IS IT TRUE December 5, 2014

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IS IT TRUE that the Evansville Redevelopment Commission voted 5-0 in favor of the North Main bike lanes and parking space project just as they were told to by the people who appointed them?…the project in spite of all of the pretty renderings is not yet funded?…funding will be a decision that is left to the Evansville City Council?…the Council is expected to vote on a $13 Million bond issue (yes, more borrowed money for prettiness) in the Spring of 2015?… Any payments will of course have to come from the Jacobsville TIF District which spreads all incremental taxes to the homeowners in the area?…of all of the elected officials who have opined on this project, only 3rd Ward Councilwoman Stephanie Brinkerhoff Riley has question the collective wisdom of the group thinkers who are determined to spend Evansville into bankruptcy before the sewers can be fixed?…2015 looks to be a big year for borrowing in Evansville with this $13 Million, the $57 Million for the IU Medical School, and $20 Million for the long suffering hotel project the budgeted borrowing for next year adds up to $90 Million?…what an election year it is going to be for those suckling at the local government teat?

IS IT TRUE this spending binge on things that are not needed will basically put the City of Evansville’s borrowing at its credit limit for things that do not fund themselves through rate increases?…that means that every dime of the repairs to the decrepit combined sewer system will be borne by the ratepayers?…the tab for this is still in dispute but it is now expected that the EPA will approve a plan that will cost nearly a BILLION DOLLARS by the time our leaders get off their butts and do this work?…everyday people will be dealing with water bills in the range of $300 when this is all completed?…what will be excessive water bills a house in Evansville may have no value at all by the time this is done?…it did not have to be this way?…what would have avoided this yoke, would have been a well executed maintenance and replacement plan over the last 60 years?…the same goes for our crumbling sidewalks (also under consent decree) and our teeth jarring roads?…in spite of these infrastructure shortcomings there are those who think that the Old National Event Plaza, the Ford Center and convention business is going to save our bacon?…it must be nice to live one’s life riding unicorns and eating cotton candy while oblivious to the reality of day to day life?

IS IT TRUE it would be encouraging to get a sworn and notified press release from the Mayor detailing the ways that our shiny new hotel and the new medical school will not be built over or hooked up to the 90 year old decrepit sewer system?…spending this kind of money to hook into a sewer that is under a consent decree would constitute the height of ignorance?…alas, we must say that stranger things have happened in River City before, so we were compelled to ask the question?…we ask explicitly, “Mayor Winnecke, are these structures being built over and/or hooked up to sewers that will have to be replaced in the near future?”

IS IT TRUE that the lights literally went out in Detroit on Tuesday?…the reason given was that the utility in charge has not done maintenance and upgrading of its grid infrastructure in many “decades”?…this pattern of failure should sound familiar to people in Evansville when it comes to the Evansville Water and Sewer Department?…the problems in Detroit and Evansville mirror one another and are failures by local governance to pay attention to what is real?…we have long stated that Evansville is heading down the same path as Detroit and that assertion seems to be validated every month or so by some other disclosure of failures of infrastructure?…we should all be glad that the City of Evansville is not in charge of gas and electric or our lights would be going out too?

IS IT TRUE the Joseph Goebbels’ doctrine that “people will believe any lie if it’s repeated often enough and loud enough”, is the basis for why some people are buying into the narrative that stadiums and conventions will save the City if Evansville from economic failure?…Our elected leaders are repeating it often enough and loud enough and it continues to pay off for them personally and politically?…People who are out to forward their political careers say and do things that have no relationship whatever to reality or to anybody else’s interests but their own, and Evansville is just another American city where this is proved daily?…we wish our readers all a happy weekend and encourage you all to vigilantly question authority and keep on thinking for yourselves?

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50 COMMENTS

  1. Is it true that the city of Evansville had went “on the cheap”, years back? That by the city slashing the water and sewer department personal, and had a”for profit” company to take over the daily operation, the city government tis reaping what they had sown! Our should I said the residents are paying for the cities mistake?

    Is it true that the mayors appointed board did their master’s bidding. Who are on these boards and how is this project benefits these board members other then “browny points?? The real estate people will be getting their percentage commission on the lots that need to be bought, and paved over? Is this another example to what is wrong with these deceitful TIF zones! Board and commissions as well?

    Is it true “Friday cause FOGS”? (Drive safe this morning!)

  2. IS IT TRUE it would be encouraging to get a sworn and notified press release from the Mayor detailing the ways that our shiny new hotel and the new medical school will not be built over or hooked up to the 90 year old decrepit sewer system?…spending this kind of money to hook into a sewer that is under a consent decree would constitute the height of ignorance?…alas, we must say that stranger things have happened in River City before, so we were compelled to ask the question?…we ask explicitly, “Mayor Winnecke, are these structures being built over and/or hooked up to sewers that will have to be replaced in the near future?”
    We have already done that. There is a train at the museum parked over one of the citys main water lines.

