The Office of the Indiana Attorney General will defend the state’s new Right to Work statute, House Enrolled Act 1001, from a legal challenge filed today in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana. Our office has not yet been served with the lawsuit. By law, the Attorney General represents state government officials named in civil lawsuits – including the Governor and Commissioner of Labor – and also defends from legal challenges the statutes passed by the Indiana General Assembly. Attorney General Greg Zoeller today issued this statement:
“Legal challenges are part of the process to test whether laws are constitutional. Though we respect the right of private plaintiffs to disagree with this new law, the State’s position is that the Legislature was within its authority to create a new policy concerning mandatory union dues. My office’s duty is to defend the laws the Legislature passes and we will do so diligently here,†Zoeller said.
How can Anderson be that much cheaper than Evansville?
In a surprisingly realistic move, the City of Anderson, Indiana has proposed a baseball complex to be called “The Farm” that will have 12 baseball fields two of which will be indoors. The net cost of $6 Million for “The Farm” works out to only $500,000 per baseball diamond and is expected by Anderson officials to draw 30,000 visitors per year to participate in 75 tournaments. The feature of two indoor diamonds will allow year round use of the facility.
The cost and expectations of the Anderson proposal are in stark contrast to the $18 Million complex proposed by the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau in 2010 that would only have had 8 outdoor ball diamonds. At that time the ECVB also stated the expectation that 100,000 visitors per year would visit the 8 proposed fields. Perhaps if a realistic proposal like the one in Anderson had been put forward the Evansville project would have garnered support and moved forward.
Bob Warren, the president of the ECVB has issued a letter stating that a ballfield complex could be done at the Roberts Stadium site for between $8M and $10M which is about half off from the proposal from the CVB board in 2010 that went down in flames. A formal quotation to accompany any estimates would go a long way toward explaining why everything built in Evansville with public money seems to cost double what it does anywhere else. When compared to the Anderson proposal even a ballfield complex at a 50% discount to the last overpriced and over-hyped one may not be a bargain.
To see the entire description of these fields and the expectations that Anderson officials have please follow the link below.
IS IT TRUE that it was reported last week that the winter of 2012 has thus far been one for the record books?…this record is for a winter where the snow never came and the temperatures have been overall a bit higher than what we normally get?…that in spite of such things the three people that we are closest to and ourselves reported record high Vectren bills in the month of January?…that maybe the warmer winter made us all inch that dial up a few degrees to keep from shivering indoors as had become the mode of operation for the immediate few years?
IS IT TRUE that SW Indiana has had unexpected positive surprises with the weather in the past?…that there was a winter about 10 years ago that had nearly no snow and lots of pleasant days?…that as this writer recalls that one was followed by a doozy with a 24 inch snow before Christmas and a pond that stayed frozen for months?…that there was a summer of 2007 or 2008 where it was so temperate that people were able to turn their air conditioning off to the point that it sent shock waves into Vectren?…that the use of electricity that summer was about 10% below normal and expected use?…that the temperate weather enabled us all to save money on our electric bill and conserve energy as we had been admonished to do since childhood?…that as summers go that is one of the best in the memory bank for weather in SW Indiana?
IS IT TRUE that following that wonderful summer Vectren’s accountants put forth the news that their top line was so adversely effected that they would be needing a rate increase to make up for our energy conserving ways?…that the Indiana Utilities Regulatory Commission rolled a seven for Vectren and granted them the increase so that their top line was not hurt by the good weather?…that the next summer was hot and sweaty and people turned their AC back on only to learn that record bills were the result of the rate increase?…that we do not recall a request for a rate decrease following that year of record heat and record bills?…that we really hope that Vectren does not pull the “guarantee my top line†argument out again to request another rate increase based on our once a decade nice winter?
