IS IT TRUE that it is now the day of reckoning for the development agreement between the Evansville Redevelopment Commission and Woodruff Hospitality LLC?…For all practical purposes if Woodruff Hospitality LLC does not close the financing today the ERC is back to square one and will be issuing a Request For Proposal at their next meeting on July 5th?…that they have stated that the deadline to respond to the forthcoming RFP will be July 19th?…that there are only two potential bidders for this RFP and that those two potential bidders are the separated shareholders of Woodruff Hospitality LLC?…that this seems to be a self limiting plan on the part of the ERC?…that this process would have a better probability of success in attracting new outside interest if the forthcoming RFP has a response date closer to Labor Day?

IS IT TRUE that back in January that Woodruff Hospitality LLC was talking about a construction cycle of 18 months?…that John Kish, arena project manager is on record as stating that even with the best case of a mid July closing of a finance package that a Spring 2012 opening will be on schedule?…that Spring of 2012 will end about 11 months from the best case response date of July 19th?…that Mr. Kish must be assuming that the construction project cycle will be reduced by 7 months just because it is convenient to be that way?…that is a real stretch for a guy who has managed the Arena project pretty much according to the original schedule?…that Mr. Kish must not be familiar with the old adage that “2 women can not birth a baby in 4 1/2 months”?…that some things have a gestation period that is best not altered by much?…that maybe with this kind of paradigm that we are heading for a “premature hotel”?…that there seems to be a whole lot of running out the clock going on in and around the Civic Center these days?

IS IT TRUE that the reader’s questions keep coming in regarding the INSIDER DEALS that seem to have happened with the sales of Skyboxes and Loge Seating in the Evansville Arena?…that there is quite an outrage within our readership of people who can afford and would have had an interest in the available options?…that doing INSIDER DEALS for premium seating smacks of arrogance and preferential treatment?…that these kinds of INSIDER DEALS are just too common in the governance of the City of Evansville?…that these kinds of deals that award premium seats preferentially to hand-picked people not only under prices the seating but creates a state of an aristocracy or even an oligarchy in a city that claims to be inclusive?…that the Evansville aristocracy seems to have been given deals on premium seating that is paid for with public money and that the public never had any opportunity to purchase this seating?…that this is about as honest and transparent as concert promoters taking all of the best seats to an event and fencing them on Stubhub.com for more than the face value?

IS IT TRUE that the temporary contract with VenuWorks mandates ERC approval for long term contracts?…that no such contracts have been approved in a public meeting?…that this business by virtue of the Indiana Sunshine Laws should be conducted in public?…that the City County Observer has asked nicely for copies of any seating contracts for the new Arena?…that we have waited three days and have not received anything?…that the ball was tossed to Mr. Kish?…that we shall be filing another Freedom of Information Act request this week?…that it is ludicrous that we have to resort to such tactics to force transparency from the management of the Arena project?

IS IT TRUE that it was absolutely refreshing to see a real time pair of position papers released by the two candidates for Mayor of Evansville yesterday?…that in this case they agreed albeit for different reasons that the proposal from the ECTA for 12 tennis courts at Wesselman Park should not receive public funding or public land?…that we look forward to more situations where position papers are needed?…that the topics screaming for position papers are the Executive Inn Dilemma, the McCurdy, the EPA compliant CSO plan, reforming our City Parks, the local Economy, execution of any plans, and staffing in the Civic Center?…that the for the majority of June the candidates have been strangely silent?…that we were beginning to fear PARALYSIS BY ANALYSIS may have been setting in?…that the time to start disclosing plans is now?

The Vanderburgh County smokefree air ordinance goes into effect this Friday, July 1. If you are going out to eat this weekend, please consider visiting any of the six locations that are going smokefree and tell the owner or manager that you appreciate the smokefree atmosphere. Casey Williams will be providing entertainment from 6-9 p.m. on Friday at the Hornet’s Nest.

