IS IT TRUE July 5, 2012

1. Two cheers for Mayor Winnecke for being transparent in making the RFP public.

   Hope he can continue doing this sort of thing.

2. New boss same as the old boss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   • Ain’t that the truth!!!

3. I guess it is politics as usual no matter if the left or the right is in charge. It is my understanding that Wilson Auction in Posey County was recently awarded the contract to liquidate the assets of Robert’s Stadium It is my understanding that this was done without asking other Vanderburgh County auction companies to provide an RFP. I’m all in favor of winning a fair business opportunity, but not at the expense of our Vanderburgh County businesses!

4. Wow. Just when i gave the Mayor praise for doing the right thing concerning being transparent as pertaining to submitting RFP for open bid to public.

   Come on CCO, it’s time you ask for a copy of the RFP that Mr. Smith and his auction company signed with the City of Evansville Robert’s Staduim auction contract.

   I pray and hope that the above poster (Bennihauna) is wrong concerning this RFP.

   I’m a very conservative Republican and strongly object to this kind of backroom political deal!

5. Sorry–I posted wrong name.

   I meant to say Mr. Andrew Wilson, not Mr. Smith.

6. I concur with your thoughts enough taxes. I would love to see the RFP and the responses the administration received from their queries of other auction companies. Come ON CCO. Your the only watchdog never asleep. We count on you for good public policy policing!

7. Here we go again. Seemly another back room political “Homestead Tax Credit” deal in the workings by none other then Mayor W.

   Unite CCO Bloggers, ask for a public accounting of this alledged back room RFP bid awarded to political insider.

8. A friend of mine personally asked Curran Miller Auction & Real Estate if they were asked to participate in a bid and he said they were never approached by anyone regarding the sale of Robert’s Stadium assets.

9. It’s time to test the new Freedom of Information law approved by the State of Indiana adopted on July 1, 2012.

10. Go get them CCO!

    Ask for a copy of the official contract of the Robert’s Staduim auction awarded to Wilson Auction Company of Posey County.

11. Hey you stooges. Contracts for less than $75,000 do not require bids. At the auction company fees the crap in Roberts would have to sell for over $750,000 for that to trigger. There ain’t no way folks. Go find something real for the CCO to work on. This is bullcrap.

12. Aaawe…seems we hit a nerve. Sorry you have to resort to name calling. It seems regardless of dollar amount the right thing to do is to promote open competition with our Vanderburgh County businesses when we have the opportunity to.

13. Wow Truthseeker the CCO bloggers realy got your attention on this subject.

    Are you sure your not Andrew Wilson responding to this subject matter?

    After your post I shall personally file a Freedom of Information Request with the City of Evansville to get of a copy of the alledged signed contract between the city and Wilson Auction Company concerning the Robert’s Stadium bid for all the public to see.

14. The vast majority of those put on the task force were either direct Winnecke campaign supporters, workers of companies who supported the winnecke campaign, or supporters of the local GOP. So it shouldn’t be surprising that the auction company is as well.

    There has been a Klenck demolition barrel out there for at least a few months before the decision so I would be very surprised if they don’t get the demo contract.

    I still don’t understand how anyone on a task force is allowed to blantantly insert inaccurate data into a report after the final meeting and it isn’t fraud or false advertisement. I sure hope the next person running for mayor tells the public the truth about that task force. I, myself, am willing to turn over all the information I have.

    • The stadium task force had 15 members. What number constitues ‘a vast majority’ of 15?

      Please explain how the following task force members fall into the category of Winnecke puppets – Jordan Baer, Rev. Rabon Turner, David Coker, Donna Leader, Stephanie Brinkerhoff Riley, and Sylvia Trabits. That’s six out of 15. Does 9 constitute a ‘vast majority’ of 15? Nine is only 3/5ths (60%).

      Sour grapes make bad whine.

      • First of all, 2 of those people you mentioned are indeed active in politics for the right/local gop. One other is a friend of the mayor. One other member you mentioned was put on there bc it’s her Ward and she should and deserved to be on the task force. The other two asked the mayor to be put on the task force and were really only a handful of those who actually were working on the project before the task force.

        Lastly, the mayor appointed 14, not 15 members. The final member was appointed by the city council.