IS IT TRUE that things like that are reminiscent of the game of flipping coins where the bully on the playground would set the rules of the game with an iron fist?…that the rule of the bully was “HEADS I WIN, TAILS YOU LOSEâ€?…that there are so many things where that rule or the accompanying rules “MIGHT MAKES RIGHTâ€, and “HE WHO HAS THE GOLD MAKES THE RULES†seem to beat everyday people to a pulp?…that the CCO hopes that this year’s good weather will not become a reason to increase utility rates and that decoupling that we supposedly have at least for gas will do what has been advertised as one of its benefits to ratepayers?
IS IT TRUE that today is the day that the Indiana Senate will begin discussions on a statewide smoking ban?…that the state Senate would be well advised to study each and every constitutional challenge that has been upheld for “arbitrary and capricious†exemptions?…that the piece of junk that the State of Indiana came up with last year had so many exemptions that even the American Cancer Society rejected it?…that passing something that has loads of “arbitrary and capricious†exemptions will just cause unnecessary legal expense that the people of Indiana will have to pay?…that if Indiana is to have a smoking ban let it be a good one that is not “arbitrary or capricious†in its granting of exemptions?
This year’s Tri-State Science and Engineering Fair, held annually at the University of Southern Indiana, will be the largest to date, with over 600 projects on display in the Recreation, Fitness, and Wellness Center (RFWC) on March 8-9. The fair provides opportunities for K-12th grade students to showcase their interest in scientific research and receive community recognition for their achievements and is open to students from within a 75-mile radius of Evansville. Last year, more than 600 students presented over 500 projects.
“USI’s Tri-State Science and Engineering fair gathers an assembly of students who are compelled to fortify their educational experience with a research or engineering design project,†said Allison Grabert, SwISTEM interim director. “USI’s mission for the science and engineering fair is to celebrate the innovation and STEM successes of our region’s youth. With over 600 student exhibitors this year, we have a lot to celebrate.â€
Categories include animal sciences, behavioral and social sciences, chemistry and biochemistry, earth and space sciences, engineering, environmental sciences, mathematical and computer sciences, medicine and health sciences, microbiology and molecular biology, physics, and plant sciences.
New this year is the cMoe Invention category for students in kindergarten through third grade. The Koch Family Children’s Museum of Evansville (cMoe) will sponsor a special invention award for students K-3 who design and present invention projects. This marks the first time the fair will be open to students in grades K-3. Winners of the cMoe Invention Special Award will win a certificate, cMoe passes, and the opportunity to display their inventions at cMoe. They will be judged at the same time as the Jr. and Sr. Divisions. The overall K-3 Invention winner also will win $50.
Grand Award Winners in the senior division will receive an iPad. Honorable Mention Winners in the senior division will receive $100.
Grand Award Winners in the junior division will also receive an iPad. Honorable Mention Winners in the junior division will receive $100.
Juniors and seniors exhibiting at the Tri-State Science and Engineering Fair will have the opportunity to compete via an interview process for several four-year $1,500 renewable USI scholarships.
Elementary Division Winners will receive an iPod.
Students will set their projects up in the RFWC from noon to 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 8. Judging will be held from 6 to 7:30 p.m. that evening. The fair will be open for the public to view from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Friday, March 9. The awards ceremony will be held at 6:30 p.m. that evening in Mitchell Auditorium in the Health Professions Center.
Grand Award Winners and Honorable Mention Winners in both the senior and junior divisions will advance to the Hoosier Science and Engineering Fair (HSEF). HSEF exhibitors will compete to join the delegation to represent Indiana at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Nativity Catholic Church, located at 3536 Pollack Ave., will host the February Traveling City Hall Meeting on Wednesday, February 29, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Traveling City Hall is an opportunity for residents to meet one-on-one with the mayor and various city department heads to ask questions or simply to discuss the status of our community.
In addition to Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, some of the officials scheduled to be present at the meeting include City Councilwoman Missy Mosby, Human Relations Commission Director Diane Clements, Building Commissioner Ben Miller, City Engineer Pat Keepes, Area Plan Commission Executive Director Brad Mills and Solid Waste District Executive Director Joe Ballard.
While the Traveling City Hall meeting will be held at different locations in neighborhoods throughout the city, all residents are invited to attend any session.
