LETTER TO THE EDITOR: IT’S BAIT AND SWITCH

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR:  IT’S BAIT AND SWITCH BY PASTOR STEVE ARY

Someone from the audience at City Council last night shouted what was probably the best summary of the evening and on everyone’s minds concerning the downtown hotel when they shouted, “It’s Bait and Switch!!” Unfortunately, the microphones did not seem to pick up when they shouted this, but it is exactly what has taken place.

Councilman Dan McGinn stated that we should just move forward with the current plan because if we continue to deliberate on the unapproved changes made to the hotel plans the property still sits without collecting finances for our city.

I say, if this “Bait and Switch” method is the deception our city accepts, then those who get away with it will continue to do so in every area they can as has already been the case. And since this has been the case so long, it doesn’t matter if the property is collecting money for the city because at the rate we’ve been going the city will never see the money anyway if those in power continue to squander the money and skim off the top with the same shell game of find the missing money.

Again, the rich keep getting richer.

Meanwhile, the city admits they have no additional plan for the 20,000 Evansvillians who will be jobless and foodless starting in October of this year. They hope congress doesn’t cut their funding, but current funding for the homeless and impoverished is not nearly enough. Many homeless cannot even get into a shelter because they are already so full that there’s not even a bed on which to sleep.

If the money in this city was being used properly we wouldn’t be arguing over “Hotel Bait ‘N’ Switch,” and trying to find where missing money went, or why someone made $55,000 off an vacant building and parking lot, but rather it would be finding new solutions for the growing population of the impoverished and homeless in this city.

That’s my take.

God bless,

PASTOR STEVE ARY

 

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21 COMMENTS

  1. Hopefully this was presented to the courier and press…… it will never see print. See if Brad Byrd is interested, ignored too long, rattle some cages.

    • It is BECAUSE of the курьер и пресс- that we must live in this condition. Make no mistake about it, a free and engaged local press is VITAL to good government.

      We speak a lot about markets, and whether one exists here or there. I can speak with certainty when I say that a market for a fair and honest newspaper exists in Evansville, and has existed here for as many years as I can remember.

  2. Let’s call it the BATES & SWITCH MOTEL. Bates, get some Hitchcock dust on this project (whoops, watch out for The Birds, they have droppings). Switch, change your reservation at any time, no cancellation fees.

    Seriously, great article Pastor Ary, you are spot on !

  3. Bait and Switch, and yet the Council approves it 9-0, which includes $ 3.5 Million of new money being co-opted from the County and the baseball gurus at ECVB. It seems our Council is just a bunch of two-bit politicians. They COMPLAIN about this project, yet they vote in favor–they don’t want to be labeled as opposed to economic development. Gosh, the Ford Center failed as an economic development engine, now we double down on an interstate hotel to rescue the ship ?

    Pastor Ary made a compelling point about allocation of resources: we spend all our gold enriching the few, when there are many with real needs.

    • Right on! Tang
      The Ford Center has NOT lived up to its’ expectations and never will. There can be one grand opening and one chance to thrive. Any chance for positive momentum has passed.

      The ONB Events Center, even when it was the Centre supported by the 500 room Executive Inn, never pulled its’ own weight. Like clockwork, It has been reported to lose as much as $750,000 per year. How much good money are we going to throw away – trying to right the wrongs that have manifest in Evansville’s Downtown District?

      Regarding the Bait and Switch Motel: ramming another “wrong thing at the wrong time” – without regard to its’ apparent lack of value – utility or necessity – into the Downtown Dead Zone – would exemplify and perfect the mode of desperation that has characterized this administration.

      If a Hotel is to be built – first allow the promised IU Medical Center project to be completed.
      Then we will be able to leverage a better Hotel – under better terms and circumstances in general.

      Pastor Ary has emerged as a valuable leader.
      I for one – am inspired by his tone and substance. …

    • I do not know if it is a deliberate “bait & switch”, or just another in a never ending line of proposed champagne projects undertaken by a city government with a beer budget. The net result is that it keeps the coffers drained and keeps the citizens in perpetual financial indentured servitude, which results in ever increasing taxation. Not to mention that it limits the supply of revenue available of basic infrastructure maintenance and improvement.

      Of course, if you have no idea where the city’s finances stand, it is impossible to figure out what you can or can not afford. And if you have a so called newspaper that does not give a damn, well, then you have sort of a perfect storm hanging over the lives of citizens.

  4. Since the City Council voted “Yes” to a 10 story building with indoor pool and a rooftop restaurant with apartments, and the city can’t/won’t provide what was approved, then the new plans for this completely different 5 story building with outdoor pool and no rooftop restaurant and no apartments should be submitted to the City Council as New Proposal, because this is not the hotel they voted “Yes” toward.

    Modifying a proposal after it has been approved means that someone’s pockets are being filled behind closed doors. The buildings are completely different, therefore; a new and separate proposal should be submitted for the new and different plans. If the Council knew that they would be committing this city to yet another hotel the size of the Fairfield or the Drury they never would have voted “Yes.” This hotel was approved because it was going to be an “attraction,” but it has become a “subtraction.”

