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Stop Bailing Out Failed Cities: by Carl Schramm

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“Cities come and go.” That’s the message from Rupert Murdoch, who spoke recently about immigration at an event hosted by the New England Council in Boston. This view found disagreement from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who advanced a vision of giving citizenship to any foreigner who would move to Detroit and homestead, reasoning that immigrants would establish a new economy and revive the city. Mayor Bloomberg was being guided by the prevailing sense that government can solve the problem of dying cities; it’s just a matter of finding the right solution.

Detroit cannot be revived to the economic power it once was — ever. It has gone from being a fast city to a slow city. Indeed, a very slow city. And, Detroit is not alone. Turning to immigration to save all of America’s major declining cities would require that upwards of 30 million non-Americans move in! At least Mayor Bloomberg is not in the implicit camp of most city experts, who believe the answer is preventing people from leaving the cities in which they live. Billions of dollars will be spent this year to do a myriad of things to entice people to stay in cities that hold little in the way of economic promise.

Governor Andrew Cuomo recently announced that New York State is sending a billion dollars to resuscitate Buffalo. (He forgot to mention the state has to borrow the money.) It is a near certainty that the new monies will make matters worse, as Steven Malanga has explained in the Wall Street Journal. Bureaucrats, experts to be sure in urban planning, will make the decisions in Albany, and inevitably will put the money into physical things — infrastructure and buildings. “If we build it, they will stay.”

Think of the cost of this misdirected expert impulse. Millions of people whose economic livelihoods might be greatly improved if they move are the focus of spending to make them stay put. Rebuilding city centers will not bring jobs, there is no evidence that this strategy ever works. Cities grow and shrink organically. Government policy does affect this process, but urban redevelopment or public housing strategies generally accelerate a city’s decline. Governments must tax to fund their efforts to physically revitalize cities. As the tax burden goes up, inevitably on businesses and business owners, the cost of doing business in a state or city grows as well. To pursue public redevelopment is to employ a tax strategy that will drive business away. It’s tautological.

New business is the only way for cities to revitalize themselves. Mayor Bloomberg is right in this regard: Immigrants in a burned-out shell of a city would be innovative, imaginative, and industrious as a matter of necessity. An economy would happen, but it would not be a scale economy that would produce the wealth that we would all love to see return to Detroit. Scale wealth comes from innovative human capital, and as long as government tax policy drives people away, entrepreneurs will leave. But it is through the creation of new businesses, which grow at the hands of entrepreneurs, that cities can be rebirthed.

Recently the New York Times reported on the extraordinary growth of Austin, Texas. Even a casual reader can sense that private developers are doing all the construction. The new physical city is being built to house the new businesses that are already growing in Texas — a state whose public policy, especially its tax policy, expressly encourages business growth.

Consider a tale of two cities. In 1960 Buffalo was the 20th largest U.S. city with 532,000 inhabitants. Prosperity was a hallmark of this first city in America to be lighted at night. Austin was a frontier town with 185,000 people, ranked 67th in size. Today Austin, with a population of 820,000 is our 13th largest city while Buffalo is 72nd having lost more than half its population. It is no surprise that only 13% of Austin families are in poverty, while 27% are in Buffalo. The only new building going on in Buffalo is sponsored by the state. To walk its streets one knows what a slow city feels like. To read the Times’s account of Austin, one can virtually feel the vibrancy.

Rational policy might suggest that rather than consider heroic means to save our cities — turning to immigrants to bail them out or sending in piles of borrowed money to rebuild a veneer of a city to entice people not to leave — we might just let people move to where markets are pulling them. As long as places like New York believe that taxing and spending are the way to shape the future, their residents will continue to move to places like Texas, where the cost of government is much lower because the government doesn’t try to solve all problems. Instead of trying to “bail out” cities like Buffalo or Detroit that lose more than half their populations, the federal government might initiate a downsizing program to retire municipal debt, close schools, shut down physical infrastructure, reforest parts of the city, and help people, including city workers, find jobs elsewhere.