        With that being said, all of those members’ views are completely irrelevant given that none of them were leaders of the subcommittees and thus never approved the final draft and certainly had nothing to do with the page (page 13) that was added AFTER the final meeting.

        Of the three subcommittee leaders and the task force director, two of them I know did act in good faith even though they were put on the task force because of the companies they work for. I trust their work and I stand behind their cost estimates.

        I asked one of them if indeed you could build a new arena for the price it would cost to renovate roberts and he said- no, of course not.

        Yet, that’s not what the headlines the media ran after the mayor said he saw that notion “was mentioned through out” in the report in his press conference…

        (48 second mark)

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV-gGNjNxz0

        You can read the report for yourself. The mid-sized arena is 1/3rd the cost of the green space project.

        The mayor started off the first meeting by telling us that he was not looking for a recommendation. So much for that. He also told us to keep emotion out of it. Yet, he has clearly spent more time on the green space proposal than the mid-sized arena proposal which he has told us nothing about his research on the idea.

        It’s been exactly one month since the mayor made his recommendation. We know what cities he visited for BMX, but we still don’t know if he talked to Venuworks/SMG, if he visited a mid-sized arena, if he talked to the tenants interested in Roberts, and if he talked to the businesses around Roberts. How can you say that a mid-sized arena wouldn’t work if you never investigated it?

        So basically, we have no idea how much time the mayor genuinely spent trying to make this facility a mid-sized arena. We do however know he spent time on the green space project going to Lamasco Park, going to a dog park in Arz, and he even told me and 4 other residents back in November that he had already talked to Wesselman about making it a part of their park.

        His own communications director even went on the C&P and admitted (although by accident) that the page was added after the final committee meeting…

        https://city-countyobserver.com/2012/04/26/page-13-was-added-to-the-roberts-stadium-report-ella-johnson-watson-mayor-winneckes-director-of-communications/

        I genuinely hope the Democratic party puts forth an honorable and respectable person with integrity to turn this mess around. Because as it stands, the political elite have their idea of what they are going to do with the city. Anyone else is wasting their time as they will end up on yet another one of these committees where the decision was already made.

        I really have no idea why anyone would serve on another task force assembled by this mayor unless they genuinely felt like he sided with their idea before the task force started.

        • I was only pointing out your typical hyperbole, in this instance the use of “vast majority” to describe a handful of committee members as shills of the current administration. And as usual, you launched into even more verbose rambling.

          • That’s all you got? You’re worried about what is a vast majority or not and you can’t even deny that most of the members have connections to the mayor? Basically what you’re saying is, ” I have no reason to justify the way the task force was handled.”

          • What did you really expect? You were used. That’s politics. Get over it.

15. YESonHSR

    We take you up on your offer to turn over all the information you have for the entire CCO readership to read and draw thier own opinions pro or con to the above claims you have made.

    • I am compiling it all in the form of a timeline on the blog. I’m hoping to have it all together within a week or two.

      • I’ll make sure and brew a pot of strong coffee and take a handful of ADD medication to be able to muddle all the way through the finished tome.

        • Nobody said you had to read it.

          • I enjoyed your synopsis on the Lloyd baseball stadium and the Georgia team. That was good.

16. In re: the poll in the top right margin, a 25 year plan is absolutely worthless, as is every other plan that spans more than five years.

    • If the 25 Year “Plan” has both short term goals and long term goals, that would be a good thing,—also you have to have a timetable or “Goals” are just wishes. Life is approched this way, why not the Life of this Community? I see nothing wrong with a 25yr Plan.
      (We need a little “Dreaming” in it anyway!)

    • Any plan regardless of the time frame associated with it is a waste if the elected leaders ignore the plan and do things randomly. That is what happened with the last 10 year plan. Mayor Lloyd commissioned it so his successor naturally assumed it was worthless. After all it did have a baseball stadium where the exotic dance club is now. Evansville paid for a study by the Fantis Corp. back in the 60’s. It was ignored. At this point there is not even a plan of relevance in place. Without a plan the randomness will continue.

      • Our track record is damning evidence.
        A lot of us hear what your saying, Mr Wallace.
        Regretfully, we are not in the Majority.