    Bottom line – this new 5 story hotel will not generate the finances for this city that the 10 story “attraction” would have generated and was agreed upon, and finances were the whole reason the original plan was approved because the city is broke and deficit-spending already. “The Bait and Switch Hotel” costs more to the Evansville taxpayers, more than the original proposal, and was never approved by the City Council.

    Meanwhile, the rich get richer and the poor sleep in abandoned houses because the shelters are always full. What the city is doing for the rich is more than enough to line a few pockets. What the city is doing for the poor doesn’t even come close to what it should be.

    A new proposal for the new hotel must be submitted to the Council for approval.

    That’s my Take.

    • The decision making process to build a convention hotel was not a ““Bait and Switch”. It is called living within the approved City Council approved budget/allocated amount. That is what responsible leaders do. If the City Council wants to keep the original plan, they have the power to raise the amount of money being contributed from taxpayer dollars. I do not suggest that be done. We need to proceed with a sense of urgency with the hotel project at the current expenditure plan levels.

      • Still waiting on that financial analysis that says the Hotel is a go.

        I know that such upright and honorable men such as yourself and Mayor Winnecke would never begin such a significant project to Evansville off the cuff.

        Honorable men would do a detailed financial analysis and then share it with the public and I know you and Mayor Winnecke are just those kind of men.

        I know that you and Mayor Winnecke are firm believers in transparency and will soon show the public your detailed financial analysis showing a positive ROI(Return on Investment) so that everyone will understand what sagacious and wise men you are.

      • Wayne you KNOW this is a bait and switch and you KNOW it’s simply a vehicle to get political kickbacks for your dirt bag cronies. We’re not stupid.

      • taxpayer money should not be used . Period , city government is suppose to govern the city
        and not be in the real estate business doing this crap with taxpayer money

  5. Bait & Switch is a polite term for outright fraud, complete with the requisite intent. The Winnecke administration has not been honest with the people or the council, they have forfeited any entitlement they ever had to having their lying and deceptions referred to as ‘bait & switch*’.

    * A little used validation attempt sometimes attached to the common bait & switch is the Backhoe Drive & Park.

    Send Winnecke and his cheapō hotel packing this November. Tell him to keep his backhoe off our empty lot. We’ve got it decorated just how we like it — with wine bottles.

    Poor Evansville.

  7. Bravo, Pastor Ary!

    It’s time to stop the madness, Evanssville. We were taken advantage of by the Haynie Gang with EarthCare and we proved ourselves vulnerable to scams, so along came HCW with promises of an apartment tower and a desirable hotel. Now we’re finding out that we’ve been “had” again. It’s hard to admit to having been “taken” again, but it is time to step away from the sleazy motel without apartments. It is a reflection on the intelligence of some of our chosen leaders, not the citizens at large. That is, unless the voters decide to re-elect the mayor who lead us into the scam. In that case, Evansville deserves what it gets!

    • Well said. I agree our ‘leadership’ has been marked as easy fodder for conmen. We can’t make them smart but we can un-elect them. Their 2nd tier seems to consist of smart asses whose job description features popping off to the City Council or anyone else asking them pertinent questions.

      De-elect Winnecke and do not let any of his handpicked slate for council seats get anywhere near elected. Ceding him the votes of Butterfly McGinn, Weaver and The Mosby and denying him a packed council will attenuate the damage he can do if he slinks back in.

  9. THe Bait and Switch really got started in Round 4 of the Hotel Saga (which was the round, right before this Round 5 effort, when Old National Bank pulled the plug).

    In Round 4, we got frequent announcements that the Hotel was getting ready to start. At the 11th Hour plus, ONB announces that the “value of the naming rights for The Centre came out less than a consultant said they were worth”. Hence, ONB had to pull the plug.

    At the Funeral for Round 4, Bob Jones of ONB said the project was “$ 6 Million short”, and the guy from HCW said the project was $ 8 Million short”. Was this just a strawman-type deal to assure there was a Round 5 ?

    Now, in Round 5, the project goes down in price by around $ 10 Million (from $ 70 Million to $ 60 MIllion), I believe. Now, ONB is an “equity investor” and I’ve heard an investment of $ 10 Million, $ 12 Million, etc. THE FACT THAT THE EXACT TERMS OF ONB’S INVESTMENT ARE NOT PUBLIC is one very good reason for putting the brakes on this project.

    For example, if ONB “invests” $ 10 Million this round, and the citizens “subsidize” $ 23.5 Million, how can it possibly be fair that ONB gets its money back (or even interest), and the citizens get nothing but perhaps dishwashing jobs at the ground floor restaurant by the outdoor pool ?

    I like the calls for investigative reporting, and I like the idea of Brad Byrd’s team taking this on.

  10. Bait and Switch is a common and popular sales tactic. It works best with people with extra money to spend. The wise and thrifty shopper usually realizes the value of his dollars and passes on the opportunity. Whether planned or just circumstantial this has become a bait and switch. Our politicians do not realize the value of our public dollars. Any ideas to fix that?

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