IS IT TRUE October 16, 2012

1. When is the City Council going to ask Ms. Collins about the Utility accounting records?

   I am disgusted that she is making $81k a year! She doesn’t know anything about anything. If she did, why did she have to hire Harding and Umbaugh. I am sure that the City can get a qualified CPA for this price and they won’t have to spend hundreds of thousands to get consultants to do their job.

   If you have to dumb down a system for the users to get it, why don’t they get rid of the dummies who refuse change?

   • So why do you think she let Weinzapfel hide behind her skirt until last night and why did Weaver work so hard to keep that from being said.

     • Loyalty……. 🙂

       It’s a cover up plain and simple, maybe it’s just the accounting snafu maybe it’s something to do with the arena, maybe it’s 8 years of graft and corruption, but a cover up is and has been going on. Look at the events leading up to the last election where hard line Democrats crossed over to put a Republican in office that alone should give a clue.

       Now we have a “quid pro quo” situation where Whinecke is repaying the support by keeping everything buried, Russ Lloyd is the point man digging a whole to bury what has came to the surface. Everyone else involved or who owes political favors is running interference….think about Mr Mills and his motivation?

       As it is it looks like the city council is just going to roll over as always, the pressure I’m sure is immense to move forward…you know “move along, nothing to see here”….what is left is just the show for the public, and posturing to keep the pecking order in place.

       But it is JMHO

       • I think the word being used this year to avoid responsibility is FORWARD.

       • We need the audit that the SBOA tried to do but couldn’t on the 6 years of contracts between the City of Evansville and SM&G, 2006 to 2011 inclusive.

         I do not give a damn what type of forensics it takes to reconstruct what went on there, if the SBOA does not get to the bottom of this they have failed to perform their duties!

         Just imagine! Six years without any audits or any reviews!

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2. IU Medical School campus at Roberts Stadium? I would like to see a link to this story. Please send that link to the city council and the mayor’s office as well.

   Side note: Does it appear to anyone that the amount raised at the recent auction of Robert’s items was a paltry amount? That another auctioneer might have done a better job of getting higher bids? That the auctioneer selected for this sale has won the C&P popularity contest known as “20 under 40”? Just sayin’.

   • http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/oct/15/no-headline—medicalschool/

   • I reckon someone could buy the place at auction for $10 and sit on it for a year before donating it to IU and get a big write off for his trouble.

3. Let’s not forget that the two largest hospitals in the area are still in Vanderburgh County. That being said, your idea of the IU Med School location being at the developing Warrick Wellness Trail at Epworth/Lloyd Expressway is very insightful.

4. Every now and then you just have to take a day and recharge:

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_popout&v=nr9KrqN_lIg

   Turn up the sound and enjoy!

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5. Why not just GIVE the property to IU? Surely they will welcome the gift. Chancellor has donated much to the cancer certer, he has a lot of clout with the state, he needs to be involved. The city has way too much property off the books already, we won’t be getting taxes on this but any students brought here will be spending $$$$$. Skip the mayor, no kick-back available, go strait to SBR. She has more balls than wienie anyway. This is news, again scooped by the CCO , will be decaded before the c/p hears of this.

   • I like the idea of giving the property to IU, heck for that matter lets use the soon to be appropriated monies to demolish the building, let Rudolph have the asphalt for free, then donate the land to IU, the 900k we would have invested would come back 100’s of times over, not to mention the boom to the local medical community.

     If the property is a fit for IU I’m all for it, beats a $8M dog and pony park any day of the week.

     JMHO

     • Yes, and like Joe said the property could be developed into a park-like setting that the public could get benefit from too. The city could add this as a stipulation in exchange for donating the land. I know I get a lot of benefit from USI’s campus and the USI/Burdette walking/biking trail.

   • You don’t just GIVE away property… That is a recipe for corruption. Why does IU deserve it any more than anyone else?

     The most transparent and fair thing to do is hold an auction, invite everyone you think might be interested and let them place bids in a fair way. Even if it brings $0.01 and the only bidder who shows up is IU, at least you did it fairly with a notice of public auction.

     This is what needs to be done with any and all surplus public land.

     • Brad…..

       I do agree with you, but it’s not going to happen, if you watched the council meeting last night they had their setup and Mr Mills drove the administration’s point home. Orchestrated or not the fix is in, Roberts will be coming down after the first of the year or sooner, all that is lacking is a formal vote on putting the money back in to demolish it.

       So…..we have a few choices left in my mind.

       1. Auction the land off to the highest bidder with stipulations on usage.

       2. Spend $8m on yet another park to benefit a small segment of the citizens of Evansville.

       3. Spend $20M on a multi-field ball park that the EVCB has been pushing for.

       4. Let the cleared lot sit vacant and return it to nature.

       5. Donate the land to something worthwhile.

       There may be other options that I’m unaware of?

