IS IT TRUE January 21, 2015

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IS IT TRUE that an arrest has been made as a result of the investigation of the shooting inside the C. K. Newsome Center the other day?…the arrested party is an 18 year old male named Anthony Stewart, who allegedly fired 2 shots in the gymnasium while about 50 people were in the facility playing and watching a basketball game?…the only casualty aside from the supposed tranquility of the place was a pair of pants that a bullet grazed?…it is indeed a sad day in Evansville when peaceful people can’t enjoy a basketball game without being shot at?…more and more in cities across America, this sort of dangerous behavior is ruining day to day life for perfectly good people?

IS IT TRUE it seems as though the United States of America has been guilty of lapsing into the neglect of infrastructure in much the same way that Evansville, Indiana has been?…with us it is the sewers, the sidewalks, the water distribution pipes, and the roads that are falling apart for lack of a system of maintenance?…yesterday in Ohio the failure to test and maintain bridges came home to roost when a bridge on the Dixie Highway (I-75) came crashing down?…even though this is Ohio, the CCO got a few emails affixing blame to President Obama, to Mitch McConnell, and even to John Boehner who is the only one of the three who actually is from Ohio?…every time something like this happens the political extremes point the fingers of blame at each other and proceed to do nothing about the problem?…there are in all likelihood thousands of bridges on busy roads that are on the verge of collapse and no one seems to be keeping track of what needs some pre-emptive maintenance?…perhaps if the hounds of Washington were required to commute on some crashed bridges and un-passable roads they would get their fingers working instead of pointing?…in this writers view there is plenty of blame to be placed on both parties and the fools who blindly support them?

IS IT TRUE that the group that launched the Facebook site to save the Owen Block Building keeps moving forward and making progress?…one of the real advantages to this process is that in the end the City of Evansville does not own the building?…the numbers seem to have worked out and the CCO sees this model as transferable to other historic properties?…just up the street the McCurdy Hotel sits rotting to the ground from neglect and from the interference of local government?…if former Mayor Weinzapfel would have kept his ambitions in check and his campaign fundraising machine in it’s cage, the McCurdy may well still be a functioning old folks home?…he didn’t as what we have now is a mess of colossal proportion with an open door policy being exploited by street people and teenagers for shelter and entertainment?…we have pondered the possibility of an Owen-Block model for the McCurdy and see it as a bit of a stretch but still possible?…in order to do this one must assume a value for the finished product that a developer can secure a loan against?…we assume that to be about $10 Million?…the cost to really do a good job of repairing the McCurdy with all of the damage it now has would certainly be in the range of $15 Million?…the challenge in this case would be in finding $5 Million to fill the gap between value and cost that plagues downtown Evansville?…before calling this one, we need to see if the Owen Block project really proceeds to a positive end?…if it does, there is hope for other properties?…if it does not, Evansville will have missed out on a golden opportunity to prove that citizen based adaptive reuse can be successfully implemented in River City?

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82 COMMENTS

  1. The IIT has some news wrong today on the Ohio bridge collapse. This is wrong: “IS IT TRUE it seems as though the United States of America has been guilty of lapsing into the neglect of infrastructure in much the same way that Evansville, Indiana has been?. …yesterday in Ohio the failure to test and maintain bridges came home to roost when a bridge on the Dixie Highway (I-75) came crashing down?”

    In fact, the bridge was under demolition as a new bridge replacing it had recently opened (contradicting the entire point being made in the IIT):
    CINCINNATI ENQUIRER “The collapse of the closed Hopple Street overpass onto Interstate 75 appeared to be a major construction accident and not a failure of the bridge itself, construction and engineering experts told The Enquirer on Tuesday. Contractor Kokosing Construction Company, Inc. was under a $91 million contract to rebuild the Hopple interchange as part of the remaking of that stretch of I-75.”
    — (Sorry. Due to get up in 3 hours and can’t sleep.)

    • Hey Riverfront West Side Shemmy

      Let’s Praise the positive and ignore the negative.

      Editors are acknowledging the nation’s pathetic and crumbling infrastructure. Further, a national politician other than Barack Obama got a mention as part of the problem!

      Yipppppeeeee!

      • The “Editor” is comparing apples and oranges on this one. This stretch of highway is being upgraded to the current standards, from the early 1960’s from which this stretch was originally constructed.

