Broad Ripple Random Ripplings

Brought to you by:

Everything Broad Ripple Home

Random Ripplings Home

2007 11 30

Column

Converted from paper version of the Broad Ripple Gazette (v04n24)

Tammy's Take - By Tammy Leiber

posted: Nov. 30, 2007

In my last column, I brought up a couple of city initiatives to watch come January-Market Square Arena and the Cultural Development Commission.

As Mayor-Elect Greg Ballard's transition team begins to take shape behind the scenes, here's two more issues to keep an eye on.

Capital Improvement Board

On November 12, 2007, Capital Improvement Board President Fred Glass announced his resignation, effective January 14, 2008.

Along with Glass, the CIB will also lose Eli Lilly and Co. Vice President and General Counsel Alecia A. DeCoudreaux and outgoing City-County Council President Monroe Gray.

Glass' move shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone. Glass was one of the first people that Bart Peterson tapped to head his transition team. He never attempted to make a secret about where his loyalties lie.

"I'm the mayor's guy," Glass told the Indianapolis Business Journal in April.

As the "mayor's guy" at the helm of the CIB (actually a nine-member board appointed by the mayor), Glass negotiated on behalf of the city to keep the Indianapolis Colts in town. He was pivotal in getting Lucas Oil Stadium built on CIB-owned land.

Last spring, he led the charge to bring the Super Bowl to Indianapolis in 2011. Although the city narrowly lost out to Dallas on that bid, Glass is the man who drummed up $25 million in commitments from businesses and individuals to take to the table at the NFL owners meeting.

Did I mention president of the CIB, and of the Super Bowl bid committee, are both unpaid positions?

Much of what Glass has done in the past 8 years goes far beyond the scope of the position's official duties and has moved the city forward in visible, lasting ways. Filling those shoes is going to be among the new mayor's toughest tasks.

Neighborhoods

As a neighborhood volunteer for only the past four years or so, I can't claim to know much about any pre-Peterson administration's relationship with neighborhoods.

What I do know is that Peterson's office has a responsive, dedicated, cooperative staff in the neighborhoods division. Each township has a neighborhood liaison whose job it is to help citizens navigate the sometimes confusing and complex maze of city departments. Citizens literally have a direct line into the mayor's office.

A few months ago, some neighbors a few blocks away from me submitted a letter to their neighborhood liaison, Rachel Buckmaster, and to their City-County Council representative, Jackie Nytes, requesting their alley be regraded and smoothed out. They gathered names for a petition and did their research.

Less than a week after they sent their petition, the equipment moved in and regraded the alley. Ms. Buckmaster said the timing was a happy coincidence, but however it happened, the result was a street full of people with a renewed sense of empowerment and hope for their city.

Additionally, representatives of the mayor's office, like Ms. Buckmaster, have just plain been around. I've seen them at meetings with a dozen people, as well as meetings with several hundred. They listen, they answer questions and they give feedback. Such support is crucial to neighborhood groups continuing to do what they do best-strengthening the fabric of the community.

Neighborhood groups can prove to be a vital link in addressing public safety concerns. If the lines of communication stay open between them and the mayor's office, neighborhoods could be Ballard's biggest public safety ally.

Tammy Lieber is a freelance writer who lives in Meridian Kessler, otherwise known as SoBro. A former reporter at the Indianapolis Business Journal, she now writes journalism and marketing pieces when she's not fixing up her house or enjoying the company of friends over a pint of Guinness. Her favorite spectator sport is politics, except on Sundays during football season. Email her at tammy@broadripplegazette.com

tammy@broadripplegazette.com

Brought to you by:

Brought to you by: