Owensboro Lands NBA Basketball team

Basketball in Kentucky is huge, and its about to get even huger.

The Curmudgeon has learned through his inside sources that a press conference will be held at 6:00 p.m. today to announce the relocation of a current NBA team to Owensboro.

Details are very sketchy and apparently this deal is moving through very quickly but the Curmudgeon has interviewed a person very close to the situation (that person's identity will not be revealed in order to protect him/her).

As part of the downtown devlopment, a new stadium will be built to house the team and the team will begin play in Owensboro at the start of the 2012 season.

"The team has been struggling financially in the market they are currently in and were looking to relocate," states the source "the team looked at the success the Oklahoma group has had and decided to give a smaller market with less competition a shot".

Kentucky is known for having a very rabid basketball fanbase. The team looked at the bigger cities, Louisville and Lexington, but did not want to compete with the local college teams (the Cardinals and Wildcats).

"Marketing this team in a town such as Owensboro is a completely new way of thinking for the NBA. With the current recession, competition for what little entertainment dollars there are floating around is cut-throat. We believe we are going to tap into an untouched market with strong demand. The current redevelopment of Owensboro's downtown area and plans already in place for a new arena really was perfect timing for this deal."

While Owensboro seems like an extremely small population to support such a major-league team, my source believes the team will draw fans from surrounding cities like Evansville and Bowling Green. "When you look at the actual market size that the team will be drawing their fans from, it is comparable to cities like Sacramento, CA and Oklahoma."

The Curmudgeon pressed to learn which team was involved with the move but that piece of information is being kept tightly controlled. "The current owner, who is moving the team and not selling, wants to be able to personally address staff and players before they hear from other sources."

It looks like Owensboro may be taking its first steps towards the big time and oh yeah. . .APRIL FOOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Them Wacky Tobacky boys are at it again

From the Louisville Courier-Journal (boy I sure would like to link to the local story in Messenger-Inquirer but their sites requires a subscription)

HIV inhibitor grown in tobacco plants

But yesterday, Louisville's James Graham Brown Cancer Center announced that one of its scientists had used Kentucky tobacco plants to cheaply grow a potent, protein-based drug that inhibits HIV.

If clinical studies prove successful, the product, likely a preventive gel, could be on shelves around the world as early as 2015, providing a crucial method of reducing new HIV infections in places such as sub-Saharan Africa, according to Kenneth Palmer, who conducted the study.

"There's a big need for an effective, female-controlled intervention to protect from HIV," said Palmer, a senior University of Louisville scientist.

This is by far the biggest results to come from the Owensboro Cancer Research Program. The research behind this story was published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (article here) and the research has picked up a good amount of attention from the science community and has been commented on in Nature (article here). For those of you not playing along at home the Proceedings of the National Academy and Nature are two of the top five journals to publish research in. This is the type of attention that top-notch research from the big institutions get and the little ole' labs up at the hospital are doing it. Maybe there is something to this plant-made pharmaceutical stuff.

Bonus points go to the authors for making the research open access, meaning you don't need a subscription to see the article.

Three Strikes and this weekend is over!

Yeah, the curmudgeon is in a horrible mood. In the rollercoaster of life, I am mid-loop. Unfortunately, its those little details that really get on my nerves right now and this weekend's adventures didn't help too much. I kind of changed up my weekend routine a little and visited some places that I haven't been to in a while and I realized why.

First off - Red Lobster - you didn't bring me my baked potato with my meal. You said they were behind and that it would come. I finished my meal, my plate was taken away, and I didn't get my baked potato or offered an alternate. I SHOULD NOT HAVE TO BEG FOR FOOD THAT I ORDERED. Your saving grace - those buttered biscuits.

Maloney's Rocca Bar - decent service, thats after you wait 20 minutes for the waitress to notice you have joined a table that already has drinks. Sorry, but there are too many other bars out there like you. I will not put forth the effort to make it to your establishment if your wait service can't put for a little extra effort themselves.

The Blind Parrot - Wow! Talk about a nosedive! When the Parrot first opened, it used to be a decent little place to go for a few drinks, maybe to enjoy the outside patio, maybe throw some cornhole. The crowd was a decent lot, not to old, not to young, mainly the young professional friday-after-five type. The dance floor was usually occupied with only one or two cougars (that a lady 40 and above looking for a younger male), can't say that I joined them in dancing but there was always the opportunity.

Fast forward to this weekend. I was met at the door by "Big Daddy" the bouncer demanding three dollars for a cover charge. When I got into the bar, I immediately could tell this wasn't the old blind parrot. The best way to describe the place and its clientele was like a strip joint without the nakedness. I really felt out of place having a college degree and my hat on straight. The old DJ with his computer full of mp3's pumping out the cougar enticing tunes had been replaced by a real (wannabe) DJ with his two turntables and thankfully no microphone. In addition, I guess the Fire Marshal had already gone to bed for the night because there was no way that place should have had that many people in it. Needless to say, I won't be going back anytime soon.

One shining point to the weekend was the performance of those HILLTOPPERS. Sure, they lost in the second round to Gonzaga, but they put forth one hell of an effort in both games and proved they could play with the best of them. If things had gone just a little differently, they could have been in the sweet sixteen two years in a row. We'll see you next year in the final four!

Now That's Bluegrass - Iron Horse!

I warned you earlier, my taste in bluegrass music is a bit eccentric. I think this selection may ease you into my world with a little less shock. Don't worry, the real good stuff.

I actually ran across this band on iTunes and have since dug around a little on youtube and their website.

Iron Horse Bluegrass is a group that was formed back in 2000 out of the Muscle Shoals area and specialize in covering heavy metal and rock tunes, bluegrass style. They have released several CDs covering groups such as Metallica, Guns & Roses, and Ozzy Osbourne. It appears that they do a little touring mainly in the Alabama and North Carolina area. So, sit on down and have you a listen to this:

The farmers are getting itchy

Does the person you are talking to seem to shift around in his seat alot lately? Does the sound of a diesel engine make them look quickly out the window? Does your conversation about the NCAA tournament suddenly shift to fertilizer prices? Chances are, you are talking to a farmer.

Just a week or so from now, a significant chunk of the population here in Daviess county will disappear, unreachable by phone or text, not seen in the local restaurants or wal-marts. No, aliens haven't performed a mass abduction, the farmers are going to the fields.

Yep, it's looking more and more like spring around here and the locals farmers are going stir crazy just waiting to get into the fields. The ground is still a little spungy but the fertilizer spreaders have been running continuously and the spra-coupes have come out of winter hibernation. Tobacco plants are being seeded in greenhouses (they start their lives in greenhouses to get started before being transplanted to the fields). It won't be long, maybe a week or so, until the first corn crops are planted around here.

Its always fun this time of year to poke a little fun at the local farmers. Just tell one that a neighbor down the road has already started planting on the back forty. The farmer will inevitably spout off something about it being to early or too wet or something, but you can see the steam coming from their ears because they aren't the first and you can see the wheels turning as they try to figure out if they have some ground dry enough to get started on. Of course, you hear every year of that one farmer who pulls his planter up and down the road with no real intentions of doing anything just to get his neighbors riled up.

