IS IT TRUE that Evansville real estate professionals have been quoted as making the claims that the real estate market here has really not been adversely effected the way that other places have been?…that they go a step further to in stating that Evansville has really not seen any significant impacts to prices due to the widely publicized “housing bust”?…that most economists and investors are now of the opinion that there will not be a jobs recovery until the real estate markets in the USA stabilize from a price perspective?…that everyone that has a brain and a calculator agrees that the interest rates right now are as low as everyone under 70 has ever seen and are likely at a historical low?…that if one can actually get a loan that the one thing that all can agree on is that money is cheap and that right now is a good time to borrow?

IS IT TRUE that there is never a good time to borrow money to buy an asset that is depreciating with no financial support mechanism to stop the depreciation?…that borrowing $300,000 to buy a home that was at $600,000 5 years ago but is at $400,000 today in a market that is expected to lose as much as 25% more is a pretty good way for you to lose your hard earned $100,000?…that statistics do support the assertion that Evansville housing has held up better than fast rising and fast falling places like Miami, Los Vegas, or San Bernardino where contractions of over 50% are not unusual?…that never the less Evansville has contracted and has contracted as dramatically as Miami and Vegas at the high end?…that local statistics do not look very bad when foreclosures, distressed situations, and auctions are excluded from the data?…that the following is from a market assessment of the Evansville real estate market done recently by Trulia.com where all recorded sales are included?

IS IT TRUE that the average price per square foot for Evansville IN was $30, a decrease of 46.4% compared to the same period last year?…that the median sales price for homes in Evansville IN for May 11 to Jul 11 was $65,870?…that compared to the same period one year ago, the median home sales price decreased 9.1%, or $6,565, and the number of home sales decreased 95.7%?…that there are currently 1,313 resale and new homes in Evansville on Trulia, including 62 open houses, as well as 207 homes in the pre-foreclosure, auction, or bank-owned stages of the foreclosure process?…that this 3rd party assessment does not paint a picture of confidence or vibrancy in the market?…that accurate and timely information about any market is valuable to investors or potential homeowners and marketing programs that are designed to send an inaccurate message confuse buyers even more and prolong any recovery that may be in the works?

IS IT TRUE that one of the things that brings real estate to its knees is when a potentially toxic pile of rubble is allowed to lay unabated for an extended period of time?…that about 3 weeks ago the City County Observer identified just such a pile of rubble in the 600 block of East Franklin Street?…that this potential for harm and liability on the part of the owner AND the City of Evansville is still there and now children have been spotted playing on it?…that it is time for the City Council member from the 3rd Ward, the two candidates for the 3rd Ward seat, all three at large members of the City Council, the candidates for at-large seats, the Mayor of Evansville and both candidates for Mayor to do something about this?…that you can like them or not like them but if this kind of a hazard were in the 2nd Ward or the 4th Ward that Councilwomen Missy Mosby and Connie Robinson would be grilling someone’s backside over this?

IS IT TRUE that our first order of business today is to remember the victims and survivors of the attack on our beloved country that occurred 10 years ago today?…that most everyone can tell you where they were that day just like they remember where they were when President Kennedy was assassinated?…that the 911 attacks have changed life in the United States for the paranoid worse?…that before 911 we had an easier life when travelling, less costly regulations, a better economy, two less wars, and a more future driven population?…that before 911 people believed that things would be better for their children and now most expect that things will be worse?…that we as a nation should remember the day and honor the victims but that it is time to stop letting that handful of terrorists dampen our spirits?…that call this a bottom and start to come back up the performance curve?…that the best way to honor the victims of 911 and the victorious dead in our many wars is to live in triumph and continually make America a better nation?…that these people died so that we can do so?

IS IT TRUE that recent weeks have been punctuated with story after story about the financial travails of the United States Post Office?…that for the entire time that this country has had a postal service that the daily mail delivery has filled people with anticipation and that letter carriers in general are seen as vital and productive members of our neighborhoods and towns?…that postal workers are a part of Americana?…that the faces of the United States Post Office are mostly pleasant and the service provided is quite impressive?…that if you think about it to take letter from Evansville to Los Angeles for less than 50 cents in two days time is a pretty impressive feat?…that the USPO does this millions of times per day and very rarely messes up?…that the financial travails of the post office are very much a “made in Congress” type of problems?…that Congress and the upper management of the USPO have failed to respond to the changing dynamic of technology driven changes that have made communication and transactions much easier and even cheaper?

