We hope that today’s “READERS FORUM” will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?

IS IT TRUE that the secrets about the appraisals surrounding the former CVS on North Main that was leased by DaVita to become a dialysis center for $1,600 per month is maddening?…by connecting the statements of DMD Director Kelley Coures, it can be surmised that the City of Evansville and DaVita Dialyisis have spent over $2 Million to purchase and refurbish this building?…it is now on sale and bids are being solicited based on the value of the building based on the cash income method?…income real estate is often valued based on the CAP rate which in Evansville is between 8 and 12 times the annual gross revenue potential?…the lease rate of $1.600 per month at a CAP rate of 10 would yield a value of only $192,000 for this building that supposedly has over $2 million in it?…there is actually a bidder that has offered $178,000 which is on the low end of the CAP rate expectation so this offer needs to be taken seriously?…the fact that the City of Evansville paid over $500,000 for the building and DaVita Dialysis reportedly added another $1.5 million is irrelevant?…it sounds like the viability of income property in Jimtown has not changed much in 50 years since the manufacturing base left town?…investing in Evansville as if it was a high-cost coastal enclave has and will always lead to losses and this time the taxpayers of Evansville were fleeced again by their own government?…as much as altering the rules to keep the Rathbone viable was the right thing to do, the actions and investments of the City of Evansville in the Jimtown CVS is just plain old dumb?

IS IT TRUE  last week that the President of the National Gridiron League went to Roanoke, Va to reassure city leaders that the league is still on track to bring Arena Football to that area?  …. we are told even after his presentation to city officials, there are still many questions to be answered?  …we urge you and members of the local mainstream media to pull up the story March 22, 2019, written by Shayne Dwyer – reporter for Channel 10 TV News to view his extremely interesting story concerning Arena Football in the Roanoke area?

IS IT TRUE the Vanderburgh County Commissioners have formed a “County Health Insurance Advisory Committee” to study the county health insurance plan?  …this Committee is chaired by President of the County Commission Ben Shoulders? …this committee is comprised of many different county employees from each department?   …this committee met for the first time last week and a great deal of progress was made?  …that the committee will meet a few more times and will then decide on a recommendation to the Commissioners on what health insurance plan they want?….we give kudos to the County Commissioners for thinking outside the box?

IS IT TRUE we would like to congratulate the Evansville Sports Corporation for doing a superb job in coordinating the “Elite Eight” Divison ll basketball tournament?  …we expect that the Evansville Sports Corporation would also do an outstanding job if they were allowed to coordinate the marketing efforts of the Evansville Thunderbolts hockey team?

IS IT TRUE we noticed that several City Council candidates already have their po0litical signs displayed in people yards?  …this is a good sign that we are going to have a spirited City Council election?

the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the release of 24 studies on Pigment Violet 29 (PV29) used by EPA to develop the draft risk evaluation under the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, which amended the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA).

“We are committed to being transparent with information on chemicals, as we work to develop risk evaluations under TSCA,” said EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention Assistant Administrator Alexandra Dapolito Dunn.

The companies that submitted the studies had claimed the documents as confidential business information.  Robust summaries of the studies were provided to the public along with the draft risk evaluation on November 15, 2018.   Since that time, those companies have revised their confidentiality claims, dropping most of them.  Following Agency regulations, EPA has reviewed the remaining claims of confidential business information and determined that the information is entitled to confidential treatment.  That information has been redacted from the studies publicly released today.

The release of these studies does not change the Agency’s proposed “no unreasonable risk” determination as concluded in the draft risk evaluation published in November.  EPA previously submitted the complete, unredacted versions of the studies to the TSCA Science Advisory Committee on Chemicals (SACC) to use in their peer review of the draft risk evaluation.

The newly released studies can be found at: https://www.epa.gov/assessing-and-managing-chemicals-under-tsca/draft-risk-evaluation-pigment-violet-29 and next week will  also be in the Supporting Documents folder of docket EPA-HQ-OPPT-2018-0604 on www.regulations.gov.

EPA will shortly be announcing the date to reopen the comment period on the draft risk evaluation in light of these newly released studies.  The peer review panel on PV 29, canceled due to the lapse in appropriations, is in the process of being rescheduled.