IS IT TRUE? December 11, 2011
IS IT TRUE that Indiana University basketball is back?…that last night’s upset of the #1 ranked and miraculously talented Kentucky Wildcats by the Hoosiers is that statement win that was needed to erase any doubts about whether or not IU could play with the upper echelon teams?…that last night’s game that IU won at the buzzer with a three point shot is how IU vs. UK basketball games should be?…that great rivalries require that both teams are good and in recent history IU has not been living up to their end of the rivalry bargain?…that it was not really the last three pointer that did it for IU last night, it was the string of 7 straight three pointers when the faster and bigger Wildcats were dominating the other end with easy layups off of breaks?…that the shooting skill, the discipline, and a few good bounces are what put the Hoosiers in a position to win the game at the buzzer?…that the City County Observer would like to congratulate and give a cheer to the IU Hoosiers and acknowledge the talent of the UK Wildcats who start 3 freshmen and 2 sophomores?…that we would not be a bit surprised to see a March Madness rematch of these teams?…that would really be a trip back to the future?
IS IT TRUE that the UE Purple Aces and the Evansville Icemen both seem to be settling in to crowds of about 3,500 per game?…that the Lady Aces need to do a little marketing, ticket giveaways, or something to bolster the sub 500 attendance numbers that seem to be the norm?…that with drawing power of under 500 that UE may want to consider having the Lady Aces games at Carson Center or a high school gym to save on the rent at Ford Center?
IS IT TRUE that a group of well healed individuals are looking into joining the INDIANA Municipal Power Agency (IMPA) group in order to provide local electric rate payers service at “not-for-profit rates”?…that Jasper, Huntingburg, Tell City, Washington, Paoli and Scottsburg are some of the cities involved in taking on the Vectren type monopolies in order to help electric rate payers save a great deal of money in the overall electric bills?…that if you would like to learn more about the IMPA please go to this link http://www.impa.com/ ?
IS IT TRUE that it was quite rewarding for the CCO today to see that the editor of the Courier and Press has actually acknowledged in an editorial that the Weinzapfel Administration has laid three rotten eggs named the McCurdy, the downtown Convention Hotel, and Roberts Stadium?…that we were beginning to think that the CP was making and drinking the Kool-Aid for breakfast every morning and were slow to see the reality of the messes that are being left for the Winnecke Administration to clean up?…that for those of you who missed it here is a link? http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/dec/11/learning-the-lessons-of-redevelopment-challenges/ ?…that readers of the CCO will find these words to be familiar?
IS IT TRUE that the three rotten eggs could well have been three triumphs if there had really been a comprehensive plan that was thought out and vetted?…that the Ford Center alone went smoothly and on budget precisely because it was planned, vetted, and managed?…that everything else was left swinging in the breeze?…that if there had been planning, analysis, and vetting that the three rotten eggs could have and perhaps should have been three more triumphs?…that only the City County Observer among local media has served as an investigative and analysis driven educator of the public?…that cheerleading by the media literally circumvents the reason that there is a free press?…that when the press panders to charismatic politicians that they willfully neglect the most important roll of a free press?…that a free press is not free when it locks itself into the jail of creating propaganda or ignoring obvious wrongs?
Re: Indiana Municipal Power Agency (IMPA): If the City can buy its power at “wholesale” prices from the excess electricity generated by neighboring Utility companies, why wouldn’t we want to do that ? Folks, electricity is a COMMODITY. The juice from Vectren is identical to the juice from IMPA, except for the price, IMPA will be at 1/2 the price of Vectren. We don’t need the “boutique power” of Vectren, let’s move full-speed ahead to a group that advertises it’s electricity at “not-for-profit’ rates. Like !
What do Washington, Tell City and Jasper, IN; and Henderson, KY know that we don’t ? Apparently a lot ? Let’s “catch up” with our smaller brothers and save a ton of money !!!
I would also like to see a City-owned electric utility. Instead of purchasing the overhead lines from Vectren, why not float a bond and bury all of the electric service underground ? No more of Vectren’s “clear cutting” when it comes to some tree trimming; while other times, they let things grow out-of-control. Let’s bury the lines, and not have to worry about another January 2009 ice event. Count me in on getting rid of Vectren electricity if we can do it as a municipality. P.S.: visualizing Vectren having to take down all of the overhead lines, and smiling ! Wonder if they will try to take those pole removal costs into their gas rate ?
Excellent idea….but, every single structure now serviced by overhead lines would require the “drop” changed which would require a licensed electrician to change out the weather head, meter socket, and probably the lead-in wiring to each and every beaker/fuse panel in every home or business now serviced by a overhead drop from a utility pole….figure the average cost as $1k per occurrence, then there is the structures that will require an upgrade to the service before the city inspectors will allow the new underground power to be hooked up….while the city (permits), electricians (huge amount of work) will be smiling, the home owners will sequel like a pig. 😉
As much as I’d like to see Vectren gone or crippled you have to ask yourself as good as the city runs things how do you think they would be running something as complex as a municipally owned utility, they have done such a bang-up job with the water department, sewer department, BPW (which is almost nonexistent), and then the parks department? I just see free utilities for all the power brokers and the rest of us footing the bill as always….think about how many times they have changed the traffic patterns downtown and it is still screwed up.
