IS IT TRUE June 7, 2012
IS IT TRUE that Indiana State Republican Convention is dealing with a bit of a tempest in its teapot that is coming from within?…there are a formidable number of party members who have sent a letter to every state delegate regarding the duty that they have to nominate and vote for national delegates who will then cast their votes in the Republican National Convention for president and vice president of the United States?…this letter demands that the pre-selected slate of national delegates that often find themselves getting appointed without challenge to be national delegates?…this group which is leaning independent and may have a slight bit of tea in their blood would prefer to see an open convention where there are no anointed delegates slated by the party to get the rubber stamp of national delegate without challenge or discussion?…as this is shaping up to be the “year of the independents†as evidenced by what just happened in Wisconsin that the Indiana Republican Party would be wise to adopt this open convention policy and embrace as many of these non-partisan party members as they possibly can?
IS IT TRUE that on a more local level Mayor Winnecke has made his choice about what to do not only with Roberts Stadium but with the 37 acres that make up the Roberts Stadium complex?…as many people have expected since Mayor Weinzapfel lent his silent support to the $18 Million ball fields project that the decision regarding Roberts would involve demolition?…demolition is precisely the first part of what Mayor Winnecke has chosen to do?…this demolition given the rest of his idea would also involve tearing out the parking lot so that at the end of phase one from Swonder to the Soccer Field would be simply 37 acres of stripped earth?…that the budget that the City of Evansville has to contribute to the demolition of Roberts this year is exactly $200,000?…that we should have all known when a budget was made that was pegged to a supposed quote to demolish Roberts that the time spent by the citizen committee would be wasted?…that several members of that committee other than Jordan Baer who has been quite vocal are feeling used and ignored but that is a story for another day?
IS IT TRUE Mayor Winnecke told us all yesterday that his choice for the 37 acres would be to make it a park that will include a lake, trails, a dog park, and places for bicycles and skateboards?…that sounds remarkably similar to Garvin Park with a skateboard ramp?…that this dream does sound like it will be pretty and will add to the green space in the City of Evansville?…the Mayor also revealed that he did much of the research himself and even spoke to some teenagers who said they would like a skateboard park?…the cost to do this is estimated to be between $6 Million and $8 Million?…that as nice as the mental pictures of this park may form in the mind’s eye there is the nagging question of how to pay for these improvements and how can a city that still cannot manage to mow and collect garbage in the 2,300 acres of parks that it has consider an expansion?…this mental picture is more like a hillbilly with 15 broken down cars in the front yard coming home with a shiny new Cadillac?…however you paint this picture Evansville has not proved itself worthy of a new park when it can’t seem to take care of the ones that it has?
IS IT TRUE that if it is legally possible the least expensive and most revenue generating potential for the Roberts Stadium site is to return it to commercial use?…before starting all of this improvement that a city that can’t maintain a fire truck and remediate mold in a dressing room clearly can’t afford should seriously consider offering Roberts Stadium for sale without restriction for a period of time not to exceed 6 months?…if no one comes forward to purchase Roberts in that time period then let the demolition begin?…after demolition that another attempt should be made to sell the land?…that if after all of that, if not one investor shows any interest at all then it will be time to plant wildflowers and dream of a day when Evansville can afford luxuries like million dollar skateboard ramps, manicured dog parks, and another lake like the one at Garvin?…in the meantime there is a perfectly good design already in place that would return Garvin Park to its former brilliance?…this guy has seen the drawings and is willing to bet a lunch that Mayor Winnecke has too?
This city wants rubber stamps and trash pickers. Jordan, I suggest your spend weekend in a city like Clarksville TN and consider your future options. You are nothing but a useful canvas on which this old-boy network wants to paint its agenda.
The answer is simple. Yes, move to Clarksville, TN, a busy little bedroom community for Ft. Campbell where all those pickup driving Volunteer Staters are chopping at the bit to trade in their F-150s and Silverados for choo choo trains.
I was appalled when I heard about how the convention was run. I thought that I was casting a vote for people to go to the convention to represent me at the state level and get a chance to represent me at the national level as well. Now I hear that all they are doing is going up there to do a 5 minute dog and pony show where they rubber stamp the party’s hand-picked mouthpieces. I honestly thought I had a vote in the matter. Silly me. Why do they even waste the money putting on this charade?
I do not understand your point.
The voters, elect the Precinct Committeemen (PC’s). The PC’s elect the County Chairman and Vice Chairman. All the Chairman and Vice chairman of each County in the 8th District met as a group and selected a suggested slate of Delegates and Alternates for the National Convention. The recently elected State Delegates will vote on this suggested slate. If the suggested slate is not approved/voted-in by the recent elected State Delegates, individuals well then be nominated and voted on. This procedure follows the party rules. The recently elected State Delegates do the voting. Again, I do not understand your point.
