IS IT TRUE January 17, 2014

IS IT TRUE that the traffic on the City County Observer has made a dramatic increase with daily average pageviews is up by 40% since December 2013?…big offsets have not been the growth model of the CCO over the 4 years of counting professionally with Google Analytics?…the growth has always been steady at about 2% per month with an occasional spike because we scooped a story or had the nerve to ridicule the ridiculous while other media sources were silent or courteous?…we have no real idea why this offset came with the beginning of the new year but we will take it and keep pushing the envelope?…one suggestion was that the CP may have had a group of subscribers whose subscription ended on December 31 that have made the change?…if this is so we welcome them all?

IS IT TRUE it seems as though the proposed refurbishment of the Old Riverhouse into a new Comfort Inn has been placed on hold by the property owner?…the front story is that another project must be completed first and we buy that explanation?…had the “code police” and the “tax rebate police” been more helpful with the Comfort Inn project it may have stayed the apple of this private developer’s eye and we may actually have a hotel construction project happening right now in downtown Evansville?…blunting the efforts of a self funded private developer to place a hotel in downtown Evansville while paying an incentive to the “preferred” developer of a downtown convention hotel is about par for the course in a town that maintains nothing and is addicted to subsidized construction projects?…we long for a day when subsidies are not the coin of the realm?

IS IT TRUE a study was released recently that counts Indiana as the #1 (as in worst) in smoking with pregnant?…the same study showed that during the 50 years since the first surgeon general’s report on the toxicity of smoking cigarettes that Indiana is still among the states with the highest smoking rates among adults?…with a smoking rate of over 50% above national averages and 100% above the “healthy” states it is no wonder that health insurance premiums in Indiana are off the charts expensive?…taking Evansville as an example the median household income is $35,949 and the currently available family health insurance plan costs roughly $18,000 per year (pre subsidy) something has got to give?…a market where health insurance for a family costs 50% of the median income is not sustainable and can be expected to collapse?…many other states and cities are in equally dire or worse situations?…without regard to subsidies this cannot work in the long term?…the best way to reduce the premiums is to get healthy?

IS IT TRUE this writer was attracted to California to establish the first Innovation Hub 2 years ago and was surprised yet encouraged to hear President Obama announce a national Innovation Hub initiative in North Carolina on Wednesday?…the President clearly had been in contact with California officials over the last week as there were calls coming in from “anonymous” sources asking detailed question about the program since the first of the year?…when California established the Innovation Hub program all funding was local and it still is?…the Innovation Hub in Palm Springs that this writer runs started with a budget of just over $200,000 per year all from local sources?…the Accelerator Campus that is 43,000 square feet and has the capacity to house 15 manufacturing companies was launched in the second year and is now FULL?…the cost to get the entire program into its third year with 50,000 square feet, 24 businesses, and the staff needed to sustain it has been less than $2 Million including operating expenses?…we are all wondering how the dickens the President expects the folks in North Carolina to spend $200 Million to do the same thing?

IS IT TRUE California was right to require exclusively local funding?…California was right to impose no bureaucratic reporting rules on the Innovation Hubs?…California was right not to impose Davis-Bacon laws on Innovation Hub construction projects?…California is now reaping great rewards with 16 Innovation Hubs in place and performing well?…with a single Innovation Hub budget of $200 Million this writer suspects that the national initiative is being set up for the failures that come with massive federal subsidies, arcane rules, and oppressive regulations?…we wish the President well with this initiative but will watch the implementation process closely?…if this goes the way the ACA website and the Jobs Act of 2012’s crowdfunding provision have gone there will still be no national Innovation Hub in place when President Obama leaves office 3 years from now?…this writer will be watching the State of the Union address and counting the number of times any reference to Innovation Hubs is made?…this has been a surreal week?…this writer has a date with national talk radio on this subject in about 40 minutes and will try hard to respect the Office of the President of the United States when responding to the questions on the cost differential?