IS IT TRUE December 29, 2014

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IS IT TRUE WHEN THE PEOPLE FEAR THE GOVERNMENT THERE IS TYRANNY? …WHEN THE GOVERNMENT FEARS THE PEOPLE THERE IS LIBERTY?

IS IT TRUE that during the Christmas holiday the shots fired count in Evansville continues to roll up the numbers in what has turned out to be the year of the bullet in Evansville?…this time the shots actually rang out and hit the Lincoln Elementary School which was recently in the headlines for getting an F for six years in a row for academic performance?…Lincoln was criticized harshly by the Indiana State Board of Education, that turned and ran like a rabbit running from a wolf when it came to taking over the failing school?…in all fairness with the violence, the bullets, and the atmosphere in that neighborhood it is a wonder these children have enough security in their lives to learn their ABCs?…we really wish we had an answer to this problem and to the other situations in Evansville that are heading down this path?…it may be time to close Lincoln and get these children out of there and into a secure atmosphere where they can learn?…it is not worth experimenting with a failed educational system to the point that a generation of children is rendered incapable of taking advantages of the educational opportunities that America is supposed to offer?

IS IT TRUE in what was one of the most chilling string of words uttered in Evansville in recent history, an accused shooter intimated that he would be emulating the murder of two New York City policemen and “put some wings on pigs” right here in Evansville?…this is the kind of attitude that accelerates the decline of schools like Lincoln and acts as repellent to people considering living in Evansville or refurbishing older homes in challenged areas?…arenas, hotels, and other fun and games distractions from the realities that need to be fixed?…the claim that this is “a great place to raise kids” is literally an insulting platitude when you examine life just a short walk from the 4 time failed hotel project?

IS IT TRUEit has been reported that the advocates for a downtown hotel have decided after 6 years of failures to “think for a couple of weeks” before trying something else?…we are certainly pleased to hear that the light bulb has finally turned on among that trinity of geniuses?…here are some hints that these people should be considering?…downsizing the number of rooms to the 150 that private investors said downtown Evansville could support is the first step?…they should also make sure that the design is expandable should the concept actually work?…the assertion that the room number has to be 240+ to attract any conventions is simply nonsense and this assumption more than any other has prevented success in finding a qualified developer of means?…the second thing to consider is to find a mechanism for a future developer to monetize an incentive so that no up front public dollars are needed?…something magical happens when direct subsidies are eliminated?…that gets rid of Davis Bacon jurisdiction over the project and gets rid of the Project Labor Agreement (PLA)?…that gets rid of prevailing wages and the crushing paperwork requirements that come with them?…if our elected leaders will bite the bullet and completely restructure the financial package they will most likely find success?…if they just do the same thing they have been for 6’years, another failure is on the horizon?

IS IT TRUE we checked the attendance numbers for the Evansville Icemen and learned that while falling slightly the Icemen are holding onto an attendance that is about 4,500 people per game?…as we are aware that free passes are about as hard to get ones hands on as litter in downtown Evansville what would be really interesting would be the paid attendance?…the Evansville Aces also seem to have stabilized in attendance to slightly under the 4,500 that the Icemen draw?…the Aces best year for attendance at Ford Center is still lower than their worst year at Roberts Stadium?…it seems that shiny objects with unrealistic projections like the Ford Center always seem to lose their luster when the golden shovels have been put away?…is there any accountability for the team that fluffed up the Ford Center projections to pull the wool over the taxpayer’s eyes?…the answer is NO?

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30 COMMENTS

  1. Tearing down Roberts Stadium was a bad idea and building the Fraud Center downtown was even worse. The people who were behind this idea have really NOT served Evansville, IN well.

    • The prime mover in scuttling Robert’s was Steve Bagbey, and I see that he is still being appointed to city boards and commissions. Shameful!

      • We’re on the same sheet about this guy. I remember his song about the fraud center, he kept singing the same tune, “just build it”. He was convincing about the great earthscam deal, wonder if Connor still listens to him?

