IS IT TRUE that the latest Evansville City Council members and candidates to pledge support for Budget Committee Chairman John Friend’s petition to force all Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission meeting regarding Evansville to be held in Evansville and to freeze Vectren’s rates at the current level until all of our closest neighbors rates have caught up with ours are City Councilwoman Connie Robinson (D), 6th Ward Candidate Al Lindsey (D), and 2nd Ward Candidate Lon Walters (R)?…that in spite of calls for one-on-one meetings with Vectren officials these elected officials and candidates for office have committed to join Vanderburgh County Commissioner Stephen Melcher and District #75 State Representative Gail Riecken in supporting Councilman Friend’s petition?

IS IT TRUE that Mole #3 tell us that some members of the Evansville City Council have been called personally by Vectren employee and former Vanderburgh County Sheriff Brad Ellsworth to be discouraged from signing or supporting Councilman Friend’s petition?…that Mr. Ellsworth is also a former member of the United States Congress having served 2 terms representing the people of Indiana’s 8th Congressional District in the US House of Representatives?…that now Mr. Ellsworth clearly represents his employer, Vectren Corporation?

IS IT TRUE that all of the members of the Evansville City Council and candidates for City Council seats are being asked to meet individually with Vectren PR people to be counseled on Vectren’s position on why the rates are triple what they are in Henderson and how the people of Evansville are better off for paying this premium?…that some members and candidates are accepting these appointments and others are not?…that Councilwoman Robinson and Councilman Friend in particular prefer not to meet one-on-one with Vectren but prefer that Vectren should come before the Evansville City Council to make their case before a live TV audience and what will surely be a packed house?

IS IT TRUE that all of the elected officials, economic development leaders, and community leaders who spoke in favor of “letting the people” decide the fate of the consolidation proposal had better take a long look in the mirror before they decide not to support a petition that while having no legal means can certainly raise the awareness level of the people of Evansville?…that to support the right of the people to vote on consolidation but blunt the efforts of some elected officials to give the people of Evansville a voice through this petition is hypocrisy?

IS IT TRUE that if Vectren is so certain that they are correct in their assertions that all of our neighbors will catch up in pricing and that they are fully compliant with EPA regulations then Vectren should have no fear of taking their campaign to the people either?…that we will be very interested to see if Vectren employee Brad Ellsworth who is a former US Congressman will be making an endorsement of any local candidates for office?

IS IT TRUE that last spring during the Arab uprisings that toppled several oppressive regimes that the City County Observer opined that such things could easily happen in the United States if the economy did not improve?…that we were chided by some of our readers for making such a rash statement?…that the economy has not improved, that stagnation is a good term to describe what is going on, and that the street protests that the City County Observer predicted are now on American soil?…that the parade of over a thousand young people and middle aged but out of work professionals that started out as a tent city near Wall Street has grown and expanded?…that American people who are discontent over the state of the economy have been pepper sprayed and that 700 have been arrested?…that the non-violent but in your face movement has now spread to other cities from Maine to Seattle to Los Angeles and seems to have some representation at nearly every Federal Reserve Bank?…that the only other local voice to join the City County Observer’s prediction of what was coming to our shores if things did not get better was 5th Ward Republican candidate for Evansville City Council Brent Grafton?

IS IT TRUE that all cities in America do not have Wall Street or a branch of the Federal Reserve to make their frustrations known before?…that if and when this movement of discontentment moves to smaller cities like Evansville that the gathering places are likely to be local government buildings or private businesses that serve as proxies for Wall Street?…that we do not see a solution in sight that will diffuse this discontentment?

IS IT TRUE that there are those who appear to see the future and those who are afraid to look?…that there are those with the courage to recognize the potential for uprisings and those who are afraid to see?…that there are those who are willing to lay it on the line in by stating what to them is highly probable and there are those who cover their eyes, their ears, and their mouths in “three wise monkey” style or bury their heads in the sand?…that all progress starts with awareness?…that those who are unaware or those that refuse to acknowledge the obvious have no business leading anything?

