IS IT TRUE JUNE 19, 2017

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IS IT TRUE Evansville City Councilman Jonathan Weaver has raised the idea of privatizing the Mesker Zoo?…Public records indicate the city funded over $4.8 million for the zoo this year, but the zoo only brought $1.1 million in revenue?…Weaver reportedly says that $3 million loss got him thinking that with tax dollars being in short supply that Evansville would be well served to turn this loser over to a private investor?…one would have to question whether Councilman Weaver knows anything about the for profit world, because any operation that is losing $3.7 Million per year isn’t worth a thing?…it is sort of shocking to learn that the zoo only took in $1.1 Million after dropping over $10 Million on the jaguar exhibit and $600,000 to draw plans for a $8 million dollar Penguin exhibit?…the real question Weaver and others should be asking is how much the City of Evansville would have to pay a real investor to take the zoo off their hands?…for the $3.7 Million in losses every person in Evansville could have been given a trip to St. Louis to see a real zoo and still have money left over?…the CCO raises the question about whether or not Evansville has anything at all that breaks even?…the list of losers won’t even fit on this page?  …we wonder why Mr. Weaver just discovered that the Zoo is losing over $3 million dollars each year since he’s been a member of the Evansville City Council for 6 years? …we thank Councilman Weaver for providing a big laugh for everyone in Evansville that can add and subtract?  …we can’t wait to hear what City Council Finance Chairman and former Zoo Director Dan McGinn is going to say about this issue since he once declared that the Zoo is close to a breaking even point?

IS IT TRUE in an instance of idiocy that rivals several other blatant oversights, the North Main projects is being ripped up to make the street 6 inches wider because it was not designed to allow for two busses to be able to pass each other?…now there will be a 6 inch margin of error for the drivers to negotiate?…we wonder if whomever designed this has the good sense to use a tape measure on a bus to find out how wide a road should be before pouring concrete?…this ridiculous oversight had to have been stamped by the appropriate professionals and approved by the planning department?…these geniuses somehow decided to put 20 pounds of product in an 18 pound bag and now are standing in amazement that it wouldn’t fit?…we hope they check the width of the highly prized bike lanes because we really don’t want to see anyone get killed because the people in charge can’t read a ruler?

IS IT TRUE this is not the first time something that was literally stupid happened with infrastructure improvements?…once upon a time someone approved a paving project on Diamond Avenue that wouldn’t allow a semi truck to pass under a railroad bridge without getting stuck?…the first truck through got stuck and the tires had to be flattened to let it pass?…we guess that one was missed by 6 inches too?…that one required an expensive rework too?…then there was the scoreboard at the new expensive ball fields that wasn’t useful for baseball?…the same ball fields missed the length of the base paths for the leagues that the park was built for?…we really need to bring back vocational education so then professional design folks in Evansville can learn to read a ruler?…the advice measure twice and cut once doesn’t even save someone from making a mess when the design is wrong?…you can’t even make this sort of idiocy up and it always falls on the taxpayers to bail out the 1st grade failures of the City of Evansville?

IS IT TRUE that one thing done right the second time on North Main was replacing the dilapidated water pipes?…we wonder why that took a second look?…common sense does not run deep in the Civic Center?

IS IT TRUE we are being told that the Evansville city employees Healthcare costs are totally out of control and will have a major shortfall problem this budget year?  …we wonder where the City Controller is getting the extra money to pay for the city employees Healthcare costs cost overruns?

IS IT TRUE that we wonder, if any current member of our City Council went to a new car Dealership and signed a legal contract to purchase a MERCEDES-BENZ and they were told that they had to accept a Volkswagen for the same price, would they agree to the transaction?  … their answer should be “HELL NO”?  …this is seemly what happens every time the city gets involved in a big ticket capital project (new downtown Hotel, North Main Street project, new Smart Water meters, Amazonia project at the Zoo. etc.)?

Todays “READERS POLL” question is: Do you feel that someone should be held accountable for the major mistake made in redesigning the $18 million dollar North Main project?

EDITORS FOOTNOTE:  Any comments posted in this column doesn’t represents the views or opinions of our advertisers.

22 COMMENTS

  1. These blooming idiots must be held accountable for their blunders,fire em with no benefits and no moving to another city/ county job

  2. City’s Healthcare deficits:

    Answer re: how the bills are paid: the City has one large checking account which covers around 80 Funds, one of them being the ‘Hospitalization’ Fund. Hospitalization iis underwater by around $ 6 Million, not sure if that is after the gambit to fund the City’s IT Dept. through Local Income Tax vs. Property Tax to free up $$ to help fund health cost.

    The answer is that Bond Proceeds also flow into this large checking account. So the City gets Cash Flow from the time the Bond issue is completed until the underlying project draws down those funds. Accounting 101: separate checking account to segregate those Bond Proceeds, no co-mingling with other funds monies.