IS IT TRUE that the job of carrying letters cannot be outsourced to other countries but it also cannot be made mandatory for people to use?…that the USPO is rapidly becoming unnecessary and therein lies the problem?…that in the overnight delivery business that companies like UPS, DHL, and FedEx have simply out innovated, out-marketed, and for the most part outperformed the USPO to capture the high end profitable part of the delivery business?…that until someone commercializes a way to email or beam merchandise that overnight delivery will continue to be a growing and profitable business?…that the USPO is not the only government entity that has seen the revenue stream that has failed to respond to the economic changes of globalization of trade?

IS IT TRUE that local and state governments that depend on revenue from sales taxes has been caught with their pants down on being able to enforce sales tax collections from interstate and intercontinental purchases?….that they have known this for 20 years and still have not been able to devise a solution?…that the rank and file of the USPO have been carrying out their duties faithfully for the last 20 years but that the drummer whose tune they have been dancing to is obsolete?…that dancing to the tune of obsolete management whether at the USPO or a private company always leads to obsolescence in the ranks?…that the time for taking the easy road until the wolf is at the door is over if America is to honor all those who have passed before us by going forward into the future in a relevant and prosperous way?

IS IT TRUE that the City of Evansville, DMD, and the ERC filed a lawsuit this week against a Nicholas Laswell who has a post office box in Atlanta, Georgia?…that the subject of this lawsuit is what is now an empty lot next to the long abandoned Euclid Apartments at 419 – 421 SE 3rd Street?…that the properties between them have a total of back taxes due on the Vanderburgh County Assessor’s website of $44,237.11?…that the total assessed value of both properties is $20,200 that should have an annual tax bill of no more than $404.00?…that we were curious about just how an owner that acquired these properties 6 years ago could now owe 110 years worth of taxes?…that it seems as though when the City of Evansville takes on the tasks of weed abatement or demolition that it can charge what it wants for those tasks and use the Treasurer’s Office as its billing agent?

IS IT TRUE that there must have been a dilapidated house that an investor bought that was demolished by the City of Evansville, and now the city is wanting to be paid?…that Mr. Laswell must have other judgments or liens on the property (sort of like the McCurdy) as indicated by the list of respondents on the complaint?…that given that fact that the probability that the City of Evansville will actually see any of this tax money as a result of this complaint is quite remote?…that the City County Observer wonders just how many dollars from the City of Evansville coffers have been lost during the last 8 years by demolishing property with no chance of collecting the money?…that we bet that Mole #4 bets there is well over $1 Million of accounts receivable sitting in the taxman’s office that is not collectable?…that we agree and wonder how and when the write off of such bad debts will the made known to the public?

IS IT TRUE that there is an article today about the travails of a semi retired CEO who moved to a location that we invite you to guess?…that this CEO built a very expensive compound for his family to live in?…that this CEO invested in the upgrade of local utilities?…that this CEO was befriended by local politicians and was asked to give speeches to local authorities and business leaders on how to improve the local economy?…that in one speech this CEO without naming names mentioned that he had been solicited for bribes by local politicians and that this was not good for the economy?…that this speech was widely reported as this location has a long time reputation for corruption in government?…that there was public outrage and even a couple of death threats made ON THIS CEO as opposed to the politicians that solicited the bribes?…that he never said who asked for bribes?…that the residents of this place should be able to put 2 + 2 together to figure out who was corrupt?…that the CEO has moved to get away from the hostility directed at him by a place that did not want to confront its own weaknesses and was willing to make dealt threats to keep from doing so?

IS IT TRUE that the first one to correctly guess the location and the name of the CEO wins one free ticket to the upcoming City County Observer Public Policy Forum that will be in late October?…that you should enter your guess in the comment section?…that the winner will be announced in a reply comment on Monday afternoon?

IS IT TRUE that is has finally been announced that all seats at the Bob Seger concert at Ford Center will be $70?…that front row center and nose bleed seats will cost the same?…that someone must suffer from the delusion that all seats are created equal?…that this will be Bob Seger’s 5th Evansville performance but his first as a headline act here in his over 30 year career?…that we are waiting to see if all of the “good” $70 seats will be snapped up by insiders and cronies before the public sale starts next week?

IS IT TRUE that one of our best placed moles tells us that the second entertainment act has been booked into the Ford Center?…that this one will be country and once again a well recognized singer who has been here before?… that the City County Observer would like to welcome that pint sized, big smiling, red headed, fireball Reba McIntyre to Evansville?