IS IT TRUE? November 11, 2011 Part 2 What Next?

IS IT TRUE that some people who dwell in the unincorporated parts of Vanderburgh County have been expressing a re-consideration of previous positions with respect to consolidation after Tuesday’s Evansville City Council elections?…that it has become painfully clear to some that the City of Evansville is now through brain drain, population shrinkage, and dependence on government subsidies is now either at or near the point of no return for Republicans to ever have a potent voting block on the Evansville City Council?…that some people from the county who have been adamantly opposed to consolidation on the basis that the City of Evansville has too many problems that will cost county people money for little or no benefit are now reconsidering based on what basically is a mercy mission?…that to paraphrase a staunch opponent of consolidation “it is now clear that Evansville will never fix itself, so we will have to consolidate and help Evansville or watch it rot down before our eyes”?…that this has been the unspoken reason for many consolidations including ones in Louisville, Lexington, and Nashville?…that this subject will be rather interesting during 2012?

IS IT TRUE that that this deadline has passed for each and every property owner including City Centre Properties LLC of Carmel, IN that owns tract #82-06-30-020-005.002-029, aka the McCurdy Hotel to pay their taxes?…that the tax bill on that property that was due yesterday is $10,268.66 and that the Vanderburgh County Assessors website indicates that the payment is still due?…that means a penalty of 5% is now added to the total?…that at day 31 that penalty is increased to 10%?…that the choice to pay or not to pay this tax bill serves as an early indicator as to whether City Center Properties LLC has the means or intention to move forward with this project?…that many properties appear to have paid so this is probably not the slow moving of the website?…that the Evansville Redevelopment Commission is now pretty much powerless to do anything about this non-payment?

IS IT TRUE that the CCO is eagerly awaiting the agenda for next Tuesday’s meeting of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission to see if there is anything at all about the McCurdy Hotel or the downtown Convention Hotel VETTING process on the agenda?…that this incarnation of the ERC has only three more meetings scheduled before Mayor Elect Lloyd Winnecke takes over?…that there are only three more opportunities for this ERC to hold public discussions regarding the two most prominent yet unresolved construction fiascos of the Weinzapfel Administration?…that it would be best to let the Winnecke Administration handle the downtown Convention Hotel decision after the first of the year?…that first there was no VETTING and now there is a prolonged VETTING process that could have and should have been completed in a month?…that in China hotels are built in less time than it has taken to VET two proposals in Evansville?…that leaves one wondering just how on earth we can compete on a global scale to do anything?

IS IT TRUE that there are three Evansville based high school football teams still in the hunt for an Indiana State Championship?…that the CCO sends good luck and good wishes to the Central Bears, Mater Dei Wildcats, and the Memorial Tigers to go out and win this weekend?

IS IT TRUE that on this Veteran’s Day the City County Observer would like to take this opportunity to thank and honor all of our Military Veterans?…that whether it is the Veterans of WWI, WWII, Korea, Viet Nam, Grenada, the Balkans, Iraq, Afghanistan or any number of special operations that require bravery and risk of life and limb that our Armed Services deserve honor and support from all of us?…that we raise our glass and tip our hats to all American Veterans living and dead?…that without their sacrifices our prospects for life would not be as good as they are?

IS IT TRUE that our Mole Messenger tab yesterday received a message that stated that 3rd Ward Evansville City Councilwoman Elect Stephanie Brinkerhoff-Riley has resigned from the Central Committee of the Vanderburgh County Democrat Party?…that we went straight to the person accused and Brinkerhoff-Riley confirms that she indeed did resign from her position with the Vanderburgh County Democrat Party on November 2nd?…that she did not provide any particular reason for her action?…that we have confirmed that there are a number of formal complaints that have been filed with the Indiana State Democrat Party that seek to have Evansville City Councilwoman Connie Robinson and Precinct Committeewoman Louise Williams removed from their positions within the Vanderburgh County Democrat Party?

IS IT TRUE that we shall see what happens with the local branch office of the Democrat Party?…that one thing that is for certain and that is that if the Vanderburgh County Democrat Party is to be credible then something must be done?…that if this were a business undergoing a reorganization that the entire group of officers would be fired and the office would be moved so that the dysfunctional organization could start over?…that I am told by those in the know that in politics it just doesn’t work that way?…that the lecture that the CCO was provided stated that in party politics that only loyalty matters and that performance has little meaning?…that this is why our system of choosing leaders just does not seem to be working?…that at a time that our cities are filing for bankruptcy, our states are cutting services, and our country can’t seem to agree that apples are good for you, that loyalty to rusty old POLITICAL MACHINES is the last thing that needs to prevent real talent and merit from having any interest in seeking public office?

