IS IT TRUE: March 8, 2012

30

The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE: March 8, 2012

IS IT TRUE that Paducah, Kentucky Mayor Bill Paxton says the city is close to sealing a deal to replace the demolished Executive Inn with a new hotel?…that the mayor wouldn’t go into details about the developer the city is speaking with?…that Mayor Paxton but said they are “80 percent close” to securing an agreement with the unidentified developer?…that one of our Paducah based moles is curious to know if there will be public money subsidizing the hinted at hotel?…that the Evansville Mole Nation says “if the Mayor is doing the talking there will be a public subsidy”?…that for the sake of the people of Paducah and the political future of Bill Paxton he had better take a class in “how to totally screw up a hotel deal” using the previous administrations comedic performance as a case study in what not to do?…that Mayor Paxton gets an F on his first test for making an announcement about an unidentified developer and assigning an “80 percent close” comment on the deal he is hoping to make?

IS IT TRUE that we hear from a reliable source that the City of Evansville’s 3rd Ward has only a couple road-paving projects scheduled for 2012?…that the City Engineer, Pat Keepes, told attendees of the recent road meeting that road projects are complaint-based?…that complaint-based means that solutions to road problems are only addressed when someone brings it to the attention of the city?…that if paving and patching of city roads are determined by complaints only that this practice should cease immediately?…that all roads in the city should be part of a planned and scheduled maintenance program?…that one has to ask how many unnecessary projects have been completed because the right person complained?…that if the City Engineer’s statement is correct than why is he suddenly holding public meetings to receive citizen input?…that if his complaint-based system has worked so well in the past then why did 2012 bring new public input?…that we are left with a conclusion that the new city administration is actively reaching out to voters for concerns regarding road repair projects?…that we are beginning to understand why the 4th Ward City Council Representative pushed so hard for the re-appointment of Mr. Keepes?…that the 4th Ward has been the recipient of many road repair projects over the last few years?…that these decisions should be left to the elected officials, because they are held accountable by their voters, and not an appointed department head?

IS IT TRUE that we are anxiously waiting to see if the new DMD Director of Evansville is going to allow the local media to attend the Evansville Brownfields Corp. meetings?…that we are also waiting to see if the new DMD Director will hold public meetings in order for him to recommend to City Council which homes should receive Front Door Pride funding for 2012?…that the practice of giving the vast majority of the Front Door Pride dollars to build Front Door Pride homes in the 4th Ward should cease immediately?…that there are plenty of people in the other 5 wards in this city that are equally as deserving of affordable housing opportunities?…that we would like to publically invite the new DMD Director to provide our readers with his tentative list of recommendations for 2012 Front Door Pride homes and their locations to be built?

IS IT TRUE that with the recently trumpeted successes of the Ford Center and how it has transformed downtown Evansville we are interested in some real financial statistics?…that 5 years ago there were about 30 empty storefronts on Main Street and that the names on some may have changed the number of space available is virtually the same?…that when a gelato stand shuts down and a tapas bar takes its place the net change in number of businesses is zero?…that the same goes for wine bars, etc.?…that there is one for sale sign on a loft apartment that has been there for nearly 5 years?…that the few recent sales of lofts have been at prices at or lower than they were sold for new long ago?…that the Front Door Pride houses are still just sitting there and that some of them have been through three different realtors?…that yes we agree that the Ford Center is a Class A facility to be entertained in and that a few already existing bars are drawing crowds on event nights but this does not constitute either financial success or failure?…that in five years we will really know?

IS IT TRUE that we would very much like to see the financial results for the first 4 months of the Ford Center operation as compared to the same period at Roberts Stadium for any year other than the last couple of years when Roberts was intentionally neglected?…that would tell us if the regional economy has truly seen growth or if the entertainment venue just moved a couple of miles into a newer place?…that we must remind people again that moving 100 jobs from Boeke to Walnut does not constitute creating any new job at all as opposed to what the propaganda parrots were saying back in 2008?

