IS IT TRUE JUNE 8, 2016

36

IS IT TRUE that being selected as a “Promise Zone” puts Evansville on a list of 20 places across the country from Appalachia, to the Choctaw Reservation, to the most impoverished areas of big cites, that have been identified as “20 of the highest poverty urban, rural, and tribal communities across America?…while this designation is an opportunity to move toward positive change it is not in any way an endorsement for the status quo in Evansville?…being identified as on the same level as the worst parts of cities like Atlanta, Philadelphia, Camden, and Los Angeles is absolutely not a badge of honor?

IS IT TRUE this designation as a “Promise Zone” is an indictment of what 50 years of crony capitalism under the thumb of the machine has done to Evansville, Indiana? …this is a wake up call and an offer of outside help to fix the things that a legacy of leadership has failed to do?

IS IT TRUE we urge you to open the attached link so you can read the details of yet another “Pie In the Sky” governmental give away program to help local leaders put people back to work?  …the last paragraph of this link says it all?

http://www.rd.usda.gov/about-rd/initiatives/promise-zones

IS IT TRUE that once again Mayor Winnecke is dealt another unexpected financial blow?  …the mainstream media reported that the Streetscape portion of the IU Downtown Medical School is over budget by 20% which is part of the overall Medical School Bond?

IS IT TRUE that the Mayor Winnecke should be getting accustomed  to capital project being over budget considering that his North Mains Street project was originally touted at $13 million and now it’s $18 million?

IS IT TRUE he now has convinced the apparent financially challenged City Council leadership that the  $5 million dollar cost overrun for the North Main project was to be expected? …can anyone help us to convince the City Council leadership that a 40% increase of a public works project is unacceptable?

IS IT TRUE that the original downtown Hotel budget went over budget by $14 million dollars?  … right after that information was made public, we began to hear the phase, “Value Engineering”  which is code for a cheapened down the Hotel project?  … consequently “Value Engineering” mean”, no roof-top lounge, no in-door swinging pool,  no central air conditioning, no 10 story structure,  no apartment facility which our medical students could had utilized for housing.?  …we can’t wait to see how the Mayor is going to make “Value Engineering”  adjustments to  the new Downtown Medical School?

FOOTNOTES: Our next “IS IT TRUE” will be posted on this coming Friday.

Todays READERS POLL question is: If the election for Governor was held today who would you vote for?

Please take time and read our newest feature articles entitled “HOT JOBS” and “LOCAL SPORTS” posted in our sections.

If you would like to advertise in the CCO please contact us City-County Observer@live.com.

Copyright 2015 City County Observer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

36 COMMENTS

  1. The Roberts Stadium renovation project (about 20 years ago) was budgeted by the City administration and the City Council at $11,000,000 (they were dreaming). Bids intially came in around $24,000,000. City administration & City Council came up with additional funding and construction contract was negotiated down to $17,000,000 (read: project scope was reduced). After construction started additional funding was found and Change Orders were issued to re-include some of the negotiated out work back into tbe project. Final construction cost for the project ended up atlround $21,000,000.
    Nothing new in Evanspatch.

    • Proposed Roberts Park project:

      [ City Council public meeting on the project ]

      Budget Concerns & Economic Effect

      At the meeting, the crowd claps in agreement as Parks Board president Steve Bohleber expresses his concerns about the project’s “astronomical” $18 million price tag. Board member Jay Ritter has a similar worry. “Looks to me like we’re betting the house that this will work,” he says. The product is worth the cost, Dunn believes. “Because of the degree of quality we want to maintain with this project,” he says, “it does require a majority of that revenue stream to pay down that debt.”

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

      Anyone want to take a stab at what the overruns on this project might be?

      • Oh, and I forgot, there is also the ongoing maintenance costs to be considered, especially since, as Mr. Dunn notes, “it does require a majority of that revenue stream to pay down that debt.” That, of course, leaves next to nothing for upkeep.

      • Make no mistake ..we have a delusional Mayor on our hands ..and an apparent inept City Council the likes we have need seen ..if this Dog Park’s cost is touted at $18 mil ..count on the final price tag to be $22-24 mil ..this is insane!!! ..of course, this does not include the maintenance cost issue going forward ..just like the Amazonia project at the ZOO ..our now Budget Chairman McGinn should know a little about this since he never gave Acrobert (then controller) the estimates on the maintenance costs (now $950,000/yr).

        • Don’t you mean the City Council is corrupt instead of just inept? Maybe some of them are just dumb, but even they are in it for what they can get . Carol sees to it that they all get something out of it.

          • Christmas Carol and the undeniably elfin Kelly Coures are all it really takes to keep that money and those properties churning. As you noted, they’ll keep the improper people happy.

    • ..maybe this is why this situation continues ..just think when old McDonald was experiencing change orders on only one significant project, this administration has at least three major projects (three balls in the air if you will) not concerning the Sewer issues and we just say, “well this is how Evansspatch works” ..actually, the Robert’s rehab originally started at 4.5 mil but when IN-BED ED was injected into the project (just like the three we have now) the printing presses fired up.

