IS IT TRUE January 8, 2015

1. “IS IT TRUE that the new member of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission who was appointed by the City Council, Cheryl Musgrave took advantage of her first day on the job to inject both sanity and good judgement into the normally chaotic process observed by the ERC?”

   ~b~ START THE COUNTDOWN
   We all saw what happened to SBR for doing due diligence. How long until Cheryl gets thrown under the bus for “foot-dragging”?

   “IS IT TRUE a court ruled today that the lawsuit by Louis Milan against the Evansville Police Department for the flash grenade incident at her home will be going to a jury?”

   ~b~ PAY THE LADY
   Yes this elderly Grandmother deserves real and punitive damages. Not only for what she and her Grand-daughter suffered but for what was done to Evansville as a Community. When one Citizen is abused it touches us all. Who’s next? A half million is not too much, in my opinion.

   “IS IT TRUE Mayor Winnecke spent 20 minutes in Indianapolis yesterday attempting to convince Governor Pence to fiat the IU Medical School into the next budget?”

   ~b~ NO MORE GRANDSTANDING
   This looks and reads like a photo-op for the record books. Can’t Mr Winnecke read the tea leaves on this one? IU has this project DEAD LAST on its’ list of priorities. They are not even asking for the grant.
   It ain’t happenin’ (soft ethereal music) ~~~~♪ let it go~~~juuust ~~~~~~let it go~~~~~~~~

   “IS IT TRUE the main reason why the Mayor and his Water and Sewer crew was in Indianapolis today was to discuss the stagnant plan to repair our combined sewer overflow problem?”

   ~b~GIVE RATEPAYERS A BREAK
   Diversion of storm water is not rocket science. “IF” and I do mean “IF” we have “ANY” financial resources left, let us busy ourselves with necessary business. Evansville residents face a daunting future with Vectren at our throats and the Sewer & Water Departments up our hineys.

   IMHO:
   The reason Evansville has earned so many dubious labels is an upside/down system of priorities. If the Mayor wants to pleasure the Banks, Unions, Realters, Consultants and the rest of the Old Boy Network,
   let them fix our drainage problems. Evansville stinks in many more ways than one. …

   • “

     • Oh Geez! I am having difficulties with this new keyboard.
       “. How long until Cheryl gets thrown under the bus for “foot-dragging”?

       It looks to me like the attempts to throw her under the bus began Monday at City Council with Steve Schaefer and Kelley Coures. Schaefer will keep on trying. It’s up to us, informed members of the public to see to it that it doesn’t happen. We need her on ERC, and the Winnie crew is going to fight it as long as they can. Could it be a division of the County Republican Party?

       “~b~ PAY THE LADY”

       Bing-O! Just settle the suit. If Winnie lets Billy fight this, we’ll wind up paying the half-million to Mrs. Milan and another half-mil to Billin’ Ted’s firm., and the optics of it will get even worse.

       • It will be more than $500,000. A jury gave someone $400,000 for getting burned by hot coffee. This was a flash grenade and a swat team storming the living room and probably a civil rights violation. Add another zero and you will be closer to reality.

         • That’s why I think they should just go ahead and settle and avoid the jury. They’re getting off easy for what was done to this lady.

       • Pay the lady. That was a bad deal. Stupid beyond stupid, as stupid as Waco and Ruby Ridge. The EPD needs to expose the part the FEDS played in this fiasco. Everyone counts or no one counts. As much as I respect the EPD they need to hang their heads in shame over this one.

   • Someone is going to have to explain to me how making a “wetland” out of Bee Slough would not INCREASE the nauseous odors that currently emanate from that area. If that increase in odor was to take place, the downtown would be toast for sure.

     http://www.japantoday.com/images/size/200x/2014/02/masks.png

     • Cement the old sewers shut and depopulate part of the area. No poop in, no poop smells out.

       • The thing is that a wet land has to be feed the sewage over a long period of time so that it can absorb the nutrients and put them into plant material. Bee Slough is nothing at all like a wet land. It’s too small and aseptic with no soil or plant life. Anyone talking about making Bee Slough into a wet land is thumbing their nose at the EPA. That’s all that is about. A wet land that could absorb the sewage effluent would have to be huge and be able to hold the water for months or years before it was allowed into the River. We are talking about hundreds of acres of wet land here. Bee slough is a small concrete ditch and that’s not a wetland. It’s a cement ditch that holds sewage overflow for months or years. I see the open ends of the sewers that can open a door and allow sewage to pour into Bee Slough. But I’m not sure if there is a way to drain or pump the water out of the concrete ditch after it’s put in there. I figure it just sits there with no where to go. Maybe they can pump the water out of there and transport it to the treatment plant.

         All I know for sure if that when I drive down Southland Drive I can smell the Shit in the air.

         • You are correct. The missing piece is that the wetland would eliminate some of the old sewers altogether making the volume lower and easier to queue in for treatment. The details could be worked out for some treatment in the traditional manner and others through the wetlands.

