IS IT TRUE October 8, 2013

1. I would be more than happy to give “real numbers” on the Obamacare cost comparison. However, the only real numbers I can provide is ‘six days’ trying to get into the Federal website and still not able too.

2. The McCurdy is going to be “market rate” HUD financed apartments.

   I would prefer demolition over what is being planned.

   __

   • Well, that is the plan for now, but it seems the Kunkel Group is caught up in very unsteady planning situation. It appears that the “upscale senior housing” downtown market is weak. The Market Street Living complex has burnt Kunkel, and they are aimlessly casting about for a back-up plan.
     I hate the idea of demolishing the McCurdy. I have some great memories of events I attended there. Practically speaking, though, it may be what is best.

     • At some point we need to understand and remember just what the McCurdy represented. Benjamin Bosse and William McCurdy should be studied. We have far to long torn down, physically and philosophically, what these men accomplished for Evansville. I would hate to see it demolished.

       • Enoch: Your right about the historical importance of landmark buildings,with the right coaching the McCurdy could set a standard in re-purposing of an primary structure.
         I have studied the building from the fence,and looked at some building drawings and old blueprints and elevations. The reinvention using suits is fetched a bit,housing with new I.T.connected spaces and gathering halls could make the place thrive again,but wow!
         I would like to apply a environmentally effective resource recovery system to the place,for sustainability, and model application demonstrations. useful attraction so to speak.
         The cost, good grief,even the press called the thing a dead bird hotel with the bait&hook .34 cent article they put up the other day.
         Didn’t read past what they trashed in the print.
         The cost to offset the damage now probably is restrictive.nothing will work with that old infrastructure sitting under it,afraid its combined straight shot in.
         I walked your historical district with my tablet one day and researched the homes along Se 1st street. I found the Benjamin Bosse house and found it remarkably similar in construction to the Wertz home built on S.Kentucky ave.adjacent to Bayard Park. I ran out of time and had to get moving again.

         I wonder did the same people design/build both homes? It sure looks like it. both structures are similar to the type limestone work done back in that day roof lines,everything.
         “Built like an fort,rock solid.”
         The limestone was very capable back in the day of having effective thermodynamic stability,due to density and convection.

         Even the Vanderbilt Biltmore Estate was said to retain pretty much a comfortable and stable climate throughout the seasons in Ashville North Carolina, without any forced air.
         I like that, we need to learn to use what we have naturally again then try to add the modifications. 🙂

         • Some thirty years ago, I could have rattled off the information about who built what historic home from memory. I served as the sponsor of the Washington Avenue Historic District into the National Register, and knew all the pertinent information on all of our historic homes.
           Now, I am going to be dragging out long-stored books and notes and trying to clean the cobwebs out of my brain on the subject. I am probably going to have to visit Willard Library too. Gee, thanks for reminding me that I am forgetting things!

         • The name that is coming to mind for builders of both homes is Anderson and Veatch, but am not sure. They were nationally recognized for the quality and style of their homes. Lincolnshire and Brookhaven have many of them.

         • It would be interesting to know what you forgot LKB.

   • Raze the Shrine, River house and McCurdy (and that is hard to say). It would be the only downtown location the IU Med school would go for.

3. I for one am looking forward to using Obamacare for my husband for the first 5 months of 2014 until he goes on medicare. To do otherwise will mean he pays over $2200.00 per month for medical insurance through Indiana Dental Association’s new plan which is not at all affordable. There have been major changes in what was offered through the IDA with Anthem (don’t get me started with the problems and outrageous charges with Anthem) so the IDA has developed a self-funded program which, being just in its infancy, is fumbling around for premiums trying to build up a trust fund.

   I got much of the application completed on Sunday evening and am now stalled. I believe we’ll have to wait until November to get any further. The alternative for us, I guess, will be no coverage. That is sad since he has no major health issues and should be relatively easy to insure, for 5 months anyway.

   • Thanks for sharing that information with us, Martha. I think it is a shame that the websites are not better, but all new programs have their glitches. ACA will need “tweaking” just like Social Security, Medicare, VA, etc.
     I do know that you can go ahead and complete the enrollment now, by telephone. The last I heard, it was about a half-hour wait. Most people who need it are not dissuaded by a half-hour. When I find the phone number, I will post it.

