IndyConnect Eliminates Rail - But Keeps Hefty Budget [UPDATED]

Check the IndyConnect website and you'll see that light rail has been eliminated from both the phase 1 and long range mass transportation plans.  The light rail from downtown Indy to Noblesville was responsible for about half of the 10-year, $1.35 billion, budget.  Yet, the current budget remains at $1.35 billion over the 10 years of phase 1.  Go figure.

For comparison, I have uploaded onto Google Drive, the old phase 1 plan (that also shows the long range additions) that I got from the IndyConnect website on January 1, 2012.  Here's the link to the current phase 1 plan and the current long range plan.  The main routes have been color coded and reference to rail is out.

That does not mean that the rail can't be put back in the blink of a Board vote.  That is one of the frailties of the current mass transit bill (HB 1011) that now is before the Indiana Senate. They can tout any plan they want - including spaceships should they choose - before the public referendum.  But nothing ties them to any particular plan or philosophy of what any public money should be spent on.  Nothing.

Hopefully, the Senate will change that.

[UPDATED 2-27-13 The IndyConnect folks appear to be playing both sides of the fence.  Check out this entry from Urban Indy "Green Line Study Examines Downtown Alignments".  Among other items of discussion the option for laying light rail lines in downtown City streets is more than interesting.  The goal is to link the Green Line, evidently, to the new Transit Hub, slated to go in on the south side of Washington Street, across from City Hall.  Yet more reason for the Legislature to make sure the plan the public gets sold on, is the plan that is implemented, should a referendum be successful.]

Mass Transit - TIF Out, Eminent Domain Out, Other Good Ideas Avoided

First off, lets take a moment to celebrate that HB 1011 was amended to omit the option to establish a TIF district along any rail lines. This amendment was offered by Representative Cherrish Pryor. Whew ! One very bad idea down !

Now on to other good amendments - some that made it and others that didn't get far.

I tripped on a link to documents provided to Legislators on the ISL website (in.gov/legislative).  These apparently are the documents that are available on the Legislators desks at various hearing dates.  I poked on the mass transit bill (HB 1011) and the House Ways and Means committee and finally found a hearing on February 13 with several amendments, some voted on and others not.

In this group were some very good ideas.  Amendment 35 (here is the link, but it requires ftp and may not work for you) banned the use of taxpayer assets or forced employee time to promote the public question unless those assets were also made available to those opposed to the public question.  It also would have banned vendors from promoting the question. 

Amendment 35 was not heard - an author was not even found at the hearing.

Amendment 38 (click here - again I hope the link works for you) was heard and passed by consent.  It wasn't clear to me if Rep. Pryor authored it, but she certainly championed it in the House Ways and Means Committee meeting. It included the elimination from HB 1011, the transit authority use of eminent domain.  Discussion mentioned that the Cities and Counties have the authority and most of the right of way already.  It also included the additional requirement that any bonds floated by the transit authority must also be approved by the fiscal bodies of the Counties involved, and set minority and women hiring goals.  And also notable, the transit authority board would have additional seats appointed by the County Councils and County Commissioners.  The Marion County appointments would be 5 - 2 by the Mayor, 2 by the Council, and 1 by the Commissioners.

Amendments 37, 40, and 41 all included a township by township referendum vote.  The final evolution of this issue was to allow the outer townships of the outer counties to have individual referenda, but not the internal townships in those counties, and no township votes in Marion County at all.  Of course, they need the donors from Decatur, Perry, and Franklin Townships, who will not see any improvement in the lacking transit we now 'enjoy,' should this mass transit plan go all the way through.

HB 1011 did pass out of the House and now goes to the Senate.  Hopefully they will include language to limit taxpayer's subsidizing only the proponents of the public question, trim the costs in half, include township by township opt-in votes, and find a way to ensure that any plan implied in the public referendum be the plan that must be implemented with the tax revenue approved.

But, today, I intend to enjoy the fact that the TIF district is out.

City-County Council Meets Tonight

The Indianapolis-Marion County City-County Council meets tonight and there are a couple of interesting items on their agenda.

Being voted upon tonight will be Prop 33, which seeks to allocate $3 million of RebuildIndy funds for infrastructure improvements in the Avondale-Meadows area.  The intention is for this expenditure to substitute for a TIF district proposed earlier, whose stated goal was to entice a grocery store to locate and serve the neighborhoods.  This same proposal was voted on at the last Council meeting, but did not get a required 15 votes either up or down (final vote was 14-13, with two absent Councillors).

