IS IT TRUE it was extremely obvious at last night’s City Council meeting that people in attendance were on both sides of the issue concerning building a downtown Convention Center Hotel?…we were impressed with how 7 out of 9 City Council listened and ask intelligent questions concerning this issue? …we believe that those 7 of 9 council members are open minded about how to fund this major capital project in a responsible manner or not to?… we were stunned to see City Council members Weaver and Mosby wear a sticker supporting a building a new downtown Convention Hotel during the meeting?…it looks like Weaver and Mosby have made up their mind without having all the financial facts given to them?…the unlearned pair are seemingly committed to ignore the VETTING that has finally started before they make up their minds on this issue? ….that Ms. Mosby’s soon to be announced primary competition has documented her political behavior on this issue this evening?…he told his supporters this evening about what a great TV ad this shall make?

IS IT TRUE that it was also obvious to everyone in the room that there were many union members in attendance wearing their colors in support of the project?…they also have their minds made up based on self interest as opposed to what is the best thing for all residents of the City of Evansville?…of course we all understand that jobs are important but public works jobs need to be for things that are priced fairly and are beneficial to everyone who pays taxes and not just a couple of hundred union members?…there are plenty of necessary jobs on basic infrastructure like the EPA mandated sewer projects to keep the trade unions of Evansville in work for many years?…it is disappointing to see our friends and neighbors wear the buttons of “what’s in it for me” without knowing anything about the financial value of the project?

IS IT TRUE that the claims by Mayor Winnecke that this hotel will be hiring 200 permanent employees needs to be examined for sanity?…that 200 jobs that average $10 per hour plus benefits and social security taxes will generate a payroll of roughly $5.6 Million per year?…that if one were to assume a rate of $100 per night and 60% occupancy that the 253 rooms can be expected to take in revenue of $5.5 Million over the entire year?…that is less that just the payroll without accounting for utilities, maintenance, replacement of fixtures, etc.?…this simple bit of math is why the claims of 200 – 250 permanent jobs are simple pulled from the hip and not based on any realistic financial projections?…Hotel News Now a trade publication for hotels did a study of 5,100 hotels nationwide to learn what the payroll expense for hotels really is for well managed properties?…for this region that number is 25% to 30% for mid range properties?…in the case of this hotel and its assumptions we can expect a payroll expense of about $1.65 Million?…that will be enough to employ between 55 and 65 equivalent full time jobs?

IS IT TRUE that another little back of the envelope calculation will put some sense of reality on the claims that 800 construction jobs will be created by this project?…if one uses a two year completion time and the $75 Million budget this equates into $37.5 Million per year?…if a labor content of 35% is used as is advised by several publications on estimating hotel construction that leaves a labor budget of $13.1 Million per year?…at a burdened hourly rate of $40 per hour one would arrive at 32,800 hours of labor in each year’s budget?…that works out to 6,310 hours per week or 1,262 hours per day?…at 8 hours per day we can expect between 150 and 160 full time equivalent jobs from this construction project?…this is all really just simple arithmetic but our elected officials just can’t seem to grasp it?…we wonder are they lying or are they just numerically inept?

IS IT TRUE August 13, 2013

IS IT TRUE that the meeting of the Evansville City Council on Monday with respect to the Mayor of Evansville and the Evansville Redevelopment Commission’s desire to give away $37.5 Million of your tax dollars to HCW of Branson, Missouri ran into a well prepared cast of opposition and what some may call a VETTING COMMISSION?…that Monday August 12, 2013 will mark the day that the real VETTING and DISCOVERY period for the hotel project began?…it was blatantly obvious that Mayor Winnecke was ill informed from the minute he slipped and made the errant claim that the downtown Evansville TIF would generate $700 Million per year in additional taxes?…upon being corrected by Councilman Dan Adams for this 9,900% mistake the Mayor stuttered “oh yeah it is just $7 Million”?…this is just the kind of thing that demands a reasonable period for financial assumptions to be rigorously questioned over a period of time so that no more haphazard rookie errors like this one sneak into the pro-forma unchallenged?…when the CEO of any company or city makes 9,900% errors in a public forum it becomes clear just how UNVETTED this or any project is?…that the Winnecke Administration’s sacrificial lamb ERC Chairman Ed Hafer was no more prepared to answer even simple questions than Mayor Winnecke was?…last night neither of these long term Evansville good old boys even deserved to share the stage with what was to come?