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30 COMMENTS

  1. I’d like to ask a serious question: If the city’s road repair/resurfacing program is purely citizen complaint driven, what the hell is the use of electing city council members by wards, or appointing “professionals” to the engineering and planning departments?

  2. I wonder if the Evansville dog and pony show will show up in Paducah? A cast of characters including Prime, Kunkel, Hunden Strategic Partners, and a cameo by Bob Goldman.

  3. From current records for the WALKER BUILDING —- 401 SE 4th Street

    May 10th, 2011. . . . . . . . . . . . . November 10, 2011

    Amount Due for SPRING 0.00. . . . .. . Amount Due for FALL 53,216.98

    * * * * * * * * * * *

    beerguy

    Evidently only suckers like you and I play by the rules. I believe it would have been a hard sell for Kunkel to seek the city’s blessing until he gets current again.

    BTW, I did not check the rest of his properties, wink wink, nod nod.

    __

    • press, gosh . . .$ 53,216 in delinquent taxes for a building which was purchased for $ 1 ??? Seems like the property tax cap isn’t working out on this one ? Karma, my friend, Karma.

  4. Indiana just posted the January 2012 revenue figures. Total motor fuel tax revenue was $75.3 Million.

    Seeing as how the vast majority of business is exempted from the tax, I will leave it to your imagination as to who is carrying the load here.

    Have a nice day. If I was not so html challenged I would have put one of those yellow smiley faces here.

    __

    • Businesses are not exempt from Fuel taxes (both state and federal) used to fund roads. In most situations they also pay the sales tax (that goes in the general fund).

      Now some fuel is tax exempt if it is used off road (ie a generator or vehicles at a coal mine). Those vehicles cannot use the road system so they should not have to pay for it.

      • IG

        I believe that not-for-profits are exempt from the sales tax on motor fuel in Indiana. At least Indiana has a form for them to seek a refund for the sales tax.

        I think there are also some tax breaks on biodiesel and ethanol.

        __

  5. Who actually wound up with the $800,000.00 in their bank account?

    The taxpayers need that information so they know who to go after.

    __

  6. The the building must be assessed at nearly $2 Million. That seems to be inconsistent with a sale price of $10 in a state that has a constitutional mandate to assess at market value. Is Kunkel getting hosed on the assessment? Maybe they are appealing the assessment and holding onto their cash until a decision is made.

    • Editor, your speculation that Kunkel is appealing the assessment and holding onto their cash is entirely possible. What is also possible is that I will be visited by a leprechaun on March 17, and he and I will drink green beers all day long; that UE will win the NCAA Championship this year; and that Elvis is alive and owns the island of Haiti.

    • Wasn’t there an article about how Kunkel was going to come up with cash for the hotel project and one of the items they included was money they anticipated getting on appeal of assessments of their various properties?

      • I believe that you are correct but do not recall any specific details on how much money there would be. In the case of the Welborn Building they may have to pay less than the $53k that was posted yesterday. I do not see how that would make a significant dent in what would have been need for a hotel fund but it is good for Kunkel. If they are being forced to pay on assessments that are too high there should be adjustments made.

        • I agree. I was just trying to back you up (re: beerguy’s reply) that you weren’t just making an assumption that you pulled our of your arse.

  7. I attended the first road meeting and that is not what Pat Keepes said. What Pat Keepes said is that they have, I believe, one person that checks the road and reports the problem. However, it is inevitable that he will miss something; that is why they rely on the public to bring problem areas to their attention.

    I don’t think that there would be any way to have a planned and scheduled approach because there is no way of knowing when they will have a problem with a road. A scheduled and planned approach would work if you were flush with money and do everything on a schedule irregardless if it needs or not.

    The third ward does not seem to have as many road problems as other wards; as Pat Keepes said, “bring it to his attention and they will look at it.” However, it would be absurd to try and equalize road projects between wards because inevitably in some ward you will have to repair a good road to equalize the number of projects. Some wards are going to have more problems; that is a reality.

