CCO Mole #3 just called from Margaritaville in Florida to break the long awaited news that Mayor Winnecke will be recommending to the Parks Board that Roberts Stadium should meet the wrecking ball.
This is a developing story so check back for updates.
I knew it. Of the ideas of what to do with the property, which one is the dumbest (green space)? Whichever one is the dumbest and most expensive is the one that will be picked.
Why is the green space a dumb idea? This town as you know has terrible drainage issues. Take away two huge impermeable structures(parking and stadium itself.)
Because the city can’t maintain what they already have and it is all cost and no income generation.
How about a retention pond? The pumps are already in place. Lord knows that area floods the Lloyd every time we get a short toad strangler.
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Kipplee’s might even be relieved of the necessity of sandbagging their main entrance from time to time.
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About time Lloyd made a smart decision for once.
That is too bad. Folks in the Entertainment Industry that I spoke to in other states last year believe it still has Life in it and One company even told me they hoped the current Mayor would get elected so Roberts Stadium would still be used as a Functional building. That is too bad, what is the ‘proposal’ to have for the area, then. Polo Fields? where is this supposed Natatorium idea, or a music type venue for smaller shows. Keep us posted. I’m sure he may be in for a fight from the neighbors, again, as the last Administration. Round Two.
Why not build your hotel there?
Why is God’s name would the City want to spend money on demolishing and repurposing land that has outstayed its usefulness?
https://city-countyobserver.com/2011/12/07/is-there-an-%E2%80%9Coption-c%E2%80%9D-for-roberts-stadium/
Just SELL IT at auction, Mayor Winnecke. It’s the only truly Conservative thing to do here. Anything else smacks of political favors through whomever wins the contracts. This is NOT why you were elected.
Hiding behind a “task force” recommendation isn’t gonna cut it either, not when you hand selected that task force to give you the result you wanted.
I bet Option C is starting to look pretty good to that Jordan Baer crowd about now.
Then make an offer. I am sure the city would take a reasonable offer that provided benefit to itself and the local community. But the truth is, nobody want’s Roberts as is.
That’s why you hold an aution…. You sell it on the open market for whatever you can get out of it, then, instead of being a net loss, it becomes a net gain.
Even if you sold it to some entertainment or sports company at auction for $1, you’d be WAY AHEAD of either of the other options put forth.
You really cannot argue with that.
Brad,
Roberts is public property built on public land. Neither the building or its land should be sold for private use. Were you not the person who, when referring to the cemetery issue under anther article, stated that city government was responsible for taking care of property such as parks? Well this is public property next to a city park and also next to a state and national preserve under the care of the city. There are things that individuals take responsibility for and other things that groups of people (communities) take responsibility for. It seems that every time you don’t like something your answer is to get it out of public control. You call this being conservative. I would call it taking away public land that should be developed into additional park space to protect the preserve taking away the legacy meant for future generations.
Spoken like a big government advocate… This attitude is precisely why we are in the mess we’re in both locally and nationally. No one trusts free market solutions.
There is absolutely no reason the property cannot be sold back to the private market. It wasn’t always City property. The city acquired it somehow. Why the insistence on having it remain on the city books when it’s obviously outlived it usefulness and it so obviously beyond government’s ability to find an economical solution?
How about letting some company buy it, put whatever money we get from the sale toward paying down the city’s debt, or put it toward the sewer system! How about THAT for “legacy”? Furthermore, whoever takes it over might find a way to create some jobs out of the venture…and additional “legacy” we could be proud of. Government control only means one thing: they are going to overspend our tax dollars building something few will likely use.
Don’t assume that selling automatically means whoever takes it over would be a bad neighbor or pollute the nearby Woods… That’s just red herring you’re throwing up to bolster a terrible argument.
Brad,
Senator Wesselman arranged for the state of Indiana to give the land that is now Wessleman Park, Wesselman Preserve, and the land on which Roberts sits to Evansville. It was given to the city under the condition that it be kept and used for park and recreation purposes by the public. Do you not support public parks?