     • el,
       Been on the phone. Not able to help since we are already in process. Tried that yesterday and today. I knew this would be time consuming so it is okay. We’ll just work it through.

   • When your husband goes on Medicare in 5 month your still going to have to have a supplement insurance, I would save the $ 2200 per month, and use the money to pay for good supplement insurance.. I think mine is $283.63 for us per month, I have had 1 surgery and me wife has had 3 and the three she had was $53000.00 and 74.000.00,and the last one was $127,000.00..and I didn’t have to pay any thing..get the right supplement insurance, that $ 283 does not cover drugs..

     • I’m shopping now for a supplement that will cover meds and deductibles. Meds have, so far, been my main expense. Both years since I became eligible for Medicare, I’ve shopped for about a week in late October for the best deal. I figure that each one of those weeks spent toiling over the information, I saved myself about $1,500 a year, so it’s a money-making week. It really pays to shop around!

4. I have read of other cities who have developed programs such as Dayton’s immigrant housing plan. This sounds like such a win for all concerned. What city department would be in charge of such a program? What dynamic leader of Evansville would selflessly stand up to lead the charge?

   I would like to think that there is more to be in charge of in this town than concerts and festivals but…… There really is no real depth that I can see. Only talk. From all sides. Here is a real achievable plan with examples to pattern after. The template is there. The need is there. The willing immigrants are there. The only thing missing is the local leadership.

   • I agree with you. I do hope those homes would be available to all, and I imagine they would be. Some good old diversity is what we need to roil the stagnant waters that are Evansville, especially downtown.
     Pride in home ownership, racial, cultural, and financial diversity are the things that drive vibrance in a community and we need vibrance!
     I fear it is a lack of true, open-minded leadership that would stall that endeavor here. It seems to me that there is an unspoken agreement to make the downtown area “ex-clusive” instead of “in-clusive.” That is the surest way to keep the area from coming back.

5. Was in Indy on Friday of last week and gas in that area was $3.06 to $3.11. Got back to good ole EVV and it had ballooned to $3.39 here and friend in Bloomington and Indy said it was still going down. Gotta love this place.

6. agree in part CCO……with the one exception that obama should have some explaining to do now on all the lies he told all his low info fans to pass this in the first place……thanks………

7. We have the most expensive and worst healthcare in the developed world. Why do nothing about it again?

8. I like what Dan Gilbert is getting ready to do in Detroit. It’s certainly what we need in the north downtown/ western third ward area…

   http://www.deadlinedetroit.com/articles/6587/dan_gilbert_is_planning_to_demolish_every_last_abandoned_building_in_detroit#.UlRMG9KsiSo

9. Speaking of dayton, they are redoing their core with one nice looking tech park. Just saying…

   http://www.daytontechtown.com/

   • Rails: percussa resurgo

     struck down I rise again.

     Heraldic motto of a name you know of. Fits I would say with your work to save older structures.

     • Hey that’s right! alumnus.
       former puplil

       I think your referencing to a surname though.

       • Nah, cuz,I saw that on a coffee cup in a Scottish shop in Nashville Indiana.
         They had a bunch of different names and motto’s and stuff. nice place.

         • Well ok, homnies dum docent discunt.

           Men learn while they teach.

     • Excellent motto sofa spud!

   • Comparable Evansville location? Dayton has an diverse concise established Aerospace R/D technical legacy built and sustained on site by the Wright Patterson AFB and interlocking technical support already.
     New industries developing in I.T sensors and other complex sought horizons orbital cloud based applications are easily blended there by location of need and present logistics structuring.
     Dayton isn’t what it used to be,however its still a viable map location with a solid history in science and aerospace development.

     Converge,collaborate,commercialize… catchy Dayton but that sounds 1960’s Soviet eastern block inspired,not sure about the heading there.
     Your Evansville civic center looks the part too…cosmetic update needed.
     Like Evansville the largest growth sector open in technologies is environmental planet science and technical management thereof. With upcoming issues due to climate change already here,I hate to keep pinging that but that’s where the globally predicted 60 trillion dollar market development for applicable solutions is. ->Now.OHIO RIVER BASIN<—
     Who is gonna do that from Evansville, anybody else hearing the whoosh going over?
     By the time you act it will be pure Doppler effect.

