Full Text of former Mayor’s Statement
At the June 10 meeting of the Evansville City Council, Councilman John Friend stated that the Mayor Lloyd Winnecke Administration “inherited a mess†with regard to city finances.
We have been hearing this type of inflammatory rhetoric for 18 months. It is time for John Friend to provide substance to his allegations because I can only guess to what he is referring to.
He may be talking about problems encountered with the adoption of a new financial software system to replace a 25-year old system that had city government operating in the Stone Age. Although my Administration and the Winnecke Administration had difficulty converting the data from the old system to the new, the books were finally balanced and no irregularities were found. Throughout this process, the City maintained its very strong bond rating. But, that is old news.
So…what else could it be?
My administration left city finances in a better position than what we inherited. In fact, due to strong management and the willingness to make tough decisions, the combined cash balances in the general fund and parks fund went from $2.7 million when I took office in January 2004 to $7.6 million when I left office in December 2011. This represents a 180 percent increase.
The City completed and opened the new Ford Center on time and on budget. Its operations were left in sound hands with VenuWorks.
We brokered a deal with a developer to build a new convention hotel in downtown.
We put together a program with Johnson Controls to establish city-wide wifi and create a fiber optic network that offered tremendous economic development opportunities.
We had engineers working on plans to complete the Greenway project within the city.
The Arts District and Front Door Pride programs were going strong with additional money approved to continue the transformation of the area and local banks ready to commit millions of dollars in mortgage loans for market rate residential investment.
And, the list goes on.
What is clear to me is that Friend’s focus on the past and his inflammatory rhetoric have brought all progress in the city to a grinding halt. Our community needs leaders focused on a positive future or we will descend into mediocrity.
Jonathan Weinzapfel
Weinzapfel must be on crack if he believes his own statement. Typical politician at his worst trying to rewrite history with distortion and lies.
“Our community needs leaders focused on a positive future or we will descend into mediocrity.” That is a true statement Mr. Weinzapfel— but you did not measure up to that standard.
John Friend got it correct when he said “….Mayor Lloyd Winnecke Administration “inherited a mess†with regard to city finances.”
I do not comment often but I could not let this one go. I agree with you Billybob and EvilleWatcher. I wonder what color the sky is though those glasses Mr. Weinzapel must be wearing. My guess would be rose colored.
Winnecke inherited a disaster then proceeded to make it even worse by making every incorrect decision possible.
Brad–You hurt your credibility when make such stong incorrect statement like this.
You have long established yourself to be a Winnecke defender. Credibility = Gone
I don’t think so. I think I hurt the old boy Republican network’s who are so inept and lacking in principles one cannot distinguish our local Party from the Democrats, but my credibility, and more importantly my principles, remain firmly intact. I might be brash, crude and inconsiderate to the feelings of others and political considerations, but I call ’em like I see ’em.
“….I call ‘em like I see ‘em.”
Brad—Have you had your eyes checked lately?
I’ve had Lasik done, actually. This Mayor had a chance to sell Roberts and put the people of Evansville ahead by $10 million plus whatever we could get for the property at auction and he wants to build a doggy park instead. He could have killed the $56 million JCI deal, but he appealed, and by so doing he lost the moral high ground and the ability to say “this was Wienzap’s deal”. And don’t get me started on Earthcare… That was a deal so utterly ill-conceived, he might as well have invested in perpetual motion machines from Gadzooks!
About the only thing I’ve seen this jackass accomplish is picking up some trash and making some chicken fat vids. Why don’t you educate me if you think I’m so wrong?
Wienie-Boy duh Mayor would have bankrupted the City of Evansville for his own personal financial gain if he had the brains to do so, which of course, he didn’t.
And he ought to get down on his hands and knees every night and thank the Devil Himself that he isn’t already in Federal Prison.
The recent SBOA audit stated that the Arena was NOT on budget ! Why does JW keep insisting it was ?
When will JW come out and declare that the Holocaust did not occur (more revisionist history) ?
The ego of politicians is unlimited.
JW simply the Worst Mayor ever!
People that are corrupt get frustrated by the truth. They cannot stand the lights being turned on.
It is the ninety-nine percent, of bad lawyers, that make the rest look bad. …
If he considers Front Door Pride a success he must be on meth!
“He (Friend) may be talking about problems encountered with the adoption of a new financial software system to replace a 25-year old system that had city government operating in the Stone Age.” (Jonathan Weinzapfel)
* * * * * * * *
In the “Stone Age” they were able to balance the books. Friend called it right, the new administration inherited a mess, and it continues to be a mess.
Weinzapfel seems to have had little concern for proper financial reporting. The six years of contracts, starting with 2006, between his city administration and SM&G Inc. for the management of the city’s entertainment facilities evidently never saw either audit or independent reviews as required by the Indiana State Board of Accounts. This is an even more egregious violation than not supervising a smooth transition to the new MUNIS financial software, which other cities have also had problems in implementing.
I believe that the State Board of Accounts also bears some responsibility for not being more vocal about the various statutory violations during the Weinzapfel years. How many times do you cite the same audit exceptions, year after year, before you take some sort of punitive action?
___
Once a conman and crook the lies will never stop!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
“We brokered a deal with a developer to build a new convention hotel in downtown.”
Former Mayor Attacks Councilman John Friend
Attacks? Really? What happened to your usual slant of posting things “without bias or interpretation”
Oh wait? I forgot which hypocrites I was posting to. And as usual, you will not have the guts to let this comment stand.
This comment and your long one yesterday with your little “in your face CCO” both are allowed to stand without opinion, edit, or bias. Whether you call yourself WOW or OhWOW that IP address remains the same. If you were to call yourself Jonathan David on that IP we would know your agenda too.
Well, golly-gee, thanks!
Agenda? You sound like Fox Mulder from the X-Files (yeah, I used a Fox reference)
Former Mayor Attacks Councilman John Friend
Attacks? Really? What happened to your usual slant of posting things “without bias or interpretationâ€
Oh wait? I forgot which hypocrites I was posting to. And as usual, you will not have the guts to let this comment stand.
and now your third message from your third screen name is allowed to stand. We only look at IP addresses when someone gets “in our face” with denegrating comments.
PS: Thank for letting us know you track the IP addresses of people you disagree with.
Now who has the agenda?
Your agenda yesterday was to get the former Mayor’s statement in the CCO. We just helped you by posting it. Congratulations your achieved your goal.
In that case, “Thank You” and “You’re Welcome”
“Put it before them briefly so they will read it, clearly so they will appreciate it, picturesquely so they will remember it and, above all, accurately so they will be guided by its light”
Joseph Pulitzer, American publisher, 1847-1911
When you beat the public over the head with a “slant”, they become suspicious of “The Agenda”. You accuse me of having an “agenda”, a “goal” and that I “got in your face”, but as Shakespeare said in Hamlet, you “doth protest too much, methinks”
Technically that would be “methinks [you] doth protest too much,” in the interest of not misquoting The Bard.
Brad
The quotation is actually “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” comes from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act III, scene II, where it is spoken by Queen Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother. But I did not want to make any gender jokes on the anonymous “editor”
I know what it’s from. I misremembered it for some reason. Though “methinks” was at the beginning of the phrase. I stand corrected. The “[you]” was inserted to replace “the lady”, that’s why it was in brackets.
Stick a fork in Wienie-Boy—he’s done!
Almost forgot the $600,000 parking lot the City bought from John Dunn for the luxury condos at the historic McCurdy Hotel.
Comments are closed.