       Bottom line for me is I’m looking for a ROI, selling the property would have the possibility of creating an ROI based on what is built on the property, any use of taxpayers money to me would not give a adequate ROI because we all know how projections have a tendency to be way over stated and anything run by any government identity never produces a measurable ROI.

       But….a collage, especially a medical collage I see lots of benefits for everyone from a-z. We must also accept the fact that the fix is in, the council will move forward and the building will come down, I must say that after Mr Mills presentation I was convinced not by what he said but more the reaction by the city council to Mr Mills.

       Once the lot is cleared we’ll see the push to either spend $8M or $20M plus the added burden of maintenance and up-keep all passed along to the taxpayers. So….as I stated if the property is a fit for IU from a taxpayer’s point of view I’d gladly give it to them for the preceded ROI over the next 10-20 years.

       As always it is JMHO

       • I agree the fix is in and in all likelihood demolition will occur soon, but that isn’t going to be the end of the story. As you pointed out, there will be plenty of options after that; however, if the demolition goes forward, that $1 MILLION spent on demolition will have been wasted. That money will likely not be recovered in a sale. In other words, demolition will add no value to the plot, and it could actually diminish the number of potential interested bidders.

         It is still my understanding that a formal vote has not occurred to provide demolition funding, so it’s still not too late for the Council to avoid looking like idiots.

         Here’s what I’d like to know…who invited Mr. Mills to speak? And who thought he would have an impartial opinion in the matter?

         Either the Council are trying to cover their asses or Winnecke and Co. are throwing the kitchen sink at them to get them to budge and they are buying it.

         The fact of the matter is, a commercial real estate agent has every incentive to see Roberts Stadium demolished and something other than a commercial enterprise placed there. It would represent direct competition to him in the commercial real estate market.

         • Agreed….I’m not so sure about the impartial part though.

           It’s a odd bunch who are civic minded enough to appear in front of the city council to testify without being prodded to do so. It’s admirable in a lot of ways but I’m not gullible enough to believe that Mr Mills was not prompted to appear by someone with an agenda.

           I also agree that the city council still has time to avoid looking like fools but I’m not to optimistic of that happening either. What I saw last night was the beginning of a power struggle between factions on the council they converted one (Mosby) to the demolition side and at the next vote I expect to see a couple holdouts with common sense vote no…but I’d think the promise of political favors to convert the needed votes to 7-2 or 6-3 in favor of demolition.

           Again it’s JMHO

       • Also, I understand your thinking in terms of return on investment, but I disagree with giving away property. That’s just not a fair way to conduct business, no matter the projected benefits. The only fair way to do it is to set a date for auction far enough in advance for potential bidders to survey and make plans and proposals to their people, advertise the auction in a fair medium, invite any specific desired bidders to inspect the property and decide if there is potential for them.

         If we demand integrity in the process, we should also demand the process maintain an openness and transparency that is devoid of any potential for cronyism. The prospect of giving land away, whatever the perceived long term benefits, is an approach ripe for cronyism to flourish.

         Look at it another way… If IU came and got outbid, there would be a great chance that whoever outbid them had plans that would be equally beneficial to the area in other ways.

         • So you are OK with selling to the highest bidder over giving it to IU if the highest bidder was Curt John (or someone like him) and the winning bid was $1? Then the winning bidder turns around and sells it to IU or some strip mall developer for a huge profit?

         • Absolutely, why not?

           The lesson there in your hypothetical example is that IU should have shown up at the auction instead of waiting and they would have gotten it cheaper.

           The property is just a commodity. Once it’s off the government books, absolutely a capital investor should have every right to make a profit as he sees fit. If that involves a resale, he will likely be waiting a while in this economy to see a profit. I don’t suspect you will see bidders like that at an auction for that property, but if no one else shows up, he might get a bargain. That’s the beauty of a free market…and thank God for it!

           The reality is, your hypothetical just wouldn’t happen. A well publicized auction would bring the bidders in and get the maximum dollar figure the property is worth in its current state without improvements, which is the whole point of an auction.

       • Sorry to flood you with responses, but you left out one clear option, which I find most desirable and would maximize the land’s value at auction, that is to auction it off publicly with NO stipulations on usage.

         • LOL….no problem. 🙂

           True….although ideally the property should have been auctioned off before gutting the facility, that seems calculated to me with the intent of crippling the facility and limiting the potential buyers/uses.

           ———————

           I was told awhile back that the reason for the huge push to demolish Roberts had to do with using TIFF monies to pay the bonds, that there was like a no-facility-compete clause somewhere, it seemed a little odd to me so I’ve never mentioned it, but the person who told me this said Roberts would be in violation of that clause so it has to go. Might be just BS, I have no idea.

