IS IT TRUE October 28, 2013

1. Is it true—the one mile restriction is for the convenience of the employees at civic center so they can walk to the bank to do their business?

   • Do you mean “their business” or “our business”? I get to the credit union about once a month, relying on electronic transfer, and automatic deposit. The exclusive ONB contract is a pay it forward scam for certain officials re-election campain.

     • He means “their business,” of course. For Wayne, “public servant” means that the public are servants to our bureaucrat overlords.

       • howler –I volunteer 50 plus hours a week trying to make our City,County,State and the Nation the best it can be plus I donate a lot of of money to many very worthy causes that help people less fortunate.

         What do you do to help other people?

         • Most of us assist those in need in our own private ways. We do not try to “toot our own horn,” but are more effective in our helping others in need.

           Oh, yes, you are saying “Look at me and what I have done!”

         • More than you.

           True.

         • Work and pay taxes!

   • Walking to the bank with cash and checks? This does not sound like a good idea but if they do walk then why the need for a city-county car? A couple of the non assigned cars can be auctioned then.

   • I bet that some of them can’t even walk a mile.

     Remember that’s a mile there and another mile back home to the civic center. Most of them eat too good and can’t walk that far. 🙂

     Heck they could buy a lot of scooters with the extra dividends if they deposited the money in an other Bank that pays higher returns. Heck they could even put saddle bags on those scooter to hold the money deposits. 🙂 And the scooter don’t take up much parking space which is always a huge problem when going downtown to do business. And they would have enough money left over to buy security chains for the scooters so that they don’t get stolen. They could just chain them up to a parking meter. God knows we have plenty of parking meters in the downtown. I wonder how well a parking meter would go over in the Parking lot at Eastland Mall? Side note: When a city get’s too greedy the people just stay away from that city’s parking meters. And they wonder why people stopped going downtown to shop? Greed city maybe?

     • Coyote: When was the last time you was downtown? There are very few parking meters downtown.

       Most people who work at the civic center are good people and do not deserve to be made fun of.

   • Another Wayne Parke lie.

     Z Tooley has told the whole world she put the 1 mile radius rule in the bid to BLOCK OUT a bank she didn’t want to win the bid.

     Tools. Both of you. Tools.

2. Is it true the “Democrat 6” discussion at Danks’ office centered on the budget? Is it true that Lindsey said he would never attend closed meetings? Oh well Lindsey must have forgotten he said that.

   The “Democrat 6” should get no credit for help getting the convention hotel downtown. The “Democrat 6” were always looking for ways to stop the hotel project until the Mayor pulled a rabbit out of the hat by getting business to contribute $18.5 million to the project The “Democrat 6 ” did nothing to solve the problems for a project the public overwhelming supported. They will pay dearly in 2015 Election.

   • The combination of the leadership of Mayor Winnecke and the private investors putting their money where their heart is pulled the community’s fat out of the fire where Friend and the Fraudulent Five had put us. They deserve no credit for the the hotel deal. They should thank Bob Jones for allowing them to save face after they had bungled the deal beyond repair with all of their vetting crap. Vetting is the bank job. It is done under the protection of privacy laws. The City Council does not even know its purpose. You have six people that believe that they’re all mini-mayors.

     • Vetting is the job of the funding authority that puts their money at risk. In private transactions that is the bank, credit union, or whomever the lender is. In public transactions it is up to the funding authority to vet for itself. In Evansville’s case that is the City Council, the Mayor or both. Look how stupid this Mayor looked over not vetting Earthcare Energy or the financial shenanigans of the previous Mayor. It now appears like no more vetting was done with HCW than was done with Earthcare. Our Mayor and our Council have abdicated their responsibility to ONB and some yet to be named bank in Missouri. We shall see how that all works out.

     • Vetting is not only the bank’s job. He that has the gold makes the rules. The same things asked for are what the banks and private equity will require and then some. As far as Mr. Jones saving the day, let us just hope everything works out. The hotel question is still in doubt until commitments are announced or March 2014 rolls around. I will believe it when I see it.

