Is It True, July 19, 2013

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Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics
Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics

 

IS IT TRUE the City of Detroit became the largest city in the United States to legally declare bankruptcy yesterday?…this filing was done at the direction of the Governor of Michigan who gave Detroit over a year to clean its own affairs before sending in an appointed trustee type to see what has to be done including ripping up employee pension contracts and union contracts to get this beleaguered city to a point that it can pay its day to day expenses from revenue?…the second step will of course be to devise a plan on dealing with the massive debt that Detroit has accumulated over the 60 year period of its fall from grace?…it is hard to believe that Detroit was once seen as the center of American innovation much as Silicon Valley is today?…60 years of disastrous public policy lead to a population loss of 65% people, the abandonment of some 40,000 homes, crime ridden streets, the exit of employers that provided middle class jobs, and dozens of public works projects that spent Billions of borrowed dollars to build temples to sport, parks, and even some dog parks?…Detroit even went on a binge and built multiple skateboard parks that are now known for having few users and a drain on an already insufficient maintenance department?

 

IS IT TRUE Evansville over the last 50 years since its population peaked in 1960 census has been doing the same things that Detroit has been doing?…Evansville being a bit more pragmatic and conservative has not been doing these nonsensical things to the same degree that Detroit has but it has been doing them none the less?…while Detroits population fell by 65% Evansville’s has only fallen by 20%?…the debt per capita in Detroit is much higher than it is in Evansville yet the spending was for the same kinds of things?…it is clear that while Detroit was borrowing and spending like a drunken sailor, Evansville was in the same bar and mimicking that behavior to a lesser degree?…the difference today is that Evansville still has a chance to escape from the death spiral that pushed Detroit into bankruptcy?…we eagerly await the next 10 years when it will be quite clear whether Evansville will adopt policies and principles that will enable our city to escape the death spiral or if our leaders continue to take us down the Detroit path to failure?

 

IS IT TRUE in a federal court in Indianapolis yesterday United States Circuit Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker looked into the attorney for the City of Evansville and said, “YOU DON’T HAVE ANY POLICY, YOU JUST MAKE IT UP AS YOU GO ALONG?”…the nature of the proceeding is irrelevant as Judge Barker hit the nail squarely on the head with respect to how Evansville operates?…it took Judge Barker less than a day to figure that out?

 

IS IT TRUE unions are a key Democratic constituency, and many unions that once supported Obamacare are now screaming for Democrats to reopen the law?…last week, the Teamsters, the United Food and Commercial Workers, and UNITE-HERE wrote Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) that Obamacare “will destroy the very health and wellbeing of our members along with millions of other hardworking Americans?”…Obamacare, they wrote, “will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits,” but is already creating “nightmare scenarios” in which “employers have begun to cut workers’ hours,” leaving workers with “less pay while also losing our current health benefits?” …in April, the United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers, and Allied Workers called for “repeal or complete reform” of ObamaCare?…we wonder where these wizards were 4 years ago when they were

supporting every candidate who voted for this monstrosity before reading it?…yet another group of blind followers of President Obama’s 2008 initiatives has awakened a day late an a dollar short to realize the damage caused by reactive legislation?

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24 COMMENTS

  2. Your attempt to compare Detroit’s finanical situation to that of Evansville is extremely misleading and poorly done.

    • Having your own personal fingerprints all over the most recent slide into the financial abyss, you would say that. I blame you as much as I blame Winnecke and Weinzapfel. Anytime this Mayor wants to do something that rewards unions at the expense of everyone else, you’re right there applauding along, selling your Party out, and selling the people of Evansville out.

    • A list of differences would help back up your statement. You mearly saying it does not make it fact. The spend, spend, spend plan is NOT the will of the sane. The sooner we flush the entire political group from both parties the better.

