IS IT TRUE? July 24, 2011
IS IT TRUE that we are wondering why every time we open the paper or turn on local news that Arena project manager John Kish is standing in front of a camera expressing skepticism for the EB-5 financing that has been proposed by Prime Lodging LLC while singing the praises of the financing that the Kunkel Group is proposing to get from Acer, a private hard money lender from Irvine, California?…that we thought that the purpose of VETTING these proposals was to hire or assemble a competent team of professionals to determine which proposal is the best proposal for the people of Evansville to co-invest with?…that no committee or firm has been hired to do this VETTING yet?…that the City County Observer believes that it is premature and prejudicial for the project manager to be advocating for either proposal at this time?…that the best answer that could possibly come from the mouth of Mr. Kish, the Mayor of Evansville, the City Council, or the Evansville Redevelopment Commission is as follows?
“The responses are being taken under review and it is our intention to evaluate every aspect and option of each proposal in a formal VETTING PROCESS that will be carried out by an outside objective professional firm. No further questions pleaseâ€
IS IT TRUE that that opinions expressed this week by Mr. Kish on camera and in print are not consistent with a project manager that has even a shred of objectivity?…that these statements and the demeanor with which they were made have already polluted the potential for a fair vetting process that includes Mr. Kish?…that it is time for Mr. Kish to recuse himself from this process and to leave the entire vetting process to a professional firm that he has no choice in making and the decision on which proposal to choose to others?…that Mr. Kish seems to have already made his recommendations with his words and actions of the last week?…that if there are only two things that the people of Evansville deserve from this process is that it is both fair and equitable?…that Mr. Kish’s rush to judgement and to the cameras was neither?
IS IT TRUE that there are plenty of things that can be easily verified up front to start shining a bit of light on each proposal?…that one of those things is the probability of success for the senior debt proposed?…that another is whether or not “key money†from the Hyatt Corporation can be used as up front equity and how much it really is?…that another would be to scale the drawings of the proposals and see if the sizes of the features are even feasible for the proposed uses?…that another most important consideration is just how solid the proposed equity money is and when it is available to be deployed for these purposes?…that another feature of interest is just how accurate the renderings are with respect to the $8 Million public investment that the RFP committed to invest?…that at least one member of the Evansville City Council is planning to propose that a performance bond of between 3% and 5% ($1Million – $1.6 Million) of the project cost be placed up front?…that this will separate the real from the imaginary when it comes to the financing of the downtown Convention Hotel?
IS IT TRUE that Evansville may be the only city in America with a population of over 100,000 people with absolutely no large arena style venue during the period of time after Roberts Stadium is mothballed (September 17th) and when the new Arena opens (November 1st)?…that we really wonder what the urgency was to do this so fast?…that this makes about as much sense as a small town with a single fire truck mothballing that fire truck 6 weeks before the scheduled delivery of a new fire truck?…that we wonder just where the fire is there powers that be?…that this is just one more example of READY, FIRE, AIM playing itself out for the entertainment of the people of Evansville?
Kish is a lawyer and hired grease man, his job is to run over or around any reasonable obstacle which gets in the way. It has manifested itself on this project when he authorized the payment of Browning’s expenses on 7/15/2009 (09 ERC 34) and 8/4/2009 (09 ERC 41). The first one was for $ 35,000. The second one was for an undisclosed amount, and was for the purpose of “getting a deal done with Browning by the end of the month” (how’s that one working out, Kish ?). Remember the outrageously inflated prices that Kish paid for the properties on Main Street that had to be torn down to make way for the A-Train ? Again, bulldoze (literally) your way through to get to a completed Arena, costs be damned ! The real project manager is Hunt Construction. Kish was hired for the political side of the equation–brought in to bully the local political process and drive home the Arena regardless of the casualties. All told, the City will have paid a lawyer and political hack over $ 1,000,000 when the Arena and Hotel efforts are combined, not to mention the unspeakable notion of paying a developer’s costs to evaluate a deal with the City. Boo Kish, you give all real Project Mangers a bad name. The article correctly stated: no Project Manager would ever advocate for one developer over another. That’s unprofessional and biased. Objectivity and detachment are what result in good decisions and outcomes, not yet another politically-motivated move. Boo Kish !
also, since we paid Browning’s expenses to look at this transaction (see above), are we now oblgiated to cover Kunkel and Prime’s legal and professional fees ? Seems like the neighborly thing to do ?
When Arena project manager Mr. Kish speaks to the media about the 2 hotel proposals, who does he speak for? The current Administration, the ERC, the DMD, the unnamed Arena or some other entity?
Bob Hope, would love Evansville. Can you imagine all of the political jokes he would make!
A clergyman awoke one morning to find a dead donkey in his front yard. He had no idea how it got there, but he knew he had to get rid of it.
He called the sanitation department, the health department, and several other agencies, but no one seemed able to help him.
In desperation, the good reverend called the mayor and asked what should be done. The mayor must have been having a bad day. ”Why bother me?” he asked. ”You’re a clergyman. It’s your job to bury the dead.”
The pastor lost his cool. ”Yes,” he snapped, ”But I thought I should at least notify the next-of-kin.”
mapmaker, a classic, thanks for the humor and the nice reference to our own predicament !
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