Open Forum Holiday Weekend-December 27 and 28 2014

1. Another homicide in Evansville at 2:15 AM Saturday morning (12/27) at Walnut & Kentucky. Two men shooting at each other. The winner still at-large.

   • Walnut @ Kentucky Avenue shooting: remember the proposed Shotspotter technology ? This is a heavily populated area, I’m sure there were plenty of 911 calls the second the shooting started. When the leo’s finally got there, they found some evidence: the dead guy and a bunch of shell casings, apparently. Not sure how the Shotspotter would have helped ? Courier and Press said “Central Dispatch” sent the squad cars out, 911 calls the source ?

     My condolences to the family . . . this was someone’s son.

2. Hilarious article in C&P this morning (sunday).

   The City Administration claims they’ve gotten phone calls from potential investors in the Hotel project since its demise was announced last week. Can we see that list please ?

   Also, Councilman Adams is pissed because he claims that, after Council approved $ 20 Million in subsidy, they were never told that there were any strings attached to the ONB $ 14 Million investment.

   Adams also said he would ” not spend one more dime” on the Hotel until he was certain that “the real motor for economic development–the Medical School” was a sure-thing. Sounds to me like what we have here is a failure to communicate ?

   • Prediction:

     Winnecke will launch another round of Hotel (Round 5) negotiations in Spring 2015, but it will purely be so that he has something “in the works” when the Election happens in November 2015. Expect another groundbreaking, this one right before the election (mid-October 2015 sounds about right). Hope they saved those golden shovels from Round 4 !

     • Prediction:
       Winnecke will change parties and run as a democrat. He’ll claim that he has evolved and decided to come out of the closet and admit he is a liberal. There’ll be a democrat primary between Riecken and Winnecke and the winner will run against a real conservative republican who will win. Gail ran against Rick Borhees and lost in the primaries and Rick lost to the bean counter. This will be confusing for the rank and file union members because the leadership will have to unconfused them. Who has been the most supportive to unions? Democrat Winnecke or democrat Reicken?

   • When you’re a mark, conmen will keep calling. You’ll have that.

   • Maybe they’ve been getting prank calls from drunks, or Haynie may have switched to the hotel business. I’ve always heard that a con artist is the easiest person to scam, so Winnie the Lying Poop should be pretty easy to take for another ride.
     I think the cabal that owns him is shocked at the idea that there will actually be a contest for Mayor this year. I think Parke and pals thought they had killed the Democratic party for a decade. They may want to re-think the idea of another sand turning for the election. It will remind the public of his lies.

     • Larry Aiken killed the democrat party in 1998. Under his leadership the democrat party lost the most successful politician Evansville has had for 40 years, McDonald Jr. When the democrat party launched a campaign for Ellsworth over Art Gann their decline started. McDonald was honest, above reproach and respected by all, both democrats and republicans. The gaming industry stated he was the only mayor they couldn’t buy. Democrats loved him and I heard a republican claim he was the best republican mayor this city ever had.

       • When old Frank was in office, I must say that I was one of his strongest critics. I apology for my shortcomings. He simply kept the training running on time and the only project that gave me issue was the Victory Theater. The city did not advance much during his tenure but the cash reserve increased to nearly 50 million dollars. He believed that the boat would be here a short time and we should not spend each and every dinner of that revenue. So, enters Russ lloyd, Jr. like his father before him believed that every dollar should be put to use and those cash reserves disappeared over night. When Mike Vandeveer took office in 1980 360 city employees both safety and non-safety received furloughs one half of the street lights were turned off. When Weinzapfel took office he requested an emergency loan from the utility department to make the ends meet. So in comparison Frank, Jr. was the most republican of any democrat this city ever had but Winnecke is the most democrat of any republican this city ever has had the misfortunate to be governed well ahead of Lloyd, Sr or Jr…somewhere lies Mr. Weinzapfel but still trails the three democrat-like republicans.

   • Why is there so much confusion simply review the minute of that particular city council meeting held back in September of 2013. What did Mr. Jones actually say. Run the tapes Bernard.

