Stellar Community? Bedford? REALLY?

After who knows truly how much money is spent and wasted away by the local government at a time when people aren't getting pay raises and increases in their social security benefits, jobs, business employment etc, the fine public servants of Lawrence County and Bedford are making sure that the taxpayer needs are being met.

All the while needing more money for public services such as police protection, jail expenses, new projects. Yet the community and the productive economy is largely stagnant at best as evidenced by the fact that Bedford has continually declined in population over the past few decades and very few new businesses and establishments have located in Bedford. Add in the fact that former employers like Visteon have picked up and moved out of town and plenty of other industrial and manfacturing employers have declined as well.

Yet Bedford, at a time when they are jacking up water and sewerage rates, has the money to spend on frivolous projects such as bike trails, walking trails and a old railroad depot which cost 2.7 million dollars. Which is 2.7 million dollars that could have been better spent on fixing the Bedford drug problem and other criminal issues. Or better yet for actual economic development purposes of getting and retaining high paying jobs for the local community.

Instead, the Bedford good old girls and boys club and their partners with Lawrence County and its lack of economic development leadership despite a outfit called Radius Indiana, decided to piss away more money on something that wasn't needed. Instead promoting the stupid idea of more bike paths and walking paths and little rinky dink ideas. When at a time such as this, with all of the idleness and drug issues in Lawrence County, Bedford instead needed jobs and good paying jobs at that and things that would sustain the community for generations. Not some 1899 Depot that no one gave a crap about before the last few years.

Add in the fact, that Bedford, like its Northern neighbor Bloomington is rapidly becoming a poverty stricken community with a high percentage of impoverished residents making minimum wages in service industry and poverty level jobs. Like Bloomington, Bedford leaders have eschewed manufacturing jobs and wealth creating industries instead bringing in a few jobs here and there with more retail jobs and restaurant/service jobs. Instead of building a sustainable economic backbone, they are building a town on a house of cards that will eventually collapse or continue the downward spiral of Lawrence County and Bedford.

Meanwhile, the luminaries including Mayor Shawna Girgis promote crap like the following piece of do nothing travel where the taxpayers of Bedford end up paying for her nice trip to China.

http://americachinasociety.org/news/may-12-bedford-mayor-leads-delegation-to-china/

18 months since the trip and still there is no plans in the works for any businesses to go to Bedford or Mitchell for new startups. Hmmm. wonder what the hell she is doing over in China with taxpayer dollars paying for her trip and whatever entourage she took along. Meanwhile, still no announcements and no jobs being created. All the while, she should have been doing her job here and discussed real jobs being created here in the United States in Bedford, Indiana rather than flying to China so everyone can pay for her publicly funded trips.

To listen to ALL of these economic development officials, one would think there are puppies and rainbows around every corner and that Southern Indiana as well as Bedford and other surrounding counties are on the upswing. Despite the facts that are that increasingly we are losing ground in the economic empowerment of tens of thousands of our local citizens not only in Lawrence County but Orange, Martin, Washington, etc. Despite all of the glowing reports from the government funded Radius clique the truth is that our local economies are being turned into low wage serfdom and poverty stricken areas instead of economically empowering people. Which is partially the reason why drugs have taken hold of so many rural areas.

Despite all of the talk Bedford like many rural communities in Indiana could hardly be described as a Stellar Community no matter what kind of bullcrap the state government of Indiana and the local yokels want to tell all of us. Instead, they want to continue to gloss over their failures to create a high quality, high wage work environment and business incubation where good jobs grow and local people have a future. Not a community of crappy schools, jails, and drug usage through the nose. That's their idea of a stellar community because it keeps the muckety mucks at the top in control over the rest of the population and makes sure to keep their asses polishing leather chairs in their offices and private spaces. All the while they spend countless days regarding their good fortunes and making sure to talk about economic development all the while delivering nothing. Its time for We The People to start seeing through the charade and the glossy bullshit they are feeding us.