Lloyd Winnecke’s Statement on the Tennis Court Proposal

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Lloyd Winnecke

Republican Mayoral Candidate Rejects Public Funding and Public Land for Tennis Facility, Suggests Private Investment as Alternative

First Published: June 28, 2011 AM

“I do not support the proposed indoor tennis facility at Wesselman Park. I would, however, support a collaboration between owners of the Tri-State Athletic Club and the Evansville Community Tennis Association that would allow for additional courts to be constructed at Tri-State Athletic Club WITHOUT the use of public funding. I understand that such a proposal was outlined, but rejected by the ECTA.”

Lloyd Winnecke, Republican Candidate for Mayor of Evansville

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29 COMMENTS

    • Thanks Mr Walters for your comment, while I fully support you in the upcoming election and do understand the need for you to support your party’s mayoral candidate at every opportunity for party unity I can’t get past his accomplishments and failures, sadly even though he’s made the correct statement/stand on this issue my gut tells me he is pandering to the audience….I have little faith that once elected he would be any different then the mayor we have now, you on the other hand I believe would be a intelligent choice over our current representation in the 2nd ward.

      JMHO

  2. It seems that the “publicly funded” courts that are being proposed at Wesselman Tennis Center are going to be “managed and operated” by the owners of the now defunct Advantage Court and Fitness Club. With as few (documented in USTA and ECTA literature) tennis players as actually use the courts (relative to the population of Evansville), it seems that ECTA is building a publicly funded club (membership dues/fees, paid court time, lockerrooms, offices for tennis professional and staff)to employ it’s ex-board members families. Just doesn’t seem to pass the “sniff” test.

  3. There have been two factions in the tennis world in Evansville for quite some time. And as “does_it_make-sense?” states, there is not that much demand for the tennis courts in Wesselman as it stands now.

    People have been stopping by the courts at various times of day for the last couple of weeks now and have reported that they have not seen a time when all the courts were in use. So that tells me than unless there is league use or a tournament going on, which is every few days or times in the years, then there should be plenty of court space for the public to use.

    These folks have also noted that the field that is proposed to be used for this new construction was utilized often.

    I appreciate Mr Winnecke’s comment. There are many problems stemming from this plan that was okayed by the Parks Board. This board need to rethink the privileges that they are so readily giving away.

  4. In his typically conservative and thoughtful style, Mr. Winnecke has taken sufficient time to carefully and deliberately consider the issue, and come to a position that reflects the best interests of the taxpayer rather than pandering to political flavor of the day.

  5. I would encourage these people who supposedly are finding the courts unoccupied to come out anytime after 6 and see how many courts are available. This holds true from 3-10;30 on weeknights from April to November. My guess here is that Jack Rogers the owner of Tri-State athletic club does a great deal of banking business with Mr. Winnecke. Why would ECTA want to partner with a facility that is clearly on shaky ground and has been for some time and why would they want to maintain 2 facilities. The field that this is to stand on is rarely used. ECTA is presenting this facility to the CVB as a way to increase tourism in this city which is what the CVB’s sole purpose is and I am sure will present those facts to the CVB in their presentation.

    • The people who have been visiting the courts have gone many different times during the day and in the evening. It is the business of the tennis Assoc. whether or not they choose to partner with anyone so I have no opinion on that. The tennis assoc. does however offer little support for tourism. The number of people they would bring into town would be small compared to the whole tourism picture that the CVB is promoting. Your remark that the field that is to be used for tennis courts is rarely used is not true. The last 3 times I have been out to the Wesselman Park in as many days the field was in use. The bothersome issue has to do with taking space away from a public park for what amounts to single use and arguably, private business use. For the hundredth time, Wesselman park serves as a buffer for the Preserve and to take away land from the public and from the buffer role of the park is not acceptable. The whole community needs to be considered, not a relatively small number of people who play tennis in Evansville.

      • ECTA signed a lease with the City Parks Dept in 2003 granting them a 25 year lease on that piece of property with a 10 year extention. That lease granted them the right to put indoor or outdoor courts there so their ability to do so is not in question. That issue has been settled. The Nature Preserve has no issues with the planned courts just as they did not with the ball fields it is only a small group of people who argue this point and since the staff of the Nature Center are the experts I will take their word on the lack of impact.. This city is sadly in need of tennis courts and ECTA has proven their ability to maintain and improve the tennis center in a manner the city would never have been able to accomplish. The citizens that are protesting have no knowledge of what potential a facility like the one proposed could do for tourism in this city because they have no first hand knowledge of competitive tennis.

        • The issue of the lease may be a done deal (right or wrong), but the use of public funds to actually build a club that in ECTA’s own plans will only host 19 events over the next 4 years is a stretch. The math is:

          4 tournaments a year for at most 5 days apiece=100 days
          5 years of ECTA “management/staff using public funds to charge for lessons=1800 days.

          the largest jr. tournament ECTA runs, the Stevens Memorial only had (according to USTA draw sheets) 55 participants this year. Only 6 were from more than 60 miles away. How much tourism does that account for?

          Don’t ECTA supporters house the participants of the $10,000 challenger? More hotels not being filled? Oh, and that $10,000 challenger was run for many years at U of E courts (8 outdoor courts) with much more local sponsorship and at a $25,000 level. As I understand it, the draw this year will include local high school girls. They cannot even fill the event as it is run now.

