IS IT TRUE December 8, 2014

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IS IT TRUE with the cat out of the bag about the Evansville Police Department being in such a dire financial condition that oil changes for police cruisers are officially deferred until they are affordable, can we please put a freeze on all capital projects and bonding until routine vehicle maintenance can be reinstated?…it is hard to even take a City to pursue $90 Million in immediate capital spending while place a necessary moratorium on routine vehicle maintenance for police cars as even remotely close to being serious people?…anyone who would prioritize a $20 Million gift to a hotel developer, another $57 Million handout to a medical school, $13 Million for bike lanes, dog parks, skateboard palaces, and other fun and games projects over oil changes for police cars needs to schedule some time with a psychiatrist?…maybe the best thing that this administration could invest in is a weekend retreat for the Mayor, his staff, and the City Council with Dave Ramsey?…this convoluted web of spending desires coupled with deferred maintenance on every thing from the sewers to oil changes is fodder for late night comedy?

IS IT TRUE we have been advised now by several members of the MOLE NATION including one in the Civic Center that Vectren will be the next downtown property to appeal their assessment?…there will be many more to follow as it appears that most recent market based sales downtown have been for prices per square foot more associated with tents and moving boxes than with office buildings?…Mayor Winnecke is on record as stating that the hotel and the medical school will certainly bring in enough business to cover their notes and raise the TIF collections?…he says that in the same disclosure that the hotel will only raise $600,000 per year which will not even pay for half of its own bond debt?…these positions are not only inconsistent they are incompatible with having an understanding of elementary school arithmetic?…it is time to stop the madness and cancel the hotel and the medical school project?…Evansville’s spending binge on the Ford Center and Johnson Controls have put this city into a position that police cars are deferring oil changes and the monkeys running this zoo can’t even grasp the gravity of the situation?…if the City of Evansville went on Shark Tank for an investment all five sharks would laugh and say “I’m out?”

IS IT TRUE the IU Medical School had other options and it is time for the Downtown proposal to be withdrawn?…the economic impact on SW Indiana by the med school with be the same whether it is downtown, at USI, on the Eastside, or in Warrick County?…it is time to let one of the other less expensive proposals have the medical school because Evansville can afford oil changes?…in the long run that is the best solution?…we must remember that if we had not rushed into the Ford Center project with fantasy land financial projections and visions of sugar plum downtown development magically appearing, we could have had the medical school downtown?…we could have even afforded the hotel but the projections do not support the need for it?…former Mayor Weinzapfel and his minions put Evansville ALL IN on the Ford Center and it just isn’t performing as it was sold to us that it would?…if the Ford Center numbers had been right, the other projects would have been affordable, but alas it did not and it will not?

IS IT TRUE perhaps it is possible and less risky to move forward with the analysis to see if IU Medical School downtown without a hotel is something that the City of Evansville can actually handle?…the reality is the hotel will not perform well because conventions are going the way of the buggy whip, and because downtown Evansville is not and will not be (Tropicana being the exception) tourist destination?…it is time for that part of the fantasy to be put to rest?..the lot at the corner of MLK & Walnut can serve as an inexpensive park where medical students can sit on park benches and read?…the best maker of recycled park benches in the United States is Evansville’s own Green Tree Plastics that would love an order for their products from the old hometown?

IS IT TRUEit is time for a dose of reality and an ounce of courage in city government?…such things have been missing for 60 years and it shows?…when one wonders why Old National would choose to appeal their assessment at this time after having lived with it since the building was opened, the obvious answer is that the tax abatement period has played itself out and it is just now profitable to appeal the assessment?…it makes no difference if a property is over assessed if the taxes are abated?

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22 COMMENTS

  1. Is it true that Dave Ramsey always tell one to get rid of unnecessary liability?
    Is it true that Dave Ramsey would have the city to invest in several D-12 Bull Dozers and tear down any and all improvements made downtown since the first settlers?
    Is it true that Dave Ramsey would suggest to sow grass over the new “dog park”?
    Is it true the last expense would be a tombstone be placed in the new park that reads “Evansville, Born 1812, Died 2015”?

  2. Why does the cp constantly refer to the doubletree as Hilton doubletree? It’s not a hilton. It’s a sub brand like Hampton.In fact Doubletrees are 99.9% of the time a rebrand and never a new build. Will the cp start referring to the Hamptons in towns as Hilton’s too?

    • There is no explanation for that business, which ceased to operate as a real newspaper years ago, but continues to try to pose as one.

  3. When John Kish was introduced as the Project Manager for the Downtown Arena construction, his first sound bite was “The Arena will be cash flow positive on day one”.

