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Editor's Note: I will be discussing last Monday's City Council meeting tomorrow and why you should drop your support for all 9 current members.
For the older demographic here in Evansville, you've seen this battle before, you fought this battle before, and you won this battle before.
This past week, several key members and supporters of the Save Roberts Stadium movement have called me to notify me that they had been contacted by Carol McClintock who claimed to be calling, "on behalf of the mayor." Before I get into how she is taking us back to a battle that we've fought and won many years ago, I first want to first address the hypocrisy and irony of this decision made by the mayor to send his wife out to go after supporters of this blog...
1. McClintock, like all other demolition supporters, has never proven the allegations made on page 13 of the report. She cannot explain them, how they got in there, or even why they should be in the report since they were added after the final task force meeting. McClintock is like all other Winnecke followers, she has no time to debate or explain the facts, she only has time to tell you to support the mayor.
2. Isn't it ironic that the mayor has enough time on his hands to send his own wife out to talk to Roberts Stadium supporters about demolition but he has yet to spend any time talking to SMG/Venuworks (at least publicly), who both communicated to me that they would be interested in a mid-sized Roberts Stadium? We have yet to hear even a small peep about Venuworks and SMG's opinion from the mayor. Yet, the mayor has sent his wife to make phone calls while Dave Rector goes out of his way to round up demolition deals for Roberts Stadium. All of this while real estate agents who have worked for the same companies that McClintock has go before the council and newspaper to tell us Roberts Stadium is worth nothing.
Most importantly, Lloyd Winnecke has NEVER spoken with the general Roberts Stadium task force since the first public meeting, yet he claims it was the task force that came to the conclusion that Roberts Stadium was beyond repair even when a falsified task force report is still on the books. IS THIS THE KIND OF MAYOR YOU WANT FOR EVANSVILLE?
3. Thankfully, McClintock was unable to convert a single Roberts Stadium supporter over to her cause. And, the fact that Winnecke didn't have the guts to call these people, who tell me that they are very disappointed with him, tells us all what we need to know about Lloyd. It also makes you wonder just who really is the mayor of Evansville.
The phone calls being made by McClintock are bad enough from the start, but the conversations that are being described to me by the Roberts Stadium supporters are even worse. According to these supporters, McClintock tells them that historic buildings such as the coliseum, old courthouse, old jail, and old post office are already draining the city enough and that there isn't enough funds for Roberts Stadium.
That's right, we're heading all the way back to the 1950s and 1960s when debates raged over whether it would be a good idea to keep these facilities or not...
http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/11/just-remember-weve-been-here-before.html
And of course, back then we had real leadership in the mayor's office...
http://saverobertsstadium.blogspot.com/2011/12/hank-roberts-made-sure-coliseum-was.html
Where do I start with comments like this? I suppose I'll start by saying this: Keeping all of our downtown landmarks was a damn good decision by those who were in charge of Evansville during those periods of time. Our local veterans are doing a good job of keeping the Coliseum active, the Evansville Bar Association is filling up the Old Courthouse with a wide variety of events, we have a law firm in the Old Jail, and the Old Post Office is being renovated by a private developer...
http://www.courierpress.com/news/2012/jan/09/no-headline---ev_oldpostoffice/?partner=RSS
We've enjoyed all of this success because those before us made the right decisions, not the wrong ones. Today, we are carrying this tradition forward by renovating the Old Greyhound Bus Station.These facilities are not a drain on Evansville. Rather, they are basically the only things Downtown Evansville has had to market before the Ford Center arrived.
Tomorrow as you drive through Downtown Evansville, take a look at the Coliseum, Old Courthouse, Old Jail, and Old Post Office sites. Then, take a look at the Old Sterling Brewery, Old L&N Station, and Old Skora Building sites (all open fields). Which ones do you think look better?
Like Winnecke, there is also a little hypocrisy going on here with McClintock. It was Carol herself who sought to take over control of the Coliseum in 1989 so that Vanderburgh County could renovate it...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=927402
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http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=943855
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Furthermore, Roberts Stadium would be self-sustaining due to rent, concession stand, and ticket revenue that would be paired with naming rights revenue from the gates. Carol McClintock, like her husband who I hope isn't mayor of Evansville past 2015, has zero financial documents that show Roberts Stadium would lose money as a mid-sized arena. Both SMG and Venuworks have told me personally they would bid on running the facility, and they would book enough events to make it profitable as I've pointed out a thousand times on here.
