Today Mayoral Candidates Lloyd Winnecke and Rick Davis squared off in a debate on the City-County/Community Observer. They were both asked the same five questions with question #2 being about Roberts Stadium.
You can view the question here...
http://community-observer.com/2011/02/07/edebate-davis-vs-winnecke/2/
First of all, it is my firm belief that the main difference between these two candidates is the issue of what to do with Roberts Stadium. I have talked to both of these candidates about Roberts Stadium and the responses were different as night and day.
Winnecke said he believed that Roberts Stadium should be "nothing but a hole in the ground" while Davis expressed his deep love for Roberts Stadium and his willingness to help me find a solution for Roberts Stadium. I fear that if Winnecke is elected, it will be lights out for Roberts Stadium.
Please note, when I say that Winnecke is bad for Roberts Stadium and the city of Evansville, I mean his political beliefs and stances. I am very grateful to Mr. Winnecke for willing to meet with me a few months ago, especially given that I now know that both parties are trying to distance themselves from me. This is mainly because I support Rick Davis and partially because I am a thorn in their side with my desire to save Roberts Stadium.
I am very proud of BOTH of these stances and I apologize to no one for my beliefs. I have reached out to both parties not just about saving Roberts Stadium, but to start a Mayor's Association, to get the ball fields built cheaper in a better location with better fields, and to discuss high speed rail.
Only Lloyd Winnecke and the candidates that support Rick Davis have met with me with Mayor Weinzapfel giving me less than 15 minutes to discuss Roberts Stadium, a NBDL team for the new arena, and the ball fields at Kleymeyer Park. Outside of that, ZERO political leaders were willing to listen to me, ZERO. For that reason, I fully support Rick Davis and Al Lindsey for office. I am disappointed in the way the Vanderburgh County Republican and Democrat parties are acting!
With that being said, let's break down the debate...
Lloyd Winnecke
I’ve heard many interesting ideas, although I have not heard from any qualified professionals
This is the main problem with Lloyd's handling of Roberts Stadium. He has not been proactive at all in solving the Roberts Stadium situation. Since talking to Lloyd, I have found an investor who has 2 + teams willing to go into Roberts Stadium if it's scaled back to 6,000 seats. We can finance the majority of this renovation simply by selling the 6,000 or so seats that would be removed for at least $100. None of that would have been discovered if I wasn't proactive with this blog. None of that would have been known if it were left up to city hall.
To sit unused in its current state, Robert's Stadium would cost approximately $300,000 per year. Part of this cost is due to the manner in which it was originally engineered. The floor of the stadium sits below the water table, requiring expensive pumps to run 24/7 to remove the excess water.
Here we go with the water pumps scare again. I still haven't seen any balance sheet showing the $300,000 maintenance. I have seen this report where the costs of maintaining Roberts have been less than a third of that...
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2011/feb/06/how-smg-struck-out/?partner=RSS
"The repair and maintenance budget set by SMG for 2010 was $90,550," he said, providing supporting documentation. "SMG expended $69,658.25 and the Building Authority, after assuming maintenance responsibility, expended $6,045.63. Combined, this is $14,846.12 under the budgeted amount."
It's bad enough for city hall to try to starve Roberts Stadium to death with its limited funding, but to now raise that maintenance number up to $300,000 for political reasons is just as bad.
I am receptive to ideas for renovating Robert's Stadium,
It appears Lloyd is walking back the email response he sent to me in which he said, " As I previously mentioned, I don't believe the city can, or should, "save" Roberts Stadium."
I have two specific recommendations: first, the current mayor should appoint a committee to study this issue. Ideally this committee would be comprised of citizens who have ideas for possible re-use of the Stadium as well as engineers who can offer expertise on building modification and costs.
This would be a huge step in the right direction if Lloyd truly feels this way. If I had an engineer/architect working with me right now on this project, I would already have this project solved, guaranteed! Although there probably isn't a snowball's chance in... well you know where... that I would be picked on this panel, hopefully someone that believes in Roberts Stadium would be picked.
Rick Davis
The two leading contenders, according to the people who have completed the survey, are: Turn it into a natatorium; and turn it into a green space. I say: Let's do both!
Exactly, there is no reason why we cannot build a natatorium when we have to address the issue of Hartke Pool. A building that is compromised of an outdoor pool and slides, an indoor natatorium, and an indoor water park resort with ample amount of hotel rooms would be a great public-private partnership for the Hartke Pool area. Furthermore, a botanical garden next to Roberts Stadium with the back lot replanted would serve as the perfect buffer for wildlife. We can accomplish all of this with a successfully drawn out master plan.
I think spending $2 million to tear the building down is a waste of our $17 million investment in 1990.
Another great point: Why pay $2 million knock over Roberts Stadium when you could raise the floor and fix it up for around that same price or less?
We could use that $2 million earmarked for tearing Roberts Stadium, plus use other necessary dollars needed to "Reinvent Roberts" into a natatorium and green space, and keep the structure as a jewel for not only Evansville, but the entire Tri-State area.
If we finance the renovation of Roberts Stadium with the selling of seats, bricks with your name on them, and Roberts Stadium merchandise, we can then use the Innkeepers Tax to finance the other projects and hopefully clean up our parks as well.
I have gone door-to-door in the neighborhoods around Roberts Stadium and I did not have a single resident in the area say they wanted to see Roberts Stadium torn down.
This right here should tell city hall something. Why can't Evansville's political leaders realize that tearing down this great icon is a TERRIBLE idea?
Overall, I felt like the debate went good. It is refreshing to see that our local politicians are beginning to realize the value in Roberts Stadium. Rick Davis has been the first politician to come out in support of saving Roberts Stadium and now the rest can't help but follow.
Now, if I can get you the reader of this blog to continue emailing your local leaders, I believe we will save this great facility. Let's Save Roberts Stadium!
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