IS IT TRUE that the proposed downtown developers, the Mayor and members of the local unions are meeting this morning to discuss the plans of the new convention hotel?…it would be nice if the Mayor would provide the media with detail notes on what was decided at this closed door session that the people business was discussed?…the only thing certain is that the unions will be pushing for this project to be a prevailing wage job governed by a contractual Project Labor Agreement (PLA) just like the Ford Center was?
IS IT TRUE that members of Evansville City Council are invited by the Mayor to visit the developers of the proposed downtown convention hotel today between the hours of 2 to 4 this afternoon?…that all the city council members received an invitation to attend except 6th Ward City Councilman, Al Lindsey?…maybe the reason why he didn’t receive an invitation to attend a backroom-one on one meeting with the hotel developers is because Councilman Lindsey is opposed to use taxpayers to help pay for this project?…we wish members of Evansville City Council would decline this invitation to attend this back room-closed door session and ask the developer to make his presentation in a public forum? …we feel that the people’s business should be discussed in public?…if Mayor Winnecke is trying to spare the developers the news that the City Council is not all in his pocket and on board with his agenda that is quite paternalistic of the Mayor?…these developers if they are the right developers a big boys and have dealt with adversarial opinions before?…the records show they even had adversaries in their hometown of Branson, Missouri before, during, and after the Branson Landings project?…if this developer is to become a hotel operator or even a property owner in Evansville it would be of value for them to learn both sides of Evansville as opposed to the sunshine and lollypops tour that sparing them from meeting an adversary will amount to.
IS IT TRUE the National Association of Basketball Coaches has named former Evansville Aces head coach Jim Crews their national coach of the year?…this is the same Jim Crews that was given a nudge to leave Evansville after only going to March Madness 4 times and the NIT 2 times during his 17 years here?…Crews led the St. Louis University Billikens to their first 28 win season before falling in the tournament?…we wish to congratulate Coach Crews on his big accomplishment after leaving Evansville and would recommend him for a new sort of Evansville Hall of Fame for educated professionals that escaped?…when it comes to the won-loss columns the grass did not turn out to be so green after the departure of Coach Crews?
IS IT TRUE that in the years 1980 and 1986 the University of Louisville won the NCAA basketball championship?…following each of those championships in 1981 and 1987 the successor to Louisville was none other than the Indiana Hoosiers?…last night the Cardinals cut down the nets for the 2013 NCAA championship in Atlanta?…if history repeats itself 2014 could very well be the Hoosiers year to cut down another net and hang another banner in the IU Assembly Hall?
I want to clarify some points that our fine finance chair made last night concerning the new Redevelopment Commission member. First of all, the CGMA is a scam set up by the AICPA. It’s a new certification that only requires you to be an AICPA member and to pay an annual fee. NO EXAMINATION whatsoever is required! Secondly, she worked at Harding. Harding employs the same buffoons who were payed hundreds of thousands of dollars and still couldn’t reconcile the City’s books.
It’s not hard to figure out Al’s position, here are his own words…
“The other thing that bothers me is that the Mayor has announced his intention to go to each member of the City Council on an individual basis to talk them into what he wants to do. It is not his place to sell each member of the City Council in a series of private meetings. It is his place to make a public presentation before the City Council and to make his best case on why he made this decision in a vacuum and why it is best for Evansville. This presentation should include an overview of just why the chosen proposal is better than the other two complete with the public funding requirements of each.”
So it would appear that Al only makes decisions based on information he gets at City Council meetings. He does not read outside press reports, talk to other people, read studies or use other sources. He only decides based on what is in the public meeting. Al will just wait to attend the Public Redevelopment meeting or a council meeting and see what is said there.
Let us line up to see what money can be doled out at this latest conjob!!!!!!
Lindsey will cave on the Hotel just like he did on the landlord database tax. Anyone want to start a pool on when that will happen?
Brad I think your wrong , al knows right from wrong and building a hotel with taxpayer money is wrong
He said the same thing about the landlord tax (let’s be honest, that’s what it was). He made a grand statement about it, with which I agreed, then allowed himself to be swayed by the mob, even without seeing the specifics of the final plan.
Respect is something that is hard won and easily lost.
I believe Mr. Lindsey will not flip-flop or be intimidated by the Mayor. Mr. Lindsey has been right as rain on most issues.
Lindsey did not cave on the landlord database ordinance the one he voted for was changed to a landlord registry from a license and from a $50.00 yearly fee to no fees at all, try to at least blog with a small amount of knowledge about the subject that you are blogging about. Lindsey worked hard behind the scenes to change this ordinance to something that made sense. Using your position to change something from bad to good and supporting the good is called being a good public servant.
