IS IT TRUE that the committee to recommend what should be done with Roberts Stadium hosted a group of about 100 concerned citizens for a tour of the old girl on Saturday?…that the first order of business for the tour was a guided tour designed by David Rector that was basically a showcase of all things wrong that could easily have been interpreted as “leading the guests” to the desired conclusion of Rector’s old boss, the former Mayor of Evansville who made sure that regular maintenance was not budgeted for?…that at one point in the tour the concerned citizens were shown a puddle of water that was there as a result of a leaky roof?…that when one of the citizens asked what it would cost to fix this leak that the surprising answer was only about $1,000?…that as roof leaks go that is a very inexpensive repair?…that it has been reported that this $1,000 leak has been there since late last summer?…that to ignore fixing such an easy and cheap problem shows that there has been no good faith effort in place to even attempt to find a future use for Roberts?…that with roofs that a $1,000 repair can very quickly become a $250,000 problem or even higher so it would be a good decision on the part of the Winnecke Administration to do the $1,000 repair now so if an idea with an investor comes forward there will not be a worse problem to deal with?…that ignoring something like that on an expensive facility is like refusing to pay $20 to mow the yard on a house that one wishes to sell?

IS IT TRUE that the Murray State Racers are barreling along toward an undefeated season and are now ranked 9th in the nation with a 21 – 0 record?…that Murray may be heading toward a serious date with the NCAA and may just be the new Butler?…that many people from Evansville have ties to Murray State and that the CCO is pleased and proud of the Racers?…that someday we hope to see the UE Purple Aces assume the role of favorite small budget small college with a realistic opportunity of going to the final four?

IS IT TRUE that the State of Indiana will be on the world’s stage next week with the City of Indianapolis hosting the Super Bowl for the first time?…that giant banners, unique activities, and a very clean city awaits the Super Bowl fans from New England and New York?…that we wonder if the Giants quarterback Eli Manning who is the brother of Colts quarterback Peyton Manning will be staying with the team or with Peyton?…that the Super Bowl really is a big weeklong event and that people are already arriving and enjoying Indianapolis?…that back in 1985 when this writer was a graduate student at Stanford University that the Super Bowl was held at Stanford Stadium?…that the day of the game that party crashing was done including crashing the Apple party where Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniack were doing some pregame celebrating?…that even back then scalpers were asking $300 per ticket since the hometown San Francisco 49ers were in the game and that lacking that this grad student walked back to the student housing quarters to watch the game on TV with the windows open to hear the game live?

IS IT TRUE that on February 1, 2012 the California equivalent of Redevelopment Commissions will cease to exist?…that this is a development that should be watched very closely by the State of Indiana?…that the theory of creating TIF districts to be used to capture incremental taxes to eliminate blight is a good economic development tool when used for the right projects that are managed to a reasonable budget?…that in California as in Indiana there are some good projects but many projects where politicians got involved in the process and spent money on things that were not beneficial at prices that were not even close to being competitive?…that maybe this will lead to a return to good public policy and economic reality?

IS IT TRUE that the Vanderburgh County Council didn’t directly include funds in their 2012 Budget so they can join the City of Evansville to pay for a much needed Information Technology Assessment Audit? …we are pleased that the City of Evansville directly put funds for this Audit in their 2012 Budget? ….we join 5th Ward City Councilmen and Budget Chairmen, John Friend-CPA call for this City of Evansville and Vanderburgh County funded department begin to do a long overdue and detailed financial assessment of this little known but important publically funded department? …we now are awaiting to see if the past Budget Chairmen and newly elected President of the Vanderburgh County Council, James Raben shall put the money on the table so this extremely important Assessment Audit can begin?

IS IT TRUE that it’s time for the Indiana State Board of Accounts to send their annual Audit Survey Questioners to each Evansville City Council members so they can express their option concerning the financial decisions and activities of the prior city administration?…that we can’t wait to get a copy of their responses?

IS IT TRUE that longtime friend of the City County Observer and radio host extraordinaire Les Shivley who shared his Thursday show on WGBF with the CCO publisher Joe Wallace is under consideration for appointment to the Indiana Supreme Court?…that we at the CCO of course support Mr. Shivley for this appointment if this is something that he wants out of life?…that while it is always positive for Evansville to have a presence in state affairs it is doubly positive when that presence is held by a person of knowledge and virtue?…that we congratulate Les on being a finalists for this opportunity?

