Unfortunately, I cannot say that I believe that former Evansville mayor Jonathan Weinzapfel did the right thing when it came time to make decisions with regards to both the Ford Center and Roberts Stadium's fate. One of the things that our current mayor and our past mayor have done that has offended through out the entire process was their pitting Roberts Stadium up against the Ford Center.
From now until the day that I die, I will never, ever understand why our city went out of their way to divide our community. And as bad as I hate to say it, I do have to admit that they accomplished their goal. Many Ford Center supporters clung to the battle and began launching attacks on Roberts Stadium after they became scared that renovating Roberts Stadium into a mid-sized arena would somehow, someway compete with their brand new arena that they were proud of. On the flip side, a fair amount of Roberts Stadium supporters took the battle personally as well and began attacking the Ford Center after they were led to believe that renovating Roberts Stadium was only possible if the Ford Center would not have been built.
Although many good residents of this river city took the bait, I myself refused to join in on this massive division of our city that made a city that is already failing to compete with other cities at war with itself. No matter what our "city leaders" may claim, renovating Roberts Stadium and constructing the Ford Center was not an either/or situation and I will explain why.
Building the Ford Center was done for a wide variety of reasons. It was constructed so that our city could remain competitive in attracting premier and top notch concerts and events. It was also constructed in what I hope is the beginning or revitalizing downtown which will be instrumental in preventing urban sprawl. Also, the Ford Center was built so that our city could field a minor league hockey team known as the Icemen which wasn't possible at Roberts Stadium. I supported constructing the Ford Center for these reasons.
On the flip side, renovating Roberts Stadium was needed for reasons that are completely opposite of the reasons to construct the Ford Center. With Roberts Stadium, we had a healthy arena that was paid off and only in need of minimal renovations to scale it down to the mid-size market. By scaling Roberts Stadium down instead of up, we would have been attracting a market that is basically non-existent in Evansville- the low-middle income sports industry. Teams the compete in indoor soccer, indoor football, and minor league basketball were interested in Roberts Stadium because they could not afford to rent the Ford Center nor would it be in the interests of the city to put these events in the Ford Center which would force out higher revenue generating events. For these reasons and many others, renovating Roberts Stadium into a mid-sized arena was the correct decision.
Given the above truths about constructing the Ford Center and renovating Roberts Stadium, it is basically impossible to claim the two would compete unless you decide to fuse and/or confuse the two concepts. So how could one accomplish this? It's simple- tell half-truths.
Whether it was intentional or unintentional, Mayor Weinzapfel always seemed to do a great job of confusing both himself and his followers of the difference between what we needed to do at Roberts versus what we needed to do at the Ford Center. Remember his comments in 2010?
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/apr/09/evansville-mayor-likes-roberts-stadium-proposal/
" One alternative bandied about called for building a water park inside the stadium. But no one has come forward with a way to pay for that project, Weinzapfel said.
He speculated that private developers may be shying away from Roberts Stadium for the same reason city officials decided against trying to renovate it. A consulting firm hired to study the 54-year-old venue concluded it would cost as much as $91.9 million to make improvements meant to curtail the threat of flooding there and strengthen the roof so it could support more weight."
First of all, the half-truth becomes glaringly obvious when Weinzapfel mentions strengthening the roof which obviously isn't needed for mid-sized events such as indoor football, indoor soccer, minor league basketball, expo events, youth soccer and basketball tournaments, high school basketball tournaments, and misc other events.
But it turns out, the consulting report Weinzapfel was discussing focused on UPGRADING Roberts Stadium instead of DOWNSIZING the arena into a mid-sized arena...
http://rememberrobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2010/11/rumors-of-roberts-stadiums-demise-has.html
Given Weinzapfel's above statement, we can see where he is telling a half-truth by being half right and half wrong. Indeed, Weinzapfel was right about the enormous costs and disadvantages of upgrading Roberts Stadium into a facility that would compete with the Ford Center. But on the other side, he was completely wrong about Roberts Stadium being in a state where private developers would have to spend over $90 million if they were to buy it.
Even worse is the fact that Mayor Winnecke took the bait. At our first task force meeting, Winnecke told our task force that we could not come up with an idea that "competed with the Ford Center." Wait, if constructing the Ford Center was necessary because it gave us an arena that had 3x the roof support, modern revenue generating amenities, as well as extra bathrooms to comply with ADA regulations, HOW CAN ROBERTS STADIUM COMPETE WITH THE FORD CENTER?
This past year, the Roberts Stadium Task Force that I sat on debunked Weinzapfel's claim when the construction manager and architect on our committee came up with a $4-4.5 million price tag for renovating Roberts Stadium, which included the roof, the restrooms, and the concourses that Weinzapfel himself talked about...
(Page 9)
http://media.courierpress.com/media/static/Roberts_report.pdf
With all of this evidence staring Weinzapfel's half-truths right in the face, one would think that he would have done the right thing by coming out publically in support of downsizing Roberts Stadium as a compliment to the Ford Center project he guided the city into constructing. Unfortunately, a speech posted in the Courier & Press back in September shows that Weinzapfel is still clinging to his half truths after all these years...
