ANALYSIS: LAME DUCK ATTITUDE HAS BEGUN

Monday evening’s City Council meeting was quite an eye opener for any interested political observer.  It’s obvious the City Council has taken on a “Lame Duck” attitude towards their responsibilities.  Council members were lifeless and listened to Bob Warren ramble for about 30 minutes on how the newly down-sized Convention Hotel is the savior of future convention business.  He cited many undocumented numbers and facts supporting his assumptions.  We also found it interesting that Mr. Warren stated the people who wrote and developed the Hotel Study were wrong and that he was actually the one who was correct about future predictions of how successful the new Convention Hotel will be. Council members silently sat and listened during his presentation and were readily observed texting their friends on their phones and gazing into the distance.  Few questions were asked and he wasn’t challenged on his assertions and self-promotion.

Next, Council listened to a mind numbing presentation made by the Director of Jacobsville, being accompanied in by the Director of ECHO.  They kept saying that Jacobsville is a wonderful place in which to live. Council continued to look around the room, and/or just continued texting on their phones.  The Director of ECHO tried to sell the idea of how wonderful the painted Mural on a building behind McDonald’s is.  She told Council the $40,000 plus abstract Mural was created for the purpose of welcoming visitors to the North Main and Jacobsville area.  It was obvious that the City Council members could have cared less about what she was saying.  We were surprised Council didn’t ask one question about the proposed $15 million dollar “Pork Barrel” plan to installed a “Bike Lane”  and off street parking on North Main street. Then came the final kicker, the Director of Jacobsville Join In announced they are looking at providing WiFI for everyone living in the Jacobsville area. Instead of Council asking who was going to pay for this and how much will it cost the taxpayers, they stared blankly and kept on texting.  Another example of the “Lame Duck” attitude.

Another presentation also caught our attention.  When the $84,000 Hotel Consultant that was hired by the City’s Redevelopment Commission (ERC) came before Council to give them an update on the Convention Hotel, only Friend, Brinkerhoff-Riley and O’Daniel asked her any of the detailed questions.  The others remained silent. Much to our surprise, she had very little information to share with them.  However, we did find out that so far the Hotel Consultant has been paid about $24,000 for her consulting work.  We are surprised that members of Council didn’t ask her why and what for since the taxpayers have little or nothing to show for her work.  Unfortunately, she knew very little about the Hotel project? Another example of a “Lame Duck” attitude.

Get ready for a well orchestrated campaign by the Winnecke Team to shut down any future questions about the details of the Downtown Convention Hotel and IU Medical School. Don’t expect any “in your face” detailed discussions concerning the 2016 Budget because it looks like it’s “Game Over.”   It’s obvious that City Council has raised the white flag of surrender to Mayor Winnecke and his handlers!  It look like the day of governmental “Checks and balances” are gone!

Please take time and vote in today’s “Readers Poll”. Don’t miss reading today’s Feature articles because they are always an interesting read. New addition to the CCO is the Cause of Death reports generated by the Vanderburgh County Health Department.

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