IS IT TRUE Evansville City Councilman Jonathan Weaver has raised the idea of privatizing the Mesker Zoo?…Public records indicate the city funded over $4.8 million for the zoo this year, but the zoo only brought $1.1 million in revenue?…Weaver reportedly says that $3 million loss got him thinking that with tax dollars being in short supply that Evansville would be well served to turn this loser over to a private investor?…one would have to question whether Councilman Weaver knows anything about the for profit world, because any operation that is losing $3.7 Million per year isn’t worth a thing?…it is sort of shocking to learn that the zoo only took in $1.1 Million after dropping over $10 Million on the jaguar exhibit and $600,000 to draw plans for a $8 million dollar Penguin exhibit?…the real question Weaver and others should be asking is how much the City of Evansville would have to pay a real investor to take the zoo off their hands?…for the $3.7 Million in losses every person in Evansville could have been given a trip to St. Louis to see a real zoo and still have money left over?…the CCO raises the question about whether or not Evansville has anything at all that breaks even?…the list of losers won’t even fit on this page?  …we wonder why Mr. Weaver just discovered that the Zoo is losing over $3 million dollars each year since he’s been a member of the Evansville City Council for 6 years? …we thank Councilman Weaver for providing a big laugh for everyone in Evansville that can add and subtract?  …we can’t wait to hear what City Council Finance Chairman and former Zoo Director Dan McGinn is going to say about this issue since he once declared that the Zoo is close to a breaking even point?

IS IT TRUE in an instance of idiocy that rivals several other blatant oversights, the North Main projects is being ripped up to make the street 6 inches wider because it was not designed to allow for two busses to be able to pass each other?…now there will be a 6 inch margin of error for the drivers to negotiate?…we wonder if whomever designed this has the good sense to use a tape measure on a bus to find out how wide a road should be before pouring concrete?…this ridiculous oversight had to have been stamped by the appropriate professionals and approved by the planning department?…these geniuses somehow decided to put 20 pounds of product in an 18 pound bag and now are standing in amazement that it wouldn’t fit?…we hope they check the width of the highly prized bike lanes because we really don’t want to see anyone get killed because the people in charge can’t read a ruler?

IS IT TRUE this is not the first time something that was literally stupid happened with infrastructure improvements?…once upon a time someone approved a paving project on Diamond Avenue that wouldn’t allow a semi truck to pass under a railroad bridge without getting stuck?…the first truck through got stuck and the tires had to be flattened to let it pass?…we guess that one was missed by 6 inches too?…that one required an expensive rework too?…then there was the scoreboard at the new expensive ball fields that wasn’t useful for baseball?…the same ball fields missed the length of the base paths for the leagues that the park was built for?…we really need to bring back vocational education so then professional design folks in Evansville can learn to read a ruler?…the advice measure twice and cut once doesn’t even save someone from making a mess when the design is wrong?…you can’t even make this sort of idiocy up and it always falls on the taxpayers to bail out the 1st grade failures of the City of Evansville?

IS IT TRUE that one thing done right the second time on North Main was replacing the dilapidated water pipes?…we wonder why that took a second look?…common sense does not run deep in the Civic Center?

IS IT TRUE we are being told that the Evansville city employees Healthcare costs are totally out of control and will have a major shortfall problem this budget year?  …we wonder where the City Controller is getting the extra money to pay for the city employees Healthcare costs cost overruns?

IS IT TRUE that we wonder, if any current member of our City Council went to a new car Dealership and signed a legal contract to purchase a MERCEDES-BENZ and they were told that they had to accept a Volkswagen for the same price, would they agree to the transaction?  … their answer should be “HELL NO”?  …this is seemly what happens every time the city gets involved in a big ticket capital project (new downtown Hotel, North Main Street project, new Smart Water meters, Amazonia project at the Zoo. etc.)?

Todays “READERS POLL” question is: Do you feel that someone should be held accountable for the major mistake made in redesigning the $18 million dollar North Main project?

EDITORS FOOTNOTE:  Any comments posted in this column doesn’t represents the views or opinions of our advertisers.