         • Its good to see some talk on moving the sewage problem to a priority. We have a plan application and it is approvable by design. And even exceeding the specification’s communicated by the EPA. Works anywhere on planet Earth. Its a multiple target environmental balance therefore the plan creates and sustains good skilled trades and technical job numbers wherever its applied. Environmental planet sciences and civil engineering. IT jobs galore in science and technical. Also improves numbers in transcontinental transportation logistics.
           Most of the nearly 800 mandated locations in the United States alone could this plan into action tomorrow. In its entirety it also balances the real clean water availability needed to address climate migrations on a global scale. So yes, it controls sewer discharges.
           Right now a southeastern lower 48 site is really looking to be our start point. We’ll remain confidential with that information for now.

           Evansville’s politics are such a mess right now that really does pose a strategic timing handicap to our expected plan growth nationwide with a proposed Evansville/Metro application.

           Although your town is certainly “ripe for the fix” 😉

           Sorry, but its undeniable now, you have to stop discharging sewage overflows into the strategic Ohio river clean water balance at your whole North American continental scale of input failures through those CSO events.

           The combined sewers put even more harmful things downriver with every event.
           Chemical, pharmaceuticals and human waste, along with other biologically toxic elements .
           The fact that in some cases that heads squarely into your streets and building basements and those closed environmental conditions should be enough to drive the projects and those solutions.
           Poor old combined archaic sewer and water infrastructures are just plain bad logistical valuation ranking on anyone’s venture straight out of the box or on the drawing board. Your wetland idea would rapidly become obsolete anywhere applied . The climate migrations are a fact, and those values moved forward will defeat the fixed basins as well.

           We studied your Jacobsville sectioned balance as a focus last, wow, that could be controlled and in doing so could provide some actual lasting growth initiatives for that deteriorated city section. Considering the actual working employee base on the job daily there you need that fixed quick, or those logistical failures will soon change the employment demographics due the employers cost per infrastructure valuations.

           That appears to be the last thing that old ward or section needs now.
           The north main bike path sidewalk, parking and store signage fluff actually does nothing to sustain any employers daily logistical valuation.

           You need to start putting the money on what real valuation is.

           “Ædificate Climatico”*

   • Louise Milan v. City of Evansville re: claim for ‘Excessive Force’ (flash bang grendades):

     Pg. 5 of 16: I found this to be offensive:

     ” Additionally, before officers executed the warrant, Chief Bolin instructed Sergeant Jason Collum to contact the local news media about the raid. He felt that the EPD should “repay the favor” to the news reporter who had notified EPD about the threats. As a result, a news crew followed the SWAT team to Milan’s home and videotaped the raid”.

     • I agree with you on that. When reading that document, it’s pretty clear that Billy Bolin should announce his retirement any day now. I bet he can secure a position at ONB.
       I don’t agree with CCO’s remark about “good cops having a Rambo day”, either. Good cops don’t have “Rambo days.” Good judgment and a strong conscience keep them from it, so they don’t throw flash-bangs into people’s homes. I had hoped we’d be hearing from an offended good policeman by now, but I guess Bolin keeps them on a short leash.

       • Law and Order is paramount…having Rambo Style actions can not be tolerated….apparently, according to the federal Judge, Billy Bolin was at the scene…obviously, the assumption can be made and the Fed Judge made that observation that is the head of the police department was on site the action was approved by the Chief…..

2. In what REAL job can you screw up as badly as Bolin did and not get fired? Bolin is nothing put a Republican political hack and is a brown stain on the underpants of society. This incident is just one of the reasons I truly am ashamed to live here and will move as soon as the finances are available.

   • Dear Ghost, Havana, San Francisco, Pyongyang and Bloomington IU campus area would all be excellent choices for you.

     • I would suggest taking up a collection to help poor little Toad move on, but the people of Cuba and North Korea have suffered enough, don’t you think?

       • Howler, I’m in for $100 to provably move Ghost from his Mom’s basement to any of the the above Cities where he/she has no internet access. North Korea looks mighty nice.

   • POTUS with Obama being a prime example. Maybe being POTUS for Obama is not a real job. Bolin has killed no one. Look at the number of servicemen killed under Obama’s watch. This is Obama’s war, he makes Bush look brilliant.

     • Your posts are getting even sillier. Obama’s war?

3. MAYOR CHERYL MUSGRAVE
   Has a nice ring to it … don’t you think? …

   • Yes it does !!

   • +1

   • My Dear Bubba….

