Dirty Driving - HBO Documentary - Anderson Indiana

[wrtaylor]

It is true, there aren't any jobs here in Anderson, or anything else for that matter. I grew up here and live here still as my daughter is an Elementary Ed. major at AU. It is such a sad state of affairs to see what was once a vibrant, hustle-bustle, happy city, with good hard working people and lots of places to shop, just simply fade away. It's nothing like I remember growing up. There's no downtown anymore, we have no Mall to speak of, with only one anchor store now. I'm amazed at the resiliance and the 'never say die' attitude of the residents of Anderson.
Unfortunately, we have a dense population of illiterates, illegals, low income, unwed teen/early twenties mothers, and un/under-educated. And then there is a portion of the population which is povery-stricken, being either unemployed or under-employed, and the older people who once worked at GM, or somewhere else and now are on either pensions, or disability. Finally, there is a small portion of our population who have some really good incomes.
I too am just heart-sick to see all of the empty buildings, empty homes, filthy streets and run-down neighborhoods, and to see the once considered "higher income" neighborhoods become so run-down and filled with trash. Many of the good people have moved out, so now all that's left are the undesirables, which then make our town less safe.
It's hard for anyone new to Anderson to imagine that we were once much like Fishers! GM once employed 27,000 plus people in Anderson. My parents worked there, my grandfather worked there, I once worked there. I lost my job and now I'm over qualified for some jobs and under qualified for others. Thus, I can't find a job here to pay what I once made. I teach piano/voice, and I have office experience, however, nothing in Anderson pays what Fishers/Indy pays. Can't drive that far, so I keep looking. It's so sad. I hope against hope that something will change for the better.

[ddog241]

Originally Posted by wrtaylor

It is true, there aren't any jobs here in Anderson, or anything else for that matter. I grew up here and live here still as my daughter is an Elementary Ed. major at AU. It is such a sad state of affairs to see what was once a vibrant, hustle-bustle, happy city, with good hard working people and lots of places to shop, just simply fade away. It's nothing like I remember growing up. There's no downtown anymore, we have no Mall to speak of, with only one anchor store now. I'm amazed at the resiliance and the 'never say die' attitude of the residents of Anderson.
Unfortunately, we have a dense population of illiterates, illegals, low income, unwed teen/early twenties mothers, and un/under-educated. And then there is a portion of the population which is povery-stricken, being either unemployed or under-employed, and the older people who once worked at GM, or somewhere else and now are on either pensions, or disability. Finally, there is a small portion of our population who have some really good incomes.
I too am just heart-sick to see all of the empty buildings, empty homes, filthy streets and run-down neighborhoods, and to see the once considered "higher income" neighborhoods become so run-down and filled with trash. Many of the good people have moved out, so now all that's left are the undesirables, which then make our town less safe.
It's hard for anyone new to Anderson to imagine that we were once much like Fishers! GM once employed 27,000 plus people in Anderson. My parents worked there, my grandfather worked there, I once worked there. I lost my job and now I'm over qualified for some jobs and under qualified for others. Thus, I can't find a job here to pay what I once made. I teach piano/voice, and I have office experience, however, nothing in Anderson pays what Fishers/Indy pays. Can't drive that far, so I keep looking. It's so sad. I hope against hope that something will change for the better.

my grandfather worked at GM as well. I still live here in the craphole North Anderson (thank you section 8 housing for turning my area of town into just another ****hole)

fact is you just aint going to fund much in this place. and with the outrageous gas prices it makes going to Indy or FT wayne for work not worth it.

Anderson will become another detroit im sure of it.

[wrtaylor]

Yes, I'm afraid that just may happen here too. It's almost that way now. I heard Kevin Smith say on "Kevin Smith Reports" a few weeks ago that our "bless'ed" city council voted to appoint themselves a city council lawyer at the tune of a few million dollars. Kevin Smith asked them what was wrong with the county council lawyer that we've had since Lawler, and they all agreed that nothing was wrong, they just wanted one for the city council. Kevin Smith and Ty Bibbs were on the radio talking about it and both were very angry with the council. Smith is now looking into what kind of authority he may have to stop it. Smith said that because the council did that, now, Anderson is looking at a 2-3 million $ deficit, leaving us with not much $$ left for snow, roads, etc. All at the taxpayer's expence! If it's not the School System trying to take every penny we make (and for a broken-down, dumbed-down curriculum, and all those new schools we now have to pay for), it's the stinkin' city council trying to add new taxes and spend everything in our kitty!!!
I guess I wouldn't mind paying into the city as much if I knew that my $ were going to help "fix" Anderson and not feed the greedy little coffers who are robbing us blind!!! I only hope that the citizens decide that we need to step up and help restore this city to her former glory. I think we should try to do something to make a difference ourselves. I haven't thought it all out, but certainly, there must be something we can do to stop this craziness.

