IS IT TRUE: Part 2 August 31, 2011

IS IT TRUE that a new political action committee (PAC) has been formed in the City of Evansville for the sole purpose of keeping the cash spigots of the City of Evansville open and flowing in the direction of a very small number of professional services firms that have grown and prospered under the Weinzapfel Administration?…that the “Mole Nation” tells us that this PAC has every intention of financially supporting candidates and making political endorsements for all of the City of Evansville elected offices?…that this group will try to do this quietly and under the banner of the Democratic Party?…that the candidates who are wooed by this new PAC had best be cautious about whom they crawl into fundraisers with?…that Democrat, Republican, Whig, or Independent that this PAC is allegedly self serving, had prospered from “machine” politics, and wants the MONEY PARTY to continue with the playing field tilted in their own favor?…that voters who do not like “machine” politics and SNEGAL tactics should reject each and every candidate that allies themselves with this new POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE?

IS IT TRUE that today at 11:15 am that Greg Wathen, the president and CEO of the Southwest Indiana Coalition for Economic Development will formally release a study titled “A Blueprint for Success – A Master Plan for Economic Redevelopment”?…that this plan was developed in part due to the closing of Whirlpool’s Evansville manufacturing facility?…that the is the follow on to the study titled “Competitive Realities” that was released earlier this year that compared Evansville’s competitiveness with a couple of peer cities?…that the City County Observer called for the writing of a master plan as one of the critical steps that needed to be taken in 2011?…that we anxiously await this master plan and will review it rigorously?…that we beg and encourage both candidates for Mayor of Evansville to become “A students” on the contents of this plan and the “Competitive Realities” study?…that even if the medicine is sour that the patient called Evansville is economically anemic and is in serious need of a transfusion?…that we hope that “Dr. Wathen’s” study is a catalyst to start a lasting cure?

IS IT TRUE that one of our comment posters has made some interesting observations regarding what “could have been” if the Vectren electrical rates were equalized with Henderson’s?…that if the Vectren electrical rates were equalized with Henderson’s that each of the 141,000 households would save an average of $105 per month?…that in a year that the total of the money that would be liberated to be spent or saved would amount to just over $177 Million?…that over a 5 year period and accounting for a small interest rate that the difference in the electricity rates on the north side of the money taking bridge will have removed about $1 Billion from the region’s economy?…that maybe if the rates were equalized that the Front Door Pride area may have sufficient value to be sustainable?…that maybe if the rates were equalized that the McCurdy and the downtown Convention Hotel would not have become the debacles that they have become?…that if the rates were equalized that maybe a half dozen downtown businesses would not have moved to the east side to reduce their Vectren bills?…that if the rates were equalized that the water pumps at Roberts Stadium would only cost $133,000 per year to run instead of the reported $400,000?

IS IT TRUE that today is the second of the face to face vetting interviews that will be conducted by Hunden Strategic Partners for the ERC with respect to the downtown Convention Hotel?…that maybe we can expect a preliminary report on the findings on the agenda of next week’s meeting of the ERC?

IS IT TRUE that this is the last publication day in August 2011 for the City County Observer and that this month has seen another record traffic month?…that this month has seen online readership increase by 42.8% over the previous high of July 2011?…that every meaningful metric that is used to calculate internet traffic increased during August?…that during the first week of August that the number of minutes spent reading the City County Observer exceeded all of the Evansville based online news entities combined?…that readership has increased by 347% since last November?…that before that we really did not have any accurate third party counts to use?

IS IT TRUE members of the “CCO MOLE NATION” are hearing that we can expect a new Fire Chief for the City of Evansville?…that interested parties and opportunists are starting to circle around all of the department head and even mid level appointments that may be seeing changes of the guard after the new Mayor of Evansville is seated?…the next Mayor may not have the option to do a “National Search” to find department heads?…that one of the items that the CCO identified that needed to be repaired in 2011 was the salary structure of the City of Evansville for all positions that may need to seek candidates outside of the Evansville fishbowl?…that it has been recognized for some time that salaries here are not competitive on a national scale?…that this was proven in the most insulting way possible when Tom Barnett was attracted to Evansville (then population 121,000, now 117,400) by a dual salary scheme that was needed to make an equivalent offer to a town of 3,000 people in Florida?

