I’ve cut out the fluff.
Good afternoon and welcome. This is the first time a state of the city speech has been delivered here in the regional public safety academy of northeast Indiana.
Which is slated to lose a projected $1.8 million through the end of next year. Henry’s power grab at the facility resulted in most of the board resigning due Henry trying to exert too much control over what was to be an autonomous entity.
Today is the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln…many say, our greatest president (pause) so far.
So far my ass. Henry forgot to mention that since Obama was elected, the Dow Jones has lost 2,000 points, the porkulus package is filled with bullshit, including $30 million to protect some stupid tiny mouse in Nancy Pelosi’s district that won’t stimulate anything.
I try to keep Lincoln’s second inaugural address in mind as we face those challenges: “with malice toward none but charity for all,” he said, “…let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds…”
How original. Obama’s been running around quoting Lincoln all week, now Tom Henry is parroting the same Lincoln speeches. How about something in the way of original thinking?
Politics did put us on the map in 2008….and we enjoyed our moment in the spotlight. Former president Bill Clinton, presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton, Ted Danson in support of Hillary…
Danson is the dumbass that claimed back in 1988 that all of the oceans would be dead within 10 years and so would all of us. Henry is still star-struck over meeting one of the biggest asshat liberals to walk the planet, amazing.
We accepted matching dollar applications through the middle of December, and set aside 200-thousand dollars in CEDIT money to fund the projects, but the response was so strong and the projects are of such high quality, that I agreed with the staff to double the infusion to 400-thousand dollars..
Then he snatched it away from the city council members so *he* can better decide how to use the funds.
When the program started in 1990, each council district received $450,000 with an additional $450,000 split among the three at-large members. Henry slashed that amount to $250,000, and now it’s going to ZERO.
On to the casino issue.
We know the issue of gaming has broad implications. That is why, as a community, we are studying it in depth. We need to fully understand what those implications are—both the positives and the negatives.
As your mayor, I am committed to creating opportunity for all our citizens and making sure that Fort Wayne and northeast Indiana have every chance to thrive and compete.
So let’s seize this moment to do several things that are essential:
First, let’s continue the community conversation about the benefits and costs of this opportunity; Second, let’s allow the emerging prospect of gaming to move forward in the legislature; and third, let’s have the courage to pursue a full consideration of the gaming issue…. remembering that it must bring us new jobs, high-quality investment, and significant new revenue enabling us to enrich our community in meaningful ways. Nothing less is acceptable.
Sorry mayor, it won’t work. From Fort Wayne Observed:
One of the big items that has gone unnoticed in talks of casino gambling in Fort Wayne is that there will soon be a very large casino opening this summer just a short drive from northern Indiana.
It is the new FireKeepers Casino being constructed on Interstate 94 near Battle Creek, Michigan. It is only 4 miles west of I-69. The casino is being developed by the Nottawaseppi Band of the Potawatomi Indian Tribe.
From Disenfranchised American:
The Sturgis City Council voted last night 9 to 0 to approve a new Casino to be built, right near the Indiana line, just north of Howe, IN.
How many casinos can one region have and still be successful?
Also from Fort Wayne Observed:
Dan Carmody, Fort Wayne’s former head of the Downtown Improvement District, responded to a recent Fort Wayne Observed post on the possibility of casino gaming in Fort Wayne:
From my experience at the origins of heartland gambling casinos are poor levers of economic development and even worse as new forms of revenue generation for units of local government. We are faced with a situation which demands a return to basics, casino gambling is a nice niche for affluent societies but not a cornerstone for local economies in crises.
Why’s he wasting the time and money on this?
Business is also alive at Fort Wayne city utilities, the last of our sewer separation project, in southeast Fort Wayne was finished in 2008… Creating additional holding space for sewer overflows and solving basement back-up problems.
Our city-owned utilities continues to invest in its infrastructure as well. Most recently completing a 32 million dollar clarifier project at our sewage treatment facility. These improvements will significantly increase the plant’s capacity to treat raw sewage..
Ahem. I’m still on a septic, (after being in the city for over 3 years), and several other neighborhoods in Aboite are shit-up-the-creek as well. I also live in an area without a city maintained storm water system. The ground doesn’t perk and a large portion of the affluent (shitty-water) runs into the Hadley ditch.
Another example of collaboration is the city and county working closely together for the joint information technology needs of local government.
Yet the mayor’s office still cannot provide city council with monthly operating statements?
Back in 1974, mayor Ivan Lebamoff had the vision to implement a very creative plan. He agreed that the city would get out of the business of bringing electricity to customers and instead would lease the electric utility to I&M. The agreement stated that I&M would continue to operate the system and the city could, if desired, take back the utility at the end of the lease.
The completion of the lease is approaching, and discussions are underway on an agreement that will best serve local citizens and customers. The city is currently holding thirty five years’ worth of lease payments, held in a community trust. I had hoped today to tell you how I thought we, as a community, could be discussing the use of the trust fund. But two things prevent me from opening that conversation: one— the market has taken investors on a wild ride, and our trust fund, which was at about 35 million dollars a year ago , thanks to our economy, is worth significantly less. That’s troubling.
Even more pertinent, however, is the fact the money was originally set aside to assure citizens they would have a responsive, reliable source of electricity. Because first and foremost, that money is dedicated to assuring continued electrical service for our citizens-that’s our top priority…and we do remain hopeful that an agreement will be reached soon.
The first reason he doesn’t want to discuss is troubling. Who’s he having the discussions with? How about a little transparency. The second reason is bullshit. I&M can continue to service customers with or without the lease. The majority of what they leased from the city they have since replaced with new equipment.
And he barely touched on Harrison Square.
As we look ahead into 2009, we still have many unanswered questions. We certainly don’t know how the economy will continue to impact the entire Harrison Square development, especially the retail and residential portions.
But I do invite each of you to join me April 16th for the first pitch at Parkview Field!
Sans a hotel, condominiums and retail.
Yawn..
AWB
Tags:
CEDIT,
Graham Richard,
Hardball Capital,
Harrison Square,
Tom Henry,
White Lodging
Last nights extraordinary city council meeting stated on a somber note: City Clerk Sandy Kennedy, tears in her eyes, told a few of us before the meeting that Marty Bender, council president, had suffered a seizure during dinner with his daughter and was hospitalized. She was quite distraught.
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