“IS IT TRUE” JUNE 6, 2018

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We hope that today’s “IS IT TRUE ” will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?

IS IT TRUE that several months ago when the City of Evansville put the Locust Street parking garage up for sale, the City County Observer literally ridiculed the asking price and the appraisal that they used to establish the price of $1.3 Million?…we even opined that given the number of spaces and the rate with a historical occupancy of less than 50% that the value would be somewhere between ZERO and $500,000 and unless there was a specific benefit to a buyer that the value as an investment is negative?…they finally sold the parking garage and the CCO analysis has been validated by the sale price that was actually gotten?

IS IT TRUE that to build a 500 place parking garage would cost roughly $10,000,000 but this one is under contract for a paltry $250,000 and the City of Evansville is lucky to get that?…the buyer is Evansville Health Realty that wants to control parking for the new Indiana University Medical School that the City ponied up more than $50 million to get?…the deal also will allow parking in the tower after hours and for Ford Center events?…delusion met reality when a deal got done and the reality is that parking towers in downtown Evansville are not even a remote case for private investment?…when it comes to building one for $10 Million that is about as big of a pipe dream as attracting an NBA team and an NHL franchise to the Ford Center?

IS IT TRUE the former City Council President and Finance Chairman John Friend, CPA predicted three years ago that starting in 2018 the City of Evansville will be experiencing a major budget meltdown? …that John Friend, CPA also predicts that the 2019 and 2020 City of Evansville budget shall be financial disasters?  …he also predicted that the only ways the city can balance future budgets are increasing taxes, make major budget cuts and lay off employees?

IS IT TRUE that community leader and highly successful businesswoman Amy Word-Smith will be running for the At-Large seat on the Evansville City Council in 2019 as a Democrat? ….that the former Democratic Vanderburgh County Commissioner Steve Melcher will be running for the At-Large City Council seat in 2019 as a Republican?

IS IT TRUE it looks like the Vanderburgh County Democratic Party is once again becoming a pivotal force to reckon in local politics?  …a good indication of the renewal of the local Democratic party is who is sponsoring an upcoming campaign fundraiser at KC’s Marina Pointe for County Commission candidate Jeff Hatfield?  …the sponsors of this event are: Ben Shoulders, Mike Goebel, Paul Green, Ryan Hatfield, Stephanie Terry, Kathryn Martin, Dave Wedding, Eric Williams, Jonathan Weinzapfel, Rose Young, Jack McNeely, Bill Pedtke, Steve Lockyear, Scott Danks and Chuck Whobrey?

IS IT TRUE that very little has been said on how much the City of Evansville paid towards the Evansville Thunderbolts Hockey 2017-2018 team operating expenses?  … were been told that some of the 2017-2018 Evansville Thunderbolts operating expenses may have been quietly added to the Evansville/Vanderburgh County Building Authority and ERC 2018 operating budgets?

IS IT TRUE we hope that City Controller Russ Lloyd Jr will inform members of City Council on how much did it costs the taxpayers of Evansville to subsidized the Evansville Thunderbolts operating expenses during the 2017-2018 hockey season?

IS IT TRUE that all eyes will be on the At-Large City Councilman and Finance Chairman Jonathan Weaver to see how he handle the 2019 City budget requests?  …we’ve been told if he doesn’t encourage members of City Council to approve a balanced budget without raising taxes it could be the end of his political career?

IS IT TRUE one of our readers has astutely pointed out that the “Mayor’s Drug Taskforce” to reduce the illegal use of drugs should be called the “Vanderburgh/Evansville Drug Taskforce?”

IS IT TRUE that the reporting of open government activities took a major hit in 2018?  …last year Mayor Winnecke recommended that City Council eliminate the funding of WINN TV from the 2018 city budget in which they complied?  …the cutting of WINN TV from the city budget forced people to watch the live and unedited City Council meetings on their I-Phones and personal computers which turned out to be a major inconvenience which caused the viewer numbers to be drastically reduced?

Todays “Readers Poll” question is: Would you like to know how much did it cost the Evansville taxpayers to subsidize the Thunderbolt Hockey team during the 2017-2018 budget years?

Please take time and read our articles entitled “STATEHOUSE Files, CHANNEL 44 NEWS, LAW ENFORCEMENT, READERS POLL, BIRTHDAYS, HOT JOBS” and “LOCAL SPORTS”.  You now are able to subscribe to get the CCO daily.

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9 COMMENTS

  2. Congrats of taking the city to school on valuation analysis. You guys pointed out the delusions of value with the hotel and the McCurdy too. The city should hire the CCO to do their math.

  3. Parking “tower”?
    The City of Evansville ain’t go no stinkin’ parking “towers”.
    They have parking garages.

    • Thanks, OldMustangMan

      So noted and has been corrected.

      Thanks for your input and reading the CCO.

      Editor

  4. The ‘Thunderbolts’ were stillborn. An sham from the start. You just can’t expect much from such a tainted, orchestrated beginning.

    Waste our money on something else for a while.

  5. What is Weinzapfel and that cast of characters doing hosting a political fundraiser? Last I heard he was supposed to stay out of politics. That cadre on your list is the same cast of mutants that split the party in half and ruined it. Jeff Hatfield had better think twice about the company he keeps. This money may poison his chances the way this group poisoned my run for mayor.

    • If (RIP) Rick Davis had bided his time a while longer he could have been mayor- he ticked off the wrong people. Price paid

  6. List of Killings in the Name of Islam: Last 30 Days

    This is part of the list of killings in the name of Islam maintained by TheReligionofPeace.com. Most of these incidents are terror attacks. A handful are honor killings or Sharia executions.

    During this time period, there were 151 Islamic attacks in 24 countries, in which 644 people were killed and 813 injured.

    https://www.thereligionofpeace.com/attacks/attacks.aspx?Yr=Last30

  7. WSJ is writing today that Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan agrees with the Republican House Government Oversight Chairman Trey Gowdy that Trump is an absolute liar when he accuses the FBI of spying on his campaign.
    Both Republican Chiefs said the FBI was doing their job, like they are supposed to do – follow Russians attacking the United States.
    And it turns out, when they did follow those Russians?
    The FBI found the Russians were meeting with the Trump campaign.

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