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IS IT TRUE July 5, 2012

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The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE July 5, 2012

IS IT TRUE this week seems to be the week of the Request for Proposal (RFP) once again in the City of Evansville?…there are proposal request being issued to demolish Roberts Stadium and to build and operate a downtown Convention Hotel?…the RFP requests for these two activities are beginning to feel like the movie “Groundhog Day” where Bill Murray was caught in a time warp where he lived the same day over and over and over?…it was expected that a new RFP would be going out for a downtown Convention Hotel but the RFP to demolish Roberts Stadium was a big surprise?…we were under the impression based on the news releases from the Weinzapfel Administration that the Roberts Stadium demolition was only going to cost $200,000 and that Klenck Construction was doing it for that much money because the materials in the building were valuable enough for them to earn what they needed through recycling?…we also wonder if Klenck has been paid for the demolition of the Executive Inn so the new Ford Center would not have a big Rock Pile right behind it?…that it seems like the circus is here to stay and the news regarding Roberts Stadium and the downtown Convention Hotel is a rerun from 2010, and 2009, and 2008?

IS IT TRUE that the Hunden Study that the City of Evansville spent just over $100,000 to acquire is available and the City County Observer has a copy?…the same goes for the RFP for the downtown Convention Hotel?…both documents exceed the upload capacity that we have access to so we can’t post them?…Hunden has them available for public download on their website?…with respect to the hotel study the financial details of the Hunden Study nearly mirror an article published in the CCO over 2 years ago?…that article took roughly 4 hours to research and write but that all in all the Hunden Study is competently written and is accurate?…the Hunden Study separates the hotel from infrastructure requirements like parking, bridges, and sidewalks?…that when the numbers are all added up depending on the size of downtown Convention Hotel chosen the public investment has been recommended to be between $16 Million and $22 Million to make this a decent investment for a private developer?…that is no guarantee that Evansville will really attract a quality developer for that amount, it simply means that real data indicates that this investment has a decent probability of making a profit if all the stars align?

IS IT TRUE one of the sections in the Hunden Study that is quite interesting to read is the section that covers conventions in Evansville and the prospects of attracting conventions to Evansville?…the number of conventions in Evansville has declined by over 50% during the last several years?…The Centre has most certainly suffered financially as a result of this loss of business?…the random delusional management of this project by the Weinzapfel Administration may have dealt a death blow to the convention business in the City of Evansville?…even in the best case downtown Evansville will have gone without a Convention Hotel to support The Centre for a period of about 7 years when a new one opens?…it is possible that no respondent will come forth and that Evansville may never have a hotel at The Centre?…the READY, FIRE, AIM politics and planning of the Weinzapfel Administration can be thanked for this big empty lot and for the loss of 50% of convention revenue for a period of at least 7 years?

IS IT TRUE that the same VETTING talent and READY, FIRE, AIM mentality that resulted in that empty lot and a bunch of empty pockets did the VETTING on the Johnson Controls contract?…that is something to think very seriously about as that particular deal is being VETTED?…the CCO would like to commend the Winnecke Administration for making sure that the Hunden Study and the RFP are available to the general public?…that is the kind of transparency we were promised and we thank them for doing what they said on this matter?

1st Annual Car, Truck & Bike Show

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1701 N. Main Street, Evansville, IN 47711

July 7, 2012

Open to all makes and models!

Awards for:
Top 25 Cars & Trucks, Top 5 Bikes, Owner’s Award, Best of Show and Mayor’s Award

Also featuring the 20th Anniversary of League of Their Own movie cars!
Registration from 9 a.m. to noon and awards will be presented at 3 p.m.

cMoe: Once Upon a Story Time

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10:30 a.m. Today (July 5th) Meet in Freedom Gallery for this themed story time for toddlers and young children. Today’s story: The Kissing Hand

cMoe Website

Evansville, a Dot on a Map: By Bill Hazelip

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The excitment builds for the destruction of Roberts Stadium. We can’t wait to get in down fast enough. “At first, I was against tearing down Roberts” John Hill, former Stadium Manager often said, “we could bring many events to Evansville, but we only have so many non-conflicting dates open” John, would have loved to have another arena that would seat 12,000. But, as my subject matter says, “Evansville, a dot on the map.” This city’s past success and lack of it is an embarrassment that needs to be hidden as soon as possible.

