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EVPL Offers “Phantom Finder” Kit

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December 20, 2011 – Evansville, IN – Want to save money on energy bills? Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library cardholders can check out a Phantom Finder kit today from the EVPL, and see how much energy appliances and electronics are consuming while not in use.

The Phantom Finder kit includes a kill-a-watt meter that can estimate the electrical consumption and cost associated with “phantom loads,” or the amount of electricity that is being drained by items when they are turned off or in standby modes.

The kill-a-watt meter simply plugs into an electrical outlet and allows the user to plug in any appliance to see how much electricity the appliance uses, and then calculate how much money it’s costing. These energy detectors are a great way to see how much it costs to leave items plugged in after use, such as leaving a phone charger plugged in after completing a charge.

Visit the Check Out Desk at any EVPL location, and you’ll be on your way to detecting energy waste, saving money, and helping the environment.

The Phantom Finder program is sponsored by Vectren Corporation, the Indiana State Library, and the EVPL.

Downtown Today: 12/21/2011

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Time 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM
Subject GIS TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
Location 318
Recurrence Occurs the third Wednesday of every 1 month effective 12/21/2011 until 12/21/2011 from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM
Reminder 15 minutes
Laura Howell @ 5071
Categories ROOM 318

Time 9:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Subject BLOOD PRESSURE SCREENING/FREE
Location MAIN HALL 1ST FLOOR
Recurrence Occurs the third Wednesday of every 1 month effective 12/21/2011 until 12/21/2011 from 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM
Reminder 15 minutes
435-5015 HEALTH DEPT
Categories Phone Call, EVENTS

Time 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM
Subject PARKS BOARD
Location 301
Recurrence Occurs the third Wednesday of every 1 month effective 12/21/2011 until 12/21/2011 from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
Reminder 15 minutes
GLENN BOBERG @ 6141
Categories ROOM 301

Time 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
Subject SAFETY BOARD
Location 301
Reminder 15 minutes
TINA OWEN @ 7897
Categories ROOM 301

Local Inauguration to be held January 1, 2012

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The Inauguration of all City Elected Officials (Mayor, City Clerk, and City Council) will take place at 12:00 P.M. on January 1st, 2012 at The Victory Theatre in Evansville located at 600 Main Street. A reception open to all guests will immediately follow the ceremony.

Happy Hanukkah Evansville

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The sun has set and all of our friends and readers who celebrate the Jewish tradition of Hanukkah are now lighting the first light of the menorah. The City County Observer would like to extend our best wishes and thanks to all of our readers of the Jewish faith.

Holiday Angels Silent Gifts Helping People Nationwide

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Holiday Angels, the kind that have flesh, blood, a big heart, and a little extra money are surfacing all over America this year to anonymously provide assistance to people who have chosen the lay-away plan for Christmas shopping. I was reported tonight that over 1,000 Holiday Angels have paid a tab of over $100,000 in K-Mart and Wall Mart stores in California, Texas, and Pennsylvania.

If you would like to be a Holiday Angel just go to a local store that has a lay-away plan and pay the balance owed for some person that you do not know. When they come to the store to retrieve their presents they will simply be told that a Holiday Angel has paid their bill. The only requirement is to do this without telling.

Come on Evansville, you are a city with a big heart and many people really are struggling this year. Here is your opportunity to be a Holiday Angel.

City Government Report Card on the 10 Most Important things for 2011

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The City County Observer kicked off 2011 with a reader’s choice of what the most important things that the City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County need to get right in 2011. Well not all of the actions for 2011 are completed and the results are in. The private part of the public/private partnerships seem to be working but the public part left much to be required. Fortunately for Evansville next year will have a new Mayor and a new City Council.

On a College Scale the City of Evansville Gets a 0.70 on a 4.0 Scale for this Semester.
The Boar of the CVB, KEB, John Kish, the Winnecke Transition Team scored all of the points that lead to that rating or the City Government would have scored a 0.00 on its own merit matching John Belushi’s character in Animal House for academic attainment.

THE TOP TEN and THE GRADES

D: The 2011 City Elections: What we opined would constitute getting it right is for no more partisan voting block control of the City Council and a split party make-up of independent thinkers. After the primaries we had the potential for exactly what we hoped for. What we got is a continued 8 – 1 Democrat majority just like the previous City Council. Additionally every incumbent running was re-elected and there were 5 which makes a majority. The other item of concern with the City Council is that of the 9 members of next years council a majority have been strongly associated with the puppet strings of “The Machine”. The actions and votes of the newly elected City Council will need close scrutiny.

