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Business as usual
by Jack Miller Oct 29, 2003
Bart Peterson is a kinder, gentler Goldsmith
Bart Peterson became mayor of Indianapolis in January 2000, vowing to run the city like a business. Of course, that’s exactly what his predecessor, Steve Goldsmith, had been doing the previous eight years. Let’s see what differences exist between a business Democrat and a business Republican. First, let’s look at how our city is faring after 12 years of being managed like a “business.” Last year, SELF magazine featured a report titled “The Healthiest Places for Women to Live,” which examined 31 areas of wellness for women in the 200 largest U.S. cities. The study considered life-expectancy, crime, health care, cancer, exercise, etc. Business-like Indianapolis finished a disgraceful 199th. A recent IUPUI study shows that since 1991, Indianapolis has invested less public money in roads, schools and other infrastructure than the national average. Study author Sam Nunn predicted that “quality of life” in Indianapolis could slide in the long term if the trend continues. If the SELF study is accurate, it doesn’t have far to slide. Let’s see how our city has fared under our “municipal CEOs” Goldsmith and Peterson: • Each year, an open sewer called White River flows sluggishly south with over 4 billion gallons of Indy’s disgusting bodily wastes. E-coli counts in our waterways commonly reach 70 times EPA limits. Peterson has drafted a plan to reduce the waste dumped into the river and streams over the course of 20 years, but the city has not reduced the new hook-ups to the sewer system that will only add to the overflow of body wastes. • Money is raided from the sewer accounts to pay other city obligations. • The city Department of Public Works’ measurement of air quality last summer showed the highest ozone level since 1988, possibly contributing to what the National Cancer Institute has cited as one of the nation’s highest lung cancer rates. • No new streetlights for over two decades. According to the Comprehensive Annual Financial Reports for Indianapolis, there are fewer streetlights in Indianapolis right now than in 1987. • Over 30,000 houses still on septic systems, which the Peirce Report on Indianapolis cites as the second worst figure of any large city in America. • One of the lowest recycling rates in America, which noted urban expert Neil Peirce says is a result of the need “to feed the insatiable appetite of the garbage incinerator.” • Rampant sprawl with ineffective urban planning and no rapid transit system. • Largest city in the nation with no public access television. Now let’s compare records. The differences are somewhat hard to find: When asked, Peterson’s spokesperson declined to identify specific distinctions from the Goldsmith legacy or list any Goldsmith privatization contracts that have been rescinded or not renewed. The similarities, however, are easier to uncover: Consider that in 1993 Goldsmith hired Oscar Robertson Smoot (ORS) to manage multiple city projects. The contracts lasted 51 months and paid ORS $9.4 million. One of the reasons NUVO and The Indianapolis Star harshly criticized this contract was that Goldsmith provided ORS free office space in the City-County Building. The city also paid for phones, supplies, copier and gas for their cars. Peterson trumped Goldsmith in August 2002, hiring California firm Montgomery Watson Harza (MWH) for $16 million to manage the Combined Sewer Overflow program for 28 months. The goal of the city’s Long Term Control Plan isn’t to eliminate the sewage problem — just to make it more “acceptable” by 2020. To ensure that the entire $16 million winds up in the contractor’s kitty, MWH (and its subcontractors, collectively called the Clean Stream Team) has been treated to free office space in the Gold Building on Delaware Street. Taxpayers paid $249,000 for 27 months rent, which includes $187,000 for build-out of the MWH office. Projected annual rent will be a more modest $116,000, but the city picks up the tab on supplies, phones, etc., and, according to the Department of Public Works, has reimbursed MWH $25,327 (to date) for lodging, meals, travel, etc. According to the contract between the city and MWH, the city “anticipates that the services of program manager [MWH] will be necessary beyond the initial term,” possibly for the entire 20-year plan. In the area of campaign contributions, we see an eerie similarity between Peterson and Goldsmith. For Goldsmith’s entire term, it was an open secret that if you wanted a contract with the city, you better have a sizeable donation for the mayor’s war chest. Both men took in millions in campaign donations and approved tens of millions in contracts. Last year, Ralph Wagle, whose engineering firm has $170,000 in city contracts, gave Peterson $11,500. Wagle told The Indianapolis Star, “I like the fact he’s a businessman. He runs the city like a business.” Many big Goldsmith supporters are now big Peterson supporters. Do they just like mayors in general, or is there really so little difference that no one even notices? Or is it simply just a business deal? Both Goldsmith and Peterson bristled at the suggestion they trade contracts for campaign contributions. Goldsmith once told reporters, “People should judge me on the basis of my issues and not the portfolio of my investors.” Peterson is even more coy about his “investors,” telling reporters, “Look at me. Look at my history. Am I the kind of person who would do something like that?” Peterson spokesperson Jo Lynn Garing says, “There is absolutely no connection between city contracts and campaign contributions.” It must be purely coincidental that Peterson campaign records show that principals of the MWH and the Clean Stream Team mentioned earlier gave over $20,000 in campaign cash to Peterson last year. There are too many similarities between Peterson and Goldsmith to include in this short piece, but we can scan a few: • Goldsmith supported new terrain I-69. Peterson tries to walk a tightrope on this one, but is supporting the Indiana Department of Transportation as they go forward with the plans to tear up the land for a highway. • Both favor corporate tax abatements. Peterson boasted giving over $200 million in incentives in 2002 alone. • Goldsmith built Conseco Fieldhouse with $200 million taxpayer money and raised the grant to the Colts in 1998. Peterson has made no move to alter Goldsmith’s contract to provide huge subsidies to the Pacers, and he appears to be negotiating millions more for the Colts. • Goldsmith privatized 70 city services to save $149 million in wages and benefits, and paid $290 million to contractors, consultants, etc. Peterson kept most of Goldsmith’s privatizations in place, and city operating budgets show Peterson increased third party contacts by 40 percent. He added a $1.5 billion/20 year contract for U.S. Filter to run the waterworks. • In spite of slashing city workers, Goldsmith stayed on fairly good terms with labor. Peterson has angered police officers over FOP contracts and IWC employees for allowing U.S. Filter to cut benefits. • Peterson approved seven charter schools, essentially the privatization of public schools. Goldsmith supported charters but lacked authority to implement them. • Goldsmith acquired 452 acres of new parkland in his last four years. He spent millions to refurbish park facilities, but failed to turn them into profit centers. In comparison, Peterson acquired less land — 420 acres the last four years — and sat by while the St. Maur property, long coveted as parkland, transferred into private hands. Since 1999, the city has spent an average of 12 cents per capita on new parkland. Next year, the city has budgeted just $4,000 for new parks. A recent study commissioned by the city recommends that the city purchase an additional 5,000 acres for new parks. Four thousand dollars invested at current real estate prices means it will take Indianapolis 35,000 years to acquire the ideal acreage. For 12 years, Goldsmith and Peterson have indeed run Indianapolis like a business. According to University of Louisville political scientist David Imbroscio, a city run like a business “really means [it is] being run for business.” But the idea that government should be run like a business has a tragic flaw. The market was never meant to address public needs. The market isn’t even interested in people with needs — it’s interested in people with money. Until elected officials are forced to acknowledge the fact that government isn’t a business, our marketized city government will continue to attend to the demands of wealth — and public needs will literally go begging. When they decided to run Indianapolis like a business, perhaps someone should have asked Goldsmith and Peterson which business they were using for a model — Enron? Global Crossing? Conseco? United Airlines? Jack Miller is coordinator of Indiana Alliance for Democracy and president of Hoosier Environmental Council.
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