    • I believe the one you mention is actually under the new museum front entrance area between their new parking lot and new building. There was a relocate of a shallow 18/30 inch line for that new construction several years back. It made a huge drop into that brick sewer. The drop is in direct a line of the new handicap parking going towards the river.

  3. Is it true that Gov Pence is playing politics with the duties of the elected “Ritz” while claiming to take politics out of it, by appointing a nine person board instead of eight and Ritz? Remember he and his political party had received their marching orders from the state chamber of commerce for next two years, just a couple of weeks ago! Keep in mine that none of this would had happen if a (R) had won that “voted” position!

  4. Nationally,—-With low approval voicing the call to “throw the rascals out” when Congress is assessed and Graded by the Voters, (Congress approval is approaching single digits) we still see the Majority of these representatives are re-elected time after time. You have to wonder when will the voters walk the walk and take action? The last 2 Congressional elections do seem to indicate the “Natives are restless”.
    The 2016 elections will be pivotal in defining if this is a population that is weary of the Status Quo,–The Status Quo, that bitterly contests relinquishing “Control”…

    Locally, —It’s Time for a New Coach(Mayor), and a New Team(Council)
    The question is,– are the Voters going to “throw the Rascals out”,
    or re-elect the Status Quo?
    Are the “Natives restless”?
    The coming Local elections are pivotal in defining if Evansville’s Population is weary of the Status Quo,–The Status Quo, that bitterly contests relinquishing “Control”.

    • When only 30 % of the voters actually cast a ballot nothing will change. What’s wrong with these people who fail to even vote? Are people that ignorant and uncaring to not even try to vote?

      I just imagine all the blood that has been spilled in the past to give the citizens the right to vote for their leaders and they don’t even care anymore.

      Is it true that the Mayor can get by with just about anything without fear of being voted out of office so long as no one cares to eve go vote?

      • Actually if only 30% of the eligible voters can complete a sentence and make a clear decision we are better off if the others don’t vote. Someone who is too damn stupid to sign their own name or too lazy to get off of the couch has no business nullifying a thinking person’s vote. You see, that Gruber dude was half right. They had to lie to pass ACA but they also needed to keep a cast of idiots in “support the president to the gates of hell” mode to nullify the thinkers opinions.

          • So may I assume that you are okay with a person with an IQ of 70 who can’t read the ballot and doesn’t even know the names of the candidates canceling your informed vote with a random pick or to get a free half pint. If it is elitist to discourage uninformed and uninterested people from diluting the collective intelligence of the vote, then so be it. I prefer to to think of myself as engaged as opposed to elitist.

          • E-machine, it does not take a 70 IQ to figure your political leanings! I personally don’t give a fig of what leanings, or what IQ one has to vote! Are they requiring a IQ test when one is registered as a first time voter nowadays? They were not 40 years ago when I sign up! Your comfort zone appears to go back 200 years ago when one must own property to vote. All walk of life that are in those districts are eligible to vote. Maybe do a little search and move in a area that the residents votes like you.

            • The people who I think should not vote are the uninformed and uninterested. It has nothing to do with property ownership or money in the bank. It doesn’t really have to be related to IQ either as there are plenty of smart people who are disengaged. My point is if due to your disinterest you are functionally illiterate about any given election, you should not dilute the selection process with a random choice or by doing what someone else tells you.

          • E machine, “hopefully” the majority of those that you are referring to are those 70% that don’t vote. Maybe If one would think that one’s(E-Machine) intelligent vote was cancel by another(armstrongres) intelligent vote from the other party would be better. Then let the group that upset you, get cancel by the same caliber from “your party”!

            • I believe that it is entirely possible for two well informed smart people to reach opposite conclusions in politics. That is how an election works. Such informed voters are negated when a herd of uninformed voters who are voting as they are told show up at the polls in large enough numbers to skew the outcome.

              Think about a kindergarten class that gets to vote on what is for lunch. The choices are candy or a nutritious meal. A couple of kids who are more advanced may vote for the meal, but the herd will negate the wise choice of the few who are responsible. As a result of such a vote the few who voted for the meal are forced to eat the candy along with the wildly enthusiastic crew that voted for candy. Couple that with a teacher who lobbied for candy and promised ice cream if you vote for candy and you have a good example of modern American elections.