Several items to be introduced tonight caught my eye.

First is Prop 58, which seeks Council approval for the MDC to refinance a series of old bonds.  From the proposal itself, it is impossible to say if the bonds are part of a TIF district or not.  But several characteristics of this refinancing are more than interesting.  The effect of the proposal would be to retire old bonds from 1999/2002, when the principle was $29,365,000.  During the intervening 11-14 years, the City managed to pay less than $2 million in principle, leaving the current principle at $27,445,000.  The hope is to float no more than $28.5 million and sell bonds with a term ending in 2029.  So, while the City managed to pay less than $2 million over 14 years, they'll have to pay at least that each of the next 16.   Lots of questions arise in my mind about the fiscal stewardship exemplified here. 

Another, somewhat alarming, feature of Prop 58, is the indication that the City just might take out bond insurance on this beast.  Is our ability to repay these bonds in jeopardy?  Isn't the $80 million sitting idling in the 'Stabilization Fund' enough to ensure our City's full faith?

Keep your eye on Prop 58.

Second is Prop 60, which is to my knowledge, the first time the Council has considered granting a 100% 10 year abatement of taxes on equipment likely to have a less-than-10-years lifespan.  If approved, Prop 60 would allow Exact Target to avoid paying taxes on 'information technology' it intends to install.  I have requested more information on this.

Third is Prop 72, which would appropriate $11,630,000 in the CIB's budget to allow them to give the City 100% of this year's proceeds from the two recent tax hikes, as well as a $5 million shuffle between the CIB-City-MDC.  This shuffle begins when the CIB pays the City $5 million instead of spending the money on repairs of the Capitol Commons garage - the repairs will be paid for by the MDC with TIF money. So, bottom line is that the City will get $5 million from the TIF for public safety - which I expect is not on the list of allowed expenses of TIFs.

Its all about spending money, shuffling money, not collecting money, and avoiding paying obligations in a reasonable time frame only to find that doing so has penalties. 

Interesting Reading - SB325 - Would Increase Council Oversight of MDC Actions

It surely may have been discussed and I simply missed it, but SB325 is new to me and quite interesting.  Authored by powerful Senator, Luke Kenley, the bill's effect in Marion County would be to impose additional Council oversight of some actions of the Metropolitan Development Commission.  SB325 passed out of the Senate and now awaits action in the House.  The LSA review of the bill is also available.

If enacted, the legislation would require City-County Council review or approval whenever the MDC wanted to commit public funds for the payment of bonds, leases and any other 'loan' type obligation.  It would require approval in most instances.  It would require only review if the purpose was sale or acquisition of real estate for more than $5 million or for 3 years or longer term of payment - if less than either it would escape review and approval.

The bill makes the MDC budget subject to review by the Council and their books subject to audit by the State Board of Accounts.  Their meetings and documents would be subject to the State's open door and open records laws.

Of particularly strong interest to me was the provision that any obligation of TIF funds for bonds, leases, loans, etc., (unless for the purchase of real estate noted above) would require prior approval by the Council.  Also, for any TIF that generates more than twice the amount of money the MDC needs to pay the obligations of that TIF, the MDC would have to return the excess revenue to the regular tax stream, thereby going to help the schools, library, townships, etc.  Currently, the MDC can and does return some excess to the regular tax stream, but there is no threshold above which they must. The Council would have to approve the amount each year, AND, would have the authority to change the amount up or down.

I tried to find others who had an eye on this bill and found this statement from the Indiana Farm Bureau :

Indiana Farm Bureau supported the bill because it provides much needed checks and balances and much more transparency.

Absolutely.

Democrats Have Time to Redraw Their Maps To Increase Black VAP Majority Districts

As I mentioned in my last post, both competing Council District maps lose Black Voting Age Population (VAP) majority districts.  Currently there are 4.  The Republican drawn maps drop that number to 3, and the Democrat drawn maps drop to 2.

This is an important point.  Districts should to be drawn respecting communities of interest, with reasonably equal populations, be contiguous and reasonably compact.  Roughly one quarter of the Marion County population is African-American, so one would expect fair representation of that community would cause more than 2 Black VAP majority districts to be created.

Also, it should be said, one would hope that this was important to the Democratic caucus, especially, where roughly half of their voters are African-American.

But, where is the evidence that saving Black VAP districts can be accomplished.

I send you to the Common Cause District Builder website, Draw Marion County.   Common Cause Indiana used national resources to establish this website, held training sessions all around the County, encouraged individuals and groups to draw and submit their own maps using the software, and even submitted a map of their own.  Now, for full disclosure, I am a Board Member of Common Cause Indiana, and I was involved in drawing the map they submitted.

