The City of Terre Haute buys 30 Police Cars. They send out bids. The bids come back and they decide to purchase the 30 Police Cars from a dealership in another county. This would be OK, but there was a lower bid in their home county! Problem is that Terre Haute prefers (rear wheel drive) Ford Crown Victorias to (front wheel drive)Chevy Impalas. I know for a fact that the Chevy Impalas would have cost the city $3,000 less per car. That makes a difference of $90,000. Add to that the expense in fuel as the Ford averages 3 miles per gallon fewer in the city and 6 miles fewer per gallon on the highway...but what the heck - it's not the City's money - it's yours! Also, Terre Haute loses out on the county tax that it would have made by spending their money/our money in their own county.
The title of this post is "Why I Don't LiveIn Terre Haute" - the short version is because the leaders are backward. I can only assume that the Police Car purchase episode is only the tip of the iceberg.
That bad smell in Terre Haute is coming from City Hall.
If only I knew somebody who works at a Terre Haute newspaper or maybe a TV station. Hmmm. If only......
