IS IT TRUE April 2, 2013 may just go down in history as the worst public relations nightmare that the City of Evansville has ever experienced?…it is not every day that any city can be placed among the 10 most miserable cities in America and have a political appointee of the redevelopment commission placed under federal indictment?…we are sure that places like Detroit have had such one-two punches land in a single day but for a medium sized city that fancies itself to be “a great place to raise kids†or even “having a good quality of life†as the Chamber and public officials like to parrot has endured such a double whammy in a single day?…the big difference in a perpetual hell hole like Detroit and cities like Evansville is that finally after 50 years of delusion of sunshine and rainbows by Mayor after Mayor, Detroit knows it is a hell hole?…perhaps if during the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and up to the jailing of former Mayor Kwame Kirkpatrick, Detroit’s elected leaders would have been competent and honest about finding real solutions to their problems that Detroit would still be the Silicon Valley of the Midwest as it once was?…riding unicorns, dancing like Harold Hill of the Music Man down Main Street, and blowing the smoke of delusion up each other’s backsides will not create one job, will not repair one piece of crumbling infrastructure, and will not pull the wool over one site selectors eyes?…pursuit of the trappings of success with taxpayer dollars before establishing a fully functional infrastructure will not either?…these are things that make Evansville look dumb and promote the conditions that seem to keep landing us on the wrong end of national polls whether they are about obesity or misery?
IS IT TRUE that to be named the 8th most miserable place in America to live is a pretty rotten distinction?…even the City County Observer would not have placed Evansville that low?…each of us can think of at least 10 places that are much worse than Evansville to live?…our list would include, Detroit, Gary, South Bend, Fort Wayne, Dayton, Youngstown, St. Louis (city), Memphis (city), Camden, and Hoboken?…we could name more but the point is made that the bottom of the barrel is often defined by the content of the survey?…when examining the kinds of questions that Gallup asked when they were doing the misery survey what we found is that the questions were heavily weighted (no pun intended) toward healthy living and job satisfaction?…it should come as no surprise that Evansville would score poorly on healthy living with stubbornly high rates of smoking and drinking?…that with respect to job satisfaction Evansville is among a number of cities that has a low wage base among both blue collar and professional ranks and the upwardly mobile opportunities are sparse?…given the focus of the study Evansville obviously did score #8 from the bottom on the Gallup survey and for valid reasons?…given the questions we would not argue the results but we also would not make a silly statement like “Gallup could not tell us how they determined what cities made which listâ€?…such a statement is just another rainbow jumping, unicorn riding way of the delusional?…to avoid the fate of Detroit, Evansville needs leaders that will postpone the instant gratification of parks and parades to establish world class infrastructure, modern communications, and an excellent school system?…these are the things that will lead to a population that does not wallow in misery when pollsters come calling?
IS IT TRUE that some City Council members are calling for audits of the voting of Jay Carter on the Evansville Redevelopment Commission now that he has been indicted by the feds?…that may be a bit of a stretch from a group that has fought auditing the $127 Million Ford Center construction project like a cat fights a bath?…there is one curiosity surrounding the indictment of Mr. Carter that needs to be looked into?…that would be the manner in which the voting went down that resulted in the towing company that was named multiple time in the indictment beat out the longtime provider of towing services to the City of Evansville?…Hammerick’s provided towing services to the City of Evansville for many years and enjoys a great business reputation for both quality and value?…it would be interesting to know the whole story behind that choice and how the two voters that granted that contract would explain their votes?
