IMPORTANT EVENT

This Thursday 1/15/09 Dr. Rob Stone of Hoosiers for a Commonsense Health Plan will make a presentation on single payer health care during the City Council's work session at 6:00PM.

Councilman John Gonder will introduce a resolution endorsing HR676 during the regular meeting. Health care is such an important issue especially now since so many people are losing their jobs and therefore their health insurance also.

Even if a company offers COBRA coverage, it is so expensive that most people cannot afford it.

Also, Mayor England will be giving his State of the City address, so it promises to be a very interesting evening.

Please make an effort to attend this work session and meeting.

Update: Mayor England has postponed his State of the City address until the first council meeting in February. His recovery is taking longer than he expected. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

A MESSAGE OF HOPE

Rep. Baron Hill had another ceremonial inauguration Saturday, January 10. I attended again as I had in 2007 and was happy and proud to be able to attend.

His speech in 2007 was a little more about himself and the 9th District. He promised to listen to his constituents and carry out his promises.

This time his speech was a little more about the country as a whole. He discussed the bailout of the lending institutions which he rightfully opposed. He talked about how people came up to him as he marched in last year's Harvest Homecoming Parade and thanked him for listening to their concerns. He also touched on our new president-elect. He defended his decision to endorse Mr. Obama even though the majority of the people in Southern Indiana love Hillary. He also loves Hillary, whom he said will be a great Secretary of State, but he endorsed the person who he thought was best fitted to be the leader of the free world. He talked about how many other members of other countries are pleasantly surprised at our choice of a president.

I have always been a Hillary Clinton supporter but I did vote for Barack Obama in the general election. He promised a better life for people like myself and my family and I believed him and still do. After hearing Baron talk along the same lines I felt very uplifted. It was so good to hear a positive message after the last eight years.

After the meeting the crowd gathered around Baron to congratulate him and wish him well. The other members of Hoosiers for a Commonsense Healthcare Plan were there and we surrounded him and asked him to keep healthcare on the "front burner". He promised that he would. That made us all happy and hopeful again.

Baron Hill is a man of integrity who does keep his promises. Thank you Baron.

COUNCIL MEETING 1/5/09

Last night's council meeting was short but interesting. Of course, Dan Coffey was named the new council president as predicted.



John Gonder relayed a tragic incident where two toddler girls were killed in a fire caused by a cigarette lighter. He asked for stronger enforcement of the novelty lighter ordinance.



President Coffey indicated that the budget would be a top priority for 2009. He wants work to start on the budget immediately. He also asked for an itemized list of the expenses from the damages caused by Hurricane Ike.



Carl Malysz gave a lengthy talk on a variety of issues:

• He gave an update on Mayor England's progress. He is back to work but still undergoing physical therapy.


• He said the Administration was still working on hiring another Code Enforcement Officer as soon as we receive approval from H.U.D. He added that the next 30 days will be quite busy.

1) The Concentrated Code Enforcement position will be filled.

2) A code enforcement hot line will be installed.

3) There will be code enforcement "sweeps" through neighborhoods.

• Indiana will receive 80 Million Dollars in Neighborhood Stabilization Funding. This money will be used to do neighborhood inspections looking for abandoned properties or properties in disrepair with code violations.

• An ordinance for registration of rental properties was proposed effective 2/09. Fees would be waived for a period of time. John Gonder will call another meeting with the code enforcement committee.

I talked to Mr. Malysz after the meeting about the neighborhood sweeps and the 80 mil. He said the smaller cities such as New Albany had a good chance to receive part of these funds since other funding was appropriated for the larger cities. As he said he wants to work with the neighborhood associations. He added that he was interested in helping homeowners who were not able to make needed repairs on their property. This seems like a great idea. Many areas of town have elderly residents on fixed incomes. I strongly recommend representatives from each of the neighborhood associations attend the next council meeting.

On another note. I also want to invite anyone interested in the health care crisis to attend a work session at 6:00 before the next council meeting. More on that later.

OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

What can I say about 2008? It will certainly not go down as a stellar year for anyone that I know. The economy tanked, financial institutions were given billions of dollars but won't tell what they did with all of that cash.

As always, I look to the new year with hope. Hope that my family and friends will stay healthy and employed. Hope that either myself or someone close to me will win the lottery. Well, a person can dream, can't they?

I am not going to make any predictions myself so if anyone wants to make a few predictions about New Albany or the country, or the world for that matter please do so.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, NEW ALBANY!!

HAVE A BLESSED CHRISTMAS

Like just about everyone else I have been running around trying to find the perfect gifts, shopping at the grocery for food to prepare the perfect Christmas meal, in general, trying to make this a perfect Christmas for my family.



Every year I tell myself that I won't try to be Martha Stewart, and every year I try and fail. I also try to simplify my life during the holidays. This year I did succeed in that goal.



Tonight I will join my family in the Christmas Eve service at my church. We will sing hymns and celebrate the birth of Christ.



However you celebrate this wonderful holiday season I wish you joy and happiness. And hopefully we will all have a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2009.

HE'S AT IT AGAIN

Gov. (not my man) Mitch Daniels has decided to "streamline" government.

According to a Tribune article by Rick Callahan Daniels wants to eliminate the three county commissioners and replace them with one county administrator who will appoint the county treasurer, recorder, assessor, surveyor and coroner. And commissioner Steve Bush agrees with him. Mr. Bush thinks this will help insure that we will have qualified candidates.

As for myself, I cannot think of any way to make Floyd County become more corrupt. If one person has that much power how can they stay honest? No matter how good one's intentions, we all know that power corrupts.

We the citizens should decide which candidates will hold these positions. The last thing we need is less power for the citizens. It is bad enough that our Federal Government still has the Electoral College. Floyd County has a lot of concerned people who take an active part in our elections. We should not be forced to live in Daniels' little fiefdom.

Let's not let this happen.

UP AND RUNNING

Hi everybody.

I have been absent from the blog for a while, mainly because we moved last week and it took forever to get my system set up again. Then I had an eye infection. The last week was pretty much a washout but things are looking better.

There is so much going on now that I don't know what to write about. The disgraceful way Barbara Sillings was treated at the council meeting, the death of the LOIT tax, (yea). But I will think of something soon.

Thanks,

Shirley