Robinson: Here is the one everybody has been waiting for, the Evansville Redevelopment Commission. I think John Carter sent a letter of interest and everyone got a copy. He is here tonight, Mr. Carter could you come up? He currently serves on the board and in his letter he states that he is a business owner downtown, a member of the Memorial Community Development Corporation, a trustee and a deacon at Memorial Baptist Church and President of the ACT Neighborhood Association. He wants to continue to serve as one of our representatives on this board. Do you have any comments Mr. Carter?
John Jay Carter: Yes ma’am, I am not much of a public speaker so please forgive me. I have enjoyed the short ten years on the Evansville Redevelopment Commission. As I said in my letter, I am not a Vice President of a bank, just your average citizen. I do own some small businesses. I do have some vested interest in the future of Evansville because my family lives here. We have called this home since we moved here about twenty years ago. Probably one of the milestones that I saw with the ERC was not the arena, that was a great thing, but what really caught me off guard and really touched my heart was a young lady. She was an entrepreneur and she had an idea for a refreshment stand and she showed us her design and she actually built a refreshment stand, but the glow that she put out as she was realizing her dream of owning her own business and going to work for herself with this homemade refreshment stand that she put her time and effort and heart into doing, and the glow when she saw that we approved her to sell these refreshments in the downtown area. I said to myself that when we came to Evansville, the downtown area was run down. People were moving away and businesses were leaving the downtown area. Now a short eighteen years later, we have people putting their life savings into businesses and the opportunity to work for themselves and provide jobs, not the 500 jobs that Whirlpool had, but if you think about it if we had 100 such entrepreneurs that put five people to work, that’s saying something. I have enjoyed seeing people live their dreams.
Robinson: Thank you. The ERC has had some challenges and more will be there for 2012. What we are looking for is someone who will keep the City Council informed of what is going on and keep in contact with us. You are our voice on ERC. Are there any questions from Council?
Adams: Sir, do you have any suggestions on how we can help that problem get better? The time of day is inconvenient, 8:00 a.m. on Wednesdays. It’s hard for people to get down to see it. Maybe they could meet in the afternoon or is there some way you can get the board ….(inaudible)
Carter: 8:30 Tuesday. What I always advocate is setting times for important meetings for when people have the ability to come. I think 5:30 in the evening is a good time, that way most people have gotten off work, they’ve made sure children are home safely from school and they can come and participate. Not everyone can take off and come to an ERC meeting at 8:30 in the morning. I think we would have more community participation if we would do that.
Adams: Is it possible to change it?
Carter: Anything is possible and I would support it.
O’Daniel: Is it possible to do something where we have a video of it? That way the public would not have to rely on the paper or second hand version of it.
Carter: I would not be opposed to that at all. Again, I encourage it to be convenient for the public.
Friend: I talked to the Mayor and he is open to the YouTube and not only this but also all the other Committees. The Utility Board, Public Works, Safety, all of those will be put on YouTube. He is all for that and looking into it. It would be great. What is your email address?
Carter: It is jaycarter@insightbb.com It is funny that you mention that, I actually run the audio and video for our church and we post it on YouTube.
Brinkerhoff-Riley: I have a question. Given what has gone on and I admit that I have not delved into the details of the McCurdy, I know enough to be dangerous. My inclination would not be to retain anyone based on that, but I attended the meeting on December 28th and you voted to table the contract assignment. I was curious as to what your thinking was and frankly tell me none of my business, but I was curious.
Carter: That’s okay and I will be glad to share with you my thoughts. What I saw was a project that really went too long, I think four years. The extensions and I think that was a little too long. But what I really wanted to slow down was, we had a gentleman that came out of the blue that nobody really knew much about and no time to do any due diligence, research or look at the financials. I didn’t think it was a good time to vote on it, we need time to look at everything, make sure it is a right fit for Evansville. Make sure everything is there, I call it due diligence make sure his financials are in place. We wasted four years and let a building decay for four years that I didn’t see a problem with a few more weeks to make sure we do the right thing.
Brinkerhoff-Riley: Thank you and I appreciate it and I appreciated your vote on the 28th.
McGinn: Mr. Carter, it didn’t feel right and it didn’t make sense? Is that a fair statement?
Carter: Yes sir. It didn’t feel right and it didn’t make sense. I am in no hurry to make a mistake, never in a hurry to make a mistake.
Robinson: I know everybody has different names and if the individuals come up one at a time that are interested in this position, we will let them speak.
Mosby: I would like to ask Stan Wheeler to come forward, did everyone receive his resume?
Robinson: Mr. Wheeler, we know you, I think you are here more than some of us. Why don’t you tell us why you would like to be on the ERC.
Stan Wheeler: I was asked through the building trades to be their representative and look forward to help out. I have been a lifelong citizen of Evansville. I have raised my family here and my son is getting married this fall and hoping to continue with him raising his family here. I am at the point in my life where if somebody asks me to step up and help out that I am here to do that.
[snip]
_
We need to abolish the redevelopment commission, just like Jerry Brown did to redevelopment commissions statewide in California. They are one of the reasons that so many cities are facing bankruptcy. They are nothing more than an extension of the chamber of commerce.