The March Traveling City Hall Meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 28th, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at St. James West United Methodist Church, 3111 Hillcrest Terrace.
GAGEThe Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville (GAGE) announces the addition of seven new board members.
The staff and current Board of Directors of the Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville are pleased to welcome a fresh group of board members from business and government entities in Evansville, IN. “By engaging new leaders, we expand the resources available to help us in our mission of bringing new jobs to Evansville and revenues to our local companies,†said GAGE President, Deborah Dewey.
New members include: Stephani Catt, Executive Vice President & Chief Operation Officer – Uniseal, Inc. Nelson Ford, Senior Vice President & Business Banking Executive – Fifth Third Bank Philip Hooper, Executive Director – Department of Metropolitan Development Stephen Melcher, Commissioner – Vanderburgh County Tom Shetler, Jr., President – City Council Brian Townsend, Partner – Rudolph, Fine, Porter & Johnson, LLP Lloyd Winnecke, Mayor – City of Evansville
The seven new board members join a twenty-one member Board that oversees the Growth Alliance for Greater Evansville’s financial operations, strategic performance objectives, invest donations, and provides expert consulting conducive to GAGE’s initiatives.
A full list of the 2012 GAGE Board is available at, http://www.evansvillegage.com/board/
The Ball Fields are Back on a Leap Year Special Deal of $8 Million as opposed to the $18 Million that was Proposed Last Time MEMORANDUM
To: Roberts Stadium Task Force
City of Evansville, IN.
From: Bob Warren, Executive Director
Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau
Date: February 23, 2012
Re: Sports Facilities
It is the intent of this correspondence to provide you with my professional opinion regarding sports, sports facilities and the impact this market has on our community and our industry. Having served the tourism industry for twenty five years, I’ve seen the benefits of the sports market. The impact to a community serves not only our quality of life issues but it also makes a tremendous impact on our economy.
Take Panama City Beach, for instance. As the former Executive Director of the Bay County Florida Tourist Development Council and President /CEO of the Panama City Beach Florida Convention and Visitors Bureau in 2000, I worked with local sports organizations in the development of a 9-plex Softball/Baseball Complex at Frank Brown Park. This $6 million dollar investment has become one of the most used softball/baseball complexes in the country. In 2011, this complex hosted 24 softball and baseball tournaments that generated 58,616 booked room nights and more than $30.8 million to the local economy. As an additional advantage, complexes like Frank Brown Park are used primarily by local youth and adult leagues and teams during their seasons. This becomes the gold standard for building such a facility – that it be a facility enjoyed by local residents.
In our review of the local impact of baseball and softball on Evansville and Vanderburgh County, we immediately identified the need for a new complex. According to the information reported from the Evansville Park and Recreation Department, there are an estimated 275 youth teams (ages 8-13), 250-300 girls’ fast-pitch teams (ages 8-18) along with approximately 500 adult teams. This number represents a staggering 16,125 community youth and adults that actively participate in baseball and softball. This information combined with the opportunity for economic development through the sports market play is compelling.
In 2010, the ECVB presented a plan for the development of a comprehensive Sport Complex at the Roberts Stadium site. The design of the plan was exceptional with every feature imaginable built into the plan including a maintenance plan. The cost of the completed project was estimated at eighteen million dollars ($18,000,000.00) and would have committed all of the funds from the ECVB Tourism Capital Development Fund for the next twenty five (25) years. Approval by governing bodies was not given, mostly due to the belief that the project was too expensive.
We have reviewed the previous plans and we strongly believe we can accomplish the same objective to develop a softball/baseball complex with 8-9 fields for an estimated cost of eight to ten million dollars ($8,000,000 – $10,000,000). The design would be altered to eliminate much of what was included in the previous plan but this complex would satisfy four key considerations –
• First, to offer a quality park environment for local teams to play that will benefit our citizens and the youth of our community.
• Second, enhance the value of the real estate in the area surrounding the park by providing a pleasing, attractive addition to the neighborhood.
