IS IT TRUE July 9, 2012
IS IT TRUE James Bethel Gresham of Evansville, Indiana was the first American to give his life for his country in World War I?…his home in Garvin Park that was dedicated to his mother is under the care of the City of Evansville Parks Department?…the Parks Department as it seems to do with nearly everything it has stewardship of has allowed the James Bethel Gresham house to fall into a state of disrepair and that the ceiling has fallen in at least one room?…this is the same Parks Department that is about to be burdened with an new Roberts Park to maintain and maybe even the Weinzapfel Administration’s final civic delusion of Centennial Park in the lot behind the Greyhound Bus Station?…the first step of recovery and refocus is to RIGHTSIZE things until they are manageable?…we do not know how what the Evansville Parks Department can actually manage in an exemplary manner but we do know it is much less than they have now?…handing more and more property and responsibility to the Evansville Parks Department given their performance of the last several years makes about as much sense as asking a four year old to babysit?
IS IT TRUE another new park that was to have been built with private money was announced last year after much negotiation at the corner of Main Street and 4th Street?…this lot was mostly owned by Old National Bank that was in the mood to divest of the land so they could stop having to keep it up?…that the Kempf family owned part of it and were the drivers behind the new park?…as we recall a dedicated maintenance fund was to have been set up for that particular park?…we wonder if that privately financed park has slipped through the cracks in the transition from Weinzapfel and Winnecke?…we also wonder why Evansville is hell bent to spend money on parks they will not be able to maintain when a perfectly good downtown park has been offered from private sources?
IS IT TRUE that a new nepotism law went into effect in the State of Indiana on July 1st?…what that means is after July 1st it became illegal to hire family members and cronies onto the public payroll?…it would be interesting to learn just who was hired during the month of June by the City of Evansville, Vanderburgh County, and other government entities just ahead of the ban on nepotism to see if any last minute cronies and family members were signed on to the public payroll in the last month to be able to do so?…we also wonder why Mole #32 tells the CCO that there have been no new conflict of interest statements or amendments to existing statements made this year?…that must mean that none of the new elected officials have any conflicts of interest to disclose?
IS IT TRUE that Evansville City Council President Connie Robinson is now whining about the absence of minority entertainment acts being brought into the Ford Center?…Councilwoman Robinson is even going public in search of a subsidy for bringing such an act in?…she did not state any particular act she is interested in seeing?…Evansville’s promoters have always gone for the guaranteed drawing power of classic rock and country as those demographics always seem to reward the promoter?…that neither VenuWorks nor SMG are promoters?…what they do is manage facilities while promoters like the late Larry Aiken choose the acts they are willing to risk their own money to bring to town?…President Robinson is a business owner that is fully capable of running the numbers and promoting a musical event without a subsidy?…there is no reason whatsoever for the public to bear the cost of any subsidy for such an event and that the fastest way for Council President Robinson to realize her dream of bringing a minority act that she approves of (sorry Darius, you are Republican so you don’t count) to the Ford Center is to take on the role of promoter herself?…that she would be well served to make note that Snoop Dogg only drew 2,000 people to Roberts Stadium yet played this spring in front of 75,000 at Coachella Fest?…promoters can easily ignore demographics and lose their backside by promoting an act that does not sell tickets?…Councilwoman Robertson should do this if she likes on her own and knock off the panhandling?