Just being around these guys even makes me a little anxious this time of year. I am not a farmer nor in any way connected with traditional agriculture, but I do get that urge to just do something. Usually, I put in a few weeks of extra-long hours at work (thats partially why the blog posts haven't been so forthcoming). Its also when I seem to get itchy to move on to greener pastures job-wise, for example, see exhibit A.

Anyways, its always refreshing for me to see the tractors moving up and down the road, it means winter is over. It also means being stuck behind a vehicle doing 10mph on a 55mph stretch of highway.

Now for the curmudgeon to put on his straw hat and give the farm report:

Talk amongst the farmers seems to be that this year will be a struggle to make a profit. Inputs, seed, fertilizer, etc. . .are still priced high while grain prices are sinking due to the economy. Of course, anytime you talk to a farmer they are having a hard time making any money, but they all seem to live pretty comfortably.

The downtown development master plan is having an effect on farmers too. All those tractors and equipment have to be insured, and if you'll remember correctly, the city and county just doubled the tax they put on this insurance in order to fund bonds for the downtown project.

A 92.5 acre tract of good-dirt, non-flooding, farmland just outside the city limits (between Keller Road and Fisher Road for those playing along at home) sold at auction for $9400 an acre just last week. Apparently, the new owners plan on planting an orchard full of trees growing money.

And thats the curmudgeon farm report for today, tune in next time. . .

How 'bout them Hilltoppers - part 2

Hey all you wildkitten fans, it's okay, there's plenty of room on the bandwagon, you can join in.

For those of you who don't follow Hilltopper basketball, yes, those beloved Hilltoppers made it to the big dance and will face Illinois in the first round.

In honor of this event, I present to you a couple of clips (that I didn't make) of Big Red, the Hilltopper mascot hanging around campus.

Spring shows it's face (finally)

We've (finally) had some good weather. The past week or so has seen highs in the 60's and 70's. Of course, we've had a few thunderstorms to go along with it. It looks like spring will go back into hiding later in the week but the warm days we've had have been much appreciated. The farmers around here, of course, are about to crawl out of their skin waiting to get into their fields but thats another story.

The nice weather has put the Curmudgeon in a thankful mood. I've got to be thankful that my job is pretty secure. With the economy going into the tank, I don't think I could be in a more secure setting work-wise. Thankfully, this depression (yes I'm calling it a depression) has not caught up yet with my workplace. As a matter of fact, while the world has been going to hell-in-a-handbasket, the past three years has been the most productive time of my life. This past year, I've had more work than I knew what to do with and to be honest, I was fast approaching burn-out, but with the vacation and forcing myself to slow down, the burn-out has been averted for now. The next few months look to be just as busy if not busier (there is even a slight possibility of the project I'm working on going into warp speed, meaning I get crazy busy). Thats not a bad place to be.

Of course, with all this going on, I have put together a pretty impressive little package of experience and there are some other pastures out there that are looking pretty green. Yes, there are actually still some green pastures out there, at least in the industry I work in. If I wasn't afraid that we were on the fast track to revisit the stone age, I wouldn't be so concerned about trying to jump the fence. So, here I stand with a secure job but one I think I am quickly outgrowing. Do I stay put and ride this depression out, or do I try and make the jump?

More Burgoo

The art of making Burgoo goes hi-tech???

What to do with all that stimulus money

Now that our congresscritters have decided to spend $800 billion of my (well most of it ain't mine personally) money. City leaders across the state have dollar signs in their eyes making plans to get some of that government cheese. Local leaders are not exempt and have started dreaming.

The funding of the bypass extension mentioned in the story is a reputable use of the money I guess. Let's face it, if the bypass extension isn't built, we'll end up with a new hospital in the middle of a cornfield.

So the 'ole Curmudgeon got to thinking, what other projects could we use that money for? Re-defining the term "shovel-ready project" I present to you my list:

1) $80 million for downtown development - build a big fire pit downtown and burn the $80 million, matching the results for the $80 million we are already going to spend.

2) $125 million for tourism - Fund a research project to clone Bill Monroe and bring a revival to Bluegrass music (double points because the project involves high tech industries).

3) $5 million for the agriculture industry - Renovate the Riverpark center into a big tobacco barn - maybe then it would get some use.

4) $10 million for local charities - Fund gold plated burgoo kettles for all the local church cooking teams. Yeah, lets add some bling to our burgoo.

5) $10 million for a new marketing/branding strategy for the city - we know $50,000 won't do it.

6) $1 or so million for road improvement - change the signs on the Natcher and Audobon parkway so that the rest of the country will think Interstates run to Owensboro - wait, check that, project already in progress.

7) $6 million for traffic flow improvement - fund a 3 acre expansion of the Big Dipper parking lot.

8) $4 million for local agricultural initiatives - tap into local expertise in plant biotechnology to cross a tobacco plant with a tomato to make a tomato that's addictive (credit The Simpsons for this idea).

9) $50 million for tourism - build two new hotels and a convention center to set empty, the old empty ones are getting pretty run down.

10) $12 million for airport expansion - extend and strengthen runways so they can accommodate a 747 in anticipation of the wild success Allegiant Airways will have with their new service.

11) $9.2 million for an automotive industry bailout - build a factory to make UHaul trucks to accommodate the demand of people moving out of the city.

12) $100 million for new job creation - build 50 new fast food restuarants with jobs that pay minimum wage. Why fix what ain't broke?

13) $20 million for technology infrastructure - Vastly increase the population's access to the internet by providing free dial-up access.

14) $750,000 for a local history project - Hire a detective to figure out just who was behind the "Merger Stinks" skunk (you are truly old school if you remember that one.

15) $20 million for a new entertainment district - District to be anchored by a 3,000 seat "Vegas-style" showroom. John Brennan signed to a multi-year contract for two shows a night, five nights a week. Velvet Bombers to perform on dark nights.

16) $48 million for public health - Install moving walkways the entire length of the Green-belt to encourage its use. Remaining money to be used to make streets and sidewalks more "Rascal" friendly.

17) $60 utility infrastructure upgrades - Kenergy to research wireless power transmission technology, won't have to deal with all those pesky downed power lines when the next disaster hits.

18) $250 stimulation of the automobile industry - Release copious amounts of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere causing an increase in global warming, allowing Don Moore to run his "It's Hot Don" commercials year round.

19) $2 billion for improvement in government relations - The entire city of Owensboro will be moved between Louisville and Lexington so we can be inside the golden triangle.

That's all I got, the peanut gallery is open if you have any "shovel-ready" projects to suggest.

A Curmudgeonly Restaurant Review - PizzaRoma South

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The Curmudgeon is going to start his restaurant reviews with one of my top, if not THE top pick for good eats in Owensboro.

PizzaRoma South, 3011 Fredrica Street, just closed in on their first year at their new location.

