IS IT TRUE Mayor Winnecke tweeted yesterday in response to his announcement that the hotel deal can’t go forward “The project as originally proposed would have worked financially?”…of course the deal as originally proposed by Mayor Winnecke required a $38 million subsidy from the taxpayers of Evansville?…that $38 million was nearly the entire cost to build the hotel and double what it would appraise for in the reality of valuation of downtown Evansville?…the Mayor is blaming the City Council for his hotel dreams (well it was Weinzapfel’s dream first) going up in smoke?…the City County Observer thinks the City Council deserves praise for reigning in Mayor Winnecke’s delusional dreams just short of the limit on the publics credit cards?…if the City Council is deserving of blame it would be for not demanding full vetting of the principles of HCW and the value of the naming rights for the Centre before rolling over and approving a $20 million hand out?…Dr. Einstein gave us the definition of insanity as “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?”…this sad project has been over the line of insanity for years and the reality of value and failing to vet finally forced the logical conclusion to be accepted?…this idiotic chapter of Evansville politics should finally be buried after this 4th utter failure?

IS IT TRUE word is now on the street that the value of the naming rights was determined by a professional to be in the range of $4 M to $6 M which is exactly what Joe Wallace predicted in the CCO over a year ago when the deal was announced at up to $14 Million?…Old National has already benefited to the tune of one year of those naming rights?… taking a midpoint number of $5 Million for 20 years, then ONB has already benefited by $250,000 for advertising and other benefits?…the question then for Mr. Bob Jones is “where is the $250,000 for what you have already consumed?”…please forward that $250,000 to the Vanderburgh County Commissioners for services already rendered if you want to be an upstanding man to do business with?…we also are interested to learn if you are still interested in keeping that sign of yours on the building for the balance of $4.75 Million?…if you are then forward the rest of the money to the County Commissioners?…if you are not then get the damn sign off of that public property?

IS IT TRUE the next project that needs to be re-examined is the IU Medical School’s location?…the taxpayers of Evansville have been put on the hook for $57 Million by the Mayor and the City Council?…we need to think this through again before dancing with golden shovels and dreams of riding unicorns?…we really need to ask ourselves if maxing the credit limit is worth it, when Warrick County is willing and supposedly able to do this at no expense to the people of Evansville?…we ask “is it really worth $57 million to have this in downtown Evansville as opposed to out where the hospitals are?”…we suspect the answer is no?

IS IT TRUE somewhere in Branson, Missouri are some shareholders of HCW who just lost a million dollars on this hotel fiasco?…they are going to want their money back?…the probability is quite high that they will be lawyering up to get that million dollars back?…we wonder just what pot of money the city that can’t pay for oil changes to police cars will pay that from?…it is time to stop the madness with the fun and games nonsense and get serious about planning to become a town with functional infrastructure?…our sewers, sidewalks, water pipes, and roads are a $2 billion collection of projects that are essential to even being a viable place to live?…the next dollar spent on fluff, will be stolen from funds that should be spent on becoming a functional city again?

IS IT TRUE the featured issue in the 2015 city elections should be on critical infrastructure before anything else?…it is time to end the senseless decade that started in 2004 with the election of Jonathan Weinzapfel as Mayor?…we are looking forward to a campaign for a return to sanity and hope some candidate makes this his or her mantra?

IS IT TRUE the primary cause of poverty in America today is a breakdown in culture, in which out of wedlock childbirths are the most visible symptom?…raw Census data shows that the rate of poverty for single mothers is about five times as high as the rate of poverty for married households or households with two parents working together to raise a child?…this is a crude analysis but it could be the case that there is some underlying reason that makes people both poor and single parents?… William Galston, the former advisor to President Clinton, has found that in order to avoid being poor you have to do three things: (1) graduate from high school, (2) wait until getting married to have children, and (3) wait until age 20 to have children?…only 8% of people who do those three things are poor, compared to 79% for those who do not?…when we think about poverty we tend to think about entrenched, generational poverty?…poverty statistics do not account for duration in poverty?…the 8% poverty rate for people who do these three things includes families in which poverty is only temporary, such as when the father loses his job?…it also includes unskilled immigrants, who are poor because they are starting out at the lowest rung possible?…while these immigrants may be poor, they made a free choice to come to America for its opportunity, and in all likelihood their grandchildren will be middle class – provided that the next generations also meet Galston’s three conditions?…for those among us who are crying out for social justice, perhaps encouraging people to do these three simple things would be time better spent?

IS IT TRUE that the Mayor Winneke and past mayor Russ Lloyd, Jr. have have the same in common?…both individuals vacated a major capital taxpayer funded project that would have enhanced Downtown Evansville?…both Mayors wasted over One (1) million dollars of taxpayers money without moving shovel of construction dirt?