      • Joe:

        Professionally done plans get cut to ribbons during the obligatory vetting performed by local members of the Chamber. No one wants their cheese moved, or worse yet, eliminated.

        __

      • I just talked to those who ran the South Georgia Waves a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, it was Mayor Russ Lloyd Jr. himself who wasn’t willing to take the exotic dance club on for that parcel. I still blame the two democrat commissioners mainly for the failure of the ballpark but after talking with the SGW, I feel like some has to be put on the former mayor as well. I was very disappointed to hear what I heard about how the ballpark went down. I have always felt like the previous mayor was genuinely dedicated to throwing out and fighting for the projects that needed to be built.

        Since he is in the current admin, I still wish he would take a stand for the 01 master plan. Even the current mayor had it in his campaign promises. I don’t want to see a new plan, rather I just want to see the old one updated and then slapped with some binding rules that make sure it actually gets implemented.

        • Something I don’t think anyone remembers is that the ballpark would have been backed up in a corner between the Lloyd Expressway and the Fulton Ave exit. A year or so after the ballpark was written off, INDOT announced they were going to upgrade the Fulton Ave. exit. The changes would have cut into the ball park location.

          Like the arena, there was no dedicated parking available, either.

          Does anyone know where the promoters of that deal built their next ball park? Where was the location that was chomping at the bit to build it?

          I recall the fellow in charge getting irate when a local inquiring mind asked why he had bought a home in Florida when he was claiming he would make Evansville his home. He didn’t like people checking him out and questioning his motives. Sort of like EarthCare, hmmm?

          • Here’s the 411 on the whole ballpark situation.

            Dave Heller purchased the South Georgia Waves who were in Albany, GA at the time and was looking to move to a midwestern city bc his family is from the midwest. After scouting out several locations, he decided on Evv. He was VERY fortunate to have rounded up both Cal Ripken Jr. & Don Mattingly to be co-owners of the team.

            The ballpark plan was $22.5 mil which is $2.5 mil less than what was wasted on simply expanding green river road out to nowhere. In order to get the land for the ballpark, they needed 24 parcels. They got 23, the only one holding out was the exotic store.

            Since it was a re-election year Russ Lloyd Jr. didn’t want to be deposed in an eminent domain trial against the store even though he did indeed have the votes for the ballpark. So he backed out. Don Mattingly was notified but Cal Ripken and the entire SGW organization found out by reading the paper. The team was never asked to help work out the problem with the store owner. They were willing to cheapen the price on the ballpark, increase the asking price for the parcel, as well as increase their share in the ballpark.

            After the plan failed, Heller still wanted to live in the Midwest. So, he sold the Waves to Art Solomon who moved the team to Bowling Green,KY and is now known as the Hot Rods. The Hot Rods are a part of Bowling Green’s $250 + million investment to revitalize their downtown. They account for approx 1,000 to 1,500 hotel nights every season.

            As for Heller, he purchased the Quad City River Bandits in Davenport, IA. He fixed up Modern Woodmen Park, which was built in 1931, a the team just won the Midwest League while the ballpark wins award after award each year for the best ballpark in the country.

            Yes, he was going to move here. In fact, guess who was his realtor? Yup, Carol McClintock. It’s a small world afterall.

            And, here’s what really gripes me about the whole plan failing. The SGW had agreed to assume to duties of taking care of Bosse Field since their team would result in the Otters folding. I asked them what they were going to do with it. They were going to use it for YOUTH BASEBALL TOURNAMENTS!

            So, if our city wasn’t full of me-first politicians, we would have had a downtown dome in the 80s, a mid-sized roberts stadium that would be on the nrhp, a new downtown ballpark, and a youth baseball complex with bosse field as the anchor ALREADY! But know we are stuck with an undersized arena, a deteriorating Bosse Field and surrounding area, a dog park where a great arena once stood, and a good ole exotic book store.

17. New Mayor, same closed-door meetings, and you folks wanting to consolidate governments will give the Mayor even more power, more closed door deals. Make the Mayor KING ov Vanderburgh County. Abuse of power, more old cronies, more appointees…VOTE NO on Reorganization in November.

    • Exactly!

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