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/sep/30/big-dreams-brought-a-big-win/
"I would like to start by playing a game of MythBusters. Many of you have probably seen the show on TV. The general idea is that the show's hosts use elements of the scientific method to test the validity of rumors and myths. With hindsight being 20/20, I would like to take a look at the various aspersions cast on the arena project and debunk them one by one."
I hate to break it to the former mayor but no one debunks myths from the truth about Roberts Stadium better than this blog...
http://rememberrobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/12/liar-liar-wrecking-ball-on-fire.html
Myth number 10
"There is nothing wrong with Roberts Stadium. We should just renovate it instead of building new downtown."
There is actually some validity to this myth up to a point. We could have done absolutely nothing.
If Weinzapfel would have stopped right there we would have finally gotten him to admit his half-truths. In these two sentences, he basically gives away why Roberts Stadium would have worked perfectly fine as a mid-sized arena. When he says "we could have done absolutely nothing" he is basically conceding the fact that Roberts Stadium was a healthy arena and was only being mentioned for renovations because it did not fit the current premier arena market.
It would have been oh so nice if he would have stopped there and admitted that Roberts Stadium was not the problem, that the problem was that we needed a new arena to compliment this facility. But unfortunately, he decides to go on...
"We could have ignored the problems inherent in the building and let someone else deal with it in the future. Maybe that is what a lot of people would have preferred. But, the fact was that sooner or later someone had to do something.
Roberts Stadium was 50 plus years old. Our consultants said that we'd have to spend up to $17 million over the next three to five years just to keep Roberts open. These costs are just part of an extensive list of deficiencies that would cost $40 million to correct. The concourses and aisles were too narrow and the seats were too small. The heating and air system was on its last leg. There weren't enough rest-rooms and they weren't up to code. Most importantly, Roberts was not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Second, there were major structural problems that, along with the other deficiencies, would cost $90 million to fix. Many acts passed on playing at Roberts because the rigging isn't strong enough to support the weight of their equipment. And the floor at Roberts Stadium was not regulation size. It was too small for hockey, arena football and any other event that utilizes a standard floor size. Even if those acts could play Roberts, they'd have a hard time getting in there. The truck docks are too small.
Our consultant said it would cost us at least $90 million to try and renovate Roberts and make it lasting and competitive. In essence, we would have to build a new facility."
Yup, after the task force report was released that showed a much cheaper and realistic price tag, after all the citizens who took the tour of Roberts Stadium during our 2nd public session, and after seeing the city lose an indoor football team while a minor league basketball team was never allowed to get off the ground, Weinzapfel STILL decides to cling to his half-truths by citing a consultant report that focused only on using Roberts Stadium as a premier arena.
If Roberts was not in compliance with ADA why was it never shut down by anyone in building codes enforcement? Renovating Roberts Stadium to a mid-sized arena would have given it proper dimensions for indoor football (I worked many hours with the Rage to accomplish this). How many indoor football games are being played at the Ford Center? And once more, why do we need to strengthen the roof, widen the concourses, renovate the docks, or perform any of the other renovations for a premier arena if we weren't shooting for a premier arena? Lastly, if the heating and air conditioning was going out, why did the HNTB Report list the boilers, chillers, and tubes as all in good condition?
What makes Weinzapfel's speech completely hypocritical is the following line...
"It is appropriate and healthy for the people of Evansville to question the proposal to build a new arena and to challenge their elected officials. That is an important part of checks and balances essential if our democracy is going to succeed.
The issue is what people do with the information. It seemed that a culture of opposing change is what dominated the public discourse about this project, not a yearning to make sure it made sense.
We can't be successful as a community if we are going to operate with blinders on or oppose anything that comes down the pike. Change is inevitable, change is necessary to keep us competitive in a global economy, change means we will grow as a community. It can be very uncomfortable. But if a community is not moving forward, it is falling behind. Doing nothing is no longer an option."
That's right, the mayor who still refuses to relent on his half-truths, refused to lift one single finger to investigate, much less support, downsizing Roberts Stadium, and refused to come out against Winnecke's dog park proposal (I guess he thinks a dog park is moving Evansville forward) is now telling us that we the people of Evansville shouldn't be putting our blinders on. Jonathan Weinzapfel: Pot Meet Kettle.
Weinzapfel then leaves us with this line...
So the mayor who gave us an ultimatum of the Ford Center or Roberts Stadium is now telling us we need a shared vision? Tell us Weinzapfel, why should supporters of Roberts Stadium put any skin into a shared vision when both you and Winnecke refused to let us bring mid-sized events to Evansville by telling half-truths that pitted Roberts Stadium against an arena it has never competed with?
When Weinzapfel held a press conference on the lot the Ford Center now sits on, I came out to support him and the construction of the new arena. But when I as well as many other residents of this city asked him and the city to support us in downsizing Roberts Stadium so that it would compliment his new arena, he refused and ran and hid.
It would seem to me that if our city truly wants a shared vision, we need to move past those who come in the name of creating a shared vision but only want to implement their own projects while refusing to support other projects. When we do that, we will have a shared vision. But until then, it's just going to be more half-truths....
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