    • Also there was some funny business that rigged the bid in ICI’s favor. Another contract quoted the job with some items that ICI left out. It had something to do with some expensive pilings to support the ground that would need to be excavated to make Roberts deeper into the ground. ICI got the bid, because they were cheaper. Then later there was a change order issued so ICI could add it the items previously omitted.

  2. Is it not true that the old “trolley tracks” removal was not included in the original bid? Could it had been that it was purposely “not mention” so the contractor could be hung by the “surprised find” depending on how the contract bid/specs were written? Anyone with knowledge of road work these past 40+ years understands the network of tracks that have been buried by layers of asphalt. West Franklin Street(late 70’s) and St. Joseph Avenue(past 15 years) construction projects are examples.

      • Well, every little bit helps. Even a small unnecessary project can make its contribution. The challenged but willful little guy is pushing for another dog park at the State Hospital to go with his beloved Roberts Dog Park. I think he wants to connect the two with a walkway of some sort. This would have to cross the lloyd Expressway. Big bucks to donors. It was a fairly safe bet that Winnecke would screw up the beautiful State Hospital grounds once he got the city council packed. I think he’s touting it as a private project. Ho ho ho. That area has been nice and green for many many years, that situation will no longer obtain if Winnecke gets his way, which he will.

        Anybody hear how much we are on the hook for to pay off the Milan’s? Wonder what the total legal bill for all the politically motivated Hail Mary appellate actions is?

        Evansville is getting what they deserve with this administration. Their malfeasance is legend. They are untouchable.

        • We are getting what we deserve. I wish there had been a decent candidate to run against him last year, but all we had was a 71 year old woman that gets money from the city for parking the LST at her family business. Her son-in-law got a good promotion on the Fire Department instead of getting fired for being drunk and fighting the firemen who tried to put out the fire at the Marina they own.

          • Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley would have been a great person to run for Mayor, so he made sure her name was dragged through the mud in such a way that she wouldn’t run. I know SBR had her flaws, we all do. On her worst day, she would have been better than Winnie is on his best day. It isn’t like the city has never been run by an alcoholic before.

          • I agree. SBR would have been an asset that got all the sh it in order. She was a true representative of/ for the people. Her stipends were well worth it as she saved taxpayers millions by basically stopping the earth scam.

  3. She did enough on her own to get her name drug
    through the mud. She had some serious issues to deal with and they were personal

    • Like calling Winnecke out for the conman’s mark he is? Wasted over $200,000 of our money, flushed to a common grifter. Would have been closer to 5 million if Stephanie wouldn’t have stepped in with the truth. You folks tried to ruin her for that. She’ll be back.

  4. Watching KC and Winky spin being identified as a Promise Zone into an honor for the City is going to be fun. We’re among the worst of the bad, but at the same time we are a vibrant and growing community. That’s a hard one to reconcile.

  5. I guess two serious things have changed for Trump.
    1. He’s not self-funding. That was a LIE. He’s asking RNC donors for money.
    2. He’s changed his mind about punishing American companies that export jobs. Now, he takes their donor money as part of “a deal.”
    From the Wall Street Journal today:
    “On the campaign trail, Mr. Trump has railed against businesses moving factories outside the U.S. and the laws and trade deals that allowed them to do so, vowing not to allow the practice as president. But Bill Binnie, who in 1990 was chairman and CEO of a plastics company that closed a California factory and moved the jobs to Mexico, will host a New Hampshire fundraiser on Monday for Trump for President. Mr. Binnie, host of the coming New Hampshire event, was chief of Carlisle Plastics Inc. in 1990, when it closed a factory with more than 400 jobs and built a new 60,000-square-foot facility in Tijuana, Mexico. Moving the plant, according to Mr. Binnie, “significantly lowered the division’s operating costs.” In a brief phone interview Monday, Mr. Binnie confirmed he is hosting a fundraiser for Mr. Trump. When asked if Trump agreed to exporting American jobs, Mr. Binnie hung up.”

    • The Trump campaign is a disaster. How bad is it? THIS bad:
      Real billionaire Mark Cuban said today that Trump is not a billionaire after all and proving to be a fake. “Trump doesn’t have the cash to self-fund his campaign. He’s gonna calm down BECAUSE HE NEEDS RNC DONORS MONEY. He needs to appease donors quickly. Trump will have to grovel for that cash, and he will. Trump will tell those donors what they want to hear.”
      And lo and behold…..Trump has started accepting donations from donors who export American jobs.
      Disaster. Dumpster fire. Exploited Trump voters. Humiliated. “The little people who are stupid.”

    • Maybe there is some confusion between not allowing people to enter your country legally vs. no borders whereby there is no immigration laws ..if this is the case, why do you have doors on your home ..just remove the doors and when whoever walks through the opening are they breaking and entering?

      • Perhaps the Ghost of President Polk is at hand? We just need to return California, Arizona, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado as well to Mexico . .remember Polk’s Manifest Destiny in 1845 . .problem solved!!!

Comments are closed.