IS IT TRUE September 11, 2013
IS IT TRUE September 11, 2013
IS IT TRUE we asked Evansville City Controller Russ Lloyd Jr. how the bond payment for the Ford Center would be paid in the event the downtown TIF was not capable of making the payment and have received an answer?…we appreciate Russ’s willingness to answer this question very much and present it to our readers the way he answered it?… the 2014 Budget for Arena bond payments is approximately $8.1 million?…payment sources per bond documents are the City of Evansville’s share of the Food & Beverage tax supplemented by1/2 TIF funds and 1/2 Riverboat Funds with County Option Income Tax (COIT-LIT) as a backup in the event that those three sources have insufficient funds to make any of the payments?…the 2014 City of Evansville collections of the Food and Beverage Tax is estimated to be $750,000, leaving the downtown TIF to pay $3,675,000 and Riverboat Funds to pay $3,675,000?…that Controller Lloyd assured us that both funds have sufficient money to make this payment?…he further let us know that typically even TIF supported bonds have backup payment sources to avoid default?…in the case of Ford Center the COIT was added as a funding source to make the bonds more saleable?
IS IT TRUE we have previously established via the 2012 annual report for the downtown TIF that 2012 was a year that the TIF spent $1.5 Million more than it took in?…there is a sufficient accumulated balance in that TIF to make the kind of payments that Controller Lloyd estimated for a few more years so all should be well with the Ford Center note through 2015 or so?…the real wild card looming is the continued reliance of Riverboat Taxes to fund long term bonds when the revenues of the Indiana Riverboats has been in a slow decline?…it was recently reported that Indiana casinos as a whole have seen a 12% decline in revenues over the last year?…Evansville’s Tropicana was somewhat less affected only seeing a 2.4% decrease in revenue?…this will translate directly into a lower payment to the City of Evansville at a time that the City seems to be on a spending spree with the Riverboat Money pushing fixed expenses closer and closer to the anticipated revenue?…this financial decision is very much like a family where the breadwinners are getting pay cuts and or their hours cut back going forward with building a swimming pool or putting in a room addition on credit?…counting on the downtown TIF and the Riverboat funds to cover everything is a risky and unwise financial plan and anyone that can add who has the discipline to do a 25 year spreadsheet will learn that very quickly?
IS IT TRUE it was reported yesterday that “the deliberations of the City Council with respect to funding the downtown hotel are just about endedâ€?…in that very same article is was reported that the VETTING was not even started yet?…while we do not doubt the accuracy of either of these statements we find them to be rather conflicted?…it is entirely expected based on Google searches that the principles of HCW will pass background checks and credit checks with flying colors?…the VETTING of the results of other projects they have done like Branson Landing are not so assured of being in the bag as winners?…there are plenty of things out there that have been published about that and other projects that look very much like the Ford Center in underperforming financially relative to the financial projections used to entice the powers that be to move forward with the project?…that will raise the question of is this proposed hotel, retail, restaurant, and apartments project really the best use of $37.5 Million borrowed dollars assuming it is wise to borrow that much money in the first place?
IS IT TRUE then candidate Winnecke made some big statements regarding the establishment of angel networks and venture capital to invest in start-up technology based companies that would in turn create jobs and wealth in Evansville?…then candidate Winnecke spoke glowingly of the contract signed in 2008 between GAGE and NAVSEA to enable the entire federal portfolio of patents available to companies in a 26 county region centered in the City of Evansville?…after 20 months in office nothing but a bus trip to Crane, IN for politicians and academics seems to have happened?…Evansville remains the only city in America with a population over 100,000 that does not have so much as a branch office of a venture capital firm?…in the meantime out in Palm Springs, CA the Coachella Valley Innovation Hub has just seen one of its companies go from a one man operation to become a publicly traded company with a market capitalization of $18.4 Million in that same time period with 18 more such companies in the pipeline for similar liquidity events?…the public investment in that company was exactly ZERO but the support structure in place for such companies is now regarded as the best in California and has an acceptance rate for company applications for membership of less than 20%?
