IS IT TRUE? December 19, 2011 “The Last Dance of the Puppet Council”

25


IS IT TRUE? December 19, 2011

IS IT TRUE that tonight will be the last meeting of the Evansville City Council for 2011?…that this will be the last time that Councilmen Curt John, Don Walker, B. J. Watts, and Councilwoman Wendy Bredhold will ever have to endure one of these meetings again?…that as their last act as members of the City Council it seems as though they are being asked to be the last rubber stamp on the cram through of the deal between the Evansville Redevelopment Commission to contract the Kunkel Group to build and operate a new downtown Convention Hotel?…that the language that these members of Council and the five incumbents who will be returning will have to vote Yeh or Nay on is as follows:

RESOLUTION C-2011-40 (DOCKET) SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 FRIEND

A Resolution of the City of Evansville, Indiana, Affirming the City of Evansville, Indiana, Redevelopment Commission’s Determination to move forward with the Downtown Hotel Development through the negotiation and completion by the City of Evansville, Indiana, Redevelopment Commission of definitive agreement addressing the matters set forth in a proposed Memorandum of Understanding, and related matters

IS IT TRUE that there are those who will say that since the Memorandum of Understanding announced by Mayor Weinzapfel last Friday explicitly states that it is non-binding and has no legal standing that tonight’s vote will also be non-binding with no legal standing?…that reading that over would cause one to say “not so fast” with that assumption?…that what passing this measure does is grants implied and explicit approval for the ERC and the Mayor of Evansville to finalize a binding agreement based on the incentives outlined in the MOU without having to come back to the Evansville City Council for affirmation or approval?…that this resolution as written commits the funding as it has been set forth in the MOU as having Evansville City Council approval?…that passing this tonight will not only be an affront to the newly elected Winnecke Administration but it deprives the next City Council of the opportunity to do a little vetting of their own?…that doing something like this that provides Mayor Weinzapfel and his puppets on the ERC a clear path to craft a binding agreement before the end of the year is the height of irresponsibility?

IS IT TRUE that incumbent members elect of the Evansville City Council Dan McGinn, Connie Robinson, Missy Mosby, Dr. Dan Adams, and especially John Friend, CPA need to take time to decide if they will join this last dance of the puppets and participate in jamming this through at the last hour or if they will start their duties as part of the Winnecke Administration tonight?…that the resolution may be subject to modification tonight that could make it less of a blank check for Mayor Weinzapfel’s last act?…that we are sitting on pins and needles to see if the puppetmaster can get one last dance out of his collection of 5 marionettes?

IS IT TRUE that whether they believe it or acknowledge it tonight’s vote will be what this Evansville City Council will be remembered for?…that the time is today to forever seal their legacy as puppets or to wake up and stand with the people of Evansville for accountability in government finance?…that Mole #44 tells us that Councilman Curt John was overheard at lunch jovially saying that tonight’s City Council meeting will be over in time to see the IU game in full?

IS IT TRUE that multiple Moles have provided us with links to the Vanderburgh County Assessor’s website that indicates that the Kunkel Group and Renaissance on Main are delinquent on property taxes?…that Kunkel officials have assured us that the taxes have been “paid for weeks” and that the Assessor’s website is not up to date?…that we do have an inquiry in to verify that?

UPDATE @ 4:29

IS IT TRUE that the CCO has confirmed with Vanderburgh County Treasurer Rick Davis that the taxes on the 4 propertied that the Assessor’s website indicates are in default WERE PAID BY THE KUNKEL GROUP ON DECEMBER 2, 2011 ALONG WITH THE 5% PENALTY FOR BEING LATE?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

25 COMMENTS

  1. Tonight Curt John retires without his political crown of ethics, credibility, honesty and dignity. One day he is going to wake up from his poitical coma and realize that all he has worked for in the last 20 years as a public servant is gone due to his backroom dealings with the mayor and the unions. Tune into WNIN at 5:00 tonight to see Evansville’s most famous political @&**% (City Councilman Curt John) walk out of City Council chambers for the last time EVER!

