IS IT TRUE August 27, 2013
IS IT TRUE we would like to start out today by addressing the many individual instances of unacceptable behavior by certain officers of the Evansville Police Department cited in last night’s City Council meeting?…that in any situation where maintaining excellence or planned improvement is the goal that the most valuable information that can be used to move closer and closer to perfection is NEGATIVE FEEDBACK?…the group of people who came forward to describe the small percentage of police actions that were absolutely disgusting are presenting the EPD with a golden opportunity to improve?…in spite of being the bearer of bad news many of the people who have been wronged expressed a love for Evansville and a commitment to make it a better place?…City Council President Connie Robinson and Reverend Adrian Brooks provided passion, leadership, and wise guidance to both the members of this community that expressed discontentment with the treatment of African Americans by the EPD and to the EPD itself on how to show respect and conduct civil discourse?…the City County Observer hopes and encourages all of our readership to strive everyday to be a little better and to provide the feedback that will enable all of our leaders to do things better?…some will not accept it but the CCO strives to be that feedback sensor that provides the negative feedback that can be used to improve the public policies of local government?…that we respect and salute Councilwoman Robinson, Reverend Brooks, and the other speakers for their willingness to provide negative feedback in a way that we hope makes Evansville a better place to live?
IS IT TRUE in the spirit of being respectful and following the order of when to speak President Robinson gave Councilman Weaver the admonishment that he should have gotten a year ago over interjecting his ego driven snippets when it was not his turn to talk?…President Robinson did apologize later for breaking protocol which is more than Weaver has ever done for his bad habit of continuously interrupting?
IS IT TRUE that in a letter to the editor of the Courier and Press one of the starry eyed but aging nostalgists who are lining up to support a publicly funded hotel like it was a social security check or Medicare opined that “We also need more cabaret venues like the original Executive Inn used to have!â€?…the CCO is mostly at or nearing retirement age and not a one of us has been to a cabaret?…other than the old song Cabaret most if the people of Evansville have never even heard the word?…another on the Facebook page supporting the $37.5 Million bribe is pining for “big festivals like we used to have?…if there is anything that has been surprising about the debate over the public gift to support the hotel project it is the dominance of older people among the supporters of such government largesse and the dominance of the younger demographic who openly think a hotel is a good idea but do not want to see the developer paid a bribe to do the job?…it is almost as if the people who support the hand-out will be retired and on the public dole before the bills come due and the kids know it and do not want another transfer of generational wealth to entertain the elderly?…we do not know if other cities that have held this discussion have taken sides by age but it is an interesting observation never the less?
IS IT TRUE some of the discussions about the gift to assist this project have begun to cross the line into rudeness, meanness, and downright degrading statements?…while the number of people crossing the line into personal nastiness is quite small it is a disturbing trend none the less?…the City County Observer would like to remind the people who are passionate about both sides of this project that you all seem to agree that a hotel is the highest and best use of that empty lot where the Executive Inn once stood?…the source of all of the disagreement is over whether or not the City of Evansville should give the developer taxpayer dollars to fund a private enterprise?…the two sides have a bit of common ground on which to start and should keep it a civil discussion?…if the Office of the Mayor or HCW would release a detailed business plan and the rest of the documents that make up a standard loan or grant application that Councilman John Friend asked for 2 weeks ago, perhaps people on both sides could dig into the information and dispense with the mean spirit that is being pushed by a few people?…this information is also vital to a real move to sell shares in a hotel develops as it should?
IS IT TRUE when hit with pointed questions in a written forum on investment value the supporters of this project seem to quickly dispense with analysis or logic and pull out phrases like “we need itâ€, “quality of life will be betterâ€, “it will raise civic prideâ€, or the most senseless platitude of all “we deserve itâ€?…while these sorts of things make good brochure bullets for the CVB or the Chamber of Commerce these worn out cliché’s have no place in a discussion about any investment of any kind?…such words in an investment pitch are reserved for timeshare condos, beachfront property in Nebraska, perpetual motion schemes, or even energy scams as we have been treated to in the very recent past?…if some creative thinking outside the box were to occur it is entirely possible that some paper may be put together that could make this attractive to private investors who are somewhat socially driven?…the people of Evansville who support the giving away of public money should seriously make this hotel become a reality with their own private investments?…sure, the investment of $42 Million would only have an intrinsic initial value of $20 Million as has been documented by the CCO, but at some point in the young adulthood of the supporters companies like Apple, Microsoft, Oracle, and the list goes on were selling stock to their ardent supporters when they had ZERO OR NEGATIVE VALUE?
IS IT TRUE a stock offering of 1 Million shares at $50 dollars a share (need some early days operating expenses) to construct this hotel could be and should be the mechanism by which this gets done?…if the gallery of older but richer people who support this project in its present form cannot muster $50 Million between them, given their evangelical support and irrationally exuberant claims of future successes then they truly do not “DESERVE†this hotel at all?…the worse that can happen is that they lose half of their investment which happens all day everyday in the real world of investing?
