Sean and his son Niall Walking at Deming Park

It’s Earth Day 2012, and gasoline prices across the valley are pushing the $4/gallon mark. For decades, Vigo County has ignored the importance of a vibrant multi-modal transportation infrastructure which includes sidewalks, bike trails and public transportation in addition to ordinary roads. Such infrastructure can reduce the number of cars on the road, reducing your out-of-pocket transportation costs when gas prices actually reflect supply and demand. Concerned citizens and politicians are now pushing for change, culminating in a grand vision for connecting the east, west, north and south with downtown and the river. A series of trails are in the works, the first of which will be along the original Dresser Drive. It will be the latest addition to the growing Terre Haute National Road Heritage Trail Greenway System.

The Dresser Drive trail will connect Fairbanks Park to the planned Wabash Riverfront Pedestrian Boardwalk, part of the Riverscape initiative. Riverscape is important, not only for its recreational and business development prospects, but for its potential to bring down the costs of our federally mandated combined sewer overflow (CSO) improvements. Green infrastructure implemented in and around the Riverscape area will reduce the amount of rainwater entering our sewer system.

For Riverscape to be successful, in addition to the full support of the community, we will need one or more businesses to anchor the boardwalk. This will expand upon the recreational aspect of Riverscape to bring in tourists and depending on the businesses’ hours, make the area safer. The non-profit behind Riverscape hopes for the businesses to focus on food and shopping. A great example of what is working elsewhere in the tri-state is Newport on the Levee, next to the Purple People Bridge connecting Northern Kentucky and Ohio. It’s a stop on the Northern Kentucky Riverfront Commons trail, which is a part of the greater trail and greenway network organized by the Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana Regional Council of Governments.

The Purple People Bridge and Newport on the Levee as shot by Jeff Kubina

The anchor business at Newport on the Levee is a state-of-the-art AMC theater with stadium-style, reclining seating. Also in the complex is a small indoor and outdoor shopping mall, a one million gallon aquarium showcasing exotic as well as Ohio River indigenous species, and several upscale restaurants and pubs. The project at the levee transformed this small town of less than 16,000 from its historical status of “Sin City” to the family-friendly destination in the Cincinnati metro area. Nearby businesses invested in improvements to their existing locations and new business development spurred for miles southward. Newport was no longer the butt of nearby city’s jokes, and instead a model to be emulated.

Riverscape is not out of our reach. Terre Haute has over 60,000 residents and our metro area has over 170,000. We just need political champions who can see this through, and who can get out there and explain Vigo County’s value proposition to businesses.

On Friday, March 30^th,  a dear friend was brutally attacked in broad daylight in an alley in the neighborhood I grew up in, on the edge of Farrington’s Grove. Three teenage boys surrounded him. One of them knocked him unconscious, then focused on his face, pounding him repeatedly with something that was hard enough to shatter many bones. Three surgeons spent nine hours working to reconstruct his face, but he will carry this damage, and its effects, for the rest of his life. And what provoked this life-threatening attack? He had confronted them about throwing trash in the alley behind his house.

I grew up in one of the historic houses in Farrington’s Grove, less than a block from where my friend was harmed. We moved there in 1967, and I lived there until I went away to college in 1981. My memories are full of the filtered light through the big trees that lined the streets, wavy glass in old windows, walking to Crawford Elementary School, and then later, summer nights meandering with my friends down the middle of Center Street, fireflies in all the lawns.

My mother and others spent many years working to create the Historical District designation for Farrington’s Grove, one of the most beautiful historic neighborhoods in Indiana, and the oldest neighborhood in Terre Haute. By the 1980’s, as people started to appreciate old houses again, and the advantages of walking to downtown or the university, it seemed inevitable that the neighborhood would only increase in value to the city and its residents.

But something went wrong.

By the turn of the millennium, all the houses around my mother’s house were vacant, and the neighborhood was less safe. Windows were boarded up and the “for sale” signs weathered in the yards. It cost more to restore the houses than the price they could fetch afterward, even as suburbs grew like weeds. Meanwhile, all around the country, other neighborhoods full of Victorian houses were being promoted as tourist attractions, and “This Old House” was watched by millions.

Over the past ten years, the neighborhood has continued to suffer. My eighty-three-year-old mother and other determined people still live in and love Farrington’s Grove, but it seems that the city has largely abandoned their responsibilities to what should be the crown jewel of Terre Haute. Slumlords let hundred-year-old houses fall to pieces, and the city does little to enforce its own ordinances. A friend in the neighborhood called the police over a disturbance, and when the police arrived, they said, “Look, you choose to live here,” as if just living there disqualified him from police protection.

The teenager or teenagers who hurt my friend without remorse are still at large. The streets and alleys are full of garbage, the sidewalks are broken, and house assessments go down every year. The fastest way to ruin a beautiful old neighborhood is to allow it to become unkempt and unsafe – why isn’t the city stepping forward, before it’s completely too late?

My friend feels passionately that what happened to him needs to be a wakeup call for Terre Haute: save this neighborhood while it can still be saved, while most of the old houses still stand. Make it a livable, viable community again. Take care of it, police it, enforce the laws that are on the books. Clearing trash, providing support for teens, forcing absentee landlords to take care of their properties – all these small steps could make a difference. That’s why I’m writing today: for my friend, and for the other residents, who deserve the same kind of place that I knew as a child. Terre Haute doesn’t need to become another Detroit.

And if someone from the city is reading this and thinking of all the reasons why nothing can be done, think of my friend, who was trying to take care of his small part of the neighborhood all on his own, and who is now lying in bed with a very uncertain future and a face full of titanium, paying a terrible price for his sense of responsibility. I know Terre Haute can do better.