[ddog241]

Originally Posted by wrtaylor

Yes, I'm afraid that just may happen here too. It's almost that way now. I heard Kevin Smith say on "Kevin Smith Reports" a few weeks ago that our "bless'ed" city council voted to appoint themselves a city council lawyer at the tune of a few million dollars. Kevin Smith asked them what was wrong with the county council lawyer that we've had since Lawler, and they all agreed that nothing was wrong, they just wanted one for the city council. Kevin Smith and Ty Bibbs were on the radio talking about it and both were very angry with the council. Smith is now looking into what kind of authority he may have to stop it. Smith said that because the council did that, now, Anderson is looking at a 2-3 million $ deficit, leaving us with not much $$ left for snow, roads, etc. All at the taxpayer's expence! If it's not the School System trying to take every penny we make (and for a broken-down, dumbed-down curriculum, and all those new schools we now have to pay for), it's the stinkin' city council trying to add new taxes and spend everything in our kitty!!!
I guess I wouldn't mind paying into the city as much if I knew that my $ were going to help "fix" Anderson and not feed the greedy little coffers who are robbing us blind!!! I only hope that the citizens decide that we need to step up and help restore this city to her former glory. I think we should try to do something to make a difference ourselves. I haven't thought it all out, but certainly, there must be something we can do to stop this craziness.

hopefully the lawyer crap can be stopped.

as for the schools.. these schools were much better when we had several "neighborhood schools" instead of these super schools they tried to do.. oh and also ACS is broke.. takes alot of cash to run about 500 school buses.

Idk if this city can become great again.. 1st we would have to start making things here again. and 2. we would have to tell china to get f*cked and do a 100% boycott on ALL made in china.

[Wtlr]

I hate to say this, but I think that perhaps Kevin Smith is helping contribute to the problems in Anderson, and I voted for him because I thought it would be the change we needed from the money-hungry Ocki. But now, he and the council decided to reinstate the wheel tax and they threaten the residents with possibly shutting the lights out in Anderson because we cant' afford them. Where's the money they are collecting??? Smith doesn't seem to be as pro-active as I had hoped he would be, in that nothing has been done about the blights of this city... namely, the trashy, dirty parts of the city, the lack of jobs of any meaning at all, the crazy mixed-up city streets with One Way streets that turn into Two Way streets, and that stupid "triangle thing" with all the white cement posts on Jackson St. that turned a once easy access street into a nightmare, just so that anyone on Pendleton Ave. (now MLK) can just breeze through and maybe hit those posts! And now the council is wanting to jack up our water rates. Makes perfect sense to do such a thing to the residents of Anderson, who can't even find jobs, or pay their bills. Does anyone even care that this once vibrant city has become a laughing stock?

[tjb122982]

Originally Posted by Future Trooper

Anderson and even Muncie have been going down the tube for while. Terre Haute and Bloomington I think are holding steady. Kokomo looks like it is going to slide down the tubes pretty sharply in the coming months.

As a Hautean I wouldn't say we are "holding our own." Well maybe we are but things are not getting better for sure. The only small cities in Indiana that are doing okay are Lafayette and Bloomington--and it is oblivious why.

[Hanry84]

Good reply

[qwertyasdf]

When I lived in Muncie, one of our favorite things to do as a family and friends in the summer time was go the figure 8 races in Muncie on Friday nights, to Sun Valley in Anderson on Saturday nights, and Sunday afternoon we'd sometimes go to Mt Lawn close to New Castle, but they didn't race figure 8 at Mt Lawn. Sun Valley always had the best races, though. We always had a good time. If you never been to a figure 8 race, I'd highly recommend it. They're pretty exciting to watch. It's a good way to spend a few hours on a Sat night.