IS IT TRUE May 30, 2013
IS IT TRUE, that the CP reported the City of Evansville will be proposing a subsidy for the Convention Hotel, Parking Garage, storage/retail building, street infrastructure, walkway connectors, and rehab of the Centre to be $37,500,000?..the taxpayers of Evansville will. be paying interest on the debt during the construction period, plus the cost of underwriting the debt, plus legal fees all of which become capitalized when the real loan is secured by selling bonds after the construction has ended?…if all scales as other such projects the true cost commitment of the project will be $44,000,000 as opposed to the headline grabbing $37,500,000 that has everyone riled up?
IS IT TRUE that the City of Evansville’s current debt level is approximately $360,000,000 when both the City and the Water & Sewer Utility are considered?…that within the last month, the Winnecke Administration has brought in front of the City Council $637,000,000 of proposed additional debt including the $545 Million 75% solution to the sewer problem that will most likely be much higher when the EPA gets through with Evansville?…it has taken Evansville over 200 years to amass its current debt level, and within less than 30 days the Winnecke Administration is proposing to increase it by 78% to nearly one billion dollars?… when this all plays out every citizen of Evansville will be over $8,500 in debt for city bonds?…unlike the Federal Government, the City doesn’t have the means to print money to get out of this problem?…it can only tax the people that live here and those who own property?
IS IT TRUE the reason the anticipated sewer debt is now high enough to dwarf the debt it took 200 years to amass is because mayor after mayor for the last half century have been cowards when it comes to investing in basic infrastructure?…as much as the Winnecke Administration is where this rotten buck has stopped this really is a legacy problem created by a culture of neglect and tossing fluff to the masses so they forget about what local governments responsibilities really are?…if this had been fixed back in the early 70’s when it was fully discovered and understood the cost to repair it would have been less than $100 Million as opposed to the estimates that are approaching $1 Billion?…what may need to be done to solve this problem is to get the old silk screen machine fired up and make some pretty T-Shirts with a misleading slogan like “We Love the Smell of the South Side†so the problem will vaporize from the minds of the populace?…that clever T-Shirts is always the first solution to any problem that needs solving?
IS IT TRUE that Evansville or “Stoplight City†as the truckers call us may really be more accurately depicted as “T-Shirt Cityâ€?…the latest T-Shirt to hit the streets is the “We are Evansville†T-Shirts that a class at USI came up with when Evansville was characterized as the 8th most miserable city in America?…civic pride is a great thing and these students are to be commended for their sprit and willingness to try something?…we hope the number of volunteers grows to 117,000 from its current level of about 1% of that?…the annual Evening on the River tomorrow night where lots of fun and games activities like music, horsey rides, food, & booze are available for a fee of $50 will be graced with perhaps a thousand of these T-Shirts?…there will even be another army of T-Shirted litter pickers headed to Sunset Park, Kid’s Kingdom, the Historic District, and Goosetown for the dozenth time to pick up the filth accumulated from the slovenly way that the people who litter these areas live?…it actually feels good to get out an pick up litter but if the pig class outnumbers the litter pickers by 100 to 1 it can get as frustrating as training a toddler to use the potty?…at least with the toddler we who have raised them know our efforts will eventually pay off?…T-Shirts did not get the consolidation vote to pass and T-Shirts will not solve the problem of Evansville’s place in the American pecking order?…paying attention to infrastructure and doing things that a city is supposed to do instead of distracting the citizenry with fun and games may change Evansville over the next 20 years but there is no quick fix to a legacy of neglect?…the City County Observer hopes this Core of USI students represent the low water mark for Evansville and stay engaged in the civic process throughout their lives?…there are nearly enough of them to change the makeup of the Evansville City Council in 2 years when those seats are up for grabs again?
USI students live in the county and can’t vote for the City Council.
The bells and whistles do not last but you still have to flush sooner or later!!
..EVANSVILLE INDIANA..
“MISERY LOVES COMPANY”
..Y’all come see us..
…. Ya hear? ….
Is it just me, or is anybody buying bonds in an Evansville project like this a total fool? Who buys this kind of “investment” in a city seemingly intent on going bankrupt, that can’t balance its own books, that tears down viable buildings to make dog parks, that either ignores its future liabilities or finds new ways to make living here less attractive with smart meters?
What feeble-minded saps are sitting down, looking at all the available investments they could make and going, “Evansville, Indiana! That’s the big money maker”? Do they know something I don’t? What’s the motive? What’s the return on an Evansville city bond? If I wanted to buy one, what do I do? Are these bonds being packaged and marketed through investment houses with other rust belt city bonds and rotten investments?
These aren’t rhetorical questions. I’d really like to know.
You’d be amazed at the idiots around here , of course that’s how winnecke got put in
The #1 priority in Evansville should be sidewalk repair. We should not invest 1 cent into anything else until we fix our sidewalks. Sewer repair is coming.
Brent
It is pretty pathetic that the city can’t maintain something that is so visible and simple as a sidewalk. And they wonder why people don’t ride the METS busses.
That’s because they’re too busy wasting money on boondoggle interstates and now parkways. We have a large sum of people in this city who think all of that is great and then are in absolute shock when there are no funds or any support for side walks and sewers and yada yada yada in the urban core. Pick one people.
I appreciate the CCO t-shirt mention in this IIT. I am so glad that I’m not the only one who thinks this neon t-shirt movement is a complete joke. If you watch the video in one of the posts below Winnecke talks about how great the community came together to purchase over 5,000 of those shirts. But then he mentions the sponsors and it’s all the same kiss ups like Vectren, St. Mary’s, Deaconness, ONB, the chamber, etc etc who bought the shirts for their employees. Good one Winnecke.
Instead of We Are Evv, the shirt should say We Are The Machine.
Rails,
Why don’t you start a group called ‘RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE’ ? I will buy your Tee.
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