IS IT TRUE November 26, 2014

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IS IT TRUE that the people of Evansville have now been treated to yet another press release announcing that the construction on Evansville’s downtown convention hotel officially begins Tuesday, December 2, 2014?…by start of construction this time around it means that some of the equipment that will be used to build the hotel will be delivered to the construction site that day?…if we knew that placing equipment on the lot constituted starting construction Mayor Weinzapfel could have cemented a shovel into the ground 78 months ago and proclaimed construction to have started and saved us all of the drama of 5 announcements?…once the equipment, whatever that means is put on the dirt, workers will then begin preparing the site and getting it ready for the actual construction by putting up new fencing to keep people from stealing or destroying the equipment?…it is ironic that the date given that would be too late to start construction was early December?…if that prior announcement was true, and we have no reason to believe it is, then real work will start in March or April when the weather starts to cooperate?…the reality remains that without a check for $14 Million from Old National, a $20 Million bond issue by the City of Evansville, and a total of $37.6 Million in loans and cash from HCW of Branson, Missouri, NO REAL CONSTRUCTION WILL BE STARTING?…we of course will be treated to a couple of dozen puff press releases to trick the people of Evansville into thinking life is grand in downtown Evansville?

IS IT TRUE that for the 6th year in a row the oversight of design in the Ford Center that has an insufficient amount of storage to accommodate even the smallest events is going to cause the performing animals in the Hadi Shrine Circus to seek accommodations elsewhere?…we just gotta wonder, where the tigers, lions, and elephants are going to sleep with no storage shed to house them?…with no room at the Tiger Inn, hardship once again is visited upon the poor animals of the circus?…perhaps we can get a rendition of “Eye of the Tiger” on the PA system to commemorate the event?

IS IT TRUE it has been confirmed that the two sets of bonds floated to get the money to put in the Johnson Controls smart water meters were bought by none other than the City of Evansville Bond Bank?…we wonder if the Bond Bank was used to avoid the reality of dealing with the negative trending bond rating that the City of Evansville had attached to its AA- rating?…we also are interested to know just where the Evansville Bond Bank gets its money and how long it intends to hold those bonds that it bought?…there is always the possibility that the Evansville Bond Bank could have sold the bonds at a discount to get some cash back to do another sneaky deal?… it is even possible that Johnson Controls could have bought the bonds back in a 3 way transaction designed to enhance their bottom line?…we think if Missy Mosby and Jonathan Weaver’s generous scheme to have the City of Evansville be the bank for the 6,000 poor souls caught in Duckworth’s Pipe Trap could be financed by another 3 way transaction utilizing the Bond Bank?…this is a real web of trickiness with little transparency associated with it?

IS IT TRUE with the whole country smarting from the rioting in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, it is appropriate to raise some issues about the chain of injustice that was unleashed again just as it was after the Rodney King verdict in Los Angeles in 1992?…this writer remembers that very well as my child was in the hospital in Westwood which came under attack by the mob in the street during her time in care?…of course Michael Brown and Officer Darren Wilson have both paid a high price for what started with the theft of cigars?…Michael Brown lost his life through a series of bad decisions and Officer Wilson’s life will be negatively altered forever as well?…nothing much has been said about the merchants of Ferguson who have seen dozens of properties burned to the ground and looted by a mob in the street reacting to a verdict from a grand jury they do not agree with?…the Brown family, President Obama, and many others called for non-violence but those calls went unheeded?…cameras have recorded individuals screaming “burn this bitch down” and other violence promoting slogans?…those who used this opportunity to loot, burn, and destroy private property should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for the losses incurred by business owners in Ferguson, for the loss of property values from the actions of the mob, and for increased insurance premiums precipitated by the senseless violence?…can we ever learn that 10,000 wrongs do not make a right?…thus far nothing good has come from the incidents in Ferguson?…the CCO hopes that maybe this time we will learn the lessons of Gandhi and Dr. King and cease this nonsense, even when teenagers and law enforcement officers are alleged to have made mistakes?

