Evansville Redevelopment Commission: Meeting Agenda 10/4/2011

1. They did a great job with the McCurdy condos with 2 private parking lots and the 3 star hotel connected by skywalks to both the Center and the new Ford Center. Keep up the good work ERC!

2. Has anyone heard if Mr. Friend has been able to catch his breath after having all the building trade unions wrap their fingers around his throat and kindly suggest that he “go with the flow” if he wished to be re-elected? It appears as if “the flow” has changed direction once again with concern to a special little project that has been haunting the citizens for quite sometime now. If someone looked up the definition of an ohm yesterday it would have had a picture of Mr. friend towering over a Hyatt Place snatching votes as they pass by in the breeze. However, if you looked it up today it would have a picture of him on his knees in front of a half dozen of the most powerful people in your local area crying for forgiveness. Don’t be fooled, he has an agenda just like the rest of them…………

   • You Jack are one of the most the most interesting comment writers that we have. Please do elaborate.

     • How many building trade unions are there in or around Evansville? How many members does each local have? What would the sum be if you added all the members together? Name another group of individuals in the county that would exceed that number and are united? How many of these locals submitted approval letters to The Kunkel Group that were included in their proposal? Are there any other 30 million dollar jobs on the horizon? Do the unions need this job to be pushed thru? Would the support of these locals be instrumental in being elected? Would it be the kiss of death if this support were to be pulled? How many of the current elected officials had the support of the unions in your area? Just things to think about……….

       • actually the new Duke plant in Edwardsport is gonna provide the union craftsmen employment for the next several years, as is the Evansville sewer job and the pollution upgrades to many of the area power plants. I agree that Friend needs the endorsement of the local unions but the hotel downtown isn’t going to employ a major number of the union members and won’t really last very long compared to other work that is opening up in the area.

       • Jack, just to clarify: you are calling Councilman Friend out for recommending that the Hotel project be vetted ? You are suggesting that the labor unions will withhold their endorsements if Friend continues to push for a full vetting, and not “go with the flow”? Isn’t this the same hotel which has already failed to find financing TWICE previously, and isn’t this the same hotel for which you assigned a 100% chance of going in to bankruptcy for the “winning” developer ? Keep up the good work, Councilman Friend (and hopefully his brethren on the Council), and stick to your guns !! Mafia-style tactics by the labor unions, who could have imagined ? Maybe this really is “Little Chicago”

         • No, I am not calling him out for suggesting that a vetting process should be employed. I am however calling him out for the motives behind it. It has been suggested by some that he has intended on voting for the hotel all along. However, he has made a big scene out of it to simply make it appear as though he is doing something for Evansville to curry favor among the voters. A vetting process is an absolute waste of your time and money considering a soft decision was made prior to the vetting process commencing. The process has been nothing more than smoke and mirrors to silence the nay sayers. By the way, the only guns Mr. Friend has to stick to are cap guns. If he was really interested in attempting to make the project work he would have suggested a vetting process a couple years ago. Yes, I can say with certainty that this project is a bust.

3. There is little doubt in my mind, that it would be in the Citizens best interests, if The City Council would have some Fresh Faces after this coming Election.

4. The Edwardsport Plant is slated to come online in 2012 and is nearing completion, Warrick and Culley already have scrubbers installed, the Rockport Plant is currently back in litigation attempting to have the lawsuit reversed that mandated having scrubbers in sevice by 2016 on unit 1 and 2017 on unit 2, and the Gibson Plant has just recently had scrubbers installed, I am pretty sure that AB Brown already has scrubbers too. As for the the sewer job in Evansville, I can’t speak with certainty however I would speculate that it will not employ a large number individuals. I would say that your hotel at its height will employ ~ 300 union personnel and will last for between 12 and 18 months. I would say that is significant and judging by some of the events that have unfolded in the past couple days there are a few other folks that think it is too.

   • If our commander in chief had his way we would have to install scrubbers and SCR’s on our chimneys and that would create an enormous amount of work nation wide…..,

   • Can you name another council member who has brought opposition to the table concerning the project?

5. Mr. Wallace where are you? I would have guessed you would have chimed in by now.

   • Hi Jack. Out of town and too busy to address your questions. Other than knowing what an ohm is and trying to visualize what you say about Councilman Friend I do not have much to add to the conversation. I really do not have much information about local trade unions. I am learning from you so please do continue.

     Do you think Mr. Friend should go with the flow or continue trying to help with the vetting process?

     • If he has any hope of re-election he should “go with the flow”. I am of the understanding that he intends to do just that and very quickly I might add.

       • Jack, what form would “going with the flow” take ? Would Mr. Friend issue a letter saying ” My bad !”, that no further vetting is required ? The ERC has already awarded two contracts for the vetting of the hotel. Are they to stop in their tracks after Mr. Friend has the “change of heart” you are alleging ? If Mr. Friend were a good politician, he would could the number of union people in 5th Ward who are swayed by their leadership vs. the number of people in 5th Ward who are willing to vote for a financial guy trying to dig in against the status quo ?

         To your earlier post: yes, “the project” (Arena) is a bust. It will NOT breakeven, and it will not change the downtown dynamic. It truly is a “replacement for Roberts Staudium”. “the project” (Hotel) is a bust in the first two rounds. I believe that Mr. Friend is tired of not getting listened to by the Mayor (but I’ll let him speak for himself on that detail), and the drive for vetting is in the effort to avoid a 3rd round bust, which would be fatal (and then the Arean is really in long-term trouble).

         • Nope, no need for a letter, merely resting his opposition and simple yea will suffice. I truly wish I could say more concerning the subject however that would be risky. If I could push the rewind button and start from the conception point every reader on here would vomit. Just out of curiosity are doubting my “suggestion” concerning what has transpired?

       • If you want to live here, You’ve got to love the “Or Else” politics that are played out in this town by a group of arrogant bastards.

         I’d advise you to Head on out folks, your wasteing your time expecting Evansville, and it’s “Or Else” thuggery to change.

6. To Jack and you others. The RFP makes it clear that local labor is to be used on the hotel and that prevailing wages must be paid. That my friends is code for unions. Both Kunkel and Prime have to live by those rules so the unions have no reason to give a hoot about who gets the deal.

   What the unions should want is the assurance that there is a deal to be done. The only way the unions do not get this work is if there is no hotel. Jack, I believe that you are the guy that posted that there may not be a hotel and have been the loudest cat in club to state that the developer is destined for bankruptcy.

   By the way, I do seem to remember Kunkel getting picketed for using non-union workers on his condo building. Why would the unions support a company that they picketed?

   The Chickens are all Coming Home to Roost!

7. Man oh man…..it is eating me alive………I would love so much to tell the WHOLE story ! Then and only then would you folks understand how things really work. It could almost be compared to The Wizard of Oz…….

   • Wanna do an article for the CCO?

     • Would like to put I am not willing to put myself out there in that fashion. I have to much to lose.

       • What Mole Number would you like to be. We protect our sources.

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