  3. I am surprised they didn’t buy new buses that are narrower the way they compensate for their incompetency.

    • +1 I didn’t mean to steal your comment. Perhaps we can put highjackers on busses so one can pass under another.

  4. By the way your poll question should be, WILL any one be held responsible for the screw up? And of course the answer for that would be a NO.

      • Well it was announced that it was still under budget. That tells me the budget was inflated by way more than six inches. It’s like they budgeted $50k to buy a $30k item and then congratulated themselves for getting it for $45k.

      • liberals with no ideas, don’t wanna work, ready to bitch – that about says it about you Biden

  5. When has Mesker Zoo ever been close to breaking even? Dan McGinn had to be joking! Imho I think it would make a lovely residential community!

  6. Evansville politicians remind me of an old movie, “The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight”. They’re the bumbling hoods using ridiculous means to gain control of what they are too incompetent to control. Evansville is a good place to be from, as in “away from”. Shame on the voters.

    • disaffected what is wrong with you leave were better off without you your some kind of bitch from the sidelines dude go to another town already that needs smart guys like you we love it here great city love what is going on downtown love the west side doing better every day you have problems dude

      • I usually don’t respond to dipheads, but when they defame a John Wayne character and you can tell they’re children, like you and oneevansville, well, you just have to put them in timeout until they learn how to respect adults. You are in timeout and are not to be acknowledged when you whine, little fella.

  7. Any citizen of the city of Evansville can put a public question on the ballot for the mid-term election next year. Call the Election Office at 812-435-5122 or email the Election Office at: election.office@vanderburghcounty.in.gov, for more information on how to place a public question on the ballot.

    An example of a question that could help promote financial accountability by the city would be:

    Question: Should the City of Evansville be required to compile and publish a Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR) starting with the calendar year 2019?

    • 2016 Primary Election:
      The major parties (Democrat and Repub-lican) will conduct a presidential preference primary where a voter must choose between a Democrat or Republican ballot to nominate candidates for the following offices:
      ï‚·
      Governor
      ï‚·
      United States Senate (1 seat)
      ï‚·
      U.S. House of Representatives (all 9 seats)
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      Indiana State Senate (25 of the 50 seats)
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      Indiana House of Representatives (all 100 seats)
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      Judges of the circuit and superior courts in several counties
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      er, and County Council Member in several counties
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      Town Council members, town clerk

      treasurers, and town judges in towns
      which have chosen to stagger terms, or to elect all town officials during 2016
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      Some local public questions may be placed on the ballot in certain counties. ***************
      ï‚·
      Democratic Party and Republican Party state convention delegates
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      Republican Party precinct committeemen

  8. ONB-VECTREN-BERRY-D’PATRICK evansville Zoo and Events center.
    Or maybe the EVSC Nature and Learning Center.

    And really, 6″ on the NM project is going to make a difference? Why fix the problem? How often will two trucks or Buses pass each other that they could not slow down and watch their mirrors?
    Or maybe we could cut 3″ out of the center of the bus?

    But then, who in the world missed some as simple as lane width? They need a talking to.

  9. RE: Lane width issues on North Main…

    I honestly doubt it was inability to read a ruler that caused this issue. I blame the ‘real-world’ traffic studies which were no doubt were conducted prior to final planning and implementation. Any reasonable traffic observer in Jimtown would conclude that average traffic loading on North Main (per block) consists of 2-3 scooters and 1 stolen bicycle. Include a 36″ safety margin to account for an abandoned shopping cart on the side of the road or an enhanced collapse zone for the vacant, burned out houses lining the street, and there you have it…

    • Word for word the best commentary on this colossal waste of money yet. Seems the project failed at the ‘study stage’. That is the part where much bigger than necessary money is given to a faraway favored studier to deliver a document with colored drawings that will most certainly need numerous revisions after real people look at it. Hopefully those revisions are made before concrete is poured. Such was not the case here. Most studies are filed away without being read, this one somebody evidently took as the OK to hit the go button.

      Let’s study ‘er up again, study dollars are pretty much limitless. Then again, maybe send the heavy trucks and concrete smashers in blind. Study long study wrong.

      Those shopping carts are never truly abandoned. They are just between engagements. The next bus fleet must
      sport accordion sides, a new trend for city motorcoaches, and a rack for those shopping carts that urban archeologists will someday sift for evidence of life.

    • That was hilarious. Drunkards on stolen bikes can’t exactly ride the line either. Some of those scooter people have a 4 foot wide ass too. Six more inches won’t matter much in this particular location. It may stop a lawsuit if they have code compliance to fall back on though.

  10. Buses to Wide – Street too Narrow
    Solution – cut the buses in half for the half-asses that run our city

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