Mayor Elect Winnecke and his Transition Team have been a particular bright spot and are deserving of an A for their excellent choices to appoint to high profile positions of importance. His biggest challenge will be getting anything through a City Council that for all practical purposes looks very much like the outgoing one.

F: An Evansville for the next Decade Plan: Nothing has been done and not one our elected officials or candidates for office has mentioned such a plan. The outgoing Weinzapfel Administration not only neglected to do any planning they spent the last month obstructing any future plan from being comprehensive of nature even announcing a park without identification of a funding source or sharing an provision on who or how to maintain it.

B : Civic Beautification: We can thank Ann Ennis of Keep Evansville Beautiful for a great new fountain at Garvin Park and a northern Gateway beautification plan. There have also been several quite visible efforts by candidates for office and particularly Lloyd Winnecke for mobilizing private litter removal programs. NOTE: The City of Evansville’s Parks Department gets a big fat F for the year thus far for utter incompetence and for rudeness in dealing with the general public.

A+: The Hiring of a new Executive Director for the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau: Mission accomplished CVB Board and the plus is for doing the right thing with respect to the rotten circumstances surrounding the departure of Marilee Fowler. When a board commits or is strong armed into committing an egregious action it is commendable that the new board makes things right in very short order which this board did.

D: CSO Plan for EPA: The total of the disclosed accomplishment is the recent announcement that a judge had approved the consent decree. It is time for some real design work to be budgeted and done so we are not hit with fines again at the end of 2012.

D: The MLK Entertainment Complex: John Kish gets an A+ for his work in keeping the Arena on budget and on schedule. The City of Evansville and the Evansville Redevelopment Commission get a big fat F for the hotel fiasco. If there were anything lower than an F they would deserve that. We thought that there was nothing that could have possibly have been done worse and then the ERC, Mayor Weinzapfel, and the Evansville City Council jammed through a non-binding MOU with not legal standing purely for political resume building purposes. It is time for these guys to change their major as they have failed the core curriculum too many times to be able to take it again.

D-: Mental Health Services Improved: Coroner Annie Groves gets good marks for initiating an awareness campaign. The end result is still a D- because the suicide rate is still among the highest if not the highest in the country. This grade would have been an F but Mrs. Grove’s hard work in the first half of the year raised it.

F: Pay Scales: Not a darn thing has been done to make the pay scales of the City of Evansville competitive. As it is time to start the process of replacing some senior positions and transforming the City of Evansville’s attitude toward its customers the paltry state of the official pay scales will soon be quite apparent.

F: Consolidated Government: Every opportunity to craft a plan that demonstrates real efficiency from consolidation has been punted to later. The current plan does not save a dime, offers no tangible benefit to anyone, and relies on trust the government to do things right after passing it. This is no way to run a County.

F: Smoking Ordinance Revisited: The Evansville City Council has not even had the courage to bring this up in an election year even though it is now assured to pass if it is comprehensive.

IS IT TRUE? December 20, 2011 McCurdy Redux

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IS IT TRUE? December 20, 2011 Part 2

IS IT TRUE that the McCurdy Hotel was back on the agenda of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission today?…that this time there was a discussion of the represented fact that there is another developer that has signed an agreement with City Centre Properties LLC to replace City Centre Properties LLC as the lead developer for the McCurdy project?…that attorney for the ERC Brad Salmon will not share with us who the supposed two interested developers are and did not even state whether the project will continue to be for apartments or for a Vintage Hotel that actually has a chance for financial success?…that this is of course the same Brad Salmon who advised us all that the financing for City Centre Properties LLC was in order and ready to go only a week before learning that it wasn’t?

IS IT TRUE that the ERC states that City Centre Properties will be responsible to pay the City of Evansville back the $800,000 incentive that was advanced to them for 80 loft apartments as part of the downtown loft program incentive offer if the subcontract deal falls through?…that if the ERC and their attorney really believe that is a realistic possibility then they need to do some basic investigation with respect to the ease with which an LLC can be placed into bankruptcy?…that the ERC is at the mercy of the successful assignment of some contract and the approval of 5th 3rd bank that holds superior debt on the building to even come away with a shred of dignity to hang their hat on?…that when it comes to old buildings that are not producing cash flow that getting a judgment is one thing and getting a dime is quite another?

IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer is quite aware of one investment group that is interested in going forward with a project that will be called McCurdy Place that will return the McCurdy Hotel to its former glory as a hotel and even utilize the flophouse formerly known as the Riverhouse and Jackson House for some constructive purpose as part of the project?…that the location would be quite perfect for tourists to enjoy downtown Evansville, Casino Aztar, the Museums, and the riverfront?…that this is the kind of project that takes vision and courage to implement but the impact can be quite high?