     Ms Cheryl is a very talented individual and would be considered right of the Tea Party, although those folks are good people but this town will NOT elect an individual that far to the right….the only reason why Winnie was elected in the first place was the division in the Democrat Party…so, review the record of Republican Mayors in Evansville…after Lloyd Sr, the financial situation was so bad that Mike Vandeveer furloughed 360 police, firefights and other city employees plus turned off one half of the street lights…then came his son, with nearly 50 million in reserves went old Russ took office but when he was removed, Weinzapfel had to borrow mega funds from the Utility to make ends meet in the General Fund…according to reliable sources, the General Fund is overdraft by nearly 17 million at the end of October and the city stopped paying its billings in order to keep the General Fund from going negative at December 31, 2014…FIVE MORE YEARS OF THIS CRAP AND OUR CITY WILL BE IN DEEP %&($$&,,,,,

     • Let me rephrase that just so everyone here knows and understands.

       Your sources say that the city was over drafted by $17M as of October 31st 2014, repeat 2014, and the same sources say that the city has stopped paying a lot of its bills!???

       If true this is a HUGE STORY. This can’t be kept secret for long. Are you sure about all this?

4. “will raise the construction cost by at least $20 Million based on 3% annual increases” What project are we talking about that will cost $667 million? ($667,000,000 x 0.03 = $20,010,0000)

   • Combined sewer overflow project. The one the EPA has a consent decree to force compliance on. The $667 M is about halfway between the city’s proposal of $545 M and the EPA’s projection of $810 M. Evansville will be paying for this. The only variable is time and each year of delay will cost us $20 M +\-.

     • Which, at these figures, would translate into an annual increase to ratepayers of what? I ask because I do not believe that it is doable solely from increasing user fees. Those type of confiscatory rates would drive people out of the city in a very short time.

       • $150 give or take each month. The alternative is to continue dealing with discharges and eventually fines. The long we wait, the more it will cost.

         • Water bills of that amount will drive everybody who can leave away. The city will then be left with a situation much like the one that faced Detroit last summer. My bill now runs around $35/mo and I’m on a fixed income, that would make paying such a bill extremely painful. Given the median age in Evansville, I don’t think my situation is unusual.

           • I understand the financial challenges that fixing the sewers will cause, but it is the reality of living in a place that has neglected to do routine maintenance for half a century. It is very parallel to what Vectren did by installing scrubbers ahead of a government mandate. The emit less toxins but Evansville pays triple the electrical rates of Henderson which does not clean their coal.

         • The USEPA should make Henderson KY clean up it’s air emission too.

5. …. IS – IT – TRUE?

   The EDITOR of the City County Observer finally….

   (based on a correction about 8:30pm last night)

   appears to have stopped the City County Observer ongoing practice of failing to include the authorship and source of articles written by third parties and sourced originally from other media sources and web sites. Posting the actual author and source is a professional everyday media and journalism standard employed by Editor’s in all formats: newspapers, magazines, media web sites and opinion blogs.

   Last night Editor corrected and repaired the omission of the true authorship, source and attribution of January 7, 2015’s front web page article “Keystone Fight is About Much More.” The article was not written by the City County Observer. The opinion piece was written by Phil Kerpen and posted on the American Commitment web site.

   Here is Editor of the City County Observer’s correction finally added last night:
   ……………………
   Copyright 2014 Phil Kerpen, distributed by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

   Mr. Kerpen is the president of American Commitment and the author of “Democracy Denied.” Kerpen can be reached at phil@americancommitment.org.
   …………………….

   • Good move. And thank you for the correction.

   • Bravo, Shem, Bravo!

     Perhaps today is part of a “Brave New World” at the CCO?

     Time will tell

     • This shouldn’t have needed to be pointed out.

       Character is much easier kept than recovered. Every person visiting the CCO site should have been concerned about this.

       • “Character is much easier kept than recovered.” Shem, didn’t you forget something? Where is your attribution, or are you in that habit of stealing Mr. Paine’s quotes?

         It is a good quote though. You might want to send it along to Misters Pate, Ethridge, and Leach.

         • Ha! That’s good. I took it as a common saying.

6. there are many good reasons that politicians are not in the management chain of public universities, and prioritization of construction projects is at the top of the list of reasons why politicians have no business making academic decisions?

   This is exactly why I opposed putting the former GOP IN Governor in as President of Purdue University after he appointed most all the Purdue Trustees who in turn appointed him to the Purdue President’s job. We need to get politicians out of the University’s Chain of Management!

7. The EPA will have to ban future sewer connections and construction projects before this city complies with the Clean Water Act fully. Unless we get new leadership in the Mayors office. We are like most other cities when it comes to spending money on treating sewage before dumping it into the River. This is a historic problem that will not go away without a big stick. Carrots don’t work unless they come with huge sums of money to build these sewer systems. And even then the money from the feds gets wasted at times.

   • The carrot only works with one animal. That animal’s first name is Jack and it has an IQ of 14. The stick on the other hand works with all of them.