Source: 4% Growth Project

IS IT TRUE August 30, 2012

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The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE August 30, 2012

IS IT TRUE the Vanderburgh County Commissioners last night voted to cut their funding to the Human Relations Commission by 20% for 2013 to a level of $37,940 per year?…the County Commissioners were recently asking questions about some actions taken by the Human Relations Commission and were flat out told that the HRC reports to the mayor and not to the commissioners?…this came as a surprise to the Commissioners who have been in the habit of rubber stamping funding for the HRC as a consent item for years?…that part of the recent controversy about the actions of the HRC revolve around a lawsuit brought by the HRC against the Evansville Rescue Mission?…the HRC has been reported to have refused to even speak with the County Commissioners about the lawsuit against the Evansville Rescue Mission?…that Commissioner Marsha Abell is on record as stating that if it were her decision alone that she would have eliminated the funding of the HRC in its entirety?

IS IT TRUE the HRC seems to have bitten one of the hands that feeds them by refusing to speak with one of their funding agencies regarding a lawsuit they brought against another humanitarian non-profit organization?…it will be interesting to see the lawsuit that the HRC has launched against the Evansville Rescue Mission plays out?…the HRC investigates discrimination allegations in the areas of employment, education, credit, and housing?…that maybe the motives and methods behind the suit against the Evansville Rescue Mission should be completely examined to see of the HRC was wasting taxpayer dollars in pursuit of a settlement that would have to be paid in part from taxpayer dollars and charitable contributions?…if there was ever a lawsuit designed to take food from the mouths of the poor and shelter from the homeless that a discrimination lawsuit against any rescue mission is exactly that?…the CCO would appreciate any information available on this particular lawsuit and will publish such information deemed to be public domain without edit, opinion, or bias?

IS IT TRUE that sometimes defunding of government handouts is indeed the right thing to do?…that in reality a country without any need for any Human Relations Commissions, food stamps, welfare, government housing, and other such programs would be seen as the biggest political success in history?…we are certainly not there in this prolonged recession as competition for the few jobs there are make discrimination more likely and humanitarian assistance more necessary?…that the CCO hopes that the United States of America musters the political intelligence and courage to someday achieve a society where full employment is typical and handouts are no longer necessary?…we dream of a day when our success as a nation is measured by how few people are on food stamps as opposed to measuring success by how many are receiving public assistance?…we can and should do better than we are doing in Evansville, in Vanderburgh County, in Indiana, and in the United States of America?

IS IT TRUE that closing on a lighter note it has been refreshing to see Evansville’s own and friend to the CCO Casey Stegall standing in the rain down in New Orleans reporting on Hurricane Issac?…that we are also sort of mystified that one of the Navy Seals who raided the Bin Laden compound published a book under the pseudonym of Mark Owen who we know as the former Chairman of the Vanderburgh County Democrat Party?…we hope Mark makes lots of money off of this book and takes out an ad in the CCO with his profits?

Applications now available for USI’s Connect with Southern Indiana program

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Looking for a way to meet new people and improve the quality of life in your community? Apply today to participate in the University of Southern Indiana’s 2013 Connect with Southern Indiana program.

A regional leadership program offered through USI’s Historic Southern Indiana, Connect with Southern Indiana is an annual program open to Indiana residents living in Dubois, Gibson, Knox, Perry, Pike, Posey, Spencer, Vanderburgh, or Warrick counties. Applicants should have an interest in improving the quality of life in their community and/or region, a desire to develop leadership skills, and to become actively involved in their area.

Participants will attend ten full-day sessions on January 11 and 25, February 15 and 28, March 1 and 15, April 12 and 26, May 17, and June 7. Members of the class will develop a collaborative project, which they will present at the end of the program.

This year’s program topics will include community overviews, critical thinking, personality profiles, opportunity identification, project management, public skills, presentation planning, and government relations. USI faculty and staff and community leaders will facilitate all programs.

Up to twenty-four individuals will be selected for the program. One year’s residency in the region prior to January 2013 is required to participate.

The University covers program expenses, including overnight accommodations, facilitation, meals, location rental fees, and materials. Participants will provide their own transportation to and from sessions and should have time in their schedule to attend sessions and work on projects. Since the program is free with limited openings, applicants must have the ability and willingness to participate in all sessions and out-of-class assignments.