• Third, allow Evansville to participate in the direct and positive financial impact of traveling tournaments so we can compete with our regional neighbors who are already “in the game,†so to speak. Witness the development of softball/baseball complexes in Westfield and Jasper, IN., Owensboro and Henderson, KY., Clarksville, TN, and other communities much smaller than Evansville. We must consider how far we want to fall behind before we react to this type of development.
• Four, the cost of the complex would be paid for with the money from the Tourism Capital Development Fund. The TCDF fund is a committed percentage (3.5%) from the 8% Innkeepers’ Tax collected BY hotels/motels FROM VISITORS OR OTHERS WHO STAY IN HOTELS AND MOTELS. Unless you as a resident stay in a hotel or motel in Vanderburgh County, you will not contribute one cent to this project. There will be no local tax dollars spent to build this complex.
As you review the suggestions proposed for the future of Roberts Stadium, I encourage strong consideration for a project of this type. The studies have been done and the time for action is now, not in the future. I would gladly offer my experience in the industry of sports marketing to anyone that can assist in our moving forward.
IS IT TRUE that the local realtors are joining the “Parrots of Propaganda†in describing the state of the local housing market as having the sun shining on it?…that if houses that had been declining but have now seemed to have stabilized with a nominal appreciation of a small fraction of 1% constitutes the sun shining bright on my Indiana home then the local realtors have a very different definition of sunshine than homeowners do?…that the statistics that were presented in the “sunshine headline†do indeed support a headline more like “local housing statistics stabilizeâ€?…that things in the housing market are better than they have been for at least 3 years but that the prices are still well below their peaks of 2006 and that supply is much higher than demand?…that one large reason that prices here and across the country have stabilized is that many people who would like to move have shelved their plans for the time being artificially limiting both demand and supply?…that there are still some 4 million foreclosures that are being poised for sale which every prognosticator in the game states will sink prices by about 10% on average across the country?…that increasing the inventory by that much with properties that will be “dumped†as opposed to “marketed†will indeed negatively impact housing?…that the Evansville area though never experiencing the 50% plus price fluctuations in housing as growing cities did still did experience numbers that are at about the national averages with respect to foreclosures?…that the sun may shine again someday but this is not that day?…that joining the “Parrots of Propaganda†and singing “Happy Days are Here Again†does not constitute accuracy or cognitive thought?…that we will know when the sun shines?…that when houses that sold for $175,000 in 2006 once again sell for $175,000 within a couple of months of listing we can really take a sigh of relief and sing?…that as long as such homes sit empty for a year with for sale signs at over a 20% discount to the last time they sold the sun is not shining?
IS IT TRUE that if the housing market were doing so well that the Evansville City Council would have no credibility in its assertions that Aztar needed an exemption to the recently passed smoking ban to “protect a revenue stream that FILLS THE GAPS CAUSED BY SAGGING PROPERTY VALUES and tax capsâ€?…that the sunshine of the local housing market must be behind a cloud down at the Civic Center?…that that exemption is now coming under legal scrutiny for being unconstitutional?…that in other cities that have carved out exemptions the constitutionality argument has prevailed?…that Louisville tried this trick by carving out an exemption for Churchill Downs that was struck down by a judge?…that Churchill Downs is now non-smoking inside and is doing as well as it ever did?…that in a twist of irony that Churchill Downs may be offering gaming machines in a non-smoking venue that will compete with the Horseshoe Casino across the Minton bridge in Indiana?…that this constitutionality challenge will probably prevail and then the Evansville City Council will be faced with the decision that they could have mustered the courage to tackle two weeks ago?…that “all or nothing†may just be the law of the land?
