Sobering story on Terre Haute and near future

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Sycamorefan96 said:
Don't be fooled, his plan is the same as the people that have been failing us for years: line up Greg Gibson's pockets so he can sell some more land for some low paying retail and restaurant jobs.
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I just don't get your hatred for Gibson. One of the few people we have in our community that is investing in our community. Sure he's gonna make some money along the way, what's wrong with that. Have you also noticed that he's bought two local landmarks and saving them from the wrecking ball ( Hulman building and Indiana theatre). I get so sick of people criticizing those trying to make something happen. I would just refer you to SSOM's list of positives about our community. I would also challenge you to try doing something to make Terre Haute better. Get out and pick up trash along the roads, volunteer at the Boys Club. Be part of the solution. Yes we have problems, but as has been said poverty is everywhere. Go through downtown Indy, Chicago, St. Louis etc. Try being positive about something besides the damn OVC for once.
 

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meistro said:
I just don't get your hatred for Gibson. One of the few people we have in our community that is investing in our community. Sure he's gonna make some money along the way, what's wrong with that. Have you also noticed that he's bought two local landmarks and saving them from the wrecking ball ( Hulman building and Indiana theatre). I get so sick of people criticizing those trying to make something happen. I would just refer you to SSOM's list of positives about our community. I would also challenge you to try doing something to make Terre Haute better. Get out and pick up trash along the roads, volunteer at the Boys Club. Be part of the solution. Yes we have problems, but as has been said poverty is everywhere. Go through downtown Indy, Chicago, St. Louis etc. Try being positive about something besides the damn OVC for once.
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Honestly, if anything, you're begging for 10 more just like him, each with massive egos so they start trying to out do one another.
 
I actually like a lot of what Gibson does, but my problem is when you start taking money from people in the town and basically give it directly to him. We have this convention center that they are taxing everyone for everytime we go out to eat and they build it on Gibson's land (of course) just so he can make a few bucks. Why else do you think he was pushing for it so hard? It's a big waste of money because they rarely ever make money in the first place and secondly I seriously doubt people and businesses are banging down the door to have a convention here.

You all miss the point everytime. If he invests in stuff and makes money then that's great. I don't mind that at all. But no, the taxpayers in our community should not be paying him to invest in Terre Haute. It's not that hard to figure out unless your heads are in the sand.
 
Will the money spent to renovate Hulman Center ever show a reasonable ROI? That seems a worse investment than the Convention Center which just might bring multile events to town throughout the year.

Just like in athletics, it is a facilities war. Either you spend money in very questionable ways or you fall behind. Spending $30MM on a new football stadium will never show a return but many people favor it. I expect we could sign a 20-year deal to play all of our home games at Lucas Oil Stadium for far, far less than the cost of a new stadium plus it would bring our games to a major market and into easy travel distance for a vast number of alums. And I expect most of the 2,000 or so locals who attend now would enjoy 5-6 weekends in Indy.
 

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DyedBlue said:
Will the money spent to renovate Hulman Center ever show a reasonable ROI? That seems a worse investment than the Convention Center which just might bring multile events to town throughout the year.

Just like in athletics, it is a facilities war. Either you spend money in very questionable ways or you fall behind. Spending $30MM on a new football stadium will never show a return but many people favor it. I expect we could sign a 20-year deal to play all of our home games at Lucas Oil Stadium for far, far less than the cost of a new stadium plus it would bring our games to a major market and into easy travel distance for a vast number of alums. And I expect most of the 2,000 or so locals who attend now would enjoy 5-6 weekends in Indy.
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The Hulman Center is GUARANTEED to have 30+ events annually (MBB & WBB), add in the other ISU events, how many concerts come to The Haute? I think the concerts dropped off for a variety of reasons (chiefly, the poor quality of the "systems" in Hulman)

How many IHSAA events are in Hulman? Sectional, Regional... Regular season games...

The IHSAA has virtually killed basketball in the with their "class experiment" but Hulman is still a Regional site on occasion - no?

IF a convention center was going to come to Terre-dise; it should have been part of the Hulman reno...

Wait, wasn't THAT the plan?

$$ are better spent expanding an existing facility than breaking new dirt
 
4Q_iu said:
The Hulman Center is GUARANTEED to have 30+ events annually (MBB & WBB), add in the other ISU events, how many concerts come to The Haute? I think the concerts dropped off for a variety of reasons (chiefly, the poor quality of the "systems" in Hulman)

How many IHSAA events are in Hulman? Sectional, Regional... Regular season games...

The IHSAA has virtually killed basketball in the with their "class experiment" but Hulman is still a Regional site on occasion - no?

IF a convention center was going to come to Terre-dise; it should have been part of the Hulman reno...

Wait, wasn't THAT the plan?

$$ are better spent expanding an existing facility than breaking new dirt
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Also all high school graduations, etc.
 