  2. I beg to differ on “pulling the wool over the Taxpayer’s eyes” premise.
    What we got was a Snegal move to put “The John” in a TIF area, thus avoiding the
    State Law mandating a voter referendum on Projects with a cost of over $10Million dollars.
    The Elitiest Politicos were running scared that they COULDN’T pull the wool over the Voters eyes(scrutiny), and it would be voted down by the Peasants.
    Former Mayor McDonald had a rejection by the Voters concerning his Victory Theater plans(and bail out of a crony’s crumbling former hotel property), –so he went around the public sentiment and bonded the project thru the Parks Dept.
    King Weinzapfel took note of that you can be sure, thus Snegal came into play, and the Peasants be damned.
    Snegal,—Pretty much how the Elitiest’s “geniuses” have always run/controlled Evansville.

    • I believe you are mistaken about the TIF district requirements. The requirements do not mention a TIF district. The state law requires the approval of the appropriate ELECTED body for ALL projects costing $5 million or more. There is no requirement for a public referendum for city or county projects.

      You may be thinking of the budget busting school projects.

      • A State Law passed in 2008 setting property caps also included a provision that requires a Referendum Vote on all Capital projects over $12 Million.
        So I was wrong it’s not $10 Million, and you are wrong about the Law being in place.
        I repeat,–the TIF designation for the area including “The John” allowed an exemption from the Referendum Vote requirement, and that’s how the Public took it on the chin.

    • I believe you are mistaken about the TIF district requirements. The requirements do not mention a TIF district. The state law requires the approval of the appropriate ELECTED body for ALL projects costing $5 million or more. There is no requirement for a public referendum for city or county projects.

      You may be thinking of the budget busting school projects.

      The proposed baseball stadium was not stopped by a popular vote of the voters. Rusty caved in to the sentiment of the voters.

      • Rusty caved because Weinzapfel made his waste of $1M on the study into an election issue. How ironic for a guy who went on to sneak through a failed arena at 5 times the cost if a baseball stadium.

  3. This is U of E’s year . . . .they will be this year’s Wichita State, and shall make it to Final 4. We will soon see that JW was a genius, Ford Center will be SRO for all of the remainder of the Aces home games this season, and perhaps beyond. Big win over Coppin State yesterday.

    • Yeah. UE with a schedule full of bankrupt HBC’s on the schedule , division 3 non scholarship programs ,and a weakened MVC. Especially since Creighton left. Replaced with Loyola who rack ups losses to d2 and d3 schools.
      UE thinks the mule is still relevant, despite 40% of the population wasn’t born when he led them to some secondary tourney.

  4. “…is there any accountability for the team that fluffed up the Ford Center projections to pull the wool over the taxpayer’s eyes?…the answer is NO?”

    The only hope I see for anyone to be held accountable for the raiding of the City’s coffers is for a Riecken administration to take over and get a thorough forensic audit.

  5. The criminal activity in Evansville’s southeast area is called consequences. Consequences of liberal democrat politicians and political correctness. You’re right in your statement that these children don’t have a chance, it’s hard to make it through life without a family. All of this was predicted by the great Daniel P. Moynihan and making this prediction caused the liberals to label him a racist. This segment of our society is doing this all over this country and being excused by democrats, including the potus, doj and major politicians in the states with the most problems. Not a good time to be in law enforcement in this country. To all of you liberals and free souls of the 60’s, what you’re seeing today is consequences of your actions. All of the problems we have in this country are obvious and fixable except the loss of the traditional family. Some democrats and social scientist need to do a study and find out what’s the difference kids that grow up and do well and those who end prematurely dead or in prison. If we spend as much time and energy on families as we did glbt and feminist issues we might get a jump start on this problem. Democrats really need to take a hard look at themselves, develop some insight and take corrective actions. The biggest growth area in this country since the Johnson administration has been in prisons and jails and we need more. This is called consequences. Ever wonder if democrats listen to themselves?

