THE TIME OF RECKONING IS “STILL” HERE

IS IT TRUE that the time of reckoning is here? …Mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel committed public money to have outside developers renovate both the historical McCurdy Hotel condo project and the Executive Inn project? …that the Evansville Redevelopment Commission recently gave both project developers 60 days to get their financial situations in order? …that the deadline clock has stopped ticking as of today? …that it is time for Mayor Weinzapfel, the Chairman of the Evansville Redevelopment Commission and Tom Barnett, Director of the Evansville Department of Metropolitan Development, to call a joint news conference to announce the status of both projects? …that it is time for the laid-back, conservative, hardworking and dedicated Evansville taxpayers to demand accountability on the status of the above projects? …that we hope that they will soon announce that both projects are back on track and the financial decisions to commit taxpayer money to both projects were correct? …that we highly encourage you to read the following editorial entitled “A Summer of Accountability?”

A Summer (now Winter) of Accountabili y

By the City-County Observer staff
There are a multitude of construction projects going on in Evansville. Some projects are moving forward at this time but seem to be stymied by the failure of certain developers to obtain financing to begin their projects. Here is an overview of the work that is happening or was expected to be happening this summer as deemed by local governmental entities.

The Arena: The estimated $128 million Downtown Arena is to date on schedule to open in the fall of 2011 with no real snafus exposed or significant overruns on pricing. John Kish is to be commended for keeping this project on schedule and budget.

Arena/Centre Hotel: UNRESOLVED The looming shell of the south wing of the former Executive Inn begs the question: Will the existing hotel be renovated – and if so, when – or will the Big E and the adjacent parking garage be demolished. It is rumored that the hotel and the parking garage are destined for the wrecking ball due to structural problems. Rumor has it that Browning Investments may not be successful in obtaining financing to complete the hotel project, and that they could basically leave town with an extra $300,000 golden parachute for this failure.

The City-County Observer is extremely concerned about the future of the Arena and The Centre without a convention class hotel in place to accommodate the thousands of out-of-town visitors that always come to town for such events. As you may remember, in 2007 at a fanfare news conference, Mayor Weinzapfel announced a 4-Star branded hotel with a luxury restaurant as a keystone anchoring the Centre and the new Arena as the place to be for regional entertainment. Are there any cities with an Arena and a Convention Center that function without a hotel? Let’s cross our fingers that Evansville does not become the first city in America to have two state-of-the-art venues (the new Arena and The Centre) separated by a rotting shell of a dilapidated hotel. Proceeding with the demolition of the Executive Inn and the construction of an Arena without having the financing in place for a new hotel was a financial tragedy that should never have been allowed to go forward.

McCurdy: As successful as the loft program seems to have allegedly been in creating approximately 100 residential dwellings on Main Street, the McCurdy condo project has been stalled for the past couple of years for lack of financing. Estimates for completing the proposed 80 rental units are below the market rate for refurbishing that building. Presently the McCurdy sits empty with windows open, making it a home to pigeons and bats. Speculation is that it will soon look like its next-door neighbor, The River House. In our opinion the McCurdy will become the next River House if the financing to begin construction is not secured right now. It is also important to point out that the City and the Redevelopment Commission has put out hundreds of thousands of dollars on this project to date without tangible results.

Front Door Pride: It has been recently reported that 14 City of Evansville-sponsored Front Door Pride homes have been completed at a cost of approximately $180,000 to $200,000 each. Also, we were amazed to find out that the City has approved only one building contractor to build the first 14 Front Door Pride homes. We feel future homes should be put up for competitive bids to allow other highly licensed and respected builders to bid on homes. Amazingly, seven more of these $180,000 to $200,000 Front Door Pride homes are on the drawing board to be built in economically disadvantaged areas with the support of Mayor Weinzapfel, the Evansville Redevelopment Commission and Tom Barnett, Director of the Department of Metropolitan Development. Considering our current economic conditions, is it wise to spend another $1.4 million on building seven new homes in the Front Door Pride area considering seven already built homes have yet to be sold? We want to stress that the 14 already-built homes are extremely nice and quality built. However, they are overpriced for the area in which they sit. The City-County Observer does question the logic behind the random locations of these high quality homes directly located next to abandoned houses and un-mowed lots, in an area where the sewers are known to fail when it rains too much.

Green Alley project: Another decision made by the “powers that be” is the now infamous $132,000 proposed Haynie’s Corner (Green Brick Alley) project. We question this bureaucratic judgment using “free” federal stimulus money to pay for this unnecessary project.

Roberts Ball Fields: The most recent proposal and one that played some role in a very gifted Executive Director leaving the Convention Visitors Bureau, is the proposal to demolish Roberts Stadium and replace it with 8 baseball fields. The price to do this is estimated at $18 million with a surprising request for an additional $5 million bond to secure maintenance of these ball fields. Isn’t it a function of the Evansville Parks and Recreation Commission to maintain recreational property? That total is substantially the same price that former Mayor Russell Lloyd Jr. had proposed to spend on a downtown baseball stadium that would have attracted a Major League Baseball affiliated team and provided an economic impact locally. The City-County Observer would like to stress that this issue was primarily responsible in denying Mr. Lloyd a second term in office. The City-County Observer questions the value of building 8 ball fields at the estimated cost of $23 million in hard economic times. Evansville may be the first city to consider selling bonds to mow grass on baseball fields.

It is time for the Weinzapfel administration to take a responsible, conservative financial approach and manage this cluster of capital projects in a reasonable way that does not leave us and our children with approximately $200 million of debt for existing and committed projects. Finally, we need not to have to remind you we are still facing the $500 million cost of upgrading the combined sewer/storm water overflow systems as mandated by the EPA.