              Of course years later the class is filled with toothless diabetics with arrested mental development due to malnourishment. They even manage to ruin the few kids who chose correctly. That is why kids who are not equipped to make choices on what is best to eat do not get to make such decisions. The same rules should apply to voting.

          • E-machine, going with what you had said, first off, the school system would not allow that selection for those kids. Now what be correct would be if the choice was maybe pork, mash potatoes, soda and pie, or the beef, chips, milk and candy.

            We, as a “advance group” would consider both choices which would suit the “overall” taste of that meal. Now what your saying is the other group, may just focus on that one item from either selection and not look at the whole picture.

            I think your more focus is on a group that you feel is voting against what you want, then the election process itself. You must realize that both parties have about the same amount of voters you are complaining about! It just depend which party gets those voters motivated on “pretend issues”!

            I think we are seeing common ground!

            • I think you just made my point by acknowledging that the school system would never allow kindergartners to place items on the ballot or to cast a vote on what to have for lunch. Why, you ask? Because 5 years olds as a general rule are not capable of making good choices. How are adult voters who don’t know anything about candidates positions on important issues, but are easily seduced by “free stuff” any different than the kindergartners?

              As for which party has constituents that fit the bill of the mental equivalent of kindergartners, they both have millions of them. There are so many dimwitted lazy democrats and republicans that it is hurting our ability to compete. As I said in my first post, Gruber was right. The American electorate is overwhelmingly stupid and he was one of the smart guys who manipulated that stupidity. Bush did it too with his unfunded drug plan and the republican “gimme something free” crowd lapped it up like candy.

          • Maybe “EM” can help draft an amendment to our Constitution to keep anyone he doesn’t think is smart enough to vote from doing so. SCOTUS seems pretty open to disenfranchisement these days and so does the right wing.

          • Agree on what is on the ballot, there are plenty of “Wayne Parkes” out there making that kindergarten decision who is on that ballot . Disagree on the kindergarten voting. You must had not read my last post the way it was written!

            You are preoccupied on the ones that do not vote as you like!
            I worry why residents don’t vote at all, not “HOW” they vote!

          • @ Armstrong:

            “You are preoccupied on the ones that do not vote as you like!”

            You could not be more wrong about me if you tried!

          • EKB, you were not part my discussion with E-machine!
            Please reread my last post! You would see what I’m saying.
            You should know better then me questioning you “personally” on how you vote!
            Besides, I enjoy the debates with you , but it is never personal on my end, and hope it is the same on your end!

            Friends?

      • “Are people that ignorant and uncaring to not even try to vote?”

        I think a better question is :

        “WHY do people not take the time to vote?”

        Some are indeed ignorant and uncaring, and I will echo Edison’s Medicine’s opinion that if a person is completely uninformed of the issues and candidate positions on policies I would rather they just not vote. HOWEVER, and I can only speak for myself here, I have often questioned whether or not it is worthwhile to vote as I drag myself to the polls and hold my nose, or just entirely skip whole races because I can’t stand any candidate for a particular office.

        ALSO, while I do think we should err on the side of voting for too many offices instead of too few, I wonder how many people TRULY are informed of the records of all 12 judges up for election, or all 7 people running for school board, or any of the other myriad ‘minor’ offices we elect. People who brag about how informed they are would probably be pretty hard pressed to be able to rattle off the positions of candidates for most offices. What they are informed about is the smears that the other candidates have leveled, or the views of the relative echo chambers that pass for their ‘news’.

        As a final thought, do you genuinely see radical differences in the two parties at this point? I don’t. Each of them feed off corporate money and public fear, and each caters to their base. I’m not poor/rich or scared, and I am not part of the ‘base’ of any party. Who speaks for me? If nobody up for election speaks for me, why should I feel guilty if I don’t vote for anybody?

  5. “throw the rascals out” references everyone else’s elected officials, not ours. Ours are just peachy-keen.

    Never overestimate the intelligence of the American electorate.

    • You’re right about that, “dis”. The power of incumbency is never to be underestimated, but it can be overcome, though. The next Mayoral election is a test for our citizenry. If the Poop reigns supreme and the turds keep flowing, it will prove Evansville is already brain dead and the rest will follow soon.

  6. Yours are important questions, Crash. I hope we will see at LEAST two qualified candidates in every race in 2015. More than that, I want to see an historically high local voter registration and participation rate in Evansville. I’m committed to “fight like the dickens” to make that hope become reality. It is time to wake up and fight to clean up the city or accept the undignified death of the city many of us have called home for most of our lives.
    Voters don’t need to be math wizards to know where the Weinz and Winnie spending binges are taking our finances, simple addition and subtraction is all it takes to see where we are headed. Maybe the thought of $300/mo water bills will bring out the voters.

