LETTER TO THE EDITOR: POSITIVE NEWS

POSITIVE NEWS?

By GEORGE LUMLEY

I have positive news.  Yes, no more negativity from me.  Evansville is one of the best run, cleanest, well-kept and sweetest smelling cities anywhere.  I know this not from personal experience but because some of the city leaders and employees that have lived here all their lives told me so – so it must be true.  If any visitors or newcomers indicate differently please straighten them out. Do not let them form their own opinion about the inner city.  Tell them how great it is, especially in the inner city just beyond the downtown.  Be positive and explain the city has a financial problem and has no funding for basic services.  Tell them that everything has been cut from the budget except salary expense and big ticket subsidies to put things Downtown and improve the property values where it matters the most – Downtown and the Arts District at Hanie’s corner.

Now moving on to even more positive news, the city demolished a house in my adopted neighborhood.  Woo Hoo! One down and just a few hundred or thousands to go for the city.

Not a big deal for you or me, but for the people living along the street where this burnt out shell has been standing for almost three years it is quite a relief.  I wish the picture was available here and clear enough to see it was a terribly gruesome corpse.  To keep from being negative I am showing the cleared lot instead. This house was not just fire damaged.  It was totally destroyed but left standing. The roof still looked good.  Not much for walls or siding but there were structural studs holding up the roof. You could see straight through from the street, in the front and out the back.  A closer inspection revealed a clear path in the front and around inside the shell where curious kids and people like me had ventured for a visit.  No homeless people in this one.  I think even the stray cats and dogs were afraid to stay very long and found better lodging elsewhere.

A neighboring resident told me the house used to look better.  I said yea, most houses look better before they catch on fire.  No, no, he replied “it looked better when it was boarded up”.  I agreed that it would surely look better boarded up and he explained that, as with many of the houses that get secured with plywood, the two legged termites can quickly carry off the valuable plywood.  I guess the positive thing here is that the plywood is attached as a temporary cover with just a few nails so that the thieves can remove it easily without significant damage to the plywood.

Of course it is good that this eyesore that would discourage anyone from buying or renting a house on the street is gone.  Also gone are the bugs, rodents, snakes and the like.  Also gone are the safety issues posed for children that might venture from the Howell Park only a block away.  Best of all this was done in one day.  It only took one day for the contractor to take out the house.  Yes the problem has been there since January of 2013 and the city got right on it and solved the problem before the third year anniversary.  This rotten garbage could have stood for at least ten, maybe fifteen years before actually falling over. The roof was in pretty good shape.

I am happy to report that the city got right on this because they have a “radar” that finds these.  Yes, when I asked the Building Commissioner about the status, and I may have been complaining a little, he said “it just showed up on our radar this year”.  Again I am very thankful and appreciate that Evansville has a Zombie house radar to indicate dangerous structures.

Now there is always some bad news with the good.  Or maybe it is just a matter of opinion of what is good or bad.  As with 90% of the lots that need owners after demolition I found someone willing to own, pay taxes on and maintain the vacated lot so the city did not have that burden.  I know the people that have lived here all their lives proclaim this cannot be done –that no one wants the lots so you have to leave the houses to rot until the whole block is infested and then redevelop large areas using out of town contractors that make large campaign contributions – for their sake let’s just be positive and ignore facts for now.  I will not harp on the thousands of lots around the city that private individuals actually own, pay taxes on and maintain.  I thought this was good that people, residents, wanted to own and maintain lots in their neighborhoods; But, Mr. Coures of the Department of Metropolitan Development, (DMD) has an issue that the people I find, the people living in these neighborhoods, may not be of the quality the city want’s owning the lots.

On this particular lot Mr Coures had a couple of problems with the neighbor who wanted the lot.  Nothing like being positive, but Mr. Coures pointed out that the neighbor willing to take the lot did not actually own the house they were living in beside the lot.  Because they were buying on contract, Mr. Coures expressed that the potential owners may not be quality users of the property.  Staying positive, and being just a resident of two years I guess I will have to take his word for it.  For all I know Evansville might even have an ordinance stating that contract purchasers have to be low quality people.

The ever so positive Mr. Coures even presented a photo taken of the potential owner’s property.  Yes even though there had been no code violations, DMD presented a dimly lit photo showing what appeared to be a couple of mattresses sitting on edge in front of the house and some shaggy vegetation.  Not only was the potential owner a lowly contract purchaser they were not living up to Mr Coures daily maintenance standards. This was not just presented to me but to the whole city council.

What looked bad to Mr. Coures, and he spun in such a negative light, looked great and positive to me.  You see, I had more than just a snapshot in time picture of the property.  I had seen the property months earlier, before the new owners (excuse me, “contract buyers”) had arrived. I was even able to take a tour inside because both the front and back doors had been kicked in and left open.  The house had been completely trashed.  Windows were open or broken, the rain had been blowing in, cabinets were broken, holes had been knocked in the walls, and wild animals didn’t even want to live there.  Looked like the city would be spending $5k to tear it down. Well more likely $10k in the year 2025.
Three vacant houses in a row and someone decides to tackle fixing up the one in the middle.  What could be more positive than an individual taking the initiative to make a home in between a burnt out shell on one side and house that was gutted for remodeling and never finished on the other.  I watched as the weeds were knocked down, trash picked up, windows and doors secured. A trampoline appeared in the tiny yard. I even stopped in and talked with the extended family working on the renovation. I had to ask why they would move to that street and they said they had several kids and thought they were moving to a better part of town. They had Reitz School up the hill and Howell Park practically across the street.  I found them to be quality, hardworking people, making things happen and not looking for a handout.  But then I am not a lifelong resident of Evansville so my opinion is not important.

Now to me this is positive, free enterprise actually working.  This repaired home and added vacant lot is not nearly as nice as the Front Door Pride homes that the city remodeled at a cost of about $250k and sold for $90k to subsidized buyers, but that great program didn’t last very long.  If a person won the lottery on one of those homes they might move up in the world in the eyes of DMD. They would be quality people because they would have ownership and a mortgage instead of being lowly contract buyers with labor, sweat and initiative invested.

As you can see I am starting to catch on to this Evansville thing about being positive and praising the city departments.  I am new to Evansville, but old and will never live a lifetime here, thank goodness. So until I’m fully convinced that everything is great I believe some of city government is broken and will keep my “Let’s fix that” approach.  If you have experienced life outside of Evansville – please vote in the city election.