IS IT TRUE? December 28, 2011

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The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE? December 28, 2011

IS IT TRUE that today we would like to start out by reminding the people of Evansville that the Weinzapfel for Mayor campaign received numerous campaign donations from City Centre Properties, its owners, and its affiliated companies during the four years that CCP was seeking financing to convert the McCurdy Hotel into luxury apartments?…that we furthermore would like to reiterate our call for the Weinzapfel for Mayor campaign to return each and every dollar that it received from City Centre Properties, its owners, and its affiliated companies to the Evansville Redevelopment Commission as a down payment on the return of the $800,000 incentive that was awarded to City Centre Properties to embark upon this project?…that the ERC itself should demand the return of these political contributions that clearly had their source in public coffers?…that the President of the ERC Bob Goldman has stated that the ERC should take whatever actions are necessary to get their $800,000 back and that a good first step would be to take a vote of “his” commission this morning to demand the return of every one of those public dollars that were passed seamlessly from the ERC to CCP to the Weinzapfel for Mayor campaign?…that such things may be legal but they shouldn’t be?

IS IT TRUE that in keeping with their disdain for transparency the Evansville Redevelopment Commission has not posted an agenda for the meeting that is scheduled to begin in 10 minutes?…that the City County Observer sincerely hopes that the Winnecke Administration is more transparent and surrounds itself with appointees who actually believe in the people’s right to know what is being done with their money?…that the time for sneaky closed door meetings, backroom deals, and crony capitalism should finally be ended in Evansville?…that we cautiously use the word “should” because we know that many machine operatives supported the Winnecke campaign to keep the old boy deals intact?…that it will take much diligence to make local government in Evansville transparent and equal?

IS IT TRUE that the ERC posted an agenda one minute before the meeting began and that the entire agenda is to hold a vote to assign the CCP agreement to the newly formed and never VETTED McCurdy Development LLC and to extend the agreement for the fifth time?…that at the start of the special meeting that County Councilman and incoming City Controller Russ Lloyd was in attendance but that no other members of the Evansville City Council were recognized?…that Ford Center Project Manager John Kish was interested enough to attend?…that several members of the Mole Nation have advised us that there has been some talk of the City of Evansville extending Mr. Kish’s contract to manage the new hotel and maybe some other projects here in Evansville as he demonstrated good management ability with the Ford Center.

IS IT TRUE that if the ERC does not ask one simple question and gets an answer of at least $2.5 Million that this deal should be terminated and the mess needs to be cleaned before starting anew?…that simple question is “how much equity do you have to invest in this project that is available right now”?…that NO DOUGH, NO GO should rule this decision?…that NO TAXES NO TRANSFER should also rule the deal?…that the day of handing out public money to unproven and penniless companies should come to an end?

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7 COMMENTS

  1. Gosh, the Courier & Press reported that Kish-Ka-Bob was done, stick a skewer in him, and headed back to Indy. What a strange way to spend your vacation, Kish ! Mr. Kish has a strong record on the Hotel: presided over the Browning bust; presided over the Woodruff Hospitality bust; and was the overseer of the Hunden study on Round 3 (man, what a study ! they weren’t hired to prepare a report or to vet anything, merely to determine the inducement needed to get a development agreement). Kish has already made around $ 1 Million bucks on the Arena & Hotel. Winnecke team: go ahead, send him to the plate again, what have we got to lose ??????

  2. The Mayor is leaving office with about $750,000 of campaign contributions. Why doesn’t he give back to the ERC all of his contributions from City Centre Properties, its principals and affiliated companies?

  3. “…passing public dollars seamlessly from the ERC to CCP to the Weinzapfel for Mayor campaign?…that such things may be legal but they shouldn’t be? Wouldn’t this be called “snegal”?

    • I am paraphrasing here, but it has been stated on CCO before that it was damned funny that CCP could not pay their property taxes on time, but seemed to have no problem making Weinzapfel for Mayor campaign donations on time.

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  5. It is time for the new administration to put an end to this relationship with Scott-Hilliard-Kosene. There is no denying that the City of Evansville screwed up big time on the contract with City Centre Property Development, which is owned by Scott-Hilliard-Kosene, which in turn is owned by Kosene and Kosene, leaving CCP with ownership of the McCurdy property after defaulting on their development contract with Evansville.

    I do not see how walking away with either the city’s real property or the city’s money will accrue anything positive to the business reputation of the parent company Kosene and Kosene.

    Perhaps the best way out of this, if CCP does not do the right thing, would be for the city to use its power of eminent domain to reclaim the property at the lowest possible cost.

    My grandfather once said of a person who defaulted on a contract and left owing money: If he can live with it, I can live without it.

    Its an individual thing, you know, corporations are people, right?

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