IS IT TRUE that street protests are one of the things that happens when idle time is available to masses of people?…that unemployment increases idle time?…that unemployment added to a belief that the system is not working and stoked by the cries of “CLASS WARFARE”, “ENVY”, and “HATE’ coming from the nation’s leadership has the very real potential to backfire in a Kent State kind of way?…that as the lovely fall weather turns cold and unemployed people exhaust their extended unemployment benefits, heat has to be set on 40 degrees, there is no money for Christmas and Hanukkah presents and the Holiday turkey turns to a chicken or a can of spam that we may truly have a Arab style uprising?…that the CCO is not predicting blood in the streets and that we hope with all of our hearts that it will never come to that but we acknowledge that the powder keg is in place for disaster?…that we just hope that if the powder keg is lit that it is not our own government that lights it?

IS IT TRUE that just this morning in an article in the Courier and Press about the “Zombie Marches” in New York and other cities that some postings appeared to be trying to organize a “Zombie March” on Vectren?…that the CP disabled the posting option for that story?…that we support the CP’s decision and that private comment forums are not the place to allow the organization of “Zombie Marches”?…that if the aspiring Zombie Marchers want to organize they can do that on their own?

IS IT TRUE that the Evansville Redevelopment Commission is meeting this morning and that small snippets of both the McCurdy Hotel apartment conversion and the VETTING contract for the downtown Convention Hotel are on the agenda?…that while the VETTING may be taking longer than expected the fact that a change order is on the agenda and that the process is taking what seems like forever is a good indication that real VETTING is really going on?…that when a recommendation is issued by Hunden Strategic Partners that the CCO hopes to be able to publish the entire study that lead to the recommendation?…that learning about VETTING is a good addition to the skill set of local people and that someday when new members are seated on the ERC maybe just maybe we won’t have five people who apparently have never even heard the word?

IS IT TRUE that speaking of VETTING we wonder if any VETTING like activities have begun on the capacity of City Centre Properties LLC?…that we surely would expect something as simple as making sure that the real estate taxes have been paid on the property before granting an extension of any kind to this development company?…that the CCO dutifully checks every day to see if that has happened?…that someone on the ERC should have the Vanderburgh County Treasurers Office on speed dial to learn if the taxes have been paid?…that no legitimate lending institution will fund a loan without the taxes being paid?… ?…that the ERC who has embraced VETTING for the hotel should extend that sane and correct activity to the McCurdy?…that the mantra for today’s ERC meeting for the taxpayers of Evansville to be properly served should be “NO TAXES NO EXTENSION”?…that keeping things simple has never been so easy?

IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer has been checking everyday to see if the real estate taxes have been paid on the McCurdy Hotel? …that on the morning of October 4th, parcel #82-06-30-020-005.002-029 also known as the McCurdy Hotel and located at 100 SE Riverside in Evansville, IN indicates that there is still a delinquent tax amount of $12,274.76?…that if we can report that the taxes are paid on this property that the CCO will become more enthused about the proposition of this project moving forward?…that it has now been 14 full days since Mr. Steve Scott was advised that the taxes on the McCurdy Hotel have not been paid?

IS IT TRUE that we have been privy to the information that one of the respondents to the RFP to build a downtown Convention Hotel has provided everything that they were asked for to Hunden Strategic Partners to be VETTED?…that we also hear that EB-5 financing for such a project in this location has taken a positive step forward?…that we have no information whatsoever regarding the other proposal?

IS IT TRUE that the CCO would like to offer to take columnist Morton Marcus on a tour of Evansville?…that the path we would follow would start in the downtown and meander through the Front Door Pride area?…that next we would be sure to show Marcus parts of the Southside, the Southeast Side, and the area in the 3rd Ward where that dangerous rubble pile still sets?…that only through seeing both the good parts of Evansville that a cheerleader or a “Cruise Director in Chief” would include in Marcus’s itinerary and the parts where the sewers are failing and as Tom Barnett so cleverly describes is “abandonment of houses is a growth industry” can Mr. Marcus really start to get a grip on why signs of life in the downtown just don’t match one’s paradigm for thriving and vibrant?