3. Too many shootings in this town.

4. That price for the CP at the Dollar stores is true and has been for some time. People buy it for the Sunday ads.
   ~~~
   When the willful failed mayor cranks up another attempt to build a hotel in his beloved downtown, we should look with much skepticism on any developer who would do business with him. There will be another push to essentially have the public fund a large part of it and someone else own it. If it’s needed private money will be brought to bear and it’ll get built. Let’s wait until then, in the meantime we must take care that Winnecke is not able to pack the city council to his liking.

   Reasons not yet invented will be invoked in the service of transferring public money to the construction of another downtown hotel. They have already trotted out the medical school and conventions as justifications to build it. Hotels are closing in Evansville, that should tell people something about the need for more rooms. The convention business in general is dying, that too is ignored without comment. Despite the mayor’s spin, the medical school is unfunded and iffy. None of their rationales are persuasive but onward they forge.

   Not another dime to this failed administration, let’s see what the next mayor can do. We should insist Winnecke show us a credible plan for dealing with the EPA sewer mandate before he gets another public nickel to spend.

   • If anybody got a nickel from that mess it was the revenue base, and that was an oaken one for sure..

     If you had a council worth their salt they’d trash that deal next week, start from scratch with some straight forward valuation and vetting. Hold the revenue bases 20 million, that’s a given. IU needs to do the same, hold up and rethink the logistical valuation due by a such a medical satellite campus deal, use that funding where it really makes sense for the whole of southwestern Indiana.

     And a site that has better logistical accesses with viable utilities new in, for open ended growth and less lead, and blades flying around in the ambient.
     Students need to learn the trauma support in the program, not with self preservation in play on the way to a emergency room.

     Man, you can’t make this stuff up.
     As for that (circa 1972) clean water act sewer mandate, they’d might as well consider their fined and due, after all that flim flam’in around down there in that old evansville downtown mess.

     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hEm6LiU3rw

5. Doc Adams is correct. The value of the naming rights were NEVER tied to the agreement. They were given as a thank you for their civic commitment by County. Now the County has hocked The Centre again and encumbered it with bond payments for the third time. What becomes of that hotel money?
   Another bouncing ball a mole should be watching? Does anyone know if there is a contract that was signed by BOB and the County outlining the agreement for naming rights? I believe I remember that being approved at a public meeting. What have they been receiving as part of that agreement for a year FREE?

6. Does the C & P set the price that a store must sell it’s paper at? I doubt it. I imagine the store is charged ‘X’ dollars per copy, and they can sell it at whatever price they want. I might be wrong on that.

   Still, having the above information bolded like there is some kind of conspiracy (or not-so-secret delight that perhaps the C & P is in financial trouble) is kind of a juvenile attempt at ‘stirring the pot’ about the C & P…

   Anybody going to the Monday support EPD rally sponsored by Missy Mosby?

   • Missy angered many neighborhood association folks by claiming she is the organizer of this event. This idea was brought together by several people and she ran with it like she is the mastermind. Leave it to Missy Mosby to make hard feelings on something as beneficial as a rally for Police Officers by angering hard working volunteers from the neighborhood associations. Everyone knows she only does what Winneckes wife tells her to. That will end the first week in May when she loses her election because the next day I am sure the Mayors wife will get rid of her.

7. Would like to see the Council treat the dead Hotel deal like they did the Earthcare case. Come back now and rescind any prior agreements. That way, LW can’t be out there shopping a deal with a $ 20 Million public subsidy (” a sure thing . . . “) as part of the deal. Make the Mayor start from scratch.

   I think Council really screwed up on $ 20 Million with low-doc (or no-doc). But that was B4 the IU Med opportunity. If Adams chest-puffing is correct, not one dime until Med School in place, then rescinding the $ 20 Million makes a lot of sense and tells the Mayor, have at it (round 5 of Hotelquest), but zero, zip, nada from Das Council.

   • You make a good point. The $20 Million came with an expectation of a 256 room 3 star, hotel, an apartment building, and a parking tower. If the outcome changes to a couple of stick built Days Inn clones and nothing else that changes the game. It also will change the revenue into the TIF fund that is supposed to pay for this mess. If the City Council lets the $20 M host and without challenging the outcome they all need to be shown the door. I will be interested to hear what Friend and Adams have to say about subsidizing two little freeway motels to the tune of $20M. Can we vet the developer this time?

     • Doubt if Friend and Adams would do anything different if the project devolves into two Motel 6’s (add them together, and we have a Motel 12. That’s progress ! ). Seriously, the entire Council was brain dead to hand over $ 20 Million on a silver platter with no vetting. Guess is that they’ll do it again, it seems it is only the amount of the giveaway that’s important, not the substance. The fundamental question–whether the City can compete in the convention industry against the larger surrounding cities–has been completely lost in the ‘noise’ about the funding. Also lost: what does the public get for its investment ? Seems like the winners would be the hotel owner and restaurants, etc. which benefit from OP money.

     • @change orders unchallenged:

       Why the screen name ? Which project ? I heard at the Ford Center that the Vendors got drug through the coals and no change orders were issued/ the vendors’ contracts “covered everything”. Also heard this is why the Hotel bids came in high–once burned/twice shy and the contractors loaded a boatload of contingency money into their bids.

       Is the Johnson Controls project/meters the one where all CO’s are immediately approved ? Now, that one would not surprise me.

   • The agreement should be rescinded, for the protection of the taxpayers. Winnie has shown that he is dishonest. As for the Med School, Doc Adams seems to be the appropriate person to approach the committee about reconsidering the site, and making a case for something that will let the city keep money for the big health concern we have, the sewers.

8. Editor: I thought everybody knew about the Dollar Tree selling the Sunday Courier & Press for $1. They have done it every Sunday for the past several months. They sell the daily for 50 cents. If I have some need to purchase the paper, that’s where I get it.

   • Been a dollar for close to a year

9. Is it true Someone tweeted that Philip Davis was stealing signs of the protestors at the Civic Center today. It seems that the gathering to support the police had some anti police people holding up anti police signs and Philip didn’t like that so he grabbed one of the signs?

   Was anyone there to witness this reported event?

   • That tweet was from Zach Evans. His other tweets on the CP sounded like they could have come from Sharpton. He looks like an old time hippie and probably hates cops himself. He’s lucky Phyllip didn’t give him a reason to need police protection.

Comments are closed.