IS IT TRUE if Evansville can ever get over the misguided vision that fun and games is the only thing worthy of public investment and the only ticket to economic prosperity such things could happen in Evansville?…the fields of clean coal technology, fracking, and plastics should be areas where technical innovation and commercialization are vibrant and prosperous and Evansville is a well positioned as any place or even better to pursue such activities?…talent is the necessary ingredient to do this things and talent follows investment dollars?…the real problem is that those investment dollars do not exist in Evansville?…this is not a problem that a hotel, dog parks, or any assortment of fun and games temples will ever fix?
TreeRoots: Beyond the Basics
TreeRoots: Beyond the Basics Saturday September 14, 2013
Registration Starts at 8:30 am
Presentation by Lori Thornton
Willard Library Special Collections Department 21 First Ave, 2nd Floor Evansville, IN 47710
For reservations call: (812) 425-4309 Email: lmartin@willard.lib.in.us
Online: http://www.willard.lib.in.us/calendar_of_events/ index.php?m=9
Select the courses you wish to register for.
Free All Day Workshop!
Lunch will be catered by Ann Farney.
Session Topics (Please make reservations for each individual session that you plan to attend) Each session lasts 60 minutes • Two 30 minute breaks • Lunch is 1 1â„2 hours.
9:00am – 10:00am: 10:00am–10:30am 10:30am – 11:30am 11:30am – 1:00pm 1:00pm – 2:00pm 2:00pm – 2:30pm 2:30pm – 3:30pm
Religious Records in the Bible Belt
Break
The Basics of DNA for the Family Historian
Lunch (Either by order or brought on your own)
Cousin Harry’s Tree Adventure and Other Newspaper Discoveries Break
Examining the Evidence
Lori Thornton is a professional genealogist, specializing in Southern states and religious records research. She serves as Technical Services Librarian at Carson – Newman College in Jefferson City, TN and assists the archivist with the needs of genealogical patrons. She enjoys making presentations on genealogy at the Carson – Newman, at historical and genealogical soci- ety meetings and at regional and national conferences for both libraries and genealogists. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, National Genealogical Society, New England Historical Genealogical Society and several state, regional, and local societies.
Attention Librarians: Each workshop is approved for one LEU.
Remembrance of 9/11â€
North High SchoolÂ
Social Studies High School Students
Times: 9:12-10:42 a.m.
10:49 a.m.-12:19 p.m.
1:15-2:45 p.m.
15331 Highway 41 N
Teacher Aubrey Clarke will show a video of the day as it was happening. He will then have 30 minutes of discussion around these topics: I was 39 and some of you were 4, 5, 6 years old.. I was on my way to class at OCU. What were you doing? Still in bed at home? At play? Day care, pre-school K or 1st grade?” What were you told? Did know what was going on? Or were not you told? Why/why not?  – What do we now understand about the event? / What?/who  are the “us” / “them” today?
General view of the news as it was coming out; what happened and what we did that day, does it have meaning to our culture? What was being said as it came out? And to whom, what & why? – Have the class talk as much as we can about the facts as they understand them. What does this day mean to you? What will it mean to your children?
Other items as they come up.
Clarke says: “As the years have gone by I find that less of our kids have a ‘feel’ for the day. At best they have views that are not theirs. How old do we need to be for it to be something that we saw and that we feel? When does an event become history? My mother knew people who were killed on Dec 7, 1941. Her older brothers were in WWII. To me WWII was a lesson in my US History class, an event to study, to know the date. To understand that this was the reason the US went to war.â€
“Should be eye opening…for me & for them.â€
Aubrey Clarke
Social Studies Dept.
North High School (EVSC)
An Open Letter to the City Council Regarding the Hotel Funding Decision
Open Letter to City Council on the Decision to Vet Hotel
Evansville, September 10, 2013:
The following is an open letter to the City Council from an Administrator of the Facebook protest page, Citizens of Evansville against a Taxpayer Funded Hotel.
Dear Esteemed City Council Members,
We are aware you just voted Monday to extend the vetting process and require more information of developer HCW. We are also aware that an Indiana company Crowe-Horwath was selected by an 8-1 margin to perform the additional vetting and produce a report.