This city has lost another Television Station (channel 7) and now this Kentucky station shows us the street scenes from Owensboro and Henderson. We lost our national weather bureau to Paducah, Kentucky and the television “weather channel” oftens refers to us as Evansville, Illinois. We are now a one traditional newspaper town and it is shrinking in size and quality as fast as the city of Evansville.

Our leaders want to improve the city’s image by building a welcome center next to the big blue 2 million square foot manufacturing plant. The city’s leaders don’t think the visitors will ask, “what’s with the big blue building?” If you want to improve the city’s image, tear down the big huge Whirlpool plant!

This city has lost enough industry to be a city larger than Nashville, come to think of it, we were about the same size at one time! It is difficult to name a manufactured product that was not made in Evansville at one time. We either made the product or part of it!

The new Ford Center Arena says more to us than just another small arena in a dying town. It tells a visitor and a prospective employer where the city leaders see the future of Evansville. When the media and the city leaders go out of their way for three years to tell us that we will have a new 12,000 seat arena, (which shrinks to 9,000 plus) adjacent to a renovated hotel with plenty of parking and then, we have to settle for this little cramped up building with small seats and one entrance and with parking scattered over blocks away. With no Hotel! So, now the city leaders are pleased that only 4-6 thousand people attend events.

So, bring on the wrecking ball, this city needs more city parks. We need jobs and people will have jobs mowing grass —come to think of it we also made lawn mowers in Evansville at one time!

VANDERBURGH COUNTY FELONY CHARGES

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This feature is sponsored by Chris Walsh For Vanderburgh County Clerk. Chris Walsh is a veteran county administrator that strongly supports our local law enforcement professionals . Chris is a candidate that possess a non-partisan attitude with a consumer friendly demeanor. Chris also stands against unification of city and county governments.

This ad paid for by the committiee to elect Walsh Clerk, Kelly Walsh, Treasurer.

 

VANDERBURGH COUNTY FELONY CHARGES

Evansville, IN – Below is a list of felony cases that were filed by the Vanderburgh County Prosecutor’s Office on Monday, July 02, 2012.

Nicholas Gladish Theft – Class D Felony (Habitual Offender Enhancement)

Jonathan Godshall Theft – Class D Felony; Criminal Mischief – Class A Misdemeanor

Howard Heim Dealing in Methamphetamine – Class A Felony
Neglect of a Dependent – Class C Felony

Maintaining a Common Nuisance – Class D Felony

Resisting Law Enforcement – Class A Misdemeanor

James Hill Burglary – Class B Felony; Theft – Class D Felony

(Habitual Offender Enhancement on Counts 1 & 2)

Resisting Law Enforcement – Class A Misdemeanor

Criminal Mischief – Class B Misdemeanor

Davina Julian Dealing in Methamphetamine – Class A Felony

Neglect of a Dependent – Class C Felony

Maintaining a Common Nuisance – Class D Felony

Tyron Murphy Resisting Law Enforcement – Class D Felony

False Informing – Class A Misdemeanor

Rebecca Siscel Battery Resulting in Bodily Injury – Class D Felony

Criminal Confinement – Class D Felony

For further information on the cases listed above, or any pending case, please contact Carly Settles at 812.435.5688 or via e-mail at csettles@vanderburghgov.org.

Under Indiana law, all criminal defendants are considered to be innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.

Hunden Downtown Hotel Study: Some Simple Financial Details

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Never Forget What Lack of Planning Causes

The City County Observer has finished a simple overview of the Hunden Study that was commissioned by the Winnecke Administration to be told what would need to be offered to have a decent probability of attracting a quality developer to take on the 4 year non-started downtown hotel project. Overall, we must say that Hunden did a very thorough analysis and has reached conclusions nearly identical to the conclusions published by CCO editor Joe Wallace two years ago.

