IS IT TRUE that what the City County Observer truly seeks is to promote good public policy?…that when it comes to the Arena deals that are being negotiated good public policy constitutes having contracts that add strength and enhances the probability of success for the private businesses that are to be the major tenants of the Arena?…that today the subjects of most interest that are indeed private and for profit are VenuWorks, the Evansville IceMen, and the two respondents to the RFP to build a hotel?…that all three of these need to be vetted well for staying power so that a revolving door of teams, developers, and promoters due to poor up front choices?

IS IT TRUE that all VenuWorks, the IceMen, the Kunkel Group, and Prime Lodging are all relatively young businesses that are stepping up to assume risks in new and unproven markets?…that all of these businesses are in this fracas because they see an entrepreneurial opportunity to prosper by leveraging the people of Evansville’s investment in the new Arena?…that the Arena is a 50+ year asset and is not sitting on wheels so the threat of moving the Arena to Louisville is just not real?…that the City of Evansville is a municipality that has the authority to tax to meet its obligations and is assumed to have established staying power?…that the City of Evansville through a series of public meetings and committee sessions made the decision to borrow $128 Million to build the new Arena?…that the pro-forma developed and presented during those meetings included a hockey team, a management company, and of course held the assumption that a 4-Star hotel would be right next door?…that the survival of VenuWorks, the IceMen, and the hotel developer/operator are quite important to the City of Evansville?

IS IT TRUE that any deal that is made with any of these businesses or future businesses that involve dates at the Arena that does not promote and enhance the success of these businesses is a bad deal for the City of Evansville?…that it is a general rule that start-up businesses do not necessarily make a profit until the third to fifth years?…that the Arena itself needed to consider this during the planning stages and needs to consider this for ITSELF in the formulation of these contracts?…that the City of Evansville needs to make deals with companies that have solid business plans, depth of knowledge, and solid financial backing?…that to expect emerging businesses to assume all of the risk associated with the large risk that the City is taking is unwise?

IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer fully agrees that in the long term that the Arena needs to operate in a manner that it can fulfill the promises made by the Weinzapfel Administration during the public meetings that “NO TAX INCREASES” will be needed to fund the Arena operation?…that to expect that the Arena will cash flow in year 1 is unrealistic?…that the Arena secured over $30 Million in borrowed money to cover soft costs like the start-up period’s operational shortfall?…that we doubt if the early private investors have such a luxury?…that deals made now that kill the early investors in the “Arena dream” are deals that will kill the long term viability of the Arena?…that if the City of Evansville really wants a “WHITE ELEPHANT” downtown that the certain way to do this is to enter into agreements that do not allow VenuWorks and the Evansville IceMen to make a profit?…that we should all remember the BlueCats and what happened to them due to excessive costs and low attendance?…that if one thinks it was difficult for hockey to get a foothold in Evansville, one needs to imagine a second team deciding to come here if the IceMen fail?…that the same goes for VenuWorks?

IS IT TRUE that we expect to see the month of August end with solid deals on the table that allow both VenuWorks and the IceMen to believe in their business model and to feel as though the City of Evansville is their partner as opposed to their warden?…that we expect to see the month of September end with a good agreement in place with a thoroughly vetted hotel developer?…that to expect anything less would be to give up on the City of Evansville?…that we hope our expectations are met for the long term success of the people of Evansville as the myriad of other legacy problems comes home to roost upon the next administration?

IS IT TRUE? August 11, 2011 Special Evening Edition

IS IT TRUE that there is much speculation that a decision will be made with respect to the winning bidder for the hotel next to the arena tomorrow followed by an announcement on Tuesday?…that the City County Observer believes that such speculation is without merit because there has not been any time to do a full vetting and make a competent recommendation since last Friday when the choice of London Witte was announced?…that this vetting process desperately needs to be seen as fair and objective by the people of Evansville and in particular by the media of Evansville?

IS IT TRUE that Sara Miller who is an appointed member of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission is also a Vice President of Commercial Lending at Old National Bank?…that Ms. Miller in her role of making recommendations on commercial loans has access to all of the state of the art tools and analysis packages used to qualify or disqualify her applicants and their projects as credit worthy?…that one of the tools that Ms. Miller has at her disposal is the ability to pull a Dun & Bradstreet report on both the Kunkel Group and Prime Lodging along with any predecessor companies that may be applicable such as Verville Construction?…that the City County Observer challenges Ms. Miller to do exactly that and to make those Dun & Bradstreet reports available to each and every member of the ERC in Executive Session?…that this step should have been taken already so that if there are any red flags associated with payments or terms they would already be identified?

