Kentucky champions in a new bowl that is only played in years when no team from either state qualifies for a real bowl game?

IS IT TRUE that there are some people who are saying that the City of Evansville may be discussing jumping into the hotel ownership game?…that others are saying that the City of Evansville may be having serious discussions about being the bank (financier of last resort) for one of the groups that responded to the hotel RFP if the specified financing is not achievable?…that this is not a new idea as the City County Observer predicted over a year ago that the actual valuation of a 220 room hotel in downtown Evansville would make financing a deal privately very nearly impossible?…that we encourage the City of Evansville and the Evansville Redevelopment Commission to let the firms that you hired to do the VETTING do their job, make the results public, and then go forward in whatever way may become necessary to assure that a hotel is built?…that there is really no urgency to do so?…that we have waited 4 years for an achievable answer to this dilemma and that waiting a while longer to get this right will not be the end of the world?