Sycamorefan96 said:
I actually like a lot of what Gibson does, but my problem is when you start taking money from people in the town and basically give it directly to him. We have this convention center that they are taxing everyone for everytime we go out to eat and they build it on Gibson's land (of course) just so he can make a few bucks. Why else do you think he was pushing for it so hard? It's a big waste of money because they rarely ever make money in the first place and secondly I seriously doubt people and businesses are banging down the door to have a convention here.

You all miss the point everytime. If he invests in stuff and makes money then that's great. I don't mind that at all. But no, the taxpayers in our community should not be paying him to invest in Terre Haute. It's not that hard to figure out unless your heads are in the sand.
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I really should pass on this. But, I’m a few drinks in so what the hell. Do you realize that all these projects Gibson does means jobs for Hautens? There is a need in this area for a convention center. That doesn’t mean we’re gonna take away from Indy or Vegas. It means there are smaller niche events looking for a venue. Do you realize that the downtown hotels are booked most of the time? Do you realize they are already booking events and are short on hotel space? Either get on board or get the hell out of the way!
 

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Basically what I have learned on this thread is that most of you don't really care about the corruption in Terre Haute / Vigo County as long as you think it benefits the area in some way.

I'm certainly glad some of you have pride in the area and are happy to call it home. I really like the area myself and don't ever see myself leaving besides joyriding cross country in my truck. Trust me, if I didn't care I wouldn't even bother commenting on this thread.
 
Sycamorefan96 said:
Basically what I have learned on this thread is that most of you don't really care about the corruption in Terre Haute / Vigo County as long as you think it benefits the area in some way.

I'm certainly glad some of you have pride in the area and are happy to call it home. I really like the area myself and don't ever see myself leaving besides joyriding cross country in my truck. Trust me, if I didn't care I wouldn't even bother commenting on this thread.
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What is your definition of corruption? Maybe that would help some of us trying to understand what exactly you're trying to get at. Moreover, can you provide a specific example of what corruption you're speaking of specifically?

Did someone else with access to the necessary capital bid on a local project that was given to Gibson?

As an aside, you chose to get stuck on the wrong sentence of my original response to you. So what then are your action items to drive the change against this corruption you're calling out? You funneling your extra funds into opening a business that can employ some non-retail and restaurant folks? What kind of business you starting?
 
sycamore tuff said:
How about we all call a truce on this and be happy the football team won tonight.
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You want to call a truce? You asked for people to show some pride - you got a taste of pride and now you want a truce? Figures.
Sycamorefan96 said:
Basically what I have learned on this thread is that most of you don't really care about the corruption in Terre Haute / Vigo County as long as you think it benefits the area in some way.

I'm certainly glad some of you have pride in the area and are happy to call it home. I really like the area myself and don't ever see myself leaving besides joyriding cross country in my truck. Trust me, if I didn't care I wouldn't even bother commenting on this thread.
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If all you learned in this thread was that people don’t care about corruption then I learned that you’re a slow learner and didn’t actually learn a God damn thing.
 
The bottom line is I'm against crooked deals like raising people's taxes so they can either buy land or rent off of a specific resident. If I had been on the council I would have voted against it.
 
And as far as me starting a business. I have no interest in that whatsoever.

The city and the county need to get together and see what they can do to get better jobs to come to the area. They should maybe try to take some lessons from other municipalities across Indiana and even other states that have been successful. This "build it and they will come" strategy doesn't cut it. You might attract some restaurant and hotel jobs but those aren't usually career jobs that will keep people from leaving Terre Haute to find something better.
 

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SSOM, I was just trying to avoid an online fight like would happen when the old Rockville coach would get on here after having a few. I probably overreacting. As far as corruption is concerned I have heard of certain members of the community threatening to not let businesses in unless the local got a cut without putting money in. Let's just say my source was very close so I do have reason to believe it to be true. Luckily for the area the attempt at extortion failed.
 
Sycamorefan96 said:
The bottom line is I'm against crooked deals like raising people's taxes so they can either buy land or rent off of a specific resident. If I had been on the council I would have voted against it.
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You realize that raising taxes is the defacto standard lever that local Governments have to bring in any jobs as they usually give the tax abatements. Those always get passed on to the local populace.

How would you get a business to bring thousands of jobs to your area? What would your pitch be? Curious now.
 
I would start with my idea. A real effort to clean up the city. Make it a place where not only would a company like to be because of the great things that the area has to offer as stated by SSOM, but also where the people running the business would like to live.
 
sycamore tuff said:
I would start with my idea. A real effort to clean up the city. Make it a place where not only would a company like to be because of the great things that the area has to offer as stated by SSOM, but also where the people running the business would like to live.
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Which would require taxing the citizens to pay for the labor, equipment and consumables for the undertaking. That is without having any guaranteed ROI.
 
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