IS IT TRUE July 18, 2013
IS IT TRUE next Tuesday is the day that we all get to see renderings of just how someone can budget over $10 Million for a dog park and skateboard park?…the renderings paid for by a donation from a friendly non-profit in the name of wellness are to be unveiled at 5:30 next Tuesday?…it is easy to understand how one could get carried away in trying to emulate skateboard parks in warm climates and drop several million bucks on a skateboard facility but dropping 7 figures on a dog park is hard to imagine even if the Pentagon is the buyer?…a dog park basically consists of fencing, shade, a drinking fountain, and some benches?…fencing for a 3 acre dog park like the beautiful dog park adjacent to the San Diego Zoo can be installed for less than $25,000?…long lasting recycled plastic park benches are available locally from Green Tree Plastics (www.greentreplastics.com) for several hundred bucks each, and shade can be provided by TREES that come pretty cheap even in large sizes?…it is hard to imagine that even the most opulent dog park in America could even approach a Million dollars to build?…Evansville has had a skateboard park before behind the Swonder Ice Rink and it seldom has anyone using it?…there are two reasons for that?…the first reason is that the culture of Evansville is just not one that breeds many skateboarders and the second is that the half pipes rotted out from neglect?…we are sure the dozen or so parents of skateboarders in Evansville will scream and moan about it but Evansville is not a skateboard town and never will be?…spending millions of dollars on a skateboard park to appease a handful of spoiled kids is an irresponsible use of taxpayer funds?…the grassy field that once was Roberts Stadium actually looks pretty good from the Lloyd Expressway?…maybe a well maintained field is the right use for this acreage right now?
IS IT TRUE the group of 40 houses built with federal tax dollars in an area that is dominated by dilapidated and obsolete houses have been completed at a cost of about $200,000 each?…these houses have been rented to low income people and are now occupied?…these houses while quite nice by virtue of being randomly located in some of the worst parts of Evansville are at risk to be treated like the rest of the neighborhood which will soon devalue them to the neighborhood average of under $40,000?…such programs have been launched in Camden, Gary, Detroit, Chicago, and other places with very few success stories and massive squandering of taxpayer dollars?…the few success stories come from places that put all of the new housing together isolating them from the squalor they replaced?…a success story in such ventures constitutes finding renter who pay the rent and do not destroy the properties?…we know of no stories where after several years the homes are worth what it cost to build them?…while pretty, these programs like Front Door Pride before them are simply redistribution schemes designed by the government to attempt social engineering?…the odds of long term success using private metrics are pretty long?…the real test of value will be if the houses still look like this in 10 years?
IS IT TRUE given the details that have been emerging about the firing of Sherman Greer, in a normal situation that has checks, balances, and accountability for all this dismissal may well have been the right thing to do?…the problem with Sherman’s dismissal is still the fact that much higher sums of money have been squandered by others with no consequences at all?…we guess that random acts of sanity are preferable to all insanity all the time?…we shall look on the bright side and cross our fingers that the Winnecke Administration has turned a corner and will go forward with appropriate policies in place that treat all instances with equal accountability?