We can do better. We need our police force to proactively patrol for violent crimes, not petty vehicle infractions. We should be going after grants to support making our neighborhoods safer. We need to encourage new entertainment business development in Vigo County so that kids have somewhere to go to socialize. And we need more sidewalks and public transportation so that they could safely travel to such venues.

If you want to see positive change in your neighborhood, join your local neighborhood association or if there isn’t one, join with your neighbors to create one. Exercise your civic duty and vote in the Democratic primary and general election. Be the change you seek.

Click here to submit a complaint online or call (855) 411-CFPB

Each day will begin within the training room of the police department with presentations being delivered on the different units and their capabilities. There will be some fun “hands on” demonstrations and training as well.

Contact SGT. Kevin Barrett to sign-up at email hidden; JavaScript is required or (812) 244-2295.

S.B. 92 allows judges to levy a $100 penalty against public officials for a first offense and $500 for subsequent offenses of Indiana Public Access laws. It requires local government agencies to send e-mail notifications of their meetings or post the information to their website. Well organized local governments have been doing this for some time now. It’s about time we expect the same of all local governments.

The law also sets clear and strict policies on when members of government boards and councils can “attend” a meeting via Internet or phone, a practice that until now has been largely unregulated. Violations of Indiana Public Access law also occur if public officials vote by secret ballot in a public meeting, take action that is forbidden in a closed session, or refuse to release public records, with minor exemptions for educational institutions.

There is some ambiguity about when County Commissioners are in session, given that they sit near each other in the County Annex every day, but there is no excuse for not reporting major decisions and developments on a regular basis on the County Website. The current Vigo County Commissioners have not reported minutes since February 2010. What have they been up to for the past two years?

It’s time that we elect an accountable commissioner. Remember to vote for Sean Patrick Feeney on May 8th!

President Obama reaffirmed today that March is Irish-American Heritage Month. This year St. Patrick’s Day lands on a Saturday, so be sure to come out and celebrate at the parade on March 17th! We have a few extra shirts if anyone would like to march with us. The Terre Haute St. Patrick’s Day Parade starts at noon next to Baesler’s Market and travels down Ohio Blvd. to eventually wind up at my family’s church (Saint Patrick Parish) on Poplar. Hope to see you there!

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The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

Presidential Proclamation — Irish-American Heritage Month, 2012

IRISH-AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH, 2012

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BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

For centuries, America and Ireland have built a proud and enduring partnership cemented by mutual values and a common history. Generations of Irish have crossed the Atlantic in pursuit of prosperity, and today nearly 40 million of their proud descendants continue to make their indelible mark on the United States of America. Their stories, as varied as our Nation’s people, humble us and inspire our children to reach for the opportunities dreamed about by our forebears.

Over hundreds of years, Irish men, women, and children left the homes of their ancestors, watching the coasts of Donegal and the cliffs of Dingle fade behind them. Boarding overcrowded ships and navigating dangerous seas, these resilient travelers looked to the horizon with hope in their hearts. Many left any valuables, land, or stability they had behind, but they came instead with the true treasures of their homeland — song and literature, humor and tradition, faith and family. And when they landed on our shores, they shared their gifts generously, adding immeasurable value to towns, cities, and communities throughout our Nation.

Today, we draw on the indomitable spirit of those Irish Americans whose strength helped build countless miles of canals and railroads; whose brogues echoed in mills, police stations, and fire halls across our country; and whose blood spilled to defend a Nation and a way of life they helped define. Defying famine, poverty, and discrimination, these sons and daughters of Erin demonstrated extraordinary strength and unshakable faith as they gave their all to help build an America worthy of the journey they and so many others have taken. During Irish-American Heritage Month, we recall their legacy of hard work and perseverance, and we carry forward that singular dedication to forging a more prosperous future for all Americans.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 2012 as Irish-American Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans to observe this month by celebrating the contributions of Irish Americans to our Nation.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.

BARACK OBAMA

“What employer does not use some sort of time clocking system, especially one that employs as many people as Vigo County does?” said Feeney. According to the County HR Department, the County employs some 700 people. And according to published reports, those employees are keeping track of vacation days, sick days, and other comp time on their own.

The State of Indiana recently “recommended” the current commissioners perform a self audit regarding employee hours. The commissioners had hired an outside firm to “study the issue” for seven to nine months, but County Council put the brakes to the study yesterday, at least temporarily until the commissioners can nail down the cost figures more accurately and properly fit the study into a council-approved budget. This could delay implementation of a time clocking system from January 2013 to sometime in 2014.

Feeney says that a software-based solution, like TimeForce by U.S. developer Qqest already in place at the Vigo County Sheriff’s Department, or a similar solution coded by a firm here in Indiana, could be implemented immediately. “There are payroll system integration issues to consider, regardless of vendor, that can’t be tackled until a solution is decided upon and put in place so that the appropriate people can get to work on it. No private business I can think of would sit on the issue of whether or not they were over- or under-compensating employees for two more years when a fix is immediately available.”

Software time clocking solutions offer the County flexibility. Employees could variously clock in from their office computer, their smart phone, or a traditional hardware device mounted at the work site depending on the needs of the department. The information feeds into a database, on which the County could perform additional analysis like job costing beyond just simple payroll. And the overall cost would be lower than what’s currently being proposed. “The current commissioners have proposed $50,000 to the council like it’s a one-time cost and then the system will become perpetual and not cost anything. Hardware or software, there are on-going maintenance fees. Payroll systems change, on average, every decade. Labor laws change at the whim of Congress. Software can more readily keep up with these changes, and as a result the true on-going maintenance costs are lower,” says Feeney.

Feeney, a Rose-Hulman Software Engineering graduate who last week declared his candidacy for Vigo County Commissioner, currently works full-time at Sony DADC while studying Business Administration at IU’s Kelley School of Business.