     • Here is the problem though. If the EPA pushs too hard the city folks and their political friends in Washington will tell the administrator at the USEPA to back off and or cut the USEPA’s funding for enforcement and other Departments. I’ve seen this happen in Evansville when the USEPA proposed changing the Ozone Standards. The Evansville Chamber went to their friends ( congressmen and Senators in Washington and had the Ozone Standards changed so that the City was not out of compliance anymore. I listened to them talking about doing this. They actually got the EPA to back off a more aggressive Ozone Standard in order to not have to spend money to comply with the Clean Air Act Regulations. IE they got the EPA to make it easier to pollute without any clean up. This has been going on since the creation of the Clear Air Act. The States actually do most all the enforcement of the Clean Air Act while the USEPA delegates most of the work to the States and then just oversees the States.

       Where is IDEM on this Evansville Sewer Problem? They probably don’t care as the River belongs to KY, right? Which is why the Fed need to work on this problem and it’s why we have the United States EPA going to Federal Court to get the City of Evansville to comply with the Clean Water Act’s Regulation.

       • It couldn’t be something as simple as the EPA having jurisdiction over the Ohio River could it ?

     • Hmmmm. Seems as though you have described a number of Evansville’s elected AND appointed officials.

   • “. And even then the money from the feds gets wasted at times.”

     That may be the biggest understatement of all times. Just take a look at the purchase of CVS on North Main and the Maybelle-Montrose giveaways. During the past two City administrations, Federal funds have been treated like confetti on New Year’s Eve.

     • I think that guy was talking about wasting of federal subsidies on big projects like the sewers. The way federal aid works is so inefficient it is sickening.

       First to collect say $1M in taxes they have to employ IRS agents, form designers, accountants, auditors etc. just to collect the money. These guys eat up about $200k of the million.

       Then they have congress and a hoard of committees to decide who gets the federal aid. These guys eat up another $200,000.

       Now that the decisions are made it takes another level of parasites to cut the check, write the regulations, and monitor your progress. They eat up another $200,000.

       Finally, you get a check for $400,000 with a stipulation to pay prevailing wages and file monthly reports to the government, leaving you $300,000 worth of actual work that can be done for the $1M in taxes that were collected.

       When you break ground your congressman and Mayor will grace the job site with their presence and golden shovels proclaiming to have fought hard to get you a million bucks.

       And we wonder why people are cynical about government and nothing can get done.

     • So to address the waste that you have correctly pointed out, for Kelley Coures to have a million bucks to spend for $300,000 worth of buildings, the American taxpayers had to cough up over $3 Million.

       If you want to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and house the homeless, drive the waste out of government and there will be plenty of money to do so. It is not the 1% that is bleeding this country to death! it is the damn government.

8. Could it be that IU understands that the Evansville project has wide support and they didn’t need to project it higher in their submission? This wouldn’t be the first time that a higher education institution used the budget politics to sway another project that wouldn’t garner support.

   • Explain, please?

     • Don’t waste your time. It’s just another convoluted attempt to put a good face on the med. school being ranked last in priority by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education. There is no good way to spin it. Shoulders tried. The Poop tried. Crouch tried. Shaeffer tried. It isn’t working, the people have wised up to the poseur in the mayor’s office. If he would have fought like the dickens to put it in one of the more suitable sites they wouldn’t have had to twist and turn until they resembled a bag of Tell City Pretzels.
       ~~~
       ‘Nancy Pelosi who … was kissed by incredible orange Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner? – CCO

       Pelosi should count her blessings that the Weeper of the House isn’t a navel orange.

       • And that he isn’t showing his orange navel.

         • He might well flash that flaccid outie the the congressional cloakrooms.

         • Oops, meant to write ‘the’ three times instead of just two.

         • Notice that Gov. Pence has money in his budget for the Med School. Why should IU list it when they know that Pence will carry the water pail for it?

9. I don’t understand what the CCO expects Evansville to do about the sewer system. The cost of the repairs are LITERALLY more than the entire budget of Evansville, IN. Evansville should be fighting the EPA on this and working with the federal government to come up with a feasible long-term plan.

   I’m glad to see CCO is for letting the med school go “elsewhere for free”. I have not met one person against that project.

   Instead of constantly critizing…bring up solutions. But, that must be too hard for you guys.

   • A new sewer is a project that will last 50 years. It should be paid for through bonding and rate increases over a period of at least 30 years. As for what we expect, we expect needs like a functional sewer to be taken care of before fun and games nonsense like arenas, hotels, dog parks, etc. This just makes common sense. What would you think of parents who prioritized a trip to Disneyland on credit cards over repairing a leaking roof and a toilet that spills into the house? That is exactly what the City of Evansville has done and continues to do.

     As for solutions we have made some suggestions that would save on the cost, but the powers that be don’t want to hear it. Innovation is the answer to taking an $800 Million project to a lower cost while still solving the problem. The problem does have to be solved though. Evansville will not be a serious candidate for growth and prosperity with 20+ raw sewage discharges per year. Go downtown and take a deep breath when Bee Slough is full of poop. That is why businesses die down there and the growth is in the county. People do not like to live next to a benjo ditch.