IS IT TRUE that there was no mention of the new hotel or the Kunkel Group in today’s ERC meeting?…that at last night’s meeting of the Evansville City Council that there was indeed discussion about two properties that Kunkel has not paid real estate taxes on due to the fact that they are appealing the valuations?…that one of those properties that is being appealed is the old Whirlpool facility that is assessed for over $10 Million even after Kunkel bought it for about $2.7 Million?…that as per the Indiana Constitution Kunkel will win this appeal which will reduce the taxes from over $300,000 to under $100,000?…that similarly the Walker Building was bought for $10 and with market rate assessment will be set at what they paid for it?

IS IT TRUE that this writer just ran PCMatic that is designed to optimize computers to get as much speed as possible from a computer with the infrastructure available?…that this computer is on a local wireless network and is paying for the best internet service available in Newburgh, IN?…that after putting the computer through a workout that the performance testing website www.speedtest.net was run to see how the speed stacks up?…that this site tested the speed of the overall system to be a D- on both national and global scales for upload and download speeds?…that as long as people and businesses in greater Evansville are only capable of a D- in this critical piece of infrastructure that is needed for doing jobs that required interaction with the outside world.

IS IT TRUE? December 20, 2011 “Paradise by the Dashboard Light Revisited”

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Mission Accomplished Moment Coming to Evansville in the next 11 Days

IS IT TRUE? December 20, 2011

IS IT TRUE that the “last dance of the puppet council” went off last night just as expected with Councilman Dan McGinn recording the only NO vote on a resolution that was characterized as being non-binding and having no legal standing whatsoever for the purpose of expressing support for a memorandum of understanding that explicitly states that it is, you guessed it, non-binding and with no legal standing?…that if and we do mean if the words of the Evansville City Council, the attorney for the Kunkel Group, and even the written words of the MOU are true one must really wonder what was the point to the last four days of urgency?…that if this little exercise had no meaning beyond expressing a willingness to work together in the future to get a hotel built that this was truly an exercise in futility for the sake of futility?

IS IT TRUE that the CCO and others suspect that other actions will be furthered by the Weinzapfel Administration in its last 11 days that will result in a “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” moment for Mayor Weinzapfel?…that we furthermore expect that the whole urgent circle jerk was not as futile as the participants are portraying it to be?…that if and we do mean if the City Council and all of the supporting cast of characters in this so called meaningless charade are truthful that they have been indulged, the media has provided the desired adoration, and without further adieu the Winnecke Administration can get on with the business of hammering out a deal that can really ACCOMPLISH THIS MISSION that the Weinzapfel Administration has failed miserably with?

IS IT TRUE that in the “POLITICAL MACHINE LOVE FEST” that followed the final vote of the puppet council, Councilwoman Connie Robinson actually called Councilman Curt John “THE GODFATHER”?…that she actually said it two times while expressing brotherly love and giving him a hug to go with his service plaque?…that we wonder if Councilwoman Robinson has ever seen “THE GODFATHER” and if she knows that “THE GODFATHER” is a behind the scenes manipulator who directs criminal activities including, assault, extortion, theft, gun running, drug running, racketeering, election rigging, politician buying, gambling, prostitution, and even murder all for the purpose of acquiring a lavish lifestyle and maintaining control of his neighborhood?…that the CCO hopes that Councilwoman Robinson was not using the term “GODFATHER” in the same context that nearly any American or Italian understands it to mean about outgoing Councilman Curt John?

IS IT TRUE that in closing that the CCO wishes to include a song that is very reminiscent of the events of the last 4 days that culminated in last night’s vote by Evansville’s chosen ones (sans Councilman McGinn) enthusiastically chanting “AYE” for a supposed non-binding and unnecessary resolution that has no legal standing at all?…that Meatloaf could have written the words to “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” just for the Evansville City Council’s showboating self love fest last night?…that for those of you who have forgotten the song is about two teenagers rationalizing saying the words that just had to be said for them to justify their actions?

Ain’t no doubt about it we were doubly blessed! Enjoy the Meatloaf!

VHS Pet of the Week: “Sadie”

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Happy Holidays from Sadie. Sadie is a 6-year-old spayed DSH. She is also front-declawed. Sadie is quite a love bug and wants nothing more to be cuddled up next to her favorite person. She is used to being an only cat but with some adjustment time, should fit in quite well in a multi-cat household. Gentle children would be best for her. Sadie loves to play with toys and still considers herself to have many kitten like qualities. Her Christmas wish this year is to find a family to love and spoil her. For more information on Sadie and how to make her a member of your family, visit www.vhslifesaver.org or call (812) 426-2563.