IS IT TRUE November 29, 2012

13

The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE November 29, 2012

IS IT TRUE today we start off by thanking and honoring a great citizen of Evansville who passed from this earth yesterday after a long illness that didn’t always keep her down as it would have many others?…Marjorie (Marge) Soyugenc worked brilliantly and tirelessly for many years to make Evansville a better place?…her service as an innovator, a board member and in general as a person who could get things done will make Marge irreplaceable in this community?…Evansville and many other communities need a group of people with the spirit and competence that Marge exhibited?…this guy could go on for several pages with real stories about her positive actions and influence?…the CCO simply wishes to thank Marge and challenge others to live such an excellent life?

IS IT TRUE that two winning Powerball tickets were sold last night that are worth over $300 Million each?…given the fact that tax rates on the “evil” rich are about to increase and tax rates on investment income are likely to see dramatic increases there are advice columns all over the news world today advising the winners to take the lump sum right now, pay the 2012 tax rates to the United States and even consider moving out of the country to avoid future tax increases and confiscation schemes like the big hikes in inheritance tax?…just because the big check will say $300 Million does not mean they will get $300 Million?…the pre tax lump sum payout according to multiple websites is about 65% of the marquee number or $195 Million for a smiling $300 Million winner?…at today’s highest federal, state, and local tax rates on our “evil” rich of right at 50% that would mean the smiling $300 Million winner would actually cash a check for $97.5 Million when every taxing authority took their bite and enforced their rules?…that is less than 1/3 of the headline number?…if that smiling winner dies after the first of January and passes this unearned windfall to their heirs they will only be passing about $40 Million (13.3% of headline) on to their heirs?…with the authority to run a racket like this it makes one’s head spin at how any government could be in a bind for money?…weren’t all of these lotteries sold to us to make our schools solvent forever?…it looks like government pulled the wool over our eyes on this one too?

IS IT TRUE the CCO would suggest that the big winners take their winnings over 30 years, stay in the USA, and do not worry about tax rates?…statistically speaking a large number of lottery winners find themselves on the dole after having done their time in evil rich pergatory?…only by keeping that money out of their own hands would a future on the dole be removed from the world of possibilities?…the USA is becoming a better and better place to be on the dole so just pay your taxes, sit on the couch, and keep that reality TV blaring?

IS IT TRUE it is now widely asserted by people in the City of Evansville government that we “NEED” a hotel in downtown Evansville to make the Centre, Ford Center, and the Victory Theatre profitable?…Roberts Stadium was profitable and successful with no hotel close to it?…the Centre and the Victory Theatre consistently lost money with the 600 room Executive Inn right there next to them?…that was true before the Executive Inn fell into disrepair?…the Executive Inn even lost money and changed hands many times without financial success?…it is a foregone conclusion that without a substantial incentive ($20+ Million) from the City of Evansville there will be no private investor come forward to make the kind of investment needed ($50 Million or so) to construct and operate a convention hotel in downtown Evansville?…we are now told as we were with every other money losing public works project in downtown Evansville that “THIS WILL MAKE PRIVATE INVESTMENT FLOCK TO TOWN”?…when the Executive Inn was thriving there were about 30 storefronts empty downtown, when the Executive Inn was demolished there were about 30 storefronts empty downtown, so we wonder why anyone would think that a new hotel half the size of the Executive Inn with storefronts of its own will be any different?

IS IT TRUE what we really wonder is when the delusion that just one more brick and mortar project will revitalize downtown Evansville as a retail center will come face to face with the reality that bricks and mortar are not the winning lottery ticket to success?…we guess after squandering taxpayer money on a hotel that someone else will own the next step will be for the City of Evansville to subsidize restaurants, clothing stores, bars, and nick-nack shacks to “revitalize” the downtown?…the truth of the matter is that Evansville is a one-mall-town and always has been?…that is unlikely to change no matter how much taxpayer money is spent on downtown dreaming?

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13 COMMENTS

  1. I would like to see your proof that Roberts Stadium was profitable.

    Also, I think that the vacant store fronts in Downtown Evansville are more a reflection of those in business not seeing opportunities and acting on them.

  4. I use the fast food service survey as my method for assessing a community’s worth as an expansion market for commercial and industrial growth.

    What you do is go to the prospective town, drive up to the order board in several different national fast food chains, and see what kind of greeting and customer service you get out of the staff. After all, the national chains all have training programs, right? So,the greetings and service should be fairly uniform throughout the chain, right? And fast food chains should be representative of the available base workforce for retail and factories, I think.

    Okay, in Evansville, when is the last time you were greeted with a “welcome to McDonald’s. How can I help you today?” Or something similar in any of the fast food drive-thru order boards?

    Mostly what you’re gonna get is some mumbled, unintelligible squawk, grunt, or groan that indicates either “I’d rather be anywhere but at work,” or “what the hell caused you to chose this store anyway … I’m busy texting my BFF right now.”

    It ain’t like that in Austin, Nashville … you name any growing market. Try it out sometime.

  5. The Total Amount that has been poured out trying to make a silk purse out of Old Downtown has been staggering! The ongoing mind-set that prevails in Evansville’s Cryonicly Suspended Political Egos, (the Elitests that considerer themselves as “Chosen Ones” to lead Old Downtown to Glory), has had them pillaging the Public Treasury for long enough to suggest, it’s cost to the Taxpayers is running Residents(and potential Residents)off,–not attracting them.

