The City County Observer kicked off 2011 with a reader’s choice of what the most important things that the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County need to get right in 2011. Well after three full years not all of the actions for 2011 are completed or even started and the results are in. The private part of the public/private partnerships seem to be working but the public part left much to be required.
On a College Scale the City of Evansville Gets a 0.70 on a 4.0 Scale for this Semester.
THE TOP TEN and THE GRADES
D: The 2011 City Elections: What we opined would constitute getting it right is for no more partisan voting block control of the City Council and a split party make-up of independent thinkers. After the primaries we had the potential for exactly what we hoped for. What we got is a continued 8 – 1 Democrat majority just like the previous City Council. Additionally every incumbent running was re-elected and there were 5 which makes a majority. The other item of concern with the City Council is that of the 9 members of next years council a majority have been strongly associated with the puppet strings of “The Machineâ€. The actions and votes of the newly elected City Council will need close scrutiny.
F: An Evansville for the next Decade Plan: Nothing has been done and not one our elected officials has mentioned such a plan. The Winnecke Administration not only neglected to do any planning they spent three years obstructing any future plan from being comprehensive of nature even announcing silly schemes galore without identification of a funding source. They even extended the note snuck to Earthcare Energy to after next years election with no prospect ever to be paid back.
C: Civic Beautification: There have also been several quite visible efforts by Mayor Lloyd Winnecke for mobilizing private litter removal programs and sometimes it shows.
C: The Hiring of a new Executive Director for the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau: Mission accomplished CVB Board and the plus is for doing the right thing with respect to the rotten circumstances surrounding the departure of Marilee Fowler. While Mr. Warren started this job with an eye for value, he eventually gave in on the ball fields and has become a cheerleader for a downtown hotel that can’t get out of its own way.
F: CSO Plan for EPA: One delay after another and a debt level nearing its limit has the people of Evansville poised to be paying the highest water bills in the nation due to governments failure to be proactive instead of obstructing the timely mitigation of our continued environmental disaster.
F: The MLK Entertainment Complex: Another failure to close a deal on a hotel and the deceitful cover ups to hide the fact could not have been done in a more unprofessional and inept way. If there were a lower grade than an F it would be deserved. The decoy backhoe below the bridge to nowhere inside the expensive fence says it all about ignorance and slight of hand.
C: Mental Health Services Improved: Coroner Annie Groves gets good marks for initiating an awareness campaign. The end result is still a C because the suicide rate has improved.
F: Pay Scales: Not a darn thing has been done to make the pay scales of the City of Evansville competitive. As it is time to start the process of replacing some senior positions and transforming the City of Evansville’s attitude toward its customers the paltry state of the official pay scales will soon be quite apparent.
F: Consolidated Government: This initiative failed at the ballot box because the committee that was in charge was condescending and presumptuous. They also had no benefit articulated to attract a win in either the city or the county. Their entitlement attitude to an affirmative vote was sickening.
F: Smoking Ordinance Revisited: The Evansville City Council passed an ordinance that was ruled unconstitutional. Enough said. Utter and complete failure. Welcome to the dark ages.
Please take time and vote in todays “Readers Poll”.
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Yes this voter has to agree that the Winnecke Administration deserves a F ailure on
his report card for what he has accomplished for Evansville.
Not every incumbent won, Al Lindsey beat BJ Watts!!
If we could just get Winnecke and his handlers into detention for the duration of his failed term Evasnville would be better off for it. A failing grade does not register with these folks. A note home would never make it to the intended recipients. Perhaps if the juvenile authorities would have got involved earlier it’d have been salvagable. Hire a couple of big apes as hall monitors and stick the miscreants where they can’t do much more harm. Not another penny for their unfunded schemes, not another head to nod in agreement the next time they send that little clown up to say how well things are going. Not another dime to the conmen who feast on the public via this weak administration. The Democrats made a horrible mistake by electing him, Evansville must now cut its losses.
I hope the City Council adopts a moratorium on new spending projects until after the fall election. I don’t think that Winnie the Poop (Evansville’s Worst Mistake Ever) will loosen his grip on goodies for his cronies until the voters pry them out of his hands, so the checkbook needs to be closed, except for paying the regular bills.
I expect that Gail Riecken will run, and win. A main plank in her platform should be a ten-year plan for Evansville to handle our sewer issues and prioritize the other obligations of City government. We need the “basics”: Infrastructure, public safety and health, education, and growing good-paying jobs. If we can cover those things, the rest will begin taking care of itself.
Another plank for Rep. Riecken’s platform should be a real commitment to the transparency that Winnie promised and has not delivered. The public should have full access to all board and committee meetings via digital recordings, and all audit related meetings should be recorded, as well. Most of all, we just need pure, simple honesty with the public about government and the status of all projects, whether it is good news or not.
A third plank for Mrs. Riecken should be that she commits to being a Mayor for the entire city and its interests, not just the old downtown Dead Zone. Evansville is what it is, not what Carol McClintock imagines it to be. Gail will start the City back on the right track, and we can’t afford to miss out on that.
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