IS IT TRUE September 5, 2013
IS IT TRUE that sanity has finally prevailed in the City of Evansville when it comes to the vetting process for a $37.5 Million economic development project?…the City County Observer broke the story last night that the proposal touted by the Mayor of Evansville as the right proposal to bring a convention hotel to downtown Evansville will be vetted after all?…after 6 townhall meetings where the same parade of union leaders, republican leaders, and the high society folk of Evansville talked down to, cajoled, and even elbowed people in the ribs, the vetting process will be happening after all?…after all of the promotions and confident statements by Mayor Winnecke and others when it came to a straw poll of who would support an unvetted proposal the votes came down with a resounding NO?…the CCO is proud of the members of the City Council who ignored the pleas to throw caution to the wind and vote YES because “we deserve it†crowd danced and sang better than the bearish group of young people who openly opposed this action?…today is a good day in Evansville because for the first time in years it is possible that data that has been properly analyzed will be the basis for a big decision as opposed to the whims of some pseudo dictator occupying the office of the mayor?…this is a day to smile and walk proud, sanity has returned to River City?
IS IT TRUE that not only will the plan be vetted on its own merit but the intention is to look into the backgrounds and financial condition of both HCW and its principles?…one can only look back a short 18 months to a time when such vetting was cast to the wind like chaff from wheat and a whole host of shortcomings were obscured by the need for a headline during the announcement that EarthCare Energy was coming to town like Santa and his reindeer?…we wonder just why elected officials and their appointed people cannot even learn from their own mistakes?…it should have been different this time but it was not?…it makes one wonder how long it will be before something equaling as vexing to a thinking person will happen again?
IS IT TRUE that given the disappointing performance of the Ford Center with respect to the projections shown during its series of dog and pony shows we encourage Crowe Horvath (or whomever ends up with the vetting contract) to examine the projections in the dog and pony shows given by HCW when Branson Landings during its “selling†stage vs. what actually happened once the hotel opened?…there is more to being a successful organization than dog and pony shows and we all need to know what the track record of HCW is for projections vs. results?
IS IT TRUE that one of the allegations that has come to our ears is that the Office of the Mayor used the threat that HCW has said they will walk if they don’t get a deal approved on Monday night?…this is a despicable thing for that office to do and even more despicable for a future partner to threaten?…to be told by anyone the equivalent of “we are the business plan and if you don’t agree to give us $20 Million on our word by Monday we are out of here†is bad business so we will write this off as a negotiating tactic that the Office of the Mayor tried to use to bully some member of the City Council to act foolishly in haste?
IS IT TRUE in spite of all of this disingenuous behavior and astonishingly naive business decisions, we are quite interested to see how the vetting goes?…at this point we do not know whether this is another Earthcare or if it is the real McCoy?…what we do know is that 3 years ago the CCO published an analysis by former GAGE President Joe Wallace that asserted there was a $20 Million gap in the value and the cost of a new hotel?…after much mocking and scoffing by nearly every self proclaimed expert in Evansville the Hunden Study ($105,000) and the negotiations with HCW established that Mr. Wallace was exactly correct?…we also know that it really does take competent due diligence to vet any proposal that involves investing taxpayer dollars and that the leadership of Evansville has been clueless with this skill set?…we do hope things work out and that the people of Evansville are served well by whatever the future brings?…when Hillary Clinton once said “it takes a village†she was not talking about a village idiot?
Sanity has not returned just because the inmates found the door locked. We can only hope that HCW keeps their word/threat.
Finance Chairman Friend and the Council have already had their 30 days to vet/review. John Friend has a mountain of financial information that he has been reviewing. The information supports the project. The vast majority of the people of Evansville support the hotel project as it is recommended by Mayor Winnecke.
The demand for more and more information is nothing more than an attempt to stop the project. Why would John Friend want to do that?
This hotel project should go for a vote on Sept 9. The public wants this to happen.
