IS IT TRUE? February 24, 2011

14

The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE? February 24, 2011

IS IT TRUE that the most cited reason for Roberts Stadium being on the list for demolition is the high cost of running the pumps that keeps the groundwater out of the floor of the building?…that most estimates of the cost to mothball Roberts Stadium include keeping the pumps on and paying nearly $400,000 per year to keep them running?…that the source of the water that made the designers of the remodeling of Roberts Stadium look pretty darn negligent is an aquifer?…that for the pumps to run all of the time and cost that much to run they must be pushing a lot of water somewhere?…that published estimates of the water removed to keep Roberts Stadium dry run to over 100,000 gallons per day?…that the question that is on our mind is “WHERE DOES THE WATER GO?”?

IS IT TRUE that the water could be getting pumped back into the aquifer so we can just pump it out again next week?…that would be a closed loop process?…that the water could also be getting pumped into the Evansville municipal sewer system?…that the sewer system of Evansville in that area is already overtaxed with the intersection of Boeke and Vogel a short distance away being one of the most foul smelling parts of town this side of Bee Slough?…that if this water is being pumped into the sewer it would be a terrible waste?…that aquifer water is often very good quality water?…that other cities use aquifer water as a source for public drinking water?…that a pennies worth of water placed in a plastic container and offered for sale often fetches a dollar or more?…that the aquifer under Roberts Stadium that is already tapped may just have the potential to be a cash cow to pay the bills to keep Roberts Stadium available for future events?

IS IT TRUE that Keep Evansville Beautiful is 100% privately funded and has been for 37+ years?….Keep Evansville Beautiful is the only Keep America Beautiful affiliate in the United States, out of more than 600, that receives no government funding?…that the City County Observer is glad to have been advised of this and is also pleased that Keep Evansville Beautiful is not beholding to the long arm of political mischief as many local non-profit entities are?…that we are equally as baffled as to why Evansville is the only place out of 600 in the country not to provide financial support to its local Keep America Beautiful affiliate?…that there has got to be a reason for this?

IS IT TRUE that we are profoundly disappointed in the members of the Indiana House of Representatives who have decided to hole up in a Champaign, Illinois hotel rather than doing their job and debating the “Right to Work” legislation on the floor of the statehouse?…that this act of obstruction is sending the wrong message to the children and the workforce of the entire state Indiana?…that these elected and paid to work officials have made their point and that it is time to get on the bus and get their keisters back to Indianapolis so they can do the job that they were elected to do?…that Gail Riecken a local member of the Indiana House sent out the following message?

“Yesterday we Democrats decided we had to leave the State and break from the House Legislative Session. There are radical, extreme bills that negatively affect Hoosier families and it seems this is all the Republicans want to discuss. We Democrats are together in Illinois, reviewing bills, answering communications and studying issues important to people in our districts.

What will encourage me to return to Indianapolis?
– When Republicans drop their radical agenda
– When Republicans concentrate on the important legislation like jobs and the budget, and
– When Republicans agree to real bipartisanship, listen to us, and negotiate compromises.

Then, I’ll be ready to return.”

IS IT TRUE that it is completely untrue that Mrs. Riecken or any of the other AWOL members of the Indiana House “HAD” to leave?…that they made the choice to leave because they thought they could not get their way?…that we were taught as children that this is not an acceptable way to behave and that as adults it is certainly no way to govern?

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

14 COMMENTS

  1. Use the ground water pumped from under Roberts to irrigate the adjacent golf courses and ball fields during dry weather. Pump the excess through the Wesselman wet woodland.

  2. Here we go again. This was my post yesterday.
    Frankly both sides are very unproductive and immature. Could we please move beyond the extremes of hard left and hard right wing politics? Could we stop trying to “win for the party”? I don’t care what party you represent. If you are not an intelligent, considered, independent thinker who can compromise and who is not pushed around by the whim of the week, then for me, you have no credibility. And I have seen no action from anyone from the Evansville area, or anywhere else for that matter, that would make me support his/her positions so far in this whole session. From hand guns to Planned Parenthood to leaving the state to “no compromise, no discussion”, these folks have shown that they have no idea what their job is. Their priorities are misplaced, And sadly it is a long way to the next election.

    • Cheap, gratuitous plug there, T-shirt salesman. LOL

      Hey, why pump it directly to the Wabash Erie Canal bed, when you can feed it through the wet woodland that grows between the stadium and the old canal? The woodland drains through an existing slough that discharges into the old canal at the northeast corner of Wesselman Woods. Save money, recharge the wetland.

      • Haha. You know you want one. I guarantee you I’m not making a dime off these!