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76 COMMENTS

  1. I’ve done some cursory research on smart meters, and I don’t know if the “smart meters” that are being installed here are using AMR or AMI technology. Is the system use walk by/drive by or is it a fixed base system.

    I understand that there are issues with meter failure, but how many people also know that these meters also gather metadata on your usage. In essence, these meters can track your usage to determine at any given time if there are more people in your residence than usual, and what is called data mining. Does this concern anyone? If an AMI system is deployed, if I understand correctly, this system gives the municipality the ability to disconnect service. The concern here is that this could go beyond shutting off service for those who are delinquent on their payments. There are unintended consequences with the utilization of smart devices like smart meters and the smart grid.

    Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love technology, but there needs to be restraints as to what information is gathered and how that data is used.

    Do we need to have a discussion on how this kind of technology may impact citizens’ right to privacy under the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution? Is it a “fair” trade, to have water service in exchange for relinquishing our right to privacy? Does anyone care?

    • Fixed base station because of the elimination of meter readers. Seems at the beginning that there was some type of Wi-Fi tied with that meter package that wound up being taken out to reduce cost.

  2. “those who used this opportunity to loot, burn, and destroy private property should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law for the losses incurred by business owners in Ferguson, for the loss of property values from the actions of the mob, and for increased insurance premiums precipitated by the senseless violence?…”

    With all due respect “You Can’t Get Blood Out of a Turnip”,,,,I would postulate that most of the perps arrested don’t “earn a living” and will never have a means of restitution.

    • The jobs they could be doing that they could actually afford to eat on are now filled by Chinese children. You can thank republicans for that. Time to change your tune on abortion and birth control.

    • …those longhairs don’t do nothin but smoke dope and holler they hate their country.

        • Well, come on generals, let’s move fast;
          Your big chance has come at last.
          Gotta go out and get those reds —
          The only good commie is the one who’s dead
          And you know that peace can only be won
          When we’ve blown ’em all to kingdom come.

          And it’s one, two, three,
          What are we fighting for ?
          Don’t ask me, I don’t give a damn,
          Next stop is Fergusan; …
          ~~ Country Joe McDonald, sort of

        • That’s actually more like a description of what I was doing in 1968,,,,,except for the hatin my country part.

      • Dope smoking long hairs are not the problem we have in our country , it’s the clean cut never did anything wrong in their life politican that’s constantly bending rules to meet their wants that is killing us

    • They can sure do time in prison though. Especially the guy on TV bragging he started a fire. The step-father as well for inciting a riot with his “burn this bitch down” chant.
      Examples need to be made. When 100 or more thugs are serving prison time maybe-just maybe their nieces & nephews will ask where they are & why.

      I hope their parents use the opportunity to teach those young minds about law & order and do not use it as a way to instill hatred towards the police or white race. Only time will tell.

    • Sharpton is a highly paid employee of NBC. He was howling about injustice on his platform yesterday and his howling stokes the fires of resentment. That resentment is what is driving the violence. NBC should be a respondent and I bet thet have insurance for what Sharpton says. Gotta choose your turnips wisely.

  3. Under ground work can done. It is timed when weather starts breaking in the spring that construction is in full swing. Not knowing foundation details, one would assume auger piles may be used that is typical of what was done across Walnut Street at this same time of year.

  4. Is the storage for the Ford Center still part of this hotel construction? Seems there was talk at one time about that? Maybe pets will be allowed in the new hotel? This may allow the circus animals to be put in all those empty $200 a night rooms?

    • The only problem with boarding the animals in the hotel is that we are several million dollars, both public and private, short of having a hotel. I think there are a couple of offices on the Third Floor of the Civic Center that could be temporarily vacated for the beasts, especially the corner one.

      • That office is currently occupied by a cat resembling Manimal of some distinction. The circus creatures should have remained on the Serengeti Plain until needed, there is no room at the inn. Will The Poop man his famed shovel for the sake of a cleaner Evansville? Will he dump the fruits of his scoopery directly in the Ohio?

