IS IT TRUE January 4, 2013

17

The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE January 4, 2013

IS IT TRUE that Mole #33 is telling us that Mayor Winnecke has gone hat in hand down to the Evansville Convention and Visitors Board (ECVB) president Bob Warren to beg for some spare change to secure funding for two walk bridges that will be needed to go along with the future convention hotel?…there is already a bridge to nowhere that could serve as an approach for an Olympic diving board into the sinkhole/pool/pond that is in the unfenced lot across from the Centre right now?…one of the needed bridges could be doing some bailing wire and duct tape patchwork to get that walk bridge into pedestrian shape once again?…the building slated for that lot is a storage building that SHOULD HAVE BEEN PART OF THE FORD CENTER PROJECT?…the duct tape bridge would go from the Centre to the Storage Shed?…another bridge will be needed as well to connect the new convention hotel (assuming there will ever be one) to the Ford Center, the Centre, and the Storage Shed?…the funds targeted by Mayor Winnecke to do all of this bridge work are none other than the Innkeepers taxes that were at one time slated to build $20 Million ball fields?

IS IT TRUE that Casino Aztar just completed a new walk bridge that spans Riverside Drive so that people at Le Merigot or the District can safely and dryly proceed to the Casino and back?…this bridge has been reported to have cost over $3 Million?…this was Aztar’s private investment to stimulate their other private investments in Evansville’s entertainment industry including two hotels?…Aztar also pays the City of Evansville in the area of $10 Million per year in “Riverboat taxes”?…that there are other innkeepers in Evansville who are conscripted into collecting the Innkeeper’s tax and handing it over to the ECVB who are not on the preferred list of downtown developers?…Aztar and the other Evansville based innkeepers are being gouged into collecting tax money and delivering it to local government and its surrogates and that very local government is plotting to appropriate these funds in enterprises that compete with Aztar and the other innkeepers?…this is sneaky, this is legal, but people THIS IS NOT ETHICAL?…we should all ask ourselves if we were treated this way as citizens whether or not this would be tolerated?…the CCO predicts that at some point in the future there will be consequences to be paid by Mayor Winnecke, the ECVB, and by any member of the City Council that support this scheme financially?

IS IT TRUE that Mole #5 and a few other well placed Moles confirm that Mayor Winnecke alone has made his choice from the three proposals to build a downtown convention hotel?…we have it on further authority that the CHOSEN ONE has a marquee property in Branson, Missouri and that the Mayor is frantically organizing a trip to Branson with a posse of elected officials to look the place over?…this is part of the due diligence process but we wonder how the Mayor could have made his choice without making any visits?…the pending Branson trip does not seem to be for VETTING purposes at all if the choice has already been made?…if the choice is made then this is a SELLING trip and should be treated as such?

IS IT TRUE that there is also money in the City of Evansville budget for a trip to Evansville’s sister city in Germany?…before proceeding with this trip any elected official taking part needs to review the trip reports from sister city visits to Germany and Japan in the past?…if something real, tangible, and beneficial has come from the dozens of trips overseas that Mayors and Council members have taken in the past then such a trip may have merit?…if the dozens of previous trips to chug beer with the Burgermeister have not produced any real economic benefit, then such trips need to be suspended until a real business opportunity is defined?

IS IT TRUE Mole #16 tells us that the Department of Metropolitan Development is up to its sneaky trick of denying members of the Evansville City Council access to material financial information?…holding material information away from the people who have been elected to fund the city is not appropriate and should not be tolerated?…the CCO will cooperated with any and all members of the Evansville City Council to beat material information out of the DMD by the use of the Freedom of Information Act as deemed appropriate?…the new guy who head that department had better take notice of the consequences of being obstinate to his partners in government?

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17 COMMENTS

  1. Wow, What a kick a– IIT post in todays CCO.

    Why don’t the Courier print any of this information?

    It is obvious that this is the Mayor first term and last term as Mayor of Evansville.

