An Open Invitation to the Mayor and City Officials

As the founder of Tri-State Tomorrow and the creator of EvansvilleMovingForward.blogspot.com and SaveRobertsStadium.blogspot.com, most of you all know by now that I have a vision. I have a vision that sometime during my lifetime Evansville will pass other cities and become the city it’s suppose to be. I also have a plan. A plan to not only save Roberts Stadium but to keep it profitable as well, a plan to build the best ball field complex in the U.S next to Bosse Field and Garvin Park, and a plan to take the new arena to even greater heights.
Since I started the group and my blogs, the support from local citizens has been nothing short of tremendous. Unfortunately, that enthusiasm has not been shared by city officials. That’s why I am sending an open invitation to the mayor and any city official who is interested.

Roberts Stadium has been an Evansville icon for over 50 years. It has served Evansville well and I will fight for it until the last brick is removed. Mayor Weinzapfel, I believe we can keep Roberts Stadium profitable by keeping the Home Show there and adding indoor recreational activities. Would you be interested in sitting down with me to make Roberts Stadium work financially?

The ball field complex is a good idea but we need to put it next to Bosse Field where each field pays tribute to a historic ball field and the complex pays tribute to baseball’s golden age. Mayor Weinzapfel, I’m willing to volunteer all my time at no taxpayer expense to help you put this plan together and make it work. Would you be willing to help me?

Mayor Weinzapfel, in an effort to take the new arena to even greater heights, I am willing to personally go with you and city officials all the way to the NBA World Headquarters in Secaucus, NJ to let them know that Evansville is open for business for a NBDL expansion team. Furthermore, I’m willing to volunteer all my time to try to get the Bluecats back and to get USI and the NCAA to play games and tournaments here.

I graduated from the University of Kentucky in 2009 with a degree in marketing and management in sports. I can think of no better time to make my degree work. I worked for this education so that I could be in this position to help Evansville and its rich sports history thrive. I also fully believe that Evansville will be behind us in this plan. I only have one more question for you: Are you in?

Food & Retail Businesses I Would Like to See in Evansville

Lately, it seems like the same ole same ole businesses have occupied the Evansville market. If Evansville is ever going to take itself to the next level, it must diversify its market place. Here is a list of random stores and restaurants that I would like to see come to Evansville...

Skyline Chili- Cincinnati Chili at its best.


Gold Star Chili- See Skyline Chili.


Old Spaghetti Factory- Would look great next to Bosse Field.


Johnny Rockets- Great 1950's style food.


Joe's Crab Shack- Would be nice on the riverfront.


Firehouse Subs- Place one in the old fire station on St. Joe and place them next to other firestations. Take a percentage of the profits and keep the firehouses open!


Ryans Buffet- Similar to Golden Corral; a lot of different food for a good price.


Whole Foods- Healthy food for those who want to stay in shape.


Sports Authority- Everytime I'm in a college town or professional sports town, I stop into the Sports Authority to pick up some sports merchandise.


Neiman Marcus- 7th biggest department store in the country.

Making Evansville a No Kill City

As an avid supporter of animal rights, I find the current state of the city's animal control shelter to be nothing short of despicable. I find it to be quite pathetic the amount of cats and dogs that are put to sleep simply because no one cares.

A few months ago, I was inside the facility to see if my cat that had gotten outside had been picked up. I ended up adopting another cat inside the facility because I felt so bad for it due to the conditions it was living in. The process was nothing short of ridiculous. No one knew where the cat came from, no one knew anything about it, and the amount of red tape I had to go through just to figure out anything at all about the cat took me through several different people. Needless to say, things need to change. Anyone who is satisfied with the current conditions of the animal control department is nothing short of a fool. Evansville needs to be a no kill city.

In 1994, the City of San Francisco popularized the trend towards no-kill shelters. The San Francisco SPCA, led by President Richard Avanzino who would later become the President of Maddie's Fund, along with the San Francisco Department of Animal Care and Control guaranteed a home to every "adoptable" dog and cat who entered the shelter system. Since then the city of San Francisco (the SPCA along with the Department of Animal Care and Control) has been able to keep San Francisco as a no-kill city. In 2007, the live release rate of all dogs and cats in the city of San Francisco was 82%

There is a fantastic group here working towards that goal for Evansville: http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=101458016563555

Although it would be great if we could get some government funding or just some basic legislation passed preventing these animal deaths, you and I both know that the current crop of politicians will never do something that productive, thus we need to solve this problem ourselves.

