IS IT TRUE? April 11, 2011

IS IT TRUE that we are down to the last three weeks of the primary season in this watershed year in Evansville politics?…that the City County Observer has republished our readers choices for what are the most important things needing to be done right in 2011?…that at the top of the list was an EVANSVILLE FOR THE NEXT DECADE PLAN?…that inside of that plan there will be (if it is ever written) a page called the TABLE OF CONTENTS?…that minimally the table of contents will have items called JOBS STRATEGY, Parks and Recreation, INFRASTRUCTURE, and COMPETITIVENESS?…that there will be more but that these items are the ones that have the potential to define who and what Evansville is for the next 50 years?…that we are coming off of nearly a decade without planning and are in dire need of logical and achievable direction from our leadership?

IS IT TRUE that we demand and encourage the FOUR CANDIDATES for Mayor of Evansville to write and release to the public their detailed preliminary plans to address each of those subjects?…that we further encourage all FOUR CANDIDATES to release the balance of their own opinion as to what the rest of the table of contents will look like?…that the City County Observer will publish any and all position papers of substance written by all four or any one candidate?…that 30 second sound bites and 60 word abstracts to address subjects that require cognitive thought are nothing more than a platitudinal insult to the people of Evansville who are hungry for substance, competence, and honesty?

IS IT TRUE that one thing that the candidates all seem to agree on is that JOBS is the item at the top of their list?…that one TV commercial from Troy Tornatta even references a JOBS PLAN of Mayor Weinzapfel that he would like to continue?…that we reiterate our offer to publish this jobs plan in its full content IF THERE IS SUCH A PLAN which we seriously doubt?…that for any candidate to squawk the words CREATING JOBS like Parrots of the Caribbean with no plan to back up the squawking is just more election year nonsense?…that CREATING JOBS takes much more than just chirping the words?…that we are quite interested in the details of how the campaigns have thus far done nothing more than acknowledge the problem?…that there are most likely a full 117,429 people in the City of Evansville that know that JOB CREATION is a problem here?…that only four of those people have put their names forward as candidates for Mayor of Evansville?…that those seeking office should be the ones developing the plans to lead the other 117,425?…that if the people who want to be Mayor will not advise us of their plans and ideas then we need to just hold a lottery of the total citizens of age and appoint our Mayor through a game of chance like the radio stations award people with disk jockey jobs for an hour in their contests?…there is much more expected of a Mayor than smiling for the camera and speaking in catchy phrases?…we look forward to these four gentlemen taking the opportunity to prove that they are men of substance and not just everyday politicians?

IS IT TRUE that many people have contacted us and expressed the belief that the total good private sector jobs created by the four candidates for Mayor of Evansville is exactly ZERO?…that we find this to be disturbing and do not want to believe it?…that we offer each and every candidate the opportunity to articulate the private sector jobs he has created, how he did so, and to release the details of the quality of the jobs?

IS IT TRUE that we also challenge all four of the candidates to share a “Take Back the Parks” plan?…that this would be a good exercise to get the brain cells working?…that the locations, the sizes, and nearly every other feature about our parks are well defined?…that the initial conditions are fairly well known?…that a thinking person should be able to put together a first draft of a “Take Back the Parks” plan in a couple of weeks even with a full time job?…that this is a softball challenge and we really hope our candidates will step up to the plate and take a swing at this one?…that sometimes leadership involves getting out there first?…that this is a fairly easy opportunity to grab by the horns and prove yourselves worthy with?