IS IT TRUE April 10, 2014

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Mole #??
Mole #??

IS IT TRUE the Civic Center Moles tell us that Mayor Winnecke is fighting like the dickens right to the end to do his best to get the IU Medical School to choose downtown Evansville as it’s favored location at the announcement tomorrow?…the Mayor cast his lot with downtown from the beginning and has stuck with it?…if nothing else Mayor Winnecke has certainly been persistent in his pursuit of the IU Medical School for the downtown?…we trust that the Mayor realizes that win, lose, or draw for the downtown location, Evansville and the entire metro will benefit greatly from this medical school?…we hope that there are no hard feelings period on Friday regardless of which location is chosen?…each site has its merits including the downtown but the CCO reader’s poll that was up last week is predicting that the Warrick County site will be chosen for its proximity to teaching beds, abundant apartment complexes, low crime rate, and working infrastructure?…we will all know in about 36 hours?

IS IT TRUE in sort of a surprise, Mayor Winnecke told another news outlet that there will have to be changes made to the downtown convention hotel design if the IU Medical School does indeed choose a downtown location?…that is an odd and inconsistent revelation coming from a guy who just a few days ago was lampooning John Dunn of Dunn Hospitality of costing Evansville a convention by requesting a market study from the Hilton organization that will cause an 80 day delay?…a design change will cause more of a delay than 80 days just by not having the permitting process initialized?…maybe Dunn Hospitality saved the Mayor’s bacon and gave him a straw man to rage against as opposed to announcing a delay due to not applying for a franchise on time or proving loan approval, which according to the Mayor’s own words cannot have happened by the March 31, 2014 contractual deadline?…the powers that be will by definition be forced to officially extend a deadline for this hotel AGAIN, and they won’t even know how much until the news about the IU Medical School is announced?…the flying circus on MLK continues to amaze anyone outside of the fishbowl?

IS IT TRUE the audit of the City of Evansville should be released tomorrow so the CCO published the 2011 audit today with excerpts of the findings so our readers can compare notes when the 2012 audit is released a full 15.5 months after the audit period has lapsed?…such a delay is necessarily a reflection on the haphazard accounting practices of the City of Evansville going back well into the Weinzapfel administration?…one would think that the people of this town would deserve more than uncertainty and mismanagement by local elected officials?

IS IT TRUE we hear that the County officials are considering tapping into the reserve accounts to do a little road repair?…a little is indeed the right word for only $500,000 of government spending?…we trust that if the reserves are tapped that there is a valid prevention based justification to do so?…this winter did indeed create a rainy day moment for the 2014 budgets when it comes to road repairs and we are lucky there is a rainy day fund to tap to do this work?…we hope the County Council will advise us as to how they plan to replenish that rainy day fund so there will be one the next time mother nature slaps Evansville upside the head?

IS IT TRUE the Facebook page that was established to defame John Dunn continues to struggle with getting anyone to like it?…as of this writing there were still not 40 people who are willing to put their names and faces on the line to sanction this asinine stunt?…we are encouraged that only a handful of hardcore entitlement minded people willing to sanction hate for a private businessman who has filled the coffers of Evansville charities and employ Evansville people for his entire career are not getting any traction?…from the looks of our comment section left wing democrats, right wind republicans, and nearly everyone in between supports Mr. Dunn’s actions?…the CCO agrees and hopes these Komrads learn a harsh lesson from the failure of their little Marxist rant?

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64 COMMENTS

  1. IMPACTION
    A blockage across N Main St called the Civic Center,
    adjacent to an obstruction called the Ford Center,
    occluded by a medical center larger than the available space.

    TREATMENT/PREVENTION
    Chew ideas before swallowing

      • The Civic Center itself might even have a future as a nightspot, if it wasn’t located where it is and so architecturally insignificant.

        • EKB: That is actually called the “Brutalist” architecture,it was popular during that era, we’ve guessed,now, it just looks outta place,given the other building styles on Main. Why they chose that mess, still doesn’t make sense,let alone smack dab in the throughput commerce,good grief. My Grandfather from there always said the Civic Center plan that was more or less a big roundabout might have served both purposes. He was a retail store guy though,what did he know about it,He was retired by then anyway.
          Put something else up first,its being moderated,I suppose if they do put that up look at the building from the UK,that’s on the worlds ugliest buildings list,as well. Seems We’ve seen something like that one before also.