The food itself is something to write about. They have a good selection of Pizza, Subs, a Salad Bar, a small selection of Beer, and Wine. I haven't made it there for lunch in a while, but the place has a great and reasonably priced all-you-can-eat pizza lunch buffet. Yes what better setup can you have for your afternoon nap at work than a belly full of pizza. They have also recently recruited a former chef from the Big-E, Chef Gil, to put together a Sunday Brunch deal. The brunch deal features omelets made to order and I believe is available from 11:00 or so in the morning through lunch. Like any pizza place, they offer delivery, call 'em up at (270) 684-0611‎.

What puts this place over the top is the service. If you visit the place a couple of times, they are going to know your name and probably what you eat. This place is a tight-run ship. Management pays attention to the details and your food will be right. The waiters and waitresses there are extremely friendly, the best-trained in town, and are the hardest working. When you eat there, bring along a couple of extra dollars for the tip, the workers there will deserve it.

Pay attention to the outdoor sign when you come in. The owner has some strong opinions and is not afraid to voice them.

In addition, this is a small, locally owned business, that alone should be reason to support the place. Over the years, the PizzaRoma franchise has built a well-deserved tradition in Owensboro.

The next time you are trying to think of somewhere to eat, well heck, the next time you eat period, try PizzaRoma South. They are located right across from KWC and tell them the Curmudgeon sent you.

Yeah, this review may sound more like an advertisement but I received not monetary gain for my writings (I should probably be paying them). A great place like this deserves all the promotion it can get.

A Curmudgeon blog pick - Western Kentucky Weather

Just stumbled across this neat little blog.

This site is managed by a community college student in Hopkinsville interested in, of all things, Western Kentucky Weather.

The site is called, of all things, Western Kentucky Weather

Now the Curmudgeon has someone else to blame for all this %$#!#$#@! weather we've been having.

ROMP '09 lineup

The International Bluegrass Music Museum just (a few days ago) released their lineup for this years ROMP and it goes as follows:

Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver
Bobby Osborne & The Rocky Top X-press
Mike Snider~Dan Tyminski Band
J. D. Crowe & The New South~Steep Canyon Rangers
Bill Clifton~ Larry Sparks & The Lonesome Ramblers Grasstowne~Paul Williams & Victory Trio
Melvin Goins & Windy Mountain
Eddie & Martha Adcock~Tom Gray
Roger Sprung~LeRoy Mack McNees
Gloria Bell & Mike Long~Bill Grant~Al Hawkes
Pioneers Jam~Fragment~ Josh Williams Band
Special Consensus~Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike
Ronnie Reno & The Reno Tradition
Williams & Clark Expedition~The Harringtons
Dixie Bee-Liners~Bill Evans & Megan Lynch
The Ozaki Brothers~The Reunion Band
Kentucky BlueGrass AllStars


This lineup is in line with other lineups for ROMP. Dan Tyminski should put on a good show. Doyle Lawson, Bobby Osbourne, and J.D. Crowe are living legends and should probably be put in that category of see them before they retire. The rest of the schedule, well, isn't too impressive to me.

Disclaimer: The Curmudgeon isn't too "up" on the current Bluegrass scene so I may be making a few statements that will come back to bite me but I've been bitten before and still don't have rabies.

I would love to see more acts on this lineup that are pushing the envelope, some more acts that are young and upcoming. Let's face it, if you were to play a drinking game where you took a drink every time a G-run on a guitar was laid out, you would be passed out before the first set was over. The acts are all the same, let's not veer from how Big Mon played it or the big sumbitch is gonna come out of the grave and knock us out.

This lineup is squarely marketed for the older generation, I hope the local drugstores stock up on their geritol and metamucil. Lord help us all if there is a run on oxygen at the local medical supply store. Now sure these old geezers are going to make their trips to Moonlite and drop some coin for the local economy, but I'd watch to make sure they're not stealing the silverware.

Ok, ok, maybe I'm being a little too harsh. But let's comprimise, how about a day that features some younger acts, or maybe some acts that are a little out there. How about some Old Crow Medicine Show, or maybe Hayseed-Dixie, or Iron Horse. Rollin' in the Hay anyone? I wonder what the local authorities would do when all those hippies started blazing it up when Yonder Mountain String Band took the stage? At least bring Hog Operation down from Louisville. I stumbled across a group called No Speed Limit on Youtube the other day, I've only seen grainy web clips and I am hooked.

ROMP is a traditional bluegrass festival and that's fine, but the IBMM should be helping to foster the growth and progression of the music. We've already lost the IBMA to Nashville, who knows what that town will do to the music. It's time for the IBMM to grab that flag, take our music back, and push it into the future!

Picking up sticks on Sunday

I was awakened Sunday morning from my peaceful slumber by quite a racket outside. Looking out the window, I noticed there was a state highway truck and what looked to be a crew of private contractors collecting limbs and storm debris from the side of the road. Now I'm greatly appreciative of the fact that the state is taking care of getting rid of all the storm debris, but do they have to do this on a Sunday?

The last I heard, the State and the Country are in pretty dire straits economically and budget money is perpetually coming up short. Does it make sense now, to be paying that crew to work on Sunday? I don't know what the going rate for a state worker or government contractor is paid for work on Sunday, but I'm willing to bet it is at least time-and-a-half, if not double time.

I know, I know, disaster and all. . .lots of stuff to clean up. . .everyone wants it done quickly. . .but hey, I'm perfectly alright with those limbs setting there until Monday if it means it would save a few bucks. I imagine some of that money for the cleanup is coming from federal funds. Now wasn't it just a week or so ago that our congress-critters decided to spend $800 billion that they didn't have? In times like this, do we need to be spending money on overtime for state workers to pick up sticks?

Meh!

The Rest of the Story - Paul Harvey dead

I can remember listening to Paul Harvey at noon with my babysitter even when I was barely able to talk. There will never be another like him.

How bout them Hilltoppers!

While all those Wildkitten fans sit around and wait to see if their season of mediocrity is enough to get them into The Big Dance, there is another team in Kentucky that is laying a strong claim for a ticket. No, I'm not talking about the U of L, I'm talking about the team that beat the Cards earlier in the season, the Sun Belt Conference regular season champions, THE HILLTOPPERS.

The Hilltoppers have had some impressive wins this season, beating UofL is one of them. They've also had some embarrassing defeats, those being against the University of Evansville and Murray State Wannabe State.

The TOPS future is in their hands, they will probably need to win their conference tournament to assure a spot, but they are looking pretty good.

How bout them HILLTOPPERS!

The Curmudgeon Lasts a Month

Who knew I could come up with enough material to last a month blogging, especially with an emphasis on life in Owensboro. With no real promotion, I think I've gotten quite a few eyeballs to my site and I think those numbers are going to grow. I'm a bit of an internet geek and I think it is interesting to watch a site grow organically as this one has. Heck, I guess you could call this site eco-friendly, I've used no artificial fertilizers to grow its popularity, just a ton of bull*$%!. The blog is a bit wormy though!

Bear with me now, I know this blogging about blogging can be a little inane. I must say I have been not-wanting for material to write about, I was a little concerned that I wouldn't have enough good subjects to write about but I am happy with the quality of crap I've put out (this post being the exception).