        Yea as long as the water ends up in the old canal why not? Seems like a good idea. We could rewater the canal without having to put it pumps. We still would need to rebrick it though.

        Everyone has said they want it to be more useful for recreational uses out there. Why not rewater the canal? I have a canoe and do not want to go to Pigeon Creek again until it is cleaned up and kept away from sewage water so I would DEFINITELY go canoing in the old W&E Canal.

        Heck, we already have Canoe Evansville there at Wesselmans. Seems pretty logical to me!

        • Okay, Rail, here’s the lowdown. The point at which the water could be discharged into “the canal” coincides with the existing discharge of the canal channel, through an old cut, thence into Pigeon Creek.

          The existing direction of flow through the old canal bed would convey the Roberts ground water discharge immediately into Pigeon Creek rather than “rewater” the old canal.

          In order to “rewater” the old canal to a navigable condition suitable for canoe or other recreational use will require re-excavating the canal from Stockwell Road, thence westwardly along the Norfolk Southern rail bed and in toward the city.

          The old canal bed from Stockwell Road eastward along the rail bed, along Morgan Avenue, and eventually into Warrick County already is “rewatered” by storm water run-off from the heavily commercialized area east of Stockwell, south of Morgan, north of the Expressway and west of I-164. But the normal depth of water would make recreational use less than satisfying. And increasing the water depth would require intermittantly spaced weirs that would displace the available flow volumes in the channel and raise the elevation of the 100-year floodplain … at the detriment to commercial development and insurance premium payers.

          Nice thought though.

          How about you pursue the reinstallation of the trolly cars that used to carry passengers from Evansville to Boonville via the old traction line that ran alongside the Wabash-Erie Canal?

          • Dang,

            So basically there is no way to rewater that canal without messing with the floodplain and thus messing with commercial insurance premiums?

            One of the things I figured the canal could do is attract more business on the eastside around it, like in OKC, San Antonio, Omaha, San Jose, soon to be Jeffersonville, IN, and so on.

            The 2001 downtown master plan called for building it back at the Lloyd/First Ave junction. I figured it would be nice to have a business/riverwalk downtown, then recreation at Wesselman.

            How did OKC do theirs without running into floodplain issues?

            http://www.okc.gov/MAPS/canal/index.html

            That trolley car idea is an EXCELLENT idea especially given that it could connect to the Spirit of Jasper…

            http://www.spiritofjasper.com/

            Which connects to French Lick…

            http://www.indianarailwaymuseum.org/

            That would make one heckuva tourist attraction if we could get Norfolk Southern to go along with it.

          • Rail, let me put it this way …

            We could establish walking, biking, and bridle paths along the south bank of the old canal from Wesselman Park, east to Chandler so long as the private property owners along the way granted easements since the municipality’s “ownership” rights extend only 5 feet outside top of bank, and the next 20 feet is available for maintenance purposes only, not as a public travelway.

            There is a modicum of money available to improve the water quality and riparian habitat within and alongside the channel, but to create a depth of water to float a canoe without jamming the paddles into the channel bottom would take what? Maybe 18″ to 2 feet of water? That would require check dams every so many lineal feet, say every 500 to 1,000 feet; so, you’d have to get out and haul the canoe over top of a stone weir that often.

            And any depth of water deeper than that, yes, would require structures of a height that would raise the flood plain.

            Additionally, you have several road crossing pipes through which a canoe would have to pass, and there is liability associated with that.

  4. “There are radical, extreme bills that negatively affect Hoosier families…”

    Remember… this is from a lady that thought a guy with a camera, was instantly a “Republican operative”, right?

    Gail, did Whirlpool leave here, to grow in TN? Is it true that TN is a right to work state?

  5. Will the CCO, please, call Mrs. Rieken to ask her if she’ll kindly stop taking salary and benefits while she’s throwing this tantrum?

    How about travel costs and lodging, are we getting billed for that, or is she picking it up personally?

    If she needed distance from the capital, why not Evansville? We know we could use the CVB funds!

    Tell us Gail, how spending (potentially TAX) money OUT OF OUR STATE… helps OUR budget or jobs?

  6. CCO could you research and publish if it is possible & how to accomplish a recall of, any of our elected employees that leave the State to purposely hinder State or Local governance? Even if these folks are paying for their own stay out of state & forgoing their pay this is still costing us the taxpayer Thousands of dollars for the employees that are working. If I do not work when scheduled without an acceptable excuse for 3-days I self-terminate, maybe they have as well!

    • Good question. I do believe that the Indiana Democratic Party is paying the tab for the excursion to Illinois but do not know about the salary and benefits part.

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