JMHO
I might also add that this wouldn’t remove a single utility pole from our streets, you still have AT&T’s phone lines, Sigecom/Vectren’s fiber network, and the high voltage distribution lines still clinging to the utility poles even after the transformers and drops are removed from the equation.
Yes…I know they do it that way in new subdivisions…but that is because it is a new development/construction a clean slate, to do it in the city you have a lot of buried stuff to watch out for like gas and water/sewer lines, many of which are not on any plot/site plan and would have to be located prior to digging/trenching the new electrical connections in every install..
I’m afraid utility poles are going to be with us…..forever.
JMHO
The concern about the City of Evansville running an IMPA in Evansville is very, very real for exactly the reason you name: the city can’t run the city much less a power company.
If you will notice, all the towns listed as members of the IMPA are small and can be run with small administrations. These administrations could either be a mayor and town manager, a town council and town manager, or any such combination, but quite often a town manager is involved under whom an IMPA representative could be employed. I am just guessing at all that but it seems logical.
The huge overall problem in Evansville is lack of open integrated planning, and then working toward that plan. Reality doesn’t seem to enter into the picture until the lack of planning is noticed and that comes when Evansville has been sold down the river – literally.
So, if we want to look at being a part of an IMPA, would we need to “buy out” Vectren? And in doing so, contractually insure that citizens, not the elected or appointed group, have the final control? Or is there no buy-out and do we as homeowners just join up with the wealthy folks referred to above that are investigating IMPAs leaving Vectren high and dry? This last option does not meet the IMPA criteria of the city having its own electric facility though, does it?
What we have here is the lure of a great price for electric power and the fear of government power getting in the way, along with the unknown of making the whole shebang work.
Great start to a movie.
292, you commented on the notion of needing to “buy out” Vectren. Only thing I can say is to think about the amount of money people are overpaying today. I believe we are overpaying by 50 % compared to the national average ! Think about that, when you look at a national average the sample size is obviously large enough to draw a lot of conclusions–namely, we are 50 % too high ! The new Evansville Power & Light (EPL) could float a revenue bond, pay for lines, hire people, etc. and still have lots of savings left over to provide the citizens with much lower rates. We can either research this matter and draw firm direction, or stick our head in the sand and live at the whim of Vectren 4-ever. What’s the best play ?
Beerguy,
Knew you were there. And that the gray VHS cat in your house will have a soft electric blanket to sleep on paid for with reasonable rates.
292,
Miss Grey, the 10-year old refugee from VHS by way of Persia, needs no electric blanket with reasonable rates.She is the equivalent of a ‘heat-seeking missile’ when it gets cold, and as long as I am in a seated or lying position, instant heat !! Maybe the solution to Vectren is for everyone to adopt several cats (at least the Winter Solution)
blanger,
As you say, the home owners will sequel like a pig–but the sequel (to Vectren’s original movie) is a rate that is substantially less. You could put in a lot of lines and other infrastructure and amortize them over a long period and STILL be substantially less in rate. It is certainly worth exploring.
Re: your second paragraph, this is really not rocket science. This is really basic business management. We could hire a top notch Utility Manager for a little over $ 100K/year. The Top 5 guys at Vectren combined make over $ 10 Million ! If you hire a decent Utility Manager for electric, he could probably manage the Water Dept. on his lunch hour at no charge!
“no charge” ……… please
292, it would be very dangerous for the electricity Utility Manager to have a charge . . . safety first always !
Biscuit…
I do agree, I just see all the problems we have because the city chooses to do business in a certain way or with a certain group of people, to me a co-op where the citizens own the utility would be the best of both worlds, involving the city in anything that has to do with power and money is a recipe for the public to get screwed and the fat cats to get fatter while running it into the ground from deferred maintenance and under funding.
The IMPA is a great idea and I’m all for it, if there is anyway to isolated/insulate it from the Evansville city government it could have a lot of success, bring the city government into the mix is just scary to me, more scary than Vectren.
JMHO
There is a big difference in the city government and Vectren but the result is the same. Vectren is smart enough to rob us blind and the city is stupid enough to piss our money away. At the end of the day we get hosed.
It is easy to be smarter than the city. It is possible to be smarter than Vectren. Just takes picking the right people for the “smarter committee” and who knows where they might show up. We should be willing to give this project a run. The victims of Vectren need a win for a change. Thanks to the “sc”.
If it was ran by the city, somebody like Bob Goldman would end up being in charge of it. Scary.
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