IS IT TRUE last month we just crossed 1.8 Million page views for 2014?  … without the computer programming issues we faced during a 2 month span earlier this year we would have exceeded 2 million page views this year?  … that we want to thank our readers for the support they have given us this year?

IS IT TRUE in what is perhaps the most symbolic accident of the two centuries that Evansville, Indiana has been a home to anyone, some poor soul who was in Hammerheads to enjoy the entertainment on Saturday night got shot in the foot?…of course this person was not holding the gun and did not shoot themselves in the foot, but a bullet to the foot in downtown Evansville no matter how painful it may have been is a metaphor for everything the City of Evansville has done in the last 10 years?…that “shooting yourself in the foot” is a metaphor for doing or saying something that causes problems for you?…the words “I think you might be shooting yourself in the foot if you don’t take his offer” apply so appropriately to the Earthcare Energy misfire and the 4 failed attempts to use traditional methods to get a downtown hotel that it is laughable?…with all due respect to the person who was shot by another person in Hammerheads, this is exactly what the governance of the City of Evansville has been doing to the people of Evansville with downtown projects as long as most of us can remember?…once again, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity?…it is time to stop the insanity?

IS IT TRUE the City County Observer is pleased to see an assertive President of the United States who is making decisions and taking actions instead of acquiescing like a bump on a log to every special interest knumbskull who vies for his attention?

IS IT TRUE we are totally impressed that someway and somehow the internet service to North Korea has been shut down?…we do not know if this happened as a result that something the United States government did or if it was just some teenage hackers who made this happen, but we know given the North Korean attack on our Freedom of Speech that the black out of this rouge republic was proportional and appropriate?…whether one wants to watch this movie or not is not material, as one of our basic freeedoms was attacked by a foreign entity and retribution is the correct response?

IS IT TRUE we are watching closely for the upcoming appointments by Mayor Winnecke and the City Council to the boards and commissions that lose many of their members one week from Friday?…we hope that the “Homerule” ordinance will result in a group of city dwellers of substance who are willing to take on these tasks?…we doubt that there is enough time to even do background checks at this stage of the game, much less to vet them properly?…we suggest you see paragraph one about shooting oneself in the foot?

IS IT TRUE many of our readers have been making comments about the success of Owensboro in attracting hotels and revitalizing their riverfront as though Evansville should be following Owensboro’s lead?…there may be some merit to that advice as Owensboro’s riverfront does seem much more user friendly and is filled with people on most weekends?…Owensboro also has 2 new hotels that supposedly were built entirely from investor dollars without any public incentive up front?…up front is the operative word as Owensboro did indeed guarantee a certain number of room sales and will be on the hook for some bucks if the hotels do not perform as agreed upon?…that seems like a much smarter way to incentivize a hotel than just handing out a big check up front that the developer could easily just flip for a profit the day the construction ends?…there is on other little known fact about Owensboro and that is that the last public hanging in the United States took place on August 14, 1936, in Owensboro to dispense justice upon Rainey Bethea who was executed for the rape and murder of 70-year-old Lischa Edwards?…that execution was presided over by the first female sheriff in Kentucky, Florence Shoemaker Thompson?

Finally, attached below is a video that one of our readers sent this morning for your viewing pleasure. This video is about recent downtown ground breaking for the hotel.

 

Please take time and vote in todays  “Readers Poll”.

Copyright 2014 City County Observer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

IS IT TRUE in nearly every interview with Mayor Winnecke about the death of the downtown hotel project as we know it, Old National Bank CEO Bob Jones is standing with him offering somber support?…we do want to point out that ONB entered into this hotel situation with a good civic intention and remains committed to being a good corporate citizen?…no other Evansville based company large or small stepped forward to attempt to bridge the funding gap between public subsidies and the developer’s comfort level for a purchase price?…the stark reality of what has transpired makes it crystal clear that the market value for the entire project to a private developer is only $37 Million which is less than the construction estimate for the hotel excluding the apartments and the parking garage?…that is remarkably close to the newly appealed assessment for the ONB headquarters?…given the size of the project it is prudent to assume that the value of the ONB headquarters and the hotel/apartment complex is about equal?…as we stated last week, SANITY PREVAILED WHEN THE FREE MARKET DYNAMICS WERE NOT TAINTED BY GOVERNMENT INTERFERENCE?

