IS IT TRUE that the burning house on Read Street Monday night that occurred just hours after the Evansville City Council passed a resolution asking the State of Indiana to pass legislation to make pseudo ephedrine based medicine covered by prescription only has now caused some COLLATERAL DAMAGE?…that COLLATERAL DAMAGE is what it is called when a big problem in one place causes a different problem elsewhere?…that in the case of the Read Street house fire that the house right next door happens to be a Crisis Pregnancy Center that serves women who need their services?…that this Crisis Pregnancy Center is now closed indefinitely due to the fire next door?…that the heat has damaged the Center, has distributed debris all over the lot and will now require repairs and cleanup before re-opening?…that we hope that this fire was not meth related because sometimes meth related fires cause environmental toxicity well beyond their confines?…that meth related house fires can have the COLLATERAL DAMAGE effect of causing three or even more houses to become uninhabitable?…that this just underscores that the Evansville City Council is on the right track and that Senator Jim Tomes is the deer in the headlights on this subject?

IS IT TRUE that speaking of houses that the issue of INVENTORY MANAGEMENT needs to be considered by the candidate for Mayor of Evansville as they ponder what to do about the Front Door Pride program and other public housing construction that is under consideration?…that at any given time there are between 2,000 and 2,500 houses on the market in the Evansville area?…that the private sales per year has recently been in the 1,500 to 2,000 range?…that Evansville by some measures has 8,000 homes that are dilapidated to the point that they are economically unfeasible to repair?…that in addition to that there are about 2,000 to 2,500 homes that are unoccupied due to abandonment or lack of demand?…that when all of the empty homes and for sale homes (some of which are empty) are counted up the Evansville area has a 6 to 10 year inventory of homes that are available?

IS IT TRUE that the overwhelming majority of these empty homes are in the City of Evansville?…that the population of the City of Evansville even including annexation has been shrinking by about 500 people (250 households) per year for 50 years?…that the loss in population (25,000) corresponds nearly exactly to the abandoned households (12,500)?…that Evansville’ problem with dilapidated and abandoned houses can be traced directly to the shrinking population which can be traced directly to the loss of jobs?…that the last thing that a competent retailer would do with a 10 year inventory of any product would be to add to the inventory?…that is exactly what the City of Evansville has been doing?…that inventory liquidation or elimination by whatever means is necessary is what a competent business owner who wants to stay in business would do if faced with a 10 year inventory?

IS IT TRUE that many of Evansville’s legacy problems like the abandoned house problem will be solved by private investment if the local economy is fashioned into an atmosphere that inspires private investment that will in turn create desirable career opportunities?…that is another word for JOBS?…that we encourage our candidates for Mayor and City Council to concentrate on what will solve our problems as opposed to what may hide a legacy problem?

IS IT TRUE that the President of the United States has installed the CEO of GE as his head of job creation?…that GE is a big exporter of American jobs to other countries?…that GE has just announced a partnership with China to make commericial jets?…that Boeing just put in a new commercial jet facility in South Carolina that is being harassed by the government of the United States largely because South Carolina is a right to work state?…that for the Presdient to put the CEO of GE in charge of job ceation for America makes about as much sense as if the Mayor of Evansville put the CEO of Whirlpool in charge of creating jobs in Evansville?

IS IT TRUE that the new Executive Director of the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau addressed the Evansville City Council on Monday night regarding the subject of tourism?…that Bob Warren is a man who seems to have fallen in love with the concept that Evansville is a place that has a great amount of potential as a vacation destination?…that he went on and on about how Evansville is a great place to visit yet has never really shared that with potential visitors?…that when he started discussing the MARKETING BUDGET of the ECVB and comparing it to other cities in which he has worked in his career that all too familiar DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS look came upon the faces of our City Council members?…that the entire marketing budget for the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau to tell the world about how great Evansville (population 117,400) is for vacationing is $116,000?…that Mr. Warren’s previous place of work, the town (not city) of Galena, Illinois (population 3,500) had a marketing budget of $330,000?

IS IT TRUE that Galena is about the size of Chandler, IN or Morganfield, KY?…that these towns are no more than 3% of the size of Evansville?…that Galena’s marketing budget is TRIPLE the size of Evansville’s?…that the other places that he has worked are closer to the size of Evansville but spend in the millions of dollars per year to attract tourism?…that once again Evansville is exposed as being hopelessly out of touch with the reality of the cost of doing business in the outside world?…that this was reminiscent of the paltry wage scale that inspired Mayor Weinzapfel to propose a dual pay scheme to attract Tom Barnett to Evansville over a town of 3,000 people in Florida?…that in the recent ‘Competitive Realities” report from the SW Indiana Coalition for Economic Development the MARKETING BUDGET to attract new businesses was fingered for being hopelessly low?