While we applaud the efforts of Councilman John Friend in requesting this additional information, and while we appreciate the deliberative efforts of the eight City Council members who voted for the vetting to continue, we feel there is already plenty of information contained within the Hunden Report and within the proposal itself to warrant a vote of “noâ€.
It is our belief that even if all requested paperwork is in perfect order and it turns out HCW’s history is spotless, the council will still ultimately be faced with the same decision with which they started – whether or not to GIFT $37.5 million to a private, out-of-state developer to build a hotel that is twice the size the market will bear.
Placing too much emphasis on additional vetting, we feel, is a red herring that distracts from existing facts. If the ethics of this deal alone aren’t enough upon which to base a decision, then surely the findings of the $105,000 Hunden Study are enough. It is our hope when all this vetting is complete that the Council will return a vote of “noâ€, regardless of the Crowe-Horwath findings.
Sincerely,
Brad Linzy
https://www.facebook.com/EvansvilleSaysNo
Plaza Park to Host Family Literacy Night
Tuesday, September 10
6 – 7:30 p.m.
Plaza Park International Prep Academy, 7301 Lincoln Ave.
Plaza Park International Prep Academy has been working to promote literacy to students and their families and tomorrow, the school will host a Family Literacy Night. As part of the event, each student will showcase projects they have created surrounding reading. Some students made displays, home-made bookmarks, or other crafts that promote literacy and their favorite books while other students will present book talks or a readers’ theatre to engage visitors. In addition, the middle school students also will be reading picture books to younger children in the school’s library.
The event will be arranged like a gallery walk or an open house. Booths will be set up with crafts and snacks in the hallway and presentations will be set up in designated areas.
Evansville Water & Sewer Utility to host interactive, televised public meeting Sept. 16
Utility to discuss proposed rate increases, answer questions live on WNIN, Sept. 16, 7 p.m.
The Evansville Water & Sewer Utility is hosting an interactive, televised public meeting about the proposed sewer rate increase and the capital projects driving the need for additional funding.
What: Investing in Evansville’s Sewer System: A Community Conversation
When: 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 16, 2013
Where: WNIN (PBS, channel 9)
Audience Value: Viewers will have an opportunity to submit questions by phone, email, Facebook and Twitter. To join the discussion on Facebook or Twitter, use the hashtag #AskEWSU. Submit questions through email: RenewEvansville@ewsu.com. The callâ€in number is (812) 426â€7400.
The rate increase would affect all EWSU customers residential, commercial and industrial. For more information on the proposed rate increases, including a fact sheet and the Utility’s presentation to City Council, visit http://www.ewsu.com/index.aspx?page=3056. A copy of the WNIN broadcast will be posted online in the days following the event.
Libertarian Andrew Horning to run for IN 8th CD, calls for series of public town hall debates –
Janitors play an important role. You’d never think of hiring one without interviewing the applicants face-to-face. At the very least you would do your best to determine who’d be most likely to be an asset instead of a liability; who would show up on time, and not be an embarrassment to your firm. If you’re smart, you’ll interview as many janitorial candidates as possible, and gather as much information as possible before making your choice. Should hiring a congressman be so much less rigorous than our process for hiring janitors, or cashiers, or…anything else? This is no joke. We The People are in terrible trouble in no small part because we make life and death choices with terrible, shallow, irrelevant and even false information. We hire by labels, slogans, words written by people who aren’t even applying for the job, with money from you-know-very-well-where. I am applying for the job of Indiana’s 8th US Congressional district Representative. This job is important enough that there should be serious, in-depth and in-person job interviews with tough questions and non-scripted answers. Voters should see what their options really are; not just the crafted “message†and marketing that tainted money buys. I propose at least one public forum in each of CD 8’s 18+ counties; and I propose the format of the forums be designed to discourage canned speeches and maximize public interaction. And of course I propose that these forums include all candidates who will be on the ballot in 2014. I applaud the League of Women Voters for the televised debates they’ve sponsored for this district, and of course hope for another televised debate. But voters need all the information they can get; and they should have no excuses for not getting it. It is important; now more than ever.