IS IT TRUE that gasoline prices have been increasing painfully over the last couple of weeks just as it was predicted that they would?…that some conspiracy theorists including the President of the United States are blaming it on election year politics?…that in one Wall Street Journal article this week President Obama’s logic that he expressed regarding gas prices was dismissed as “Forrest Gump logicâ€?…that in another column WSJ’s Holman Jenkins stated “It is always pitiful to see a president of the United States, in the grip of an energy panic, uttering desperate nonsense about gasoline pricesâ€?…that President Bush had a similar nonsensical panic over the immediate benefits of switchgrass over which he was justifiable dismissed as misinformed and desperate by the very same minions that are now spinning President Obama’s comments in a positive light?…that in three short years we have gone from hearing speeches about the abatement of the rise of the oceans to an administration that takes credit for offshore drilling?…that politics really makes for some convoluted flip flops and we are being treated to some real whoppers in 2012?…this will be a most entertaining year in national politics?
IS IT TRUE that a fairly large number of incumbents including both of the Vanderburgh County Commissioner seats look as though they will be re-elected by default since no candidates have come forward to run against them in either the primary or the general election?…that with all of the controversial issues that will be in the mix this year that many people have just started to tune-out the rhetoric of the politician and would prefer juggling snakes to running for elected office?…that both parties are reluctant to place unqualified people on the ballot on the heels of the Linda Durham fiasco of an election and the fallout from the Evansville mayor’s race of 2007 where the Republican candidate (he won the primary) offered no real opposition to the incumbent who misinterpreted the results as a mandate and let hubris get the better of him?…that it is not a good time for someone with a weak backbone to run for office in Evansville-Vanderburgh?…that with real issues on the table like consolidation, meth, jobs, and crime politics should no longer a playpen as it seems to have been treated for a long time now?…that with all of the _____Gates that have been exposed recently many good people must be staying out of public life to avoid the character assassinations that have become typical in recent Evansville history?
IS IT TRUE that the off-track betting parlor is going before the Evansville City Council on Monday night to make a case for an after the fact exemption from the recently passed smoking ban?…that this business was not heard from during the entire deliberation period and must have assumed that they would be exempted as Casino Aztar was because they derive most of their income from gamblers?…that what they need to realize is that Casino Aztar was granted an exemption not because the City Council has any particular affection for smoking gamblers, but because of the magnitude of dollars that Casino Aztar pays in fees and taxes to the City of Evansville?…that it has been reported that the off-track betting facility pays about $400,000 per year in taxes?…that the tax revenue from Aztar is more like $10 Million or even more per year?…that these two businesses do not compete with one another in any way since Aztar does not have a sports book?…that if the City Council grants the off-track betting parlor an exemption that there will be a parade of businesses all making the same argument of lesser magnitudes and before long “in the name of fairness†Evansville will once again revert back to a wide open smoker’s paradise?…that the smoking ban exemption is all about money and that it seems as though the line was drawn at $10 Million?…that dropping that bar to $400,000 would essentially remove the line for every bar, restaurant, or gambling house in town?…that it will be most interesting to see if the 7 members of the City Council who voted for the smoking ban can be convinced that more exemptions are needed as Councilwoman Missy Mosby and Councilman Jonathan Weaver did the first time around?
IS IT TRUE that the last week seems to have ignited a crime wave?…that break ins and robberies are dominating the headlines and police reports in Evansville and Vanderburgh County?…that it must be the nice weather inspiring this binge week for stealing?…that not only has there been a rash of stealing but there has been vigilantism on both sides of the Ohio River where the victims of the crimes have fought back?…that another victim is offering a bounty for the arrest and prosecution of the thieves who looted his business?…that the business owner offering the bounty is a local young educated entrepreneur who has been victimized before and is pretty much fed up with it?…that the “parrots of propaganda†need to sit up and take notice of this short term trend as the levels of theft are not consistent with their sirens song of “it’s a great place to raise kidsâ€?
This year’s Tri-State Science and Engineering Fair, held annually at the University of Southern Indiana, will be the largest to date, with over 600 projects on display in the Recreation, Fitness, and Wellness Center (RFWC) on March 8-9. The fair provides opportunities for K-12th grade students to showcase their interest in scientific research and receive community recognition for their achievements and is open to students from within a 75-mile radius of Evansville. Last year, more than 600 students presented over 500 projects. 