I am familiar with how that went down. The fact remains, he caved on the principle. He allowed the local government the power to create a superfluous database that will be funded with a tax in the form of $100 a day non-compliance fines.
His stated reasons for opposing the ordinance in the first place included the assault on the liberties of local property owners. $100 fines for non-compliance still offends that principle for which Lindsay asserted his support.
He caved.
Elections are held every 4 years will your name be on the ballot since you seem to have a complete grasp of how every elected official should vote. Put your money where your mouth is run in 2015. Talk is cheap, step up.
I was on the ballot last time for a Party position. I may be again for something else, you never know.
I fail to see how Al Lindsey caving on the database issue has anything to do with whether or not I run for an office. Anyway, I’m not an enemy of Mr. Lindsey. I agree he’s been good on a lot of things. I just think he reneged on the database because of pressure from people who were sold a bill of goods. His fortitude was tested and it failed. The final ordinance (which was so rushed it wasn’t even prepared in full by the time of the meeting) I would argue was as bad or worse than the original.
Al will not cave in. Al does know right from wrong. Upon valuating all the facts–he will conclude Evansville does need a downtown hotel to attract convention business to our city. Therefore Al will vote yes because in this a situation because there is no other way to get a hotel built next to Ford Center/Centre.
A Taxpayer owned hotel, what a concept, lets build one in Las Vegas too, it’s what Taxes are for right? Washington idiots have got nothing on our Leaders. what a Community, what we really need is a Debt Clock like the National one. It would be nice if we could print money like they do, but oh well, our residents got the money, full speed ahead the Elitists are waiting.
Fact: Wrong or Right—Taxpayers have a huge investment in the Ford Center and the Centre. Another unfortunate fact is this $200 million +/- investment in these two facilities is at a very big risk of going belly-up without the hotel. It may be an ugly baby– but it is our baby.
This sounds something that Wayne Parke would post.
If so I do agree with his post.
“I am in blood, Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o’erâ€
– Macbeth
The textbook definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different result. Doing the correct thing will be hard, no doubt, but take a lesson from Macbeth. To “go o’er”, while less tedious, was still wrong.
Billy, The Centre has been in the Red and remains a drag on the Public Treasury, the total now stands at $7 million and counting. This is in spite of the fact of a hotel and skywalk connected to it, pray tell, Why Do You Expect a Different Result Now?
The argument there goes we needed a “better” hotel, that the Exec was dilapidated, which makes about as much sense as the argument claiming Roberts was not viable and in need of too much repair to salvage.
This current situation has nothing to do with Roberts Stadium. The Ford Center may or may not should have been built. But it was built. It is now sunk money. One cannot change that fact. You must play the cards you got and try to make the best of a bad situation. Unfortunately you got to put more money in the pot to stand a chance to win/recover from your huge investment. If we do not–we are for sure dead. Build the hotel and hope for the best.
Good money after bad is no way to do business and you know it. This is just a cop out for a dumb government official’s mindset.
Well the City failed to exercise proper birth control and are stuck with a disfunctional baby. What should have been aborted now should be put up for adoption. Hopefully an administration that does not worship entertainment will run this place someday. The decisions of the last 2 administrations are mind boggling when it comes to stupidity.
Maybe we should consider selling it, paying off the bond holders and getting our politicians out of the entertainment business for good. Just a thought.
I realize the idea of large civic auditoriums and coliseums goes back to Roman times, but it is an idea forged in an imperialist state, not one that should have carried over into a free republic. America is a capitalist society based on principles of entrepreneurship and freedom. From the highest levels of federal government to the lowest levels of city government, we should prize these principles which built this country, yet we do not. Even the common man takes it as read now that city government should be in the entertainment business without question.
Why is it no one questions this premise anymore? The City of Evansville once had The Coliseum, which if memory serves, was funded in a similar fashion to today’s Ford Center, yet around that same time, in spite of having a much smaller population, downtown Evansville managed to support several other theater venues, including the Victory, completely with private funds. Today, every major venue for live entertainment has been usurped by city government. In fact, I cannot think of a solitary exception. The movie theaters do a good trade presumably and maintain large entertainment facilities privately, but they do not support live shows.
Whatever the government gets into, it monopolizes. It’s time we stop just accepting this is ok. Again, that’s just a thought, but what the hell do I know.
Who would buy it? If there is a buyer–sell!
Maybe the hotel people would….not a chance.
Hell, the developers for the hotel won’t even buy the hotel without a $40 Million government handout. Fat chance on them or any other sane person buying the Centre or the Ford Center. I doubt if you could get even $5 Million in the private market for a package deal for both of them. Yet our lamebrain city thinks they got a deal at $200 Million. How stupid is that? By the way, if you think a hotel is the magic bullet to make the Centre and Ford profitable you are seriously deranged.
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