        Demolition of one of the bridge’s approach had already been completed. The next step was to be the span over the main part of I-75 roadway. A death had occurred, which was the operator running the “track hoe” (that’s that piece of equipment that everyone here was calling a “backhoe” that was sitting at the fame “no-tel (hotel)”. Apparently the deadline clause is in every 15 minutes, instead of “per day” which is normal around here.

        Keep in mine that the sequence to this bridge demolition falls squarely on “management” and not the workers. I have a good hunch on what had happen, but refuse to be a public “armchair job superintendent”.

      • BB, surely you think accuracy comes first, then advocacy for what you think is right….right?

  2. We need massive infrastructure spending. The republicans simply won’t have it.

    • While borrowing is still relatively inexpensive, we do need massive spending on infrastructure. It is, however, not going to be allowed by this congress. A large investment in infrastructure would be the biggest boost imaginable to our recovering economy, and an amazing “shot in the arm” for the middle class. For that reason alone, the “patriots” in congress will not allow it to happen. That kind of economic recovery would shut them out of the White House and prevent them from holding another congressional majority for generations. They’d rather be strong in a weakened US, than to be weakened in a strong US.

      • LKB

        You sure are two faced . You criticize the mayor for spending money that is being borrowed, yet you want the federal government to spend money it also doesn’t have on infrastructure !!

        The money you want the Feds to spend is future debt for our children and grandchildren. OH I also know that infrastructure funds appeal to you because the dollars will go on high wages to lazy Union highway workers. Also your drive for this begins with an error by our beloved IIT.

        GIVEMEABREAK

      • A black male democrat president could get a lot of credit, if he was smart as a mosquito. A mosquito knows that to get a pat on the back you’ve got to get to work.

          • I don’t know. What I do know is pickles and cucumbers have nothing to do with Presidents or President’s getting credit for infrastructure, just like being black and mosquitos don’t either.

      • Let’s give Obama some credit here. Obamacare, 21 million new gun owners, well over half of Americans think gun ownership is a good thing, gun sales at an all time high, ammunition manufacturers worldwide are operating 24/7 to meet demands. He also instigated a race riot in Ferguson, demoralized the military and lost the respect of the world, caused a loss of confidence in major federal institutions, such as the IRS,DOJ,DEA and BATF and has worked at separating citizens from law enforcement. That’s just for a starter.

        • Guns, guns…and radio talk show host stuff.

          POV, what did you pay for gas today?

      • Is that movie clip from the Money Pit movie? If so then that is the only movie that I have ever walked out on before the show was half over. I could not stand all the bad things going on in that movie and I got up and left. I should have asked for my money back. Worst and most stupid movie ever IMHO>

    • Ghost, We had massive spending when the Pres. was given close to a Trillion in stimulus money. It was to go to those shovel ready jobs to build roads and bridges etc. Where did the money go ?

      • Surely, Cowboy, you know by now this blog is no place for giving facts to liberals.

        • He’s not giving facts at all, in fact he’s wildly misrepresenting the whole situation.

        • Cowboy…..What you said is what is known as talk show radio lies…said w/out any need to be accurate because there’s only one microphone, and it is in the nicotine stained hands of an obese, drug addict with no children in spite of being married four times.

          • He he He called out Fatboy Limbaugh. He said he was a drug addict. He said he was married four time and never produced any children. He said he has nicotine stained hands. Now that could be true. Oh and he also said he was obese or FAT. That about sums it up. But he forgot to say that IS IT true that he is a chronic liar?

          • This is actually very pleasing to a conservative. Liberals always go back to this one person who is nothing but an entertainer as an example of a conservative drug user. Rush is nothing to most of us, he represents no one but himself, he is meaningless except for his ability to upset liberals with the truth. He uses an age old truism to keep liberals off balance and this is it, the truth will set you free unless you’re a liberal and then it will simple P—- you off. Obama is an unconvicted felon, he was a MJ and cocaine user and dealer, he was lawfully elected to the senate and potus, this doesn’t speak well for us as a country. The people of Chicago were onto him years ago, he lost a congressional race to Bobby Rush, speaks well of the folks from Chicago, they elected the better man.

          • COWBOY…you’re struggling here. The point is you get your info, and all of your comments and losing bench gripes…and your talking points when you write comments here….from the obese drug addict with a microphone.

            You got called out on it.

          • If you are talking about me getting info from Mr. Limbaugh you are way off base. (not unusual for you). I haven’t listened to him for 20+ years. Talk radio isn’t my thing.

      • How misinformed can you get. Or are you just flat out lying?