Wayne Parke
Chairman VCRP
can you tell me of any recent time when the slated delegates were not voted in for the national convention?
No input from citizens required…. or wanted. The demolition will be no-bid, same as in the past. If this rakes your fur, wait till there is a “SUPER MAYOR”.
Makes me sick to read the comments in the C&P of all the people saying Mayor Winneckapfel made an awesome decision.
We have to keep all the Boeke Rd and Wesselman Park people happy with the green space park and dog walk. We have to have a place for the dogs to make a mess and we don’t want to disturb the birds and snakes with a lot of noise in the woods.
Winnecke is just following in the foot steps of his hero Johnny boy. Put together a citizen led committee, pretend to weigh the facts and suggestions that they present to you and do what you had intended to do all along. What an original idea a park. How many sleepless nights did it take to come up with that one. Parks are so hard to find in Evansville there is only 1 about ever 30 blocks. Oh that is right most are too run down or unsafe at night to go to, I forgot. Let’s also pretend that the combination sewer problem down’s exist and keep spending money like there is no tomorrow, but of course we know where that money will come from it is called customer rate hikes.
What we ought to do with the Roberts property is to return it to the way it was before there was a City of Evansville, and keep it that way. The city is bankrupt and no one knows it. One window pane has already fallen off the front of the Arena. More problems will follow in due course. The only project that the city _must_ finish is splitting the drainage and sewerage into two systems. Every other idea is nothing more that lame bs we can’t afford.
all you gotta do to accomplish that is turn off the power, it’ll go back soon enouogh and won’t cost 8 million dollars
Can you imagine a new park/greenspace with immature trees shading your knees and feet as you travel the garden paths? They will need the water from under the stadium to keep the grass and trees growing. Might cost as much as running the pumps without the cost of tearing down the Roberts and building a “park”. There will not be a real park on that property for 15 to 20 years, then they will lose interest and let it run down like the multitude of baseball fields and neighborhood parks in the city. When it is 50 years old, they will bulldoze it for baseball fields, tennis courts or—A NEW STADIUM!!
If they want to give the bricks to U of E, then they should send out a Request For Bids to remove the asphalt, sell it to Rudolph and let them melt it down and SELL IT BACK to the city and county to fill potholes, repair substandard streets in new subdivisions and make out county roads thicker and thicker. At least it would defray the expenses.
Has anyone noticed the removal of blacktop from First Avenue so it won’t cover the curbs when they repave it? Too bad they don’t do that in the county. The shoulders and ditches wouldn’t be so wicked if you drop off the edge if they did that instead of just adding one more layer.
Open Convention is a misleading organization. They do know really know the process. What happens is 14 days before the Convention, in Indiana, ANY Republican in good standing in the state of Indiana can apply to the State Secretary of the Republican Party to be a candidate for nomination for National Delegate.
These applicants go before their district committees and are challenged to make sure that they are not democrats or non-republicans trying to subvert the party or try to do something that is against the wishes of the Republican Primary voters.
So basically, they are probably asked who they will vote for in Tampa. This is Important because Indiana elected Romney in the GOP Primary. TO represent Indiana well, the national delegates must vote that way. No Ron Paul drones.
Then the group is presented to the caucus to vote on. In one of the districts there were a LOT of people who signed up to be national delegate. The caucus got their pick. In my District NO ONE applied. So, just as in Primaries when no one runs for an office, the county committee selects someone and nominates them for the general election, The district Chairperson makes the nominations and brings them before the caucus.
At this point, the only motion that is in order is to accept the nomination report (or slate as it these people call it). If that motion is defeated, then it will be in order for nominations to be given from the floor.
Now, in my caucus, that did not happen.
Open Conventions can be very very dangerous. Just as in constitution conventions ANYTHING can happen and ANYONE qualified can be nominated by the caucus. So a state that went hard Romney could indeed be manipulated into voting Ron Paul in Tampa. Again, this is a grand disservice to the people who voted for the president they wanted.
Open Convention tries to give a statistic that 61% of people do not like the candidates. That may be, but the official poll, the primary, shows that well more than half wanted Romney. It is the duty of the elected delegates to represent the people the were elected by in their local party and vote for people who will vote at the National Convention in a way that the people in that County would want. Romney, in my county, by about 70%. So I voted yes to the slate.
There are some information disputes and process that needs to be cleaned up, and that is what fueled some of the frustration in the room, but things will be better next Convention, I will see to it personally.
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