IS IT TRUE the City County Observer web site design was under construction during the last several weeks? … we have encountered many technical problems with our old website over the last five months? …because of those issues we were forced to abandoned the old site and build a brand new user friendly website that’s better than ever?  …we are excited to be back on line with our same great content with a new modern user friendly layout?  …we want to thank  Jeremiah Claybrooks- Web Designer and WordPress Expert and Marilyn Cosby for the outstanding work they did in making this new theme design a reality?  …we still have some additional tweaking to be done to our new site over the next couple of weeks so please accept our apologies for any short interruptions?  …we want to thank the CCO “MOLE NATION” for your kind words and strong support during this most challenging time of transition?

IS IT TRUE that Tuesday’s meeting of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission came and went and there was no motion to extend the agreement to develop a downtown convention hotel and associated accessories with HCW of Branson, Missouri that had expired on September 30, 2014?…it is odd that the agreement was not extended as that technically means that the City of Evansville is now asserting that a $71.3 Million deal is going to start in a few weeks on a word of mouth agreement?…Mayoral Chief of Staff Steve Schaefer was very assertive that an agreement would be in place between HCW and Hunt Construction within weeks and that construction will start a few weeks after that?…that would put the first real work commencing after the election and before Thanksgiving which is not exactly a good time to start a big construction project in the Midwest?…in another odd statement Mr. Schaefer is also attributed with saying that “if the project does not start by winter, it is worth taking another look at things?”…we wonder if Mr. Schaefer realizes that the first day of Winter is only 73 days from now and only 30 days after his optimistic estimate of a real golden shovel event?…perhaps the City has finally gotten pragmatic about developer estimates after 2,300 days of waiting since the first overly optimistic announcement?…the Mole Nation thinks if this cat was really in the bag that the ERC would have worked like the dickens to get a new agreement in place yesterday?

IS IT TRUE Evansville City Councilwoman Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley introduced a very good point when she asked the question about whether or not the $20 Million handout was still needed as an incentive to get a hotel since the IU Medical School has announced a downtown location?…in a carefully worded and intentionally misleading response the attorney for the ERC opined that “the infrastructure needs have not lessened due to the IU Medical School’s announcement?”…the reality of the situation is that only part of the $20 Million handout is for infrastructure and that the IU Medical School should absolutely bring more business to the downtown hotel?…these things being true then the project should be worth more today than it was last year when the incentive was approved?…if the project is worth more, then the taxpayers of Evansville should be able to reduce the handout without compromising the projects financing?

IS IT TRUE since the word financing has been brought up, it goes without saying that there is still no tangible list of approvals of the financing and equity investments that are to finance this venture?…it is nearly a year since Mr. Huffman of HCW gave an interview to Evansville Living Magazine where he claimed to have a franchise agreement and all financing in place?…he even pointed to some bankers at the “false start golden shovel” event in March and claimed to have had the financing before he even had a franchise agreement or a design?…the probability that history will repeat itself grows by the day?…in all reality starting a building in November is not a very prudent step?…we are sure if the stars align this time that Mayor Winnecke will once again do his tomcat imitation and turn over some sand but the real construction effort will be delayed until March or April to accommodate the weather just as the weather was accommodated by postponing last January’s golden shovel even?

IS IT TRUE that the people of Evansville got some good news yesterday when Vectren announced that its expectation for gas bills for heating this Winter will be at about the same level as last year?…the cost of electricity to push that warm air into the house has of course risen slightly so expect bills that are just a touch more than last year?…we hope you all got a good raise to cover the rising expenses in energy, food, and other common expenses?

IS IT TRUE the City County Observer web site design is under construction?  … we have encountered many technical problems with our website over the last five months? …because of those issues we are currently under construction, building a brand new website that’s better than ever? …please accept our sincerest apologies?  …we will soon be back up later this week with our same great content with a new user friendly layout?  …  we thank you for your support of the City-County Observer?

IS IT TRUE that it is Fall Festival week and we encourage our readers to get over to the Westside and enjoy a uniquely Evansville event?…of course the food is the big attraction for the adults but the carnival is a big favorite with the children?…even if the story about being the second largest street festival in the United States is urban myth, this is still a well-run event and offers a good time to all?…the Fall Festival also fills the coffers of local charities with upwards of $200,000 on a good year when the weather cooperates so get on over and try out some chocolate crickets, pronto pups, or even a brain sandwich if you dare?

IS IT TRUE that much hoopla has been made about President Obama’s two hour visit to the tri-state last Friday?…the fact that the event at Millennium Steel was private upset some people as did the choices of Governor Pence and Congressman Buschon as the official greeters of the President?…the reality of the situation is that a Presidential visit is usually seen as a good thing by most people of any community without regard to politics?…such visits do come with a price tag associated with them?…the United States Air Force released the cost to operate Air Force One earlier this year at $228,288 per hour?…given that Evansville is roughly a 4 hour round trip from Washington DC by air the transporting of the President and the others on Air Force One cost the American taxpayers about a Million Bucks?…when you throw in the transport plane for the armored motorcade and the ground support one can easily surmise that President Obama’s trip to Princeton for a private event cost us collectively at least $2 Million plus the aggravation of distractions and closed roads?…that said, it was about time that a sitting President came back to SW Indiana as it has been a good long time since the last visit?

IS IT TRUE the government of Indiana just can’t seem to come to grips with the fact that land based casinos make more sense than rickety old boats?…an exception (or a SNEGAL loophole) was created for the French Lick casino by building a land based casino and then filling the ditch around it with water and declaring it to be a boat?…what is good for French Lick should be good for all of the other aging river boats so let’s get on with some privately financed construction projects to build a collection of land based casinos to replace the nearly end of useful life boats that were a convenient way to legalize gambling in the first place?…they should be reminded that a dollar won or lost is a dollar won or lost whether on land or water, and that a dollar of tax revenue is too?

IS IT TRUE that sometimes by refusing to enter an argument one can define the winner?…that yesterday the Supreme Court of the United States did just that by refusing to hear any appeals with respect to marriage equality?…this refusal on the part of the SCOTUS has be default made marriage equality inevitable?…this is an issue that the City County Observer has supported from day one and will continue to support?…we wish for a day when marriage equality is simply a choice as opposed to a controversy?

IS IT TRUE the nation that invented modern management seems to be suffering a crisis of competence?…the Secret Service can’t protect the White House, public health authorities can’t get their arms around a one-man Ebola outbreak, the army we trained in Iraq collapsed as soon as it was attacked by Islamic extremists, and our own veterans can’t get the care they need at VA hospitals?…lest we forget, it was only a year ago that the White House rolled out its national health insurance program, only to see its website grind to a halt?..one can argue that these problems all have different causes,but it’s hard not to conclude that something basic is amiss in Washington?…the federal government’s personnel system is mired in antiquated civil service rules?… Linda Bilmes, a public policy scholar at Harvard’s Kennedy School who worked in the Clinton administration said last week that “You can’t move people around; you can’t pay more to retain your best people; you can’t easily get rid of people you need to get rid of, the pay at the top of the scale is inadequate to attract the best and the brightest into government, and as the old saying goes, if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. It’s very demoralizing.”