     Solutions are what my life has been built on. The first step to a solution is to acknowledge a problem and gather the resources to fix it. Evansville in recent history has neglected the necessities and squandered their means to fix it on trivial pursuits. Step one in a solution is to elect people who realize that step one is to repair our infrastructure. When that happens the mechanics of design and implementation are possible. Until then it is pretty darn hopeless.

     • DS is either very new here or is shilling for the Winnecke crowd. The old “Don’t criticize unless you have a better solution” meme is going to be worn out by Winnie supporters over the next ten months. The truth is that better solutions HAVE been offered, but they weren’t what the “in crowd” wanted. We have far too many prominent people who put self-interest ahead of public interest, and that is what will eventually kill this city, unless it is stopped NOW.

       • I would love to here the “better solutions” that have been offered. Please enlighten me.

         • The two solutions that I have personally written about are 1) returning the areas of the city where dilapidated homes and combined sewers overlap to wetlands and 2) having localized containment chambers for solid waste that are sufficient to delay release of sewage until it can be treated as normal. Both of these solutions or a combination of them reduce the volume of sewers to be replaced and would proportionally reduce the cost.

       • Laura and Joe

         While I was writing my original response to Joe both of you have jumped onto the ideas I postulate about the building of a natural wetland to handle the EPA mandated CSO fix.

         I am very curious to see what you think.

         Darn it, I took careful aim with my idea! LOL

         • The southeast side has plenty of potential for the return of wetlands, and there is federal money available for blight removal. Of course, Winnie would have to be watched with hawk-like vigilance in order to keep him from hijacking the money for the benefit of the tan blazers. Even with all of the drainage projects that have been done in recent years, we still have areas where homes flood during periods of heavy rains, so that might be a place to look, too. The Poop has turned loose of federal money for two containment chambers. One is to be put on the bargain property Scott Danks picked up from the School Corporation and the other is beneath the “back forty” parking lot at the Civic Center. If I recall correctly, the old Evansville Auto parts was purchased by the City sometime back with some drainage project in mind, too. Does it surprise anybody that all of these locations are in old downtown?

         • Those containment chambers are already obsolete. Won’t work downtown won’t work on the south side north side or east or west side.
           They’re just marking time lots a marching and flapping no forward progress.

     • Not true at all. Actually, if you remember correctly, it was the federal government that denied a plan very similar to what you just said……

       This is hilarious…

       • I was not privy to what was submitted and turned down by the EPA in detail. What I have been told is that the submitted plan used traditional solutions to a lesser degree than the EPA mandated and that the disparity is in allowable discharges and the time to implement. I did not even offer a solution in the post you responded too. What is hilarious is that you prejudged a solution without having heard about it.

   • ” Evansville should be fighting the EPA on this and working with the federal government to come up with a feasible long-term plan.”

     You do understand that the EPA is a part of the federal government, don’t you? You must be new in town, or you’d know that this long term problem has been around for more than thirty years. When Winnie took office, he knew all about it, but it isn’t “fun” for the local downtown cabal. I fully admit it should have been dealt with many mayors ago, but he knew the time had come and has spent money on every shiny object he can find instead. That’s why I christened him “Winnie the Poop.”

     • Oh goodnes… You literally just said it should’ve been taken care of long before now. Yet somehow, it is still ALL Winnecke’s fault for this. The EPA has written off

       I’m not at all a Winnecke supporter, there are many things that I do not agree with him on. But people like you constantly trying to plan him for something that was the fault of a Democrat is ridiculous. Now you guys want to elect another one. When Gail inherits this same problem. You will be the first to criticize her.

       • By the way, the sewers should have been taken care of under a routine maintenance plan over the last 50 years. The same is true for roads, parks, sidewalks, and water distribution that are facing similar aging issues.

         This problem was not created by Mayor Winnecke. He is just the most recent guy to be left holding the bag. The blame is on all of the administrations for the last half century.

         • Yep who were running things in 1972 when the clean water act was passed?

           • Richard M. Nixon

       • “People like you”, huh? You clearly don’t know much about me, and it appears you are getting flustered by our answers, judging from the typo-riddled post. No, I have NEVER said that this is all Winnie’s fault. The first Mayor Russell Lloyd was the first mayor to be aware of the problem. My criticism of Winnecke concerning the sewers is that he apparently thought he could just enrich his supporters and charm the EPA into overlooking the problem. When he found out he wasn’t as charming as he’s been led to believe, he turned nasty about the whole thing.

         • Haha no, I don’t know much about you. It’s an anonymous blog… Yes, I was aggravated and made a couple typos. Overlook the problem? IS IT TRUE that they even tried working with the U.S. House Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure on trying to resolve this problem? Yet, they basically told Evansville to figure out their own problem? IS IT TRUE that Evansville created a long term rate increase plan to keep in compliance with the EPA laws, yet again they were denied? IS IT TRUE that Winnecke had a meeting this week with leaders of the EPA in trying to get help in solving our sewer problems? IS IT TRUE that is almost impossible for us to solve the problem ourselves without doing the long term rate increase plan (which EPA denied)?