          • Bandana: That might be, What Grandfather was referring to, looks like what he used to say wouldn’t have killed the Main street retail throughput.
            He said between the concrete palace,and the malls with free parking it was finished down there on Main street. The merchants downtown also wanted”em to build parking garages like every other metro in did in their downtown’s. They didn’t. He used to say the politicians got the %/per/yd concrete deals, the campaign donation’ll’s,got the four lanes to the Malls and their houses.

            He always said “that didn’t do much for downtown,unless,they were trying to raise pigeons,funny,however,in a couple of ways, they have.”
            Another one of his ideas was back when they built up the levee system after the “37” flood his thought was to build up waterworks road elevated from HWY,41 merged with riverside,and through downtown to Wabash. Connect it to Wabash to where the Lloyd is now “all on top of the levee” having a pigeon creek bridge incorporated in that as well. Exits at Walnut,Main Fulton. The Veterans parkway is a close thought,his conception was flood protection and throughput access all together in the mid 20th levee work the Feds did after the floods, We guess.
            Bring’em in town with a look at that pretty bend,and give’m access right up the business corridor to the north. Meah, he was Biased I guess. He also thought Stringtown and old Petersburgh road should have been cleared up for straight access downtown coming in too, He’d say what would you think coming in,HWY 41,and that mess,or the nice looking approach from the county in down stringtown. Its not the same today,its all sporting ugly after a certain point,however, and the roads are all beat up to. Although,Clearly, one could visualize what he was saying.

            Here’s the building from the UK rated as on of the ugliest in the world and the Brutalist article in wiki.

            http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02239/ugly9_2239655i.jpg

            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brutalist_architecture

          • Good article on that architecture. When you mentioned ‘brutalist’ the other day I kept meaning to investigate and must have (kept) forgetting. Our Civic Center sure fits the bill. After it rose from a lump of concrete ugly façades began to cover the unique old main street store and office fronts. Then came the canopies.

            Certain considerations have to be accounted for in city planning. Nevertheless, I think including people unschooled in the matter but with workable ideas should be included from the earliest stages of projects that will affect the city for decades and they should actually be listened to. Sounds like your grandfather had some good ideas.

          • Meant to include this from the Wiki article in my reply. Near the part about the ugly façades and canopies:

            ‘Brutalist appears at its most brutal when placed in a historic context such as next to a listed building or within a conservation area’.

  2. Is It True that the last time I checked the anti Dunn Facebook page the one and only commentor was Missy Mosby. Has anyone other than myself noticed how quite Missy Mosby and her pet dufus Weaver have become as of recent?

  3. Someone help me out here . . .

    If the Downtown gets the IU Medical School, why in the world would the City continue on the path of providing a $ 20 Million subsidy to a developer ? I just “visited” IU Hospital-North (in Carmel, just North of Indy), and there were numerous hotels around that facility/ and I’ll bet there was $ 0 subsidy for any of them–private developers knowing they can make a lot of money built those hotels.

    The Mayor has Ziemer attorney Pat Shoulders on the IU Board of Trustees, so there is at least a chance that Downtown gets the Med School. If it goes there, City Council needs to yank the $ 20 Million subsidy.

    • No kidding. The other thing that frosts my ass is the fact that Winnecke confesses that the hotel will need to have design changes if the med school chooses downtown. Did they not even think they had a chance? My bet is that the design isn’t even started yet. And these effing idiots are blaming the Dunn’s for the latest delay. HCW makes Kunkel look like geniuses.

      • If the hotel needs design changes if that happens then there is zero reason why the school should chose downtown.

      • Careful Doctor–with your last sentence. It will take much more than HCW to make Kunkel smarter. Kunkel needs to stay at a Holdiay Inn Express, if you get my drift.

      • ‘Did they not even think…?’

        Asked and answered. Self evident. That says it all.