        We’ve been over this a gazillion times. The stimulus was about 1/3 tax cuts,(Making work pay tax credits) 1/3 Medicaid subsidies, to tie states over until the economy recovered,(Indiana’s so call surplus is almost exactly the same amount that IN got in stimulus money). and the last 1/3 went for various projects such as alternative energies(which BTW are showing a PROFT) only a small portion of the remaining 1/3 went to existing roads and bridges.

        So you’re NOT giving facts at ALL.

        • B.B.- I have to disagree with how simple you make that sound. There was a bunch of money wasted in that bill. Money than was funneled to Obama supporters. A lot more money could have been funneled to infrastructure. I also disagree with your comment about the alt. energies being profitable.

          • Wild claims and no links. A lot more money COULD HAVE been funneled to infrastructure but wasn’t that is a fact and many argued for a much larger stimulus we lost. It doesn’t matter, you claimed nearly a trillion went for road and bridge repairs and you got called out. Now you’re moving the goals posts to waste and political favors. A logical fallacy and sign of a disingenuous debater.

            And once again your opinion doesn’t matter. The alternative energy program is profitable, PERIOD. AGAIN your opinion doesn’t matter, these are the facts.

            http://www.npr.org/2014/11/13/363572151/after-solyndra-loss-u-s-energy-loan-program-turning-a-profit

          • You can also disagree that the earth is round, but there is no valid evidence to back you up. Do you have any valid information to back your assertions?

          • B.B., I wouldn’t put NPR in the unbiased column. From what i read this talks about some manufactures. No mention of tax credits to producers or tax credits for someone to buy the products. Do you think it is right to subsidize some rich persons $100,000+ purchase of a Tesla sports car ?

        • Yep the old infrastructures aren’t going to hold up under climate migrations. Look at the massive pileups they have where there is sustained population growth, and advanced logistics.
          Leave Evansville outta that equation. Your town is bleeding its revenues away on someone’s elitist dreams. My, our climate data is honing in on the eastern shores and sections of the country again. They are going to get whacked right in the infrastructure again. Predictable weather events. Then you have someone sitting in the new centuries actual predictable goldilocks zone. And no one in the governance is doing a thing to prepare those infrastructures for the climate migration rush. Sad, the whole place seems to be more concerned in propping up some old crumbled buildings to line a cronies pocket or two. Unbelievable , aren’t any visionary people left there? Like the dry hole stink emerging from those blighted buildings some preventive maintenance and a little bit of planning could go a long way into this century for that dirge of a scorned toxic addition to the entire clean water balance of the united states. The Finagle is coming home to roost, it isn’t going to be pretty if someone doesn’t take the action, and purpose to line that mess out.

          Finagle’s Law of Dynamic Negatives (also known as Finagle’s corollary to Murphy’s law) is usually rendered: Anything that can go wrong, will—at the worst possible moment.

      • Cowboy…..What you said is what is known as talk show radio lies…said w/out any need to be accurate because there’s only one microphone, and it is in the nicotine stained hands of an obese, drug addict with no children in spite of being married four times.

    • I have gave him credit. It was like his second year in office. He did something that was good. I remember telling all my friends so they would know he did some good. I don’t remember what it was though. But 1 time he did right and I gave him credit for it. I wish he would do more.

  3. Btw, EPD did a good job in apprehending Mr. Stewart without any shots being fired. Is it thought that he has gang affiliation? His name seems familiar.

    • Good Work EPD.
      News reports are that between the 4 perpetrators their ‘rap sheets” show over 70 prior arrests.
      I would speculate that they represent a threat to EVERYONE in this City, and the Young Black population in particular. The obvious/tough question I expect the Officers “On the Line”, and the Citizens, want an answer to is,
      What is the solution to stop Predators like these,–from still “walking the streets”?

    • Good article. Sorry LKB, I’m voting for Jeb Bush in the primary and for President. His qualifications are the best in the field, and his focus is on a strong pro-business economy, strong national defense….and NOT on crap like overturning same-sex marriage, saying no to anything that solves immigration issues and ignorant, silly crap like stopping the war on Christmas.

      Even you have to admit the Rick Santorum’s, Sarah Palin’s and Ted Cruz’s of the Tea Party people are viewed as circus acts now. That is a big improvement. And a welcome change.

      (Got news for you too. Some Republicans look like they want to get things done, and that is good….but if Hillary is elected, she will compromise with the GOP too. She won’t play it hard like Obama.)

