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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.

http://heraldbulletin.com/sports/x233319095/Officials-announce-softball-baseball-complex

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.”

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.

The fair has been held at USI since 2007.

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.

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/

Click here to download this News Release PDF

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.

Sincerely,

Bob Warren