    • Never liked circuses even as a kid. Always felt sorry for the animals. And now more so. Even with current regulations performing animals are treated poorly. No wild animal “enjoys” doing tricks. The way Evansville promotes the circus is very sad. If you support the charity that the Shriners give the circus profits to, then contribute directly to that charity and do not abuse animals as an intermediate step to that contribution. To buy a circus ticket promotes animal abuse.

      • Good idea, Martha. My family is both pro-animal and clownophobic, so we don’t include the Circus on our Thanksgiving.

        • How did some of the city government elected get thrown into the circus discussion? Oh, clownophopic

      • Actually, only a small percentage of the proceeds of the circus go to the hospitals. The proceeds, after everything is paid, go to funding the operation of the Shrine Temple.

  5. It’s time to put a stop to the violence. Meet force with even greater force. The police are letting this get out of hand as they are afraid to act for fear of being criticized by the news media talking head idiots. We need someone like Rudy Giuliani to control the violence. These fools who are demanding justice would not know justice if it slapped them across the face.

    Michael Brown was a dangerous felon and was dealt with the only way you can deal with a dangerous felon who’s refusing to be arrested.

    • “Michael Brown was a dangerous felon and was dealt with the only way you can deal with a dangerous felon who’s refusing to be arrested”

      .Wow! It takes a special kind of jerk to slander a dead teenager. You should fact-check the drivel you read on the hateful websites.

      • When Brown altercated the patrolman while still inside the vehicle. Grabbing with the patrolman’s gun does not put a “halo” on this thug! Had he not done what he did as just mention, I would had been in your corner!

  6. I don’t know much about the Evansville Bond Bank, but what little I do understand leads me to the conclusion that it can be a good thing in some circumstances, or a real WMD if it is in the wrong hands. I’m going to make it a point to learn more about this rather shadowy institution.

    • elkaybee, by WMD did you mean the Dick Cheney or Dick Friend definition ?

      Editor, touche’ re: the prospect of using Evansville Bond Bank for a ‘citizens pipe offering’, which we shall dub the CPO; this E Bond Bank bunch should be able to handle $ 10 Million to make the citizens whole with just their cigar-lighting money !

      • Cheney’s, in this case. The Councilman’s “knock off” of the phrase had slipped my mind!

  7. Concerning yesterdays IS IT TRUE” about Evansville Brownfields:
    This article dated April 21, 2010 (excerpt)

    “The Evansville Brownfields Corp. decided today to open its board meetings to the public.

    The Brownfields Corp., an entity used to buy up dilapidated houses in blighted areas of the city, has held private meetings since its formation in 2003. Indiana codes allowed it to do so because of its status as a nonprofit organization.

    But following the recent submission of a financial report, Brownfields officials learned their actions would soon be subject to audit, according to Joe Atkinson, president of the organization’s board. Atkinson said the Indiana State Board of Accounts told him and his fellow board members that the amount of federal money being spent by the Evansville Brownfields Corp. warranted scrutiny by an outside agency.
    http://www.courierpress.com/news/local-news/brownfields-corp-opens-meetings-public“”

    _______

    Has anyone been notified of, or attended these “public meetings”? …

    • According to the accounting profession, the new pronouncement requires pass thru non-profit organizations to be audited if Federal grant money are involved…what is so amazing, as I was told, if the grant moneys go to for profit organizations, those organizations are NOT subject to audit…so, do we have for profit organizations receiving grants originating from the feds originating from the City? and if we do, why isn’t there an ordinance requiring audit under the Yellow Book standards? If the Brownfield Non-profit will be subject to audit, then why isn,t the Evansville Redevelopment Authority not under the same, remember the 2013 State Board of Accounts audit report which indicates that the City over-paid the ERA approx 2 million or so concerning the Ford Center which was also brought to light under the Ford Center Audit… Nobody seems to know were in the hell those funds are???

