IS IT TRUE PART 2 August 24, 2011
IS IT TRUE that the burning house on Read Street Monday night that occurred just hours after the Evansville City Council passed a resolution asking the State of Indiana to pass legislation to make pseudo ephedrine based medicine covered by prescription only has now caused some COLLATERAL DAMAGE?…that COLLATERAL DAMAGE is what it is called when a big problem in one place causes a different problem elsewhere?…that in the case of the Read Street house fire that the house right next door happens to be a Crisis Pregnancy Center that serves women who need their services?…that this Crisis Pregnancy Center is now closed indefinitely due to the fire next door?…that the heat has damaged the Center, has distributed debris all over the lot and will now require repairs and cleanup before re-opening?…that we hope that this fire was not meth related because sometimes meth related fires cause environmental toxicity well beyond their confines?…that meth related house fires can have the COLLATERAL DAMAGE effect of causing three or even more houses to become uninhabitable?…that this just underscores that the Evansville City Council is on the right track and that Senator Jim Tomes is the deer in the headlights on this subject?
IS IT TRUE that speaking of houses that the issue of INVENTORY MANAGEMENT needs to be considered by the candidate for Mayor of Evansville as they ponder what to do about the Front Door Pride program and other public housing construction that is under consideration?…that at any given time there are between 2,000 and 2,500 houses on the market in the Evansville area?…that the private sales per year has recently been in the 1,500 to 2,000 range?…that Evansville by some measures has 8,000 homes that are dilapidated to the point that they are economically unfeasible to repair?…that in addition to that there are about 2,000 to 2,500 homes that are unoccupied due to abandonment or lack of demand?…that when all of the empty homes and for sale homes (some of which are empty) are counted up the Evansville area has a 6 to 10 year inventory of homes that are available?
IS IT TRUE that the overwhelming majority of these empty homes are in the City of Evansville?…that the population of the City of Evansville even including annexation has been shrinking by about 500 people (250 households) per year for 50 years?…that the loss in population (25,000) corresponds nearly exactly to the abandoned households (12,500)?…that Evansville’ problem with dilapidated and abandoned houses can be traced directly to the shrinking population which can be traced directly to the loss of jobs?…that the last thing that a competent retailer would do with a 10 year inventory of any product would be to add to the inventory?…that is exactly what the City of Evansville has been doing?…that inventory liquidation or elimination by whatever means is necessary is what a competent business owner who wants to stay in business would do if faced with a 10 year inventory?
IS IT TRUE that many of Evansville’s legacy problems like the abandoned house problem will be solved by private investment if the local economy is fashioned into an atmosphere that inspires private investment that will in turn create desirable career opportunities?…that is another word for JOBS?…that we encourage our candidates for Mayor and City Council to concentrate on what will solve our problems as opposed to what may hide a legacy problem?
IS IT TRUE that the President of the United States has installed the CEO of GE as his head of job creation?…that GE is a big exporter of American jobs to other countries?…that GE has just announced a partnership with China to make commericial jets?…that Boeing just put in a new commercial jet facility in South Carolina that is being harassed by the government of the United States largely because South Carolina is a right to work state?…that for the Presdient to put the CEO of GE in charge of job ceation for America makes about as much sense as if the Mayor of Evansville put the CEO of Whirlpool in charge of creating jobs in Evansville?
Is it true that Chris Verriville is getting his books and the EB-5 program hammered in Indianapolis right now?
I highly doubt it since he is in Evansville today working on other projects and the Prime Lodging meeting isn’t until next week.
I think the City of Evansville does have a program to reduce the number of abandoned and dilapidated houses. It called do nothing and wait for them to rot, burn down, or be destroyed the other effects of time and Mother Nature.
From the information available to the public, you could draw a conclusion that the goal of the City of Evansville is to own as much real property as it can.
There are no fewer than 20 pages, each page with multiple listings, of real property owned by the City of Evansville on the Vanderburgh County Assessor’s website. Many of the properties have viable privately owned business operating from the address listed. In many cases the current “occupants” are paying the property taxes, but I am not sure that is the case in all instances.
If the city is the landlord, there is no rent being paid, unless you count the property taxes as rent.
The above listed 20 pages do not include the properties of the Parks Dept., and does not include some properties owned by the Evansville Housing Authority.
When you factor in all the non-taxable properties owned by government and not for profits, etc., which was close to $2.bil when the local total assessed valuation was at $8.bil, you can see the sort of property tax pressure it puts on those who must pay the tax.
Clearly, two things need to take place. We need to get the government out of the landlord business, and we need to take a very close look at all the 501C not for profits in order to determine if they are truly providing needed services that out weigh the benefits their tax status provides them.
__
Does the City of Evansville pay real estate taxes to itself? That seems a rather silly exercise in zero sum accounting if they do.
The city of evansville does not pay property taxes. you can pull up any of their properties on the treasurer’s website and see that they dont pay taxes, they are government exempt. Nice huh?
The City of Evansville is not even moving as fast to tear down dilapidated houses as the one-pot meth cookers are. Maybe the city can create some jobs for these meth cookers in the demolition department. They have already ruined large areas of town. It is the least that they could do to finish the jobs they have already started.
Comments are closed.