    • Mr. Park, you are correct in saying that Evansville is not Detroit, but, Detroit’s condition did not occur over night. Their City Councils and Mayors viewed every revenue dollar as leverage for bonding, under the notion that it was for “economic development” and, of course, through the keys to the treasury to the public unions. Even FDR, a great supporter of unions, did not embrace the public union concept, knowing that elected officials would buy votes from their membership, but unions in the private sector bargained with the investor’s own money. Now, Mr. Winneck wants the “Dog Park”, the Hotel, and, what is next? He handed the employees a 3% raise in the last budget cycle, didn’t he? As one of the bloggers indicated, previously, he has dusted off the playbook of Mr. Lloyd, Sr conveniently using the City Treasury to influence the special interest groups. So, Evansville is not Detroit, but, given enough time and fortitude, this City will be a great competitor of Detroit.

    • The perception that the “mentality”, that put Detroit in the BANKRUPTCY hole, pervades the decision processes of elitist politicos of Evansville is very real, and palatable, even if we are not broke YET.
      A Unwanted Arena that will eventually cost, +interest, a Quarter of a BILLION Dollars, $10 Million Dollar dog parks $18 Million Dollar baseball fields, $600,000 Dollar 50 space parking lots, a Taxpayer Funded hotel to the tune of $37 Million, $7 million lost at the Centre and counting, the Rat hole for Public resources that defines Old Downtown, and the list goes on,
      –says more to the populace than any political animal shouting “Come on, and join us in jumping off the Fiscal Bridge, don’t worry, We are in Charge, and you have nothing to worry about!

      • Evansville’s declining population does not fit with the amount of debt that must be serviced by the city and by the public school corporation over the next 20 years. The increasing taxes that are certain to be heaped on citizens will drive those who can leave away, thus exacerbating the problem even further.

        ___

  3. …said the man who should know “misleading” and “poorly done” when he sees it…

    • I stand by my statement: When the Editor compared Evansville’s financial situation with Detroit, the above article is grossly “misleading” and “poorly done”. Having said that, it does not mean I totally agree with all capital City expenditures.

      Wayne Parke

  4. Evansville is absolutely dancing down the same road as Detroit. It is just moving slower.

  6. The city went bankrupt because the auto industry got greedy and wanted to pay Mexican 8 yr olds to build cars. Now that has all come to fruition and it’s time to divide up the public assets to the Republican governor’s cronies.

  7. Evansville is exactly like Detroit in that its over dependence on the automobile (too much interstate constuction), it’s complete lack for controlling sprawl (university parkway and burkhardt), and it’s corrupt government (most notably the Tiger Stadium situation eerily reeks like the situation here with Roberts), as well as making a terrible decision in establishing a competitive advantage with the auto industry that is on its way out (similar to Whirlpool but for different reasons) are all very clear cut examples as to why neither city is anything anyone wants to aspire to be.

    Blaming “temples to sports” is just absurd, especially since Detroit went mostly without them from the 70’s on up to the early 2000s when they finally built a few that have paid themselves off many times over. It’s not the construction of them that has hurt Detroit, it’s the demolition of them…

    I’m glad those in Detroit are refusing to allow any development that would destroy the Tiger Stadium heritage on their site. May the same happen here at Roberts!!!….

    http://www.freep.com/article/20130716/BUSINESS06/307160139/Old-Tiger-Stadium-feud-Detroit-George-Jackson-Parade-Company

  8. Saw the Heifer that works for the State Board. Completely rude and arrogant. It’s obvious that her supervisor is worthless!

  9. Evansville very well be like Detroit after the water meters are installed and the sewer project comes due and the water pipes start getting fixed. At that point no one will be able to afford to live in the City. The tipping point will be reached that causes people that now think they can’t afford to move to realize they can’t afford to stay. Then there will be a hotel built next to an arena surrounded by nothing but the sound of crickets and some smiling slimy politicians saying all is well.

    • Evansville will be like Detroit soon because they insist to hire this one-woman wrecking crew to head major financial centers of the City. She destroyed SMG, then the Controller’s Office, and now the Utilities. No CPA and she never had an audit without several repeat offenses. Jenny Collins needs to go!

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