IS IT TRUE the City of Evansville is seeking input from the public on how best to devise a plan to make the roads more friendly for pedestrians and bicycles?…it is encouraging to see the City at least showing some semblance of respect for planning but we have been down this town hall meeting path before without decent results so forgive us if we look upon this with jaded perspective?…from a pedestrian perspective, it all starts with sidewalks and much of the City of Evansville is plagued by sidewalks that are so bad that one can’t walk a single block without encountering missing pieces or discontinuities that are massive enough to cause even the most attentive pedestrian to trip?…the sidewalks have been the subject of a federal consent decree for over 10 years now and not a darn thing has been done about them?…the reality is that Evansville’s sidewalks are in terrible condition and have been for years so any plan that does not address sidewalks is not a plan at all, and any elected official that needs a neighborhood association to tell theme the sidewalks are in bad shape is out of touch with reality?

IS IT TRUE being bicycle friendly is a little bit more difficult to understand in a place that is designed for the automobile with some roads dating back to the horse and buggy days?…one thing that the powers that be need to understand about being bicycle friendly is that a thin stripe of paint added to the side of a road that is too narrow to begin with does not make a safe bike lane?…in the world of bicycle friendliness, size matters?…any designated bike lane that is not at least 4 feet wide excluding the storm drain is not a safe bike lane?…the other and more difficult issue is teaching the driving public how to be aware of bicycles that share the blacktop with them?…the safest bike lanes are ones that do not share blacktop with motorized vehicles and that is much more like a second sidewalk than the paint built bike lanes?…the path that may someday circle the City of Evansville is a good idea for biking and pedestrians and does indeed constitute a good start?…it must be pointed out that this good start has taken more than 15 years to become half reality which doesn’t really reflect a commitment to being bicycle or pedestrian friendly?

IS IT TRUE there is one more thing about being pedestrian friendly that is manifested annually in downtown Evansville and that is the fact that snow and ice removal is part of being pedestrian friendly?…in the year 2015 Yukon Cornelius is still seen occasionally searching for the Bumble in downtown Evansville among the pedestrians who have been planted flat on their butts by snow and ice accumulation?…as we said earlier, being bicycle and pedestrian friendly is a great goal but it is a goal that Evansville is woefully behind on?…being pedestrian friendly also depends on reliable and safe public transportation which the METS is not delivering?

IS IT TRUE the University of Evansville basketball Aces have hit a mid-season slump that may jeopardize their quest to get to 20 wins during the regular season?…the meltdown against Bradley where the Aces squandered a 17 point lead over a less talented opponent AT HOME looked more like last year’s Aces and not the team that was victorious over the #12 Northern Iowa team?…the talent is here for 20 or even 25 wins and a post season appearance this year?…it remains to be seen if that talent will manifest itself into a successful season even though it did start out with a bang?…we encourage our readers to get out to the Ford Center and join the 3,000 die hard fans that seem to attend every game to cheer the Aces to some more wins?

IS IT TRUE McDonald’s announced yesterday that their sales for the fourth quarter of 2014 were off by a full 1.8% from the 2013 performance?…on the bright side, it is possible that Americans have decided to eat healthier and that is the source of the fall in sales at McDonald’s?…on the other side this may reflect a drop in disposable income?…we do not know which it is but we do doubt that the American public has started a health food binge?…the reality with McDonald’s is that food has not been a priority for many years now?…the soul of McDonald’s has transitioned into the process of delivering the food and the mass marketing to appeal to kids who in turn badger their parents into shopping there?

Please take time and vote in todays “Readers Poll”
Copyright 2015 City County Observer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

IS IT TRUE the increased bill from the Evansville Water and Sewer Department to the people of Evansville and Vanderburgh County showed up in the most recent bill and boy does it have some people hopping mad?…one county dweller advised the City County Observer that his bill for 8,000 gallons of water was $129.92 for the month?…this writer who lives in the California drought zone used 3,500 gallons last month and had a bill of exactly $11.00 so one has to ask Evansville, “what the heck is going on?”…the EPA mandated repairs for the Combined Sewer Overflow problem haven’t even been defined yet so it can’t be blamed on that?…the tab for that legacy of neglect is expected to be at least $650 Million and may run over a Billion Dollars if the powers that be continue to procrastinate?…as we have pointed out before, every year that the City of Evansville waits to tackle this monster is going to add at least $20 Million to the eventual cost assuming a modest increase in construction costs of 3% per annum?…there will be a point in Evansville’s future where people like the poor soul with the $129 water bill will be paying nearly $500 per month?…it is entirely feasible for a future in Evansville to include a minimum of $1,000 per month for power, water, and sewer effectively erasing every low cost advantage that low housing cost may offer?

IS IT TRUE there will be a seminar put on by the Evansville Sewer and Water Utility on February 18th to tell us all how to save money on the water bill?…this has got to be one of the most common sense solution sets known to man that will have an end result of “don’t use so much water”?…the usual recommendations like flushing less, taking shorter showers, don’t water the plants, don’t wash the car, maybe even shower with a friend, and repair the leaks are things that an educated populace will have already figured out, but we do encourage any of our readers who are lacking in common sense or resolve to go get yourselves educated by the utility?

IS IT TRUE it seems as though the refrigeration business that gained Evansville the title “the refrigerator capital of the world” back in the day of big manufacturing is having it’s business model copied by the meth makers?…the recent news that even though meth lab busts are down that Evansville has transitioned from being a maker of meth to a customer of Mexican based meth manufacturers?…this revelation that has been verified by law enforcement that meth is at an all time high in Vanderburgh County even though less is being made locally makes every politician that hang his hat on the lower level of meth lab busts look hopelessly lost?…the reality is that the volume of meth confiscated by law enforcement has doubled since 2012 even with the lower number of local labs being busted?…it is the refrigerator story all over again?

IS IT TRUE another big retail outlet has filed for bankruptcy and this time it is the legacy supplier of electronics known as Radio Shack?…this is going to mean perhaps as many as 5 store closures in Evansville?…with all of the retail stores tossing in the towel after the Christmas shopping season one has to wonder just how can this happen in a country that touts an “official” unemployment rate of 5.6% which is about half of what it was 5 years ago?…the reality is that the algorithm that is used by our government to calculate unemployment has become obsolete with the drop in labor participation rate?…if the labor participation rate were to return to historical levels of 67% the “official” unemployment rate would be more like 11%, and that is why the activities in the consumer marketplace are counter to what would be expected with such a low real unemployment rate?

IS IT TRUE the good news on the jobs front is that there are 5 Million jobs openly advertised in the United States right now and for the first time in a long time, wages saw an uptick in January?…the bad news for many of the 8 Million “official” job seekers, is that most of these 5 Million jobs require advanced skills that the job seekers do not have?…the types of skills being sought are also not the kind of skills that are taught quickly to people without a prerequisite knowledge base to build upon?…it is nice that there are nearly a million openings for advanced programmers but that is of little solace to middle aged factory workers who have seen the demand for their skills exported to other countries where the jobs are done effectively for as little as $3 a day?

Please take time and vote in todays “Readers Poll”
Copyright 2015 City County Observer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.