It's interesting to note that a mayor who ran as an independent ends up being tied in with the local political cabal in Bedford, Indiana. But maybe not so surprisingly with all considering Lawrence County and Bedford politics over the years. Especially in a county where a sheriff went to the slammer for felonies of various sorts. These are the people that get into office across the nation because the citizens are not holding their elected representatives responsible.
Mayor Smiley Girgis comes along with her blonde hair and million dollar smile and makes sure that everyone sees her smiling at everyone. The question is that though "What has she done in the past decade that actually improved Bedford since 2008?"
While the first few years of her term was during an economic recession and perhaps even a mild depression, there should be no excuse for the lack of performance in attracting businesses, new manufacturing, job creation and other businesses that would want to expand to the Stone City. Meanwhile, if it wasn't for one or two facilities in the manufacturing realm, Bedford would be hurting even more as if it's not hurting in these days because of the loss of Visteon, GM restructuring, and the loss of other smaller businesses over the years.
Instead Bedford is trying to be like Bloomington, another Southern Indiana city, where manufacturing has been in decline for the past couple of decades if not longer while more factories from that city close up. All because the local government/political establishment wants to turn it into a town of college students/retirement communities along with the usual low paying and low education level service jobs that benefit at most the companies while the residents continue to sink into poverty.
Bloomington even with its college aged population many of whom do not have full time paying employment but instead work part time hours at these service jobs has the highest poverty rate in Indiana with maybe the exception of Gary, Indiana and inner city areas of Indianapolis. Imagine, a place where the local government discourages manufacturing and other industry from coming into their town because it clashes with the ultra liberal mindset of the local political hacks and their power brokers that control the local economy.
Bedford is steaming down that same path while eschewing manufacturing and other skilled positions. All to become another low wage community with a service based economy of a bunch of people working at restaurants/retail while manufacturing jobs and productive skilled jobs are not being created and kept in the community. Therefore, comes the drug and criminal problems that are wracking Lawrence County and much of rural Indiana. All because local government don't want skilled working people in jobs that would pay them much better wages and opportunities than the plethora of low wage service jobs.
Bedford under mayor Shawna Girgis is well on the path of making everyone equally poor in a socialistic way because of the poverty level that occurs in Bedford which is now beginning to resemble Bloomington South just in Lawrence County. Add in the fact, that things are even worse in Mitchell and points south and pretty soon we'll all be a society of equally impoverished peons and derelicts.
All the while local clowns that run the Radius Indiana organization talk about how they are bringing jobs and industry to Southwest Indiana and counties such as Lawrence, Greene, Daviess, Martin, Dubois, Orange, Crawford, Washington. Any real evidence of that with the exception of maybe NWSC Crane being a huge federal base?
It certainly isn't the case in Bedford or Mitchell despite the fact that the local Radius Indiana group that relies on donations and executive directors getting their pay, does virtually nothing as do most of the local business chambers in South Central Indiana.
The same laughable results are often bragged about with increasing pride out of these nincompoops in surround communities when they get a new big box store or some other occcasional company providing minimum wage jobs comes into the community. All the while jobs in manufacturing, automotive, electrical, electronic, and many other well paying industries won't even bother looking at Southern Indiana. While the local economic development boards and handout queens get their grants from the state and other organizations. Doing absolutely nothing to improve the community.
Add in local government corruption, water services and sewer services jacking up everyone's bills as well as local Bedford state senators having an unholy alliance with the Duke Energy monopoly of which everyone that I know has seen electrical bill increases substantially over the last 10 plus years including just the last couple of years. Just another case of a State Senator hiding behind the power company lobby to make sure they get taken care of.
That's the Lawrence County way.
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