EVERYBODY IN NOBODY OUT

There have been several news releases about this event but I just want to remind everyone because this is so important. There will be a health care seminar at IUS in the Hoosier Room tomorrow from 8:30 to 12:30. Yes, I know this is early for a Saturday morning but I can guarantee that this is worth it.
The impressive list of speakers include:

Representative John Conyers (D-Mich) author of House Bill 676.

Representative John Yarmouth (D-KY) one of 88 congressional co sponsors of the bill.

Dr. Claudia Fegan of Chicago, past president of PNHP.

Dr. Rob Stone of Bloomington, state director and founder of Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan.

On a personal note, I joined this group because I felt sorry for the uninsured people including members of my family and friends. I felt fortunate to have "good" insurance (Anthem) which was provided by my employer. Of course over the years the premiums have increased drastically and so my employer was forced to select a lower level of coverage. It was either that or ask the employees to contribute to a portion of the premiums.

I had a real wake up call a few days ago. I had out-patient surgery on April 30. No big deal, right? Not until I received my bill from Floyd Memorial that is. After Anthem paid the hospital approximately $5,000 and the hospital wrote off around $4,000 I was left with a bill of $2,367.25 or only $2,130.53 if paid before June 13. Needless to say I don't anticipate benefiting from the 10% discount. It just goes to show, you might think you have decent coverage until something happens, then you realize you don't have such great insurance. I know, I work as a medical biller and should have checked out my policy beforehand. But I'm just like a lot of other people. I don't think about something until it happens. Besides, I had little choice, my gallbladder was screaming "get me out of here".

So please come to the seminar tomorrow and hear the truth about single payer health care, not the propaganda on TV and in the papers.

10K COUNCIL MEETING

There was a marathon city council meeting last night, at least I felt like I had run a marathon, and all I did was sit there and take notes.

The council managed to pass 10 Resolutions and Ordinances and table one. That one of course was the sewer agreement changes with Georgetown. After listening to several residents, a council member, Billy Stewart, and two Commissioners, Steve Bush, and Chuck Frieberger, CM Zurschmeide rightfully tabled the Ordinance.

Among the Ordinances and Resolutions passed were R-09-10 authorizing the purchase of 8 new police cars, the Ordinance for additional appropriation of the EDIT Fund of $75,000, and the Ordinance amending the previous Ordinance regarding cleanliness of premises. This gives more strength to the Code Enforcement Officer.

The council also approved an amendment to the parking fee Ordinance raising the fee from $100 to $150 per year for downtown residents and business owners. And they will continue to collect old parking tickets. And CM Gonder's Resolution promoting the Smart Growth America Program passed 9-0.

All in all a busy and productive meeting without too much turmoil.

AREN'T WE FORGETTING SOMETHING?

As we all know, there is a lot of planning on New Albany's agenda. The Lopp project in the west end, the New Horizons project downtown, the expansion of the Greenway and the Loop Islands.

All of this is very exciting but we are forgetting one important part of New Albany's demographic, our youth. The current Youth Shelter on Grantline Rd. is still falling down and nobody is doing anything about it. It seems that eveybody is caught up in all of these shining new buildings and thinking about how that will increase their property value and make New Albany a more viable place to live. This is all true but our most vunerable children still live in squalor. The space currently occupied by the City-County Building is needed to expand the jail. Maybe if we help our children while they are still children we would not need so much space to house adult offenders. The Commissioners and the County Council really need to revisit this issue.

ANYBODY WANT TO BUY AN HISTORIC BUILDING?

No this is not a crack at the Mayor. I think it is a great idea that the city wants to unload these properties that cannot be used.

I do hope that restrictions are placed on the sale so the buildings will keep their integrity under new ownership.

Any thoughts?

POLICE CARS AND THE "TAKE HOME" POLICY

Councilman Price took a lot of heat about his decision to table the ordinance concerning the appropriation of funds to purchase new police cars.



I must agree with him on this one. If some of the police officers did not drive their squad cars out of New Albany the cars might last longer. I understand the reasoning about having the cars in plain sight at all times and having their equipment handy in case of emergency. But if an officer lives outside of New Albany, much less Floyd County, it makes no sense to take the car home since the officer will be out of his/her jurisdiction.



I was told by a retired fire official that several years ago it was mandatory that an applicant be a New Albany resident to be hired by the New Albany Police or Fire Department. While that policy might not be practical today, it would make sense for this rule to apply to take home cars.

COUNCIL MEETING 5/4/09

I must apologize for missing last night's council meeting. I had minor surgery last Thursday and was not up to going. This is especially true since I returned to work this morning, at 6:00AM no less.

So if anyone wants to report, please feel free to do so.

thanks,

Shirley

"LET'S PAVE SOME ROADS"

Tonight's street paving work session was interesting to say the least. The attendees were ( in no particular order) Dan Coffey, Kevin Zurschmeide, Bob Caesar, Carl Malysz and John Rosenbarger. With Daniel Suddeath from the Tribune and Randy Smith and myself from no place in particular.

The meeting started innocently enough with John Rosenbarger explaining how T.I.F. (tax incremental funding) areas work. The laws have changed making it harder to use these funds outside of the exact area where they originated. The funds must be used either directly in the T.I.F. area or an area directly adjacent to it. So in simpler terms the streets to be paved must be in the T.I.F. area where the funds come from.

Dan Coffey went on to explain the origination of EDIT funds. The original purpose was to pay for the jail and to be dissolved after that. But as we all know, that did not happen. He added that EDIT funds are taxpayer money and should be used to benefit all of the taxpayers. Can't argue with that.

The actual argument was not that the streets need to be paved but how and where the needed funds are to be obtained. Carl Malysz wants a draw bond for $10,000,000 to be used at the administration's discretion for street paving and improvements to the sidewalks, traffic lights, etc. Kevin Zurschmeide and Dan Coffey want the administration to obtain bids for specific areas to be paved and bring the bids to the council for approval. Additionally, they want to use available T.I.F. and EDIT funds to cut down on the amount of debt incurred. This plan was echoed by Bob Caesar who added that he disliked the idea of borrowing.

So we have two plans to go before the next council meeting. There will be at least one other work session before the next council meeting.

We have a choice, citizens of New Albany.

Plan A: Pay as you go, use available T.I.F. and EDIT funds (not completely drain these funds) to cut down on debt and pave the streets over time, approximately 3 years.
or
Plan B: Obtain a draw bond (similar to a line of credit) and pave as many streets as possible in as short of time as possible.

Either way, the streets need to be paved as we all know. Additionally lower fuel prices mean lower prices to blacktop the streets so time is of the essence.

Readers, please weigh in on these plans and attend the next work session and council meeting. A decision needs to be made and our council members need to know how the majority of citizens feel about this. It is after all our money they are talking about spending.