HOME AND HOPE
by Bill HAZELIP-EVANSVILLE
A very interesting article in the Evansville Courier on 4-4-2019. The article was titled Homes & Hope, and it primarily dealt with the poor economic situation we have here in our city. The article covered the work that was being done by a Christian nonprofit Community One group. The article covered the housing situation in Evansville and the poverty factor that has led to almost half of the homes built before 1951 are in need of major repairs.
In the report, 43% of Vanderburgh County residents live below the Federal Poverty Level and less than the cost of living in Indiana. That means almost half of our community cannot afford life’s basic needs such as housing, child care, food, health care, and transportation. The article told about the great work that this group is doing and “Christian Community One” deserves all of the support we can give them!
“And now the rest of the story,” Paul Harvey, for many years appeared on Radio telling stories like the one above, but he always told the story of how we got into this situation in the first place, as Mr. Harvey would say, “and now the rest of the story!”  The word is simple “Exodus” (the movement of people, places and things) For some reason, all of the great Journalists and Reporters have never touched the reason for Evansville’s exodus. Yes, they would report that Swift and Weil packing companies were leaving town or that International Harvester, Whirlpool, Bucyrus Erie, Iglehart, Servel, and a hundred more were leaving. They even mentioned that we were once known as “The furniture capital of the world,” “Refrigerator Capital of the world,” or we were the city that made the most significant contribution of World War 2.  The fact that we don’t talk about our past industry failures is why we now have the poverty level that we all now disdain!
What happened to the city that was supposed to have close to a half-million people, at the turn of the century? A city that now has a service type of economy, and low salaries for the few young ones to remain here? No one wants to ask the question “what happened?
” Perhaps 70 years of “City Hall” failures are too big of a story to write about!
FOOTNOTE: The City-County Observer posted this article with opinion, bias or editing.