10. I read somewhere Baltimore, MD is also going to route of attracting immigrants to stave off population loss.

    • What would immigrants bring to the table that would improve Evansville? We may have a few dribble in but wouldn’t compare to the torrential outflow. The aging population is one reason for the empty and abandoned houses. It’s hard to believe but we may have as many as 10,000 abandoned houses in this county. How many immigrants are we talking about? At an estimated $5000.00 to demolish an abandoned home it may be a good investment and create more green space. Just how big does Evansville need to be?

      • I’m not suggesting this as a solution necessarily, although I’ll keep an open mind. The main reasons leaders might like it is it could fill some of these homes and areas in desperate need of revitalization. They would bring cheap labor, start businesses, buy city water at double current rates, and pay taxes. Where others see blight, they might be inclined to see opportunity. As a true free trade advocate, I don’t see any inherent problem with it.

        • I can really agree with that. Immigrants seem to have the ability to start a family business, something I think we have lost in this country. I also think Evansville is in a position to pull in seniors because of our medical facilities and this is a relatively safe area. I have 3 young professionals in my extended family and none live in Evansville. They claim Evansville has no decent high paying jobs and the night life is dismal. Those east coast federal jobs and the bar scene is quite a draw.

          • Our problem is, for people on fixed income, the cost of living, while low by national standards, is significantly higher than a city 15-20 minutes to the south of Evansville, where everything from sales tax to electric rates to rent is lower.

11. Most of these ethnic Turks are from the old USSR or Warsaw Pact fleeing persecution. Why not go to Turkey? In the US, we have enough people to fill the restaurant, trucking and small shop jobs quoted as being started. The reason the ethnic Turks succeed is because, “..what we have here is much beyond what we had before.” Herein lies the problem; we have too many
    people in this country that don’t appreciate the opportunity this country provides. We need to focus on this problem with existing citizens before we start looking for this type of immigration as a solution to our problems.

    This is at best a short term solution that will not produce enough sustainable growth; if Dayton was still making tires, I’d say OK, but you are fighting the last war, and in 10 years you won’t be thriving. Unless these are primarily H1B or EB5 visa holders, we are simply adding to a workforce which we already have a oversupply of. Give me more HB1 and EB5 holders and the job growth alluded to will occur. If not, this is only a group of people that will be wrapped eventually around a politician that can give out the most handouts.

12. Our sister cities in Germany and Japan may provide the desireabe citizens needed. To only fill the deserted homes with bodies only increases the blight. The imigrants need to bring something to the table. We already have an oversupply of spawning, non-working, leaches on society who think their place looks fine the way it is. I ask again, what path do you expect the increased convention business to get downtown? EVERY street is lined with run-down housing, bad potholes, and cars that belong in the U-pick.

    • Why in the world would they want to come here?

      • Might be Climate Change Adjustment,check out MSN news and science and tech. stories posted up today. Also on the other CCO thread article about the meth problem and its map of locations for lab incidents I left a post with some other useful information there as well. In relation to water and Trace drugs chemical studies world wide and in the U.S.
        One really cool thing on today,s MSN science threads is a story about a Israeli company supported by a Boston venture capitol group.
        They are mining their sewers for useful substances.
        Small application there,really cool,however big numbers in costing effectiveness for the water management people.
        Innovation moving forward by addressing real needs.

        Quad foetet?…….A posse ad esse !

        whats that bad smell?….From possibility to actuality ! 🙂

13. I pay $300 for one pill for a month’s supply. And I have another medication that cost almost the same. That’s $600/month for just those two pills.

    Medical expenses are and have been out of control for a long time and it was getting worse not better.

    I’m for anything that can lower the costs of medicine and medical treatment.

    Speaking of having trouble getting into a web site, I have had a lot of trouble getting into this web site for the last week since the influx of new people here.

    Web sites are easily shut down with a lot of traffic if they are not setup to handle a large influx of traffic.

    And I would not put it past some to throw a lot of traffic as a web site just to shut it down or make it slow down.

    I hope we give the AHC Act a chance to succeed. I have not heard any alternative to what we have now. And what we have not is way to expensive for almost anyone who’s not a millionaire. If you don’t believe me then talk to someone who’s had surgery or cancer treatments or any long term illness in the past 20 years. People lose their life savings in a hurry when they or a loved one gets too sick to stay at home. Some nursing homes can cost up to or more than $6000/month. At that rate you can go though your savings pretty fast if your love one has a stroke and has to have 24/hr care on a long term basis.

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