Nisbet Inn
Becky Harl, Owner
6701 Nisbet Road
Haubstadt, IN 47639-9222

Hornet’s Nest
Derek Ungethiem, Owner
11845 Petersburg Road
Evansville, IN 47725-8354

Show Me’s West
Tyler Francis, General Manager
5501 Pearl Drive
Evansville, IN 47712

American Legion Post 8
Harold Pfender, Commander
6001 New Harmony Road
Evansville, IN 47720-2547

New Frontier
Vicki Schmitt and John Backes, Owners
12945 SR HWY 57
Evansville, IN 58836-7619

St. Joe Inn
Darlene Young, Owner
9515 St. Wendel Road
Evansville, IN 47720-8142

Have a great holiday weekend!

IS IT TRUE? – 2 June 30, 2011 Overpriced Housing

IS IT TRUE that this fall the Project Hope will be seeking bids to build 40 homes for low income families in the Front Door Pride area?…that the budget for these 40 homes is approximately $9.5 Million?…that this works out to nearly $240,000 each?…that as has been established by the unsold inventory of Front Door Pride homes the market value for homes that cost the government $240,000 to build have a market value of only about $130,000 each?…that this project has a solution to the difficulty in finding low income people who want to buy such houses and can qualify for the loans needed?…that these 40 house will be sold on 15 year lease/purchase agreements?…that the lease amounts are not even half of what the payment would be for $240,000 homes?…that as noble and kind as it is to encourage home ownership among low income people that losing over $100,000 per house will flat out waste at least $4 Million of taxpayer money?…that it does not matter to some people because this program is funded by federal dollars?….THAT WASTING FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MONEY IS WASTING YOUR MONEY?

IS IT TRUE that this program of putting renters into homes that are substantially the same as the existing Front Door Pride homes will DEVALUE these home further?…that Evansville and especially the FDP area has a 50 year history of population losses?…that new houses are not needed in a shrinking population?…that there are plenty of houses for sale in other areas of Evansville at market values of less than $240,000 that are much larger and in safer neighborhoods than these are?…that this area of town is also completely served by combined sewers that are under EPA order to be upgraded?…that many of these homes are destined for vacant lots and abandoned homes?…that vacant lots and abandoned homes to not have a need to go to the bathroom?…that adding structures and people to this area will further stress an already condemned sewer system?…that maybe a better solution would be to just pay market value for homes elsewhere are let the CSO served areas depopulate?

IS IT TRUE that if government housing programs had even a shred of practicality for valuation metrics that things like this would never happen?…that the old safe house that is slated for 32 apartments to be refurbished for you guessed it $240,000 each makes these 40 houses look like a blue light special?…that the kind of apartments that are slated to be refurbished can be bought on the open market for less than $20,000 per apartment?…that anytime you hear the words FREE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT MONEY that you can bet that there will be massive waste involved?…that Evansville should actually set an example for the rest of the country and visibly turn wasteful projects away?…that every city anywhere in America that accepts federal money to pay 2x, 5x, or even 10x current market rates is an enabler to the runaway national debt?…that this exercise in nothing down overpriced housing backed by the federal government is quite responsible for the meltdown in the housing markets that we are experiencing in this country?…that the government seems to be the only entity that did not learn its lesson?

IS IT TRUE that housing is not the only area of the federal government that is practicing wasteful spending?…that some estimates opine that government spending could be cut by 50% across the board without most regular citizens missing a thing?…that with $500 hammers, $240,000 apartments in Evansville, and Million dollar missiles that is believable?

A Reminder of a Development Agreement that actually resulted in a Hotel

Link to the Agreement:

Fort Wayne Hotel Agreement

Perhaps Evansville could learn the Vetting and financing processes from Fort Wayne

Excerpts:

“The $110 million redevelopment effort, called Harrison Square, so far includes the ballpark, a brand-new Marriott Courtyard hotel and a 900-space parking garage; and skywalks to connect the Marriott and an existing Hilton hotel to the expanded Grand Wayne Convention Center, which will host the 2012 state Democratic convention.”

