8 things that deserve recognition as making positive steps in Evansville’s 2012
Mayor’s Focus on Litter: As he promised to do in his campaign for Mayor, Lloyd Winnecke hit the ground running with a campaign to attack the litter problem that has plagued Evansville for as long as many of us can remember. Mayor Winnecke has been like the energizer bunny when it comes to mobilizing the efforts of good people who have pride in the City of Evansville and has literally collected and disposed of tons of litter. The Mayor did not just give lip service to this effort. He has rolled up his own sleeves and picked up litter till his fingers bled. The has been a great and commendable effort that the CCO encourages Mayor Winnecke to keep up in the face of a population that still does not seem to get it.
Smoking Ban in City of Evansville: 25 years after many progressive cities in America instituted a smoking ban the light bulb and the will of the Evansville City Council finally mustered the ability to pass a comprehensive smoking ban with the single exception of Casino Aztar. With this single FREE passage of a smoking ban Evansville removed a very large barrier to child sports tourism and promoted itself to a better place to raise children.
Renewed Awareness of Obesity and Public Health: For all of the fun that has been made of Mayor Winnecke for his “Chicken Fat†video, that video did put some meat on the bones of a City lead awareness effort regarding obesity and public health. Mayor Winnecke has kept it up with exercise days in the parks and by maintaining a personal fitness level that is a good example to all. It is an appropriate reward that the Winnecke Administration presided over Evansville climbing out of the dungeon of being the “most obese city in Americaâ€.
Shaking off a Coma to End the Earthcare Deal: Sometimes it is admirable to learn one’s lesson and correct the errors of one’s ways. When it came to the Earthcare Energy deal Mayor Winnecke seems to have learned from the shoddy job of vetting Mayor Winnecke eventually came around and has hopefully found an elegant way out of a deal that should have been scrutinized better.
Defeat of Consolidation: The people of Evansville and Vanderburgh County spoke by a 2 to 1 majority in their vote to defeat the consolidation plan supported by many of Evansville’s beautiful people. In truth the plan was incomplete, the sacred cows were allowed to remain sacred, and no compelling reason was made to consolidate city and county governments. The rejection of the voters for a shoddy plan was not so much a rejection of the theory of consolidation as it was a rejection of the specifics of this consolidation plan and the history of economic stagnation and population loss.
Change of Ownership of the McCurdy: After 4 years of floundering with no refurbishment action and a struggle to get taxes paid the McCurdy Hotel is now in new hands. We hope to see this change of ownership bear the fruit that leads to tastefulness and prosperity for this classic icon on the Ohio River.
Denial of Vectren Fee Increase by IURC: The first positive occurrence from this denial was the fact that the IURC actually had a meeting in the City of Evansville. Eventually the IURC weighed all of the options and decided that the dense pack technology should not be result in a $32 Million fee increase to the ratepayers of SW Indiana. This is not to say the technology was not a good investment. Quite to the contrary it was a wise and good use of shareholder funds to upgrade the efficiency of Vectren’s turbines but as the IURC rightly determined this should not have been passed on to ratepayers.
Aztar’s Private Investment in Evansville: In spite of seeing the City of Evansville consider using Riverboat money to subsidize a new hotel to compete with them, Casino Aztar confirmed their commitment to seeking prosperity in downtown Evansville by investing in a multi-million dollar upgrade to the Aztar Hotel. It looks much better as does the crosswalk that makes the trip from the District to the Casino safer. Cheers to Aztar for investing without subsidy and continuing its role as sugar daddy to the City of Evansville.