Additional information and an application for the 2013 Connect with Southern Indiana class can be found online by clicking here. The deadline to apply is Monday, October 22.

Calvin Klein to Speak in Indianapolis, Evansville October 24

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The Institute for Global Enterprise in Indiana, part of the Schroeder Family School of Business Administration at the University of Evansville, is pleased to announce event details for Calvin Klein’s appearances in Indianapolis and Evansville on Wednesday, October 24. As part of the Institute Speaker Series, Klein will discuss “Lessons from the Runway to Success: Leadership and Building a Global Brand.”

Klein, an award-winning fashion icon, is recognized globally as a master of minimalism. His name ranks among the best-known brands in the world with Calvin Klein, Inc. reaching over $6 billion in global retail sales. Whether in fashion, fragrance, beauty, or his collections for the home, Klein’s advertising campaigns have redefined the way products are marketed to consumers. Among his many honors, Time Magazine in 1996 named him one of the most influential Americans.

Klein’s appearance in Indianapolis is presented in partnership with the Rotary Club of Indianapolis. Registration begins at 11:30 a.m. local time, and Klein will speak at noon at the Scottish Rite Cathedral, 650 N. Meridian St. Each ticket costs $30 and includes lunch. Guests may purchase a maximum of four tickets through the University of Evansville at www.uealumnionline.com/calvinklein or 812-488-2706.

Klein will speak that evening in Evansville at 7:00 p.m. local time at the Victory Theatre, 600 Main St. This event is free and open to the public, with no tickets required. Doors open at 6:00 p.m., and seating is first come, first served. For more information, please visit www.globalindiana.com or contact the Institute for Global Enterprise in Indiana at 812-488-2455 or globalindiana@evansville.edu.

The Institute for Global Enterprise in Indiana wishes to thank Old National Bank, Let’s Sew, and Anchor Industries for their generous support of these Institute Speaker Series events.

Firefighter Promoted to Lieutenant

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Firefighter Matt Garnett, a department veteran just shy of 10 years, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant this morning in a brief ceremony at EFD headquarters. Garnett’s badge was presented by Fire Chief Mike Connelly who then followed up with a congratulatory handshake for the new Lieutenant.

Matt has been active in Firefighter’s Local 357, is a member of their PAC Committee and co-chaired last year’s EFD Fall Festival committee. Matt is also on the Board of Directors for 911 Gives Hope. He has been assigned toQuint 16 since November 2004.

Lieutenant Garnett’s new assignment will be on one of EFD’s newest truck, Engine 4.

Joshua Academy Teacher Karen Ragland allegedly ineligible to serve on School Board

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The City County Observer has been advised that Karen Ragland the candidate for District 1 school board seat is a teacher at JOSHUA ACADEMY, INC. an Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation Charter School. As is codified in the two Indiana Codes below as a certified teacher and an employee of a charter school under contract to the EVSC make her ineligible to serve on the school board.

It would appear she can run for the office but if she is elected she would have to quit her teaching job prior to being seated on the school board. As Mrs. Ragland is currently on the school board that presents a problem similar in nature to the election and service of Bix Branson who is geographically ineligible to hold the seat that he has served in for nearly four years.

At this point 2 of the members of the Vanderburgh County School Board are technically not eligible to serve.

There is a challenge to Mrs. Ragland’s candidacy filed today and is linked below.

School Board Challenge

Applicable Laws

IC 20-26-4-11
Ineligibility of teachers and noncertificated employees
Sec. 11. In addition to any other eligibility requirements for members of the governing body of a school corporation as set forth in law, an individual who is employed as a teacher or as a noncertificated employee (as defined in IC 20-29-2-11) of the school corporation may not be a member of the governing body of the school corporation.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.10.
IC 20-29-2-4
“Certificated employee”

Sec. 4. “Certificated employee” means a person:
(1) whose contract with the school corporation requires that the person hold a license or permit from the division of professional standards of the department under IC 20-28; or
(2) who is employed as a teacher by a charter school established under IC 20-24.
As added by P.L.1-2005, SEC.13. Amended by P.L.1-2007, SEC.145.