      • Like I said yesterday, Jeb Bush seems like a decent, competent person. I doubt he’ll get the nomination because many mainstream Republicans don’t want the ties to the worst President since Reagan. If he does get nominated, he won’t win, That is likely because of his last name. The clown car passengers you mention have ALWAYS been viewed as a circus act by everyone who isn’t insane. They’ve just been joined by Joni Ernst and Ben Carson.
        I think Mitch had Ernst do the rebuttal to SOTU in order to sabotage her early on. He knows she’s cut from the same cloth as Cruz, Lee, Santorum and crew. I expect she’ll resign from the Senate in order to have a Fox talk show and a hog-farming reality show.

          • Mitch McConnell is one of the greatest practitioners of perverse politics that this country has ever seen. He spotted the latest tea darling from a mile away. It’s always better to allow someone to destroy themselves, rather than dirtying your hands destroying them. I think she pretty much destroyed herself with the cringe-worthy non-rebuttal. It wasn’t as bad a Jindal, Bachmann, or Rubio, but it wasn’t good, either.

        • Real women scare liberal women. There is not one female democrat that could even remotely compare to Joni. I’ll bet everyday Bill Clinton is thankful that he married floor mat Hillary over someone like Joni. We know what she does to pigs.

        • We have farmland and used to have hogs. But the fans of Joni Ernst who like her because she brags she castrates pigs….and dumb, ignorant, resentful fools. This is America. Nothing wrong with that. But they are hayseed, militia Tea Party crazies.

        • I imagine Cutter panel-tested her line about hog deballery before using it. She needn’t have bothered. She knew all along it was just the kind of thing that’d make the ‘Baggers wet to their knees.

  6. I’m concerned the intentional neglect to the McCurdy hotel may be fatal. Years of open windows allowing water and squatters in to damage the building. Simply pitiful.

    • I’m pretty sure you can scratch “may be” and substitute “is now.” The downtown resident/supporters just felt they HAD to do something to get rid of the “riff raff” that was housed there. Now, they’re looking to turn the Public Housing Senior Citizens towers into un-needed student housing for the Med School students. You just can’t have all of those old, poor people wandering around a vibrant downtown like ours.

    • In a fairer world it’d be criminal. That was a nice building and one with a history that tracked with some of Evansville’s better days.

      • I’m sure you remember the hotel that was right across the street from the CC in the 1970’s. The old drunks that lived there would frequent the Civic Center during the day. I’m sure that the city was proud of those old people.

        • This was posted in the wrong spot. It was intended to be posted in response to ELB’s post above. Sorry about that.

        • Moveon, you refer to the old Sontag Hotel. It was rehabbed and is now part of the Signature School. However, I don’t recall the Sontag was ever in the outward dilapidated condition of the McCurdy Hotel. The Sontag owners were smart enough to close the windows. Not so for the McCurdy. See link below for history on these once graceful and beautiful landmarks:

          http://www.courierpress.com/business/evansvilles-historic-hotels

          • Vendome that’s the one the old fellas from there referred to in the joke about bad underwear. Called them cheap Vendome’s “no ball room “.

          • Nice link.
            The old Lincoln Hotel had the famed Blue Bar in the basement, I believe.

          • Great link, Joe. You’re right about the Sonntag. In the early ’70’s I worked for DPW, which was in the Civic Center. The Township Trustee housed a lot of the indigent in the Sonntag. When we went from the Civic Center down Main on our lunch breaks, we always walked on the other side of the street to avoid the panhandlers and drunks that often graced the front of the Sonntag.
            There were still quite a few stores and restaurants downtown then, even though the construction of the Civic Center had already dealt downtown a death blow.
            Bandana got it right about the Blue Bar, too. Boots Randolph was the main entertainment there. As a kid, we lived down the street(Jackson Ave.) from the Randolphs. Their daughter and I played together a lot. My parents bought their first home, near Plaza Park school, and the Randolphs moved to Nashville just about the same time. It was 1958, I think.

    • I think the political intent for the McCurdy is the same as Roberts Stadium, when the time is right tear it down. Time to tear it down, there doesn’t appear to be private interest in it. This city has tried on 2 occasions to pay private concerns to take over and both walked off with close to 2 million dollars. Kunkel was the last to try and we all know where that is going.

    • Proceeding as designed. Look at all the time, effort and money that went into saving Roberts and now we all know the intent all along was to demolition it. The same for McCurdy, Owens building and Mesker, nothing like a plan coming together. There is a master plan, but not for public consumption.