    John Friend for Mayor!

    • So, your okay with a Finance Chair who championed and voted for a budget with pork for Germany trips, but nothing about the $55+million dollar sewer upgrades needed, no idea how much money was in City accounts, no audit of the Ford Center, and whose response was to hire a friend (no relation?) to do his job of investigating said City account balances? Really?

  2. “Is it true…….Aztar also pays the City of Evansville in the area of $10 Million per year in Riverboat taxes?” (CCO)

    * * * * * * * * *

    How much money does AZTAR remove from the community annually?

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    • A good bit more than that I expect, but it is all voluntary. Aztar makes its money without forcing anyone to go there.

        • I have never heard of any documented case where smoking tobacco was good for you and do know people who have had net winnings from gambling. That said, both of these things can be addictive and can lead to problems when done in excess. I know I did not explicitly answer your question but I think the answer is not the same for each and every person.

          • I just have to wonder what the City of Evansville’s position would be on smoking in public or commercially owned spaces if the city was receiving a designated amount of revenue for every cigarette consumed in those spaces.

            Smoking is voluntary and losing at the gambling casino is voluntary, and yet government only desires to engage in the banning of one of those.

            Money talks and BSW.

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  3. Vetting: 2. To subject to thorough examination or evaluation:

    A trip to examine prior to closing a deal is vetting. It is entirely possible that the vetting trip will uncover facts that change a decision. But we know the COO will criticize the action no matter how it happens.

    • Sorry, I do not agree that a trip to see a hotel, be wined and dined and shown all the glitz and glitter is VETTING. Suggest you re-read the article posted by CCO Jan 1 “Public-Private Partnerships: A Strategy to Minimize Public Subsidies By Hans Detlefsen Jan 11, 2012 This article discusses why the cost of capital available to developers influences whether they will……..” A trip like this is only window dressing to sell the public on a vison of grandeur.

  4. from today’s Drudge Report:

    Senator Dianne Feinstein,

    I will not register my weapons should this bill be passed, as I do not believe it is the government’s right to know what I own. Nor do I think it prudent to tell you what I own so that it may be taken from me by a group of people who enjoy armed protection yet decry me having the same a crime.

    You ma’am have overstepped a line that is not your domain. I am a Marine Corps Veteran of 8 years, and I will not have some woman who proclaims the evil of an inanimate object, yet carries one, tell me I may not have one.

    I am not your subject. I am the man who keeps you free. I am not your servant. I am the person whom you serve. I am not your peasant. I am the flesh and blood of America.

    I am the man who fought for my country. I am the man who learned. I am an American. You will not tell me that I must register my semi-automatic AR-15 because of the actions of some evil man.

    I will not be disarmed to suit the fear that has been established by the media and your misinformation campaign against the American public.

    We, the people, deserve better than you.

    Respectfully Submitted,

    Joshua Boston

    Cpl, United States Marine Corps

    2004-2012

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  5. Evansville,–With it’s track record of governance, could qualify as a “Funny Farm”,–but, nothing is ever “Funny’, except the way it’s Rulers conduct “business”.

  6. Has anyone meet the new Director of DMD?

    What a piece of work.

    I hear City Council members aren’t impressed with him.

    However, what do one expect in any hires decided by the Mayor.

    Enough said.

  7. Man, we get on here and argue about what Evansville needs and what we should do an we ignore the main problem.

    Evansville needs women. Hot women. Good looking women. Even decent looking women.

    There will be no progress for this city unless we, somehow, convince good looking women to consider at least staying here for awhile.

    When was the last time you saw two attractive women walk into any business?

    I am not saying that there are no good looking women here but,seriously, when have you seen a plethora?

    Even a majority?

    This is a civic undertaking, a responsibility, we should form a committee tasked with the finding of, and the retention of good looking women in Evansville.

    The bars and restaurants will flourish.
    I will be a happy guy.
    Its a win-win !
    Lets go for it!

    Evansville Needs Women !

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