IS IT TRUE JANUARY 20, 2016

1. I am curious as to who and how the no smoking in the park will be enforced. This is a perfect example of what I call “feel good laws”. We no longer have parks police. Are the local LEOs going to start patrolling the parks. Why create a law that is not going to be enforced? For the record I do not smoke and do not like to be around it. I also notice we can not keep guns, drugs and graffiti all of which are illegal out of parks.

   • Stonedreamer, These laws, discussion, and made up controversy are very necessary. With all the real business being conducted behind closed doors by a few individuals, the public needs something to be involved with. Any one wanting to be involved in the local government has a chance to voice their opinion on “this” issue.

2. So now you can’t smoke outdoors? Crazy politically correct rules man.

   • Sorry Charlie. Can’t blame “them damn libruls” for this one.

3. The Mayor & City Council Responsible for replacing the lost Alcoa & Vigo Coal jobs in Warrick County?

   • …I mean, right. That’s a good question.

   • Certainly they aren’t solely responsible for it, but it would be good if they do all they can to help replace them. I think it’s fair to say that it should be a team effort. We have a lot to lose if comparable paying jobs are not created ASAP!

   • Those jobs “smelter and Coal” are not what Evansville needs. Those are dirty jobs and do not fit in with the plan of the new Evansville centered around downtown and the up and coming revitalization. Coal vs IU medschool – really!

     • So….you want coal jobs instead of medical school/healthcare jobs?
       What the hell are you talking about?

       • That’s an unfair jab and you know it. The tri-state area does not have a large, nationally recognized University that can produce high-end tech jobs. No one is going to move to this area to develop an IT company. Our growth rates, both population and employment, have never tracked like they should have. Take a 1950 census, look at the long-term projections, then look at every census projection since, and it’s clear Evansville has never lived up to its economic potential. The tri-state area needs Alcoa’s jobs, and it also needs IU Medical School. They are not mutually exclusive.

4. IS IT ALSO TRUE that according for Councilwoman Mercer’s facebook post about being “treated to great Greek cuisine with Indy firm Structurepoint” that Council President Missy Mosby was also with her?

5. I agree with the smoking ban.
   Smoking kills people, drives up medical costs, and drives up health insurance costs for everyone else in the risk pool.
   Either you are accountable for your own health, or you’re not.
   Time for everyone who says people should be accountable for their OWN behavior to STEP UP.

   • I just hate all the cigarette butts in our parks.

6. COAL JOBS being lost has nothing to do with any Mayor of any city.
   It has nothing to do with any President.

   Coal is dirtier and more expensive than natural gas.
   Burning cheaper, cleaner and readily available natural gas is smart.
   Burning coal is stupid and ignorant.
   If you dig coal for a living, and you’re mad at the world cause business is bad,
   it’s like you are mad at the Mayor cause your wagon wheel business is failing.

   These coal jobs are being driven out of existence because burning coal makes no economic sense.

   • “These coal jobs are being driven out of existence because burning coal makes no economic sense.” (Don Becker)

     * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

     That is until one of those 99 nuclear reactors currently operating in 30 States in this country has a little problem, equipment failure, human error, natural disaster, terrorist action, name your flavor.

     BTW, our neighbor to the west, Illinois, is ranked number 1 in nuclear power production. Tic…tic…..tic….tic…

     • PAK:
       I respect the need for attention to safety measures regarding nuclear generated power.
       Expressing the need for safety in nuclear power plants
       is NO WAY any kind of justification for dirty, expensive, “no-economic sense” coal production.
       (And coal companies have a miserable record of safety measure. But that is not the issue. That coal has no future in an advanced society is.)

       • How soon we forget:

         https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/23/Chernobyl_radiation_map_1996.svg

     • Meh. Pick your poison, really.

       Coal = devastation at the point of origin (mining site) and massive, ongoing air pollution and toxic waste disposal issues.

       Nuclear = devastation at the point of origin, potential for exceedingly damaging accidents while in use, incredibly toxic waste to dispose of afterwards.

       Honestly, if you weighed the current and ongoing environmental and health damage done by burning coal against the environmental and human damage posed by nuclear, nuclear probably gets an edge as far as health and safety.

   • Hey, I’m all for the coal industry closing down. We do need to find jobs for the people being displaced, though.