Not all of the public wants to give away 37.5 million dollars just a select few!
“The vast majority of the people of Evansville support the hotel project as it is recommended by Mayor Winnecke.”
Wayne….I’m calling BS on this statement, you must not travel in a very broad circle, of the couple hundred people I’ve asked in the last 30 days or so only 2 were for the hotel as purposed by the mayor and both of them changed their mind after I told them we will spend $40m for a $20m hotel that we won’t own, both had the same look on their face of WTF?
If it’s so popular with the tax payers how about putting it on a referendum and taking a vote on the project, yeah I know it doesn’t fit the “fast track” to waste the taxpayers monies does it?
The only folks that are for this project are the ones with a vested interest in either the downtown, the mayors office, or stand to gain something from the project.
Of course this is JMHO
I am in favor of a hotel project, it just doesn’t happen to be the one promoted by Weaver, Winnecke, Mosbey and their ilk.
It is especially irksome that the city is being asked to fund more of the projects than the developer is being asked to fund. I believe the apartment complex was added to the project to make it look like the developer has more at stake than the taxpayers do.
There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and government statistics.
Not even close Wayne.
No the public does not want this to happen. If it was such a good deal why don’t you and all the public that want it fork up the 37.5 million.
Wayne, I’m beginning to believe the written comments posted by Brad Linzy about you.
You are not making any good sense any more. Why don’t you take a break from being the Mayors puppet attack dog.
The proper vetting of the hotel project is an absolute must before the taxpayers are committed to give away $37.5 million dollars . Not wishing to throw cold water on the vetting, but remember the McGladrey report? How many times was it edited before it was shown to the public? Have we ever received the un-edited version? Is this scenario going to be repeated? Who gets the first un-edited report? Can the taxpayers really believe what is reported? The handling of the McGladrey has cast a dark shadow on any “independent” study.
Three cheers to the 7 of 9 city council members for demanding more time for proper vetting of the hotel project. Three boos to Missy and Weaver for wanting a vote on the Hotel this coming Monday.
Thanks to John Friend for standing up to the Mayor to build a multi million dollar hotel without proper vetting.
Let those two idiots pull this out of committee next Monday and watch this turd fail by a 6 – 3 margin.
I’m ashamed to say that I voted for Wayne Parke for the Chairmen of the Republican party.
You also can assure that I shall do everything in my power to see that he isn’t reelected to that position.
Because of Waynes public stance on this hotel issue he has sit the Republican party back by at least two election cycles.
I prefer the 220 room hotel with the $8 million subsidy rather than the 253 room hotel with the $37.5+ subsidy.
Exactly, you could build a 6,000 seat ball park (28 mil) and have had half of the Roberts renovations paid off with the Innkeepers portion of this project with just the DIFFERENCE in these two plans.
And for what? 33 extra rooms and a “free” apartment/condo complex? I think I’ll pass.
Lets see, 33 more rooms for $29.5 million more. Wow that is hard math. Only a high priced out of town consultant using a Cray XC30-AC supercomputer could figure out the better deal.
Yeah, how come those extra rooms are almost a million bucks each? What happened to the volume discount?
Ha! Yeah even Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunne could figure that one out.
that HCW has said they will walk if they don’t get a deal approved on Monday night…don’t let the door hit your arse as you leave……
Never do business with somebody who says you have to decide by a certain time or they will withdraw their offer. Maybe if they had said something up front, like we need to know by X date. This is nothing but strong arm tactics.
Shit, they don’t want folks here to know the details any more than Winnecke does.
Hooray, a two-week reprieve ! Can we now return to a discussion on the McGladrey Report (IT Study) , which was so rudely interrupted by this Hotel pitch by Winnecke ?
Also, why is the Hotel ($ 37 MIllion gift) getting 100 times more ink than the Johnson Controls project ($ 45 Million gift) ?? Why isn’t the Johnson Controls a bigger story–because it’s hard to understand ? Is that why ?
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