I have been following the fiasco regarding tennis courts at Wesselman park. I plan to attend the meeting on October 20th at 4:00 PM and give my opinion which is as follows:
I am a true capitalist and believe that if government will get out of the way business will flourish and people will be employed. I do not believe that government should grant an unfair advantage to any one group of people. To allow this area of public land to be used by a private group to build an indoor tennis court is against everything government represents. If we as government allow this then we should suspend charging property taxes to the Tri State Racket Club and reimburse them the money that they spent to purchase the land on which to build their facility so that they are on an even playing field with the private indoor tennis courts built on public land. Since it is public land, there will be no real estate taxes because government does not pay real estate taxes. If, however, this is truly a part of a public park then anyone can have access to play on the courts at any time, free of charge. Then this would beg the question of who will pay to maintain this facility since there is no money in the city parks department for such an expenditure and if it is truly a public park then there would be no private company to handle the maintenance at their cost. Obviously, what I have just written sounds ridiculous and that was done deliberately to make a point. It is ridiculous for government to grant public land to anyone for any purpose other than that which all public land is intended. Public land means that all of us own it and if the “owners” do not want to give away the land on which this facility is to be built, then government should listen. Of course, the parks board is “government” making policies but it is not “government” elected by the people. The parks board is appointed and as such does not answer to the taxpayers. Seems taxation without representation is alive and well in Evansville. The effort should be defeated and if the tennis club wants an indoor court I am sure there are many land owners willing to sell them proper land on which to build their facility.
Thank you Marsha for taking the time to post your opinion with CCO.
Marsha,
For someone that has spoke out against taxation without representation and the betterment of public protection against the using of public property for an individual’s use. It was to my dismay you stand against this, but voted for consolidation by placing it on the 2012 ballot. Please defend your supporting of consolidation and why you are against the tennis court development (so am I), but are for a tax grab by the future politicians? I am greatly disappointed in my voting decision last fall. I now fear future wennkeapfel lockstep voting by you. The county will remember that vote from now on.
Very sad.
What do I know? –
I cannot speak for Marcia but I would bet that many people who voted for the consolidation bill did so to get it out before the public vote. This takes it down the road to a new panel of people to address the issue way in the future at which time the city and the county may be in a different place. I think many who voted for the bill saw flaws and problems; they simply were turning it over to us for our input.
The truth is that both councels voted to send this to referendum because they felt they had wasted enough time on this matter. Knowing the plan is flawed,they were tired of spending their time on this, even though that was what they were elected to do. Hats off to Dr. Dan Adams for being the lone vote against sending a flawed plan on. BJ Watts said that voting to send this on was not voting for the plan. That is a very stupid statement in my opinion. Every yes vote cast in those chambers is putting their stamp of approval on the issue at hand. Kasha, Whobrey, and the rest of the committe for consolidation were only concerned with getting it on the ballot, and rushed through a poor plan, for the sake of getting it done, as king John wanted. Another, got to ram this thru, and down their throats before its too late. Cant wait for these people to be gone.
Let us all come together and change Government to how it should be, on November 8. Vote Rick Davis and it WILL happen.
When this comes forward, Vote no on this referendun being put on a ballot, so they dont have to waste their time on it
So you’re saying a vote for Rick Davis is a vote for Hope and Change?
Thanks Marsha,
What is extremely interesting is that the Evansville Community Tennis Association and the contract it has with the Park Board says that the ECTA will build these courts, handle the day to day upkeep of the proposed facility and will pay a $1.00 per year rent. I don’t know if they will mow the perimeter, mistakenly try to “clean up” the wooded area which is habitat for many small park inhabitants, or if there has been any thought as to protecting what minimal will be left of the Park after this pole barn is built.
In return, they will be allowed to take over a beautiful piece of public land and permanently alter it for their own uses. It will never be the same again. This includes, as we know, building a 43,000 sq ft (one acre) building plus 6 outdoor concrete tennis courts and a paved parking area. It will exclude both children and adults who currently use that land in the park from ever using it in the same way again. It will alter storm water drainage. It will destroy microhabitats. It will look just plain ugly and out of place. It will take the LAST large open green space in Wesselman Park away from the over 100,000 people to whom it belongs.
What some may not know is that the ECTA will retain all the income they receive from teaching lessons, both indoor and outdoor, from any tournaments they hold, from any concessions they sell and from any other schemes they devise to make money all without paying Evansville and its citizens a dime other than the $1.00 per year rent.
The other wrinkle that is very disturbing is that the city will pay the electric, water, and sewer bills for this development during the construction phase and beyond to its money making operation of this facility. We all know what Vectren rates are doing and we also know that the sewer charges must be increased in the future to pay for the renewal of our antiquated sewer/storm water system. So the amount that we pay as citizens to support this business venture will only go up and up.
It should be noted that there is a very small number of people compared to the total population of Evansville that actually play tennis. Often when I walk through Wesselman Park the courts are empty or nearly so. Why we need more courts on the public dime is beyond me. The ECTA will respond to that statement by saying that more courts are needed to bring in big tournaments to the city. When figures from such tournaments are analyzed, as was done by the CVB earlier this year, they were found to be minimal and the CVB was not interested in supporting the ECTA in building this huge pole barn and more outside courts.
The Park Board is entrusted with caring for our public lands. This all too eager tendency to sell off land to the highest bidder which in this case amounts to making a sweet land rental deal to build a business on public land has got to stop. This is especially true when some folks involved in this atrocity are friends and relatives of folks who donated to the campaign funds of some of our elected officials. In fact, the Park Board was so willing to be helpful that they waived the time constraints on the original contract with ECTA just to make sure that this project would go through.