  6. I am disgusted every day that I go into work at the Civic Center and I see Jenny and Rumplebeancounter still on the City payroll. It must be nice to not do your job and get paid double than most of the other City employees.

    They say that they are reconciled but they haven’t have independent eyes look at their crap for months now. If John Friend was such a great CPA then why would not reconciling be an issue for about two years? That and why would he waste his time being on the City Council? He must have people doing the work for him at his CPA firm.

  7. We should all remember that Roberts Stadium carried the Victory and other Park Department expenses. It kept other venues in Evansville afloat and now it has been allowed to become an expense itself just to have it razed.

  8. If the downtown hotel was such a great deal, then why hasn’t Ward Shaw at Casino Aztar or John and David Dunn jumped all over this project?

    Maybe they know that this project will not only become a long term tax drain on the taxpayers of this community but also not a profitable venture.

    • I’d say it’s your last phrase……”also not a profitable venture” ONB and Dunn would have been all over the deal if there was a glimmer of profit to be had, there isn’t in fact it’s a terrible risk with little chance for a ROI in the picture.

      I’m guessin’ that the three proposals that are on the table that the companies that made the proposals haven’t done the “due diligence” and have listened to some smoke and mirror show provided by the DMD, ERC, and the visitors bureau….or they are looking for a hefty tax write off that they can dump back on the taxpayers/city in a few years.

      Either way it’ll be interesting to see the contract language if the deal goes through and how much protection is built in it to protect the taxpayers…think Earthcare.

      JMHO

  9. “IS IT TRUE what we really wonder is when the delusion that just one more brick and mortar project will revitalize downtown Evansville as a retail center will come face to face with the reality that bricks and mortar are not the winning lottery ticket to success?…we guess after squandering taxpayer money on a hotel that someone else will own the next step will be for the City of Evansville to subsidize restaurants, clothing stores, bars, and nick-nack shacks to “revitalize” the downtown?…the truth of the matter is that Evansville is a one-mall-town and always has been?…that is unlikely to change no matter how much taxpayer money is spent on downtown dreaming?”

    ——————–

    What they do not understand is that it isn’t the money, no amount of money spent will bring people downtown to live and shop, it will require population, and a heck of a lot of it.

    Here’s my point of view…..to live in the downtown requires a different type of person, most folks IMHO want more than a loft apartment or a old home that some bureaucrat is going to tell you what you can and can’t do with it. In my mind there are a small group of folks that want to live in that type of scenario (downtown), most folks either want a traditional home in a good neighborhood that gives them enough room to raise their family or live comfortably with costs/expenses that fit in their budget. The other majority want to live in the county with the benefits of larger lots, more space between them and their neighbors, more possibilities less intrusion.

    Liveing downtown to me requires people who do not fit in either of the two majority groups I mentioned above, I can’t/won’t define the type of person(s) but by and large they do not fit in with the majority of home owners or renters, so to truly repopulate downtown which would bring the businesses back to the area Evansville’s population would have to grow to the point that we had the necessary types of people who wanted that lifestyle and could afford to see it through.

    Normal everyday average folks do not want to live downtown…..which is why every scheme that has been used in the last 20 years hasn’t brought people back. Ponder this, if the civic center and Aztar were not in place in their current locations what would the downtown look like? how many people do you think would ever go downtown? When it comes to Evansville’s downtown the old adage of “If You Build It….They Will Come” doesn’t work and will never work until the appropriate population who wants that lifestyle exists in our community, no amount of money will draw everyday common folks to live downtown because it just doesn’t fit with the life or lifestyle they want for themselves and their families.

    JMHO

    • You make a good point Blanger. When it is said that Evansville is “a good place to raise a family” that defines the two major groups you describe. But because those two major groups make up 98% of Evansville’s population, the variety is not here to hold the youth who seek to learn what life can offer. Hence all of the young folks leaving town which is referred to so often in these blogs. Larger cities do offer diversity that even the local colleges do not do so well at providing.

      This doesn’t mean that our downtown can’t work. It just won’t work like other city centers. We need to find our own niche and that has to happen over time and not be forced with bad ideas. Evansville’s downtown should probably have been left to die completely and allowed to be reborn on its own terms. And that rebirth would have attracted the people that would naturally sustain it.

      A sad side commentary about your statement is that the “98% regular” group just reinforces it’s own rut and is not inspired or challenged very often. It is great to see that an undercurrent of jazzed and purposed ideas, people, and activities are still capable of surfacing in Evansville with likes of Marge Soyugenc, our first rate libraries, Frog Follies, Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley, Jordan Baer, KEB, Winnecke’s litter campaign, Shriner activities and many many others who have graced the pages of the CCO and the C&P. And many that have gone unheralded. These are many helping hands, large and small, that form the true fiber of a good community. They are more apparent this time of year but their presence year-round gives me hope that all the wrangling and fault-finding that are done on these pages will be resolved in a positive way. And honestly, if all of you look long and hard inside yourselves do you not find more hope than despair?

      • Unfortunately the young people we need to stay are the ones that leave. The bad eggs that make meth and live on the dole will never leave. If this is such a great place to raise a family then why did all of my kids leave and never look back?

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