The Hunden findings for a 240 room hotel are as follows:

Hotel financial value: $24 Million

Developer Down Payment: $6.2 Million

Private Loan: $17.8 Million

Required Public Subsidy: $7.3 Million excluding parking, bridges, and infrastructure

Public Infrastructure Spending Requirements:

Parking Garage: $5.4 Million

Bridges: $2.3 Million

Infrastructure: 1.6 Million

Total Public Money Required to Attract a Developer: $16.6 Million

Total Cost of Project (excluding interest charges): $40.6 Million

Detroit has run out of Other People’s Money: By Shikha Dalmia

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Abandoned Midwestern Homes

A sigh of relief swept through Detroit recently after a judge threw out a legal challenge to the “consent agreement” the city just signed with the state to clean its books and avoid bankruptcy. The lawsuit, filed by the city’s megalomaniacal legal counsel, represented a level of overreach ridiculous even by Detroit’s lofty standards. But in the tragicomedy that is Detroit, it would have been better if it had succeeded and expedited Motown’s rendezvous with bankruptcy.

If there is any solution to Detroit’s fiscal mess, it may lie in the legal, not political, arena.

Fiscal deficits have been a fact of life in Detroit for decades as residents and industry fled its high taxes, high crime, shoddy schools and erratic trash services, thus eroding its tax base. Now, however, Detroit is flat broke, with a $265 million deficit that it has run out of gimmicks to fix.

As I have noted on these pages previously, it can’t tax anymore because Detroiters are already taxed to the hilt. It can’t borrow any more because its debt is in junk territory. Had Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder not stepped in and let it borrow $137 million on the state’s credit card, Detroit would have defaulted on its debt obligations as well as payment to employees and vendors months ago.

But in exchange, Snyder wanted the authority to clean up the city’s books so that it wouldn’t be back rattling its tin cup again next year. His original proposal would have left Detroit Mayor Dave Bing—an NBA great whose athletic skills far outshine his political acumen—and the city council, a corrupt and dysfunctional entity, in charge of the city’s daily operations. But it would have handed the city’s finances to a board with powers to sell city assets, outsource services, lay off employees and void union contracts.

The last two items are the biggest drivers of Detroit’s fiscal mess. As businesses have fled, government has become the city’s biggest employer. Detroit’s legacy obligations far outstrip its revenues. Its accumulated unfunded liabilities currently stand at $12 billion—about half of which are legacy costs. This puts Detroit’s debt-to-asset ratio at 33:1; GM’s was 22:1 when it went into bankruptcy.

Bing and the city council have shown zero political will to tackle these costs thanks to fierce opposition by the city’s powerful municipal unions, which is precisely why Snyder wanted to bring in an outside board. This was much too threatening for city leaders, who joined hands with unions and professional race-baiters like Jesse Jackson and accused Snyder of orchestrating a white conspiracy to send Detroit’s predominantly black population “back to the plantation.”

Snyder quickly backed off and consented to a far more watered-down agreement that would leave Bing and the council in charge of implementing the reforms—and reduce the financial board’s role to mere oversight and advice. The dirty secret is that Snyder shied away from assuming financial control of Detroit—something he has done for four other Michigan cities with good results—because he understands just how toxic Detroit is and doesn’t want the political headache.

And given that Detroit’s legal counsel, Krystal Crittendon, made even this toothless agreement grist for a lawsuit shows that he is right. Rumor has it that she wants to run for higher office and therefore wanted to prove her bona fides to city unions. She sued on the loopy theory that the agreement violated a city charter provision prohibiting Detroit from entering into a contract with anyone owing it money, which, she claimed, the state did because it had not paid its water bills, among other things!

