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What is the top problem Clay County faces?Tuesday, June 23, 2009Comments  Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on thebraziltimes.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
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the streets and water lines. Our streets are a disgrace. We are always having trouble with our water lines.
drugs
trash-on the streets, sidewalks, parks, everywhere. I even witnessed a woman on National Avenue in the car in front of me in broad daylight throw out her fast food wrappers on the road! Don't litter people! It's not polite!
I think Clay County lacks a long term plan. We need an appealing presence in our downtown district to attract more residents and other businesses. We need to focus on raising money to replace water lines, sections of sidewalk and to properly fix our roads. Putting gravel in a pothole will never solve or even temporarily fix this. We need to adopt ordinances that will keep animals and citizens safe at all times. We need to enforce ordinances for people to properly maintain their yards and to restrict the number of cars parked along the city blocks that are not in use. There are so many small things that could make Brazil the city we can all be proud of. We just need to do more than to just "post" things and actually do things.
I so agree with cubbiefan and millertime
It is terrible City needs to pull together
They have clean up days (maybe 1 day) What we need is a month at a time As far as city goes I could scream at all that gravel
Poor infrastructure makes it unattractive to investors [both businesses and potential homeowners]and low education level prevents the tax revenue needed to improve infrastructure. Until every student is pushed to their potential and not allowed to get by with bare minimum and accelerated opportunities are limited as far as course work for those who need a higher academic ceiling, graduates will not be prepared for employment that will bring in investors and prevent secondary problems like drugs and crime.
Clay County needs to break its downward spiral that began when the mines that supported much of its tax base closed. I agree with Cubbiefan that we need a long term plan. This situation did not arise overnight and it isn't going away overnight.
Addiction and boredom=brazil
The problem is- this town lacks pride. Think the Ladies of Vision even gave up the idea of the flower pots because the merchants didn't want to fool with watering them. When you drive through downtown we have nothing. The biggest part of the buildings look terrible and wouldn't be appealing to me if I was passing through maybe looking for a town to move to.
You couldn't pay me to live in the city.
The topic asks for the top problem, well in my opinion, the top problem is that we have so many problems. In no particular order...
The proliferation of drugs.
The miserable state of our infrastucture (water, sewer, roads and sidewalks).
The general lack of personal and parental responsibilty in the community.
The general negative attitude (or the lack of pride)we have about our community (and yes, I guess I just contributed to that one).
Inconsistant (or selective) enforcements of ordinances.
And finally, too little industry, which means not enough quality jobs, which leads to too little tax money available to help solve some of these problems...so that may qualify as the "Top Problem".
We need someone in our community to step up to the plate and unionize all the farmers that are within our reach and beyond to grow new crops to be used in industry.Bio-fuel plants,and also food for human consumption.If the farmers grow it.The industry will come.There is land that is able to be used for many plants in the area.I think we could have them but the people who could bring them in already have money and like the "small town drag".
too much welfare, no industry
I don't know where to start. Clay County is so far in the sewer I don't know if it can ever be cleaned up.
Just some ideas,
First: Repair the Critical Infrastructure. Each day that the problem is ignored or put off for another day it's just going to get worse.
Second: Add new infrastructure to support bringing new business.
Third (or should this really go first): Get people in leadership positions that have a plan for Brazil's growth and development. I like "Small Town Brazil" but if we don't attract new business' that will bring large amounts of money and new jobs into the community this town can't prosper.
Having talked to many business owners in the community about some of the lost opportunities because we lacked the infrastructure and/or refusal of some of the county leadership to accept growth/change that the new business' would bring makes you wonder where their priorities really are.
I love Brazil and hope that we can develop this town and county to it's fullest potential.
Answer for Brazil Mayor is improving overall infrastructure. First, water system (water towers, pipelines, etc). Secondly, pipe water down to I70 corridor (and get us a Cracker Barrel!). Third, clean up trashy lots (start with the one next to Wal Mart with all the rusty cars/trucks). Fourth, get grants or stimulus money and finish the US40 project. Most important thing we as citizens can do is elect forward thinking people. Status quo is not acceptable anymore! and it takes courage to make much needed changes.
You all had a forward thinking mayor and ran him out of town. No more status quo you say, than you need a new mayor!
cheating, drugs, alcohol, crime, and divorce becoming a very big problem. we need to get it together and yes littering is getting bad. we need to keep our streets clean.
apathy
VERY NARROW MINDED PEOPLE!
I plan on moving back to Brazil Indiana. I grew up there and have nothing but fond memories of the attending school, days at Forest Park, being able to ride my bike on the county roads to a fishing spot. Playing Baseball for Kenny McClelland, and enjoying the 4-H fair and Carnival during the 4th of July Holiday and lets not forget the Fire Works.
My first job delivering the Brazil Times,working for Fred McDonald and working at Clydes Pin Ball Palace, all this which has shaped me and many of the individuals that have moved away and share these moments of our youth with those we have discussions with during our daily lives.
I can only hope that I will move back to Brazil in my planned time span and find that those small town values are still strong and that the town has also advanced in time and can still be that wonderful place to live.
Every town,city and family has it's problems but that does not mean that they fall apart and point fingers at what may or may not be the problem. Pull together and continue growth and citizens, rear your children with reality and truthfulness.
That is what I remember Brazil Indiana being.
Why don't you ever see questions such as What is right with where you live? Concentrate on what is positive and it will come out.
Yes I am all for recognizing the positives, but to truly make strides as a community and attract outside businesses and industry, you have to identify and correct the things that aren't so good about us.
We must be from the same age group because the good memories you mentioned are the same ones I have. Thanks for pointing out some of the good things we can be proud of.
1. 4 Lane SR59 from I70 North to Rockville.
2. Second phase should be 4 lane to Clay City.
3. Create 4 lane Bypass from SR59 around city limits from Billville Road intersection and connect to National 40 on east and west sides.
4. Rename Forest Avenue, because there is no moreForest or trees lining it. No meaning now.
5. Create 4 lane divided highway spoke roads to move traffic quickly.
Example: South and North Chicago Avenue
Pinkley Street
6. Lobby for Community College Branch
Example; IVY Tech Extension or St. Marys of the Woods branch
7. Be prepared to raize sections of Brazil and return to grassland, or reforestation. Creating buffers of nature.
Ex. South Chicago Avenue, Leavitt St, Grant Street area. This could become a greenway of bike trails, community garden, etc.
8. OUCH- This one is gonna hurt. Take an afternoon and drive to Zionsville. This is a model of how you should model your historic downtown. As hard as this might be, it would require rerouting US 40 away from downtown. I suggest you take it through a blighted part of Brazil and completely bulldoze it, creating a couple of islands of gas stations, a Cracker Barrel, etc.
9. Save the bricks, there is a section of South Chicago Avenue near Jackson Street that still has the old brick pavers left over from the great depression and WPA, we need to preserve streets like this or relocate these bricks to new developments to give it a true historic feel.
Not running for mayor.
8.