Expansion of Protection from Discharge of Weapons On Council Agenda Monday Night

Up for a vote at tomorrow night's City-County Council meeting will be Prop 6.  This proposal, introduced by Councillor Angela Mansfield yet again, would expand to all of Marion County, the prohibition on shooting off guns.  Mansfield added exceptions to the expansion for agriculture-zoned parcel of 10 acres or more, and for shooting ranges of various types.  It is already illegal to shoot off guns within the old City limits and within the excluded cities of Lawrence, Beech Grove and Speedway.

Curiously enough, it is also illegal outside the old City limits and this ordinance would actually carve out the exceptions noted above.  When the IMPD taxing district was expanded so the City could pull in more tax revenue from the outlying Townships, the ban on shooting off guns was also expanded.  Public Safety Director Troy Riggs unilaterally gave everyone outside the old City limits a pass on obeying the law.  I wonder how he gets such authority to decide which ordinances he will enforce and where.

It is well past time that this Ordinance applies to all of us equally.

It is no less startling and threatening to hear gunfire in the perimeter outside old Indy than it is to hear it inside.  Just because the probability of criminal intent is less, does not make it safer or of less concern for nearby residents.

Shooting in one's own backyard, with or with a target, with or without safety training, with or without the intent to intimidate ones neighbors, still can alarm, frighten, and cause concern to those neighbors.  I know from personal experience that when you hear gunfire you cannot assume it is of benign intent.  You cannot assume that errant aim will not harm you or your loved ones.

Hunters pursuing their hobby, sometimes illegally on others' property, don't always know the many directions that prey may take that also leads in a straight line to a house or playground. 

Bullets can travel 1 to 5 miles, depending upon the gun and other variables.  This substantial radius increases the need for Prop 6 to pass.

It is not enough that few people have been seriously injured by hunters and backyard shooters to keep Prop 6 from passing.  Everyone should have the right to enjoy their own property.  When the threat of guns going off keep you and your children from enjoying your own backyard, then the things have gone too far and need to be righted.  

At the Rule Committee meeting where Prop 6 was sent to the full Council by a vote of 4-2, Councillor Bob Lutz said that he generally supported Mansfield's efforts, but would vote against it lest someone take the issue to court based on his interpretation of the wording of a 2011 Indiana law keeping local government from passing any local laws impeding the right to own guns.  Council Attorney, Fred Biesecker, noted that the word 'discharge' of a weapon was deliberately removed from the Indiana law before its passage.  Noone has taken the ban on shooting off guns within the old City limits to Court, and the City has not removed that ban for fear of losing a potential lawsuit in that geography.  It seems like a straw dog to worry about possible legal challenge to a simple expansion of an existing law.

Councillor Christine Scales notes that some Councillors who advocate a 50 foot safety free zone to protect downtown-goers from panhandlers, apparently do not find protecting citizens from stray bullets of any concern.  Scales makes an excellent point.

Loud music from a neighbor can get the police to show up and restore the peace.  Firing off a gun, with its attendant alarm as well as its loud retort, should also elicit action by the police, not just a 'call us when someone is hurt' attitude.  Given Riggs' curious position regarding the enforcement of an existing ordinance, Prop 6 needs to pass so all of us can get the same protections.

City Council Postpones Prop 148 - Waiting for Outcome of Airport Board Vote

This Friday, the Airport Authority Board will vote on whether to terminate the lawsuit they filed to stop off airport parking in Ameriplex.  Prop 148, a Council Resolution that urges them to do so, was postponed at last night's Council meeting, waiting to see exactly what Friday's decision is.

As I noted in my last entry, Prop 148 was initiated by Councillor Adamson and co-sponsored by the two district Councillors, Lutz and Holliday, as well as 10 other Councillors in a bipartisan show of support for Decatur Township.

In offering the motion to postpone, Adamson had a few thoughts to share, and I, for one, am glad he shared them.  I particularly thought it an important idea, that the Airport should consider reimbursing Mid-West Logistics, the owner of the ground in  Ameriplex where the Fast Park facility would be built, the $215,000 they spent fighting this frivolous lawsuit.