      • pov, I fear that Mesker Amphitheater, the outdoor venue equivalent of an Iowa class battleship, is mothballed and being led to the scrapyard. The McCurdy is hopelessly compromised for years of neglect. Let us not allow these 2 landmarks without blame being put where it squarely falls.

        http://www.pacificbattleship.com/page/statistics

    • Wait a minute. I’m reading this article, but I noticed right away — it is from September 9, 2014.

      • Pressanykey, are you so insecure about admitting improvements in the economy that you have to post something from the past where a GOP author writes a “pretend speech” for Obama?

        • Discovering that you can spend more because have not reached your credit limit is not a recovery. The hard issues, the insecurity of our economy is not addressed with more spending.

          • You are citing what most would consider conventional wisdom. Unfortunately conventional wisdom is dead wrong about how to fully recover from the Bush fiscal fiasco.

          • Conventional wisdom is seldom wrong. Despite what we are told, basic economic principles are the same for Elm Street, Main Street, Wall Street, and K Street. Spend more than your income and you will build debt. Debt destroys wealth, always, every time. Sometimes it is worth destroying wealth in the short term for a long term gain, like buying house…you can afford, building a viable business. That however is not government spending.

            We can not address the so called Bush fiasco with the Obama fiasco. It’s just Bush ideology enlarged.

        • I-E, I agree of course. You’ve wrapped yourself in the cloak of “let’s save.” But you’ve not made the case when the subject is investments. (And you’re wholesale ignoring improvements in economic growth, job growth, investments and on….you can’t keep pretending things are all bad. Our business has been fantastic since 2010. I’m sure yours too.)

          • The government does not invest it redistributes. While sometimes that it is needful to redistribute, defense, infrasture, or a safety during hard times, “investing” is the true cloaking for subsidizing, spending. My business has been fantastic because for once in my life I was financial aligned to meet and survive the great recession. I have seen no benefit from government and if anything I am staying an arms distance away from them as much as is possible. What people fail to realize is that if you can reach the money on the government’s table, then they can reach the money on your table. But with the build it and burn it profit mentality, some people including liberals are profiting going in and coming out and not leaving a legacy for the next generation.

            We have strapped the next generation with national debt and student loans that has destroyed their wealth. More education spending equates to more money for banks and colleges and more debt for young people.

            I’m not being pessimistic, I am being a realist.

          • I-E, you are right. You are pessimistic. Holy cow. Your dismissing infrastructure improvements as simple redistribution is, well, a sign you’re beyond reason. And that you take for granted the very things that give you a platform to succeed – roads, protection of your titled rights, education, peace, safety and security. Investments in those things pay dividends and returns. You call that redistribution…like I said…beyond reasoning is the impression you’re leaving. Oh, you’re not a realist either.

          • I-E…it’s also a sign you don’t actually give a damn about young people needing the same infrastructure and solid platform going forward that you leveraged so well. Makes you seem like a greedy old…well, something.

          • Sorry to spoil all your assumptions about me being a bitter old man Shem, but our debt is not because of infrastructure. The largest portion Health and Human services, entitlements You’re selling the roads they need for a government hammock rather than a safety net.

            Infrastructure is something that government is commissioned to do, does well, and should do. Still, it is redistribution just like defense spending, another just function of government. However, it is not “investment” and it comes with an opportunity cost. Through taxes funds a redirected out of the private sector into the public. I definity do not identify with Elizabeth Warren’s views on the government’s function in infrastructure. Building roads did not spur developing business. Fords came before paved roads.

            Telling this generation that we are destroying their wealth for roads is dishonest.

            Look at the graph of our budget, which I have shared an ad nauseum number of times, and tell me where the government is spending the most

        • Shem:

          http://www.economicimpact.com/dorfman.html

          He is hardly “a GOP author”, which you would have known had you taken the time to check. I perceive there are many things that you fail to check before commenting.

          “To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.”
          ― Thomas Paine, The American Crisis

        • Shem:

          He is hardly “a GOP author”, which you would have known had you taken the time to check. I perceive there are many things that you fail to check before commenting.

          http://www.economicimpact.com/dorfman.html

          “To argue with a man who has renounced the use and authority of reason, and whose philosophy consists in holding humanity in contempt, is like administering medicine to the dead, or endeavoring to convert an atheist by scripture.”
          ― Thomas Paine, The American Crisis

          • You’re pissing in the wind on the front of the train, PAK. The economy is growing and improving……and it has a head of steam now. Trying to deny this is a loser of an argument.

          • When it’s at the bottom,,,the only place left is up and it was businesses adapting that made it happen.

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