Gail Riecken to have press conference on Evansville’s future convention hotel.

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A first class hotel the people of Evansville can afford would be a big boost for downtown Evansville. A first class hotel is what we the taxpayers were sold. A first class hotel is what the city of Evansville deserves. Unfortunately, the hotel we are getting is neither first class nor affordable.

WHO: Mayoral Candidate Gail Riecken

WHERE: 401 SE 6th Street, Suite 200 Evansville

WHEN: September 3, 2015, 2:00 P.M.

22 COMMENTS

  1. How forward thinking. Come out against the hotel after it’s under construction. I awed by your proactive political ideas.

  2. Excellent. Go Ms. Riecken! First class hotel in a first class downtown Evansville! We deserve the best.
    Good job CCO in helping bring an event like this the attention it deserves, and a lesser hotel as it is being proposed is wholly inconsistent with the otherwise strong progress being developed downtown. Ms. Riecken is correct to continue to lead and make a strong, developing downtown Evansville a central part of her Mayoral campaign. THIS is the kind of leadership we need.

    • Trouble is the lesser hotel, and that is being charitable, has already started construction. It’s not even half the hotel that was sold to the council and public (weather-dependent outdoor pool of limited utiliity, etc.). Mrs. Riecken probably should have offered her input at an earlier stage in the game. She has consistently been for a new hotel downtown but once it got downsized, and Winnecke’s Ahab-like obsession to build it regardless became apparent, there just wasn’t much she could do about it.

      Not sure how much those massive publicly funded projects are a ‘central part of her Mayoral campaign’ as you suggest. I just checked her campaign web site and the issues on the front page are: support for the construction ordinance, the critical matter of the city’s finances, Billy Bolin, public transportation, a plea to upgrade the medical school to include Ivy Tech and her interview with Brad Byrd that includes a segment on the hotel. In that interview she says there wasn’t enough vetting of the developer, it should have been built in stages driven by demand, there will be a massive influx of public money far in excess of the 20 million figure bandied about (approximately 37 million + of taxpayer dollars), and that the bonds for it were rated by Standard & Poor’s as A, a downgrade from the AAA rating the Arena bonds were assigned.

      If Winnecke would have tried to enlist her help, with her knowledge and ability at the state level and Local Personality and fool Kelly Coures sniffing around trying to find some more sofa change, perhaps it would have been something Evansville could have been proud of.

      • The saddest part of all this is that the Hideous Hilton will have to be torn down before a first-class hotel can be built next to the Ford Center. The high-end apartments that we expected to get disappeared into thin air, too. Now Winnecke and KC are dealing with the Housing Authority to get the low-income senior citizens towers turned into student housing for the IUMS. I don’t think there is going to be a lot of need for housing there, but it is just an excuse to get the low income old people out of Lloyd and Carol’s neighborhood, anyway.

        • Gail called our new cheesy little motel a ‘blight on Evansville’. It will still have its supporters, those in on the scam like Rick Huffman and Winnecke and those beholden to them for jobs.

          Winnecke should resign. He is another blight on Evansville and an arrogant, inept one at that.

  3. We need a first class hotel to do the job that was bargained for: major attraction. They are taking the same money and giving us a motel six. Raise the money and raise the top floor to ten stories or wait for the right time. Another motel 6 is of no value to the taxpayers. It is a failed project. Don’t make it a bigger failure by wasting the taxpayers money just because you can. Go back and make it ten stories or twelve and then work on getting the money and funding in place. Motel 6 idea is stupid.

  4. Mr. Lumley: I know you are a bright individual but I need to ask what obsession do you have with having a tall phallic hotel vs. a 5 or 6 story unit? Isn’t the important part the construction the actual rooms and how they can provide for those folks taking in a convention, sporting event, concert or visiting the new med center? I stated before that I have probably traveled to more trade shows (not saying more than everyone) than most citizens and can tell you that i could not care less about how tall the building was if the rooms were nice. Important on the list of creature comforts when attending a show for me is proximity to the venue, comfort of the bed and bedding, nice bathrooms, a decent work station and affordability. Also coming from a business traveler whom has had the (not) pleasure of being forced to stay in a two star inn on an occasion, the renderings i saw of the place looked very nice and inviting. Lastly I don’t think old Tom Bodett and the gang will leave the light on for you anymore after bashing the chain…

    • JPL
      Mr Lumley hardly needs my help on this but: the principle of conservation (the best use of our precious resources) is absent from the project. Space is wasted, utility is sacrificed, value is absent and it is not what we agreed to. This wooden structure will be falling down before it’s paid for.
      It is the wrong thing – ( too small – too cheap – too little – too late.) This fallen loaf – will be in the way
      – when and if vitality ever returns to Evansville’s dead zone.
      BTW JPL – no-one else could have – or would have made your Freudian slip.
      May you forever – be satisfied with less. …

    • Usually the first one to say ‘phallic’ is the one with the obsession.

