IS IT TRUE Part 2 August 19, 2011
IS IT TRUE that over on Adams Avenue between Kentucky Avenue and Kerth that there is a Front Door Pride type of project that is being carried out that sounds like it may just be sustainable and have a long term chance to make a positive change?…that the thought behind this program is to go block by block and take out ALL of the dilapidated homes before proceeding to build anything new?…that when the new house are built that they are being built at price points that are compatible with the incomes of the target market?…that these houses are built for the same price that they are sold for and that number is in the $129,000 range for a 1,200 square foot home?…that rather than building a boat load of these homes and then hoping that they sell that the developers have a list of interested and QUALIFIED buyers right up front?…that these homes improve the neighborhood but do not resemble the McMansions that the City of Evansville have randomly planted around abandoned shotgun houses in the Front Door Pride district?
IS IT TRUE that the practicality of appropriate products for the target market wins every time in the free market system?…that trying to change a massive ghetto by building a few palaces in it is always a waste of money and only benefits a few at the expense of many?…that if you want to see a program that needed very little seed money and is based on practicality and sustainability you need look no further than the 1,000 block of Adams Avenue near Akin Park where the Reverend Adrian Brooks and the Memorial Community Development Corp. along with Evansville City Councilwoman Connie Robinson are doing this right?…that when dedicated people get together and use their minds that programs that are capable of big improvements can be done with nominal seed money?…that the formula of spend $500,000 followed by sell for $500,000 can be repeated indefinitely?…that the Front Door Pride formula of spend $3 Million and sell for $1.5 Million can only be repeated until one gets to the bottom of the money barrel and then the “MONEY PARTY†is over?
IS IT TRUE that programs like Front Door Pride, Vision 1505, and a host of other “affordable housing†initiatives are nothing but expensive handouts and squander taxpayer dollars?…that such wasteful programs that defy the free market and rely on irrational decisions by buyers give housing programs a bad name?…that programs like the one on Adams Avenue give community development a good name?
IS IT TRUE that the IDEA HOME at 620 Washington Avenue has finally attracted a buyer?…that Jody and Vacharaporn Phillips are the proud new owners of the former IDEA HOME?…that the sale price of this home is recorded on the Vanderburgh County Assessors website as $165,000?…that this house that was sort of a speculative venture funded by much public money has been reported to have cost between $400,000 and $500,000 to refurbish from its formerly dilapidated condition?…that this is an extreme example of a Front Door Pride type of endeavor that lost approximately a QUARTER OF A MILLION DOLLARS of taxpayer dollars?…that Mr. Jody Phillips is a member of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission?…that the Phillips family is to be congratulated on their good negotiating that secured a very well refurbished home for them alone at a massive discount to the cost to do such a job on the open market?
IS IT TRUE that as taxpayers the City County Observer reiterates that such programs are not wise or sustainable?…that this is a link to the house on the Vanderburgh County Assessors website where all of the information was found?
http://www.vanderburghassessor.org/Default.aspx?PID=82-06-29-023-033.016-029
I can’t really blame the city 100% for the FDP fiasco, it’s federal grant money therefor it has strings attached all the way back to DC, the way the money is being wasted is partially the fault of our city getting “free” money with little vision on how to get the most bang for the buck. It’s typical of any federal program to waste taxpayers money we are a bottomless pit when it comes to funding, the problem is local governments also look at the tax-base that way. Lack of vision, or foresight is the crux of wasteful spending much like the stimulus money sent out from Washington DC it provided little in economic relief, created very few jobs, and only a out of touch fool would consider spending to get out of a debt situation. Yet that idea has been tossed around more then once in recent months, spending $787 billion dollars to try to stimulate a depresses economy on the surface might seem like a good idea, it would have to help….right? But then you throw the (any) government into the mix it always has a negative effect. Just think if the government had divided up that $787 billion dollars and wrote a stimulus check to every taxpayer in the US…where do you think the economy would be today?
