When It Comes To Signs, It's Wrong Way Winnecke

Proving once more that hypocrisy knows no boundaries with our mayor and city government, all road markers for Roberts Stadium have been removed entirely. This decision was made despite the fact that Roberts Stadium still stands while the banners advertising the auction company picked by the Winnecke administration to auction off some of the miscellaneous items inside the facility was allowed to stand for over a month after the event (not to mention one of the owners donated to the Winnecke campaign last year).

When travelling by Roberts Stadium, you will no longer see any signs for the iconic grounds on US 41...



The Lloyd Expressway....



Or Division Street where just the two metal poles holding the sign up were left (middle left)...

In a city where you cannot find a politician who isn't willing to waste millions after millions on urban sprawling roads that go here, there, everywhere, this move just goes to show how desperate our city officials are to get you to forget that Roberts Stadium ever existed.

What I find to be ironic about the situation is that it took multiple citizens having to get the Area Plan Commission involved to get the city to take 3 lousy auction banners off of the building itself, yet to my knowledge no citizen has ever complained about the Roberts Stadium road signs and they were gone in a New York minute. And let's be honest, if the Area Plan Commission didn't take action against the signs, they would probably still be hanging on top of Roberts Stadium today.

So if you're hanging an auction banner up an entire month after the auction, you're fine. But, if you hang road signs for a building that is STILL STANDING you better remove them asap. You see, Roberts Stadium is still in a fairly good condition even after surviving all of what the mayor's administration and the building authority have done to it...


Yet another sign showing how progressive Roberts Stadium is/was

Of course, our city didn't even hesitate to issue an emergency demolition order for the Executive Inn after Klenck walked off the job, but if they leave a barrel next to the building authority road blocks (which have been sitting there for over a year now), then that is allowed...



What you are seeing is further proof of what Roberts Stadium supporters have been saying all along- That neither the mayor nor the city have ever been interested in repurposing Roberts Stadium. There never was a good faith effort from the mayor to convert this facility to a mid-sized arena, so now our last hope is the Evansville City Council.

Over the next week or so, Lloyd is going to try to do everything he can to get the City Council to give him the remaining $500,000 for demolition. Luckily, most of our City Council has spoken out against this. Hopefully they are seeing that it makes no sense to demolish this arena when it can address all concerns brought forward by our local residents.

Roberts Stadium can STILL remain viable, still bring in diverse concerts that Councilwoman Robinson is looking for, still be something for everyone with a park in the back, BMX events in the summer, and a new Hartke Pool next door, and it can STILL bring in events that won't compete with the Ford Center. Doesn't that sound like a much better plan than an $8 million dog and skate park?

The truth still remains though, and that is that Lloyd obviously doesn't care that he will still need to get at least $7 million more out of the City Council for his dog and skate park even if he gets $500,000 for demolition. All he wants to do is knock this facility over and then worry about that later. This type of planning has now become the corner stone of the Winnecke Administration. And it makes you wonder, isn't it about time we changed another road sign in Evansville?...