           JMHO

6. Do you know that all the city council’s discussion, last week and again last night, about the City of Evansville financial affairs, including the State Board of Accts. audit and the botched implementation of the accounting software that took place in committee, and not during a full council hearing? That because all discussion took place during a finance committee meeting, or in the case of last night, during a “special meeting” by the finance committee, THERE WILL BE NO TRANSCRIBED MINUTES published online for the public to read?

   Do you know that if you do not have an opportunity to view these two most informative and critical finance committee get togethers on WNIN, that you will have to depend upon the local news media or a freedoms of information request to obtain the story in full? That committee hearings and special get togethers by the Evansville City Council are used to discuss critical and controversial matters, yet full transcripts of what is said are very difficult and expensive to obtain?

   Did you know that’s the way it’s done traditionally by the city council but not by county government whose meetings are transcribed in full and published online? That merger of city and county governments would result in the same method of burying critical and controversial discussions of government doings, limiting the public’s discovery and knowledge of such doings to a few WNIN veiwings, sketchy newspaper accounts, and biased blogs?

   • City Council meetings are rerun on Channel 9 on Tuesdays at 8 p.m.; Fridays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 4 p.m. Therefore you have three opportunities to see the Monday night meetings if you can’t tune in on Mondays.

7. I wonder if Cory Mills testified as to whether Roberts Stadium would sell for at least $0.01 in an open auction… Because that’s all it would really need to bring to save the taxpayers MILLIONS.

   He could talk about the commercial realty market until he’s blue in the face, but that doesn’t address what this particular property might bring in an auction. I’m sure Mr. Mills is a smart individual and knows his market and profession well, but the reality is, you don’t know who will show up and bid at an auction until you hold the damn thing.

   • Do you know that Mr. Mills works for a land development corporation that developed several professional and business parks, one of which is within spitting distance of St. Mary’s Hospital and has vacant land suitable to compete for the UE Medical campus?

     • No, but that pretty much sits with what I said yesterday about a realtor not wanting competition in the land market.

8. “My sense is that Roberts doesn’t have enough land, and I’m not sure how the neighbors would feel,” Winnecke said.

   Our mayor really is a stand-up comic!

   Let’s see, should Robert’s be considered as a site for this medical school, what would be the upside? 1. STATE FUNDING. IU is a state institution, right? 2. JOBS for local contractors in making ready the facility and MORE JOBS after the school is fully functioning. 3. Improved HEALTH and WELLNESS for the community.
   Downside? The neighbors might not like it. Really? I think the mayor doesn’t like this idea because there is no plum for him to pick as a result of Robert’s sale and use by the IU Medical School.

   • This is hilarious.

     What “sense” was he using to make that determination? ESP?

     “Not sure how the neighbors would feel”? I can’t imagine they’d have much complaint with ANYTHING on that site short of a nuclear waste dump. I don’t think anything could really be more imposing or annoying than a Stadium with loud concerts and floods of traffic pouring onto the streets. That said, you will never satisfy 100% of the people 100% of the time. I’m sure I could go up and down Boeke and find some cat person who hates the idea of a dog park.

9. Curt John is not gonna buy Roberts at any price. Most likely Frank Peterlin or George from the Acropolis, or Kunkel are the vultures that would show up for an auction with $50 in their pocket.

10. Corey Mills analysis was pretty thorough to have been done for free. Wonder who recruited him and sponsored the work. He reminded me of the folks that spoke on behalf of the arena when Weinzapfel asked them to pack the rooms.

11. Hello, we have a park just across from the Lloyd with a health care facility–State Hospital. So why not another eduaction-health care facility on the Roberts property?

    • Awesome idea! Show up at the auction and buy the property and build one.

12. It appeared at last night’s city council meeting that president Connie Robinson was mortified that the city’s code enforcement dept. had not sought more money in the budget for condemnations. It seems that she was very anxious to tear down more homes in the city and to keep up the pace they have set for the past several years.

    Of course, whether you are dealing with absentee landlords who have the property rented out or owner occupied dwellings, you are still putting someone on the street when you destroy these homes.

    Before you go off on a tear about how bad these places are and the like, I would like to ask why the same devotion has not been given to substandard commercial property?

    Within rock throwing distance of the Civic Center we have the old Swanson & Nunn Electric Co. building that has been sitting there unmolested while this residential removal program has been going full steam ahead. That is just one commercial property, but there are many more throughout the city. Why the laser focus on residential?

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13. tea anyone, how did you discover a nearby health care facility in a park like setting, without first forming an appointed diverse bipartisan blue ribbon advisory panel to process information from highly compensated out-of-town expert consultants?

    • She did form a blue ribbon committee. It’s comprised of Tea Anyone, Civic Center Mole, Sad But True, The Blogger, Enough Is Enough, City Watch, Equal Treatment, Like It Or Not, and a select few others.

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