Death List Report For Vanderburgh County

Death List wk 07-29-19 to 08-02-19 wk 07-29-19 to 08-02-19

Councilman Weaver,

The Site Review Committee met with the owner/developer in March of 2018 that our office had set up to help introduce the project, the ownership team, and the agencies that were involved in the permitting process.  At that time, the owner described the project and what their proposed uses were for the building.  Based on the information received, each agency laid out what items would be expected to be presented at the Site Review meeting for approval.  In addition, some of the main items discussed where the parking requirements, variances that could be requested, sewer/water/grease trap items, redevelopment approval, etc.

All agencies involved in the process were there to help this project through the necessary requirements along with providing detailed information from each agency.  On October 29, 2018, 7 months later, the first set of plans were submitted for review by the Site Review Committee, i.e. Phase 1 of the project.  During a walkthrough by the Building Commission, Fire Department, and the Area Plan Commission, it was discovered that the owner had already done some extensive work without having any permits.  Even though this activity had happened, the Site Review Committee moved forward to try and keep this project on track.

On November 7, 2018, an Improvement Location Permit was issued for the project so that it could continue to move forward.  At that time, several items were discussed with the owner including parking requirements for future Phases along with items required by the Evansville Water & Sewer Utility since the facility did not have easements for the sanitary sewer system.  Since that time multiple sets of plans along with multiple different scenarios have been presented to the agencies that sit on Site Review.

On February 25, 2019, Phase 2 of the project was submitted for Site Review Approval.  During the time between Phase 1 and Phase 2, a variance request was approved for parking on the project which would relax the number of required parking spaces from 122 to 86, which allowed for additional units to go in along with 4 hotel units and office space.  Based on the plans that were provided, which showed an additional parking lot to be built to meet the variance approval, a permit was issued on February 28, 2019.  The existing parking lot that is currently in place has a total of 71 parking spaces.

Based on the variance that the owner requested and showed on the plan that was provided and approved by the BZA and the Site Review Committee, the additional parking lot would provide the 86 spaces required.  To date, that parking lot has yet to be built and has been shown on several different locations on the site. In addition, the shared parking agreement with Culver school that was recommended by the City government to help the owner in their future plans has yet to be provided for approval.  By no means has any agency tried to slow this project down, and in fact, each agency has tried to help nail down a moving target.

To date, the Area Plan Commission has approved each request for a Certificate of Occupancy after the proper information has been submitted.  If you would like to discuss this project in more detail, I would be happy to meet and pull all the information on the project along with the multiple sets of plans that we have had to work with.

Additionally, since I have become the Area Plan Commission Director, the parking requirements in the downtown business district have been eliminated for all commercial developments and the residential component has been greatly reduced by the addition of the ability to share parking or to be within 300’ feet of a public parking area.  The Arts Overlay Zone, Jacobsville Overlay Zone, and West Franklin Street Overlay Zones have been created, have helped reduce parking requirements and have been completed through a properly vetted process by the entire community.  Pushed for the last several years, we have finally received funds this year by the County and City Councils to hire a consultant to update our antiquated codes.  I could not agree more that this review has needed to occur.  We look forward to working with everyone through this process, which should include our entire community since it will affect everyone!

Thank You,

Ronald S. London, P.E., CFM– Executive Director

Rise of Soccer: Women’s National Team Is Inspiring A New Generation

By Haley Carney and Brandon Barger
TheStatehouseFile.com

INDIANAPOLIS—On a sunny afternoon in Carmel, the River Road Fields are filled with parents and high school athletes. They are constantly moving around the area, from one field to the next. The speed of the game is fast, with little room for error.

This could have been America’s Game, football. Or America’s Pastime, baseball.

Instead, it’s a sport that has its origins not in the United States, but across the Atlantic in Europe.

That sport is soccer, called football in other countries, and it quickly is becoming bigger and bigger in the United States.

One of the players on the soccer pitch that afternoon was Cassidy Eckstein, a 16-year-old senior center-midfielder from Carmel High School. She first started playing soccer 11 years ago.

“I really liked the competitiveness of it and I liked how fast the game was moving,” Eckstein said.

She expects soccer in the United States will continue to grow, just as it has been growing since the U.S. Women’s National Team first became an international phenomenon.

“I think a ton of people look up to them because our men’s team isn’t as strong,” Eckstein said. “And the women’s team is making girls’ soccer a lot more favorable and enjoyable to play or watch.”