       • The real question is whether or not Mr. Jones can actually find 23 people stupid enough to put up $500k to own 1% of a hotel that is not worth half of that.

   • The Democrat 6 do deserve credit. They said no to the excessive handout and forced Winnecke to re-work the deal to make it better. The city council is not supposed to be a rubber stamp to every terrible idea that the Mayor has. I wish they would have said no to tearing down Robert’s Stadium and no to the Johnson Controls deal just to name a couple.

     • The voters (their bosses) do not think the “Democrat 6” deserve any credit. Building a convention hotel downtown is not a terrible idea. It is a good idea that will our City attract outside dollars.

       Once Ford Center was built—Roberts Stadium could not break even economically. The City could not afford to keep it going.

       • You are as full of crap as a Christmas turkey. Roberts needed to produce $500,000 per year to break even. That is one event per month. It is the Ford Center with the $8 Million a year in payments that can’t break even for 20 years. Ever thought about moving to Detroit and running for Mayor. Your cheer leading without thinking would fit in perfectly up there.

         • Yoda–I said after the Ford Center was built. I am not saying it should or should not have been built. The City has sunk money in the Ford Center it must be paid off. No plan presented–and some people spent a lot of time on their plan– would pay for itself. The City could not afford to keep it open.

           I am a retired bussinees man. What do you do?

           I like my City. It does not appear you do.

           • I like Evansville. Quite frankly I love Evansville. I can’t stand to see what 50 years of neglect have done to it and more to the point I shudder at what the Weinzapfel-Winnecke legacy will do to future generations. With those guys it is all fluff and no substance. The future is not bright for River City and these two are quite responsible for that.

       • “Whistling past the graveyard” a bit there, aren’t you? I really don’t think you know what the voters think. The bottom lines are whether or not that hotel appears where it is planned and whether the Medical School winds up in Warrick County because the Mayor backs the downtown location at the expense of the private sector and/or local universities. A lot of voters will be unhappy when they pass the dog park on the Roberts site and their neighborhood park is an overgrown mess.
         I doubt that the off-the-record get-together of the six City Councilmen will be a “blip” on the voter’s radar. Maybe they were planning a surprise party for Rob Faulkner.

       • You don’t know what the voters think. Plus, the voters make mistakes. That’s how your man L.W. was elected.

         I won’t argue with whether or not the city needs a hotel. Assuming it does, you negotiate the best deal possible for the least amount of public money. You and L.W. just wanted to give away the farm when it was only necessary to offer a few cows and a bushel of corn.

         Roberts should have been re-purposed for something that did not complete with the F.C. The parking could have been cut in half and left room for some sort of green space on the back side as a buffer to Wesselman Woods.

       • I can’t even believe you are trying that garbage still. I guess you still think you know more than 2 arena operators?

         We’ve been over this a thousand times (at least), so I’m going to keep this simple (but probably still long because I’m really getting tired of roberts falling victim to revisionist history). The arena would have been downsized for mid-sized events, trade shows, and misc parking lot events. The boat show left because costs were too high. What facility fits their needs and is in their price range? NONE. And what Ford Center event would that be competing with? And why would you put the measly GLVC Tournament in the Ford Center when you could have put it in a facility with half the capacity AND scheduled an Icemen game the same weekend at the Ford Center to maximize revenue from tourists (all ten of them)?

         The cost to renovate it was HALF of what this park that isn’t even a park is going to cost. And that estimate was a very liberal high estimate which was done intentionally to ensure costs did not balloon over which would have given these park critics all the ammo they needed.

         And please tell me how in the world this park, which is nothing but an open lot and a rip up of Wesselman is going to sustain an $8 million investment? Nobody believes that, nobody.

         The best part about the plan my committee wrote up was the fact that we went out of our way to make sure EVERYONE was taken care of. I made sure Mr. Jeff Justice put an estimate in our report for turning part of the parking lot into a greenspace (I’m sorry “great lawn”), I made sure all the tenants and events we recruited DID NOT overlap with skateboard tournaments and open dates for them to set up temporary practice tracks, and I even got up on my day off in the morning to go to an Evansville Trails Coalition Meeting to go over with them the idea of using the facility as indoor greenway trail hub on non event days just like teams like Purdue, Kentucky, and Indiana already do with their campus arenas.

