Blogger Gary Welsh over at Advance Indiana has been following the Blue Indy contract with the Ballard Administration (see here and here for the latest).
He reports that on Tuesday the Public Works Board voted on putting $6 M in a Region's Bank escrow account for Blue Indy to draw down - refusing to take public comments when he requested time to speak.
I have embedded the WCTY broadcast of the Blue-Indy escrow account section of the meeting below.
From what was said at the Board meeting, the Ballard administration is pooling the $6 M from three funds - the parking meter fund, the city's cumulative capital projects fund, and the rebuild indy fund. Whether this allotment of funding sources is a last-minute maneuver on the administration's part, or was buried in the budget from the get-go is not clear. From testimony by Bart Brown, the Council's CFO, it is clear that the Council did not know of this project and to its thinking, did not appropriate funds for it.
What also is left up in the air, is whether the administration cancelled or postponed other projects in order to have enough money to pay the $6 M tab - which is evidently due by Sept 1 according to testimony on the details of the contract in response to a Board member's question.
The 2016 budget for the Department of Public Works is up at tonight's Council Public Works committee meeting - beginning at 5:30 pm in room 260 of the City-County Building.
Showing posts with label blue indy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blue indy. Show all posts
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Thursday, August 20, 2015
Ballard Uses Neighborhood Services to Shill For Blue Indy
The Ballard Administration is pushing out ads for Blue Indy's electric car rental for profit business.
Like many of you, I receive messages from my Mayor's Neighborhood Liaison that sometimes tell you about trash pickup schedules, neighborhood clean ups, public information meetings and other items of interest to residents and neighborhoods.
Yesterday I got one from "Mayor's Neighborhood Services" and it contained an ad for Blue Indy. When I posted on Facebook about it, Ted Dobracki mentioned it was the second one. So I scrolled back through my not-yet-deleted emails, and sure enough, I had received an ad for Blue Indy in an email blast from my MNL on Tuesday as well.
This isn't right, guys. These email communications are supposed to be for government business, not ads for companies.
The Tuesday ad was brief and followed by a note on the rise in stormwater drainage fee - which is where my attention was drawn.
Like many of you, I receive messages from my Mayor's Neighborhood Liaison that sometimes tell you about trash pickup schedules, neighborhood clean ups, public information meetings and other items of interest to residents and neighborhoods.
Yesterday I got one from "Mayor's Neighborhood Services" and it contained an ad for Blue Indy. When I posted on Facebook about it, Ted Dobracki mentioned it was the second one. So I scrolled back through my not-yet-deleted emails, and sure enough, I had received an ad for Blue Indy in an email blast from my MNL on Tuesday as well.
This isn't right, guys. These email communications are supposed to be for government business, not ads for companies.
The Tuesday ad was brief and followed by a note on the rise in stormwater drainage fee - which is where my attention was drawn.
Yesterday's ad was more glossy and came after information about a grant opportunity for neighborhoods :
The blast list must be enormous. Not to mention the further reach effected when public officials and neighborhood folks forward Neighborhood Services' emails to others. It has actual monetary value to advertisers.
This misuse of taxpayer funded communications needs to stop. Hopefully this will be the last ad I get from the City government.
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