IS IT TRUE May 2, 2013
IS IT TRUE it has now been 17 months since former Mayor of Evansville Jonathan Weinzapfel did an end run around the taxpayers of Evansville by signing an agreement with Johnson Controls to replace all of the water meters (good and bad) in Evansville and to install fiber optics sufficient to read the new meters without any traditional meter readers?…this fiber optic network was touted as having the capacity to raise Evansville from among the 5 worst served cities in the country for high speed internet up to the first quartile WITHOUT COMPETING WITH THE COMMERCIAL SERVICES THAT EARNED US ANOTHER CELLAR DWELLER RANKING?…we hate to be the bearer of bad news but that particular combination is just not possible?…that during the month of December 2011 when then Mayor Elect Winnecke was preparing to take office the City County Observer designated this Johnson Controls deal as one of a half dozen ALBATROSSES that Weinzapfel had hung around the enthusiastic incoming Mayor Winnecke’s neck?…Mayor Elect Winnecke never once tried to correct our version of his unwanted albatross?
IS IT TRUE that the Mainstream Media is now calling the Johnson Controls deal “Mayor Winnecke’s $53 Million Water Modernization Planâ€?…last summer when the meat of the Weinzapfel scheme was being analyzed it was quickly determined that the fiber was not going to do what our leaders told us and that most of our water meters are not in need of replacement?…at that time some strong supporters of the Winnecke Campaign openly discussed with us that Mayor Winnecke would be relieved if the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission (IURC) turned down the project?…Mayor Winnecke supposedly got his wish when the IURC kyboshed this project for the very reasons that private analysts had predicted?…it seemed as though that albatross had been lifted from the neck of Mayor Winnecke by the astute IURC?
IS IT TRUE that rather than let that bad dog (the Johnson Controls deal) go Mayor Winnecke and his staff jumped into action to alter the deal and resubmit it to the IURC for approval?…we were all flabbergasted that a Mayor who was supposedly relieved to be shed of this BAD DOG had done a 180 degree flip flop and begun to embrace and nurture this BAD DOG?…it is Mayor Winnecke’s BAD DOG now as is memorialized in the new name “Mayor Winnecke’s $53 Million Water Modernization Planâ€?…he had his chance to dispose of this particular albatross and chose to carry on with former Mayor Weinzapfel’s bidding instead?
IS IT TRUE Mayor Winnecke loves his BAD DOG so much that he is having the City Attorney advise the City Council that if they do not vote to fund this BAD DOG with borrowed money that Johnson Controls will arrange for other financing and the deal will be done anyway?…the City Council was also advised that Evansville would become the target of a lawsuit if they do not vote yes on borrowing taxpayer dollars to give Winnecke’s BAD DOG eternal life?…the demeanor of the City Council is one of “not so fast†this is allot of money and we may not really need it when it comes to “Mayor Winnecke’s $53 Million Water Modernization Planâ€?…it will be interesting to see if these members of the City Council who were mugging for the camera hoping to be seen as conservative stewards of taxpayer dollar are really skeptics or if they are also BAD DOGS howling at the moon for attention before rolling over and casting a vote for their master?
IS IT TRUE during the last 3 days Mayor Winnecke has been rushing like the March Hare to get the so called “in the pocket†City Council to borrow nearly $100 Million for this BAD DOG and for the now $70 Million downtown hotel project?…the third albatross that the Weinzapfel Administration was of course the McCurdy which was announced something like 1,825 days ago along with the $42 Million 4-Star Marriot Hotel that would be built with private funds if only the then City Council would borrow $127 Million to build a downtown ARENA?…what really seems to be true is that there is nothing the Mayor Weinzapfel ever wanted that Mayor Winnecke is not in love with?…all three of the albatrosses that Mayor Weinzapfel dealt under the table to Mayor Winnecke are now treasured and nurtured as though they have always been his own?
IS IT TRUE that it is understandable that Mayor Winnecke wants to rush these albatrosses through the funding votes before the audits of the Ford Center and its IT solution are released and before the determination by the EPA of the city proposal to kick the Combined Sewer Overflow project down the road by another 20 years?…if as expected the two audits expose embarrasment and waste and the EPA says no to extending the mandate no rational human being would vote to subsidize a hotel or to replace water meters on an aging set of pipes?…it is irresponsible and inappropriate to even vote on either of these projects until the outcome of the audits and the EPA ruling are made public.