         Most importantly, it’s pretty obvious that the task force was an attempt to use people like me. They never sat down with our task force, they never investigated anything we put together, and in the end the city just regurgitated the same opinions they carried into the event. Please tell me how you find that acceptable?

         And sure enough ,the same damn thing happened with the ball fields. So please Wayne, please tell me and all of us when all of this is going to end. Because I don’t see an end to the dog and pony show predetermined projects any time soon.

         • +1

   • BS Wayne the 6 should get a lot of credit for saving 17.5 million. I wished they would have stuck to their guns and not vote for the deal they did. If the public was overwhelming supporting it why didn’t they hold a special election? Just like the consolidation everyone was for it supposively but what happened it was voted down the same that would have happened if this hotel would have went to an election.

   • No, they won’t pay Wayne. Sadly republicans will once again pay. I have supported republicans since 1994 and often volunteered in campaigns. I have not liked seeing the imbalance of democrat political power in this city, but these six democrats far better represent my conservative values than you or Winnecke.

     If Friend or Riley ran for mayor, either would have my support over Winnecke or any republican you have been able to put forward. It disgusts me that I feel the local republican has left the values that first attracted me to them. And I assure you that I am not alone in that feeling.

3. Why no mention of the fact that Connie Robinson got caught in a bold faced lie when asked why she was at Danks’ office? Her first answer was she was there to see her personal lawyer. After going back inside and alerting the rest of them that the media was there, she came back out with a different answer. Funny thing is, at that point, they all had the exact same answer.
   Why no mention that just days after Friend says Danks needs a $25,000 fee increase, Friend and the crew are at Danks’ office behind closed doors?
   Why no mention that Linzy and Friend are pushing for a decrease in the Fire Chief and Assistant Chief’s pay while asking for more maoney for Danks? You do realize that Danks was the lawyer for Linzy when Connelly tried to fire him and then he was also Friends lawyer when he got arrested in Kentucky a few months ago.
   I wonder how much, or how little, those two paid Danks for his services during those events? This whole thing stinks.

4. From above: “…it looks like we will for the 3rd year in a row pass a budget without the benefit of the results of an audit or with confirmation that our books are reconciled?”

   Is it true City Controller Russ Lloyd is just cleaning up the mess City Councilman and Finance Chairman Democrat John Friend created under the previous Administration?

   • Is it true, John Friend wasn’t and has never been the city controller? and that the blame truly is on Jenny Collins who created the mess that Russ has worked for years to fix?

     In all fairness lets put the blame where it belongs and leave political agendas out of it…. 🙂

     JMHO

     • Gosh: For what its worth? I have to say,looking from afar,I could likely work carbon sequestration into a partial fix for every issue concerning the latest “Is is true” you have there in your local metro.

       First, work on keeping that Wayne fellow under control on most political talking points. all that hot air doesn’t help your metros incremental global warming numbers. (Climate change)

       Second, The short walk to the bank is admirable in attempted carbon sequestration techniques,however probably off set by the electronic signature it creates when we all make these comments.
       Downtown business contact ought to be conducted with carbon sequestration in mind. speed up the process,get’em a bicycle or a electric Vehicle moth balled by one of the city golf courses,make room for an security escort.
       Put solar charging stations out back of the civic center there,also make those card accessible for operation by the general public’s hybrid vehicles. That for use during events down there close by. Put those closest to the Centre ,and the small downtown arena to encourage use by those whom choose to save energy for the planets foot print, paint the spot strips green instead of white. (Encourages Green City Incentives, Green parking meter,convenient near by parking spaces,adds to communities carbon sequestration numbers.)
       Note: “Encourage such applications at commercial retail lots, schools and such around town as well, creates new technical jobs through support features, grows the economy forward.*”

       Third, Budget projections: Open communication,and don’t hire the former controller to handle public funds again,if the previous assignment isn’t completed and reviewed. (general business accountability,functional effectiveness scoring)

       Fourth, ACA: Gees fail,the environmental signature from that thing expands daily,big hit,site failure retries,, per actual success. The personal cost,that warming aspect is off the applicable scales. Nixes at least one clean coal fired power plant environmental project. (increased incremental carbon foot print, paper cost alone.)