IS IT TRUE we wonder what the Mayor, his Chief of Staff, his Press Secretary, and City Councilwoman Missy Mosby met in the Mayor’s office on yesterday morning at 7:00 am?…we wonder if this meeting was held to discuss plans to vacate the downtown Hotel project?

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

IS IT TRUE we have been told by reliable sources that Evansville Chief Police Billy Bolin has informed his men that the City will not be cashed out for earned comp time again this year?  …the police Department can’t afford to change the oil in police cruisers for rest of the year and now earned comp time owed to our outstanding men and women in blue for this year won’t be paid to them by the city because of budget issues?…the priorities of the Winnecke Administration are on par with a teenager on prom night?

IS IT TRUE that the Old National Bank’s $14 Million contribution for the downtown hotel hidden behind a nonsense naming rights deal for The Centre is coming apart at the seams a full year after all of the beautiful people danced around a golden shovel to celebrate what was a dubious decision to begin with?…AS THE CITY COUNTY OBSERVER HAS SAID FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR, the value of these naming rights is much less than $14 Million, ONB is a public company with shareholders and regulators, and they will not be allowed to pay more for naming rights than the advertising is worth?…the Ford Center which is a larger venue with more exposure got a naming rights deal for $400,000 per year for 10 years?…one thing is for certain and that is that the naming rights for The Centre is LESS THAN WHAT THE FORD CENTER NAMING RIGHTS ARE WORTH?…when we find out just how short the pile of cash is going to be, we will learn just how much more money HCW will be asking the City of Evansville for?…it is time to put a stop to this madness and forget about a convention hotel until a private company will build one?…maybe a medical school will make that happen and maybe it won’t?…WE TOLD YOU SO?

IT TRUE the attorneys for Mayor Winnecke and for the City Council disagree on how the so called “home rule” ordinance will apply when it comes to the Evansville Water & Sewer Utility Board?…that particular five member board are all appointed by the mayor and that right now four of them live outside the city limits and will not be eligible to serve according to the City Council’s interpretation of the rules?…Utility Board membership is governed by state statute, and there is no residency requirement period, in direct contradiction with the City Council’s opinion?…the Water and Sewer Utility has many customers who live outside the city limits, that are already incensed over being charged a 35% premium over what city residents pay?…in the case if this particular board, it is quite possible that seating a new board that is made up of only city residents may just set off some “taxation without representation” sentiment among the county dwellers who pay that 35% premium?…we are looking forward to seeing the opposing attorney’s opinions tested to see if sanity will prevail in the political appointment process?

IS IT TRUE that the revelations about the edicted increase in the assessments in the Orchard Parke neighborhood with a basis of comps from brand new homes targeting a different demographic is not the way to comply with the constitutional mandate for market value assessments?…assessments are easily appealed and any homeowner who has a solid argument based on recent sales or comps will prevail in the appeal process?…it is up to the homeowner to challenge any assessment that is out of line and the process to do so is quite simple?…we encourage any of our readers who believe their assessments are out of line to formally appeal their assessments?…this writer has done this several times with a 100% success rate?

IS IT TRUE public investment in projects like the Ford Center, the proposed downtown hotel, and the IU Medical School is dependent on the wealth created from private production and private profit?…what happens when governments large and small fail to inspire free market profits (the sources of taxes) while constantly increasing public spending is that you don’t have enough of the one to support the other?…when well intentioned TIF districts do not collect enough incremental taxes to pay for the projects they were asserted to have the economic impact to pay for, they cross what is respectfully known as the Thatcher Line?…British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher famously said in a radio interview that “the problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money to spend?”…this has been formalized as the Thatcher Line: the point at which the burden of government begins to overwhelm the ability of the private sector to pay for it?…dear readers, it seems as though Evansville’s Thatcher Line lies about $77 Million of additional debt from where we are right now and the City of Evansville’s bond counsel knows it?…it seems with the revelation that the downtown hotel is over budget again that a choice will have to be made in the near future on which project the City can afford to borrow money to give away for?…if logic prevails, and with the City of Evansville that is a stretch, it is time to admit this financial problem and put the hotel on indefinite hold?

IS iT TRUE we hear that an  extremely well known and highly respected business person has decided to run as Republican in the First Ward City Council seat  …that Councilman McGinn’s challenger has a great chance to upset McGinn because he is a bone fide conservative that shall have broad base appeal with the First Ward voters?  …that Councilman McGinn has lost a great deal of his broad support because he has turned in a political mouth piece for the Mayor and has lost his independent zeal?  …McGinn has of late been a one issue Councilman?  …all he talks about is spending millions of taxpayers dollars on Mesker Zoo.

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