  6. And, as the Evansville downtown’s non functional fluff continues to bleed the “other local issues” needed TIF funding. By the barrels. The things that really keep the place in the red are pretty apparent. Logistical throughput value, and out dated, poorly maintained utility infrastructures. Bad stuff, even for those so called “elitists.”
    Really, That’s no place to build a new facility until the whole utility infrastructure base, city wide can support standing national standards as sported by the Clean Water act. C circa 1972)
    Beats up the old sections downtown actual valuations by the minute. Lots of minutes have passed by since 1972.

    e·lit·ist
    əˈlēdəst,āˈlēdəst/
    noun
    plural noun: elitists
    a person who believes that a system or society should be ruled or dominated by an elite.
    synonyms: aristocrat, blue blood; snob
    “the downtown elitists wield too much influence”

    “Personne ne peut mettre suffisamment de rouge à lèvres sur ce cochon aujourd’hui.”

    http://columbiaenvironmentallaw.org/articles/from-therapeutic-drugs-to-toxic-contaminants-pharmaceutical-pollution-in-the-water-and-strategies-to-regulate-its-impact

  7. gail reekin is with out a doubt a unqualified joke..……with the stink of reekin the acceleration of e town becoming detroit will be accomplished……..

    • Al, I’m with you. Gail is an integral part of the GOD, Greedy Old Democrats. She has been a dues receiving member all of her adult life. She has never stood up against her party when they were doing wrong, that would take courage, which means simply doing what’s right. I would vote for Connie Robinson for mayor before I would vote for Gail, Connie stood up for us on the water meter fiasco. She is owned by the unions, which basically means nothing happens in this city without their approval. Gail, can we depend on you to not lie, steal, cheat or tolerate it in those who do? I know you must read the CCO, if you don’t, you are out of the information loop. No need to read the courier because you’ll only read information that you gave them, word for word. I hope there is someone out there who is a democrat that the party will not support, I hope there is someone out there who is a republican that the party does not support, then the public will win regardless of who wins. If the candidate is approved by either party we have a loser.

      • pov ? Connie Robinson stood up for us on “the water meter fiasco” ? She did initially, when the vote was 7-2 opposed to Johnson Controls Project. But after the meeting with Jack McNeely, she– like all her colleagues– switched and made it 9-0 in favor of the project. I would not consider a vote in favor of the project as having stood for us in any way.

        • Here’s your call out there CCO , expose that rotten weaver jerk, and that stupid blond to the roots idiot he runs with, for what they are and what balance supports that. Someone better “or we will’, and to the national mainstream, as well.

          One might flush that fat ass Jabba Cooke slug, with’em for a start, before he does another sustenance switcheroo, upon the election results pending.
          Score one for the people for once, as well as towards some common decency in your local political soap opera. { “As the CSO boils.”}

          When you stupid fools continue allow the mainstream medias to use them to advantage and twist the good local the local law enforcement for some stinking
          political push point, it’s just is wrong!

          (NBC Network should be flat out repulsed and ashamed)
          That staged BS in an political effort to bastardize the police and the common core values, for a “political facial.” That’s straight bullshit, “everybody knows that” but did you know? Verses real community needs, and what those policing functions do everyday anyway. That’s a job requirement and you EPD goes beyond the norm to serve the entire population, will, and always will, and less the political bullshit from the two most defined, and bought losers you have elected there in the last 50 years.

          Simply for political BS points, the local mainstream sported that crap, had nothing to do with the tough job the EPD goes into in todays society , EVERYDAY
          .
          Have a rally a day would you. You’ve got some inset ticks in your governance there, pull’em and then
          make damned sure you get the head.

          That system stinks more than all the CSO you’ve ever put down river. Period. Let the police , police, leave that to them, however clear the political field of that flotsam you’ve continued to send downstream through your rotten to the core two party conjoined at the ass political system.
          Look into that so called balance, you’ll find no surprises. If you actually look.

  8. Actually free tickets for the IceMen are hard to get, unlike the Otters. The IceMen are currently 8th in average attendance in the ECHL (out of 28 teams).

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