    • Even if you can’t have regularly scheduled road repairs could you not have regularly scheduled evaluations? There is ONE guy that drives around and inspects the roads? No wonder they have to rely on public input. With all the tax money spent on road repairs and we have to leave the decision-making to one guy who inspects based on a phone call. It just doesn’t seem very efficient. You say equalizing road projects will cause repairing of good roads. Don’t you think that this practice has already been going on for some time now? If they base repairs off complaints then what is to stop the City Engineer from spear-heading a repair to the road his buddy lives on because it hasn’t been paved in three years and it’s rough on his new BMW? Is there a protocol or is it just up to one person to decide that one voter’s complaint is more valid than another’s?

      I’m not sure what part of the 3rd ward you’re familiar with but to say that it doesn’t have as many problems as other wards is an uninformed statement. Drive Garvin between Diamond and the Lloyd and then take Governor the other direction. Now hit every side street in between. Now check to make sure you still have all four tires inflated.

      • It is beyond me how you get that the one person inspects the roads makes the decision out of what I wrote.

        There are numerous people involved in deciding what roads to repair;department head of Transportaion Services, city council members, mayor, Metropolitan Planning Organization.

        • “What Pat Keepes said is that they have, I believe, one person that checks the road and reports the problem. However, it is inevitable that he will miss something; that is why they rely on the public to bring problem areas to their attention.”

          It is beyond me how you don’t understand how I got that out of what you wrote.

    • I would like to know the basis of your statement that the third ward doesn’t seem to have as many road problems as other wards. Have you driven Garvin or Governor lately? How about any street between Mary and 41, from the Lloyd to Diamond? And then there’s Diamond Villa and the neighborhood by Howard Roosa. These are paving and crack/joint repair projects. It’s not about a problem arising suddenly. These are projects that can be planned. There is an average lifespan of every layer of asphalt. It doesn’t take long for cracks to appear, and if the cracks and breakage go untreated (crack/joint repair) the lifespan of the road is reduced and ultimately, repaving is needed sooner. I challenge you to drive some neighborhoods of the third ward and then decide whether there are no roads in need of paving or crack/joint repair. I know, because I’ve driven it, you will find more roads that need work than roads that don’t. Once you’ve driven Garvin and Governor from the Lloyd to Stringtown, go drive some of the proposed paving and crack/joint projects. I’ll be interested in your conclusions.

      • As I stated in my first comment on this subject, “I attended the first meeting.”

        That means that I saw you bring it up that there were no road repairs planned in the area North of the Lloyd and between First Avenue and 41. Keepes asked you to give him some roads that needed rapaired. You didn’t respond and left shortly thereafter.

        • That’s not true. Why would I not respond? I told him I would provide a list of road projects, and I am. I’ve already requested that Garvin and Governor from the Lloyd to Stringtown be repaved and bike lanes added. I am meeting with the Mayor tomorrow. Also, I didn’t leave until the question and answer session was over after his presentation. In fact, I waited until there were no more questions/suggested projects before I asked my question. There were only about 15 people who attended and the meeting was over in less than 45 minutes.

        • Also, in terms of your basis for your statement being that you attended the first meeting. No one said at that meeting that the 3rd ward tended to have less road issues as other wards. Pat Keepes absolutely did not say that.

        • The roads in the area that you speak of look like someone has been bouncing a wrecking ball around. They are some of the worst maintained roads in Evansville but then again they go through a part of town where the houses look like Bosnia too so what can you expect.

  8. Off topic, but C/P reports that the County Council will not even fill budgeted vacant positions for the County. On the recent posts about the Info. Technology audit where the County was to pony up half . . .don’t count on that happening. If County won’t even hire workers to replace those who have left, they aren’t going do the audit.

  9. Editor, I cant Vote in the Poll for County Clerk, it is taking well over 5 minutes loading and is in a continual LOOP. Viewing the results are doing the same thing. Help?

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