One of the coolest things I have seen in the animal welfare department is a place called Purina Farms in St.Louis, MO. Per their website, "Purina Farms combines an events center, a visitor's center and two canine competition areas. Show and field events as well as hands-on activities and exhibits reinforce the bond between pets and their people. The Purina Farms Visitor’s Center incorporates a Pet Center, a full-size barn containing domestic farm animals, and a theater and informational center. Demonstrations, dog obedience shows and hands-on petting areas are some of the highlights of this popular attraction, which draws nearly 200,000 visitors a year."
http://www.purina.com/purina-farms/purinafarms.aspx

This would be a great asset to our community if we had something like this as well. Imagine having a facility where dogs and cats were free to roam around and it made money because the facility had sponsors, donors, and revenue drawing events.

There are plenty of locations inside the city limits where this could be housed relatively cheaply, although I don't have a particular spot I'd support over another. Any warehouse district would do although it would be nice to have a location next to a hotel to increase tourist revenue.

In my opinion, one facility like this would easily make Evansville a no kill city. It would also improve Evansville's image as creative, progressive, and a place where tourists would like to visit all while saving the lives of the innocent dogs and cats in our facilities.

In response to the C&P's anti-high speed rail editorial

Today the Evansville Courier & Press released an editorial on high speed rail claiming that it is not a proper replacement for highways...

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/oct/03/high-speed-rail-the-issue-amtrak-looks-to-our-we/

My response is as follows...

I'm EXTREMELY disappointed the C&P would publish this. This article is way off base with the high speed rail industry.

First of all, Avery's rail study wasn't even for high speed rail, it was for slow speed passenger rail which was disappointing but it still would have been a start just like Ohio is doing with their 3C program.

The C&P honestly thinks the northeast is the only target for high speed rail expansion? Quite the opposite... http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/16/a-vision-for-high-speed-rail/


In fact, the midwest has gotten its fair share http://midwest.construction.com/features/2010/0501_HighSpeedRail.asp
even though California voters approved their project directly on the ballot back in 2008.

And it's beside me why this town has ignored the progress around it. Look at these maps. One of these cities is not like the others.

http://www.midwesthsr.org/integrated-railroad-network
http://www.indianahighspeedrail.org/routes.htm

& http://www.midwesthsr.org/projects-by-state


And don't even give me that "it's too expensive" argument. I've never seen a route where building a 1950's interstate was cheaper than building high speed rail. For this very reason California is building their high speed rail because it is cheaper than expanding highways and airports, not to mention much more environmentally friendly which the CP and I-69 supporters couldn't care any less about.

I-69, by INDOTS projections is expected to cost $3.31 billion, which has tripled, and they don't tell you that this estimate doesn't take into account the ohio river bridge, the interchanges that were taken out that will need to be put back in, and the fact that cheaper materials are being used which will result in road construction in the very near future. This road will cost every bit of $5 billion. On the flip side, high speed rail will only cost 1/4th of what it would cost to build highways...

http://www.indianahighspeedrail.org/whyHSR.htm

Lastly, what in the world does Steve "Good Ole Boy" Schaeffer know about high speed rail? The answer is nothing! He is a biased supporter for I-69 and his group is nothing more than a front group for the Southwest Indiana Chamber of Commerce and we all know what they've accomplished for Southern IN: Nothing!

Schaeffer's article in question here : http://www.courierpress.com/news/2010/may/23/job-creation-is-goal-of-interstate-69-project/
was extremely poorly written and I'm surprised it's being brought back up in this editorial. I've debunked just about all of it on my blog... http://evansvillemovingforward.blogspot.com/2010/05/my-response-to-i-69-supporter.html

Build I-69 claims their road would create 4,600 permanent jobs. A high speed rail TEST FACILITY would create 1,500 jobs alone http://www.bakersfield.com/news/local/x429510959/Report-Rail-operation-would-bring-at-least-1-500-well-paying-jobs

The fact is: high speed rail is cheaper (fares and construction), it's cleaner, it's faster, it's safer, it pays for its own maintenance costs, and it will create more jobs.

The decision of do you want Evansville to keep playing catch up with the interstate system or join the rest of the U.S in building modern and futuristic high speed rail should be a very easy one to make.

If the C&P is really serious about the high speed rail vs i-69 debate they would hold a forum and invite high speed rail experts to speak, not just write an editorial quoting a biased i-69 supporter.