Sorry for the rant… 🙂
Thanks and congratulations to Rev. Brooks, the Memorial Community Development Corp. and Councilwoman Robinson for doing something that makes sense.
“Thanks and congratulations”?
With thinking like this, it’ll be 133 days till we get Weinzapfel Administration, part II.
Buying, selling, investing, & making a profit used to be a little thing called free enterprise.
Nowdays, in Evansville…
You have to get a public or private “development corp” involved to get free press & advertising? Plus you have to partner with a community Oligarch to [take care of the unmentionables…]?
Be careful evaluating what you think is great for our community. If it turns out to be an example of everything wrong, buyer beware.
I wasn’t saying this was good from a standpoint of free enterprise. I was saying this was good from a standpoint of a city-sponsored revitalization project as a replacement for the FDP program. I’d much rather break even on taxpayer dollars for right-sized and right-priced houses as mentioned in the article than lose 50% or more of every dollar spent on the FDP McMansions.
Wow, that almost makes your comment sound really “responsible”.
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And who says fascism isn’t on the rise?
Common Sense? Evansville? Weinzapfel and company,–
“We don’t need no stinking Common Sense.”
“We got Keys to the Public Piggy Bank”!
Just 133 days til Their gone.
Forgive my ignorance, but where are the “official” Front Door Pride homes located???
The 620 Washington site was a money loser BEFORE the project was started. Somebody made a lifetime earnings off this house.
Ah another day, another story no one cares about. Another day Rick Davis doesn’t show up to do his job and another day he campaign’s on our dime.
Rick Davis is campaigning? Is there any proof? It appeared Mr. Davis is in a political coma and holed up in a westside potato cellar because he has done nothing of any importance to run for mayor since the primary win. If Mr. Davis’s campaign strategy is to avoid comment and hide out, it is working to perfection.
I have been told that both Mr. Davis and Mr. Winnecke will be at several Neighborhood associations meetings in the coming week(s). If you haven’t been “satisfied” yet, I suggest you check both candidate’s web site for events you might want to attend.
Crash, no disrespect intended. Rick Davis could hold a press conference a day at the Executive Inn rubble pile about that fiasco, another at the McCurdy debacle and don’t get me started on the rubber stamp hapless ERC. Yet, he meets groups and agrees with Lloyd Winnecke that meth is bad and parks and bike trials are good. Asleep at the wheel.
Mr. Davis recently appeared at a meet the candidates event (for what it was worth, and that was not much) at First Presy.
I’m voting for Davis because he said he’s going to remodel FDP homes at half again as much as building new homes on the same properties. What’s a little more tax money dumped into too densely developed, now rapidly depopulating neighborhoods? You rock, Rick!
10 New FDP houses X $100,000 dollars or More, lost on each one,
Equals $1,000,000 Dollars lost by the Taxpayers,–Great Plan!
Not!
Teapartyfriend, Obviously 2+2 is not your strong suit, so, I assume your part of the Weinzapfel/Winnecke “braintrust” that thinks(?) this is progress in it’s finest hour!
The house at 620 was also funded by Indiana Landmarks. It is a historic home that was saved through the efforts of the city and Indiana Landmarks. I commend Mr. and Mrs. Phillips for purchasing the house and moving into a struggling downtown neighborhood. It was for sale for quite some time and many others had the opportunity to buy the home.
Who can argue with the Phillip’s logic to pick up a bargain due to a misguided government giveaway program. $300,000 out of the hands of the taxpayers to benefit the Phillips family. This house and the Front Door Pride program are Evansville’s version of the failed “cash for clunkers” where the president did the same thing with cars.
The Phillips’s simply took advantage of local government stupidity and were possibly rewarded with Mr. Phillips getting a political appointment to the Evansville Redevelopment Commission.
With relatives of elected officials buying FDP houses and political appointees being handed $300,000 discount deals on housing, Evansville is beginning to look like Venezuela. The other residents of the historic district spend their own hard earned dollars on their preservation passion. Why can’t elected and appointed officials do the same.
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