IS IT TRUE APRIL 26,2017

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IS IT TRUE at Monday night City Council meeting the  General Manager of the Ford Center, Scott Schoenike stated “that his purpose was not to lose or make money, but to break even, and to bring economic development to downtown Evansville”?  …Schoenike also stated, “If we can break even as a hockey team, the Ford Center is still doing well. But to break even is not what you are in business for, and that is not what most people understand. We are set up to break even in order to bring economic development.”  …the Mayor was so impressed with VenuWorks mission statement  on how to make the Ford Center profitable he just renew their contract to manage the Ford Center for an additional 5 years?

IS IT TRUE that Mr. Schoenike’s less-than-convincing presentation caused Council Vice President,  Justin Elpers to interrupt him”  … Mr. Elpers stated “he just want to have a meaningful discussion about the future of hockey at the Ford Center”?  …at the end of the day Mr. Elpers didn’t get a meaningful discussion from Mr. Schoenjke?

IS IT TRUE that a person watching Mr. Schoenike’s presentation  to Council commented, “How are we supposed to believe that one man who owns 10%  of a business is responsible for 100% of the financial losses”?   …the legal agreement between the City and VenuWorks for Professional Management Services states “that all operating expenses of the Franchise shall be deemed an expense of the Facility”? … What does this mean? …it mean that the “Facility” is the City of Evansville?  …according to the agreement It looks like the Evansville taxpayers are responsible for all the operating expenses and losses incurred during the 2016/2017 hockey season?

IS IT TRUE the attorney for former Evansville IceMen owner Ron Geary will be submitting a written request to Council President Missy Mosby asking her to allow Mr. Geary to make a formal presentation to City Council concerning Ice Hockey at the Ford Center?  …we bet Councilmen Jonathan Weaver wont make any snidely remarks towards Mr. Geary during the presentation?  … Scott Danks is the attorney for both Mr. Geary and Mr. Weaver alike?

IS IT TRUE that Covance Clinical Development Services has announced plans to close its Evansville laboratory?…the closing is slated to begin with layoffs on approximately July 24th?…There will be more than 100 local people who will be losing their jobs as a result of this shut down?…that is just the beginning because there were many more than 100 people who supplemented their income by participating in the paid studies conducted by Covance?…several people derived their entire income by volunteering for the paid human trials at Covance with some individuals claiming to earn over $40,000 per year?…it is unknown to the CCO whether or not the stipends paid for volunteering were taxable or not?…at any rate it was possible to be a human test specimen and earn more by doing so than the average Evansville employee earns from working a job?…Covance did not state a reason for the closure and made it clear that the affected employees do not have any bumping rights and there is no collective bargaining agreement in place?…the Covance website says the Evansville lab is a clinical research facility and conducts medical research studies on healthy people and those with chronic conditions, including cholesterol, diabetes, and obesity?…one would think that such a place would prosper in Evansville as there are a multitude of people in town who would qualify under these requirements?

IS IT TRUE the multi-use area known as The Promenade has recently brought a couple of businesses into its park?…after many news releases about medical facilities, upscale residential properties, and even a Nordstrom’s, the couple of businesses to actually locate there is a Burger King and Zaxby’s?  … the Promenade is located on prime real estate  development property located on the progressive Eastside of Evansville?

IS IT TRUE one upscale store that will not be coming to The Promenade or anywhere else in Evansville will be the latest casualty of the retail meltdown?…that is the upscale “Bebe’ which just announced that all of their stores will be closed?…the dead retail list just keeps expanding and the last place that anyone should be putting their 401k today is into a mall development?

IS IT TRUE another local leader of things which seek success at the Ford Center has tendered his resignation and is heading out of town.?…Evansville Sports Corporation Executive Director Jason Sands has left his job in Evansville and headed deep in the heart of Fort Worth, Texas for a similar position?…Bob Warren and the staff at the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau will manage the position until a new director is hired?…according to Warren they are about to get busy to hire a replacement?…in all fairness Mr. Sands must have been pretty darn good to get the NCAA Division 2 Basketball Elite Eight to sign a four year deal with a location that can’t get 1,000 people to a conference tournament with a home town team in the tourney?