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES: January 9th, 2012
[snip]
Robinson: Here is the one everybody has been waiting for, the Evansville Redevelopment Commission. I think John Carter sent a letter of interest and everyone got a copy. He is here tonight, Mr. Carter could you come up? He currently serves on the board and in his letter he states that he is a business owner downtown, a member of the Memorial Community Development Corporation, a trustee and a deacon at Memorial Baptist Church and President of the ACT Neighborhood Association. He wants to continue to serve as one of our representatives on this board. Do you have any comments Mr. Carter?
John Jay Carter: Yes ma’am, I am not much of a public speaker so please forgive me. I have enjoyed the short ten years on the Evansville Redevelopment Commission. As I said in my letter, I am not a Vice President of a bank, just your average citizen. I do own some small businesses. I do have some vested interest in the future of Evansville because my family lives here. We have called this home since we moved here about twenty years ago. Probably one of the milestones that I saw with the ERC was not the arena, that was a great thing, but what really caught me off guard and really touched my heart was a young lady. She was an entrepreneur and she had an idea for a refreshment stand and she showed us her design and she actually built a refreshment stand, but the glow that she put out as she was realizing her dream of owning her own business and going to work for herself with this homemade refreshment stand that she put her time and effort and heart into doing, and the glow when she saw that we approved her to sell these refreshments in the downtown area. I said to myself that when we came to Evansville, the downtown area was run down. People were moving away and businesses were leaving the downtown area. Now a short eighteen years later, we have people putting their life savings into businesses and the opportunity to work for themselves and provide jobs, not the 500 jobs that Whirlpool had, but if you think about it if we had 100 such entrepreneurs that put five people to work, that’s saying something. I have enjoyed seeing people live their dreams.
Robinson: Thank you. The ERC has had some challenges and more will be there for 2012. What we are looking for is someone who will keep the City Council informed of what is going on and keep in contact with us. You are our voice on ERC. Are there any questions from Council?
Adams: Sir, do you have any suggestions on how we can help that problem get better? The time of day is inconvenient, 8:00 a.m. on Wednesdays. It’s hard for people to get down to see it. Maybe they could meet in the afternoon or is there some way you can get the board ….(inaudible)
Carter: 8:30 Tuesday. What I always advocate is setting times for important meetings for when people have the ability to come. I think 5:30 in the evening is a good time, that way most people have gotten off work, they’ve made sure children are home safely from school and they can come and participate. Not everyone can take off and come to an ERC meeting at 8:30 in the morning. I think we would have more community participation if we would do that.
Adams: Is it possible to change it?
Carter: Anything is possible and I would support it.
O’Daniel: Is it possible to do something where we have a video of it? That way the public would not have to rely on the paper or second hand version of it.
Carter: I would not be opposed to that at all. Again, I encourage it to be convenient for the public.
Friend: I talked to the Mayor and he is open to the YouTube and not only this but also all the other Committees. The Utility Board, Public Works, Safety, all of those will be put on YouTube. He is all for that and looking into it. It would be great. What is your email address?
Carter: It is jaycarter@insightbb.com It is funny that you mention that, I actually run the audio and video for our church and we post it on YouTube.
Brinkerhoff-Riley: I have a question. Given what has gone on and I admit that I have not delved into the details of the McCurdy, I know enough to be dangerous. My inclination would not be to retain anyone based on that, but I attended the meeting on December 28th and you voted to table the contract assignment. I was curious as to what your thinking was and frankly tell me none of my business, but I was curious.
Carter: That’s okay and I will be glad to share with you my thoughts. What I saw was a project that really went too long, I think four years. The extensions and I think that was a little too long. But what I really wanted to slow down was, we had a gentleman that came out of the blue that nobody really knew much about and no time to do any due diligence, research or look at the financials. I didn’t think it was a good time to vote on it, we need time to look at everything, make sure it is a right fit for Evansville. Make sure everything is there, I call it due diligence make sure his financials are in place. We wasted four years and let a building decay for four years that I didn’t see a problem with a few more weeks to make sure we do the right thing.
Brinkerhoff-Riley: Thank you and I appreciate it and I appreciated your vote on the 28th.
McGinn: Mr. Carter, it didn’t feel right and it didn’t make sense? Is that a fair statement?
Carter: Yes sir. It didn’t feel right and it didn’t make sense. I am in no hurry to make a mistake, never in a hurry to make a mistake.
Robinson: I know everybody has different names and if the individuals come up one at a time that are interested in this position, we will let them speak.
Mosby: I would like to ask Stan Wheeler to come forward, did everyone receive his resume?
Robinson: Mr. Wheeler, we know you, I think you are here more than some of us. Why don’t you tell us why you would like to be on the ERC.
Stan Wheeler: I was asked through the building trades to be their representative and look forward to help out. I have been a lifelong citizen of Evansville. I have raised my family here and my son is getting married this fall and hoping to continue with him raising his family here. I am at the point in my life where if somebody asks me to step up and help out that I am here to do that.
[snip]
_
We need to abolish the redevelopment commission, just like Jerry Brown did to redevelopment commissions statewide in California. They are one of the reasons that so many cities are facing bankruptcy. They are nothing more than an extension of the chamber of commerce.
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