IS IT TRUE that one of the 10 things identified by the CCO that need to be done right in 2011 was to upgrade municipal pay scales in the City of Evansville to national levels?…that having a marketing budget for tourism that is 1/3 of a place the size of Chandler is almost hard to believe?…that if the City of Evansville chooses to not even try to compete either through complete ignorance or disinterest that the population shrinkage will continue, the number of abandoned houses will increase, the local wage base will continue to decline, and we can continue to experience DEER IN THE HEADLIGHT MOMENTS at City Council meetings?…that our City Council should not be blindsided by things like this?…that our City Council is elected to do what is best for the people of Evansville?…that being completely oblivious to the economic reality of the modern world is not in the best interest of the people of Evansville?…that what scares us the most is that the City Council members really seemed to be surprised that a town the size of Chandler has a tourism budget that is TRIPLE Evansville’s?…that we wonder if they are surprised that a Colts ticket costs more than $3, that a beer at the game is more than a dollar, and that a bag of peanuts costs more than 50 cents at Lucas Oil Stadium?

IS IT TRUE that the street sweepers that are deployed for downtown are about an inch or so too tall to fit into the City of Evansville parking garages?…that this is a repeat performance of the performance out on a Diamond Avenue overpass a few years ago?…that the first suggestion at that time and again Monday was to deflate the tires?…that is a lame way to make up for the failure to get out the tape measure in the design stage?…that the DEER IN THE HEADLIGHTS look is once again indicative of obliviousness?

IS IT TRUE; Part 2: August 22, 2011

IS IT TRUE that there were some lighter moments in last night’s meeting of the Evansville City Council and that one of them turned into a 30 minute discussion on pigeon coops inside the city limits?…that this 30 minutes started and ended with humor but that in between this 30 minutes seemed like it took longer than watching “Out of Africa”?…that the controversy is over a very animated couple who live in the 2nd Ward and have been keeping “racing pigeons” as a hobby for many years?…that it was stated that about 100 people in Evansville have “racing pigeons” and that one of their supporters even referred to these “racing pigeons” as athletes and that he goes to Louisville to buy their training meals?…that in one particularly animated exchange when referring to a neighbor who “doesn’t like their dog, doesn’t like their pigeons, and doesn’t like them” that the couple was defended by another neighbor who “likes their dog, likes their pigeons, and likes them”?

IS IT TRUE that it seems as though the City of Evansville has a law on the books that one can’t keep a pigeon coop closer than 50 feet from another person’s home and that this pigeon coop is only 35 feet away?…that the rule was changed back near the turn of the century and that pre-existing pigeon coops are grandfathered in?…that there was even a discussion about whether the law applied to the pigeons that were alive at the turn of the century or the coop itself?…it looks as though this very likable couple and their pigeon coop will be grandfathered in as the Council members saw the humor in the whole discussion but were worn out after their 4 hour session?…that maybe Evansville will have an entry in the Pigeon Olympics soon?

IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer has been referring to the McCurdy Hotel as the convalescent home for pigeons and bats for over a year now?…that the population of pigeons and bats has been steadily increasing in the old classic hotel?…that the top floor of the McCurdy is more than 50 feet above the ground so it would qualify as a home for “racing pigeons”, passenger pigeons, and for pigeons of the plain ole sky rat variety?…that the best short term prospect we have heard to generate revenue at the McCurdy is to designate it as the “Official Pigeon Coop of the City of Evansville” and to charge the refugee pigeons that have been displaced by the 50 foot resolution a fee to live there?…that 5th 3rd Bank may want first dibs on the rental fees though as they are holding the superior mortgage on the McCurdy and the City of Evansville holds the 2nd?…that once the pigeons or their masters have paid off the 1st mortgage of over $1.6 Million, then the City of Evansville may get something after all?

IS IT TRUE that there is a public works project in San Francisco that makes the Front Door Pride program and the Vision 1505 project look like thrifty acts of genius?…that the City of San Francisco’s Chinatown subway project is 1.7 miles long, 8 stories underground, and is now estimated to cost $1.6 Billion up from the $647 Million estimate when it was first proposed?…that at $1 Billion per mile it is no wonder that subways are not adopted all over the country?…that the first trial estimates show that it would be 10 minutes faster to just take the bus?…that adding some busses would have only cost a couple of million dollars?…that when our elected officials continue to spend $1 Billion per mile for subways and $240,000 for each apartment at the safe house that they just demonstrate how out of touch with reality they are?…that it is good to know that the Mayor of San Francisco in his project that was really designed to get the political support of the power brokers of Chinatown make the City of Evansville look like Albert Einstein for their unsustainable and overpriced “affordable housing” programs?

IS IT TRUE that John Kish was in attendance at last night’s City Council meeting and was prepared to discuss the concerns of Councilman John Friend on “vetting the vettors”?…that City Council President B. J. Watts abruptly adjourned the meeting and that Mr. Kish’s opportunity to address this publically was circumvented?…that we look forward to September 12th when concerns regarding London Witte can hopefully be discussed in a public meeting?