IS IT TRUE? December 15, 2010
IS IT TRUE that the City of Louisville held a planning session in 1997 to set goals for the first decade of the new millennium?….that there was a written goal for the University of Louisville to increase the graduation rate?….that the graduation rate increased from 32% to 49% during that time?…that there was a written goal to increase the Research Funding at UL?…that the goal was exceeded?….that there was a written goal to raise the high school graduation rate to national levels?…that the goal was achieved?…that the written goal of expanding the job base in the healthcare and logistics fields was achieved?
IS IT TRUE that Louisville did not meet all of its goals?…that the written goal that called for 10% population growth in 10 years was not achieved?…that the written goal of raising the percentage of college graduates in the general population to national averages was not achieved?…that raising the average wage to a level that exceeds the national average by 10% was not achieved?….that it has been cited that Louisville’s failure to expand the number of college educated workers as it planned to do is the biggest impediment to achieving the last decades goals?….that the gap in educated professionals with respect to peer cities is seen as the biggest hurdle faced by Louisville in the coming decade.
IS IT TRUE that the City of Louisville spent the money and took the time to develop goals for the decade?….that only by setting goals and using continuous feedback can progress be planned and measured?….that Evansville should be taking the opportunity of the new decade to do some real, measurable, and transformational planning and goal setting?….that the Downtown Evansville Master Plan still includes a baseball stadium where The District now stands?…that there has been no continuous feed back with respect to that plan?….that many things have happened downtown with some in the plan and some not?….that a downtown plan neglects the 98% of the population that does not live downtown?….that there are no publicized goals to achieve for the entire City of Evansville for the next decade?…that if there ever was a plan for the decade ending now, that it was not given a second thought and is gathering dust on a shelf somewhere?
IS IT TRUE that data from the new census is just becoming available?….that the 2010 census will show that the City of Evansville has once again lost people with a population drop of about 4%?….that educational attainment has seen little change in the last 10 years?….that the median earnings adjusted for inflation have decreased slightly?….that the poverty rate has increased by 20%?…that a male with a professional degree in Evansville earns 22% more than a female with a professional degree?…that when all wage earners are considered males over 25 with earnings are paid 42% more than females in Evansville?….that Evansville should follow Louisville’s example of setting goals that lead to proactive actions to increase our population, increase our earnings, attract or retain more educated professionals, establish some venture capital fund, and reward our female wage earners as we do our male ones?…that having a 42% gap between the average earnings of males and females just seems wrong?
IS IT TRUE that it has now been 1,313 days since the announcement was made on May 14, 2007 that the McCurdy Hotel was to be refurbished into luxury apartments?…that it has now been 1,168 days since the Evansville Redevelopment Commission at the request of Mayor Weinzapfel approved the spending of $603,000 to purchase the parking lot.
IS IT TRUE that there are now 697 days remaining in the two years that the EPA had given the City of Evansville to present an acceptable solution to the Combined Sewer Overflow problem?…..that this plan is an expensive and complex endeavor that needs immediate attention to avoid the embarrassment and expense of another round of fines?
IS IT TRUE that this is a link to Louisville’s report card on its goals?
http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20101213/BUSINESS/312130013/-1/extras10/Louisville+area+lost+24+600+jobs+from+2000-2009+as+plans+for+prosperity+falter
IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer will look further into what Evansville’s performance has been relative to the nation?….that we will be soliciting goals for Evansville for the next decade?
Thank you ! We achieve very little by accident (without goals). It is sad but true that we have an aging population, a decreasing population, and a 1950’s mentality in many ways regarding male vs famale wages, roles, and respect for abilities and talents. The good ole boys network lives in Evansville but hopefully the aging population issue will eventually cause enough of a death reduction to help in part with this problem. The rest of the solution has to come from strong intelligent women who pay no attention to being told “No”. This behavior sets examples for the city as a whole and produces retention of talent that seems to now be leaving town after collece graduation.
It is not confirmed that Evansville lost more people. Evansville and Vanderburgh county have grown a lot in the last 10 years. If Evansville did lose more population, then it is very likely that more people are still moving out of the city and in to the county. You can tell by the rush hour traffic that the city and county have grown. The rush hour traffic is heavy now. We didn’t use to have a lot of rush hour traffic.
City of Evansville went from 121,289 to 116,584 including annexations, a 3.9% loss
Unincorporated Vanderburgh went from 50,633 to 58,850 a gain of 16.23% even though there were annexations that moved people to the city.
The full county gained 2.04% to 175,434
Evansville’s population was 121,289 as of the 2000 census. Both the city an county have grown since then and have grown quite a bit. 116,584 is not the 2010 census head count. That has not been released yet. If has, then prove it by showing a legit source. Other than that, they said those numbers will not be released to the public until the middle of 2011.
It’s easy for us to further divide each other into “mentalities”, or to suggest that we wait for “intelligent women” to do something… Don’t get me started down that path.
I see the data and I ask myself, wasn’t the BOAT supposed to help us so much when the idea was sold? Evansville can’t even keep up with Mt. Vernon, income wise, for goodness sakes.
I really think the most important “mentality” shift in this community is the one that happened to our “leadership” – post boat. As you point out, master plans are no longer really any kind of priority… The “leadership” priorities, now, are what kind of shiny new toy or (fill in the blank) can we build or buy with this round of the free cash kicked out from the boat – to create legacies for those in power.
We used to be a hardworking community and a good place to raise kids yah-de-yah. But we have bureaucrats that are insistent on turning this city into a tourism Mecca! The fight over the baseball fields is where the community “goals” ARE butting heads.
Yet, EVERY media outlet but this ONE! Seems to just report it as another casual event that may or may not happen. No discussion needed, little if any public feedback broadcast, mostly pretext. Politically, philosophically, intellectually vapid.
Question: How many “intelligent women”, (Julie Dolan, Lauren Matter, Shalah Sasse, Jackie Monroe, Ann Komis, Becky Graham) reported the news of Obamacare being found unconstitutional?
Did any of them put two and two together… that we voted in Mr. Coats (Remember that guy, I haven’t heard him mentioned in press since the election results) and we gave him a mandate to repeal that bill, right?
I wonder if Mr. Coats has any thoughts on the matter?
Instead, all we get is a literal obsession with “found money”! (http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/dec/14/mystery-donors-big-hearts/)
Eville Taxpayer,
Don’t forget, no matter how intelligent our radio, TV or paper or online newswomen are, the editors and station managers are the deciding factor of what goes on the air and how many seconds or minutes it gets.
If you want to eat and accumulate enough good pieces of airtime or columns for your resume’, you tolerate it and play by the rules until you can move on or decide to stay put and get stagnant.
The last investigative reporter at a local television was Stephanie Sylvie. She retired to raise the two Chinese babies she adopted. I miss her and one other I won’t name.
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