Please join Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, members of the Evansville Board of Park
Commissioners and the Greenway Advisory Board for a groundbreaking ceremony tomorrow, April
12, at 2 p.m. in the 1500 block of North Grove Street near the entrance to Henry Fligeltaub Company,
a recycling recovering center. The ceremony will be held to mark the beginning of construction on the
final phase of the Pigeon Creek Greenway.
Pigeon Creek Greenway Groundbreaking
Summer Lifeguard Training – Register by April 16th
Are you a sun worshipper? Do you like the water? How about kids
and the smell of chlorine? If you answered “yes†to these questions do we have a deal for
you! The Department of Parks and Recreation is offering a Lifeguard Certification class
at Lloyd Pool, 6101 N. First Avenue. The class schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, April 18 – 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Saturday, April 21 – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Monday, April 23 – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Wednesday, April 25 – 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Saturday, April 28 – 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
Monday, April 30 – 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Wednesday, May 2 – 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Lifeguards candidates must be at least 15 years old. The cost for the class is $128.
Call Lloyd Pool at 435-6085 by April 16, 2012 to register and pick up required forms.
Attendance is required at all classes.
CCO Traffic Regarding Articles on Vetting of the Earthcare Deal Passes Previous Traffic Records
Stand alone articles that have been published by the City County Observer on the topic of how the VETTING of the Earthcare Energy deal was handled have now passed 25,000 unique readers. This total excludes visits to the daily column IS IT TRUE that has typically addressed several different topics each day but has recently become a forum to advise CCO readership about new information regarding this deal which seems to grow by the day.
The rush to vote and the allegedly sparse job of vetting that is accented by the failure to even check the management team’s credit because they are not being required to guarantee the loan has sparked interest and outcry from the readership. The Earthcare Energy Vetting Farce has now attracted more unique readers than the Executive Inn Dilemma, the McCurdy Fiasco, the Homestead Credit Tax Grab, FloatGate, Al Lindsey’s Mountain Dew, the Democrats didn’t pay for the ChickenGate, Barnett’s Double Paychecks, or even the Opus One party did.
Reader comments have been running roughly 10 to 1 against going forward with the Earthcare Energy deal until a real professional job of qualification of the technology and fully vetting a to be written business plan with verification of claims has been completed. A small group of our readers are from the Councilman Al Lindsey school of thought that local government has no business doing this no matter what.
IS IT TRUE: April 11, 2012, Part 2
IS IT TRUE that we were just wondering about the status of a few projects from the past that have gone largely unnoticed during the pothole blitz, the litter eradication, and the 3rd Strike on the City of Evansville and its surrogates for inept VETTING that have taken place this spring?
IS IT TRUE that going back to the days of the downtown Convention Hotel, the demolition of the Executive Inn hotel, and the Mayors Memorial Rock Pile we do not seem to remember hearing about whether the local demolition company was ever paid the $385,000 or so that they were owed for the hard work they did?…that we wonder if they were paid if that cost was allocated to the Ford Center as it should have been or swept under some other well hidden rug?…that we surely hope that the City of Evansville under the Weinzapfel Administration did not really find a way to stiff a local business while spending $125 Million on the Ford Center?
IS IT TRUE that we are also curious about the timeline for the new privately funded effort down at the convalescent home for bats, pigeons, snakes, and rats formerly known as the McCurdy?…that as of today the public record still shows the McCurdy to be owned by City Centre Properties of Carmel, IN and that delinquent taxes of about $13,000 including penalties are still due?…that we wish the private partners who have announced the intention to assume this project and move forward the best of fortune as the limp hand of local government has proven that it is not capable of brokering a realizable project either with the McCurdy or with the convention hotel that isn’t?
IS IT TRUE that despite all of these shortcomings that VenuWorks is very open that the Ford Center is exceeding all expectations and already profitable?…that this very fact if it is sustainable going forward would cause one to question whether a dime of public money should ever be put into a downtown Convention Hotel?…that with the Ford Center doing better without a hotel than it was projected to do with one that Mayor Winnecke is doing the right thing by sitting on that pot of money as opposed to rushing to start slinging hammers that may not be needed at all?
IS IT TRUE that we hear from Moles on the Ground that some of the witnesses that were quick to point fingers at City Councilman Al Lindsey and to turn his life upside down are squirming on the witness stand under subpoena while their own lives and judgments are being examined for all to see?…that we have faith in due process and hope to see justice done with respect to Councilman Lindsey’s dilemma whatever it may be?…that in all fairness the Evansville City Council should be held up to the same behavioral standards as Captain Lindsey as they are the stewards over a $230 Million budget?
IS IT TRUE that it has taken longer for Captain Lindsey to face his fate that it took for GAGE and Ms. Debbie Dewey to come to the conclusion that the whole Earthcare Energy deal was worthy of a $4.8 Million loan?…that is because the Evansville Fire Department actually went through a process of vetting and discovery as opposed to the Ready, Fire, Aim or just Ready, Fire decision process that went into the vetting of the whole Earthcare deal?…that the EFD did their job right?
