Evansburg, In.
Have you ever wondered why most cities with Evansville’s population size in the fifties continued to grow and prosper, while we struggle to stay ahead of Owensboro, Kentucky!
Well, it is too painful to go into, the lost of industry and jobs, so let’s just stick to the two local arena stories. Hank Roberts built a stadium on the growing East side, which ultimately seated 12,500 and with acres of adjacent parking. The Roberts design had four entrances and 75% of the exterior accommodated exits.
Our city then builds a downtown arena which has a questionable amount of seating, perhaps up to 10,000. The arena has only one front entrance. If there is a plan to vacate they building in an emergency, it has not been shared with the public. Presently, everyone will rush to the front, and the fittest will make it out! Fortunately, most of the handicapped people have already questioned their demise. Limited parking will be a blessing to them!
Now, comes the other part. The city leaders sell the public on an arena with an attached hotel, we even leave one side of the arena, the Southside, blank for the hotel attachment. The “rubber stamp” city council approves the plan. Then we learn that the old hotel is about to collapse due to age, and the plan is discarded. We, are then told by convention experts that the city needs a 400 to 500 room hotel to accommodate conventions, arena and Centre events.
So, after months of planning and delays, we now have a new hotel plan. And just like the old arena plans, the facility to seat 12,500 sinks to 10,000 and just like the former Executive Inn with 500 rooms, the new plan now shrinks to possibly 230 rooms (Courier article 1-26-13.) Unlike Owensboro, Kentucky, this city never aims high on anything. It seems like everything they plan is scaled back, even before a spade hits the ground.
This city needs to sharpen its blade!
I know this is going to be like talking to the wall but the plans for the Arena always included a new hotel; there was to be a skywalk between the hotel and the arena and also the Centre. When Weinzapfel was talking about the plans for the arena; this was something he talked about. Now, the plan was to build the arena first and the hotel second.
As far as exits for the arena during an emergency, there are numerous exits and entrances on the arena. There are more than on Roberts. Drive around the arena and look at the metal doors. That is what they are, exits.
The parking and leaving is a lot better at the Ford center. You don’t have to wait in line for an hour to leave out of one exit.
PPPSSSSTTTTT!!!!!!! Roberts Stadium is a hole in the ground now and soon to be a dirt spot with grass seed. Get over it and deal with LIFE MOVE ON! Crying about the Ford Center or Roberts or closing of MAin St in 1970’s will NOT change anything other than what i have to read if you keep writing about it. Seriously people, live with it, because Roberts is gone and the Ford Center has taken it’s place and not going to be moved, torn down or closed. You can believe these as truth.
No one is or has ever suggested we can turn back the clock, but forgetting the glaring mistakes of the past is a surefire way we will only keep repeating them in the future. Furthermore, while it is true Roberts Stadium is now a hole in the ground, the proposed dog park that might well replace it has yet to be built, which surely you will agree, keeps it squarely within the realm of political fair game.
I only hope fewer citizens of this area share your narrow mentality of “let’s just forget about past mistakes”, which can only assure we never improve our current approach of throwing exorbitant amounts of money at any problem that arises in half-baked plans which champion government force over trust in free market solutions.
Brad,
There is a difference between learning from our mistakes and repeatedly crying over them. I 100% agree we should learn from our mistakes and if the time warrents a change from them then fine, but that train left the station a year ago with Roberts Stadium when this plan was set in motion.
To look at articles here and to hear people say or type over and over and over articles starting with sentences such as, oh we tore down one of the seven wonders, or in the good ol days when Elvis played, will never compare the same at ____ (insert any ridiculous name the people here call the Ford Center, The John, Edsel etc). All the glory days and wishing will not bring it back, or will it bring Elvis back.
My simple request is to understand why can people not look forward now that the inevitible has happened. The difference between learning from mistakes and dwelling on the past.
I tell you what, the city will remember this “mistake” and learn from it when it comes time to build the replacement for The Ford Center. Good enough, lesson learned, now we can move on. That will be learning from this. Sorry we will be gone by then.
I didn’t see anywhere in the article talking about the dog park. I never referenced this, but since you took the opportunity to throw it in out of left field, I will respond by saying one thing about it, if you think the final design will be a dog park I have some quality dry ground south of I1-64 to sell ya. Watch and see this will change, it always does on projects like this. For the good or the bad they always change. To use your words look at history to learn.
So as you see, my beliefs are not as you have twisted in your last paragraph. I have no ax to grind like most people here. As sombody who Moved here 20 plus years ago, i am just curious to my question of looking forward and not back in the City of Evansville, but it may be one of those unanswerable questions like why people fight over East vs. Westside. Another topic I find ridiculous for another day. Now then if you can sensibly answer my single question without going into the political deep weeds I would welcome the forethought. Have a great night!
The ball diamonds are looking better and better.
Bill, thanks for the article and keep them coming. I enjoy reading them as they always hit the nail on the head. We have a long way to go to get to the 2015 mayoral election but we will get there as long as we have residents like you keeping the truth about this noble lie alive.
The mayor hates it when his plans hit the media. I’ll never forget the phone call I received from him the day after the page 13 fiasco hit the C&P. I wonder if he gave that same type of phone call to those who put that page in the report?
To this day, he still hasn’t proven that the general conclusions page of his own task force’s report was indeed a general conclusion of the task force( http://rememberrobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2013/01/will-winnecke-ever-prove-that-page-13.html) He had time to visit not one but two bmx facilities (which was being pushed by one of his “friends”) but he hasn’t told us one single thing that he did to research the expo and midsized arena plans which were cheaper, more flexible, and benefited the most ideas not to mention were the best source of tourism.
Did he talk with SMG/Venuworks? Did he get the value of naming rights to the gates like he said he would? Did he talk with the teams who were interested in the facility? Did he contact the ECVB to try to use the Innkeepers Tax funds? Did he speak with Kathy Bracher from FEMA in D.C about what it would take to designate the facility a disaster relief area and/or if funds could be obtained for it to help with renovations?
I’ll forget when Winnecke comes clean about how he handled this pathetic task force. This idea that I should just forget about the mayor completely using me in an effort to give credibility to a task force that was a complete waste of time is absurd. And the people who feel this way are the same people who spent less than a second trying to put together a solution to how to make Roberts function with the FC.
And I would also like to add that I find it to be completely pathetic for John Friend to come on here and defend his position on multiple other issues but dodge every question I’ve asked him about Roberts and why he voted for demo funds. As it stands right now, he is probably going to be the next mayor, and it just makes me sick to think about the fact that the city has to go through 3 more years of Winnecke before going through at least 4 years of what appears to be Winnecke Lite.
These people want you to forget Bill because they know they screwed up big time. Never Forget!
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