IS IT TRUE that ERC Commissioner Greg Elpers is out of town and will not be in attendance at tomorrow’s meeting?…that as a licensed CPA in a prestigious firm that Mr. Elpers should be using the skills and tools that are available to him in his day job to better serve the people of Evansville in the politically appointed position that he willfully accepted?

IS IT TRUE that the other item that may be on the ERC docket tomorrow is the latest casualty of a lack of planning and that is the Evansville IceMen’s status with respect to the new Arena?…that the IceMen are scheduled in the pro-forma developed specifically for the Arena to be a full 28% of all of the events that will be there in any given year?…that once again it seems as though the intention of the Arena management is to force unfavorable terms down the throat of the prime tenant of the Arena?…that it has been reported that under the terms offered by the City of Evansville that the IceMen will have to sell 3,500 tickets per game to break even?…that the IceMen have never ever drawn more than about 1,900 to a home game at Swonder and typically draw about 1,200 at a very affordable price of $7 per ticket?

IS IT TRUE that to force a situation that requires 300% growth on day one to break even is oppressive and irresponsible on the part of the Arena management?…that as the City County Observer published last week that a deal for the City of Evansville to get $2 per ticket with no limits would be both fair and equitable?…that the City could actually come out very well in such an arrangement if the Arena is really the draw that it has been alleged to be?

IS IT TRUE? Part 2 August 11, 2011

IS IT TRUE that the Evansville area is home to a large number of underutilized educated professionals of all ages?…that the recent fiasco with the Evansville Redevelopment Commission voluntarily failing to vet the proposals for the downtown Convention Hotel and the subsequent hiring of out of town firms to do this task underscores this problem?…that there are probably more than 20 people who live here and have both the time and talent to have done this task who are either off the radar screens of local government or blacklisted for not being loyal to the powers that be?…that there may actually be enough underutilized or untapped brain power in this community to do a profound amount of good at high levels if only the machine would get out of the way and let them?…that this is a problem that the next City of Evansville administration needs to make a high priority?

IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer is considering developing some kind of online system that enables Evansville’s large network of highly educated and qualified professionals to be paired up with local businesses?…that it is well known that there is a very large number of highly qualified people in Evansville who are not being utilized to their highest and best use?…that if Evansville found a way to utilize this untapped talent bank that we may be able to keep talented people from leaving?..that it is our belief that there is sufficient talent available in Evansville so that we do not have to hire Indianapolis based firms every time that a task that involves cognitive thought comes along?…that there will be more news on the development soon?

IS IT TRUE that in the coming weeks or months a series of human resource related articles will be forthcoming with the intention to educate local businesses on the advantages and the methods of tapping local high end talent to solve their nagging problems?…that this has been a long time coming but that now is the time to start to mobilize previously squandered resources in a wide array of expertise’s?

IS IT TRUE many people feel that the negative political and financial decisions made by Mayor Weinzapfel over the last 2 years may cause some outstanding and extremely dedicated Department Heads working for the City of Evansville future employment problems either in the public and/or private sector?…that we hope that the new Mayor of Evansville will pay special attention to consider continued employment for the following Department Heads presently working for the City of Evansville?…that they are; Director of Transportation and Services, Zoo Director, all the City of Evansville Golf Pro’s, Human Relations Commission Director, Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, City of Evansville Personnel Director, Director of the Levee Authority, Director of Area Plan and MPO and Solid Waste Director, and the Chief of Police?…that the above City of Evansville employees are being wrongly blamed for some “bad public policy” decisions handed down to them by the Mayor?…we say job well done to the above public servants and wish you well in their next job search?

IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer is continuing to experience a large increase in traffic in August as compared to July?…that the size of this growth from an average pageviews per day perspective is 62.3%?…that the lead that the CCO has on the Courier Press using the metric of total time online has expanded to 54% since passing them for the first time in the July 4th weekend?…that every other online news website is running a very distant 3rd and higher?

IS IT TRUE that Steve Schaefer, the former Vice President for Public Policy at the Chamber of Commerce of Southwest Indiana has already landed on his feet?…that Mr. Schaefer has joined the staff of 8th District Congressman Larry Bucshon?…that Mr. Schaefer will be the newly created director of special projects?…that we are impressed that he was able to find a job so quickly in such a poor economy and are eagerly anticipating learning more about what his special projects shall be?