    I believe he is now living in Argentina under an assumed name. Could someone track him down for a revised comment ?

  4. “…. can we please put a freeze on all capital projects and bonding until routine vehicle maintenance can be reinstated?” (CCO)

    Sounds like a trailer for the next episode of American Greed.

      • Very telling set of facts on the official record.

        Sale Price 12/21/2006: $69,366,525

        Assessed Value 2012 taxes: $54,128,500 with taxes of $1,635,582

        Assessed Value 2013 taxes: $31,907,600 with taxes of $1,014,273 but there is a tax abatement on record of $1,936,757 that would wipe out all of the taxes and more.

        So, may we assume that the construction of the Ford Center helped to devalue the ONB headquarters by $37,458,925? If that is the case just how is it that our elected officials can claim with a straight face that fun and games spending increases property values and commerce?

        This negates the arguments for the hotel and medical school.

        By the way to have won the appeal, ONB had to convince the assessor’s office that the true market value based on either comps, construction value, or cash flow was only $31.9 Million. Comps on such a building are scarce and construction was much higher so it must be based on some multiple of rents.

        This does not bode well for an appraisal for the hotel. If the ONB headquarters is only worth $31.9 Million, how can a hotel with higher risks and more uncertainty appraise at the $36 Million or so that will be needed to secure the loans?

        • The owners of the ONB building, ONB One Main Landlord LLC, whomever they may be (wink wink, nod nod), leased the building back to ONB on a “triple net lease”.

          Triple Net Lease

          [taxation burden]:

          Local laws and customs also may affect leases. For example, because triple-net tenants are responsible for real estate taxes, including any future increases, a unique situation developed in California with “Proposition 13” in 1978. It established a new base tax amount of 1 percent of the then value and limited tax increases to 2 percent each year until the property sold. Upon sale, taxes would be recalculated to 1 percent of the new purchase price. This formula, combined with soaring real estate values, meant that tenants were faced with wild leaps in rental rates due solely to changes of ownership, which in no way benefited the tenant.

          Today tenants and landlords still are hamstrung over this issue. Tenants generally agree to an allowance for pass-throughs of increases except in the event of a sale. Owners reject these lease provisions, correctly noting that the impact on the net income to a future buyer results in a reduced market value of the real estate.

  6. Evansville didn’t get this way overnight. The current mob has managed to exacerbate the situation to the point you have to wonder how smart they are. Big, unnecessary capital projects are fodder for corruption. That explains part of it. Sure looks like their plan was to get in, gut the town/line their pockets, and motor to better climes. Or as Zorro told his son, ‘get in, make your Z and get out’. That explains some of the other parts of it.

    Look at the people running the local government, starting with Lloyd Winnecke. A city like Evansville couldn’t do better than that ⁇

    Stop the medical school, send it where it naturally belongs, to Warrick by Gateway, we can’t afford it. Stop the unneeded hotel, if that hasn’t already naturally occurred. Stop lying to the people, it is taking on pathological aspects. Start fixing the sewers. And … change the oil in the damn police cars.

    • If we look at the people who really run the local government, we need to start with Carol McClintock, who runs things through her trophy husband, LW. When you take a look at our “First Lady” through that prism, it takes away a lot of blurriness about the big time real estate transactions in Old Downtown. I do have to hand it to her for being a realist. She knows that she is unelectable, but hubby is a good surrogate and would likely be the one to go to jail for the wheeling and dealing. She also immediately identified the “weak links” in the City Council chain and swooped in and bought them. If Carol used her skills for good, not evil, Evansville would be getting on track.
      Does anybody know where things stand on the foreclosure of Meridian Plaza? I expect someone to get a tremendous bargain on that investment, and I expect the person who gets it to be “connected.”
      I am in total agreement with you on the Med School, hotel, oil changes, and the sewers, Bandana!

      • “Trophy husband” ? What kind of warped contest did Carol enter ?

        Does the 2nd place finisher get two (2) LW’s as husbands ?

  7. Could this oil change business be another political move by that piece of trash Billy Bolin? A way to demonize the council for not adding to his budget?

    • We need to purchase a system called OilSpotter (TM), which acoustically senses oil changes as they are occurring . . . . .

      • OilSpotterâ„¢, that’s funny.
        They are using too much Astroglide on the populace and not enough 10W-30 on the police cars.

    • Wasn’t one of his first orders of business to get the take home vehicle program back to what it was before the previous chief cut it back?

  8. BREAKING NEWS:

    John Friend was just interviewed by Brad Byrd, and Friend said that he had found $ 10 Oil Changes on the Dark Internet ! EPD is back in business !

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