IS IT TRUE that speaking of the Indiana Supreme Court that the authority of the Speaker of the House Brian Bosma to levy fines upon the Democrat members who willfully refused to show up for work is now going to be determined by the Supreme Court?…that we are sure if our friend Les were there that he would be casting his vote in favor of levying these fines?…that of all the disappointments that the CCO has had with Democrats that we consider to be friends that he flight to Illinois last year and the refusal to show up this year are absolutely the worst transgressions?…that we are proud that like it or not the Democrats did eventually show up and do their job of voting on the Right to Work bill that most of them opposed?…that we are also sure that the sentiment of the State of Indiana was with Right to Work and going to work or the Democrat contingent would have flea-bagged it to Illinois again?…that they took the pulse of the state and did what they knew that they had to do to have so much as a prayer at being re-elected in 2012?

IS IT TRUE that the State of Indiana is also considering making consolidation efforts to have the requirement of offering “threshold rejection” as many have been demanding in the case of Evansville-Vanderburgh?…that threshold rejection whether one likes it or not is the right thing to do because the consent of the governed should always be required when a big voting block attempts to use the ballot box to take over a smaller voting block?…that goes triple when the large voting block is dysfunctional and in need of the revenue from the small voting block that is for the most part doing just fine?…that if this passes at the state level that it will not affect the upcoming vote on consolidation?…that if the state passes this that Evansville-Vanderburgh should either postpone the vote or allow threshold election?…that if this does not happen that this will be the last place in Indiana to hold a consolidation election without threshold rejection?…that will make us the poster child for why annexation at the ballot box was outlawed?

IS IT TRUE that there was a public forum to discuss the future plans for Roberts Stadium yesterday the drew roughly 40 attendees?…that a number of ideas were put on the table but that much more analysis and some more ideas along with some investment dollars will be needed to save Roberts from the wrecking ball that the former Mayor envisioned was in its future?…that one of the criteria for the ideas is that they can’t compete with the Ford Center?…that is a tough nut to crack since both facilities are perfectly capable of holding concerts with headliners drawing over 5,000+ people at $70 per ticket being appropriate for the Ford Center but up an coming bands at $10 a ticket with an expected draw of 1,000 or more being perfectly viable for Roberts buy infeasible for the Ford Center?…that back in the day when Evansville drew many bands to town the Coliseum and Roberts were both frequently booked and the fact that Roberts was not chicken of the Coliseum allowed the people of greater Evansville the opportunity to see bands like KISS, Foghat, Thin Lizzy, REO Speedwagon, Blue Oyster Cult and a host of others at the Coliseum who returned to Roberts a few years later when they developed a large following?…that this requirement that the Ford Center should have no competition is a cowardly myth that seems to have been designed for the political aggrandizement of the former Mayor?…that if the Ford Center is afraid of Roberts that makes about as much sense as a Rottweiler being afraid of a poodle?

IS IT TRUE that cash is pouring in to the Indiana Smokefree Communities coffers faster than it poured into Barack Obama’s campaign in 2008?…that the 70% plus of Hoosiers who openly support a statewide smoking ban are treating Evansville’s pending ordinance as though it is the first battle of the civil war and are pouring cash in here at Mayoral campaign rates?…that the marketing campaigns for the 9 votes of the Evansville City Council are heating up and that this will be quite interesting to watch?

IS IT TRUE that Kitchens has announced that it will be closing its Eastland Mall Store?…that this comes on the heels of the recent announcement that Abercrombie Kids will be vacating the Eastland Store at the end of January?…that this is a strange set of events for a town that was recently pronounced by some economic development entities to have nearly wiped out all of the job losses of the recession when nearly no place else in the country has done so?…that it may be a good lesson for such entities to learn that the job creation calculator has a subtract button on it and that when 2 jobs are started and 3 are lost that the net is a loss of 1?…that the other piece of missing information is that the real metric that needs to be monitored is not the number of jobs but the amount of payroll?…that replacing a lost $20 per hour job with an $8 an hour job should not really qualify as creating a job but that seems to be the way that job counting is done?

IS IT TRUE that the State of Kentucky is on the verge of introducing legislation that would make casino gambling legal in certain locations in the state?…that the future of gambling at Ellis Park is the only real game changer in the projections for Aztar’s future with respect to how legislative action will have any effect?…that it is the Kentucky legislature that is pondering the legislation of interest for Indiana casinos and not the Indiana legislature?…that if Ellis Park were to ever become a land based casino with or without smoking that the business model of Aztar will be disrupted in ways that no one can predict with any existing study?