United Mine Workers calls it quits for Obama

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A major union is dropping out of endorsing President Obama.


The United Mine Workers of America, a prominent Democratic union and avid supporter for President Obama in 2008, is at its breaking point with the Obama administration’s “War on Coal.” After calls from their ‘rank and file’ – who’ve seen plants closed, pink-slips and jobs threatened at the hands of President Obama’s EPA – the UMWA is sitting this one out. Pretty telling of the changing tides when even UMWA officials can’t remember the last time they didn’t endorse a presidential candidate.

Coal miners’ aren’t buying into an Obama 2nd term, and neither are the millions of Hoosiers, Southern Illinoisans, Kentuckians, West Virginians, Pennsylvanians, and Ohioans who rely on the coal industry in their local communities to create jobs and put food on the table. The president’s regulatory policies have hindered recovery in all of these states, most notably in the energy sector.

His EPA has relentlessly attacked the coal industry, which provides both jobs and affordable energy. Thanks to the president’s excessive regulations many plants in these states—have been and will be forced to close leaving hardworking miners without jobs and their communities without a lifeline. Just yesterday, local employees and retirees of Patriot Coal were briefed by the UMWA in downtown Evansville about how the company’s bankruptcy will disrupt their lives.

Chevy Volt Production Halted

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In March, the Wall Street Journal reported :

General Motors Co. will idle production of its Chevrolet Volt battery-powered car for five weeks beginning this month because of slow sales amid an effort to boost the vehicle’s consumer appeal.

Launched last year with great fanfare, the Volt has had a rocky start as sales stalled, and the car became a lightning rod for critics of the Obama administration’s auto-industry bailout and support for alternative energy.

GM said around 1,300 workers at the Hamtramck, Mich., factory where the Volt is built will be out of work between March 19 and April 23, a spokesman said. The plant had just resumed production on Feb. 6 after a prolonged holiday shutdown.

Mark Reuss, GM’s North American chief, said in an interview the auto maker remains committed to the Volt and is taking a number of steps to improve lagging sales. GM will launch a new national ad campaign this month that features Volt owners praising the car. It also recently dropped the monthly cost of leasing the vehicles to $350 from $399 for a 36-month lease.

But a few short months later, GM is idling the plant yet again. That’s hardly a surprise. GM, under pressure from the Obama administration, had a target of selling 45,000 Volts this year. Actual sales? Around 10,600 sales through July. This was – triple the 2,870 sold in 2011, but only because California gave the car an artificial boost by allowing lone Volt drivers on the car pool lanes.

But what is GM planning to do when the plant is idled? Retooling it to manufacture cars that people actually want and can afford – even without the $7,500 subsidy that the $40,000 Volt gets. Reports Reuters:

GM…will continue to “match supply with demand” for both the Volt and the Chevrolet Malibu sedan that is also made at the plant. The automaker declined to specify how long the plant will be closed.

During the shutdown, GM will do some retooling and other work to prepare for production early next year of the 2014 Chevrolet Impala sedan. The plant will begin building preproduction prototypes of the redesigned Impala this fall.

Welcome to President Obama’s green economy where products that sell can’t be made – and the ones that are made, don’t sell.

IS IT TRUE August 29, 2012

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The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE August 29, 2012

IS IT TRUE some of the details about the City of Evansville’s proposal to the EPA to eliminate the combined sewer overflows into the Ohio River are trickling out and that the original talking point of only having to spend $227 Million to achieve compliance turns out to have been a political sound bite and tells less than half of the truth?…today the City of Evansville is only able to treat 25% of the sewage dumping about 3.4 Billion gallons of sewage directly into the Ohio River?…the highly publicized number of $227 Million over the next 20 years only solves 40% of the problem leaving 2.5 Billion gallons of raw sewage to be discharged into the Ohio River even after spending $227 Million?…that assumes the use of the sewers stays the same as today meaning the population and business base can’t grow for this to make a small dent in the problem?…the first numbers released of $227 Million at this point seem to have been intentionally misleading (that is fancy talk for a pack of lies) to ease the fears of the ratepayers?…that telling lies is never a good policy and that a hard truth is always preferable to a lie?

