We hope that today’s “IS IT TRUEâ€Â will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?
IS IT TRUE that GuideStar is a publication that collects legal information on all of the non-profit organizations in the United States?…GuideStar collects financial, organizational, performance, and management information on all of the non-profits nationwide?…based on the information that is public plus information that is voluntarily submitted to GuideStar by the non-profits, each organization is assigned a transparency grade from Nothing, to Bronze, to Silver, to Gold, and only the best of the best or 0.5% of the non-profits nationwide get the coveted Platinum rating?…of the 345 non-profits registered in Evansville, Indiana only 1 has been awarded a Platinum ranking for transparency? ...most have no rating at all which means they are not submitting information to the GuideStar public database?
IS IT TRUE it been reported in the Evansville Courier and Press that the salaries of Josh Armstrong and two (2) other full-time staff members of the Downtown Evansville Improvement District (EID) add up to $257,000 per year or about 37 percent of the EID yearly budget?
IS IT TRUE it’s been alleged by several reliable sources that the EID Board Of Directors just approved giving their CEO Josh Armstrong a $10,000 raise increase?  …the reason is given why Mr. Armtrong received such an astonishing raise increase was to bring his yearly salary up to the level that other EID CEOs are paid?  …there are over 1000 EIDs throughout North America, most are concentrated in downtown areas?  …that Louisville, Fort Wayne, Cincinnati, and Dayton have  EDI’s?  …we wonder which one of the 1000 plus EIDs did the EID Board of Directors use to guide the decision to increase Mr. Armstrrong yearly salary?
IS IT TRUE we wonder if any of the 345 non-profits organizations registered in Evansville, Indiana have increased any of the annual salaries of their CEO’s $10,000?
IS IT TRUE The Downtown Alliance says the EID, funded mostly through additional property tax fees tied to property valuation, is expected to raise around $625,000 per year to cover programs including business recruitment, safety, beautification, and marketing efforts. Alliance Director Joshua Armstrong says “the sustainability of a downtown organization has always been a challenge in Evansville, and this is the tool that creates the sustainability that unlocks continued transformational urban growth. Over 1,000 such districts are at work across the U.S.â€
IS IT TRUE that the EID Board Of Directors members are President Jeff Justices-AIA the  President of Hafer And Associates since 2004He serves on the Southwest Indiana Chamber’s Board of Directors, Deaconess Hospital Foundation Board of Directors, Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation Foundation Board of Directors, Habitat for Humanity, just to name a few. Phillipp Roberts has risen to senior vice president and regional director of Hilliard Lyons, residing in Evansville, overseeing four additional regional offices,  Stephanie Morris, Broker Manager of Tucker Realty and Brad Ellsworth Director of Vectren-South of Center Point Energy?
IS IT TRUE that Evansville, Indiana has always been accepting of a practice known as “political patronage†when it comes to jobs that are financed fully or partially by public dollars?…it has been so entrenched that a former Evansville Mayor whom we shall not name has been quoted as saying “I get all of the credit and they take all of the blame†to justify appointing his political supporters to jobs under his control?
IS IT TRUE when the people fear the Government we have Tyranny! Â When the Government fears the people we have Liberty!
IS IT TRUE the results of our most recent non-scientific but trendy “READERS POLL” was extremely eye-opening? …the question was “who’s the most effective State Representative in our area”?  ..Wendy McNamara (R)-193, Ron Beacon (R)- 174, Matt Hostetter (R)-123, Holli Sullivan (R)-61 and Ryan Hatfield (D) received a disappointing 27 votes?  …78 people said they had no idea?…665 people voted in this non-science but trendy poll?
Today’s “Readers Poll†question is:  Who’s the most effective State Senator in our area?
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