“But the Harrison, a 100,000-square-foot structure that will also have space for retail stores and offices, has been stalled by the recession and the inability to get financing. On June 13, a little more than two years after it was supposed to be finished, Mayor Tom C. Henry announced a private-public partnership that will finance the $18 million building.”

“Last Sept. 1, the 250-room Marriott Courtyard hotel and a 900-space parking garage opened, both of them overlooking Parkview Field. The $30 million undertaking by White Lodging, a Merrillville, Ind. real estate firm specializing in hotels, more than doubled the number of hotel rooms within walking distance of the convention center. The mayor and Mr. Richard like to boast that the Indiana State Democratic Convention has scheduled its 2012 convention in Fort Wayne because there are finally enough rooms to accommodate 2,000 convention-goers.”

Link to Full Article

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/realestate/commercial/an-indiana-town-lures-renters-with-ballpark-views.html?src=recg

Sheriff’s Message 06292011

Starting tomorrow morning the editor of the City County Observer, Joe Wallace will be joining the guest list of prominent Evansville attorney Les Shively on his weekly radio show “Live with Les Shively”. Each week Shively reports on local news including guest call ins from 8 – 9 am on NewsTalk 1280 WGBF interjecting his own well thought out and always sharp opinions.

The City County Observer has risen in three short years to have the most read exclusively online local news content in the Tri-State and furthermore has recently risen to hold the #2 position locally for global internet pageviews closely following the Evansville Courier and Press. The CCO is a privately held online advocate for good public policy, endorses no candidates, and specializes in pushing the envelope for disclosing stories that others may conveniently ignore.

Both Counselor Shively and Mr. Wallace are pleased to make this announcement and are looking forward to engaging the Evansville community with news of local government.

CCO passes WFIE in critical metric of internet traffic

The global internet traffic ranking service Alexa figure have placed the City County Observer into the 2nd local position for the percentage of global pageviews. The local media market rankings as of June 29, 2011 are as follows:

% of Global Pageviews (x100,000)

Courierpress.com: 15

City-CountyObserver.com 6

14Wfie.com: 5

news25.us: 1

tristatehomepage.com: 1 WTVW

IS IT TRUE? June 29, 2011 Tennis Match Round 1 for the CVB Money

IS IT TRUE that the Mesker Park Zoo was the host for a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau this morning?…that among other business the agenda item that attracted an overflow crowd was the presentation by the Evansville Community Tennis Association to soften up the ECVB to consider adding some of the innkeeper’s tax collections to assist with their proposal to build 12 tennis courts on the grounds of Wessleman Park?…that the crowd was overflowing and not only filled the room but filled the outdoor eating area as well?…that it seemed as though every fresh young face in Evansville that plays tennis showed up to support the ECTA’s appeal?…that the presentations both supporting and opposing the ECTA’s solicitation were done very professionally?

IS IT TRUE that the opposition was led by the owner/investor team of Tom Myers and Jack Rodgers from the Tri-State Athletic Club?…that these two gentleman came armed with statistics on the overall number of tennis players in the country and in greater Evansville?…that the statistics that they cited were from the United States Tennis Association, the same source that some of the statistics that the ECTA cited?…that the graphs of numbers of players both nationally and regionally when taken back to pre-recession times show absolutely flat demand for the game of tennis in real numbers?…that the other argument put forth by the Tri-State Athletic Club team against the appeal of the ECTA was that public dollars and public land should not be used to give a competitive advantage to their competitor?…that the Tri-State Athletic Club has the only private indoor tennis club in greater Evansville?…that the demand for indoor tennis according to the data presented is met and stable?

