IS IT TRUE April 3, 2013

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Parrots of Propaganda: Great Place to Raise Kids! Brawk
Parrots of Propaganda: Great Place to Raise Kids! Brawk

IS IT TRUE April 2, 2013 may just go down in history as the worst public relations nightmare that the City of Evansville has ever experienced?…it is not every day that any city can be placed among the 10 most miserable cities in America and have a political appointee of the redevelopment commission placed under federal indictment?…we are sure that places like Detroit have had such one-two punches land in a single day but for a medium sized city that fancies itself to be “a great place to raise kids” or even “having a good quality of life” as the Chamber and public officials like to parrot has endured such a double whammy in a single day?…the big difference in a perpetual hell hole like Detroit and cities like Evansville is that finally after 50 years of delusion of sunshine and rainbows by Mayor after Mayor, Detroit knows it is a hell hole?…perhaps if during the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and up to the jailing of former Mayor Kwame Kirkpatrick, Detroit’s elected leaders would have been competent and honest about finding real solutions to their problems that Detroit would still be the Silicon Valley of the Midwest as it once was?…riding unicorns, dancing like Harold Hill of the Music Man down Main Street, and blowing the smoke of delusion up each other’s backsides will not create one job, will not repair one piece of crumbling infrastructure, and will not pull the wool over one site selectors eyes?…pursuit of the trappings of success with taxpayer dollars before establishing a fully functional infrastructure will not either?…these are things that make Evansville look dumb and promote the conditions that seem to keep landing us on the wrong end of national polls whether they are about obesity or misery?

IS IT TRUE that to be named the 8th most miserable place in America to live is a pretty rotten distinction?…even the City County Observer would not have placed Evansville that low?…each of us can think of at least 10 places that are much worse than Evansville to live?…our list would include, Detroit, Gary, South Bend, Fort Wayne, Dayton, Youngstown, St. Louis (city), Memphis (city), Camden, and Hoboken?…we could name more but the point is made that the bottom of the barrel is often defined by the content of the survey?…when examining the kinds of questions that Gallup asked when they were doing the misery survey what we found is that the questions were heavily weighted (no pun intended) toward healthy living and job satisfaction?…it should come as no surprise that Evansville would score poorly on healthy living with stubbornly high rates of smoking and drinking?…that with respect to job satisfaction Evansville is among a number of cities that has a low wage base among both blue collar and professional ranks and the upwardly mobile opportunities are sparse?…given the focus of the study Evansville obviously did score #8 from the bottom on the Gallup survey and for valid reasons?…given the questions we would not argue the results but we also would not make a silly statement like “Gallup could not tell us how they determined what cities made which list”?…such a statement is just another rainbow jumping, unicorn riding way of the delusional?…to avoid the fate of Detroit, Evansville needs leaders that will postpone the instant gratification of parks and parades to establish world class infrastructure, modern communications, and an excellent school system?…these are the things that will lead to a population that does not wallow in misery when pollsters come calling?

IS IT TRUE that some City Council members are calling for audits of the voting of Jay Carter on the Evansville Redevelopment Commission now that he has been indicted by the feds?…that may be a bit of a stretch from a group that has fought auditing the $127 Million Ford Center construction project like a cat fights a bath?…there is one curiosity surrounding the indictment of Mr. Carter that needs to be looked into?…that would be the manner in which the voting went down that resulted in the towing company that was named multiple time in the indictment beat out the longtime provider of towing services to the City of Evansville?…Hammerick’s provided towing services to the City of Evansville for many years and enjoys a great business reputation for both quality and value?…it would be interesting to know the whole story behind that choice and how the two voters that granted that contract would explain their votes?

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27 COMMENTS

  1. I wonder if this is the tip of the iceberg? Does Jay Carter know of skeletons in other people’s closet and will he sing like a bird to reduce his sentence? I could only hope that it would eventually lead all the way back to Weinzapfel.

  2. The “Pall” over Evansville?
    The moral bankruptcy in it’s “Community Leadership”, a Sad and Despicable
    bunch that seems focused on fiscal bankruptcy as well. RUN!

  3. My guess is it does go much deeper with numerous politico people involved , if there is money involved their gonna want a big cut of the pie

  4. Cronys do as told by the true boss sometimes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Follow the money trail back to Weinzapfel and put his ass on the fire!!

  5. Law enforcement is the key to Carter’s group getting the towing contract. Law enforcement didn’t want Hammerick’s to have the contract and said so when the vote was taken. It should be in the minutes.

  7. Dayton? You’re claiming that Dayton is worse than Evansville? Not even by a mile. Dayton has a much better system of getting things done (Priority Boards) and it is clearly showing in all aspects of the city. Downtown is alive thanks in part to Fifth Third Field, Wright-Patterson AF Base is getting ready to build yet another major airplane hangar onto their museum and visitors center, the old Wright Bros Plant District has been redone, and UD Arena has been hosting the first round of the NCAA Tournament for some time now which draws just a little bit more than last month’s GLVC Tournament.