I think I'll add a little bit more bluegrass to the mixture, I'm quite a fan of the stuff, but I warn you, my tastes can be a bit eccentric.

It has been quite a month for me, almost half of it I wasn't with real power and the town was torn all to pieces from the big ice storm. Maybe it was a sign from above of disapproval of this blog. If it was, it was a pretty big sign. I hope I haven't made the Big Guy upstairs that mad. I paid a visit to another country (the Bahamas), thats something that I don't do often. All-in-all, it was quite a unique month. I'll take the trip outside the country, that was quite refreshing, but I can do without another one of those friggin' ice storms, heck, I think now I could stand a couple feet of snow as long as that ice stays way far away from here.

Alright, enough with the self-promotion, back to being a crusty old curmudgeon. Shout out your thoughts or ideas from the peanut gallery (comments section), I'm a bit deaf but maybe I'll hear them, I won't guarantee I'll listen to them though.

Some quick rants

GM's balance sheet now stands at -60 billion and they want another 16 billion from the Government. At what point do you throw in the towel? I love a good GMC pickup truck but when do you quit? And how the heck does the CEO still have his job?

The local Toyotetsu factory laid off a quarter of their workforce. 175 workers were laid off. So far I think Owensboro has been pretty recession proof, but the loss of jobs are starting to mount. Our dependence on low-paying manufacturing jobs are going to start biting us in the you-know-what.

The Owensboro Airport board has hired a new director, the old one hasn't resigned yet though. . .huh. . .

eh. . .thats all I got. . .I've had a few other things preoccupying my thoughts. . .maybe some more on that later. . .lets just say that sometimes living in Owensboro can sometimes be personally frustrating for me. . .

I rant and rave on this blog about the shortcomings (and sometimes good things) about this fair city and have a little fun with it. I think everyone likes to put down their hometown. Sometimes though, the shortcomings of opportunities in this city can be really frustrating and I don't know if I have the patience or willingness to personally sacrifice certain things just to live in my hometown with friends and family. I've lived in other parts of this country and have seen what opportunities there are out in this here big ole' world of ours. Sometimes, wants for those opportunties put up a big fight against my satisfaction of living back home. We will see who wins this fight.

Chinese bluegrass

I don't care where the IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) calls their home, right now it is the home of country music, Nashville trashville, the heart of bluegrass music is still located in Rosine Kentucky, the home of Bill Monroe. Now Rosine is right down the road from Owensboro and therefore, this region is the TRUE HOME OF BLUEGRASS MUSIC.

I won't go into the fact that I think the bluegrass community must embrace the newer bluegrass bands such as the Yonder Mountain String Band, I may save that for a later post. All I want to say here is that you've got to like what these guys are doing and give a BIG YEE-HAW out to Mei Han's Red Chamber.

Now that's Owensboro

After putting together tomorrow's post, I kind of came across a neat little epiphany.

Here's the backstory:

With the recent news that Owensboro can't come up with a new "Brand", I've been trying to help them out with a few suggestions.

1) Visit Owensboro, Future Ghost Town!
2) Owensboro! You Can't Get Here from There


Now here's one that dag-nabbit, actually makes a little sense:
(once again, feel free to use at no cost to the taxpayer)

Bluegrass, Burgoo, and Biotech - Now that's Owensboro!

We all know that the true home of Bluegrass is the 'boro. It's also the only place to get real Burgoo. And hey, we want to be a biotech hub so there you have it. We don't need no big-city marketers to tell us who we are.

Update - why this is on my brain at midnight I don't know but I came up with a whole slew of ideas on the theme of "Now that's Owensboro!"

So
1) Great schools, Great living, Great times - Now that's Owensboro!
I've lost the alliteration on the following but they work
How about tailoring it for some Nascar notables
2) Darrell Waltrip, Jeff Green, Jeremy Mayfield - Now that's Owensboro!
Maybe a little local flair
3) "It's Hot Don!" - Now that's Owensboro
An economic push - a little gangly but it may work
4) Emerging Ventures, Life Science Partnership, Greater Owensboro Venture Club - Now that's Owensboro!
A barbecue flair
5) Moonlite, Old Hickory, Bar-B-Que Festival - Now that's Owensboro!
Local trivia
6) World's Largest Sassafras Tree - Now that's Owensboro!

Of course the curmudgeon's take
7) Empty hotels, low-paying jobs, aging population - Now that's Owensboro!

I think you can get where I'm going with this. Ideas, comments, concerns or complaints are all welcome in the peanut gallery (comments section)

A Failed Business Model: The Messenger-Inquirer

A warning - this is going to be a pretty blunt post, sorry if I step on some toes but that is just how it is going to be, and a disclaimer - I have no professional experience with journalism or advertising (as is probably already evident), therefore, you should not pay attention to anything I say below, I am just a regular joe with an opinion and an outlet.

Way back when. . .I spent some time living outside of Owensboro. . .way outside. Feeling a little homesick, I could always go to the Messenger-Inquirer's website and catch up on the local news. Heck, I could even get tomorrow's news if you visited the site the evening before. When it was time to move home, the first place I looked for apartments was the online classified section (this was way back when craigslist.com was just a California thing).

Then, the Paxton Media group bought the paper from the Dallas Morning News. After this, a paper subscription or online subscription was required to view stories on the paper's website - on this I call B.S. Now to be fair to the paper, the classifieds and the obituaries section is still available without a subscription.

Let's be frank, the traditional newspaper industry is dead. In our region, the traditional paper has a little more life because of the number of computer illiterate and older population that is unfamiliar with the new information age. In order for a newspapers to survive, they must transform themselves into a media outlet who's main reach to the population is through the internet. It seems that almost all the other newspapers in this region and Kentucky have grasped that concept and have moved to free-access over the web. If not free, then all that is needed is to hand over an e-mail address (which can then be unscrupulously sold off and I'm cool with that). For a list of those papers, just check the sidebar on this blog.

From my understanding, a paper makes its money from advertising. Don't you think that driving more eyeballs to your website by offering free QUALITY content would drive more people to your advertisers? If you guys can't learn how to make money off of online ads, then I suggest you find someone that can.

During the ice storm, complaints for news from outside the area was heard and the M&I opened their site for a couple of weeks, but now that the storm is over, apparently once again, no one outside this area is interested in our little community. If I was still living outside this area, I would not pay for access, I'm sorry, but your product is not worth the price.

And talking about price. . .WHY THE HECK DOES IT COST $1.00 A DAY FOR ACCESS TO THE INTERNET VERSION WHEN IT COSTS $0.75 FOR THE PAPER VERSION. Really, everyone else thinks it is cheaper to transfer the news via all those little electrons streaming through the tubes, does the M&I know something everyone else doesn't? I guess discouraging access via the internet is a way to boost paper buy rates, but as a matter of principle, I for one, will not buy a paper if you the internet version is not free.

Owensboro wants to be a hub for high-technology businesses and wants to recruit young, talented people to the area. What do you think their first impression of this area is when the local two-bit newspaper demands payment for online access when the New York Times or the San Jose Mercury News doesn't? If one of the most visible businesses in Owensboro is clinging to a failing business model, what does this mean for the rest of the businesses in the area. I wonder if someone at the M&I has even heard of a Kindle?