IS IT TRUE April 11, 2012
IS IT TRUE April 11, 2012
IS IT TRUE that Ball State University has just released a study on the economic realities of all of the individual counties in Indiana and that Vanderburgh County stacks up fairly well in some categories when compared to the rest of Indiana’s counties but lags in one very important category?…that the category that Vanderburgh County lags behind other counties in is EDUCATION?…that the score earned by Vanderburgh County in the EDUCATION category was 35.3 on a scale of 100 and was awarded a D because the bell curve put such a rotten score in the D range?…that our neighboring counties of Warrick, Spencer, and Posey all got grades of A with scores of 83.5, 86, and 89.3 respectively?…that only 9 counties in the entire state received a grade of F and the highest scoring F was a 31?…that the highest D was Elkhart County that scored a 40?…that the most important indicators of whether or not a place is capable of growing and prospering are EDUCATION and POPULATION GROWTH?…that given that scenario it is apparent that Vanderburgh County and particularly the City of Evansville are not poised to be able to meet the needs of high value opportunities from a Workforce perspective with either the quantity or the quality of workers that will be needed?
IS IT TRUE that every school in the country has a grading system and most of them would give an F for a score of 35.3 when the highest grade awarded was 96.8?…that if Vanderburgh County doubles its score to 70.6 it would still only be a low B on the Indiana bell curve but a low C on a realistic grading scale?
IS IT TRUE that in the category of ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, and RECREATION that Vanderburgh County scored a 95.8 that was good enough to get a grade of A and high enough to be #1 in the State of Indiana?…that this ranking corresponds to being able to claim bragging rights as “the best place to go in Indiana to enjoy the arts, to be entertained, or the participate in recreational activitiesâ€?…that is a pretty significant bragging right that we expect surprises a lot of people?…that this verifies what the CVB Chairman Bob Warren has been saying about Evansville having plenty of quality things to do but not recognizing it?…that this distinction also sort of blows the need for new entertainment venues out of the water?…that Mr. Warren was right and his CVB is on track to start marketing Evansville as a vacation destination for people all over the region including Evansville itself?…that perhaps the reason all of the nice ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, and RECREATION opportunities are not recognized locally has to do with the 35.5 score that our county got for EDUCATION?…that maybe a bunch of us are just too dumb to recognize such things?
IS IT TRUE that the other grades for Vanderburgh County are for the most part all C’s except for the category of “PEOPLE†in which Vanderburgh County received a grade of 76.4 which slipped under the scale as the lowest A of the 9 Indiana counties that got an A for “PEOPLEâ€?…that it was Vanderburgh, Gibson, and the perimeter counties around Indianapolis that got the A’s?…that this category is a hard one to get a handle on as it includes things like population growth, poverty rate, unemployment, and gifts to charities?…that we suspect that if the City of Evansville were pitted against Vanderburgh County in the PEOPLE category that Vanderburgh County would get an A+ and that the City of Evansville would be down at C level or lower?
IS IT TRUE that studies like this are a call to improve and a metric to use on what it is that we need to work on?…that it is clear that EDUCATION is the big black eye on Vanderburgh County’s report card and that “RECREATIONAL DISTRACTIONS†are what we do well?…that this is sort of like a kid that gets the gift of a D on math for a grade of 35.5 but aces PE and PARTYING effortlessly while skating by with a gentleman’s C in everything else?…that if being the party animal that has difficulty with academics is who Evansville wishes to remain that we should just tap another keg and keep the party going?…that if Evansville wants to become a player in the thinking world that this change needs to start at home and it needs to start now?
IS IT TRUE that maybe if these kinds of poor grades in the cognitive skills would have been addressed years ago that maybe our City Council, our Redevelopment Commission, and GAGE would have the ability to VET proposals as other places responsible for public dollars do?
Link:
http://asset.cberdata.org/#Human_Capital_Education
City Promotes Janet Coudret to Deputy Controller
Mayor Lloyd Winnecke announces the appointment of Janet Coudret to the position
of Deputy Controller, effective April 1. Janet has worked for the City of Evansville since 1990.
Janet began her career with the Evansville Police Department as an Accounting Clerk before being
promoted to Finance Officer, the highest ranking civilian position within the police department. After
overseeing the department’s accounting and grant management, she transferred to the Finance
Department in 2007. Janet held the number three position of Finance Officer prior to her promotion.
City Controller Russell Lloyd, Jr., first worked with Janet in 2000 when he was Mayor and expressed his
extreme confidence in her skills and ability to do the job. “Janet has shown outstanding leadership and
knowledge of government accounting. She is a valuable resource for the Finance Department and the
City of Evansville,†Lloyd said.
Janet has an Associate Degree in Accounting from Ivy Tech Community College and is completing a
Bachelor of Science degree in Sociology/Criminology at the University of Southern Indiana. She is
married, the mother of six children, resides in Vanderburgh County and is a member of Corpus Christi
Catholic Church.
Three public events make it a USI weekend
USI Day at the Zoo
USI Day at the Zoo is a fun day of crafts, refreshments, and animal encounters under the USI tent. The schedule of activities is as follows:
USI Refreshment Tent -10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Craft Booths at Entry Plaza – 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
Animal Encounter at the tent – 11 to 11:30 a.m.
Animal Encounter at the tent – 2 to 2:30 p.m.
Spruce Up
USI alumni, students, employees, and members of the community will come together for a day of service to keep USI beautiful during USI Spruce Up. Refreshments will be provided and each volunteer will receive a T-shirt.
As part of the Girl Scouts of Southwest Indiana celebration of the organization’s 100th anniversary, 14 USI students who are former Girl Scouts will participate in Spruce Up along with 30-plus current Girl Scouts in fourth- through ninth-grade.
For more information about either event, contact the USI Office of Alumni and Volunteer Services at 812/464-1924 or alumni@usi.edu.