Here are Adamson's comments from the WTCY video of last night's meeting.

Is it Most Sincerely Dead ? Airport Chief Says Lawsuit Over Fast Park To Be Withdrawn

In an exclusive this afternoon, Jon Murray, IndyStar reporter, quoted Indianapolis Airport Director, Bob Duncan, as saying the Airport's two year battle to stop a Fast Park facility from locating in Ameriplex, will end.  Murray relays the following:

Authority Board President Mike Wells discussed the issue with other board members and found consensus in support of airport officials’ plans to drop the lawsuit, Duncan said this afternoon.

Coincidence or final straw, this comes as the Council readies for Prop 148 on Monday night.  This Council Resolution chides the airport for continuing to engage in the lawsuit filed to overturn the land use changes, granted by the Metropolitan Development Commission, that would allow a Fast Park & Relax facility to be built on 31 acres just off Ameriplex Parkway.

In keeping with the long strange trip this has been, Murray quotes Councillor Bob Lutz, whose district includes the northern half of the Indianapolis Airport, and who aptly put it :

 “I am so happy and so furious all at the same time!” he wrote in an email to The Star. “All of the wasted effort and taxpayer dollars. Plus the time, energy and money Ameriplex and Chavez had to spend and what was accomplished? Nothing!”

Lutz was the key driver of the Council's decision last fall, to dock the Airport budget by $100,000; the expected cost of the lawsuit in outside attorneys.  He also got 13 Councillors to vote against the entire Airport budget when it came before the full Council.

IBJ reporter, Kathleen McLaughlin, reports that Prop 148 may be withdrawn if the termination of the Airport's lawsuit can be directly verified.

At-large City-County Councilor Zach Adamson, a Democrat, said he would not pull his resolution from Monday night's agenda until Midwest Logistics confirms that the airport will withdraw its appeal. "They had two and a half years to do the right thing, and they refused to do it," he said of the airport authority. "It's criminal what they've done to this business."

Adamson initiated Prop 148 and has been a steadfast opponent of the lawsuit.

Can this day have finally arrived?  I looked on the Airport's website and cannot find any press release.  But, Murray has Bob Duncan's comments and I am hearing of email verifications coming from the Mayor's office and from Mike Wells, President of the Airport Authority Board, as well.

So, just maybe the wicked witch is not only dead, but most sincerely dead !

CIB Tapped For $15 Million PILOT

The Municipal Corporations committee of the City-County Council added a $15 million payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) obligation to the CIB's 2013 budget last night, by a party line 5-3 vote.

You can watch the entire hearing by visiting the WCTY archives.

You can expect that unelected Mayor Vaughn (sitting in for Mayor Greg Ballard who is on a four year world tour) did not like the outcome. And you can expect that any action taken by the CIB in response to the PILOT, will be action dictated by Vaughn.

There was much legal wrangling during the meeting between Councillor Bob Lutz, Council Counsel Fred Biesecker, and CIB Attorney Toby McClamrock.  The bones of contention revolved around a) whether adding a paragraph requiring the PILOT was an additional appropriation (which is not allowed under state law), b) whether an assessed value made after March 1 can be used to levy taxes in 2013, or if they must wait until 2014, and c) whether ordinary tax procedures apply to PILOTs anyway.  McClamrock hoisted the flag of - we may not pay it anyway - to see who saluted, but no responses were made from either side of the aisle.

On the actual meat of the reasons for this PILOT, Councillor Brian Mahern kept bringing it back to the fact that the Mayor's proposed budget would let police and fire numbers drop even further.  He said there are already 100 fewer police than at the time of the merger and by not holding recruit classes, the numbers would drop even further.  He noted as well, that the CIB relies heavily upon IFD and IMPD services for the many events that are held in their facilities.