  8. As far as the Michael Brown incident:
    Beings I have the Dish Network, I took the time and surfed the news channels from 200-209 all day yesterday to get a wide array of views. “Hate” to say it, but it seems that the decease is being used as a tool for many other agendas! 99% is on tangent of what actually was the cause. When that 1% start being mention, it was shot down/disrupted. The continuing showing a much younger picture of Michael, to the continuing burning of Fergusons buildings. What is “not” being said is it is not alright to steal. It is not alright to bully the store sales person. It is not alright to walk down the center of the street after law enforcement asked otherwise. It is not alright to physically assault a law officer. This led up to what followed, the other 99%ers

    One of the agendas bother me. The disparity of ratios being arrested, ratio of jail inmates, ect.
    Are they wanting law abiding citizens arrested for that ideal ratio? Did it ever dawn on these people that there is a reason why these ratios are the way they are. And the color of skin of the arresting officer has no bearing does not change why one is arrested for.

  9. Happy Thanksgiving Everybody…..

    “A teenage boy had just passed his driving test and inquired of his father as to when they could discuss his use of the car.

    His father said he’d make a deal with his son, “You bring your grades up from a C to a B average, study your Bible a little and get your hair cut. Then we’ll talk about the car.” The boy thought about that for a moment, decided he’d settle for the offer and they agreed on it.

    After about six weeks his father said, “Son, you’ve brought your grades up and I’ve observed that you have been studying your Bible, but I’m disappointed you haven’t had your hair cut.”

    The boy said, “You know, Dad, I’ve been thinking about that, and I’ve noticed in my studies of the Bible that Samson had long hair, John the Baptist had long hair, Moses had long hair, and even Jesus had long hair.”

    And his Dad said, “Did you also notice that they all walked everywhere they went?”

  10. 2013 Operating Results for The Centre: Operating Loss of -$ 676,000;

    Accumulated Operating Loss through 12/31/2013: $ 9,000,000 (this facility opened in 2003)

    Please do not refer to this money-losing facility as ‘ONB Events Plaza’ until the bank ponies up the dough.

    I vote to padlock the doors, save money, and host all of The Centre’s events across the street. The Ford Center also loses money, but will lose less with more volume.

  11. Since the City can’t legally fix the homeowners pipes for Johnson Controls, really only two options:

    1) City just pay for the repairs straight-up, no loans, no liens (as it should have done from the outset); or

    2) Ask the well-heeled Dan McGinn to ante up the $ 10 Million, if he has finished the repairs to his Estate’s roof and windows, and has some garbanzo beans leftover.

    • Don’t rouse McGinn. He’s liable to call in another butterfly strike on Evansville if he gets word there are animals in town. Already too many Monarchs in around here.

      The city, if it cares anything at all about its people, should pay for any repairs attendant to the meter swap fiasco. Just like they did for the first several thousand that had the transplant.

    • That’s sanitation, not potable water in which the Smart Meters discussion is about!

        • So, smart meters on sanitation now? Really?
          So all this $1500 to $4000 repair is on sanitation, and not the potable water side as being led with Johnson Control?

      • An interesting read from as far back as 2003. Evansville still continues to compound its similar issues with CSO by tossing more projected load onto the already mandated and failed sectioned balance in the downtowns Zombie utility combined sewers profiles. Even if the new downtown construction didn’t add to the rundown, it could still affect the homes and structures still cursed with the older zombie infrastructures. Therefore, the overflow still ends up in Americas strategic clean water balance someplace. To add additional loads without the whole unit solution is just flat out financially irresponsible when applied to the “well being index of the entire community.” Who, as normal will eventually get tagged with the bill, once that’s leveled, the leadership tag team tags out and you’ll get another fresh project to pin your progress forward with more cost.
        Interesting the old articles last couple of paragraphs. Due, the Sierra clubs attention.

        http://ohio.sierraclub.org/central//MyRiverSewer.asp

        Real stuff now, for the private home and business owners caught up in the mess.

        http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/insurance/7-types-of-homes-that-are-hard-to-insure/ss-BBeHxtS#image=3

      • Sorry for saying water line instead of sewer line. Regardless, the city tried to charge this person for repairs that were on their side.

  13. Comment re: Evansville Bond Bank:

    I had not even heard of this entity until yesterday. Are they part of the City or not ?