I think the calls for the M&I to open up during the ice storm shows that there is a demand for local news from people outside this area, however, these people, like me, aren't going to pay a subscription fee for this information. If the M&I won't open up, I think there is an opportunity for someone else to move in and be the source of Owensboro News. For my money (or lack of use thereof), I think the best free-access Owensboro news comes from Stuart Peck and the Owensboro newsdesk at WFIE.com (a local TV station).

Don't worry though, the Curmudgeon will always be free (I'm not fooling myself, I know you wouldn't pay for this crap). Lord help us all if this site becomes a leader for online Owensboro news!

Update even before post is published - just saw that the M&I is maybe putting some fresh efforts into their website development. Mr. Shafa's health reporting has been respectable, let's see if he can make a difference in their web department.

"How are you today?"

So I drove up to my local Taco Bell drive-through the other day and was greeted with:

"How are you today?"
Now being the sociable southerner I am, I answered back with,
"Fine, thanks," and wait, and wait, and wait. . .
Two minutes later "you can go ahead with your order anytime you want."
Well, why didn't you tell me that earlier, were you just busy or was I supposed to start blurting out my order.
This isn't the first time I've encountered this phenomenon and most of the time when I get the "How are you today" I just start in with my order and usually get a "your order comes to $x.xx, please drive-through"

This totally goes against my southern morals. When someone greets me with a "How are you" I switch into friendly smalltalk mode. I think it is rude to just start in with my order, but it appears to me that is what I am supposed to do. So now, I'm thinking I'm the rude customer with no cares about you or your family or that your cousin Ed caught a 10-pound bass the other day.

If my boss came up to me and I greeted him with "How are you today", I wouldn't expect a reply of "I need these 2 TPS reports by noon", I would expect an "i'm fine thanks and how about you" and at least a little smalltalk before getting to the meat of the discussion.

When I go into a drive-through, just ask me what I want to order, don't try this friendly greeting crap, it really doesn't work. The person behind the register doesn't give a hoot about how my day has been and all I want is a burrito and a coke and to get on with the artery clogging.

Burgoo!

Ah. . .Burgoo. . .great for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert!

OWB EDC offers up a challege

Two pro-Owensboro posts in a row, no I'm not running a fever or on the take.

The Owensboro Economic Development Council recently offered a $15,000 grant to the best business plan offered up in a challenge.

Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs-to-be must submit an overview of their proposal for a their business by mid-march. Businesses must have the potential for $1 million in revenue and hiring at least five people. The top four proposals must then come up with a more detailed business plan to be judged in April. The winning proposal gets lots of love and consulting from the EDC, $15,000 in seed money and free rent for six months in their new business incubator. The catch - well, your business must be willing to set up shop in Owensboro.

Wow, I have to say this is a great idea. The $15,000 is just enough seed capital to support a business getting their legs under them. The space in the incubator is of no cost to the EDC, it is sitting empty right now anyway, and Madison Silvert and the crew running this show seems to have a good head about them so you'll probably get some top-notch advice. My only suggestion - this challenge should be repeated, perhaps quarterly.

This type of project is the type of small step needed to get some momentum going for the small business/entreprenual spirit in the city. Now, we just need to keep making those small steps, many, many, many more small steps. Let's face it, the winner of this challenge at best has a 33% chance of succeeding (I just came up with that number) so we need at least three of these challenges to have one successful business with at least 5 new jobs and revenues of $1 million.

To continue with the EDC love, I've got to say the blog is a great idea. Yeah I know, blogs are so 2005, but Owensboro still has a newspaper that requires payment to read online! (more on that later, heh) so to see an organization in Owensboro embracing technology is somewhat refreshing.

Lets keep making those small steps.

Bye-Bye Big E

Seems like the ole Owensboro Powers had a card they weren't showing when they decided to increase taxes on insurance premiums. Instead of using some of that cash for a new parking garage downtown, they are going to purchase the shuttered Executive Inn and tear it down.

So now I guess you are expecting a rant about how this is a bad idea, well maybe my vacation has softened me a bit but this may not be a bad idea.

In the last decade or so, the "Big E" has gone through a series of owners ranging from fronts for ponzi schemes to car-dealers turned Donald Trump wannabe. After the last foreclosure on the property this spring, it appears that the property's prospects had deteriorated to the point that another less-than-reputable owner couldn't be found. Even the bank that owned the property had given up trying to maintain the property (well, I don't think they tried to begin with). The city and county had put together an offer of (I think) around $6 million for the property this summer that was turned down so it looks like the city's wait-and-see approach has knocked a million or so off the pricetag.

Owensboro was faced with the reality of having a deteriorating chunk of bricks and concrete overlooking all that new development that's coming. My understanding is that the hotel was in such bad shape that it would have to come down. It does to show the sad state of the city's economic environment that what should be a prime piece of riverfront real-estate would not be enticing enough for some developer to come in and redevelop themselves. The property will honestly be worth more once the hotel is gone. I think the city is showing a little forethought that this property could be an eyesore for years to come and is being proactive about the situation. What I don't want to see is the city razing the hotel and then turning around and selling the land for less than purchase price a year from now - then you will see a real crazed curmudgeon rant.

The fact that the money for this purchase was somewhat underhandedly obtained makes me think the city leaders have more cards up their sleeves than they are showing on this downtown redevelopment project. Since I agree with this move, I won't say much about their underhanded actions, but lets try to keep all the cards on top of the table from now on.

You can't get there from here - first Allegiant flight out of Owensboro canceled

Ah. . .you just can't make this stuff up.

First let me give a little backstory:

The Owensboro airport is guaranteed commercial air service thanks to the Essential Air Services act.
In November of 2007, thanks to some extra cheese from our U.S. government, Fly- By-Night-Airlines I mean Big Lie Big Sky airlines re-initiated flights out of the Owensboro Airport after about a year of no service. A mere two months later and Big Sky was pulling out. Thankfully, our government expedited the search for another carrier and extended a contract to Fly-By-Night Airlines 2 Great Lakes Aviation. Great! Service is slated to start in June July August September October November December Febtober 3 March 2009!!!! Meanwhile, the x-ray machines and baggage carousels gathered dust.


Image credit: Dennis Sylvester Hurd
Obviously, these are not the first passengers of Allegiant Airlines from Owensboro

Enter Allegiant. While this service was not part of the government EAS contract, Allegiant decided to offer two JET flights a week out of OWB (take note, this was announced in November - four months ago). Heck, this is great news, Owensboro has never really had any REAL jet service, all those EAS flights used those 1930's era turbo-props - you know - the planes that even an Armenian airline would consider not fit for service. And the airport fit Allegiant's plan, flying into smaller airports willing to let them come in for next to nothing in service fees.

The fanfare on the local TV news was whipped to a frenzied pace. Why they even had to reorganize the inside of the terminal to fit all the people that were going to use the service.