While Councillor Lutz primarily discussed the legal aspects, Councillor Cardwell brought up all the trickle down taxes that he said were due to the CIB, indicating that was more than enough help to the City.

Ann Lathrop mentioned "I feel your pain" and later said she had a fiduciary responsibility to the CIB "not to run it into bankruptcy".  Oh pah-leez on both counts.

The CIB has had more than enough cash to give $10 million for each of the last three years to the Pacers and at the same time increase its year end 2009 cash balance from $26 million to a year end 2012 cash balance expected to be $76 million.  They also have so much money that they are proposing that all of an anticipated $4 million gained from the sale of one of its buildings be simply given to the ICVA - over and above the $9 million the CIB usually gives them.

Unfortunately for the CIB, their believability index runs near the empty mark for much of the public and some elected officials as well.

Is this PILOT the perfect solution?  No.  But the Mayor isn't offering any solutions at all to the drop in IFD and IMPD counts that would be caused by having no recruit classes.  I'm very glad that someone is stepping up to the plate and getting some solutions in place.

In the age of tax caps, the city does have to rethink some of its own self inflicted revenue hits - especially not sunsetting TIF districts that are no longer in debt.  They should rethink the airport keeping hundreds of acres of land, that it does not need for aviation purposes, off the tax rolls.  With the Great Recession still upon us, the city budget has to make it through a few more years with services intact.  This year's challenges include the recruit classes.

The CIB is given special treatment each year because they are key to the ever sacred cow - sports.  IndyGo is running on bare bones and told to dig to dangerous levels in their cum fund to survive.  The Library has had to cut employees and hours over the last few years.  Its not asking all that much for the CIB to help out here.

The budget goes to the full Council Monday night.  Come January 10, 2013, when the PILOT is due, we'll see if the CIB pays up, or if Vaughn has them fight it out in court.

Muni Corps Committee Trims Airport Budget

As I mentioned in my last blog entry, this phase of the budget season is usually dry and boring.  What with split government this year, we are seeing an attempt by the Democrats to change Mayor Ballard's introduced budget in significant ways.  But, still I was expecting the Muni Corps committee meeting to be dry and perfunctory.  Figuring I'd save myself a needless trip and parking fee, I emailed Chairman Monroe Gray and asked if there were going to be any amendments introduced.  Yes, he thought Councillor Lutz would be putting forth something.

Councillor Bob Lutz is a Republican, so what's up?  Could he be fiddling with the Airport's budget?  The airport got an earful from the public and a polite note of disagreement from the Councillors when they presented their budget in committee last week.  A key spark was the fact that the Airport Board had just decided to begin an appeal of Judge Keele's ruling against them in their lawsuit that tried to stop a Fast Park facility from being built in Ameriplex.

Well, they got more than that this time.

Lutz offered an amendment to cut their budget by $100,000; the cost of the appeal.  In a $161 million budget, they won't be left wounded or anything.   Through this cut, the Council would be sending a message that the continuation of this lawsuit is frowned upon.

Lutz and Councillor Jason Holliday share the airport in their districts.  Lutz on the Wayne side and Holliday on the Decatur.

Between them they laid out some of the history of the airport/Ameriplex/Fast Park story that I had not heard discussed in public before.  And it is telling.  Both the developer and Ameriplex approached the airport as soon as they thought there might be a good match in locating a Fast Park facility within the industrial park.  They wouldn't go any further if the airport had a problem with it.  The airport didn't have a problem.  The Mayor's office didn't have a problem.

Fast forward to  when plans were coming to fruition.  Indy Park Ride & Fly - an off airport parking facility that moved out of Marion County and into Plainfield when the new terminal opened - had hired an attorney who went door to door in the abutting neighborhood.  That attorney is now representing the airport in its lawsuit.

Lets face it, this lawsuit doesn't have merit.  Never did.  The airport is simply using its deep pockets to make it too expensive and too prolonged for Fast Park and Ameriplex to continue.  They want to drive a legitimate business out of Decatur Township.  They don't want the competition.  This governmental entity wants to kill off competitors in a free market.