IS IT TRUE the second phase of the project as it is now being called will bring the cost up to over $500 Million which is what the City County Observer and other interested parties have been saying for years?…we actually praised the Evansville Water and Sewer Department and the Winnecke Administration for innovations in design that clearly were VAPORWARE as opposed to a real solution to the problem?…the dollars reported are of course 2012 dollars and that the price will most likely exceed A BILLION DOLLARS after 30 years of inflation are factored in?…there is no place for this sort of sleight of hand in reporting and that the EPA has not and may very well never approve taking 30 years to fix a problem that is already under consent decree to be planned for a 20 year repair cycle?…that the authors of this plan are going to the EPA with a plan that they know full well does not meet the requirements of the consent decree?

IS IT TRUE the rotten smell of derrière in the south side and the discharges into the Ohio River are repellent to the kinds of people and businesses that the City of Evansville is dependent upon for economic survival?…this problem will cost between $10,000 and $20,000 for every household in Evansville?…implementation of this fix will be adding roughly a small car payment to the water and sewer bills of every home or business in the City or County if reconciliation passes?…this is a price worth paying and a cost that is necessary to bring the infrastructure of Evansville above 3rd World status?…wallowing in our own crap is no way to live and that the Winnecke Administration has an opportunity to set this course correctly as opposed to trying to plead with the EPA to allow poor old Evansville to continue its Calcutta imitation for another 30 years?…kicking the can down the road for 50 years by mayor after mayor does not make it right?

IS IT TRUE that our exposure of the FREE SPEECH ZONE at USI has stirred up a hornet’s nest of responses from both concerned citizens and USI officials?…we understand that many colleges took this step to keep outside influence off of campuses during the 60’s and 70’s when civil unrest over the Vietnam War turned violent?…USI is not alone in designating a small and nearly invisible area as a FREE SPEECH ZONE?…USI needs to take notice of what has happened to other universities that have established FREE SPEECH ZONES and made using them difficult with administrative restrictions?…that last week the latest in a series of lawsuits resulted in the University of Cincinnati’s FREE SPEECH ZONE being struck down as UNCONSTITUTIONAL in a Federal Court?…a simple Google search reveals hundreds of such lawsuits with similar results?…the CCO encourages USI to preemptively take this bull by the horns and make the entire campus outside of the buildings of higher learning into a FREE SPEECH ZONE?…bringing Evansville’s state university into compliance with the United States Constitution should be an expectation of the people of this town?…there is nothing to fear by taking this step?

Mayor Praises Emergency Response at Grandview Towers Fire

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EVANSVILLE, IN – Mayor Lloyd Winnecke commended city and county emergency personnel for their swift response to a three-alarm fire Sunday afternoon at Grandview Towers that resulted in one death and the evacuation of all 170 apartments in the building.

Central Dispatch received the first report of a fire at Grandview Towers at 5:42 p.m. Sunday and immediately alerted emergency personnel. The first fire units arrived at 1000 Fulton Parkway at
5:46 p.m. and were quickly joined by units from the Evansville Police Department and a car from the Vanderburgh County Sheriff’s Office.

Within 30 minutes, buses from the Metropolitan Evansville Transit System (METS) and representatives from the American Red Cross were on the scene providing assistance and transporting residents to restrooms at the METS bus terminal and later to an emergency shelter at Red Cross headquarters.

“First, I would like to offer my condolences to the family of Gwendolyn Hunt who did not survive the accidental fire,” Mayor Winnecke said. “I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our first responders and the American Red Cross for their quick response to blaze. Firefighters arrived on the scene within minutes, preventing the fire from causing greater damage, and the professionalism of all involved helped to bring calm to a chaotic situation.”

Bonnie Poag had just left her mother’s apartment on the 10th floor at Grandview Towers when she received a call about the fire. Poag returned to the apartments to find her mother outside. Poag called the Mayor’s Office Monday morning to thank firefighters and Evansville police for getting her mother out of the building safely and going back inside to retrieve her medications.