       Fifth,Local closed door meetings and other local issues: “Use available orbital and cloud based communication improvements.” “Dust is in the wind, so to speak”, But! Remember,excessive paper use costs trees (carbon sequestration)

       cost: .02 cents
       contributions: .02 cents
       ______
       total due .00 cents 🙂

       • Priceless.

     • Blanger: You are not correct.

       The Controller does not commit the City to spend taxpayers dollars. Controller’s job is to keep tract of what others commit the City to spend such as the City Council. John Friend is Chairman of the City Council Finance committee.

       Being Finance Committee Chairman is a big job. John Friend and the other City Council members are the people primarily responsible for spending. Again the Controlleris job is to keep track of what they do.

       • Wrong and you should know that. The City Council’s job is to decide whether to fund (or not) the spending contemplated/contracted by City department/offices/boards through budget prep and review of bills submitted for payment. They are the fiscal branch not the executive branch.

         Who signed the Ford Center contract? Not the City Council. Who signed the Johnson Controls contract? Not the City Council.

         • WowReally–you need to read what you wrote and get the facts correct.
           1st we were talking about the Controller and not the Mayor’s office.

           2nd neither the Mayor or Controller can spend anything without the approval of the City Council. That includes the Ford Center and Earthcare you mention.

           John Friend and the rest of the City Council voted for both of these and they were committed to under the previous administration–not Winnecke.

     • But Jenny Collins was punished, wasn’t she. She was moved to the Water & Sewer Department with a raise. I understand that this was done – by Mayor Winnecke – so she would qualify for a government pension at the end of 2013.

5. Good piece on Obamacare. As you indicate the problems with Obamacare are much bigger than the current startup problems. Their model will not work. The Democrats took a problem with the poor not having coverage and made things worse.

6. It would appear that state law on open meetings is optional for some now.

   • If it can be proved that they were conducting council business, it would apply. I really don’t think they held any votes or passed any ordinances, so it is perfectly legal.

7. “The one mile restriction is for the convenience of the employees at civic center so they can walk to the bank to do their business?”

   Really, I mean really?

   Is it really true German American Bank will get the deal and the taxpayers of Evansville will save $10,000 this year and up to $25,000 per year in perpetuity and this short walks are costing us money?

   • No–German American Bank does not have an office within one mile of the Civic Center.

     I beleve the current/recent contract with ONB is for a period of two years.

     • Two years of abject waste of taxpayer dollars to pay back a political friend. Do you approve Mr. Chairman?

     • Do you understand why people think that contractslike this are the very reason people think the politics that go on downtown are shady and crooked. Wayne what sizes do you sell your snake oil in? Do you and the mayor actual think people are not paying attention???? What will the mayor do after he gets defeated by a landslide????

       • People are paying attention and they like what they see. The fact is the Mayor is more popular today than when he was elected.

         • I can’t help but laugh…I can’t believe you just said that Wayne! YES people ARE paying attention but I don’t believe they like what they are seeing…

8. Wayne you are really a piece political work. Why do you continue to make statements that you know in your heart that they are bold face lies? Why just don’t you keep on message and stop trashing the John Friend with false statements.

   • Because Wayne is gearing up for the next mayoral election, he figures (rightfully so) that Mr Friend stands a good chance of running against his boy Winnicke and there’s no time like the present to throw a little mud and see if some of it will stick!

     JMHO

   • Freedom matters: I do not know of any statement I have made regarding John Friend to be a lie.

     What specific statement/s do you believe I have said regarding John Friend that you think is a lie?

9. I am neither a friend or a foe of the ACA but I have fought like heck with Anthem over the years over many issues and most of them involved money. I am not surprised that Anthem has taken this opportunity (the activation of the ACA) to jack up premiums and alter coverage. Lesson to learn: Do not trust Anthem. Talk to any person who deals with insurance coverage in a medical or dental office.

