IS IT TRUE Part 3, September 23, 2013
IS IT TRUE that there are many people pushing for a YES vote tonight on the newest deal for a convention hotel that will require the City of Evansville to sell bonds of between $18.5 Million and $20 Million depending on whom one speaks to?…this deal has moved around more since Friday than a snake on a fish hook?…for this reason there are only two logical votes that can possibly be casted tonight by the members of the City Council?…the first vote would be a NO vote to whatever is offered up as there is no way a deal that is still in formation could be written and understood in time for a vote tonight?…the other logical position to support is to postpone any vote for roughly a month which would provide adequate time to write and vet a new offer from the support group?
IS IT TRUE it should be blatantly obvious by now that the supporters for bonding $37.5 Million on this deal have no business making any decision that has to do with money?…these folks are the ones who go to a timeshare presentation and pay $37,500 for a timeshare because they succumb to that emotional tricks that a good timeshare salesman pulls on them?…it is also blatantly obvious that the people and organizations who opposed the $37.5 Million hand-out have saved the people of Evansville at least $17.5 Million (and counting) just by asking tough questions and reserving judgment?…somewhere in Florida there may be a twin towers timeshare project with Mosby Tower on the right and Weaver tower on the left joined in the middle by McGinn’s Irish Pub?…the focused use of brainpower and willpower has this deal to a point that in a couple of weeks if everything vets well there may just be an agreement that is good and acceptable to a large majority of Evansville?
IS IT TRUE that the “RESPONSIBLE SIX†need to stay responsible and solid for another 24 hours and not get sucked into the blue smoke, mirrors, and radio ad public relations lobbying effort being conducted in Evansville?…like it or not Councilman John Friend’s demand for financial information started this path to $17.5 Million in savings and sticking with his plan to vet will surely lead to more savings in the near future?…this deal is very close to being down to the 25% of project number ($17.5 Million) that Friend used as a guideline for public financing of hotel projects and not that far from the $10 Million number that is about what the basic infrastructure will cost?…the “RESPONSILBE SIX†need to be honored and thanked when you see them in public?…if the plan unfolds as we at the CCO believe it can during the next month this may be Evansville’s finest economic development hour in many years?
IS IT TRUE it will be hard to find much fault with any deal that is only an empty lot and infrastructure?…tonight is the first opportunity to lay the groundwork for that?
WNIN WILL HAVE LIVE AUDIO COVERAGE OF THE CITY COUNCIL MEETING TONIGHT BEGINNING AT 5:30 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PATRONIZE YOUR PUBLIC RADIO STATION AND LISTEN TO THE LIVE ACTION.
Postpone the vote and vet!! The people who were going to put us on the hook for $37.5 million have proved themselves unworthy of leadership.
elkaybee,
If I am not mistaken I believe that the structure of the meeting requires that a bill on the schedule up for a vote should be voted up or down before a new measure is structured. So a NO vote is what is desired, not a delay. Then to get another item up for voting a vetting requirement can be put into place. You are right in the sense that this is NOT the time for haggling about the deal and the dollars. It is too little too late with, as some have said earlier, too much harassment. And absolutley, vetting is needed BEFORE any discussion is begun. Thank you for caring so much.
WNIN is 88.3 on your FM dial !!
you can watch it live right now on PBS channel 12 on WOW
It’s great to know that Mayor Winnecke, Chief of Staff Steve Schaefer, City Attorney Ted Ziemer, and others are so dedicated to developing Downtown Evansville and the economic heath of the greater metro area that they have spent all the past week and all weekend crafting a hotel proposal that meets the city council’s target $20-million cap for a public subsidy.
Hopefully, the members of Evansville City Council are as dedicated to the economic health of Evansville, job creation, and keeping the Centre doors open that they too will vote an appropriate YES! this evening.
Voting for a one month extension would be a complete joke! If the city administration and the developer can put a package together in a week, surely the brain children on the city council only need a week to review the details and return to chambers next Monday YES!
But no, one of the obstructionists most likely will propose ridiculous “vetting requirements” which you know who (Mole #5) would immediately expose to the media, and no sane developer will agree to have his entire tax and banking records made public. That info traditionally has been protected proprietary info, until Mole #5 felt it necessary to run to the media with every bit of scuttlebutt he lays hands on.
Why does Old National and whoever else is supposedly putting up money get an equity position in the hotel and we don’t? The whole thing just seems fishy.
Probably because they asked.
+1 That was one of my statements tonight. We have skin in the game but no meat and potatoes.
I was working on some paperwork at home last night, listening to the council meeting on WNIN. At some point I was jarred away from my work and Ozzed into the Civic Center. Trip took 2 seconds, max. Someone I had never thought of as a public speaker had approached the podium and actually gave a good accounting of both himself and the hotel issue. You only get one guess who it was.