    • The dead voters will always vote the way of the machine. Time to clean up the registration roles, my dad was called for jury duty 3 years after he died.

        • ’98. I believe the% of actual residents by the census of people 18 yrs. of age is either low or the number of registered voters is too high. I know several people who are not registered, who are 18. I wish more would vote, get involved, run for office. Hargis’ agenda is to “promote Wienie’s plans”, that won’t help her election plans whether she has good intentions or not.

          • I think there is now a program that purges voters who are deceased and/or are living at addresses that have been demolished. You’re right about the young people who are not registered, but I guess a lot of them are planning to leave town ASAP.

      • Blame the federal election laws for the bloated voting rolls. Indiana had some reasonable purging laws but the feds came along with their list of ” thou must not purge X” rules.

        A former VC Clerk told me that she attended the Evansville funeral of a VC resident who died in Florida. VC did not have an official death certificate, so VC was not allowed to purge the deceased. So much of the wisdom of the feds.

        • There are many legalities that a “death certificate” must be use to finish the deceased affairs.
          If not the “death certificate” requirement, there be a lot of purging done on those list of people that are still alive for a party advantage on election day! Can not correct the purge on election day, a month before election is the cut off!

  7. A warning IF the city awards ANY part of the CSO fix to the company who did the water project on willow/ walnut Bump your homeowners ins. The track hoe jack hammering for over a month shattered the foundations on houses and garages up to 150 ft away. The state says the city is not liable. The city says they did nothing wrong. The company who did the work was bonded, their ins company denies any liability “they did no blasting”, what’s that got to do with it? These structures are owned by seniors who’ve lived here for decades, now their property is worth less, but after the 5,000 repairs out of their pocket, their taxes won’t have to be lowered. Calls to the state, city, construction company, and either the city’s, or bonding company go un-returned. By the way homeowners won’t cover someone elses negligence.

  9. One of the useful yardsticks in measuring the strength of the local economy is the Vanderburgh county Top Ten Assessments list.

    http://www.vanderburgh.org/auditor/top_ten.html

    If one views the total in the first column, (real estate), for the last year, and then uses the links below that to check the same real estate total for the previous 5 years, a disturbing decline in assessed value has occurred from year to year.

    The last five years have seen a very significant INCREASE in local government spending, at a time when it was apparent, by the local government’s own statistics, that the local assessed values for real estate were DECREASING!

    It is past time for local citizens to start asking the hard questions of the local politicians who vote on these spending schemes.

    _

    • Alternative caption: Do you think that nice job at Ivy Tech will buy me Weinzapfel’s support for President, or should we do more for him?

      • They’re both toasted, neither will sport a smidgeon of support again. Your localized fraud-it-gate is kind a open for anyone that feels like walking in. Freebie, so to speak. Gets sort’a ugly in there, any sensible support won’t hang around long once they take a look around that field of play.

  12. CCO: where’s that Weekend Forum ? City Administration is saying they’re tight on Hotel + Medical School, and I want to gloat !

    • Failure has no shame, Hotel on MLK, Main, or Walnut, hell you pick the front door, its still on the rotten archaic Zombie Infrastructures Combined Sewers Overflow’s . (ZICSO’s ) So, is that IU medical siting, as well. “What is in your mailbox”, over that mess ? And how much extra is that going to cost the whole of ESWU customer base while they get the standard “zipp’ola” ( 0%) balance) from the sectioned cost inputs?
      Gum, on that. Warning: Gets kind of chewy, bigger wad, as time goes. Tough to swallow, choking, is predictable. That’s gross. Just like the CSO your old town keeps sporting to the entire clean water balance of the Ohio river drainage basin. One thing we’ve consistently scored, the whole of the county, including runoff from fertilizer treatment isn’t a faction of the disgraced balance of CSO old Evansville contributes to this CSO mess. We wonder? Why should those people in the county, be regulated to pay forward for a mess they have absolutely no effect on final numbers per their paid monthly inputs? Per metered charges?

      That’s wrong! And, they know it. Its about fishing, btw, you all are already in the “net”. Its a johnson alright . Might as well quit flopping, they own you, Mac-fishy processed, net bulk, at best………… phoohee.

    • They admitting to be in a bind on bonding and not even mentioning what our CSO problems. I think it is time for HCW to show us the private funding, and if it isn’t in place, City Council should rescind it immediately. Then we need to submit a petition to the IU trustees to reconsider the placement of the Med School. Facing stark reality could be transformative for Evansville for years to come!

  13. I associate myself with the above two comments and now rise to call on Lloyd Winnecke to resign his office forthwith.

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