A judge summarily dismissed her case, but the fact that she decided to make it in the first place demonstrates the level of cupidity—and stupidity—that afflicts Detroit’s political classes. Indeed, it is inconceivable that Bing and the council will force Detroit’s recalcitrant unions to swallow the bitter medicine necessary to return the city to solvency, especially since Bing, contrary to his original promise, is now thinking of seeking a second term.

In any case, Snyder’s $137 million credit line will allow the city to finish its fiscal year till July, when new tax revenues will start coming in. But within a few months, Detroit will run out this money. And when it does, absent radical reforms in the interim, Snyder will have to decide whether to continue bankrolling Detroit’s profligacy, engineer a state takeover or let it go into bankruptcy, precisely the options he faces now. Since the first two are not viable, it would have been a blessing for him if Crittendon’s lawsuit had killed the consent agreement and expedited the third. The more time Detroit loses in renegotiating union contracts, the more it runs up its legacy tab, the more draconian the cuts that would have to be imposed and the harder it will be to avoid Greece-style riots.

Many cities across the country are facing unsustainable legacy costs. But Detroit is uniquely impervious to political solutions because the ratio of its public moochers to private producers is far higher than others. There are too few Detroiters with a vested interest in fixing the city and too many with a vested interest in sucking it dry. Only bankruptcy will convince them that there is nothing more to be milked.

Whether even bankruptcy will wipe the slate clean is debatable given that the Michigan constitution deems public pensions a contractual obligation that can’t be “diminished” or “impaired.” Still, given how badly Detroit’s politicians have failed the city, courts are the city’s only hope.

Source: The Daily

Indiana announces record surplus: Taxpayers to get refund check

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Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels

July 3, 2012

News Release

Indianapolis, Ind. — Governor Mitch Daniels said today that a preliminary look at fiscal data shows Indiana will close the 2012 Fiscal Year with reserves of more than $2 billion and a structural surplus, meaning annual revenue in excess of annual expenses, of more than $500 million.

With reserves totaling at least 14 percent of the state’s budget, most Hoosier taxpayers will receive their first automatic taxpayer refund when they file their state taxes in 2013. The Indiana General Assembly approved the governor’s plan for an automatic taxpayer refund in 2011.

The refund will clearly be in excess of $100 for a single filer or $200 for a joint return. The exact amount will not be ascertained until the fall when the estimate will be made of how many tax returns will qualify. The median income tax payment was a little over $800 last year, so the refund will amount to more than 10 percent for the typical Hoosier.

Because the state’s reserves exceed 10 percent of the upcoming year’s budget, half of the excess will be returned to taxpayers and the other half will go to further strengthen several of the state’s pension funds. That means the pension funds, already rated among the nation’s most secure, will receive at least $300 million.

For Fiscal Year 2013, the state is projecting a structural surplus of more than $400 million, resulting in the state’s reserves again exceeding $2 billion.

Indiana fiscal facts during the Daniels administration: Indiana has its first Triple-A credit rating Indiana’s expenditures have grown at less than one-quarter of the rate of the previous decade Indiana has the fewest state employees per capita in the country Indiana has paid down previous debt 43 percent

o Indiana repaid more than $750 million of debt previously owed to schools, universities and local governments

o Indiana repaid a $63 million loan to the Motor Vehicle Highway Fund that originated in the 1990s

o Indiana paid off the 50 year old bonds on the Indiana Toll Road, almost $200 million worth. Indiana has the lowest burden per household to fully fund public pensions in the country

o Indiana has the smallest unfunded liability per capita for retiree health care of any state

o At 6.75 percent, Indiana’s pensions have the most conservative investment return assumptions of any state and is the only state below 7 percent Indiana’s combined pension and long-term debt liability as a percentage of GDP is the 2nd lowest in the country

The Office of Management and Budget and the Auditor of State’s office will complete the closing process and provide the official report in mid-July.

IS IT TRUE July 3, 2012

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The Mole #??