        I’d expect HCW, whether or not they are affiliated with the Haney mob, to be scouring the shelters for another set of ‘bankers’ to point to. You’ve got to have them and the sand ready to go in the unlikely event another city administration as gullible ours groundhogs up.

  4. Completely off subject, but have actual attendance numbers been released for the Elite 8 tourney? A friend, who’s a basketball junky, told me one session he went to only had about 800 fans. I probably missed the article with the numbers.

  5. Winnecke has spoken DERP we must fight like the dickens for the downtown location(even if it is the poorest choice)! I believe the other locations are just better sites for the school.

  6. We need a mayor who can be flexible, one who thinks before he speaks and knows how to choose advisors, who doesn’t harden into positions that make him look and sound foolish. He’ll fight like the dickens but what’s he ever win? We need flexibility without the wishy-washy ineffectuality of a flake. He has courted enough lawsuits to hold us a while.

    A Warrick siting could tell us a bit about what the IU Trustees think of Evansville politics. Winnecke is hoping like the dickens they pick downtown. It’ll deflect attention from the apparent lack of funding for the hotel and the other lies told regarding that outright debacle. I don’t think there is a big enough shoehorn to fit a medical school into downtown Evansville. A little redesign of the illusory hotel will buy time but redesigned or not it doesn’t look like our partners from Branson are going to be building it. And they said the funding was in place. It probably is and is staying there.

    • I agree, putting the school downtown is like putting it in a shoe box. Traffic downtown sucks and would be that more ugly with it there. Don’t be to surprised should IU choose a different site to “all of a sudden” have “new” issues to deal with. I think the political tendrils of this administration, the Three Stooges and KeyStone Cops antics runs deep and not constrained to the city.

      • I think tomorrow will tell the tale of how strong the tendrils to Indy are. Pat Shoulders is but one example of the politically “connected” IU trustees. If the downtown site is chosen, it will be clear to most of us that the McDaniels/Pence mob is paying respect to the Weinzapfel/Winnecke family.
        I cling to the hope that Winky-Dink’s failure to march in the demanded lock-step with the Gov’s office on the marriage equality and tax cut issues has made him lose favor in the halls of Indy.
        I really have trouble imagining that politics will not play some role in the choice, because this is Indiana and politics trumps intelligence, logic, and decency.

  7. This if off-topic, but I think it deserves some notice. The fire at Sugarmill Creek last night was amazing. I hadn’t heard so many sirens since the night the Aces plane went down.
    It seems there is no “fire-brake” in the attics of those apartments. Hasn’t that been “code” since before they were built? At any rate, I think that’s something renters should have to be made aware of. Maybe we need an ordinance about such things having to be disclosed.

    • Is it off topic to reply to an off topic? Didn’t think so.
      ~~~
      That surprised me too, to read those firewalls weren’t included in the design.

      Cecil Neville was there to watch part of his family’s business go up in smoke. That easy money from Res-Care came with a cost. I’ll bet he wishes those things would have been built to keep fires contained as much as possible. It seems they weren’t.

      They’ve arrested the lady who started it. There’ll be a lot of grandstanding but there won’t be much they can do to her, she was supposed to be under 24 hour supervison. They will try to lay most of the blame on the poorly paid Res-Care staff who likely did nothing wrong unless she snored, snorted or sniped.

      Some of the above is just conjecture. I reserve the right to disavow everything I just wrote as the actual facts come out.

      • The people who work in the “supervised living” settings are usually very good, very responsible workers. The ones that aren’t don’t usually come back after their first day of training.
        The ratio of one staff person to three residents makes it impossible for all the residents to be supervised all of the time. I doubt the staffer could sleep, because someone usually needs something. Meals, laundry, cleaning, baths, meds and the like pretty much take up their time. I hope this staff person isn’t fired, but they likely will be. It’s a hard job with little money. My hat is off to most staff people in such jobs!

        • I think there were 10-12 disabled people displaced (some probably in apartments adjacent to the one that was lit) by the fire. I don’t think that one staff person was responsible for all of them but not sure of those details. You are right, whoever was working last night could be fired. It is often Res-Care’s ‘plan of correction’. I too respect the people who work in that field.
          ~~~
          Sounds like the staff person did her job and has a case if Res-Care tries to make her the scapegoat.
          http://www.tristatehomepage.com/media/lib/190/0/6/a/06a4f9d0-5103-45d7-939a-4bf7e716e6d9/MichelleHershbergAffidavit.PDF

          • No, they aren’t. There is one staff person and three residents per apartment, as a rule. Sometimes it is fewer residents, and some special cases are 1:1.