Thankfully, those who have told me that McClintock has called them have ALL said that they told her they were not interested in changing allegiances. I am very proud of these supporters for the stand they took for Roberts Stadium. On the flip side, I am going to make one voter switch announcement. Because of the actions of McClintock, as well as a few other issues, I am now officially switching my vote on consolidation from Yes! to NO.
When I joined the Yes! campaign, I did it because I wanted to stop urban sprawl. But as I read through the legislation, and as I listened to Reverend Adrian Brooks, I have noticed that the proposed consolidation does not contain any new zoning ordinances.
Therefore, it would be up to the metro mayor and council to stop urban sprawl. Should we trust Lloyd Winnecke and Carol McClintock to stop this urban sprawl? Nope. In fact, McClintock represented Gene Hahn Realty when they redeveloped the corner next to Red Bank Road into Pearl Drive...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=844901
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Can we trust them to run a good government? The answer to that question is the same. If you take a stroll through Evansville's history, you will notice that most of the problems that Vanderburgh County experienced with McClintock are the same problems that Evansville is experiencing with Winnecke. Let's dive into some of the problems Vanderburgh County had with McClintock...
In 1978, Mike Duckworth resigned from the Department of Parks and Recreation. One of his complaints was the department cutting a youth baseball program while giving a pay raise to McClintock (then Etherington))...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=668167
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In 1980, Betty Knight Smith criticized McClintock for bypassing the councils to increase salaries in the Parks Department (she also came under fire for being a Republican hired by a Democrat mayor)...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=668073
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In 1985, Bret McGinnis claimed he was fired as parks director because he was seeking to have an audit done on the department. McGinnis was fired by Vandeveer after being just 7 months removed from replacing McClintock. Previously in 1983, a preliminary State Board of Accounts audit had found 4 "internal control problems."
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=933904
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In 1991, an audit of the Vanderburgh County Auditorium reveals sloppy financial practices. This happens while McClintock is President of the Vanderburgh County Commission. McClintock's only comments were that changes had been made...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=858026
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Then again in 1991, Mark Owen admits that Carol McClintock is the "villain to Democrats"
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewarticle.asp?ID=402408
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In 1992, the wheels begin to start falling off for McClintock. First, on January 31st, Rick Borries blames McClintock for a "collage of confusion" in county government...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=5248
Then, McClintock and Mayor Vandeveer propose spending at least $50 million to net 4,000 Department of Defense jobs...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=993639
After that, another state audit finds "sloppy bookkeeping" in another department under Carol McClintock and the Vanderburgh County Commissioners. This time, it's the Vanderburgh County Highway Department...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=943989
All of these errors couldn't have come at a worse time for McClintock as she faced off against Democrat Pat Tuley for re-election. Very quickly, Tuley came out publicly with allegations that McClintock had had a "political patronage" job with the Parks Department back in the 1980s...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=5313
In the end, McClintock's errors were too much as Tuley coasted to victory in November of 1992. Not only was McClintock defeated, her rival and main critic Rick Borries was re-elected...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=944000
Even as a lame duck, McClintock and the rest of the Vanderburgh County Commission were clashing with each other as more errors popped up. As usual, the auditorium was front and center as the commission argued over bookkeeping and legal fees once more...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=944021
Finally, in 1994 the Vanderburgh County Commission has to bring Carol McClintock and Mark Owen back in to sign minutes that had been missing from meetings that were held while they were on the commission...
tp://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=805429
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So, as you read the above articles, you would have to be absolutely blind (or not up to date on Evansville events) to not notice that we are seeing similar, if not identical, problems with the Winnecke administration. Controversial salary raises, unpleasant audits, political patronage, and millions for jobs (earthcare) are all issues that are front and center in the river city today. So why would we want to bring all of this back to the county?
Long story short, vote no on the current consolidation plan while telling Carol McClintock NO to demolishing Roberts Stadium. With Roberts Stadium, we want to preserve the past not live in the past!
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