Some of Eckstein’s favorite players, Rose LaVelle and Mallory Pugh, are among the 23 players on the United States Women’s National Team. On July 7, this team made history by winning a consecutive World Cup title and their fourth title overall in their 28-year history. In all, the women have beaten the world’s best women teams with World Cup titles in 1991, 1999, 2015 and 2019. The U.S. women also have won Olympic gold medals in 1996, 2004, 2008, and 2012.

According to the online site Statista.com, the numbers of high school female soccer players grew from 375,681 in the 2014-2015 school year to 381,529 the following year. Since then, it’s grown to a record high of 390,482 female high school soccer players in the United States.

Women’s soccer hasn’t grown this much since the women’s team won its first ever World Cup in 1991. Scoring leader Michelle Akers and assist leader Carin Gabarra helped lead that team to victory with a 21-6-1 record through the year.

Phil DePauw, teacher and coach at St. Joseph High School in South Bend, believes that while the latest win by the women’s soccer team will help the growth, it won’t be as substantial as the 1991 win.

“I think the earlier success of the 90’s probably had a bigger impact than it will now,” he said. “So many people are aware of women’s soccer and are fans of it now.”

Youths have been picking soccer to play as a sport over games such as football and basketball. A Gallup poll in 2017 showed 7% of Americans named soccer as their favorite sport to watch. This may seem staggeringly low, but that’s more than double the 3% who picked soccer as their favorite sport in 2013. Football was polled at 37%, down from 39%, and basketball decreased from 12% to 11%. Baseball is still beating soccer at 9%; however, it has decreased immensely, down from 13% in 2013.

Abby Dickerson, a 17-year-old senior also from Carmel High School, has been playing soccer since she was two years old.

While she thinks playing any sport is important, “soccer was the most fun to me so I stuck with it,” she said.

She had the opportunity to watch the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, held in France, in person – even though she prefers playing to watching the sport. Like Eckstein, Dickerson expects the popularity will only grow.

And so, she said, should the pay.

Earlier this summer, Gianni Infantino, head of FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, proposed doubling the total prize money divided among the women’s teams to $60 million in 2023. This year’s U.S. team got $4 million of the $30 million pot. It was only $15 million in 2015, when the champions got $2 million.

Yet even by doubling the prize the last two championships, the women’s take remains far short of the $400 million purse for the men’s teams in their last World Cup championships in 2018.

Dickerson said the pay gap between women and male athletes is understandable in some sports, but with the women’s team being so successful, the gap should decrease.

Frank Dixon, head coach of Carmel High School women’s soccer and coach for the past 29 years, agrees with Dickerson, although he did not always. Originally, he said, he believed teams should get compensated by how much money they bring in. But he has changed his mind.

“It costs them just as much to eat, just as much to wash their clothes, just as much to stay in a hotel as the men,” Dixon said. “The guys running USSF (United States Soccer Federation) gotta be completely tone deaf to allow that to happen. I mean, I get it back in the day women’s soccer was just kind of a ‘all right, we gotta do it because we support soccer.’ But now, as big as it is, how could they just let that go on?”

FOOTNOTE: Haley Carney and Brandon Barger are reporters for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalists.

 

Katie Stancombe for www.theindianalawyer.com

A Logansport World War I memorial home dedicated in 1922 was the cause for consternation in 2018 between a concerned citizen and local government officials as the home fell into disrepair. In resolving the dispute, the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled partially for both parties.

Jim Brugh filed a complaint challenging the property’s transfer from the Cass County Commissioners to the City of Logansport without reference to the property’s indicated purpose. Brugh’s suit resulted in an agreed judgment between the parties, but he filed a petition for enforcement of the agreement two years later arguing the parties had yet to comply.

Brugh also alleged the Cass County Council should be found in contempt due to its refusal to commit $62,500 toward improvements for the memorial home as part of a second grant application. Brugh’s petition was denied and the county council was not found to be in contempt, despite his argument that the council engaged in contemptuous conduct by its refusal to fund the memorial as part of an application for a federal Community Development Block Grant.

The concerned citizen appealed in Jim Brugh v. James L. Sailors, Cass County Commission, et al., 18A-PL-2730, arguing the Cass Superior Court failed to enforce the agreed judgment as written and abused its discretion in not finding the county council in contempt.

The Indiana Court of Appeals partially reversed the trial court’s decision on Friday, finding the city had not complied with a section of the agreed judgment holding that it would execute a deed of dedication transferring the memorial jointly to itself and the county, expressly referring to its dedication and preservation as a war memorial pursuant to Indiana Code §§ 10-18-4-2(b)(3) and 10-18-4-12.