           I thought I would post it in a way that you would understand it.

       • I agree with you on Winnecke being blamed for what was clearly started by democrats. He should be blamed because he stayed on the same stupid path and made it worse. He is basically as dishonest as those before him. He had a chance to set this city on a course for success with quality of life issues but instead tried to put clean clothes on a dirty body. If Gail gets elected SHE will inherit these problems, some that were recognized in the seventies and if she doesn’t take immediate action to solve them, I’ll be the first to criticize her. Her bill to bring transparency to local audits is already a bad start, it just allows a few more CC members to see the results and shuts out people like local hero SBR. That took courage on SBR’s part, she simply did the right thing. Per Slick Willy, sometimes all the geese except one are flying in the wrong direction. SBR was the only one going in the right direction and it would behoove Gail to recognize this.

         • Russell Lloyd Sr. was a Republican, as is his son, who got the city some great publicity on the Daily Show during his term in office. That really doesn’t matter though. There’s plenty of blame to go around, which is one reason I don’t believe party identity matters much on a local basis.

       • No, actually as long as Gail’s operatives fork over the usual nickel-per-post, rest assured that the deadbeat Demo demographic will continue their sycophantic shilling and blame everything on Mayor Winneckezapfel and Russ Sr. & Jr. Remember, these are the same people who shucked and shilled and shrieked for Jonathan Weinzippy, the Farce Center, The Hotel Versions 1 & 2, the McCurdy Grand, etc., etc.

         • “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”
           —Gandhi

           You need to take a deep breath and learn to let things go. Every post you write is bitter and toxic. You’re not going to get much in the way of agreement from people with the “scorched earth” method you have decided to use.

           In many ways, your “policy platform” is like a Hermit crab. You have an ugly and mean interior that sheds its shell every so often.

           Ya know, the heck with it.

           So many people are just sick (and tired) of the continued verbal abuse you and others heap onto every public servant you disagree with. Rather than give cogent discussion points, it is easier to act like a kid from kindergarten and just call people names and attack their character.

           Grow Up or Shut Up!

         • It’s intriguing how Clueless the Politics are in Evansville. The very same people who shilled shamelessly and relentlessly for every project, proposal, and whim of Emperor Jonathan now want us to forget just how completely wrong they were so that we can do the same mindless stuff again. Not very Classy of them, is it?

         • ClassyEvillePolitics is right on the money.

   • The Indiana University School of Medicine – Evansville is a once is a 50-year opportunity for Evansville.

     It will happen, and it will be in downtown Evansville. This is happening:

     http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiana_University_School_of_Medicine_-_Evansville

     • That will be a Horrible failure for them, and citizens of Indiana if they do. The place has little logistical valuation. Its physically less safe than the other RFP sites as well. That’s real clear to everyone else who looks in. Its an environmental catastrophically failed infrastructure due to its aged profiles.
       The campus on new in infrastructure near the functioning gateway for no mandate additional, and less invested public funding is the astute persons choice for expandable and additional future commercial growth.

       The downtown is simply a choice by those that are needing to bail their poor real estate investments sported to them by the demolition of your older stadium and the construction of the _ord center on a archaic outdated closed growth environmental footprint. Just admit it and stop the all the scatology. “Everybody knows that”. But, did you know wounds sometimes heal better left out in the sunshine? All those bandages really can inhibit the healing. And sometimes that leaves less of a scar.

       The rubes that fell prey should lick their wounds and go on to something best orientated to the actual logistical development of an entire metro. Its not the revenue bases responsibility to cover those losses for them. Its the municipal utilities job requirement to provide a worthy and operationally acceptable sewer and water utility.
       And that as affordable as is presented by 21st century standards.

       Exactly why we’ve innovated what we have.

   • Yea but who’s funding the project. Are all two of all those people you met saying that they will fund this project out of their own pockets? It’s easy to spend everyone else’s money.

     • Governor Pence has included it in his budget! http://www.courierpress.com/news/state/pences-budget-includes-192-for-med-school_33654645

       • We have potentially dodged a SERIOUS bullet by Pence including this.

         Nothing is for sure, but this is better than Evansville having to go “hat in hand” to the Legislature alone to ask for funding for the IU medical center project in Downtown Evansville.

         It will be a long Legislative Session this year since it is a budget year. Nothing is guaranteed, but this may be a piece of positive news for Evansville.

         Time will tell…….

         • I think everybody wants to see the Med School happen here, but I also believe the majority doesn’t think the Dead Zone is the right location. I would also remind you that Pence doesn’t always get his way, even with his super-majority in both houses. Remember his desire for an anti-same sex marriage amendment to the State Constitution? I think his last budget took a chopping, too.

         • It will be approved. The listing of the Med School at the bottom of the projects was a tactic in a part of a larger strategy.

           Pence, and many other politicians, have created an opportunity for themselves to be perceived as new IU Medical School – Evansville “champions” with quite a few constituencies. You know, “That Pence fought for us. What a problem solver. He provided the leadership to get the financing through.”