Agree!
Not sure how set up an account
you just did
Thanks you
I’m wondering how they can vet the new deal, or even read the contracts in the space of one week. The smart six just rolled over so the mayor can scratch their bellies.
I was there tonight, and they didn’t just roll over. I do think it is as Ted Ziemer stated that not much has changed in the original proposal except the price. They are a pretty sharp group and are capable of assimilating this information in a week. Well, Weaver and Misty will be able to sleep.
I think it’s smoke and mirrors-if they want their hotel so damned bad, let them pay for it. It’s like those telethons where you pledge a bunch of money to hear your name on TV. They can’t do a thing if you don’t ante up.
If Winky can do the miracle of loaves and fishes, let him-believe NONE of what you hear, and only half of what you see.
Somebody had the bad taste to mention the fabulously expensive ballfields (which I betcha won’t happen because the ravaging of that facility was done to jam this forward), and I thought about Robert’s being torn down to force us to build the Ford.
They started that forum with some IT specialist asking “what we wanted turned off first”, because we evidently don’t have money to pay our bills, and Friend (keep pushing for that vetting, John) wanting to deny the contracted 14% pay increase, because he plain couldn’t see where the money was coming from-which means there hasn’t been an employee increase for a loooooong time for any but the political skeleton hiders. Keep those closets full and CLOSED Jenny!
Brinkerhoff Riley REALLY impressed me, nobody’s gonna slide one past her. I am proud of Al Lindsay ($3 million in legal fees, how much in consulting fees for money that isn’t adding up?) And Doc, you keep fighting the good fight for that Med Center. USI has a lot of acreage still left, and IVY tech is tap dancing to get in the game…
I agree with the young fellow who told the council members to not be moved by emotion (Winnecke having bought a round or two at the Wine Fest to garner some support)
I am a loyal union supporter, but just plain embarrassed at the derision displayed by the union reps behind the speakers, especially the little old lady-she’s paid taxes longer than anyone there, she’s not a joke, and she’s right-leaving huge debt on our descendants is immoral. I know the trades will benefit (for a few months) slapping up a hotel, but somehow it always turns into a cost shaving to give the time consuming work to persons who cannot speak English and work for zip.
These people said everything we want to hear, but believe nothing you hear. I heard “we guarantee everything you ask for, EXCEPT everything you ask for: give us money for free, no you can’t ask any questions-anyone who actually gives us money will get paid-then oops-wait for it! “We are already into the project, and those rascals didn’t give it up-we need more money”. Oh, and the vague threat that alumni donors wouldn’t give money for a medical school if we didn’t have what they wanted in place?
Mainly, I hate that smirk on Lloyd Winnecke’s face, firmly believing he’d won the day with his phony donors. I’d love to see it wiped off-hate someone who forces your hand. Then gloats when he thinks he’s gotten his way.
I remember the threats, the menacing tantrums. The baldface lie about the 250 “FTE” employeesm—that is a LIE. These hotels hire at min wage, and keep employees at min wag, part time so they can’t get the dismal insurance coverage. There are very few who get fulltime work.
I’m like Doc Adams:
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to get an IU medical center here?
Oh and i miss Larry Aiken-the magic this man could weave! Evansville was a neat place to be a kid—sure leaves us with a lot of ham handed carnies, who want to shame us into indebting our population for debt piled on top of the debt we already cant pay.
Don’t worry much about those closet doors Bootsie,today’s communications technology can easily open them.
Or more so,maybe access the closet with the door closed.
If ONB is a “private investor” then we will not see their contract on this deal. Will the city be paying interest on ONB’s investment? Seems shady to me. It just seems off that the price dropped and a bank stepped in.
It’s great to see what a weekend can do. Reducing the public amount by such a large amount and seeing private investment stepping up to the plate.
The Council was correct in delaying this vote for a week as there are new questions that need to be answered or confirmed.
It was sad to see so many people pushing for a yes vote last night, when even the Mayor or the developer couldn’t answer some basic questions about the updated deal.
As for the ownership stake for the public, while initially I preferred that if the residents were asked to put up half the money we should be given joint ownership. But as I have continued to ponder some of the details, it is probably best that the city not be considered a “part owner” as in the future this could and most likely would lead to additional public money being spent on this venture and thus reducing the property taxes collected also.
They are really close to sealing this deal, hopefully more “Santa Claus'” will step up to the plate this week and fill in the $7.5 million gap and we won’t have to worry about any public financing on the hotel portion. Let that money go for additional development to help attract more tourists and conventions.
If the guy who leaves the Krugerrands at the ReHab Center around Christmas would warm up by making a September drop at the Civic Center they could bring in the heavy equipment and get the hotel started.
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