    • elf,
      If any of the bloggers on the CCO or the Courier would do a Freedom of Information request from the state fire marshal and the Evansville fire inspector’s office, the information one would find in the Maingate Sport’s Bar file regarding their opening would be extremely revealing. Or so I hear from very reliable sources who were directly involved in the inspection process.

    • I hope that 2nd Ward City Councilwoman Missy Mosby is not waitressing if that place ever catches fire. How can she still draw unemployment benefits if she is working numerous nights for her political buddy Curt John at Maingate Bar?

      Oh I get it, this makes Mosby a good candidate for Vectren….they love hiring political show-ponies.

    • Is this the same Curt John that Connie Robinson just called “the Godfather”? Heck maybe Curt was the puppet master all along to earn a name like “the Godfather” from “the Godmother” herself. Wouldn’t you like to give those two panhandlers a lie detector test about all the back door dealings they have been involved with.

  5. I am very glad to hear that this will be Mr. Watts’ last meeting. The talking and complaining at work about him has reached an all-time high. Nobody wants to deal with him anymore and to be quite frank I don’t blame them. He has brought nothing but shame to his ward and this city.

        • The reference was directed at Mr Lindsey…..who will be a thorn in the side of the council incumbents along with Brinkerhof-Riley…we can only hope they will give councilman Adams a little backing against the drones….time will tell.

          JMHO

          • Thanks for interpretating my comments for me.

            However, I don’t think he will so much of a thorn as he will be an embarassment.

          • You should stick to the small words such as thorn because the big words seem to give you trouble. What exactly does interpretating mean anyway. I can’t find it in my dictionary.

        • There will be no puppet master after January 1 as their was no puppet master prior to January 1.

          Is it not possible to think through something and come up with the same conclusion as somebody else. Is it not possible to be working towards the goal and to see the same big picture?

          • The short answer is of course yes, but if you paid attention to Mr McGinn Monday night you would have witnessed independent rational thinking….sometimes the big picture is nothing more than a illusion of smoke and mirrors.

            The bigger issue for the council is public perception, would you rather be looked upon as buffoons or good public stewards?….but then there are only a few on the council that care about how the are perceived by the public, the remainder do not consider the public their peers (or employers) and only care about the perception of the other council members which creates a rubber stamp mentality.

            Bottom line…the true big picture is not the issues you face as a council member, it’s the people you were elected to serve, if you look at an issue and see the same thing as everyone else your either not trying hard enough or you can’t see the forest for the trees….as they say every issue has two sides.

            Granted most issues are no-brainers but when you have someone stand in front of you and ask that you vote yea on a issue that has no purpose (the MOU) you should as Mr McGinn did scratch your head and ask why.

            JMHO

          • It seems to me that the last time there was a “no meaning” vote asked of the city council, it was questioned and given a resounding NO vote by Ms. Bredhold and Mr Walker.

            It was about a year ago and had something to do with not making any more large changes or committing to large spending until after the hotel by the Centre was completed.

            Where were they on this “no meaning” vote? And I really do wonder what Dan Adams thought processes were on this. Would like to hear from him.

          • 292….

            I agree I’d like to hear from Mr Adams also, if I had to guess he was bamboozled or baffled with BS if you follow me, how’d you like the property tax question deflection by Kunkel’s lawyer? every council member should have already known the answer to that question and used the answer to judge intent.

            JMHO

            • The Treasurer’s office told us that the taxes on the four properties that we called about were all paid on December 2nd. None of the four were the two contested assessments that were disclosed at the City Council meeting.

  6. Thanks, Curt for your 16 years on City Council and your service to Vanderburgh County which started in 1974. You have done a lot for the City as well as the County and those of us who live here are indebted.

      • Its that “someday I may come to you and ask a favor, that day may never come,but if it does I would appreciate it very much if you would oblige me” speech that caused this poor drones indebtedness.

  7. If the Kunkels build this hotel i do beleive the end is near. The city needs to do open their eyes and really think about this.

Comments are closed.