          For the past 5 years, the amount of outside dollars that ECTA has generated has diminished as their events have drawn fewer and fewer participants. This is AFTER they expanded the number of courts, added a clubhouse and a observation deck (which all promised increases in tournament play).

          IF the private for profit tennis professionals were not allowed to monopolize the prime court hours, then there would be no need for expansion of this facility. If they want a new club, I suggest they do what entrepreneurs do,,, raise their own capital and build it.

          I am aware of competitive tennis, I have been a member of ECTA, I have played in their leagues, and am a member of the USTA. I am not an owner of Tri-state Athletic club, but I am paying an extra 1% sales tax daily and do NOT want those funds used by such a relatively minute % of the Evansville population

        • Sandra,
          The ECTA does have a contract with the Parks Board but it has not fulfilled it in a timely manner and according to its stipulations. The “up to 12” additional courts that the ECTA was to have been able to build were to have been completed within 4 years after the first phase of their endeavor was done. That was done in about 2005. So that would mean that these 12 new courts should have been done by 2009. It is now 2011. Also the ECTA was given permission to build a building of between 3000 and 5000 sq ft. You folks built a 2000 sq ft club house a few years ago and now want to put up a 42,000 sq ft pole barn-like structure housing 6 more courts and a bunch of other things such as offices, conference room, and locker rooms. This is really stepping beyond the existing contract which was not amended and resigned that anyone knows of. I don’t dislike tennis and I wish you success in finding a good place to expand your courts, but Wesselman Park is not yours or the ECTA’s to do with as you choose.

    • The courts are occuppied because ECTA chooses to allow private individuals to charge for private lessons on public property. In the evenings, ECTA reserves all the courts for their members and leauges only. Once again, why can they be public courts yet they can be blocked/reserved for months in advance for ECTA PAYING members. Tennis professionals from the defunct club downtown are allowed by their friends on the ECTA board to monopolize prime court time. (3-8pm) If the indoor club is built with the public funds, these same individuals would continue to be able to work at a high rate of pay while monopolizing publicly funded INDOOR facilities. Tri State Athletic Club is clearly on better financial footings that Advantage Court and FItness…. but there seems to be an ECTA push to get public financing so that the staff of that defunct club can operate under the guise of a non-profit.

  6. Will someone please tell Rick Davis about this issue when he gets back from his extended political vacation.

    • does_this_make_sense? – I hope you have expressed your solid information to the city council, the mayor, the park board, and the Convention and Visitors Bureau. There is a meeting of the CVB board tomorrow morning at 8:30 at Mesker. If there is any way possible, I would appreciate your being there. Contact me at 421-9330. Thank you.

  7. Hopefully if Mr. Winecke is elected mayor of this city he will become more informed of the issues. The goal behind the expansion of Wesselman Tennis Center is to develop a first class facility that includes 6 indoor and 18 outdoor courts. This type of facility will allow national, collegient, sectional, adult and junior events to be held here. This will have a huge impact on tourism dollars as well as be a wonderful addition to the community. Evansville is very short of playable tennis courts for a city this size. The EVSC locks their courts, UE’s courts are virtually unsafe, and other then Sunset the other city courts are in need of repair. This type of facility could never be built at Tri-State Athletic Club and since they are a private facility the community impact is also missing.

    • Did you really just post that all of the City of Evansville tennis courts other than Sunset are in need of repair? Let me guess, they have been neglected just like everything else under the management of the Parks Department. Can’t this rotting town keep anything in working order?

    • Please explain how the UE tennis courts are “virtually unsafe”. Otherwise your comment makes no sense at all.

    • ECTA…community tennis not wesselman tennis. If courts around town ned maintenance is it in the community interest to center all courts in a club at wesselman park? I poser that this is more of a grab for city funds to build a club for a few target than making tennis more accessable to more people THROUGHOUT the city. Maybe spend funds to help EVSC insure their courts so that they can be opened to the public. spending the smartest dollar to open the most courts to the largest number of COMMUNITY

      • How do you propose ECTA pay for this. Our funding comes from programming at Wesselman. If you want the school courts opened and improved talk to the EVSC or better city courts talk to the parks department and see how far you get. Appreciate what ECTA has done at the tennis center so that the city has at least one first class facility.

  11. Okay I have to be a smart alleck we in Evansville are known for being the fat city – less make our kids even lazier by not providing facilities where they can excersize. You do not have to be on a league to pay tennis you can go out with one other person and just excercize. Saturday morning anyone can go out and learn how to play tennis for free. This is provided by the ECTA. Has anyone played tennis on the U of E courts you fall very easily due to all of the cracks in the court. The ECTA has raised 1.1M to build this facility and they are only asking for 1M out of innkeepers tax not local tax. This money can be regenerated in a short period of time by bringing in tournaments. The ECTA maintain the courts, buildings, bathrooms, parking lot etc the City/county puts no money in to these facilities. The softball, soccer fields, and swimming pools are all maintained by the city at a cost of taxpayer dollars. This is a win win for our community.

  12. This is a word-for-word reposting of an earlier story as can be seen from the date stamps on the intiial comments. Why was it reposted with the City County Observer’s date stamp of June 30? Is this to make it look like Davis submitted his opinions regarding the tennis facility two days before Winnecke?

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