      The number of stories the hotel has goes to the number of rooms, not just its height as you suggest. Being a seasoned business traveler and an expert on the matter of hotels catering to the all-important trade show class, your opinion of the artist’s renderings carry quite a bit of weight. How long do you think it’ll be before ‘old Tom Bodett’ swoops down on our Pancaked Hilton and rebrands it a Sixō, giving it a few more years before the wrecking ball rolls up?

    • JPL, I don’t know where that obsession came from. Usually I am not much for art and beauty. Might be because people brag about having the tallest building and developers used to even keep the finished height a secret as it was some kind of great deal having the tallest. People think city skylines with tall buildings are a thing of beauty. Usually the government subsidizes something grand like the Washington Monument (maybe). Tomb stones were reaching for the sky once. I guess a flat rock would have sufficed for the Washington monument just like a lot of plot markers are flat. I am not that obsessed with the height but something should be distinguishing about it if the public is paying the tab. If it is just a motel 6 let supply and demand provide. How about putting it underground with the pool on top. It would be an attraction. The only one of its kind. Six stories underground with an outdoor pool on top. A flat marker could state Here lies a great Hotel. Guest wouldn’t be disappointed at first appearance.

      • George, if you want to see art and beauty just take a look at the awe-inspiring public sculpture adorning the Ford Center. I believe it is called ‘Vibrant Ripoff’.

        By awe-inspiring, I meant ” awe-shit, we paid for that ?”

  5. I think the choice of the Walker Building is a poor choice for holding this meeting. That deal left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths. Just last year they were thousands of dollars delinquent on their property tax payments. I believe they were still paying penalties this spring.

  6. Jpl
    George is correct , we were told if we build the ford we would get a **** four star hotel at no cost to the taxpayer , we did, now they shrink the size of hotel and say ” oh by the way taxpayers get to pay for it , and we will rake them over the coals and give them less but charge them much more cause my chronies and me want to get a bunch of money in our pockets
    In other words F the taxpayer they can eat fish while we eat filet ,remember opus 1?

  7. Another example : you go pick out a brand new Cadillac and pay for it , but they deliver a cheap brand new car , only a idiot would allow that to happen ,,,,are you that idiot ,,,I know I’m not

  8. LEYS PLAY POLITICS, WHY DID SHE VOTE FOR IT, OH SHE IS RUNNING FOR THE MAYORS OFFICE,IT WAS STUPID FROM THE START, TAKE CARE OF THE REST OF THE PROBLEMS FIRST, OR DO WE BE LIKE WASHINGTON VOTE FOR IT SO WE CAN SEE WHAT WE GET

    • Gail did not have a vote on when where and if to build a hotel. That was the brainstorm of Winnecke and cleared the City Council 9-0. She does agree we need a hotel, but getting what was promised and what is being built is a horse of a different color.

  9. did she or didn’t she vote for it the first time, sounds like somebody from Washington that says we need to vote for it to find out what is in it.

    • Gail did not have vote for when, where, or how to build the hotel. This was the brainstorm of Winnecke, who selected the developer without input from any elected official, then proceeded to select the site, and the contractor. The City Council voted 9-0 to spend $20 million of taxpayers money, without a competitive bid or proposal (because no other developer would touch this project with a 10′ pole).

    • JLH, let me congratulate you on getting over your phallic phixation in record time.

      As to ‘did she or didn’t she vote for it the first time’, what the hell are you demanding an answer to? I don’t know of anybody who thinks she had a say, let alone a vote, in the matter. The teeny little ‘convention’ hotel is on Llord Winnecke. Your idiotic statements and foolish questions on the matter are on you. Ho ho ho.

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