   • I think Anthem is the only insurer on the IN exchange. If the Governor was not slamming the door on Medicaid Expansion, and had seen fit to set up an exchange, it would likely have a wider choice of plans and companies. Things would probably be going more smoothly for Hoosiers, but Pence and Zoeller want to make things as hard as possible for people who need healthcare to get it.
     Have you been able to get your husband signed up yet, Martha?

     • Thanks for asking LKB. I am hanging back and during that time investigating another couple of options. It is amazing what you learn by continuing to make phone calls.

       By the way, there is a second insurance on the Indiana exchange which I cannot remember the name of just now. It does not seem to offer as many policies but it is there.

   • i am sorry martha but anyone that paid attention knew obamacare was a failure and that most would loose their coverage this is a disgrace and never should have happenend…….obama and the radical liberals lied and lied and lied some more……nbc the main street media is now trying to hide their incompetence by reporting obama did lie and is a pathological liar…..link to the nbc report=http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/28/21213547-obama-admin-knew-millions-could-not-keep-their-health-insurance#comments

     • http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/28/21213547-obama-admin-knew-millions-could-not-keep-their-health-insurance?lite

10. It is apparently true that no one wanted the Vanderburgh GOP party chairmanship. Same at the national level. It is difficult to give any credence to some of the outrageous things these folks write and say. The Priebusing of the local Republican party is nearly complete.

    • Today there are more Republicans holding office in Southwest Indiana than any other time.

      I was re-elected Republican Chairman by a 10 to 1 margin.

      • Who was your opponent, David Nixon maybe?

      • You were not re-elected by the rank and file voters, but by political insiders.

      • Your winning margin would have been even more impressive if I would have been able to vote.

        I think you’ve demonstrated you have what it takes to unhorse Priebus the next time he groundhogs up for a vote. Go big, Mr. Parke. Go national. You’re wasting your considerable talents here.

      • How much did it cost you?

      • Three cheers to you and three jears for those that voted for you! You are a spend and tax kind of guy and not much of a republican! Keep stating those outlandish numbers and percentages it appears to make you look smarter(Ha Ha).

        • Wayne is being quite truthful. Mayor-in-Lurking Weinzapfel was there as the guest of honor, and he even counted the votes. The local RINOpublicans even let Jonathan cast multiple ballots so that he would feel more at home.

11. Detroit’s attempt at stopping the economic bleeding with a hockey rink and light rail is akin to the case of Ybari, Japan, which, when faced with a catastrophic drain of population due to flight of young people, decided to build a huge theme park to draw them back.

    Today that theme park is a crumbling ghost town.

    http://placesbrands.com/the-case-of-a-bankrupt-city-japans-yubari/

    • Brad–What political Party has been in control of Detroit for up-teen years? I give you a hint: It starts with a “D”.

12. Wayne I was at the called meeting that you were elected local GOP Chairmen. I’m sorry to say that my wife voted for you. Oh, so is she. Congratulations Wayne, you where elected to a position that nobody wanted.

    Get over it, the powers that be are using you for your money. It’s obvious that you have very little public relations and political talent. Please move back to Oakland City and give us a break.

    • I tell it like I see it. Tell your wife thanks for the vote.

13. Just in case you don’t know. Ted Ziemer and Joe Harrison Jr. are two peas in a pod. They are both at legal public watering hole. This is one reason why my friends at “CORE” are pushing for Bruce U to run against Marsha so we can replace Joe Harrison Jr. as county attorney. We have had enough of his back room self serving political deals.

    • If Bruce can run against Marsha, he’ll win by a 3 to 1 margain. Worrying about Danks 25 grand fees seem trivial next to the bales of cash gleened from the public coffers by Ziemer. I think the serving 6 will be rewarded come election day, with hopefully anybody beating Mosby and Weaver, both no-brainers.

      • Bruce will not beat Marsha and the “Democrat 6” who have gotten the City into a mess will be awarded by being shown the door.

        You should carefully review Danks’ past. Friend and Danks have a lot in common and it is not good.

        • chairman wayne

          hope they don’t remove my comment for its abusive content.

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