IS IT TRUE we are mystified that the naming rights for The Centre were not appraised a year ago when this scheme was concocted?…one would think that the first logical action prior to an announcement and a happy dance would have been to commission a professional appraisal of the advertising value of the naming rights for The Centre?…we are 100% sure that ONB would never enter into a funding agreement to finance the purchase a piece of property without an appraisal?…we are also sure that ONB would make the borrower pay for the appraisal?…the enthusiasm of cocktails with the Mayor at the rooftop bar must have blinded the analytic reality of those normally good banking minds?…this is testament to the power of a dream no matter how unattainable that dream may be?…the $400,000 per year naming rights deal right across the street for the larger and busier Ford Center should have guided the thought process on the first agreement but it did not?…there is a strangeness about this valuation debacle that begs for some answers?…the writer knows Bob Jones and knows that he is neither a fool nor a liar?…this is not the kind of thing that elevates one to be the CEO of a public bank and a respected leader across the country?…it makes one suspect that we have not heard the whole story yet and that something other than the lack of 6.5 Million is driving this implosion?

IS IT TRUE the coalition of the clueless (ONB, HCW, & City of Evansville) apparently can’t even agree on how short the ONB naming rights were?…Rick Huffman has been quoted as saying the shortage was $8M while Bob Jones says it is $6.5 M?…Huffman was even quoted as stating the project budget was $78 M when it has been common knowledge for over a year that the budget was $71.3 M?…these gaps and the other clueless claim by Mayor Winnecke that the hotel will create 800 jobs when even the biased Hunden Study only claims a fourth of that, are reasons to conclude that this coalition of the clueless has never possessed the mental horsepower to take on a project of any size?…anyone or any group that cannot add and subtract can surely not manage so much as a little league team?

IS IT TRUE the CCO is a bit disturbed at the confessions of Mayor Winnecke that there have been known funding gaps for 3 months, yet he was putting out a press release every couple of weeks about the looming start of construction?…that was misleading and disingenuous?…telling the truth no matter how bad it may have looked would have been and will always be the right policy?…we have to wonder why anyone with a memory would believe a word that comes from the Winnecke Administration about projects or job creation?…that statement about creating more jobs than the hotel was proposed to have rooms took the cake for either incompetence or dishonesty?…as we have said many times, the nonsense and fluff needs to stop?…it is time to get serious about PLANNING and INFRASTRUCTURE neither of which Evansville will survive without?…the bridge to nowhere and the backhoe sentinel are monuments to failing to think, plan, and implement?

IS IT TRUE we are glad to see that the City of Evansville has received a grant of $600,000 to demolish some blighted houses?…at Tom Barnett’s estimate of $5,000 per house for demolition, this money will get rid of 120 blighted houses that need more work than they will ever be worth?…according to Barnett we now have only 9,880 more blighted homes to go to get rid of all of the abandoned homes in the City?

IS IT TRUE finally, we are disturbed to learn through a very well placed MOLE that HCW never executed a franchise agreement with Hilton?…Rick Huffman told Evansville Living over a year ago that he had this in hand?…it was discovered in March that his claim was not true?…Huffman and the Mayor doubled down on that story in June right before they learned the bids for the hotel were well over budget?…today, there still is no franchise agreement, which in all likelihood means they did not have a loan in place either?…we hope that when, and we do mean when, another opportunity for a hotel comes up that it will be with a company whose priciples will be transparent about project milestones and that they will be throuroghly vetted before the City Council jumps into a $20 Million bed with them?

Copyright 2014 City County Observer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.