IS IT TRUE September 19, 2013

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Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics
Mole #3 Nostradamus of Local Politics

IS IT TRUE September 19, 2013

IS IT TRUE people on both sides of the downtown convention hotel issue were a little shell shocked yesterday morning when Councilmen John Friend and Dan Adams issued statements that they had reached the end of their deliberations and have decided to vote NO on the downtown hotel project as it is currently written?…the supporting and opposing teams had no sooner taken a breath and gathered their composure until Councilwoman Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley delivered the kill shot to this deal by announcing that she would be the 5th NO vote on this deal?…Councilwoman Riley went further than just announcing her intention to vote NO, she issued an eleven point statement about the reasons she had reached her decision?…her statement was easy to understand, indicated an understanding of the project and how it fit in the scheme of downtown Evansville, and expressed a thorough understanding of the financial aspects of the project?…if the Evansville City Council were a portfolio of nine stocks the stock of Councilwoman Riley would have tripled yesterday due to her demonstrated competence and the courage it took to be the 5th vote in a highly controversial project?

IS IT TRUE the theme of yesterday’s thought process was that the efforts and money of the City of Evansville would be better spent in pursuit of the Indiana University Medical School at Evansville that is looking to expand its operation greatly?…it is expected that a site for the IU Med School will be announced in the Spring of 2015 that is only 18 months from now?…the new IU Medical Campus is by anyone’s measure a game changing development for Evansville and the entire region wherever it ends up but could really be a transformational development for downtown Evansville?…at least 5 members of the Evansville City Council believe the best efforts of the City of Evansville should be put forth during the next 18 months to make downtown Evansville an attractive location for the IU Medical School?…a hotel and a dozen or so extra conventions per year pale in contrast to a medical school and really do nothing to enhance the chances of downtown Evansville to rise to the top of the candidate locations?…if the truth is told, if downtown Evansville is successful in landing the IU Medical School there is a very real possibility that at least one hotel like the proposed Doubletree will follow it with minimal or no subsidy required?…to toss $25.4 Million (hotel and parking garage) at HCW with the IU Medical School decision a short 18 months away would be distracting and wasteful?…while today there are 5 members of the City Council who understand that and have the guts to vote that way, come Monday things may change?

IS IT TRUE the CCO expects that Council President Connie Robinson will make her decision known shortly leaving only Councilman Dan McGinn with a decision to make?…there are still only two members of the City Council who are adamantly YES votes and those are Councilman Weaver and Councilwoman Missy Mosby?…this takes us back to a day not so long ago when Councilman Weaver insulted Councilman Al Lindsey by telling him to “get on board or resign”?…those words are probably bringing an inner smile to Councilman Lindsey today?…this is no time to rub salt in wounds and it is also no time for the kind on denigrating name calling that is going on in the comment sections and on Facebook?…the wailing and gnashing of teeth needs to end on Monday night and both sides need to get on with the business of putting good policies in place so someday in the future a transformational project like the IU Medical School can be landed in downtown Evansville making ancillary items like hotels an afterthought that require no subsidies?

IS IT TRUE it all starts with a plan?…the most current version of a downtown master plan was commissioned in 2000, does not show an arena but does show a baseball stadium where The District is?…this plan was never followed and the reason is probably politics?…it is time as the CCO called for in 2010, 2011, and 2012 to create a new downtown master plan?…only through planning can the random acts of blindness cease and a deliberate pursuit of agreed upon goals be implemented?…the first step in landing any transformation project is in having an achievable master plan to address both the infrastructure and preferred use goals of the downtown?…someday downtown Evansville will have a convention hotel?…planning and focus will determine whether it will be funded by taxpayers or real investors?…we encourage the immediate call for a real planning and visioning process with politics and personal agendas left at the door?

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20 COMMENTS

    • I’ve been reading here that Brinkerhoff Riley was one of the Turncoats. If that is indeed the case she will never get my vote for mayor. A friend of mine said “she signed the letter” and I said “What letter?” He said “she signed the letter in support of Connie Robinson against Rick Davis.” THAT is all I needed to know. Anybody who signed that letter is OUT of the conversation when it comes to running for mayor as a Democrat. My family has supported Democrats in this town for ages and WE WILL NOT support turncoats.

        • She may be the most intelligent person in our local government! I do not agree with every vote she has made but at least she thinks them out and does the research!!

        • Something I read to make some historical “light on failure, “Failure gives you chance to refine your approach”..alpinist Pete Athans,also “your taking risks more intelligently”. He goes on to say I learned how not to climb the first four times I tried to summit EVEREST.
          He streamlined his team and chose an less challenging series of routes,then made his first ascent in 1990,followed by six more successful summit expeditions.
          Today there are growing recognition’s of the importance of failures,and educators ponder just how to incorporate it to make kids more comfortable with it. Business schools include the training. “succedere” “to come after”.
          Robert Ballard calls this the yin yang of success and failure,but then again he did find the Titanic eventually.
          Shackleton wrote “I have marveled often at the thin line that divides success from failure” but then it took him two years to get his team back to the U.K. They all returned to safety,however they “ate their expeditions dogs”. The list goes on. Learn from mistakes.
          Moral: “Don’t be a dog on an risky expedition.”

  4. Saw Jenny running around the Civic Center today. Why hasn’t the Mayor fired that buffoon yet? This Mayor is unfit to be a Republican and the party should run an alternative candidate in 2015. Mayor McClintock is far from a conservative as you can be.

    • ” Why hasn’t the Mayor fired that buffoon yet?” (MT)

      * * * * *

      Weinzapfel hasn’t gotten back to him yet on who her replacement will be?

      __

  5. Was the Adams-Friend meeting public?

    I mean we had a huge uproar over private meetings on the hotel between the mayor and council members a couple months ago, but now those meetings are fine and dandy?

    • The Mayor met with three members of the council. Three do not constitute a quorum and is a perfectly legal meeting. It sounds like they actually accomplished something too.

  7. Food for thought re: attracting IU Medical School:

    Why not GIVE IU Medical School The Centre ? That way, they have a 2,500 seat forum for guest speakers, symposiums, etc. ?
    Give them The Centre even if they have a campus in Warrick County, and IU picks up ongoing maintenance. Let’s make this more of a regional pitch to IU instead of Warrick vs. Vanderburgh. All boats rise in a storm (of new jobs).

    Based on the spread of the IU-Bloomington Campus, having a campus in Warrick Co. and the IU Forum in downtown Evansville would not be a big deal.

  8. I wonder if the Council would have the balls to vote NO if Weinzapfel was still Mayor? I’m guessing the would not have. If they did, could you imagine the trash can kicking and such that would’ve been seen at the Civic Center?

  9. The master plan is from 2001 and it most definitely has an arena in it. In fact, it gave not one but two possible locations.

    Speaking of all of these transformational job ideas. Does anybody know what they current status of the slack water port is?

    • Slack Water ? No idea.

      Smackwater Jack:

      ” You Can’t Talk To A Man . . .
      With a Shotgun In His Hand . . .”

      Carole King

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