IS IT TRUE that Mr. Barnett was earning above the City of Evansville salary cap in his previous position at Paducah, KY that is smaller than Henderson?…that the Weinzapfel Administration and the Evansville City Council have done nothing at all to correct this problem?…that a link to an interactive salary data base for Lexington, KY public employees indicates that department heads there earn $114,705 each?…that is roughly 45% more than similar positions pay in Evansville?…that with that big of a wage differential in locations with equivalent costs of living that the next Mayor would be best served not to even attempt a national search for anyone to do anything?

IS IT TRUE we ask our “BLOGGERS” to predict the next City of Evansville Police and Fire Chiefs along with the reason for the next Mayor to appoint them to these positions?…that the Lexington Salary Data Base is on the following link?

https://city-countyobserver.com/2011/08/30/lexington-salary-database-for-public-employees/

IS IT TRUE that during Hurricane Irene last week when the power on Long Island went off that a reporter on a national broadcast quipped that “Long Island has the highest cost power in America”?…that the City County Observer was intrigued by this claim and did some research ourselves?…that Long Island is not even close?…that while Vectren is not quite the highest in America that the residential rates in Vectren’s greater Evansville service area is 64% higher than Long Islanders pay for 1,000 kWh?…that when the median household income is factored into the equation that each Evansville area household has to work 9 hours per month to pay for 1,000 kWh of electricity and each Long Island household only has to work 2.75 hours?…that means that in our high cost low wage village we have to work 225% longer to pay for electricity than Long Islanders do?…that across the money saving bridge in Henderson the median household must spend 3 hours per month working to pay for 1,000 kWh of electricity?…that at least Henderson and Long Island seem to be on the same page with the value of a man’s labor as compared to electricity?

IS IT TRUE: August 30, 2011 Special Evening Edition

IS IT TRUE that the minutes of the meetings of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission for August 12th and August 16th have not yet been posted on the ERC website?…that the agenda for the meeting that is scheduled for September 7, 2011 has also not been posted on the website?…that we are expecting to hear something about both the McCurdy Hotel plans for going forward at this meeting?…that we are anticipating that an elected official may be asking questions regarding the loan that Centre City Properties took from 5th 3rd Bank on the property that may just keep the City of Evansville from ever seeing even one red cent if the financing to turn the McCurdy into apartments never happens?

IS IT TRUE that some citizens of Evansville are sort of miffed that they learned recently that Mr. Tom Barnett, the Director of Metropolitan Development for the City of Evansville and the Field Marshall for the McCurdy and other ERC activities has never been inside the McCurdy?…that on the surface that sort of seems detached on Mr. Barnett’s part and that these citizens who contacted the CCO about this were quite upset?…that these citizens did not have the benefit of knowing that all of the deals with the McCurdy Hotel between the City of Evansville and Centre City Properties LLC were already in place before Mr. Barnett turned down the sunshine of Florida to accept his two paycheck deal in Evansville?…that the McCurdy Hotel is actually the property of Center City Properties LLC that holds a 1st Mortgage from 5th 3rd Bank on the property?…that Mr. Barnett does not have and never has had under his tenure the authority to go onto this piece of private property to do anything but trim some weeds and run off some rats?…that when it comes to the McCurdy that Mr. Barnett is just as much of a victim of poor business dealings entered into by the ERC and the Weinzapfel Administration as the rest of us are?

IS IT TRUE that last spring that Keep Evansville Beautiful did a masterful job of raising over $50,000 to refurbish the fountain at the entrance to Garvin Park?…that the dedication and the pictures of this work were both tasteful and beautiful?…that after securing private dollars to do this work and dedicating the fountain that the responsibility was turned over to the proven un-capable hands of the Evansville Parks and Recreation Department?…that during the last month that there is no water in the fountain?…that we are wondering if the Evansville Parks and Recreation department has set a new record for how fast a public entity could negate a great private effort by failing to operate the fountain?…that when private dollars and private efforts bail out local government entities that these government entities should darn well take the initiative to keep water in the fountain and turn the lights on so that we can enjoy its beauty when we attend Otter games or go to Garvin Park?

