Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Never Fear -- IDI Is Here !

The inclusion of Tamara Zahn in the Indiana Black Expo task force to find solutions to the violence that erupted this past weekend, sent these old eyes rolling. Zahn is President of Indianapolis Downtown, Inc., (IDI) an organization that by all appearances simply duplicates the efforts of other organizations while living large off government handouts.

You may find it interesting that IDI received a City "Community Crime Prevention Grant" to the tune of $100,000 to run from April 1, 2010, through March 31, 2011. Insulting to all neighborhood groups, they received this grant in the "Neighborhood" category. The grant is available on the City's new contract database and is contract number 7683.

The grant/contract says:
The primary goal of the IDI bike and walking patrol is to decrease the number of crimes from levels recorded in previous years. In 2010, we will strive to continue to reduce Downtown crime to fewer than 2,000 crimes. We rely on IMPD and FBI crime statistics which we regularly review and analyze in order to proactively allocate patrol hours to address and mitigate emerging trends.

Talk about duplicating services. If downtown crime can be reduced by a greater police presence, then why isn't IMPD allocating their resources accordingly? Especially when it is City money being spent by IDI.

The latest tax return for IDI on guidestar.org, is for 2008. It reports $1.8 million in revenue, 68% of which was from public sources, and expenses of $2.4 million, while sitting on assets nearing $6 million. Perhaps more interesting is that they reported 17 employees, among which they list the top 5 paid. Among these 5 is President Zahn, and 4 Vice Presidents. Talk about a top heavy organization ! No telling how many other VPs are among the remaining 12 employees.

Zahn pulled down $200,000 in reportable compensation plus $18,132 in 'other compensation' in 2008. VP Julia Watson received $104,480 plus $13,277 -- VP Fred Laughlin got $89,500 plus $3,440 -- VP Terry Sweeney was paid $85,883 plus $11,222 -- and VP Molly Williams received $84,900 plus $11,403.

The City should not be helping to fund IDI - especially since they are duplicating services provided by the City itself. IDI should be forced to sink or swim on its own hook. If it truly is a benefit to downtown businesses, then it would survive without the government dole.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

You want get any argument from DMD employees (other than the ones who have gone to work there).

Paul K. Ogden said...

Of all the downtown leeches, I think IDI is the worst. I totally agree with you. IDI needs to be kicked to the curb. Zahn's salary is outrageous.

Anonymous said...

Peterson's office did an assessment of these pseudo municipal "intermediaries", including IDI, at the start of his administration and had a chance to streamline a lot of waste like this and nothing happened other than GIPC moving to the 25th floor.

Anonymous said...

Is the Marion County Sheriff Dept's chief shake-down artist, Major Hank Bosworth, still pulling down $50,000+ (in addition to his MCSD salary) for being IDI's "chief of security"...?

Had Enough Indy? said...

There is a Hank Bosworth listed on IDI's website as "Police Services Coordinator" http://www.indydt.com/staff.cfm?&lm=ai

Anonymous said...

Wow...hard to imagine how Hank Bosworth, at his age, could manage the physical strain of working two full-time jobs for so many years. He must have the constitution of a horse to put in 80 hours a week, year in and year out like that. No, wait...you mean he doesn't work 40 hours a week? Isn't that, like, ghost employment, or something?

Yoda said...

The pastors that commented right after the shootings were right on the money, there is no need for a study. The IDI is a waste of our tax dollars and should not be supported any longer.

Anonymous said...

Has the FBI, IRS, or any of the other acronyms been asked to look into Bosworths dealings? How can someone who has not been through ILEA carry a gun? There was no grandfather clause and records were not burned in a fire that I know of.