What's with the folks who reside on the 25th floor of the City-County Building? Mayor Greg Ballard's Office, by the way. Is there enough oxygen that high up? Maybe we should send in some testing equipment.
I tell you why I am concerned. Its that wacky, light-headed way they have for figuring out how to generate new revenues for our City. Well, that's the ideas that are generated on the 25th floor, not those thought up on the lower floors or, even better, outside the Building altogether.
Good idea : Raising fees to cover costs in the new Office of Code Enforcement (OCE). I actually support this effort. There was an analysis done to calculate cost of services performed and the fees were set to those calculated costs.
Bad idea : The Mayor not standing up to the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce (GICC) and supporting the new Office of Code Enforcement THAT HE CREATED and which was always envisioned to be fee-supported. The introduction of this ordinance has been held up because GICC is supposedly worried about the cabbies. LOL !!!! Complaints about taxis are the number one category of complaints to public safety. Vehicles in poor condition, failure to speak English, refusal of credit cards, overcharging/surcharges, refusing short trip fares, lack of directional knowledge, illegal parking, unsafe driving, and failure to return lost goods are the topics of those complaints. According to OCE, IMPD and the hospitality industry cites cabs as a major downtown concern. Well you can't fix the problem with no money. Pretty simple.
Good idea : Raising fees to cover costs of zoning, variance, and related petitions in Current Planning of the Department of Metropolitan Development. Well, this one could have been funded in other ways. But, at budget time it was decided they would go fully fee funded just like OCE. Again, there was a cost of services analysis which was used to establish the individual fees. This new fee structure was approved by the Metropolitan Development Commission and the three Boards of Zoning Appeals after Councillor Lincoln Plowman and the Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations spoke in favor. The Mayor sent nobody to support what HE DECIDED SHOULD HAPPEN.
Bad idea : Selling off parking meters and letting future downtown parkers pay exorbitant prices to park. Sounds like a sure fire way to get businesses who like having customers to move to the burbs. Idea generated on the 25th floor. See what I am saying? Paul Ogden over at Ogden on Politics has an entry on this proposal today.
Bad idea : Supporting a 35% hike in water rates so that you can build equity and privatize the company for an up front wad of dough. Water rates should be dependent upon the cost of delivery of said water. There should not be another increment to bankroll a privatization deal. Even if the expenditure of that wad of dough is on neighborhood infrastructure - which we really cannot count on. More likely the infrastructure in front of businesses will get the lion's share of any expenditures by this administration. All for the economic development thesis that spending tax money on businesses and granting abatements to businesses will, in some unspecified distant day, make Indianapolis better for its residents. I hope the IURC protects the water company customers from any portion of the rate hike that is not directly tied to the delivery of safe drinking water.
Bad idea : That wacky abatement deal with TM Miller Enterprises where the City would become owner of a downtown garage for more than it cost to buy that garage. Again the tag line is economic development. Again, an idea from the 25th floor. By the way, my recent inquiry for a copy of the deal came back with the response that the deal still is not finalized. Maybe there is hope for the 25th floor yet.
Bad idea : The latest loophole in the laws governing abatements seems to have been discovered - on the 25th floor !! The City has the legal right to grant abatements to businesses with the approval of the MDC, and in the cases of abatements in Tax Increment Finance (TIF) Districts, with the additional consent of the City-County Council. When an abatement deal is constructed, the business agrees to certain jobs goals or investment dollars in return for the abatement. Should those jobs goals or investment dollars not be met, they have to give back a pro-rated share of the property tax dollars forgiven -- its called the 'claw-back clause'. Property tax dollars are distributed to the schools, the library, the City-County, and the Townships, etc., in proportion to their tax levies. The Schools get more than half and the City-County gets about a fifth. But, the 25th floor is claiming that when an abatement deal goes belly up, IT should get ALL of the money clawed back from the business. Now, it might be legal, but it ain't right. Furthermore, what ain't also right is giving that money to the Indianapolis Convention and Visitor's Association and the Indiana Economic Development, Inc., instead of fixing sidewalks and putting in sewers and any number of infrastructure improvements that are always in the 'some day when we have more money' category of City priorities. Gary Welsh at Advance Indiana has a blog entry on this issue today.
Funniest idea : You have to admit that the spectacle of KFC vs PETA both vying to advertise on IFD smoke detectors and fire extinguishers is classic urban theater. Got to love it !! I'll even give the 25th floor props for the levity generated for only $5000 in freebies.
So, another day and another wacky idea from our most powerful floor of the City-County Building. But, really, is there enough oxygen up there?
Showing posts with label office of code enforcement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label office of code enforcement. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Saturday, January 9, 2010
City-County Council to Meet Monday Night
The Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council will meet this Monday evening.
One proposal up for a vote that is of note is Prop 490, 2009, which appoints Councillor Michael McQuillen to the CIB. That passed out of the Administration and Finance Committee on December 15 with a do pass recommendation - by a vote of 6-1. The public notice for that meeting included a blank in place of the name - and that is how the proposal was offered initially in committee.
Tradition has it that the President of the Council sits on the CIB as the Council's appointee. Ryan Vaughn is due to be elected the new Council President on Monday night. Listening to the Channel 16 archive (click on 'video' next to Dec. 15, 2009) of the meeting did shed light on what was going on. As explained by Councillor Vaughn, the Republican caucus met the night before to determine who they would be supporting for President, etc., of the Council for the coming year. Once that was determined, the incoming leadership put their heads together to decide who would be nominated for the CIB position. Councillor McQuillen's name was offered and it was filled into the blank by an amendment to Prop 490 at the committee meeting. He will be stepping down as Chair of the Municipal Corporations committee of the Council as well as Chair of the Council task force looking into new funding methods to bail out the CIB finances. Councillor Sanders voted 'no' on the Proposal in committee because of the way this was handled. Those voting in favor were Councillors Malone, Vaughn, Day, Pfisterer, Nytes and Lewis.