IS IT TRUE July 3, 2012

IS IT TRUE several members of the MOLE NATION are now telling the City County Observer that Vanderburgh County Democrat Party Chairman Jack McNeely is lobbying hard for the Evansville City Council to approve full funding for the Johnson Controls deal?…old ways really do seem to die hard for an old UNION BOSS who just can’t seem to grasp the breadth of his new job as Democrat Party Chairman?…the only reason for anyone to be lobbying so hard before this deal has been VETTED is self interest?…the self interest in this case is not profits for Johnson Controls or inside deals for consultants and attorneys?…this time the former UNION BOSS is lobbying for jobs for the brotherhood to do work that has not yet been proven to be beneficial to the people of Evansville?…that this deal like all deals should be VETTED completely and upon full transparent and honest approval let out for bids?…that it is insider dealing in closed door meetings and political arm twisting that has lead to a prolonged economic malaise in Evansville and even the country?…that McNeely’s tactics are part of the problem?

IS IT TRUE that attraction projects to get new factories into cities and regions can take years to bear fruit and that for the City of Mobile, Alabama one of those efforts had a major announcement yesterday?…that the European aerospace giant Airbus will be making jetliners in Mobile and will be employing 1,000 people in the plant?…that in the second paragraph of the announcement the words “RIGHT TO WORK” were placed prominently as one of the reasons for the decision to choose Mobile?…the Europe based plants were also called out for being “HEAVILY UNIONIZED”?…that even a company that was formed in a largely socialistic cross-borders agency is learning the lessons of free markets and migrating their workforce to right to work parts of the United States?…despite the right to work status of Alabama these 1,000 jobs will pay very well and demand high skills and a good work ethic?…that Boeing just last year put in a new jetliner facility in the right to work state of South Carolina?…the CCO hopes to see factories like these to start factories in Indiana which saw the same light that Airbus saw in 2012?…that in some ways the future is beginning to look a bit brighter for Hoosiers?

IS IT TRUE that in the field of manufacturing an official government report came out yesterday that shows the US manufacturing sector shrunk in June for the first time since July 2009?…the index is now below 50 for the first time in over three years which is an indicator of contraction as opposed to expanding?…that an index of 50 means staying the same?…the other industrialized nations including Germany, Spain, China, and the UK worse than ours and range from 41 to 48 as opposed to the USA’s 49?…this is not positive news for the economy and it in all likelihood an indicator that Friday’s jobs report will not be favorable?

IS IT TRUE that the CCO staff along with the rest of the our readers have awakened this morning to an unwelcome 25 cent per gallon increase in the price of gasoline?…this is just in time to have our pockets picked on any 4th of July travel that has already been planned?…that this is a suspicious move that is just enough to put a cool pile of money into the oil company (or local dealerships) coffers without breaking any of us but it is certainly infuriating?

The Johnson Control Approval Minutes: BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE EVANSVILLE WATER & SEWER UTILITY

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Another RUBBER STAMP

The City County Observer has finally obtained the minutes from the meeting when the Johnson Controls deal was approved unanimously by the board of directors of the Evansville Water and Sewer Utility Board. The following excerpt shows that there was no discussion or questioning of the deal that commits the people of Evansville to $80 Million in spending and nearly 3% per year rate increases over the next 20 years.

Approve Agreement with Johnson Controls

ON MOTION by James Gribbins, seconded by Tina Murphy, and unanimously carried, the Board approved an agreement with Johnson Controls, Inc. for implementation of a guaranteed savings agreement per Indiana Code §36-1-12.5 to provide and oversee various efficiency-related improvements at the water filter plant and wastewater plants, installation of automated wireless water meters, and construction and implementation of fiber optic and wireless networks, recommended by Jim Garrard and Matt Arvay.
Approve IRC Petition for Johnson Controls

ON MOTION by Barry Russell, seconded by James Gribbins, and unanimously carried, the Board approved IRC Petition, recommended by James Garrard.

Full Minutes on Link

Evansville_Water_and_Sewer_Utility_Board_Meeting_Minutes_2011.11.15

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