     • Wow, do you have any idea how much coal you indirectly use daily? It’s not just for generating electric, nor can anything but nuclear replace it. I am for not gashing the earth and blackening our sky., but closing down coal is a thought void of thinking.

   • Anyone who knows me at all knows that I am anti-coal, anti-fracking, and anti-pollution in general. That doesn’t keep me from empathizing with families who are losing a good income due to the closing of the mines. The end of the smelter is a big win for clean air, too.
     That 660 jobs we are losing will spread to other sectors, too. My point is that the jobs that are lost, regardless of the environmental effects, are going to present an unplanned for challenge to community leaders. It is not the “fault” of those in office, but they do carry the burden of mitigating damage to the community in general. I hope the Mayor and City Council come out of the clouds long enough to realize that we need some responsible adults to act to minimize ill effects right here in River City.

     • What do you propose they should do LKB?

     • “It is not the “fault” of those in office, but they do carry the burden of mitigating damage to the community in general. ”

       Well, sort of. A local government can’t really mitigate damage done by job loss (meaning nothing they do is going to directly replace the lost jobs or wages after the fact). What they CAN do is attempt to create an environment which is business and investment friendly, and there is a LOT which goes into that. Decent infrastructure, a balanced budget, and fair taxation and regulatory policies are directly in control of local government, at least to a certain extent. Other things which the government can at least somewhat influence are the presence of an educated workforce, decent schools, available housing, low crime, a robust parks system, cultural attractions, etc. The private sector does a lot of the heavy lifting on these things as well, but it really is synergistic.

       I guess my point is that the role of the government in mitigating economic damage is done more on the front end of an economic crisis. A well-run municipality tends to be able to absorb these types of things and attract diverse employers. Are we a ‘well-run municipality’? I suspect some folks on this board might have an opinion on that… 🙂

       • Excellent points. I will survive this upset because for once we find ourselves in a reasonable healthy position. I told my son a few years ago when the economy went down that survival is success because when it recovers you we will be positioned to grow. We actually see an opportunity for growth and have found advisory help from a few development groups. But some of the basic things you noted our government can not because they are overly vested in bad decisions.

     • You have not stopped any pollution. What has been accomplished is that the production has moved to other shores that don’t care about the pollution. 660 good paying jobs like ALCOA are not going to be easily absorbed. Many of the employees will retire early or transfer to the rolling mill, but it will be at the cost of new hires. As I have said in other posts , this loss also affects tiers of other vendors and service suppliers. Like me they will have to find new markets or disappear forever. The only hope I see is that if aluminum recovers and the smelter works might be reopened with a new workforce and lower wages, but that’s not going to happen because it is literally being torn out and scrapped. So if you got all of your anti’s it will be a bleak future. Heck, without coal or oil you couldn’t even watch your favorite Michael Moore laughumentary.

7. The loss of the Union Busting Geary to Qwensboro,—- is no loss at all, they can have him!

   Venueworks states the Icemen dates vacated will allow more Concerts, etc to be scheduled on the now Open dates , mitigating any revenue loss

   • All of a sudden we’re going to get some good concerts?

   • Owensboro should be applauded for their financial expertise. They dumped their tax eating, public obligation off on poor Mr. Geary. He sure picked up a big liability for $1.00. If Evansville should be so lucky to get someone to give us a dollar and take over the Ford Center. It would save us how much? $10 million a year. If we can’t find a team to buy it for a dollar maybe we could pay a team $5 million a year to come here. We would still be saving $5 million. The city could demo houses and fix a lot of side walks and streets with 5 million.

8. SHOULD CITIES PAY FOR SPORTS FACILITIES?

   https://www.stlouisfed.org/Publications/Regional-Economist/April-2001/Should-Cities-Pay-for-Sports-Facilities

   • A few points that your “study” misses. It’s a complicated question. Generally a stadium isn’t worth a city to finance. However, it’s worth a state to finance. Let’s say that Indiana finances a new stadium for the Colts, and the Colts will play at that venue for 20 years. The NFL Salary Cap is over $140 million per team, but the average payroll is probably closer to $120 million. So, with the Indiana state income tax at a flat 3.3%, meaning the Colts players will contribute $79.2 million over the life of the lease to the stadium, as all players have to pay the state income tax of the place they play in any particular week, think of 8 games by 2 teams with the average payroll. This is commonly referred to as the jock tax.