    Also, why use this entity to buy the Johnson Controls bonds, vs. a traditional underwriter ?

    What did they do with the bonds after they bought them/ resell to the public ? I am missing something here .

    • Go to: Evansville gov.net, click on boards and commissions The mayor appoints all of those (47-51)boards and commissions. Eyes will open!

  14. EVANSVILLE BOND BANK:

    Google ‘City of Evansville Waterworks District Series 2013C’.

    Click on a domain named http://www.munios.com

    This is the Johnson Controls Bond— Waterworks portion.

    186 pages, here’s a recap:

    E Bond Bank is the Issuer of the Bonds;
    Fifth Third Securities is the purchaser of the Bonds;
    Bond Proceeds will be used by E Bond Bank to purchase Waterworks Bonds;
    E Bond Bank will repay the securities sold by Fifth Third using the Net Revenues of Waterworks;
    With me so far ? Good !

    In the ‘Introduction to the Official Statement’: we are greeted with the news that the E Bond Bank is ” a body corporate and politic, separate from the City of Evansville”. Let me go out on a limb here and predict that any FOIA request about this bond issue will be met with a denial, on the basis that “The Evansville Bond Bank is not a public entity”.

    On the page which lists the ‘key personnel’ . . . this document lists Johnson Controls as the ‘Engineer’. Since Johnson Controls is presumably the recipient of the bond proceeds . . . calling them ‘Engineer’ is questionable ?

    Luckily for us citizens, we have some familiar names to protect us:

    Russell Lloyd Jr. named Executive Director of E Bond Bank effective 1-1-2012
    Bix Branson signed this document as Chairman of the E Bond Bank ;
    H.J. Umbaugh–that helpful CPA firm in Indy–made sure all the numbers were in the right rows.

    Gosh, there must be catfish involved. It stinks, and it’s murky in these waters !

  15. This is bogus !

    Councilman O’Daniel or President-for-Life Friend need to require the City Administration to explain the purpose of this so-called “Bond Bank” to the public. Or, if one of those gents already knows the mechanics of this ” corporate and politic body, separate from the City “, my hearing aid is on and operational.

    Friend had a case of heartburn over the multiple bank accounts used to pay vendors for the Ford Center, which laid that project wide open to become the aptly named ‘Fraud Center’. What say you know about these bond hi-jinks on Johnson Controls , Mr. Friend ?

  16. Fergusan rioters won’t have any trouble finding the welfare office, They left it standing—-Gotta get paid now that their Christmas shopping is done

  17. On the lighter side!

    Obama has been reported using a EO today to pardon two Meleagris gallopavo.
    It was also reported the GOP has cried “fowl”!

  19. Editors: Our prediction on the travel woes from days back is being scored as we write.
    Get a grip, and see through carbon Larry’s rants, its set in for those that fund that crap . We do. as well as Mitch the pitch does for his fat man funders, change is eminent its entropic. That’s universal, even those pocket pushed idiots can’t change it.
    Evansville’s puny, and its metro balance have a once in a century chance at decent relative national balance. For its working people.
    Don’t blow this for some stupid localized political ogres machine pocket pushing. It won’t come along again in this century.
    We know this because, We own it. They do not, and will not. So.
    Either people realize what their actual demise is, and you really sport that. or they leave that to them ( the complete corruption of your politically tiered, downtown sectioned real estate trolls elitist machine) and receive as what is historical. “Not so much”.

    • Data specified recovered categorized and listed. We still own it, always have and “you” never, –>will. Idiot’s . 😉

  21. Your last IS IT TRUE editor is spot on, but the only answer is for every cop in the country while on duty to have a body cam and if it happens to be off during an incident like this, then they need to be fired immediately without pay subject to a grand jury investigation.

    For the black community to use Michael Brown as their rallying cry instead of Trayvon or Eric Gardner was disheartening to me because they chose a thief and someone who doesn’t have the God given sense to walk on a sidewalk to rally behind and because of their stupidity has set their rightful cause back God knows how long.

    This country can survive without a Michael Brown but the 4,500 who died in Iraq, not so much……

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