I must say that it is a positive move not to appoint Councillor Vaughn to the CIB due to his employment at Barnes & Thornburg whose clients include the Simons, who own the Pacers organization, which is in negotiations with the CIB for an additional $15 million a year of taxpayer support.
Of interest to those of us who work with zoning and variance matters is that Prop 476, 2009, reappointing Tim Ping to the MDC, comes to a vote by the full Council Monday night. Being introduced are Props 9 and 11, appointing Roberto A. Ramirez and Tasha M. Phelps, respectively, newly to the MDC. That means the two other Council appointees are not being renewed. I looked for the official list of MDC commissioners and who their appointing body is, and it has been removed from the Mayor's portion of the City's website. I do know that the Council gets 3 appointments, the Mayor 4 and the County Commissioners 2. I'll keep checking for its return and post that information at a later date.
Fortuitously, I had pulled the list of currently seated Board of Zoning Appeals members prior to that list's removal from the Mayor's site. The Council gets 2 appointments to each Board, the Mayor 2, and the MDC gets 1. To be voted on Monday are Props 477, 478, and 479, reappointing Earl Pool and Matthew Symons to BZA I and Mindy Westrick to BZA III. Also up for final vote is Prop 493, newly appointing Richard Redell to BZA II. Being introduced that night are Props 10 and 29, reappointing Alan Retherford to BZA III, and newly appointing Darryl "Troy" Bell supposedly to BZA I. Likely that is a typo since BZA I is full after Monday night's vote on Pool and Symons. I am guessing that BZA II is the intention, since that board would still have an opening. That means that currently seated Brad Klopfenstein and Larry Walker will not be reappointed by the Council to BZA II.
Of particular interest to the gun community is the introduction Monday night of Prop 13 - lucky 13 - approving the Mayor's appointment of Frank G. Straub as Director of Public Safety. This is being assigned to the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee which next meets on January 13 - again, lucky 13.
Of particular interest to me is what is NOT on the agenda for Monday night. The introduction of the new fee structure for the Office of Code Enforcement is being postponed yet again.
One proposal up for a vote that is of note is Prop 490, 2009, which appoints Councillor Michael McQuillen to the CIB. That passed out of the Administration and Finance Committee on December 15 with a do pass recommendation - by a vote of 6-1. The public notice for that meeting included a blank in place of the name - and that is how the proposal was offered initially in committee.
Tradition has it that the President of the Council sits on the CIB as the Council's appointee. Ryan Vaughn is due to be elected the new Council President on Monday night. Listening to the Channel 16 archive (click on 'video' next to Dec. 15, 2009) of the meeting did shed light on what was going on. As explained by Councillor Vaughn, the Republican caucus met the night before to determine who they would be supporting for President, etc., of the Council for the coming year. Once that was determined, the incoming leadership put their heads together to decide who would be nominated for the CIB position. Councillor McQuillen's name was offered and it was filled into the blank by an amendment to Prop 490 at the committee meeting. He will be stepping down as Chair of the Municipal Corporations committee of the Council as well as Chair of the Council task force looking into new funding methods to bail out the CIB finances. Councillor Sanders voted 'no' on the Proposal in committee because of the way this was handled. Those voting in favor were Councillors Malone, Vaughn, Day, Pfisterer, Nytes and Lewis.
I must say that it is a positive move not to appoint Councillor Vaughn to the CIB due to his employment at Barnes & Thornburg whose clients include the Simons, who own the Pacers organization, which is in negotiations with the CIB for an additional $15 million a year of taxpayer support.
Of interest to those of us who work with zoning and variance matters is that Prop 476, 2009, reappointing Tim Ping to the MDC, comes to a vote by the full Council Monday night. Being introduced are Props 9 and 11, appointing Roberto A. Ramirez and Tasha M. Phelps, respectively, newly to the MDC. That means the two other Council appointees are not being renewed. I looked for the official list of MDC commissioners and who their appointing body is, and it has been removed from the Mayor's portion of the City's website. I do know that the Council gets 3 appointments, the Mayor 4 and the County Commissioners 2. I'll keep checking for its return and post that information at a later date.
Fortuitously, I had pulled the list of currently seated Board of Zoning Appeals members prior to that list's removal from the Mayor's site. The Council gets 2 appointments to each Board, the Mayor 2, and the MDC gets 1. To be voted on Monday are Props 477, 478, and 479, reappointing Earl Pool and Matthew Symons to BZA I and Mindy Westrick to BZA III. Also up for final vote is Prop 493, newly appointing Richard Redell to BZA II. Being introduced that night are Props 10 and 29, reappointing Alan Retherford to BZA III, and newly appointing Darryl "Troy" Bell supposedly to BZA I. Likely that is a typo since BZA I is full after Monday night's vote on Pool and Symons. I am guessing that BZA II is the intention, since that board would still have an opening. That means that currently seated Brad Klopfenstein and Larry Walker will not be reappointed by the Council to BZA II.
Of particular interest to the gun community is the introduction Monday night of Prop 13 - lucky 13 - approving the Mayor's appointment of Frank G. Straub as Director of Public Safety. This is being assigned to the Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee which next meets on January 13 - again, lucky 13.
Of particular interest to me is what is NOT on the agenda for Monday night. The introduction of the new fee structure for the Office of Code Enforcement is being postponed yet again.
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