FOOTNOTE: Todays “Readers Poll” question is:  Are you pleased that City Councilman Justin Elpers requested that the Manager of the Ford Center update Council on the current status of the Thunderbolt hockey team?

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23 COMMENTS

  1. this idea that its ok to lie and make promises you have no intention of ever keeping has filtered all the way from the trump white house to evansville governing sad immoral leadership

    • Trump has been keeping his campaign promises,at least as many as he can get passed ,,he has done more then the last 4

    • Now, that is a moronic post, verylittleofalawyer. That anyone with a brain would attribute at any level the decline of leadership in Evansville to the Trump or any other administration in D.C. could only mean you are new to this world. Frank McDonald’s closing off of Main St. from the rest of the city was the beginning of the end for Evansville’s future growth and Jonathan Weinzapfel’s Foist-on-the-Taxpayers Center was the last nail. Lloyd Jr. never had a chance to accomplish anything because of the Dem council and both parties’ moral corruption put Winnecke in office to preside over the burial. When there is no longer a difference between the local parties, the blame lays at the feet of the citizens. Period.

  2. This idea has been in Evansville politics long before Mr. Trump arrived.
    For the most part, the quality of our local politicians has degraded over the past 20 years. When you have a slew of realtors and banking execs on the city and council boards, you know you are in trouble.

      • He worked for Old National at one time so he was a double-whammy; banker/lawyer. At Old National it was rumored he was in charge of putting his feet up on his desk and tilting back in his chair.

  3. Evansville leaders were doing this sort of thing before President Trump was born.

  5. I’m surprized the Courier & Press doesn’t have one of it’s crack interns doing an in-depth research project on the financial wing-dings between the City, the Ford Center management, and the Thunderdolts.
    Oh, wait a minute. Etheridge is out of town at another seminar. Looks like the interns will have to make do with an assignment to pimp Main Street or the Notlrth Main Street project.

  6. More phenominal growth announced for Evansville. Evansville is getting 6, count ’em, 6 new Dunkin Donuts stores. Owned and developed by an out-of-town investor (whose ethnicity we won’t mention), this major investment in our community will bring additional high paying jobs with benefits to our local beleaguered economy.

    • Didn’t donut bank run them out of town twice. Don’t you get a free green card or visa if you invest $500,000 in America.

      • That was Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Donuts that have had their ass handed to the by the Donut Bank. Why buy from a chain when local is better?

  7. The question of the day is about a dumb as the answers given by the Manager of the Ford Center. Elpers is trying to make like he is smarter than the rest of the council, but it backfired on him. All he got was a bunch of gibberish that no one could sort out, and what he got was exactly the same as Russ Lloyd presents to the council, a tap dance! Where is Hargis? She is afraid to open her mouth. She should drop the CPA behind her name

  8. Seems that the most profitable thing the Ford center could do would to not do anything. No teams, no shows, no games would seem to be the least costly option.

    • Put the arena on the market and see if there is any interest. Even if it means a significant reduction in what the city thinks the facility is worth, selling it would be the smart move. This is what happens when you have a one party dynasty running things. Weinzapfel and 8 out of 9 city council members bowed to the establishment and guaranteed the implementation of the arena project in order to see the local business community through the great recession, with the taxpayers picking up the tab.

    • When they gave Winnecke his first gold painted shovel he took it to heart and dug. And dug… They tried to tell him it was for turning one shovel full of trucked in sand but he just kept digging. Still is. He’s half way to China and will return with plans for a great river wall. It will protect us from Henderson and Owensboro and further endear him to Skanska. Those 2 cities seem to always be a step ahead of us, therefore they will pay for the wall. Any whispers by his underlings about benefits of scale brought by regionalism will be met with dismissal.

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