      • I’ve known the Nevilles since I was a little kid. My father worked at Bucyrus-Erie with Cecil’s grandfather, Cecil “Red” Neville. They are one enterprising lot of people. The younger Cecil’s parents lived upstairs over their grocery at Pollack and Green River. He started helping in the store when he was about 10.

        • He runs at least one of their properties now. He’s told me a couple of times that he’s from ‘the grocery side’ (of the family businesses). Not a bad guy.

    • That attic firewall safety code issue is something,I’d a thought that to.
      Wasn’t there a fire at a location on Belmeade ave. awhile back where that happened,as well?
      Makes you wonder about the loft redo’s downtown,surely that’s covered with the building systems in place .
      I need to look that up,now,that I’m wondering.

      • Even if firestops were in place and properly installed, they are only as good as their current integrity. Settling can cause cracks and separation in the drywall used for this purpose, remodels and ongoing construction can result in holes being punched through them (to run additional pipe, duct, or wiring), etc. Every compromise reduces their effectiveness.

        There was a large fire at the Fairlawn apartments 6 or 7 years ago, and the exact same thing happened. The fire started in one apartment and traveled into the common attic space through duct and pipe chases. Ended up burning the entire roof off one building. Tactics can be problematic in an attic fire – – roofs do a very good job of keeping water out (until the fire burns through and you have a hole to direct water into), and it’s damn dangerous to operate handlines under an attic that’s completely engulfed in flames (very high potential for ceiling collapse and firefighter injury). A roof ‘trench cut’ can be used to try and isolate the fire, but you have a pretty limited time to implement this tactic, and it can be dangerous in and of itself (you’re kind of guessing where the fire is and isn’t and then putting firefighters on a burning roof hoping you picked the correct spot!).

        Sometimes the best you can do is confine the fire to the building of origin, and sometimes you can’t even do that.

        • DB: What You are pointing out is just what we’ve believed about some older buildings we’ve scanned for purchase,OR,environmental assessment’s for living,rental,and applied business concepts.(improvements forward)

          Ones healthy living environment,as you well know,must meet certain standards. Sometimes a building neighbor has other situations going on that endangers those confined in the same conditioned atmospheres.(Que) Dangerous drugs(meth labs) and other,chemical,or environmental antigens. (proactive solutions life qualities regional’s)

          Codes should be met through a viable inspection standardization,on commercial buildings. The punch outs/accesses you refer to should be an disqualifier,flat out fail,until repaired and reinspected. (Metro fire safety balance)

          A simple handheld cross bleed pressure/leak rate sensor using a common control aromatic should show detectable specified rates,by some units already available. (Equipment)
          What we’re developing is an certified elemental analytic system that shows this from outside the structure by observing all overhead aspects of intake/outflow in micron units of pressures and PPM/particulates. The Fire inspectors vehicle would be equipped with a hand held. (evolved process development)

          “preventative accountability[diaphaneitas pro libratum*]rentals”

          “preventative transparency accountability for balanced rentals”

          • I’m not a fire inspector, but I’m picking up what you’re laying down. Attempting to determine breaks in fire barriers through this method could work, but it only identifies such breaks at the time of purchase. Breaks that are caused after the fact (either accidentally or intentionally) go unnoticed unless reinspections occur or a fire breaks out…

            Want to know the real way to stop these types of fires? Attic (and in quarters) residential sprinkler systems, tied to an alarm system. Maybe add automatic roof vents that pop open when heat in the attic reaches a certain level or in-attic smoke detectors activate. A sprinkler head flowing a few gallons per minute would have stopped the fire at Sugar Mill cold, limiting damage to one area of one apartment.

            Many professional fire service organizations have been fighting for these code upgrades for years, with the resultant (and expected) backlash from those in construction industry.