Long story short,  the committee voted 4-3 to amend the airport's budget by $100,000.  Voting with the Decatur community were Councillors Lutz, Holiday, Cardwell, and Mahern.  Voting against were Councillors Gray, Talley, and Osili.

They also voted to send it to the full Council with a do-pass recommendation.  I could see Gray vote no, but could not tell who else may have joined him.

This is an important vote for Decatur Township.  We overwhelmingly want the Fast Park to be built.  It is not your granddad's parking facility; rather it is so green that it can teach the airport a thing or two about being environmentally responsible.  It would be located outside the TIF and bring much needed tax dollars to our schools and help move us toward a more balanced tax base.  It will spark the development of much need commercial property that will benefit the community at large and help Ameriplex attract more high salary tenants to the Purdue Research Park.

I want to thank Councillors Bob Lutz, Jason Holliday, Jeff Cardwell, and Brian Mahern for standing up with us and standing up for us.  Your support means a lot to us.

For those who are interested, I've embedded that part of the committee meeting from the WCTY archives below - it runs almost half an hour:



Big Night At Rules Committee

The City-County Council Rules Committee will be taking up some big issues tonight, including partner benefits for City/County employees, and an ordinance banning blackballing of hotel workers who preveiusly worked for a temp agency. 

While most people attending will be interested in one of those two, I do want to make mention of an additional proposal that,if passed, would seek a half million loan from the state and then increase your taxes in 2013 to pay it back.  Hmmm...
Prop 168 does not say what purpose the half million would serve, just that it would be deposited in the City's Cumulative Capital Development Fund.  According to the budget for 2012, this fund was estimated to have over $3.7 million fund balance at the end of this year.  They used this fund to handle some of the property tax circuit breaker credits, eating into the over $8.8 million beginning balance. (see p 82 and 33 of the pdf) So why they need to feed this fund with a loan and add to our taxes next year is not clear.

Prop 179, sponsored by Councillor Brian Mahern, would establish a new requirement for a hotel to qualify for its annual operating license from the City.  No hotel would be able to enter into a services contract if that contract contained a stipulation that the hotel could not employ a person who had previously worked for the services agency.  This practice traps people in the employ of these temporary agencies and their attendant low wages with no benefits.  The hotels were quite happy to hide behind the skirts of the maids and other hotel workers in petitioning for more and more taxpayer funds to flow to the ICVA and the CIB - then unceremoniously cut these workers' jobs in favor of these black-hearted outsourcing agreements.
Prop 213, sponsored by Councillors Mansfield, Adamson, Barth, Hickman, Lutz and Hunter, would make various benefits available to City and County government employees who are in domestic partnerships. To qualify, the couple would have to be living together for at least one year and file a Domestic Partnership declaration the Human Resources.  The benefits provided to the partner would be the same as those now afforded to a spouse of an employee - such as health insurance and pension benefits - and family/medical leave would be provided to the employee for situations arising with their partner.  Should the domestic partners cease being a couple, HR would have to be notified immediately.  All benefits provided to a partner would be taxable to the employee.

On Prop 213, all I can say is - about time.  The State refuses to allow same sex partners to marry, stripping these couples of many legal rights married couples take for granted.  The least we can be as a City is progressive enough to provide equal benefits for partners as we provide to spouses.

The agenda for the Rules Committee lists 8 items.  The meeting will begin at 5:30 pm in the Public Assembly Room.

Prop. 303 Gets Hearing Tonight

Tonight's meeting of the City-County Council's Rules and Public Policy Committee will hold a public hearing on Proposal 303. This Proposal, authored by Councillor Coleman, would require all City or County Government contracts be posted online within 7 days of being signed.

This is a breath of sunshine in public access. With technology today, it is entirely feasible and the access is in the best public interest.

The meeting begins at 5:30 pm in room 260 of the City-County Building. The committee is Chaired by Councillor Lutz who can be reached at rlutz@indygov.org