I urge all those who believe that this is unacceptable behavior from the Park Board to:
(1) write to the Board of Zoning Appeals explaining that they must not allow the ECTA to build on Wesselman land,
(2) Attend the Board of Zoning Appeals meeting on Oct. 20 AT 4:00 in Rm 301 if the civic center
(3) write the Park Board and tell them that you find this giving away of public land unacceptable.
Alternatively, you may want to design your own proposal to develop the business of your choice on a piece of public land of your selection. Submit the building and business proposal to the Park Board and the mayor’s office in a timely manner and stand back to reap the benefits of free land, no taxes, no utility bills and really cheap rent.
Or you could do all of the above.
Please note that I am not against tennis. I do however expect the ECTA to be responsible like any other organization or business and pay their own dues and their own way. I hope they keep their passion for tennis; just keep it on their own land, not ours.
Sounds like a rubber stamper for Tri-State Athletic Club who just like when the YMCA was proposed wants no part of any competition. Lets leave the sport of tennis for the elite who can belong to a club whose dues are way out of line. This lease was signed back in 2003 where were all these nay-sayers then before the tennis association spent nearly 1 million dollars on the Wesselman Facility with private funds for the enjoyment of the public. We’ll see what happens if the tennis association just gets tired of all the controversy and sends the whole complex back to the city. How long will it take for a beautiful facility to look like every other park in the city. These courts would remain open to the public and at the end of the lease would be returned to the city and the taxpayer and not a dime of taxpayer money will have been spent. The people in this town are so short sighted and wouldn’t know a good deal if it came up and hit them in the face. Its no wonder our children are leaving in droves. People need to know what they are talking about before they open their mouths. The lease clearly states that all utilities for any indoor facility will be paid by the tennis association. I would bet there are a lot more tennis players out there then ice skaters but Swonder seems to be a facility that has benefited this city. The Parks Board has no money so without the partnership of groups like ECTA their would be no improvements to our parks and recreation. This is a fact that is well understood by the Parks Board unfortunatelly the people in this community would rather sit back and let the whole city shrivel up and die. My guess is we probably might find a few campaign contributions to Mrs Abell from the managing partners of Tri-State Athletic Club
Well, I guess someone had to change the subject from Vectren’s rate hike fiasco.
Well said Marsha. Good to hear you speak out again on a bad idea.
I hope Mr. Winnnecke joins your true conservative and free enterprise position. Well done Ms. Abell!
Marsha
For your stand on this issue and your “pluck”
I am grateful. …
I like Marsha. She is the proverbial bull in the china shop of Evansville politics.
That sums up Marsha’s position in gavernment. I’m backing Marsha.
Wow.
Maybe the tennis group and the city should look at separating the existing outdoor courts and the indoor courts. Keep the outdoor courts free to the public and let the tennis club build the building on an area like the back of the soon to be moth balled stadium parking lot. It would provide plenty of space for the building and parking. I understand it is a privately funded building on public land but when there is no public money available for the project in the city and county budget thy should welcome the help. And as far as drainage and microhabitats it is a parking lot now, any inhabitants micro or not should be evicted! Just leave the green space alone and make the tennis club have open to the public hours and charge a court fee just like a city pool or golf course.
How about they do what every other private enterprise is required to do….buy a piece of land, build their facility, pay their taxes, pay their utilities and maintenance and market their business hoping to make a profit without taxpayers subsidizing their for-profit business….there is really no reason for this to be built in Wesselman park or any public (taxpayer supported) property.
JMHO
Wasn’t the cost of the pole barn about $3M with courts included? Why not grant them permission to raise the Roberts Stadium floor by enough to stop the water problem and to put tennis courts inside. Two problems solved for $3 Million in private money plus the city will save $1 Million that they would have surely ended up spending to tear down Roberts.
I Mrs. Abell is committed as she professes to be to the tenants of free market capitalism, how about the city selling Roberts Stadium property AS IS to private interests?
If the public cannot find a budgetable and suitable use, then let’s give the private sector a chance to see what they can do with it. Surely this would then be a net gain for the Parks Dept. rather than a net loss in tearing down a building.
Not only would it be a net gain for the Parks Department but would be a huge gain to the community to keep the facility open and on the tax rolls…not to mention the income from events to all the restaurants, hotels etc.
Problem is…..it’s competition for the shiny new arena downtown, (we won’t even mention the money loosing Centre) which is why it has to go. I actually thought the city had a offer or two to buy the property but said no.
My vote….have the property/building subdivided, appraised and put it on the market, surly some hot shot real-estate broker would list the property for free in hopes of getting that commission check when it sold.
JMHO
In response to the above comments about using the concrete around Roberts or even using Roberts itself for the ECTA tennis courts and building, that was suggested to ECTA last December and they flatly rejected it. The arguments were:
1. That is not where they wanted to be.
2. That the tennis building and additional courts would be too far away from the existing courts and players would not want to walk that far.
3. That the distance between the existing courts and the new ones would make managing lessons and tournaments harder.
I guess I am way out of touch, but I thought that tennis players were in good physical condition so a little walk would not be a problem. Heck they could even rent golf carts.
The fact that the Park Board did not insist on further investigations about the use of Roberts and/or its land for the ECTA seems to show that the PB has become a rubber stamp for those with money and connections. They certainly don’t seem inclined to represent the people on a lot of levels.
Thanks Marsha for taking a stand for the community and taxpayers.
For an Evansville government that has been trying to promote public/private partnership in many areas of government, this is one that should be supported. Partnerships from condos, golf courses, houses, driving ranges, and more have always been part of Evansville government at work. The Tennis Association have maintained and constructed numerous things at the park that the Park Department would never had done for all of Evansville residents to use.
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