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Our Plan for Peterson
Affordable Housing
The Mayor’s Blueprint to End Homelessness and oft-declared “war” on abandoned housing are classic first-term Peterson-isms: lots of press conferences, studies and good intentions, but not a lot of action. The mayor can show the Blueprint is more than a publicity gimmick by finally finding a consistent revenue stream for the near-empty Marion County Housing Trust Fund. As for the war on abandoned housing, there needs to be less demolishing of houses and more rehabilitation of existing homes, even if it means putting abandoned houses into receivership. Neighborhoods like Kennedy-King Park need to be protected for existing residents, not allowed to deteriorate until they can be profitably gentrified by suburban move-downs. Mass Transit
The good news: Peterson Plan II promises a regional transportation authority that will study mass transit options throughout Central Indiana. The bad news: Mass transit options like light rail have already been studied to death and then tabled, while millions are spent widening Binford Boulevard and interstates to accommodate more cars. Mayor, let’s save some time and money: We don’t need another study to tell us mass transit would be a boost to the city’s environmental and economic health and has been a success in similar cities like St. Louis. A transit system will cost some serious dollars, but it will also cost money to widen Meridian Street to 16 lanes and issue hourly ozone alerts. Instead of waiting years for another study, let’s invest now in mass transit for the six local corridors your city planners have already identified. Living Wage
Last year, City-County Councilors Joanne Sanders and Elwood Black proposed a living wage ordinance for Indianapolis. In doing so, they followed the lead of over 100 other cities that guarantee employees of local government and city contractors wages high enough to live on. The living wage ordinance even got some Republican interest in the Council. But without mayoral support, the legislation fell flat. A person working full-time should not live in poverty. Period. Mayor Peterson, sign that bill. Combined Sewer Overflows
There is no more embarrassing aspect of Indianapolis’ portfolio than 7 billion gallons a year of untreated human waste flowing into our community’s river and streams each year. Admittedly, Mayor Peterson inherited the problem, but in four years he hasn’t done enough to fix it. During Peterson’s first term, community activists like Improving Kids Environment asked that Indianapolis stop approving the new sewer connections that increase the problem. But Peterson is still OK-ing new connections. Better notification of citizens of dangerous sewer discharges was requested, but the city will only send e-mails or let people call a hotline, neither of which will work in many at-risk neighborhoods. The mayor needs to reverse those decisions, and adopt a long-term control plan that moves quicker and stops more overflows than his weak current plan, which has been castigated by the Environmental Protection Agency. Wishard Hospital
A $46 million deficit for this year, with an even larger one projected for next year, should justify a sense of urgency at the Health and Hospital Corporation that operates Wishard. But this summer, the corporation elevated politics over its obligations to the poor by refusing to raise property tax revenue to help narrow the deficit. Worse, Wishard’s leaders haven’t made their case to state lawmakers or the City-County Council for the money needed to stave off massive layoffs and cutbacks. Instead, all of Wishard’s hopes are pinned on a federal bailout tied to the uncertain fate of the Medicare prescription drug bill. Even the best case scenario for federal help will likely leave Wishard millions in the red. If the legislation doesn’t fly, the working poor that rely on the hospital and its clinics are in huge trouble. Make no mistake, Wishard is the mayor’s responsibility. The majority of the Health and Hospital Corporation’s board are local Democrats, and Peterson personally appoints three of the seven board members. Matthew Gutwein, who has presided over Wishard as the board president and now CEO, is a de facto Peterson hire. Apparently, the message that we have to raise local revenue to save Wishard’s mission was deemed too volatile for a no-new-taxes election year. But the mayor must make that case now.
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