The Makings of Pride: Getting Evansville back on Track By: Alan Leibundguth

The Makings of Pride: Getting Evansville back on Track.

There are projects on the Ward 3 “to-do” list that just aren’t getting done, issues just not getting resolved. This is problematic and is unacceptable for a city on the road back to greatness.

Like a great sports team on the way to the playoff games, our Evansville City Council needs ‘major league’ representation putting forth a ‘major league’ effort. For Evansville to take the next major move forward, we need this kind of major league effort.

This Ward has everything; it is the heart of the city with diverseness that is hard to understand. A major league effort is needed here to re-connect with the people and give them the sense that someone in city government cares. Enough of governing in-absencia. Let’s change direction and get the governing body and the citizens involved with each other once again.

There are two things on my mind concerning problems that are left unfinished:

1. The 600 block of E. Franklin – the pile of rubble remains into the 4th or 5th month since someone promised resolution. This lot is blighted and says something like ‘you don’t matter’.

2. The giant sink-hole at the corner of East Oregon and Garvin in front of ‘Buster and Becky’s’ remains into the seventy month with the streets all dug up. That establishment has been in the neighborhood for over 30 years and the owner has never seen anything like this. This is perhaps the third cave-in, and yet the problem persists.

There will be no ‘Trick-or-Treat’ on East Oregon this year. It is impossible for parents to navigate this mess with their little ones. This place is dangerous in the daylight, not to mention after dark. What does the city leadership tell those poor residents who have no access to their property except by one sidewalk and no street parking?

I would be really upset if I lived on Oregon next to the sink hole. I would feel like my voice did not matter anymore and that this is what life was like in Evansville; this is how it is going to be. If you listen to the people, you hear discouragement in their voices.

Where is the pride of ownership in this city? It has to come from leadership or it will come from nowhere. Strong leadership will motivate the people. There has been too much of politics and laziness in the past. This city needs change and do it quickly.

Pride of ownership is the attitude of the heart. The city needs heart to lead effectively. Leadership has to recognize that it will take heart to govern effectively. City leaders must lead with their hearts first. The attitude of the heart leads the head to get things done.

I have a big vision for the 3rd Ward and for the city. I offer leadership in the right direction and leadership with heart.

When I am elected to City Council:
· the rubble pile on East Franklin will be removed quickly.

· the miserable sink-holes on East Oregon Street will be repaired and the streets restored to the residents once again. These are my first two priorities. I will be on the streets every day until these two projects are completed.

· Then I will follow-up on the tips I have been getting from residents about drug deals on the streets and meth labs in the neighborhoods. Concerned citizens know what is going on. Can we tolerate any more for our cities’ children to grow up in neighborhoods where conditions like these exist?

· Next I will help to organize some of neighborhoods in Jacobsville block-by-block using my leadership skills and ministry know-how to get things moving again. I hope someday to introduce a program called Community One into several Ward 3 Precincts which will offer solutions for rehabbing and restoring savable houses and putting them back on the market.

· Along with these efforts, I will head to Precincts 11 and 12 where the sewer stench is horrific and I will work there until we come up with a plan to end this miserable condition for good.

· I will sign a petition to stop the Vectren rate hikes and then work to make sure the citizens of Evansville are treated fairly with respect to paying for utility services.

· I will be joining Lloyd Winnecke on the streets picking up trash and cleaning alleyways.

· I will volunteer to take the lead in solving the Roberts Stadium riddle and try to get that facility moving in the right direction. With a Masters Degree in Business, Marketing, I have the background to oversee such a venture.

As a candidate for City Council in Ward 3, my wife and I have personally walked the neighborhoods and spoken with residents in this area. I usually asked them, “has a City Councilman ever knocked on your door before?”, to which 95% reply “No”.

We have personally knocked on over 2,000 doors in Ward 3 in the past 11 weeks. We do not send others out to do our work for us. We do not just throw a flier on the porch, we try and talk with each resident. The Third Ward is the heart of this city with some fine citizens living there. I want the Third Ward to lead the way back to pride of ownership, so I challenge the other Ward Councilmen to match efforts in their Wards as compared to this Ward, to bring that same pride back into their Wards as well.

When elected, I plan to continue to walk the streets and continue to meet the people, to stir up interest, to bring back pride of home ownership and to remind them that someone at City Hall cares about them and cares about their neighborhoods.

Alan Leibundguth
City Council Candidate, Ward 3