IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer allowed someone to post a few police reports back in late January that was apparently not completely familiar with the process?…the consequences of this have been that the archives of the EPD Activity Reports has not been presenting any reports since January?…this was all fixed over the weekend by removing one character of code that should never have been there?…our archives are working fine now and we apologize to our readers for the long drought?…HTML is not a very forgiving programming language?
IS IT TRUE that this weekend amid the thunderstorms we were all made aware of yet another case of alleged neglect on the part of the City of Evansville Housing Authority and this one has to do with the conditions of a public housing project called the Schute Apartments?…it seems as though an elderly resident who worked his whole life at Whirlpool who is living there invited a camera person in to see the slovenly way the maintenance on this old project tower was being conducted?…pathological neglect of course is a way of life in the government of Evansville and this building is not the exception?…Schute Apartments joins the growing list of Mesker Amphitheatre, countless parks, over 50 ball fields, roads, corroded water pipes, and of course the $815 Million sewer issue?…being a negligent slop hog must rub off as there are still over 10,000 houses that are so dilapidated that they need over $100,000 worth of work to even be habitable?…that amounts to a hidden and little talked about BILLION DOLLAR REPAIR NEED due to private citizens following the lead of their local government when it comes to taking care of what they have?
IS IT TRUE if things are not drastically changed with respect to taking care of things this will not stop?…Roberts Stadium was basically starved to death when it comes to maintenance so that the cameras would make it look worse than it was?…looking into the crystal ball we see a day in the not so distant future when even the 40 rental front door pride homes will be rotting down from neglect as well?…sloth is one of the seven deadly sins and our local government along with some of the private sector is clearly guilty of sloth?
IS IT TRUE that City Council Attorney Scott Danks is representing a couple of people in a class action lawsuit against Old National Bank for allegedly being clever and tricky when it comes to maximizing the fees collected for overdrafts on checking accounts?…the bit of code that has been used by banks all over the country to honor checks daily from the highest amount to the lowest amount for the purpose of charging as many overdraft fees as possible was developed in Southern California in the late 1990’s by a former co-worker of CCO editor Joe Wallace?…it was rapidly adopted by banks across the country to mine as many fees as possible from their customers who tend to overdraw their accounts?…overdraft fees have become one of the most lucrative profit centers for ONB and other banks?…one would be hard pressed to find a bank that does not practice this sneaky and somewhat usury practice?…we shall watch this class action suit with a high level of interest as it could grow to other banks, it could result in much damage to the century old reputation of ONB and result in a settlement, or it may go to court dragging ONB through the mud for a long time to determine just how legal this technique is?
IS IT TRUE the failed consolidation effort supported by the Winnecke Administration with cheerleading encouragement coming from local mainstream media is now being acknowledged as in the minds of the people interested in subsidizing a downtown convention hotel?…the reckless way the City Administration has been trying to spend money has validated the NO votes of many of those who cast them as a way to keep the irresponsible paws of the City of Evansville out of the pockets of the people who choose to live in the County?
IS IT TRUE there is a local business development opportunity that may pass Evansville by if entrepreneurs and the capital to back them is not established and established fast?…the shale gas revolution began only a few years ago and already employs 1.5 million people and is expected to grow to 4 million by the year 2020?…as with coal, the Tri-State is right in the middle of some serious shale gas that is extracted by a technique often called hydraulic fracking?…coal is on the downswing due to federal regulations and cost competitiveness, manufacturing is continuing to dry up, but shale gas is an opportunity that Evansville and the surrounding towns can take advantage of to rebuild the employment base?…if there had been more time spent on setting up a functional angel investment fund and leveraging the tech transfer agreement signed by GAGE in 2008 and touted by candidate Winnecke as crucial than has been spent on nonsense like Earthcare, chicken fat videos, and brainstorming for dog parks, Evansville may have been on the leading edge of this new energy technology?…whether it is from arrested development or from simply having a twisted sense of priorities Evansville is once again behind the eight ball on a leading edge economic opportunity?
I cut all ties with ONB in 2010 and haven’t looked back. I wonder if the arrogance of the management will ever change.
It appears to be true that Evansville does not take care of its assets. This applies to public as well as private properties.
This is not a new happening in Evansville. I can trace it back to Mayor Lloyd SR. It appears to me that he wanted to do whatever was possible to keep the tax RATE down, i.e. below the prior year. In order to do this, some items were neglected but others were merely shifted to take them out of the tax base.
At one time, 911 was included in the tax base. Now we pay for it as part of our telephone bill.
Trash collection was once included as part of that tax base. Where is it now? It is part of our Water and Sewer bill.
The taxes that would have been paid to maintain these items which have been neglected have been used for other “wants” by government. Just look at the taxes wasted by overspending on “front door pride” houses and other wants by government.
The tax revenue generated by the items shifted to “self pay” have not been returned to the taxpaying public. No, they have been allocated to other items. Yes, I am saying that government has raised our taxes by not raising our taxes.
There are other examples of this shift that are hidden in plain sight from “we the people.”
Is this honest? I guess it would depend upon who you talk to.
If my banking is cheaper because some folks cannot write checks when they actually have money in the account (otherwise known as fraud)… I am fine with that.
Sewers were also part of that tax base until the early eighties. They were part of the old BPW. At that time the water dept was very well maintained and profitable. That changed overnight when it became “Evansville water an sewer”
Not sure we want to hastily promote hydraulic fracturing directly over wabash valley seismic sone (not to mention new Madrid fault line).
Saw Jenny, Big Dan, and Rumplebeancounter in the halls of the Civic Center today. Good old Rumplebeancounter looked like he slept all weekend in his office. Heard him tell Big Dan that he’s not too worried about the audit this year because the State Board took the CPA’s off of the audit and replaced them with someone who they call Airhead.
Anyone who opts into “Overdraft Protection” service at their bank or credit union is silly. Make sure you know what you’re signing when you start a new account today.
The practice of fracking has some major drawbacks. I would encourage anyone thinking of investing to first investigate the drawbacks and the environmental impact before moving forward. There may come a day when this practice is just as highly regulated as coal and could become cost inefficient as well. I support deregulating coal to make it more competitive, but the long term effects of fracking are not fully understood. There are some documentary videos floating around the net on this subject.
Are you saying coal isn’t bad for the environment? You want to crack down on fracking but let coal go wild? You need to be consistent.
I didn’t say anything about cracking down on fracking. I wasn’t advocating that. I was advocating getting the federal government out of it. If fracking is safe and economical, great! What I’m saying is coal’s drawbacks are known commodities and there are already practices in place to minimize the environmental impact of coal burning. The long term effects of fracking are less known and some critics are suggesting it is extremely risky and bad for the environment. Believe me, I’m consistent. There is no such thing as “clean energy”, even sunlight can cause cancer; but there are some forms of energy that are preferable to others. I, for one, would rather see the coal industry survive than see it die out due to government over-regulation, thus paving the way for more nuclear, which is about as risky as it gets.
http://www.gaslandthemovie.com/
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