IS IT TRUE that Mole #7 tells the CCO that former Chamber of Commerce Vice President Steve Schaeffer is under serious consideration to move into Rose Young’s office as Mayor Elect Lloyd Winnecke’s Chief of Staff?…that Mole #7 also tells us that Vanderburgh County Councilman Joe Kiefer has been in hot pursuit of being appointed to Winnecke’s seat on the Vanderburgh County Commissioners?…that will open up a seat on the County Council and that a couple of candidates are being considered for that position if Kiefer is successful in his lobbying effort to be appointed as a County Commissioner?

IS IT TRUE? November 10, 2011

IS IT TRUE that today is the day that the property owners of Vanderburgh County need to pay the fall installment of their property taxes in order to avoid being charge a penalty?…that this deadline applies to each and every property owner including City Centre Properties LLC of Carmel, IN that owns tract #82-06-30-020-005.002-029, aka the McCurdy Hotel?…that the tax bill on that property that is due today is $10,268.66 and that if it is not paid will incur a penalty of 5% on the first 30 days that it is delinquent?…that at day 31 that penalty is increased to 10%?…that the choice to pay or not to pay this tax bill will serve as an early indicator as to whether City Center Properties LLC has the means or intention to move forward with this project?…that a 5% penalty per month amounts to an annualized rate of 60% and that any person or business that chooses to pay an annualized interest rate of 60% is sending a clear message about either its capacity to pay or its intention to do so?…that City Centre Properties LLC does have the City of Evansville and its Redevelopment Commission by the throat on this deal and can probably get by with any stunt that it has the chutzpah to try to pull?

IS IT TRUE that Harrisburg, PA has been followed to bankruptcy court by Jefferson County, AL?…that Jefferson County, AL is where Birmingham the largest city in the state of Alabama is located?…that as of the 2010 census that this county was home to 658,466 people who have been saddled by their County Government with a $3 Billion debt for a failed sewer deal?…that this debt works out to exactly $4,556.04 for every resident of Jefferson County?…that the estimate of the cost to repair the CSO problem in the City of Evansville is about $500 Million or $4,273.50 for every resident of Evansville?…that financial failures such as the one in Alabama which will result in lower expectations of ROI for the debt holders will make places like Evansville trouble in trying to finance the repairs of their own for aging infrastructure?…that the project that sunk Jefferson County, AL began when they entered into a consent decree with the Environmental Protection Agency regarding sewer overflows into the Cahaba River watershed. A total of $3.2 billion of construction was subsequently contracted?…that if this does not sound familiar to the people of Evansville then they must have been living under a rock for the last several years?…that Jefferson County, AL has a form of government called “limited home rule” which is sort of a consolidated government in most aspects with some exceptions but also with some additional activities normally covered by the state?

IS IT TRUE that as cities with financial problems go the State of Michigan is becoming a debtors prison for failing cities?…that the latest to fall into an official state of “financial emergency” is the City of Flint?…that this will involve among other things having the State of Michigan appoint an “emergency manager” to run the city while a long term recovery plan is developed for approval?…that the Michigan cities of Pontiac, Ecorse, and Benton Harbor along with the Detroit school district are already under the management of state appointed “emergency managers”?…that Detroit Mayor and former Detroit Pistons star Dave Bing who followed the now jailed former Mayor Kwame Kirkpatrick into office is having substantial difficulties as well?…that Detroit may be facing a day when the State of Michigan appoints an “emergency manager” to run its affairs too?…that the issues cited in each of these troubled cities are deindustrialization, population shrinkage, brain drain, excessive contractual obligations with respect to union contracts, and a half century of substantial control of the City Council by the Democrat Party?…that once again, anyone that can’t see the similarities with Evansville has been living under a rock?

IS IT TRUE that these other cities with similarities to Evansville that have fallen on times that make our hard ones look like a Sunday School Picnic should serve to emphasize the size and importance of the tasks that are facing Mayor Elect Lloyd Winnecke as he forms his new administration and puts together his plans for moving Evansville forward?