           And it will be downtown. There is no other appropriate location. The new IU Medical School is a downtown Evansville momentum changer. It’s not going anywhere else.

       • Yes, but only $ 19 Million of the needed $ 50 Million was included in Pence’s budget.
         What about the other $ 31 Million ? It sounds like the project is stalled again . . . . .

         • It tips it. That helps to mitigate a LOT of risk on financing.

         • Not really. Look what happened with the Downtown Hotel. It was short money and the entire deal went sour. If the IU medical school is not funded totally it will also fail. The Governor should have requested full funding for this project. So should IU. Why did IU pick this place for a new medical school and then put it on it list in last place. That makes no damn sense at all. Some thing is rotten in Denmark.

10. Joe

    Have you ever visited Miller-Showers Park up in Bloomington? For those that think there cannot be innovative construction of an ecological addition to the local stormwater system, a local response to the EPA mandate on eliminating the CSO problem, this Park is a unique project located just a short hop up I-69. I’ve visited there multiple times, and have even taken a tour while speaking with the local Director of Facilities that manage this.

    Miller-Showers Park began during the very first meeting of the new Bloomington City Park Board in 1921, a meeting where they voted to purchase the first strip of land that would eventually become the largest stormwater/park project in Indiana (and one of the largest stormwater and wetland projects in the United States). This purchase was finalized from a long-time Bloomington family (this was the Miller family) by the city in 1929 for $1. In addition to the natural wetlands constructed to handle the stormwater and drainage for a large portion of downtown Bloomington, the Park’s large holding ponds retain stormwater that handles drainage from downtown Bloomington, it has multi-use trail circles around the Park and allows views of all the ponds and the multiple large-scale sculptures from all sides. A pier, pedestrian bridge, and interpretive signage complete the picture. Miller-Showers Park went thru a major upgrade in 2001-2004 (overseen by Ratio Architects out of Indy), and that face-lift transformed the area into a modern state-of-the-art stormwater retention facility and beautiful Gateway to the city of Bloomington.

    Miller-Showers Park is both a beautiful gateway to the City of Bloomington and a unique system for managing urban stormwater runoff. This park, which includes sculptures and a multi use trail, consists of an area of approximately 15 acres on the north end of Bloomington. Stormwater runoff from over 170 acres of downtown is directed into holding ponds that retain the water. This literally means that half of the storm water from downtown Bloomington, passes through Miller-Showers Park before making its way to Cascades Creek. After the water progresses through several ponds, it continues on through a natural system of native vegetation that helps to further filter and cleanse the water. The water eventually turns into Cascades Creek, which runs underground until it reaches another popular park, Cascades Park.

    One of the reasons I took the time to write this was for two reasons. First was piggy-back onto your well-written points about the long-term planning and financing that has to be considered as part of a long-term solution for sewer infrastructure improvements locally. I think I can propose something innovative that would keep your financial advice in mind while building a solution that is not only cost effective, it allows us to take advantage of multiple mechanical aspects of the Eastside while adopting infrastructure improvements that we are mandated to implement.

    But the other is to throw out the idea that a Miller-Showers Park has a potential ideal location in Evansville and Vanderburgh County. This location that would not only be a perfect place to utilize the unique stormwater runoff and retention system built by Bloomington, it would allow the building of a eco-friendly natural wetland as part of the stormwater system, and the current layout of the parcel would handle stormwater retention and runoff for a very large section of the Eastside of Evansville. It would also serve to enhance the natural beauty of a nearby habitat, and would be a beautiful view from the Lloyd Expressway. In addition to the attractive enhancement it would add thru the functionality of having a natural wetland to assist with drainage of stormwater, it would be a huge contribution to the EPA mandate at a fraction of the cost of running stormwater thru underground piping. Having large retention ponds and water basins would greatly reduce (and potentially eliminate) the need for lengthy drainage piping. And finally, the stormwater and wetland park area could be constructed just like Miller-Showers Park in Bloomington, which has huge portions of the park usable for numerous residential activities, such as walking and biking and walking your dog (getting to the hint). Since the area I am thinking of is far larger than Miller-Showers Park, my proposed location has more acres that could be developed into those other types residential activities, and at the same time the underlying infrastructure would be used as part of our mandated response to the EPA to eliminate the combined sewer overflow problem.

    I propose to you: Roberts Park, the soon-to-be newest and most modern natural wetland, stormwater runoff, and retention lake, pond, and streams system in Indiana.

    Joe, you are part of various innovative thinking development projects. Look up Miller-Showers Park in Bloomington on Google and tell me honestly what you think about my idea about using the huge amount of land we already own to transform the old Roberts Stadium area into a vital component of our stormwater repair mandate. Am I on the right track?