    Dayton being ahead of Evansville is nothing new dating all the way back to when the Wright Brothers invented the whole idea of flight while Evansville couldn’t even make a proper ovaring for the Challenger. Dayton and UE used to be in the same conference, today it isn’t even close.

    I don’t even think you can say Detroit, much less Memphis is worse. When’s the last time Evansville hosted the Super Bowl? When’s the last time Main Street looked like Beale Street?

    • You’re reading all that from a visitors bureau website, aren’t you? Have you been to Dayton?

      I’m sure the Evansville press releases and visitors bureau pages look great too with stuff like “Our ultra-modern multi-million dollar Riverfront Amphitheatre host stunning attractions, while the Riverboat Casino and hotel, the Evansville Museum with it’s newly-discovered Picasso, thriving Main Street shopping district, newly built $120+ million, state-of-the-art Ford Center, and the historic LST WWII vessel ensure visitors will have no shortage of things to do while staying in town.”

      Actually, it looks more awesome than I imagined. Forget the dreadful leadership, I might just buy a home here after all. http://www.visitevansville.com/

    • I see, you saw this video about the Dayton Downtown Plan and rubbed one out, didn’t ya? 😉

  8. Did anyone else see this? The Indiana General Assembly appears to be planning to take another look at the structure of county government this summer.

    http://www.nwitimes.com/news/opinion/editorial/editorial-review-entire-structure-of-county-government/article_b74ad895-712a-5f93-8932-c64469a1c81b.html

    Incidentally the Kernan-Shepard report also advocates for the appointment, not election, of all County Sheriffs.

    If the author of this editorial and others like him have their way, County Commissioners will be abolished in favor of a single County Executive. Also they claim “a single comptroller, accountable to the county executive, would be more efficient than electing a treasurer, recorder, assessor and auditor.”

    I agree it certainly seems more efficient…in the same way a dictator is much more efficient than democracy and self-rule.

  9. You people writing these post must have your head in your @#$ or deep in a sand trap, either way, you can’t see light. The people that want to talk have a gun to their head and are told to be quiet or else. Their political career would be over and they would be tar an feathered and rode out of town on a rail. Nobody has the balls or guts to say a word.

  10. Just finished reading a really good book on the crime and corruption in Detroit. Book is available at the library: Detroit by Charlie LeDuff

  11. It’s only a matter of time before this corruption catches up to the City officials. I see JW being indicted in the future and Jenny being drug into it. She knows something on someone because her qualifications and her track record doesn’t normally get someone a high-paying job created for them.

    • Maybe start with a certain political position being payed for out of two different department accounts? That was exposed but swept under the rug. No big deal?

      • I think Jenny should be put under a close watch, I’m sure she is stealing money. I read all the posts by very knowledgable people on City County Observer, everyone is very smart about the things that Jenny is up to and I’m sure that the City-County Observer would never publish anything about Jenny that wasn’t true. I am a tax paying citizen in Evansville and don’t understand why the police and the prosecutor are not investigating Jenny, you know, to put her in jail. This is great website and I’m going to tell all my friends to log on and read all about this Jenny person. Almost every article has someone talking about Jenny. I wunder how someone can find out how this Jenny’s position gets money out of two different accounts, “Whatever” do you work for the City or County?

  12. Some of our representatives would do well to remember they enjoy an elected position from the taxpayers (voters) of Vanderburgh County. When they are politely asked a question concerning their decision making process that taxpayer deserves a respectful answer instead of the elected representative behaving like petulant royalty.

  13. Anybody look to see if Jay Carter has given out any political donations to Messy or Beaver or Weinzecke? Or, even better, Robinson? I wonder if Mr. Carter tithed at church in bundles of bills larger than $10,000 …

    • Didn’t Connie Robinson nominate Mr. Carter? Didn’t John Friend seconded her motion? Does Connie Robinson go to this Church?

  14. Our City is not perfect, but I am proud to call Evansville my home. Let us all continue to work to make it the best it can be.

    Wayne Parke

      • Magpul would actually probably be a very good fit for this area. They primarily deal in polymer after-market parts and accessories for AR style rifles. Indiana is a very gun-friendly state, and the Evansville area is kind of becoming ground zero for plastics products manufacturing and raw materials production. Seems like it would be a great fit.

        That said, I’m sure there are dozens or hundreds of municipalities begging Magpul to relocate to their area. Not sure what we could offer that a larger city couldn’t top pretty easily. Still, worth a shot, so to speak…

        • Seems pretty childish to relocate as some kind of political statement and cost yourself a fortune in the process while bankrupting some families. They’re more likely moving to a more “business friendly” state which is code for Chinese style slave labor camps like Evanshell.

    • Well when the downward spiral bottoms out, due to the snegal actions of the “Gifted” Leaders of Evansville, I do hope you will turn off the lights.

  15. Your correct Wayne ,the cleansing of our local government has begun .. The rattlesnakes will soon be biting other rattlers in the den

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