Fast-forward (or just stay put) to today, February 18, the day that would rejuvenate air service to Owensboro: The flight was canceled at 2:30a.m. by the TSA. Yep, after four months of preparation, it seems the airport board and the TSA couldn't muster a team to knock the dust off those x-ray machines. Details are sketchy but it appears the TSA is pulling a fast one for additional money. Wait. . .we've had four months to iron this out! I'm really at a loss of words for this one. How. . .why. . .WTF. . .really. . .

Which brings up the point, when you are flying out of an airport with only two flights a week, your travel plans can really get screwed. Passengers today either had to re-book through Evansville, drive to Lexington for another Allegiant flight, or try to book a last minute seat on the Owensboro-Orlando stagecoach route from what I understand. I think alot of those people lining up for flights are going to have a reality check when they realize that an overzealous bureaucrat or a haywire warning light on a single plane can ruin their vacation. After this, I sure as heck ain't going to go near the OWB airport.

Yep, February 18 will be an historic day for our little airport - the day that commercial service officially ended. Yeah, the TSA may get things straightened out for Saturday's flight and we may have a few months of service, but the damage is done. The airport power's-that-be may as well start working on their next marketing strategy - targeting training flights from Fort Cambell for Moonlight Bar-B-Que take-out. Actually a few of them may need to brush up on the phrase "You want fries with that?"

Of course, this brings up a great new slogan/marketing strategy for Owensboro: Owensboro! You Can't Get Here From There

By the way, I hope you'll note that most of the story links for this post was from wfie.com, the local NBC TV Station. In my opinion, they've got the best accessible reporting for Owensboro, but more on that later. . .


UPDATE 2/20/09-Allegiant's first flight out of Owensboro was rescheduled for Thursday morning and went off without a hitch. The curmudgeon still stands by its opinion that this screw-up still cost the airport a large amount of its what little reputation it had.

UPDATE 2 -2/20/09 - Seems like the airport's manager is no longer employed. I also heard that the airport is now charging $5 a day for parking (it used to be free). Any confirmation? If so, I would chalk that up under major blunder also.

I'm back, powered up, and Curmudgeonly as ever

Yep, I am back vacation with a nice suntan sunburn.

While I was gone, Kenergy was able to restore full power to my house. I was officially without full power for 14 days after the Great Ice Storm of '09.

Now back to it. . .

Doesn't this just make you want to see a game



This was a brawl at a recent Evansville Icemen game. I haven't been yet but after seeing this, I'm planning on it. Hey Owensboro, with that new ice rink, you think we could get a team?

By the way, I first came across this video on The Lighter Side.

Owensboro puts rebranding on hold, can't think of anything good to say

Well, they always say if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything. Maybe thats a stretch for this situation, but according to this report, the city of Owensboro has gone back to the drawing table for a new catchy slogan after their three suggestions were all put down by the community.

I'll tell you what Owensboro - instead of spending the $50,000 to let a professional come up with a slogan - I'll do it for $25,000. . .ah heck, I've got so much pride in my hometown I'll do it for free.

The good thing about my branding strategy is that you guys won't have to change a thing about your strategy for the city to fit with the brand. Why this slogan has a tourism aspect in it and really tells the world where Owensboro is heading. Are you ready for it. . .

Visit Owensboro. . .Future Ghost Town!!!


P.S. I guess i cant take full credit for this slogan, I did hear it from someone else. If you can prove you came up with it. . .why I'll split all the profits we make from selling it to the city.

Getting out of town

getting ready for my trip to the Bahamas has taken a little longer than expected so the posts no real posts today. I have a few scheduled for next week though.

Still don't have full power. I'm just shutting the house down and leaving, its not supposed to drop below freezing all of next week so I should be good.

Owensboro Downtown Master Plan - Part two

While well over half of Daviess county and Owensboro sat without electricity, the most important issue for a combined City and County government meeting last night was to raise the taxes levied on my (and everyone elses) insurance policies by 4%, excluding crop and health insurance. Surely this new tax revenue will be utilized for a sound investment in the city, maybe infrastructure upgrades????. . .well. . .ehh. . .sorry. . .no.

This new tax revenue will be used to float a roughly 80 million dollar bond that will be invested in the downtown master plan. Surely there is a pool investors setting on the sidelines just waiting for a commitment from Owensboro before breaking out the shovels and starting the redevelopment of downtown. . . .well. . .no. . .but 27 other cities that have done this same thing have seen dumptruck-loads of money just pouring in.

Man, for the elected officials of a small city like Owensboro to make such a commitment, they must be looking at one heck of a rock-solid redevelopment plan. . .well. . .no. . .just a couple of pretty pictures put together by the Gateway Planning Group, a private developer.

So, you just doubled the amount of taxes you levy on me for protecting my house and my car in case of disaster so that you could dump $80 million into a project put together by a private developer which is only a couple of pretty pictures, probably to risky for investment from a banking institution, with no commitments from any other outside investors?

OK, so if this were Bowling Green, KY, a growing city with a young population and a vibrant economy . . .a city the same size as Owensboro that is kicking its rear-end in every way, I would have no problems with such a proposal. But this build-it-and-they-will-come thing only works for baseball fields in the middle of a corn field in Iowa or somewhere. In my opinion, the city leaders have not proven themselves capable of handling a project of this scope successfully.

The city wants to attract young successful people with families back to the area, so the next time you see a young successful person with a family (either here in Owensboro or out of town), ask them if they want to live in a fourth floor apartment above a bar in downtown Owensboro. I like to think of myself as young and successful and while the thought of living over a bar at first seems like a great idea, on second thought, I like the quite solitude and hangover-free Mondays that the county provides (that doesn't make me un-successful does it?)

Yeah on paper this type of project looks good and will attract the more successful hi-techy type, but I don't think jumping in feet first to a project like this is the way to go about it.

Just wait until the city starts using eminent domain to seize downtown properties just to hand it over to private developers to fulfill this plan.

More to come. . .

The Great Ice Storm of 09 - Day 7 1/2

Hang on to you hats folks and bundle up, its going to be a cold one! We are looking at lows in the lower teens tonight and another full day tomorrow below freezing. The power situation for me is the same (half the house with power, no furnace). While the house was at a toasty 66 last night, I'm fighting to keep it above 60 tonight. To be honest, 60 is not bad (I'm in a t-shirt) and I could live with this situation for a while but I hope it is warm enough to my waterlines under the house from freezing (yep, I've got several faucets dripping).

The local shelters are expecting more people tonight as the lingering cold weather is pushing more people out of their homes.

The temperature today stayed in the teens and a cold wind decided to blow through the region, keeping the wind chill close to 0 and shaking loose some of those loose branches still remaining in the trees. Once again, falling branches apparently have an affinity for power lines, causing a fresh batch of consternation to the crews still trying to clean up from last week.

Kenergy (the electrical company serving most of the counties in this region) started with 42,000 accounts without power, now the number stands at 22,000. So, after nearly a week of work, half of the people who lost power still don't have it back. OMU (Owensboro's electric company) has power to 60% of the residents. Statewide, over 200,000 still don't have power. The CEO of Kenergy is stating that out-of-town lineman that also worked on the Katrina disaster believe the destruction here is about the same.