Also I was under the impression that some of our financial mess now was caused by the greed and bad behavior of big banks and big corporations so I don’t think that we should totally let them take over. I know our government has not always been stellar lately but I don’t think that either extreme is perfect.
It was big government that bailed out the banks… Or did you forget that fact?
The Louisiana Purchase was government land too before they, rightly, turned most of it private.
None of the misfortunes we face today could have ever happened without an attitude that government has the solutions for the problems THEY created in the first place.
I’m not so libertarian that I don’t agree that some public parks are a good thing, but it shouldn’t cost the millions we’re talking about here to create one by tearing down a perfectly usable structure to create it.
Everything that the City does should be subject to a cost/benefit analysis, and that’s obviously not happening here.
I have been a Citizen whom wants Roberts demolished for one big reason. The cost to maintain this empty building is in the area of 250K per year. Things like the Home Show and Car Shows and anything else Roberts hosted can easily be held Downtown at our new Ford Arena. Now that the question of parking has been squashed ( and I was one of them whom was overly concerned about finding parking and the congestion of vehicles once events ended but both have been proven mute as there are no issues) which is what persons were very vocal about and that of cost which all were told came mostly from a very generous grant.
One commentor stated, this property was gifted I believe was stated by Senator Wesselman and due to the nature of the gift and what now lies on this ppty Wesselman Woods, Play Ground, Batting Cages, Ball Fields, Golf Course, Hartke Pool, Swonder Ice Arena, and Skate Board Area. Behind Roberts is the old Reserve Building and the New Reserve Center and in addition there are Soccer Fields and more Ball Fields on past the Reserve Center. This piece of land is Comminity and of the use of the residents of Evansville. Selling a plot of this community based land wouldnt behove the folks of Evansville. I can just see some shopping plaza in the middle of where our children play sports and our moms and dads take our children to play on the weekends and have birthday parties. I had my Wedding Reception at Wesselmans Park. A person seeing the backside of a Hotel isnt a very pretty sight for this Public Piece of Land!
After Roberts is taken down and the land is leveled there is plenty of time to decide what to do with this land. There wont be a cost associated with it once Roberts is taken down. The parking area can still be rented for different out door types of shows if needed and outside bathrooms can by said venue to accomidate this type of event. If you look at the money saved over time, in 5 years 1 Million 250 Thousand will be in the Citys pocket….in 10 yrs 2.5 Million will of been saved! Ta Da to any Mayor Dem or Rep who had part in making this decision!
And furthermore why are some even refering to Weinzapfel and Wennecke as being the same or however the reference was made. The Mayor whomever he/she is has a few hats to wear. One of those HATS is being a City Manager. Mr Wennecke made a nonpartisan decision here, the end and he saved US alot of money doing so (minus cost of demolition).
Tear it Down, Save us Money, and Dont sell this prime piece of Public Land!
Id like to see the CCO do a Poll on whether the Roberts plot of land should be sold of if letting the Land stay put and letting the city do with it later down the road? Hey CCO can you do this Poll?
Thanks for reading and have a great week!
I am shocked and surprised that mayor Weinzap… oops, that mayor Winnecke wants to demolish Roberts Stadium! Who could have seen that one coming?
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Is anyone on this site actually surprised? Weinzapfel played this same game for 8 years and you elected his clone. Which shell is the pea under? Hopefully in the next election we can elect Williams, oh wait they are all the same I think they are called shape shifters. The boat has left the dock we are accepting no more passengers.
I’m afraid you are correct about Williams, I held hope for him ,but that has passed. Shake the D’s, the R’s the I’s and even the T’s out of a bag. They just spell dirt. It’s impossible to tell one from the other except for a very few, and they don’t want to associate with the present crop of thieves.
Not a suprise at all… Why did they spend the money for all the meetings that was held to “come up with an idea” what to do with Roberts when they already knew from the beginning. If they think people believed they were working on “what to do with Roberts” – they are crazy.
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