IS IT TRUE that up until about 3 pm this afternoon that Garvin Park looked like Hurricane Irene passed through?…that there were trash barrels overflowing and garbage blowing around like a fresh winter snow?…that this kind of negligence is what the people of Evansville are getting from the same organization that showed their arrogance when a father brought it to their attention that a drug addicts needle was in a City Park?…that the failures of this department are way too numerous to list here?…that this fountain that is not being used as a fountain and the multi-acres landfill that should be known as Garvin Park has been brought to you by some of the people who decided that Roberts Stadium is unrepairable because the water fountains don’t work and other maintenance has been ignored?…that it is time for this function to be placed into the hands of people who care enough to do their job?

IS IT TRUE: Part 2: August 30, 2011

IS IT TRUE that in pointing out the incorrect message that was sent regarding the overall performance of the EVSC we ran out of space and failed to offer praise where praise is due?…that the 8 EVSC schools that really did make the AYP (adequate yearly progress) standards Cynthiana Heights, Dexter, Harper, Hebron, Highland, Scott, Vogel, and West Terrace all are to be congratulated for their performance?…that furthermore all five of the EVSC schools that achieved a grade of A (Cynthiana Heights, Scott, Highland, West Terrace, and the New Tech Institute) along with the 2 that earned B’s (Reitz and Stringtown) deserve a pat on the back?

IS IT TRUE that we must point out that the word “ADEQUATE” is not to be confused as meaning or even implying “EXCELLENT”?…that a cheese sandwich is an adequate dinner but that a steak is excellent?…that a C is adequate but an A is excellent?…that making the team is adequate but that a gold medal is excellent?…that we know that there is excellence in some Evansville classrooms and offer those excellent performers (students and teachers) a hearty congratulations even though they seem to be surrounded by “adequate” and “failure”?…that we need more progress and we hope to see it?

IS IT TRUE that just because the overall GPA for the EVSC is a 1.67 does not mean that there are not some very good schools in Evansville?…that we stand by our earlier assertion that putting ones head in the sand is bad?…that calling an F and A so that “Little Johnny” feels good today is just setting him up to fail in life?…that as long as community leaders are reluctant to admit that we have litter in the streets, a poverty problem, have no high crime areas, some schools that are failing, and continue to assert that we are average in areas that we are clearly failing like bandwidth (368 out of 370) and venture capital (tied for dead last with several other cities) that the big picture will not change?

IS IT TRUE that students who got their start in the EVSC and graduated from USI and UE routinely go out into the world and excel in their chosen fields?…that Evansville often sends gifted athletes into the professional ranks?…that these people who do this are sometimes blindsided by the level of competition that they have to rise to when they leave our protected boundaries?…that the students that have parents and teachers that bust their chops when they are young and demand excellence are the ones that have the highest probability of measuring up in the real world?…that the best of Evansville and its surrounding areas often work hard and push their talents to great levels when confronted with tougher competition?…that most of these rascals will only be seen in Evansville at Thanksgiving, Christmas, and a few birthdays for the rest of their lives?

IS IT TRUE that we understand how some private schools can get A’s by keeping the most challenged students out?…that what is really worth learning about is how the Catholic schools all get A’s on about half the money that the public schools get a D with?…that we believe that 1,000 Catholic 3 years old children will statistically have the same cumulative IQ of 1,000 3 year old children who are destined for the EVSC?…there is something more than genetics at behind these different scores?

IS IT TRUE that the State of Indiana has now been fingered by that cantankerous old Mort Marcus for losing its well heeled senior citizens?…that while it is bad to lose our best young people to brain drain it is even worse to lose our retirees of means to other areas because they pay lots of taxes that are needed to pay for infrastructure?…that maybe if these retirees children and grandchildren would have stayed in Indiana that the “Gray Drain” would not be depleting our future tax revenues so much that it is getting written about?