Apparently Owensboro and Daviess County can consider themselves lucky. 90% of Webster county is still without power and other communities aren't even that lucky.

I noticed several people at the gas stations filling up their gas cans so their are still plenty of generators out their cranking away.

I myself put in a full day of work today. I started to notice yesterday that most people at work and about town seem tired, some people including myself are on edge (I won't be at ease until I have full power back). I was making smalltalk to the Fedex guy today and asked him how cold it was outside . . ."it's cold. . .I need to be wearing more layers. . .I'm living out of a suitcase and it doesn't have enough layers for today." Now Fedex guys are used to working hard in the cold, but you could tell this guy was tired.

In what has turned out to be a stroke of luck for me, I have a vacation planned starting Saturday. I am heading south (Bahamas) and staying there for a week. . .if I can just make it till then. I'll try to soak up some extra sun for my friends I'm leaving behind.

Once again, I am extremely lucky to have what I have.

Great Ice Storm of 09 - FEMA's response in the Blogosphere

Look's like FEMA and the president are getting quite a negative response in the blogosphere for their response to the Ice Storm. A word of caution about the blogosphere - 1) it tends to run towards the negative side of things, 2) Politics (aka a democratic president's response to an emergency vs. a republican's response) can turn any subject into a simmering pot of you-know-what.

• You Should Have Gone To Kentucky, Mr. President
  
• Why Isn’t Anybody Concerned About Kentucky?
  
• Kentucky Fried FEMA
  
• where’s the outrage?
  
• Does President Obama care about Kentucky?
  
• KY citizens still suffering effects of last week’s ice storms - no outcry about FEMA’s lack of response.
  
• Is the Ice Storm President Obama’s Hurricane Katrina?
  
• UPDATE: 24 Dead and Obama Still Hasn't Arrived
  
• Where’s FEMA?
  
• AP sanitizes FEMA from Ice Storm report
  

The Great Ice Storm of 09 - Day 6 1/2

Not much new today, it was back to work for me. I'm thinking my power problems are going to take a while to fix, since Kenergy has to get involved. The next two days are supposed to stay below freezing with a few warmer days coming after that.

No lines this evening at the local gas station for propane or gasoline, I guess everyone is all gassed-up.

It looks like statewide at least 24 people have died due to the storm, 10 from carbon monoxide, and at least 9 from hypothermia.

The report card for FEMA's response is still out for review. FEMA says that responded quickly once the governor requested assistance, which was Thursday, two days AFTER the storm hit. The director of emergency management in Hopkins county has still had little to no communication with FEMA. It was only on Saturday that the governor mobilized all of the Kentucky National Guard. It's looking more and more like our governor has been caught asleep in his warm, well-lit govern's mansion.

Finally - some pictures of National Guard troops doing something. Supplies started being distributed in Owensboro Sunday.

The Great Ice Storm of 09 - Day 5 1/2

I've got power! Well sort of. . . My area was put back on the grid this morning. However, the line leading to my house was hit by a falling limb and is partially down. The force of the blow did some damage to the weatherhead leading to the meter of my house and apparently pulled a wire loose. I think I have two of the three phase lines connected to my house which means half my house has power. Unfortunately the half that doesn't is the part that powers my furnace. I can run electric heaters now so the propane burners have been turned off (its up to a toasty 66F in the house). Tonight i'll get to sleep in my own bed and be able to stretch out. The couch I was sleeping on was kind of cramped. Tomorrow starts the quest to get my weatherhead/meter fixed. I'm sure Kenergy (the electric company) will have to be involved so it may be a while. Then it will be time to tackle all the downed limbs.

It really appears like the utility companies are starting to make major headway, large chunks of the grid have lit up over the past 36 hours. OMU (the city) appears to be making more progress than Kenergy (the county), but I imagine their grid was not as expansive and susceptible to tree damage. I believe most of the city will try to get back to normal operations tomorrow. The city school system is planning on opening up Tuesday, I don't know about the county schools, I would imagine they will be closed until next week at least. The outlying counties are also starting to get some of their basic institutions, hospitals, gas stations, grocery stores, etc. . . on line. In Muhlenberg county, they were not expecting to have any power for another three weeks or so but they figured a way to reroute some power and some of their vital infrastructure is also getting power. I believe that the utilities have knocked out the easy problems now and are going to be starting on some of the more complicated areas.

Cell phone service has been working reliably since saturday, it also appears like the phone system is working pretty well. I don't know or care about the cable tv system.

There have been a few, not too many, house fires, possibly due to failure of temporary heating, one person that I know personally has lost everything but the clothes on their back and their vehicle. There have also been some cases of carbon monoxide poisoning, but I haven't heard of any deaths yet. . .

Now to curmudge - One of my friends had a superbowl party tonight thanks to a generator, a big screen TV, and satellite television. They live in a more remote area of the county. As a was driving to their house, I did have to drive over four or five sets of downed lines. Multiple rows, think five to ten in a row, of powerpoles in that area had been splintered to toothpicks. As I looked over theses poles on my drive, I noticed they were all older poles. The poles in my area of the county were all relatively new, as a matter of fact all the poles towards town are relatively new and none of them were downed. As a matter of fact, most of the poles that I have witnessed down looked to be older poles. This brings me to the belief that, when all this is over, their should at least be an investigation as to whether or not Kenergy (and OMU, and the other utility companies affected) have been properly maintaining their infrastructure. Of course, most of this older infrastructure is probably now being upgraded, although it is a little too late. I'm not trying to fault the utility companies for these massive problems, but I think a rigorous review of the situation should be undertaken to determine whether or not this situation could have been prevented. If it could, then heads should roll. With that said, I must say that the utility companies, given the current situation, have been doing a phenomenal job, I can't imagine tackling the task they have on hand now. With all this economic stimulus money floating around, I think the least the federal government could do, given the fact that they seem to have done little to nothing during the first parts of this disaster, could feed a little of that money into utility infrastructure upgrades for Kentucky.

Thats all for now, going to work for a bit tomorrow, probably going to take some vacation for some of this week just to get the home situation better stabilized. All-in-all I've gone almost five days without true heat or power but haven't missed a hot shower or meal yet so I consider myself extremely lucky.

The Great Ice Storm of '09 Day 4 1/2

The thawing (thankfully) continues for the folks here in Daviess County and Owensboro. Still no power for me, but I have heat for my house with some propane burners. Don't worry, I'm not sleeping there so no carbon monoxide poisoning for me. Propane has been easy enough to procure, just a 30 minute wait today, 20 minutes of that wait was because the truck to refill the tanks at the service station was late. Gasoline has also been fairly easy to get. Most gas stations are up and running. I would say that most transactions are still taking place with cash as all the credit card machines were knocked out due to the phone/communication outages. Restaurants are open and the city is slowly returning to a sense of normalcy, although there is a long way to go. Tomorrow is another warm day so most of the ice should be off the power lines and trees.

As far as the power situation is concerned, blocks of the city are coming back online. . .very slowly. . .but there is visible progress. Most traffic lights are working. I am starting to see more bucket trucks and electrical workers out and about. The county situation looks a little worse off but I have heard that there is power returning to some portions of the county.


