IS IT TRUE: March 7, 2012
IS IT TRUE that in the time it takes to say “Pigeon Roost†that the entire prospects for the future of the McCurdy Hotel and the other yet to be named downtown hotel have changed dramatically?…that the McCurdy Hotel has attracted the interest of the Kunkel Group along with their new partner in the project Bloomington’s Randall Lloyd to the table to turn the McCurdy into 96 apartments?…that Kunkel has announced a deal with 5th 3rd Bank, the former employer of Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke for a $2 Million loan to move forward with the project and will not be asking the City of Evansville for any additional money?…that the project is estimated by Kunkel to cost $13 Million ($135,000 per apartment) so the real determining factor to get some work started will be whether or not another $11 Million can be secured?…that we do wish Kunkel well with this project but do caution city dwellers that getting loans of that size for projects of that size is still not something that banks are known for?…that we do applaud the fact that this project is proposed to go forward with all private money at this point?…that the strings and restrictions that always come with government money and government loans will hopefully not find a way to bind the hands of Kunkel on this project?…that maybe the EB-5 financing program would be a good one to tap for Kunkel to get the funding and avoid the spider web of restrictions that will come with any public money at all?
IS IT TRUE that we would have preferred to see a fully restored vintage McCurdy Hotel?…that is really the best use for the property from the communities perspective?…that in the absence of a private self funded developer coming forward to do this that we are encouraged to see the Kunkel Group take on this project with ALL PRIVATE MONEY?
IS IT TRUE that Kunkel is also on record as stating that if the City of Evansville spends $40,000 on a new Hunden study that results in another RFP that they are not interested?…that this is understandable as both Kunkel and Prime Lodging seem to have spent substantial sums of money chasing a deal that the previous administration did not think through?…that in a way was an unintentional misleading of two local companies that squandered precious resources on a “GOOSE CHASEâ€?…that we hope that both of these companies move on and prosper?
IS IT TRUE that we wonder if the City of Evansville will ever see even one red cent of the $800,000 that they doled out to City Centre Properties as an incentive to do at the McCurdy what Kunkel is now announcing plans for?…that we guess that next year the City of Evansville will be sending an IRS Form 1099 to City Centre Properties LLC to report $800,000 of income based on loan forgiveness?
IS IT TRUE that there has been much uproar this week over the departure of an employee of the EVSC shortly after completing a master’s degree that EVSC paid $42,000 for?…that little has been said about the fact that the other nine are still on the job at EVSC?…that a 90% retention rate on anything is pretty good?…that if the goal was to spend $420,000 to get 10 MS degrees on staff that the plan just changed slightly to $46,666 for each of the 9 MS degrees that will still be on staff?…that this is one case where the glass is 90% full?…that we hope that the politics of envy and the commotion from this does not run the other 9 off making the program a bust?…that indentured servitude did not work well in the 1600’s and will not work now?…that if the gentleman who is leaving is being served better by leaving than by staying we should wish him well as opposed to demonizing him as many Evansville based places do to their former employees?…that that way to make amends is to replace this gentleman is by hiring someone with similar qualifications away from the Louisville School Corporation?
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The 13th-ranked University of Southern Indiana men’s basketball team came back from an 11-point first half deficit to win the GLVC Tournament Championship and defeat 10th-ranked Northern Kentucky University, 60-56, Sunday afternoon at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield, Illinois. USI, the fifth-seed in the tournament, rises to 24-6 overall, while NKU goes to 23-6.
WHO: Disney On Ice has invited 100 Evansville officers from the police and fire