IS IT TRUE May 7, 2013
IS IT TRUE that the Federal Government shall be mandating the City of Evansville to pay at least $227 Million to fix select sewer problems beginning in the near future? …that the Winnecke Administration shall be forced to raised our sewer rate by at least 10% for the next 6 years so we will be able to genuinely start the EPA mandated project?…there is a high probability that the EPA will turn down Evansville’s plea to kick the can down the road and postpone over half of the project for 20 years?…the reason given for requesting a postponement is that Evansville is too poor to afford to pay a $500 Million tab to do the job right?…if EPA officials follow what is going on in Evansville with a $127 Million arena and $100 Million more being planned to be spent on non essential or fun and games projects they will most likely think the “poor little Evansville†act is a crock of crap?…one has to wonder with all of the frivolous projects that the Winnecke Administration is willing to pay for how the “poor little Evansville†plea could work on any reasonable judge of character?
IS IT TRUE that the Winnecke Administration is planning to raise our water bills 2.8% per year for the next 20 years to help pay for the proposed Johnson Control project?…this will not accompany a rate increase which would be inappropriate for a project that is supposed to pay for itself in savings?…what will happen for the City of Evansville to get into your pocket is that they will claim the new meters are measuring consumption that has not been reported by the supposedly old and inefficient meters?…the net result is that everyone who writes a check to the Evansville Waterworks each month will be writing a larger check but the rate will not change?…the failure to disclose this dirty little secret is a SNEGAL (sneaky but legal) maneuver from an administration that is increasingly getting comfortable with all things sneaky?
IS IT TRUE that the 2013 Evansville Parks budgets that fund the Zoo are beginning to show major funding shortfalls and costs overruns in this year’s budget? …if one would visit the Evansville Zoo they shall see quickly that things aren’t going well?… we know why the St. Louis Zoo is now advertising on Evansville’s local TV stations?…it is because the St. Louis Zoo sees an opportunity to draw visitors away from our own Zoo?…the St. Louis Zoo is free?
IS IT TRUE there are those among us whose memories have painted the past rosy enough to think Evansville was once such an attractive place to hold conventions that it was known as “Convention Cityâ€?…these same revisionists are spreading the opinion that all we need to regain that title and get the private jets moving this way is a 256 room downtown hotel?…anyone who believes this (and they are legion) should be a good target to sell some beachfront property in Monkey’s Eyebrow, Kentucky?…as we all know Evansville’s attractiveness as a convention destination has fallen since the premature destruction of the Executive Inn by the Weinzapfel Administration?…our convention readiness may have fallen but not all that far as Evansville despite the concocted “Legend of Convention City†has never been a big attraction for conventions?…the sands of time during which Evansville has not kept up with the rest of the world has rendered Evansville essentially a non-competitor with driving distance cities like Louisville, Nashville, and Indianapolis?
IS IT TRUE Evansville with or without a downtown convention hotel is now reduced to competing with Owensboro, Paducah, Bowling Green, and even Jasper for micro-conventions like “Catfish Fiddlersâ€, “Quilt Loversâ€, and the “Moustache Waxing Club of Americaâ€?…a new hotel may actually make Evansville more competitive for such insignificant small conventions, but someone in power needs to sharpen their pencil and determine why it is worth spending $37.5 Million taxpayer dollars to find out?…dreams for the delusional do indeed die hard?…it has now been nearly 2,000 days since that proud smiling moment when Mayor Weinzapfel announced that a $42 Million 4-Star hotel would be coming to downtown Evansville without public assistance if only we would build an Arena?…like Delta Dawn wearing her flower and waiting for her long lost boyfriend to “take her to that castle in the sky†Mayor Winnecke is still pursuing Mayor Weinzapfel’s agenda except he wants Evansville taxpayers to pay for it?
Ah, those that run around in “Circles”…..and “circles”, shall be known as
“Snegal Wheels”. As they push Evansville to the brink fiscally, one can only wish that they were on Thelma and Louise’s car,
instead of Evansville’s.
CCO,
Your second paragraph re: Johnson Controls is both incorrect + confusing.
EWS just raised Water Bills 35 % over a 3 year phase in (Cause 44137 IURC). Since they base Sewer on Water, those rates will go up also.
JCI built this into the contract so they could include this 35 % actual rate increase in their guaranteed savings calculations. The 2.8 % is an ‘escalation’ factor JCI also built into the contract. Even if there is NO actual rate increase (let’s say in Year 4), JCI still gets to count an additional 2.8 % per year (on top of the 35 % after year 3)–so in any given year, JCI gets the GREATER of the actual rate increase or the floor increase of 2.8 %–for purposes of calculating the ‘Guaranteed Savings’. With me so far ? Then it only gets better–even on the ‘Non-Measured’ Savings (mostly on Sewer side)–JCI also gets to include an additional 2.8 % in savings per year. Good work if you can get it ! The idea that JCI is actually guaranteeing anything with this Contract is sheer whimsy, as light and fluffy as a cloud !
The Johnson Controls project must be stopped by the City Council. This spending is reckless and ill advised. Raising our water rates and claiming the project pays for itself from “savings”. That is Obamaspeak. I voted for a Republican Mayor to stop the out-of-control spending of the former regime. What happened?
“as we all know Evansville’s attractiveness as a convention destination has fallen since the premature destruction of the Executive Inn by the Weinzapfel Administration”
Bingo! This sums it up completely right here. Spending $125 mil and $37.5 mil for buildings that the city already had in its inventory is no way to grow a city, especially when you have an enormous list of other amenities that need to be built because Evansville is having to play catch-up.
I wish you wouldn’t even put Evansville in the same sentence as Jasper.
As we have been listed in couple of recent books as one of the best
small towns in the US compared to Evansville’s standing.
We have 5 fine hotels ,one with a convention center that needed no
government money . A softball complex that atracts tourneys built at
a price that didn’t break the bank. All in a county that has the lowest
unemployment rate in Indiana.
There’s that Dubois county good ole boy “my **** doesn’t stink” attitude.
Different world. Different attitude. Less corrupt politicians.
You’re comparing apples and oranges.
I live in Vanderburgh, but anyone who looks can tell Jasper is doing a better job of running a government. A mayor like Wieneke or Weinsapple would not spend the peoples money the way it happens here. Heads would roll, but that would never happen because they know they’d not get away with trying to buy their way out of financial problems.
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