  8. I’m getting really tired of these “design changes” every time the public is sold on a good design. This same thing happened with the museum. He’s basically given away two things.

    1. The reason why this horrible lot has been chosen for the IUMS bid is specifically to prop up his terrible hotel project. If it weren’t for that, we’d probably be getting a much better plan, like the area north of the METS terminal.

    2. This hotel will look nothing at all like the initial renderings. By my count, there’s been three different renderings already. And each time, the design gets worse and worse. I liked the 2nd rendering because it had a touch of the Exec in it, but the first one was the best and from there it’s been all down hill. You shouldn’t be allowed to show these stunning renderings only to scale them down after approval.

    • It will probably wind up with a red roof, like the others in the chain, if it happens at all. I’m not holding my breath for a Hilton. Much of the time, people travelling for medical reasons find it necessary to have a clean, adequate place to stay, instead of living it up at a “convention hotel.”

      • Yeah that’s basically the way the hotel industry is going for whatever reason. I personally don’t understand how owensboro has gained so much momentum by tearing down the rivermont and replacing it with a Hampton and a Holiday Inn, but they sure have got things going in a much better and different direction than here.

        • Second hand information was that property taxes county wide was funding downtown Owensboro. Same source said taxes had soar for this. Don’t have any web site info backing for this though!

          • Spending county wide money on an urban core is the correct thing to do. All cities of all sizes from owensboro to okc to NYC have shown this success. And that’s mainly why the city as a whole is successful.
            Also they are transparent. The way they are handling their marina project by showing three proposals and letting the city decide is a thing of beauty. Can you name the four finalist lots for the iums project? Did you see all five proposals for the hotel? Of course not.

            But my main question is how do you tear down an iconic hotel with a wide array of interior development, replace it with two run of the mill hotels, and actually be successful at it? I think the only answer is that they got out of the hotel as entertainment business and divided it up as hotel and convention center.

    • I think they have orders from above to “zip it.” Wayne’s endorsement is the “kiss of death”, IMO. As for Phyllip the Phoenix, he’s just Wayne the Weenie’s follower.

      • At this point that may not be a bad idea. This is why I speak out against group think and conformity as much as I do. It can throw you pretty far off track. One day you’ll be fixing a community roof, the next you’re going to all ends of the earth to protect the machine, it’s cliche, and it’s in crowd.

        • Oh, at least! More likely, it changes with the surroundings, like a bunch of feathered chameleons.

  10. I’m anxious for this announcement so we don’t have the same retreaded article every day.

    • Me too, ghost. I’m going to get all of my errands done early, so I can curl up in front of my computer with a big bottle of Valium and watch the excitement unfold.

  12. Well well well……….. you old farts lost. Have fun keeping up with the drivel CCO puts out. Downtown is back.

    • Well well well, if you know for certain before the trustee vote then the vote was rigged. No winners or losers yet Andrew. Actually there are not losers no matter what happens. If you think this will revive downtown you are as delusional as Winnecke was in claiming a 253 room hotel will create 800 permanent jobs. NO EFFING WAY JOSE’.

        • What I said is if at 9 am on the day of a noon vote, you know the answer ahead of time, then the vote is rigged and already leaked. If you are just speculating then whatever. No harm no foul. There is plenty of speculating going on.

    • So are you Phoenix.

      That med school might well go downtown but it’s not the kind of information you’d be privy to ahead of time. They like to keep these things close to the vest, blabbermouths cause land prices to go up. Hang in there Phyllip.

  13. Channel 14 reporting IU Prez recommends Downtown–altho this is not the Trustees Published decision yet, it does indicate
    “The Fix is in”. –Silly Me I don’t know why I thought it would be any different.

    • Crash, Whats the update on the infrastructure cost to do that “effectively” for those who this “affects”.
      That’s the only question we’ve had from the start.
      Pretty “clear” its not the best cost to the taxpayers located downtown. The metro issues need addressed where the gateways are incoming,that’s been the fail on development downtown form the start of the revitalization forward.
      Poor economic conditions are due the lack of revenues,that’s not going to address the main issue downtown whatsoever. Overall commerce will,and you need improved throughput,and viable infrastructures to accomplish that,every thing else is just expensive timing fluff.

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