Marcey was well prepared with many facts, some were familiar but several were new to me and I must admit rather shocking. Following is a synopsis of our discussion.
- The unemployment rate is the highest in 21 years, 6.4%. In January 2001 it was 3.6%.
- There was a loss of manufacturing jobs in Indiana of 109,800 from 2001 to 2007. Manufacturing jobs make up 28% of Indiana's GDP, 550,000 Hoosiers are employed in manufacturing jobs.
- John McCain voted for NAFTA but voted against job training funding bills SIX TIMES!
- Health care premiums have gone up 42% since 2000 and 13% of Hoosiers are without health care.
- John McCain wants to tax our employer furnished health care benefit as taxable income.
- Foreclosures are up 26% this year in Indiana.
- Barack Obama wants to pay dividends to taxpayers on any profit made by the bailout.
- Obama wants to create 2,000,000 new jobs for repairs to our nation's infrastructure, ie. roads, highways, bridges. This would add 42,000 new jobs to Indiana.
- Obama also wants to create 5,000,000 green jobs and establish a National Infrastructure Investment Bank which will enable people to invest in our infrastructure.
We also had a long discussion about our local economy. Marcey suggested that New Albany needs to find it's niche as far as how to market itself. We decided as a group that we are best suited as service orientated town. We may not have enough acreage for a huge auto plant but we have a lot of empty buildings which would work well for customer service companies. The first one that came to my mind was Heartland in Clark County. This is a company which services bankcard scanners and ATM owners. New Albany would be well suited for this type of business. These types of jobs are being farmed out to other countries. Have you ever tried to call your credit card company and talk to someone with an American accent?
We also talked about the condition of our streets and sidewalks. It is hard to walk down many of our streets without tripping over cracks and tree roots. And lo and behold our community development grants have been cut.
Another worrisome issue is home ownership. We all want to improve our ratio of home owners to renters but worry about how these homes will be financed.
Additionally we had a brief discussion about the Greenway project and the flood wall. We need to quit thinking of the flood wall as a barrier. The Clark County residents are very excited about their part of the Greenway. Are we going to continue to be Clark County's little sister?
I know that several groups are trying to put New Albany "on the map". We need the help from our elected officials. Please Mr. England and City and County Council members, we can't accomplish these goals without your help. Let's all work together to make New Albany a destination, not just a pass through to the Horseshoe Casino.
2 comments:
Most of us who were born, reared and educated in the post war Marshall Plan Era grew up with the expectation that Government (especilly at the State & Federal levels) existed to provide physical safety, financial security, and major infrastructure for us regardless of the costs or resources available.
In terms of protecting us from attack from foreign envasion and the construction/maintenance of roads, bridges, water way locks & dam systems, and public utility grids that is still true.
However, the key point that I left this afternoons discussion with is that at the local level we must, of our own accord, develope the skills sets and willingness to identify the resources we have at our disposal and turn them into the vision we have for our future as a community.
We are for all practical purposes, on our own.
The question we face is will we rise to the occasion?
Lloyd,
I appreciate your comments and insight at the meeting. I learned a lot from you and Marcey.
Let's hope more of us see the vision so we can all work together to accomplish our goals.
Shirley
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