The Evansville City Council ran out of excuses on Monday for vetoing a Downtown convention hotel proposed by the city administration. Six of nine Democratic council members last week vowed to vote against public funding for the hotel, citing too much public money for the hotel as well as a concern that the hotel might have a negative effect on the city’s ability to attract an expanded IU medical school for Downtown Evansville.
But by Monday, Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke had engineered a reduction in the proposed public subsidy by $11.5 million, cutting the city subsidy to $20 million. As for the medical school, Winnecke has insisted all along that the city can handle both the school and the convention hotel projects.
In our view, the medical school never was a legitimate reason for the council to deny the hotel. It seemed to be little more than an excuse and a poor one at that.
Presuming the hotel now goes through, the real heroes here may be private investors led by Old National Bank, which committed $11.5 million to the hotel, and likely cleared the way for a majority of council members to lend their support to the hotel. Indeed, what this develop does is allow the council to share in credit for moving the hotel project forward. They can make the case, especially at election time, that it was their pressure that forced the city to scramble to find a way to reduce the public share of the hotel funding.
As we said, Winnecke committed long ago to aggressively pursue the medical school for Downtown Evansville. Some people even see the construction of a major hotel in Downtown Evansville as a sign to Indiana University that here is a city serious about its future.
Evansville appeared to be anything but progressive last week when the City Council indicated it might be willing to allow the dreams for a new hotel and a resurgent convention business to slip off into the Ohio River, likely leaving the city with a closed Centre convention center and an ugly vacant lot next to the city’s new arena, the Ford Center.
But that all changed last week when Winnecke’s administration and business leaders came up with the private money and with a reworked plan for the hotel, cutting out retail and storage space while retaining 253 beds.
The Council on Monday agreed to delay its decision until a special meeting at 5 p.m. on Monday, in order to give members time to study the new proposal. In addition, it gives council members an opportunity to get right with a majority of residents who obviously support the promises of jobs, income, and business that a major new hotel should bring.
Vote yes on Monday.