The Parks Department Now Has Plenty of Reasons To Reject Lloyd's Recommendation

http://rlv.zcache.com/just_say_no_sticker-p217301451621411733b2o35_400.jpg

After hearing today's public announcement from Mayor Winnecke, it is now more than obvious that he is once again forgetting the taxpayers of Evansville and thus I ask them to flatly reject this recommendation. Today, we heard a lot of words from the mayor but we didn't hear any reasons for why the mayor has chosen the path of demolition.

The Parks Board now has multiple reasons to reject the mayor's recommendation including, but not limited to, the following...

1. The mayor NEVER indicated that he had talked to Venuworks or SMG about Roberts Stadium. He took plenty of time to tell us that we cannot allow our two arenas to compete but he NEVER indicated that SMG or Venuworks told him that a mid-sized arena would compete with the Ford Center. In fact, both have told me that they would use it as a compliment to the Ford Center. I have yet to talk to anyone in the arena industry who believes the two would compete.

2. The mayor NEVER told us why page 13 was allowed to remain in the report. In his press conference after the release of the report, the mayor indicated two things that stood out to him- both from this page and both are inaccurate and never approved by the Task Force general body...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV-gGNjNxz0&feature=g-all-u

3. The mayor is proposing to "donate" the bricks from Roberts Stadium to the University of Evansville. UE is a private school that should not benefit from taxpayer funded bricks. Rather, these bricks should be either given to the taxpayers or sold with the revenue going to the taxpayers. The mayor is also an alumni of UE which brings up a conflict of interest. UE left Roberts Stadium behind for the Ford Center.

4. The mayor is proposing to take 5,000 of the seats from Roberts Stadium and place them in Mesker Amphitheatre. Originally, this is a recommendation that I made to the mayor...

http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/07/lets-make-funding-personal.html

Although I stand by this recommendation, I firmly believe the mayor has once again left the taxpayers on the hook. The problems with Mesker Amphitheater, outside of government neglect, are mold and paint related not seat related. By not giving the seats to the ECVB, the city will once again have to spend full price for each ball field. Not to mention, the most recent ECVB plan called for bleachers not seats. This cheaper alternative will leave Evansville unable to compete with premier ball field complexes around the country.

I also find it rather interesting that Mesker was closed shortly before this announcement. In fact, in the video under point #2, the mayor claims that the Building Authority did a great job with Roberts. The mayor is the first person I can think of that believes that the BA did a good job with Roberts. Does he feel this same way about Mesker?

5. The mayor said that he wanted to make a decision based on financial data, but he did anything but. His plan, which he gave no source of revenue for, is expected to cost $6 million to $ 8 million. Regardless of where this plan falls in that range, Roberts Stadium is roughly 1/3rd to 1/2 the cost to renovate. In fact, renovating Roberts Stadium AND constructing a park on the back lot is roughly $6 million. The mayor is now seeking to waste more taxpayer dollars on a project that will fail to bring in significant, if any, revenue.

6. The mayor failed to tell us why we need the three things he proposed which we already have. We already have at least one lake, at least one dog park, and at least one biking trail area. Yet, none of these amenities have been cited as a source for tourist revenue or any revenue in general.

7. The mayor is going against the wishes of Kristine Beard, the grand-daughter of Hank Roberts and Lisa Jean Beard, the great grand-daughter of Hank Roberts. He told us that he wants to honor H.O Roberts yet has failed to honor his family. I talked to the family today, they are not in support of this project at all!

8. The mayor thanked Larry Steenberg for his work on the task force. And as usual, we now know that Mr. Steenberg was a supporter of the mayor all along, not an independent civic leader. This is a photo from the "Winnecke For Mayor" facebook group...

(Steenberg 2nd from right)

Photo Credit: Winnecke For Mayor

9. The amount of funds needed to construct this park ($6 million to $8 million) coupled with Mr. Bob Warren's $8 million estimate for the ball fields brings us very closely back to the estimate to construct the ball fields on the lot. That plan was rejected for fear of high costs.

10. The mayor NEVER explained to us how his park would co-exist with the Wesselman Woods Nature Preserve. He never explained how the park's new growth trees would work with Wesselman's old-growth forest ecology and he certainly never explained why having a park with visitors would be any better on the nature preserve than having ball field teams on the lot under the previous ECVB's plan. The previous plan was rejected because of fear of noise, lights, and traffic on the site.

11. The mayor never explained why the green space plan went from the $12-$14 million range to the new estimate of $6-$8 million. $6-$8 million WAS NOT the estimate in the task force report. Why was this adjusted? What guarantee do the taxpayers have that this won't balloon back to $12-$14 million.

12. The mayor said he kept hearing a constant theme of "something for everyone." That was not the theme of the task force. Rather, these were the words echoed by the green space subcommittee and their supporters....

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/mar/22/no-headline---ev_roberts/?print=1

To prove that the vast majority of those who attended the Task Force were either for or against Roberts Stadium, Mr. Greg Stilwell went up to each and every person in all four groups in the meeting that followed the one after Roberts Stadium. Of the 28 people that took the tour, 25 looked upon Roberts Stadium FAVORABLY compared to only 3. Of those 3, only one refused to accept a compromise of Roberts Stadium with a green space in the back.

I can go on and on with reasons why the Parks Board should reject the mayor's recommendation. But I think it's pretty cut and dry why they should. I'm completely disappointed in mayor Winnecke's attitude towards Roberts Stadium and I certainly take his actions, as well as the actions of the task force leader, personally. When I agreed to help the mayor, I honestly thought he respected me and Roberts Stadium. I no longer feel that way today.

I am glad to see the Parks Board taking two weeks to think about this. I sure hope they aren't going to rubber stamp the mayor's plan. If this board stands for doing what's best for the city, they will reject this plan. This isn't about competing with the Ford Center, I have reached out to both SMG and Venuworks about using the two together. This isn't about defeating a green space, I personally requested an estimate for a green space in the back lot behind Roberts which is roughly the same size as the green space going up at the old airport site. And this certainly isn't about wasting taxpayer money. In fact, I believe that demolishing Roberts Stadium will cost us millions upon millions in direct and and hidden costs over the years.

I ask the Parks Board one last time- don't let future generations get robbed of Roberts! Reject this plan!

theologyforum.wordpress.com