Now for the curmudgeon part - where the heck has the state government and FEMA been??? The city and county government agencies, police, firefighters, utilities, etc. . . have been doing a heck of a dragging the city up onto its feet. What I haven't really seen are the national gaurd or and national agencies on the streets doing anything. Sure I've seen a humvee or two puttering around and some vehicles with FEMA markings but I've really not noticed them doing anything, no soldiers in uniforms with chainsaws clearing downed tree-limbs or water being made available for those without it, you know, the kind of things these guys are supposed to be doing during a disaster. Maybe those guys are concentrating on harder hit areas but according to this report, maybe they aren't. Maybe its the nature of Kentuckians to be self reliant and dependent on our own to get through these types of things. Maybe we just aren't yelling loud enough. To the higher powers out there - what part of 500,000 people with no electricity (and portions without water) in the freezing cold doesn't suggest a major response is needed.

Anyways, yes things seem to be getting better, however slowly, necessary supplies are available with a little work finding them. There has no real looting and no real panic. It is still advisable to keep generators under lock and key and vital supplies under a watchful eye. All-in-all we seem to be handling this situation like previous situations; Hurricane Ike, tornadoes, etc. . ., we are all brushing ourselves off, getting back on our feet, and trying to keep in a cheerful mood.

Owensboro Downtown master plan - part one

So our fair city has decided to "revitalize" the downtown area once again. I won't do any research about how many times Owensboro has "revitalized" their downtown, although it has been several times that I can recall. Downtown buildings have been remodeled, re-opened, and are currently re-decaying from little to no use.

The riverpark center with its IBMA headquarters and bluegrass museum was supposed to put us on the map. It didn't take long for the IBMA to flee to Nash-vegas. Now the only events being hosted by the big red tobacco barn by the river seem to be proms and afternoon performances for busloads of children. Actually the best use I have seen of the place in a long time will be the superbowl party thrown for the city residents during this time of disaster. In defense of the riverpark center, I think the Friday after Five series and Winter Wonderland events have been phenomenal successes, but these two events can only fill at most 20% of the center's calendar.

The focus of this new revitalization revolves around a "Downtown Master Plan". Downtown will be transformed into a "walkable city" and I'm sure the term "mixed-use" has been thrown around several times too. Apparently all these big-time professional city planning "gurus" have decided that cities of the future will be made up of these tiny communities where everything is in one little area. You will basically live in an apartment above where you work and will walk across the street for groceries and one block down to see a show. Apparently, the great leaders of Owensboro have been drinking the kool-aid prepared by these "gurus".

On paper this vision of a mixed-use community is not at all bad in my opinion. However, in order to have a successful mixed use development, it must truly be mixed use, meaning grandma is living next to the twenty-something year old couple with four kids and the drug store for grandma to pick up her prescriptions is next to the honky-tonk bar frequented by the twenty-something year old couple. Once the grandma's overrun the youngin's or vice-versa, your mixed-use development becomes a retirement village or a ghetto. In addition your "big box" stores are typically frowned upon in such areas so no walking to wal-mart grandma.

Lending institutions realize that creating (and maintaining) this mixed-use utopia is risky and therefore it is hard for developers to get the funding to put together such a project. So how do you get a project like this off the ground - well you let the taxpayers of the city take the through the issuance of bonds to finance the project. Wait, did I just say that - an investment is too risking for a lending institution so taxpayers should foot the project? Sounds like the taxpayers of Owensboro are going into the junkbond business.

When Keith Lawrence isn't to fond on some new "vision" for Owensboro, red flags should start waving, and he is staying on the fence on this one (by the way, read the article online quick, before the MandI cranks back on the free access). Will this round of revitalizing be any different? I know where I'm placing my bet on that one, but I'm not tipping my hand just yet...more to come later. Fire away in the comments and we will see how far down this rabbit hole we go.

The great ice storm of '09 Day 3

From Owensboro Ice Storm

If you aren't from Kentucky, then you probably haven't heard much about our fair cities ordeals theses past few days.  Between Monday and Tuesday of this week, we received (depending on where you lived in the region) an inch or two of ice and several inches of snow.  Tuesday night was an interesting night (when we received about 1/2 to an inch of ice), imagine hearing 4-6 inch thick tree limbs snapping and falling all night long, one after another, just hoping the next one doesn't come through the roof.  In case you've never experienced an ice storm, ice and trees don't mix.  In addition, falling tree limbs have an affinity for power lines.  When all is said and done, you have close to 700,000 people in Kentucky without power.  19,000 out of 26,000 Owensboro Municipal Utility customers were part of that 700,000.  Resident's of Muhlenberg county are being told to pack it up and leave, power won't be back for at least a month (of course, I would encourage anyone to leave Muhlenberg county regardless of its powered status).  Its going to be awhile before things are back to normal for everyone.

From Owensboro Ice Storm

Internet service has finally began to stabilize and the whirr of generators can be heard throughout the land.  Power is still out where I live, but I am keeping my house above freezing with a propane heater.  Personally, I'm hoping to have power back by the end of next week, although I am not holding my breath.  The hopes of getting a generator at this time are slim (Home Depot has had several shipments, yesterday, there were over 300 people in line waiting for the next shipment), the gas stations that have power have cars line up 3-4 deep waiting for gas,  the lines for propane are even longer.  I think things may get worse before they get better.  Several counties are reporting water shortages due to loss of power at their pumps. 

Now for come complaining - and this section applies to the day(s) after hurricane Ike also - I was always taught that when a traffic light is not powered (as is the case for the majority of traffic lights right now) the intersection should be treated as a four way stop.  I hope one of you idiots that blow through these intersections gets t-boned and your precious 1995 4-wheel drive, straight pipe exhaust, primer red, jacked up with knobby tires and rims that cost more than the truck you drive, gets totalled.  That goes the same for you too soccer mom in the Excursion who is in a hurry because their little Johnny needs orange juice.  As a matter of fact, anyone who drives something larger than a car that has any type of sticker in the back window (I really dont' care what your daughter's softball uniform number is, if you are a cowboy, or apparently think one of those tribal tatoo looking things looks really cool on your back glass) should be automaticaly ticketed if they are seen a half mile from their house.  Next time we have a bad storm, I ask you to perform an experiment, of all the vehicles that have run off the road, how many of these are 1:Larger than a car and 2:have some inane sticker in their back window.

Alright, enough complaining for now.  I do have to compliment the county road crews for getting the roads in good shape (in some cases better than city streets). 

The obligatory first post

So I guess this first post should maybe explain what the heck is going on here.  I figured since I'm living in Owensboro now (born and raised in Owensboro thank you), I might as well complain about it. I mean, everyone else does, I might as well jump on the bandwagon too.  And who knows, I may just find a few good things about the town too.  The big-whigs of the Big O are always talking about how the town is progressing and getting better, I guess now that can officially proclaim that they have their first online (real) critic.  Not someone "blogging" about Owensboro when in reality they are just pumping out the PR.  Well, strap yourself in and enjoy the ride.  Comments are welcome and appreciated.