IS IT TRUE that our elected officials and candidates for office have been stating their positions with respect to using public money and public land to compete with private enterprise by funding the request of the ECTA?…that both candidates for Mayor of Evansville have stated that they oppose the request for land and/or money by the ECTA?…that the Republican party is on record as stating that the official position is that this proposal should not be supported?…that Republican City Council candidates Walters, Leibundguth, and Grafton have explicitly stated opposition to this project as have Democratic candidates Adams, Riley, Lindsey. And O’Daniel?…that Vanderburgh County Commissioner Marsha Abell opposes this and any project until the final decision is made with regard to Roberts Stadium and the Executive Inn Dilemma has been resolved?…that absolutely no candidates for office have expressed support for this project?

IS IT TRUE that the exit interviews with the non-competing people in attendance are unanimous that the argument for the ETCA was not compelling but that the Tri-State Athletic Club did indeed make a compelling argument for not proceeding with any public funding or public funding by proxy that competes with private enterprise?

IS IT TRUE that the meeting was respectful and that even the opponents expressed admiration and respect for the way that the ECTA conducts its business?…that no one opposes the right of the ECTA to purchase available land and construct as many tennis courts with private money as they choose?…that it has been reported that the ECTA provides free tennis lessons to the general public and that is to be thanked and admired?…that many people and organizations do good things?…that all of these types of groups deserve praise and admiration but that does not equal being showered with public dollars?…that this was an exercise in good dialog and that a win-win solution can be reached?…that today’s session if it was indeed a tennis match ended with a score of 50 – love in favor of the opposition.

Take That: June 29, 2011 SPECIAL WEDNESDAY EDITION

IN RESPONSE TO: the TENNIS COURTS PROPOSAL

“This tennis courts proposal is a thinly disguised movement to gain momentum for the Wesselman Sports Complex (ball-fields and all).… Yes, “handing off” the Roberts Stadium/Wesselman Park/ball fields, debacle was shrewd, but those who continue to ignore the VCTP’s/VOTERS will likely join Mr Weinzapfel, Mr Tornatta and Mr Watts at the employment office.” Bubbageek

“Its also time to call for a moratorium on new debt creation and wild spending that makes our local officials and their appointees to all these boards and commissions look like heroin addicts. Stop the insanity — no more ball fields, no more tennis courts, we need to do more with less and deal with what we have.” Beppo 69

“Nobody in their right mind thinks we need to build an indoor tennis club for the Evansville elite. We are gonna be so broke after building the John and the attending luxury hotel that we are gonna have a hard time building the sewer projects required by the EPA and what about the McCurdy home for retired pigeons, bats and goats?” Henry

“The courts are occuppied because ECTA chooses to allow private individuals to charge for private lessons on public property. In the evenings, ECTA reserves all the courts for their members and leauges only. Once again, why can they be public courts yet they can be blocked/reserved for months in advance for ECTA PAYING members. Tennis professionals from the defunct club downtown are allowed by their friends on the ECTA board to monopolize prime court time. (3-8pm) If the indoor club is built with the public funds, these same individuals would continue to be able to work at a high rate of pay while monopolizing publicly funded INDOOR facilities.” Does_this_make_sense

“The citizens that are protesting have no knowledge of what potential a facility like the one proposed could do for tourism in this city because they have no first hand knowledge of competitive tennis.” Sandra Simpkins

“The largest USTA jr. Event that ECTA holds is the Stevenson Memorial. in 2005 it drew over 90 entrants, this year only 55. From looking at the USTA site, only 5 families from over 60 miles away participated. SO, as I see it, the proposed monies spent by the EVCB will go to fund a club facility for a small group of vocal residents who will contract out to the management of a now defunct local club. Since ECTA took over the site, the actual numbers have at best remained flat with the adults, and have shrunk in terms of professional involvment and jr. tournaments. Seems to me like some tennis professionals are getting a free site to conduct a very lucrative business on the public dime…” doesthismakesense

“This seems pretty tongue in cheek but who knows. Any group that would be stupid enough to support $20 Million for 8 ballfields and would donate tax money to support indoor tennis may fall for such a scheme. Is Evansville really run by such fools?” TheDonald