    • Here are some links to Miller-Showers Park in Bloomington, starting with the page from the City of Bloomington on the Park

      http://bit.ly/1tQQul4

      This one is a PDF with some stunning pictures of the Park

      http://bit.ly/1tQQGAO

      And here is a bunch of random links to info on Miller-Showers Park, including some beautiful pictures of the Park by photographers

      http://bit.ly/1tQQO3a
      http://bit.ly/1tQQOAp
      http://bit.ly/1tQQMZ9
      http://bit.ly/1tQQNwg
      http://slidesha.re/1tQR0j6

      • It’s a lovely place, and I had never even made the connection. This is an idea a lot of people can get behind.

    • Yes, I have been there and you are on the right track for part of the solution.

      • Joe

        First off, thanks! Nice to know that you have seen it in-person so you could evaluate the proposal I dreamed up

        As a follow-up FYI, this “balloon” has been floated to the “powers that be” downtown on the third floor. It has been suggested a couple of times over the last three years or so.

      • Eh, agree –> ( part) of the solution. Its not the best case scenario for the dollars spent. And its really shrinking balance from first day down. There’s more to than that old bag of solutions. Hit it with a heavy rain event, or the freezing now then a rain after a frontal split incursion like what’s in store for the weekend. We’ve already seen that system they have there fail on a miserable scale. Climate migration trumps it easily.

        Pretty, but wouldn’t do squat for old town Evansville’s issues.

    • No. And someone else there already proposed the idea of something similar in 2012. That was never considered either in favor of a dog park and a great lawn. Its easy to copy others ideations heck that was even posted on blogs before then. Its not the solution its just an opening for another load of cronies fuel from what we see. Stay classy, Plagiarism is never classy even if its unintentional.

      • v

        Not sure what the heck you are talking about. I have been pushing this idea for quite some time, and I would hazard a guess that it prior to 2012. But there sure as hell is no copying of the idea from somebody else or another place. While I do a fair amount of looking at places on the web, this idea of creating something like Miller-Showers Park is 100% mine, and I might even consider latching onto claiming ownership of passing it along to others.

        One thing I know with ABSOLUTE assurance is that I have spoken about Miller-Showers Park to numerous people locally and fairly frequently.

        Therefore, how do YOU know that the copying or plagiarism was not something THEY did?

        I always tell people that if I am wrong I admit it and if I upset someone I apologize. But when it comes to offering intellectual idea on local development, and especially ideas that are ecologically oriented, I have zero need to appropriate ideas from anyone. So your assertions are offensive and as wrong as any I have seen on here. Don’t make the same mistake again unless you can back it up with facts.

        • The first time the similar idea was brought up to people in your town actually was when other people realized the fix for the sewers is the only salvation for old Evansville’s useful properties as they are projected. Mid 1990’s We’ll run a data check and sport the facts, if your insulted our group is somewhat sorry, but we do agree that’s its an old paper thin action plan with no real cost benefit per investment for the applications primary purposing. Its fluff.
          When we heard it the first time there was when your short bus politicians put a jail where a new North side sewer and water management site should have gone. As information shows it was originally proposed, before those local nutcake’s adulterated the site for any further utility or logistical throughput balancing.

          ” Everybody’s tried that” to some degree or another. Its quaint however doesn’t have much more than a visual function when real metro ecosystems are applied. Event intensity defeats them and leads to further contamination down stream.

          Just like your local politics .

11. There is an article in the CP this morning about the meeting in Indy yesterday between the EPA and the delegation (of around 30 people) from Evansville. Representatives from the Justice Department were also present. Evansville’s proposed ‘solution’ appears to have a wetland component, according to the mayor.

12. IU MED SCHOOL: BREAKING NEWS:

    Gov. Pence has included $ 19 Million of the $ 50 Million requested to fund the Med School in Evansville. ONB has agreed to put up the other $ 31 Million in exchange for naming rights to the City (to be called ‘Oldville’).

    • —> Post of the day <—-

    • And HWC could chip in the Million Dollars that the City gave to them if they don’t build the hotel as they proposed in order to get the city to give them a million dollars.

      By now the city council members have had some time to think and to even meet and decide to recind the 20 million dollar bond money. The money spent was not wasted as it was used for site study and that’s still applicable if someone else builds the hotel in the same spot. The structures under that land are not going to change.

13. The Courier & Pravda is reporting today that the City is seeking a raze order for the historic Owen Block What’s next for a City raze order, the historic McCurdy Hotel? Mesker Amphitheater?

    • CCO reported that yesterday or the day before.

    • I saw that.

14. So, did the inhabitants of the damned neglected properties. Its the plan, nasty fi the place so bad no body can recover it. How real estate cronies trash historical properties to the lowest useless value. ” Buy high, sell higher” That’s straight bullshit you people need to thrash the bastards on that crap.

    Rat housed basements and Pigeon coup valuation, the way of the cronies 101——>

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JqDHlsLWXI

    The old Indiana farmer had a name for the creeps “damned prickgoes ” which meant “prick’ya, and goes fast. ” Looks like the present Indiana governor rates the description, as well .

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