IS IT TRUE that Democratic candidate for Mayor of Evansville was spending time yesterday adding some details to his Parks plan to the Evansville Area Trails Coalition?…that one of the dire statistics regarding the City of Evansville Parks is that the number of crimes reported has increased by 634% since the Weinzapfel Administration eliminated the Park Rangers to save on short term cash flow?…that this number is alarming as it is an indicator of crimes migrating to our parks?…that there is plenty of evidence to support that drug trafficking and prostitution have set up shop in our city parks since the Park Rangers were relieved of their duties?…that eliminating the Park Rangers may have been penny wise but it was pound foolish?…that hiring some Park Rangers will not automatically set the crime clock back by 7 years?…that the crime operations in our parks will not go quietly and that police backup will be needed on a regular basis to chip away at this problem?…that a hole that took 7 years to dig may take 7 years to fill?…that if that is the case that in the year 2018 the parks of Evansville will be back to where they were in 2004 when the PENNY WISE BUT POUND FOOLISH decision to eliminate the Park Rangers started this decline to “Fort Apache the Bronx” conditions?

IS IT TRUE that the City Administration is now throwing out the number of $500,000 to demolish Roberts Stadium?…that they have no quotes?…that last month they were floating the trial balloon that demolition would be done free for the materials?…that last fall they had budgeted $2 Million in the ballfields proposal to tear down Roberts?…that it is beginning to seem like the cost estimates for this sort of project just get pulled out of thin air whenever a microphone is turned on?…that when people of authority have such a range of estimates with no quote at all it does not lend itself to building confidence in leadership?…that the City of Evansville administration looks more like the sandbox in the park of a kindergarten class than a professional organization when numbers just get fabricated to suit today’s audience?…that we wonder if the estimates to fix the roof leaks, the bathrooms, the water fountains, and other deficiencies in Roberts Stadium are just as farcical as the portfolio of random numbers that the City Administration has attributed to a demolition estimate?

IS IT TRUE? August 10, 2011 Special Evening Edition

IS IT TRUE that the City County Observer is pleased to learn that the Art’s Council of Southwest Indiana has found an able replacement for Mary Jane Schenk?…that we would like to join the community in welcoming Nola Wright to the Art’s Council and wish her the best in her new venture after a lifetime as an attorney?

IS IT TRUE that City Centre Properties LLC of Carmel, Indiana that is the owner of the McCurdy Hotel located at 100 SE Riverside Dr, Evansville, Indiana is still behind on their real estate taxes?…that the amount of back taxes owed on this property is $12,274.76?…that just last week we learned that City Centre Properties LLC had taken out a loan on the McCurdy at Fifth Third Bank in the amount of $1,633,862 and that the City of Evansville holds a 2nd mortgage on the property as well?…that with this kind of cash taken out using the McCurdy at collateral one would think that the real estate taxes could be paid on time to avoid costly penalties?…that the penalty associated with being late thus far for CCP has been $2,985.34?…that the Evansville Redevelopment Commission may need to ask London Witte for a 2 for the price of 1 deal on vetting at the September meeting when hopefully the expired McCurdy deal will be discussed?

IS IT TRUE that a couple of lieutenants in the Mole Army stopped by the Sycamore Avenue Post Office today to see if we could learn something about the alleged sale of the building and the potential reorganization of that office?…that we were directed by the hardworking people in retail to the folks behind the glass?…that no one in the postmaster’s office was available to have a discussion with us?…that if we were betting that we would bet that this office does a large volume of business and that the rumors of a shut down are not grounded in truth?

IS IT TRUE that on our tour of downtown Evansville to see just how much the Arena has stimulated outside investment that what we found is a whole lot of “available” signs and empty storefronts among the bellwether businesses that are located downtown?…that we counted 37 storefronts that are either empty or available?…that we also saw available signs or ads associated with space in the old ONB Tower, the new ONB Tower, the Old Post Office, the Hulman Building, the old Sears Building, the Woolen Mill Building, the Old Courthouse, and several other buildings that do not have prominent names?…that we are waiting for the downtown renaissance to start because the magic Arena is nearly completed?

IS IT TRUE that Mr. Kish who is reportedly on vacation in Indianapolis this week has now been alleged to be not on vacation at all?…that Mr. Kish is now reported by Indianapolis based Moles to be cracking the whip on the folks at London Witte to hurry up with the vetting of the downtown Convention Hotel Proposals so that a decision can be made on the 12th followed by an announcement on the 16th?…that this would be the fastest vetting ever for a $33 Million project that we have ever heard of?…that London Witte was just chosen last week and has in all likelihood not even been to Evansville yet to speak to either the Kunkel Group or Prime Lodging LLC?…that our expectation is that this week was spent simply understanding what has been submitted and that the next couple of weeks will be spent doing a real vetting process?…that the CCO projects an announcement with respect to these bids no sooner than August 30th and no later than September 27th?…that we and others will be very interested not only to hear the decision but to review the process that leads to the final decision?