     The other metric that rarely gets measured is the net effect on local real estate values, and the net increase in property tax revenues. Look at the Washington Nationals. Nationals Park was built on the Southwest DC waterfront, a crime-ridden warehouse district. Now, thanks to the stadium, $300,000-$400,000 condos are the norm., and it’s a wonderful neighborhood.

     In addition to that, professional sports gives cities that have potential to grow, the opportunity to market themselves as a great place to do business. That’s a metric that cannot be easily quantified, but can you imagine anyone considering moving their business to Cincinnati if the Bengals and Reds both relocated? It would send a strong message that Cincinnati doesn’t have the attractions to lure the lucrative STEM business to its area.

     Where jurisdictions get into trouble, think the new 49ers park, are when political favors are cashed in the real estate dealings, or the jurisdictions builds a stadium that is too over the top for the purpose it was built for, think the Ford Center.

     The Ford Center was really built just to house the University of Evansville Men’s basketball team, pure and simple. It was too over the top for that purpose, and the city spent way too much for such a narrow purpose. That’s why they had to try to find something else to put in there, like the Icemen. The Icemen were never a natural fit; the stadium was not built for their purposes.

     Geary has made a good deal. He’ll pay $1.00 to get the Owensboro stadium. Owensboro will get to write the Sports Center off the books, and Geary will be able to renovate the place while having a guaranteed rent paying tenant, Kentucky Wesleyan, while, by virtue of renovations will be able to compete with Evansville as an entertainment/concert venue.

     This is a win-win deal for Owensboro, and a lose-lose deal for Evansville. The city wasted money by overbuilding, and by getting rid of the Icemen, of the AHL, guarantees that Owensboro will have a better hockey product, as Evansville will have to find a hockey team playing in a lower caliber league.

     Back in Frank McDonald’s time, he wanted Evansville to be the service hub of the tri-state area. Well, the Ford Center and Winne’s dealings with the Icemen are guaranteeing an acceleration in the trend of a shift in McDonald’s service hub from Evansville to Owensboro.

     The larger question in funding is not the Stadium. It’s the level of State funding to other Stadiums in Indiana, relative to leaving Evansville to pay for its own. It’s the level of State funding to other Universities in the State relative to the little funding USI receives. Quite frankly, the State is watching a major shift in the tri-state hub from Evansville to Owensboro, and this is occurring because the State takes more from the Tri-State area than it gives back.

9. Can the remove the ice and install permanent seats for basketball? We should have never built a damn hockey rink. I called this from the start. With 5 years nobody would give a rat’s ass about hockey.

   • ….Hey Bob.
     What SHOULD we do for driving economic expansion? I never hear you talk about that.

   • 8200+ people last Saturday night would probably disagree with you…

     • Geary must have passed out a lot more free tickets than usual, if there were that many there. The average attendance this season was about 4200.

       • …..this kind of reply reminds me of when the Unemployment Rate drops, inevitably the Tea Party toothless people say “They’re lying. It’s really over 30%.” Thanks Alice.

     • JPL, If you charged those 8,200 people the true cost they would be marching with protest signs still objecting to tearing down Roberts.

10. Did the taxpayers foot the bill to send Mercer to the ICAT conference, so vendors can schmooze new officials? I heard that Missy is there too. If she is, why? She isn’t a new office holder.

    • That is the purpose. If it was just educational there would be a webinar. “schmoozing” is not just for beginners. Missy is may be there for remedial schmoozing but most likely she is teaming with, and coaching Mercer. We may have gotten a two for one discount or if they have a garantee on “learning achieved” we may be due a reimbursement for Missy’s past attendance.

11. Can someone explain to me how a local board, here the parks board, can enact laws? The only body in city government that can create laws (ordinances), is the city council If this is simply a park rule, it can’t be enforced, as the police can only enforce state laws or city ordinances.

    • I’m more familiar with laws outside of Indiana, but my best guess would be is that if you were caught, the Parks Department would have the authority to issue you a barring notice/restraining order, and if you violated the ordinance again, the police would have the authority to arrest you/fine you for that violation.

12. Also, kudos on the ‘instant’ commentary postings, Editor. Much more enjoyable to join the conversation now.

13. We might be wiser to do for the arena what we did for the amphitheater and do for the ampitheater what we have done for the arena.

    • Good one. Malicious neglect certainly has its place in city planning.

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