
On July 14, 2009 the Office of Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel issued another press release regarding the Homestead Tax Credit that is not available on the City of Evansville webpage where Mayoral press releases are archived.
In this particular press release Mayor Weinzapfel calls upon the Department of Local Government Finance to reinstate the Homestead Tax Credit to the full 8% level that just weeks before he had announced had been eliminated by inaction. The Mayor goes over the steps that have to be taken to reinstate this credit while reiterating his assertion that a bi-partisan of City and County officials made the decision to let the credit expire in 2008.
Just a day before the City of Evansville website includes a press release announcing a new downtown arena and a deal with Browning Investments to build a new downtown convention hotel.
The City County Observer would like to take this opportunity to respectfully request that all press releases that have been issued by the Mayor’s Office be included chronologically. This information when released is the property of the people of Evansville and should be part of the archives for the people to search at will. Failing to include ALL press releases whether intentional or by carelessness circumvents the purpose for keeping archival records. It is poor public policy to pick and choose the press releases from the Mayor’s Office for inclusion into the public archives. It is also poor stewardship of the archives of Evansville.
As a last act of transparency we call upon Mayor Weinzapfel to establish a complete publicly accessible archive of the press releases issued by his office while he has been in office. To do so would be a first step to establish that his administration has been as transparent and open as his press release of this morning claims he has been.
Link to press release asking for reinstatement:
http://media.courierpress.com/media/static/Restoration_of_2009_credit
The text of the press release announcing the arena and hotel is below:
CITY OF EVANSVILLE
ONE N.W. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. BLVD.
EVANSVILLE, INDIANA 47708
OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
JONATHAN WEINZAPFEL
July 13, 2009 Contact: Audra Levy
For Immediate Release (812) 436-4962
alevy@evansvillegis.com
Downtown Arena and New Hotel Announced
(EVANSVILLE, IN)- Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel is pleased to announce an economic development agreement in principal which will locate the new downtown arena on a portion of the Executive Inn property and a municipal parking lot at the corner of Martin Luther King Jr., Boulevard and Locust Street. Adjacent to the arena will be a new 250-room hotel developed by Browning Investments.
“A new arena and a new hotel will provide a tremendous boost to our entire City. Not only will these facilities speed up our revitalization efforts and attract new economic development, but they will create hundreds of new jobs for area residents,†said Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel. “We have found a great partner in Browning. We welcome their investment in Evansville and the future of our community.â€
Browning Investments has an agreement in principal with Mutual Hospitality, Inc., which has owned the Executive Inn since January. Browning will raze the portion of the Executive Inn property that occupies the site of the future arena including the 6th Street hotel tower, the pool area and the atrium. Demolition work will begin in mid-August 2009.
The boundaries of the arena area will be Main, Walnut and Sixth Streets and Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd. The arena’s “front door†will be on Main Street, which will encourage further development of retail, dining, entertainment, and residential opportunities along the Main Street corridor. The arena, which is estimated to cost approximately $95 million to build, is scheduled to open in the fall of 2011.
“The orientation of the arena toward Main Street made possible by this configuration is even better than the recommended site at Fifth and Walnut streets. The arena will be a perfect complement to The Centre, greatly increasing our ability to host conventions and other large