But, there were other maps drawn and shared on the Draw Marion County site.  Click here to begin, click on 'Enter As a Guest' button, and then click on the 'Shared' button.  This will cause a list of 10 Council District maps to appear.  The top one is the D drawn map.

As mentioned above, there are currently 4 Black VAP majority districts.  The R drawn map has 3.  The D drawn map has 2.

Of the 9 remaining 'Shared' maps, 2 have three Black VAP majority districts, 5 have 4 such districts, and 2 have five such districts.  All preserved more than the D drawn map.

So, it is not only possible, others (who didn't get paid to do it, even) managed more than the Democrat's hired gun did.

I say the Democrat Council caucus should use its time, while the legality of the R drawn maps is being considered in the Courts, to generate maps that better fit with the ideals of the party and which better preserve this very important community of interest.

Comparing D and R Drawn Maps - Demographics & Politics

Inspired by Paul Ogden's great catch (see "Technical Flaw May Doom GOP Drawn Indianapolis Council Districts") on the Republican drawn Council district maps, I stopped putting off using the Common Cause software to look over the Democrat drawn district maps.

Here are pertinent links for all of the competing maps and Council proposals:
--- R drawn maps
--- R ordinance
--- D drawn maps
--- D proposed ordinance
--- Common Cause DrawMarionCounty - R drawn maps
--- Common Cause DrawMarionCounty - D drawn maps

The Common Cause online program is helpful as it can be used to compare the various statistics for each of the maps.

I did input all of the D drawn maps, and as a verification that I did so correctly, the population of each district matched exactly the numbers provided on the Council website.

I looked at both the political (R voters vs. D voters) generated with the Common Cause website, which uses 2008 voting data and which generates only percentages.  There were two differences with the numbers provided on the Council website for the D drawn map - Council District 12 shows a Democratic majority on the Common Cause website, but a Republican majority on the Council site & Council District 3 was just the reverse.

Using the Common Cause website, the R drawn maps create 16 D majority and 9 R majority districts.  The D drawn maps create 17 D majority and 8 R majority maps.  The Common Cause website projects 19 D and 6 R districts in the currently used maps.

Of more concern, though, is the loss of Black majority voting age population districts.

Again, using the Common Cause website, the R drawn maps create 3 Black voting age population majority districts, the D drawn maps create only 2.  Both are down from the current 4 districts.

Looking at the non-white minority voting age population districts, both the D and R drawn maps create such 8 districts.  Currently there are 7.

Councillor Zach Adamson Speaks Out Against Lopsided Executive Power

In a very well phrased letter to the editor in today's IndyStar, Councillor At-Large, Zach Adamson, pushes against proposed legislation that would transfer most, if not all, of the fiscal responsibility properly residing in the City-County Council, to the Mayor.  Here is his the letter:

 Stop political bullying for more mayoral control 

There’s a strange smell in the air at the west end of Market Street. There are several bills, specifically SB 621 and HB 1399, making their way through the Indiana legislature that should concern every Hoosier. 

A system of checks and balances within government is a cornerstone of our democracy to ensure that no single person or body can hold unchecked reign over the people and/or their resources (property, money, etc). Indianapolis already has a strong mayor system.  

Even so, both the aforementioned bills seek to consolidate even greater power within the executive branch. These measures would remove the legislative oversight from many critical areas such as confirmation of department heads and allow unelected persons to spend your tax dollars as they will. If passed, they will concentrate the power of the executive over the Metropolitan Development Commission, where many of our tax dollars are spent and important zoning and development decisions are made.  

Unbelievably, these bills allow the executive unchecked spending power — not only the authority to line-item veto parts of the budget, but the unprecedented ability to write in different amounts, to change spending priorities at will, deliberately circumventing the legislative branch’s historic duty as the fiscal body, thereby creating an imperial executive. 

When Indianapolis and Marion County were consolidated, the mayor became the city-county executive, but we gave up our seven-member county council for four at-large city-county council members in the new city-county government. We now have three few representatives than other Indiana counties. SB621 seeks to remove those few remaining county-wide seats because demographic shifts suggest they are trending democratic; and more to the point, with a supermajority in the General Assembly, because Republicans can. 

These moves are nothing more than political bullying and it’s up to you to stop it. Please call your legislators and let them know your feelings on these issues. 

Zach Adamson
City-County Councilman, At-Large