IS IT TRUE in what was perhaps the most honest discussion that has been held regarding this project HCW representative Rick Huffman stood like George Washington before the cherry tree and could not bring himself to tell a lie?…when Mr. Huffman was asked pointedly by City Council President Connie Robinson “how many people will you hire at the new hotel” he honestly answered that he was not in a position to answer that question?…it must be remembered that Mayor Winnecke and others have claimed publicly that the new hotel will create 250 full time direct jobs?…this claim is financially impossible even at the minimum wage as a minimum wage job with benefits cost and employer roughly $100 per person per day or just about the rate that the 253 rooms in this hotel will rent for?…to have enough people on the payroll to consume the entire revenue stream of the hotel at 100% occupancy is simply some baseless fantasy concocted by either the Mayor or one of his propaganda ministers?…when pointedly asked how much the jobs in the hotel would pay Mr. Huffman did throw out a 6 figure number for the general manager and $30,000 for a desk clerk, but could not tell a lie about the rest of the jobs?…if one cannot tell a lie the best thing to do is to remain mute?…Mr. Huffman did just that?…in perhaps the most honest confession of the night by Mr. Huffman he said “We still haven’t gotten into finance in any depth”?…the truth has set this man free and the CCO appreciates this man’s willingness to stay silent rather than corroborate the nonsensical claims that the Winnecke Administration and it’s alter ego organization have spewed forth?

IS IT TRUE that Attorney Joe Langerak who happens to also be the son-in-law of Indiana Representative Gail Riecken was hired by a consortium of 14 local innkeepers to rebut the assertions of the Winnecke Administration regarding using taxes collected by their private businesses to finance a competitor?…Mr. Langerak literally dismantled every argument put forth by the administration for doing so?…Mr. Langerak took the Winnecke Administration to school last night and the immediate feedback is that he made a lasting positive impression on the City Council as well?…we encourage Mr. Langerak and of course CCO commenter Brad Linzy who also tore Mayor Winnecke’s youtube video to shreds to go to all six of these townhall meetings and make their cases as they did last night?

IS IT TRUE the tax revenue increases shown by project proponents last night that project $800,000 in new taxes per year just from the hotel fall well short of the $2.6 Million in bond service that Mayor Winnecke spoke about?…even if the downtown TIF achieves everything it has been projected to (and you know how those projections are) and brings in $7 Million it will not cover the bond payments of both the Ford Center and this new hotel?…$2.6 Million + $5.7 Million = $8.3 Million?…arithmetic as we learned in the 1st grade tells us that $8.3 Million is more than $7.0 Million?…that is nearly as indefensible as confidently stating that the TIF will bring in $700 Million per year?…City Councilman John Friend, CPA will pilot the Monkey Boat from Mesker Zoo down Main Street with a boat load of monkeys before a TIF in Evansville will bring in $700 Million per year?

IS IT TRUE the VETTING has finally started, the administration was not prepared, and the ERC rubber stamped this proposal without seeing numbers because as Mr. Huffman said “We still haven’t gotten into finance in any depth”?…if the administration does not make a better case for this than it made last night the people of Evansville may just demand that their City Council vote not to fund this?…at any rate voting on this on September 9th would be an utter insult to both the people of this city and show contempt for truth in advertising?…if this is the best that the City of Evansville can muster then they need to stop mustering?…the crowing statement of the night also came from Rick “George Washington” Huffman when he admitted to speaking in the recent past against a public subsidy for a hotel that would compete with one owned by HCW?