IS IT TRUE Rick Huffman of HCW, the downtown hotel developer, was bragging yesterday about putting $500,000 worth of art on the ceiling of the new hotel?….if one had to pick between an indoor pool and expensive art on the ceiling of the lobby which would it be?…we think the hotel would be more marketable by scrapping the artwork and going for a year round pool?

IS IT TRUE community comments and press releases printed by the City County Observer are not an endorsement of the candidate or writer?….we have received statement and press releases from candidates addressing blight but have weighed in substantively?….we think there is value in breaking the auction cycle this year?….We agree the City collecting blighted structures and unwanted vacant lots that would otherwise be auctioned by the County is a laudable initiative?….we understand that 70% of the parcels auctioned each fall return to the auction block within 3 years and many never have a dime in property taxes paid by the owner?….we’d like to think the County government would recognize the futility of auctioning properties multiple times without collecting any taxes, but the County has been unwilling to accept the liability of holding properties that could garner as little as $25 in an auction?

IS IT TRUE a property must be three consecutive property tax installments behind, which takes 18 months, for the Auditor to declare the property tax delinquent?….once the properties are declared delinquent, a sale of the tax debt is scheduled?….of the roughly 550 properties whose tax debt was offered for sale last week, less than half were bought?….a buyer of tax debt can make back the taxes paid plus 10% if the owner redeems the property within 6 months of the sale?….the buyer can reap his purchase price plus 15% if the owner redeems between the 6 and 12 month mark?….anything paid over the tax debt for a property will gather 5% over the year the owner has to redeem?….whether a tax debt was purchased last week, all 550 properties must sit for a year, so that the owner has his statutory opportunity to redeem?….while the investors probably had a good handle on who would pay up, most of the properties offered last week will not be redeemed?…twelve months from now, the County is the entity that by law can petition for tax titles of the unredeemed properties?….despite the fact that most of the unwanted properties are located in the City limits, it is the County who may petition for ownership?….it is these properties that have sat, often empty with no utilities connected, for the 18 months while taxes are not paid plus another year waiting on the owner to pay up, that are ultimately auctioned by the County?

IS IT TRUE if the owner wanted the property, they only must pay one tax installment out of every three to keep the property from being deemed delinquent?….if someone else wanted the property, they could buy it at the tax debt sale and wait out the year to see if it is redeemed?…a buyer at the tax sale of a property that is not redeemed may petition the Court thereafter for title?….the properties that go to auction are vacant lots that are too small to build on, lots in blighted neighborhoods or structures that are uninhabitable?….no one wants these properties that has any good intentions?…often the buyers at auctions strip the structures of recyclable materials and then abandon them back to the process?….adjoining landowner have already been contacted by and offered their neighboring property for the cost of transferring title? ….the County should see they are auctioning properties that will be auctioned again in two years, and in an ever declining condition, and stop the auction, but they claim they do not have the resources to raze 200 structures a year and mow and clean trash from the lots?

IS IT TRUE if the County lacks the resources to prevent uninhabitable homes from being auctioned to people who cannot or will not bring them up to code, what is to be done with these properties?….the City has been attacked by some for simply trying to create an answer to these properties cycling through the auction process for years while property taxes are not collected and the quality of life of the surrounding neighborhood is negatively affected?….not every act of government is shady or lacks merit?….the City has a responsibility to its residents to sort through the properties going to auction and facilitate rehabilitation where possible and demolition where not?

IS IT TRUE the issue is not the City collecting 200+ properties a year that would otherwise be auctioned to the detriment of neighborhoods?….the issue is what to do with the lots once unsalvageable structures have been removed and the structures that can be rehabbed secured?….this issue of whether the County keeps them or the City or a third party is an issue of control, liability, maintenance and marketing?….no one wants the annual maintenance costs or liability, however the past tells us that even auctioning vacant lots often results in the City still paying for the lots to be mowed and the trash removed?….the vacant lots auctioned have the same return rate of 70% as parcels with structures?….that one entity that pays for maintenance and demolition does not want another entity controlling the fate of the properties?….the City and County are both restricted in what kind of marketing it can do or placing requirements on buyers to actually do the necessary work to bring the property up to code?….government is largely limited to the auction process for its sales method, and that rarely works when the property is in need of great investment?….Indiana lacks the legislation so many other states enjoy that allows local governments flexibility in selling property?….we agree that it’s a problem as to where the properties go after the auction is stopped, but we agree the auction should be stopped?

IS IT TRUE we also agree that a broader initiative is needed to slow and/or prevent blight?….we would be remiss however not to acknowledge the elected officials who have already said as much?….Gail Riecken and Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley have both talked about prevention as it relates to blight and vacancy?….we agree with both and now Alex Burton that vacancy is a big driver of blight?…we must understand the causes of vacancy and work to keep people in their homes as the first line of defense against blight?….anyone who has taken research and statistics knows that there is much data to crunch?….does our vacancy come from more than just death and a declining population?….we do we have a foreclosure problem for owner occupied properties?….how do we help people on a fixed income keep up their properties, which has an impact on their whole block?….we are pleased to see so many people are now interested and to begin to  understand our blight problem from more than just a remediation angle?  …we would also like to thank “Blight Fighter Volunteer” George Lumley for stating the debate in earnest?…if we only stopped the auctioning of blighted properties every year, the process would never end?….blight is not necessarily finite?

IS IT TRUE the 41 North bus route is funded equally by a federal grant and the City?….the grant will expire in 2016 and cannot be renewed?….the cost of the 41 North bus route is more than $500,000 a year?….the METS new Five Year Plan (2017-2021) was tentatively revealed to the public in early July?….that plan gave consumers three potential 5 year plans?….none of the plans were cumulative in that they included the other two proposals?….all had bits and pieces of what would arguably be comprehensive but is deemed cost prohibitive?….the route changes in all three proposals met with resistance, and now the plan has been quietly tucked away?…it will not go to the Evansville Metropolitan Planning Organization for approval until November?….the impending funding crisis for routes, Sunday services, evening service, better transit stations, and the City’s aging fleet will not come up for decision until after the election?