Who wants to SPEND a million dollars?

Friends,

I hope you’ve had a good week. Mine has been frankly a bit miserable. My wife is still sick with covid (though improving!) and sleeping in quarantine on the couch with a hurt elbow and a CPAP mask on is not the most comfortable thing to do every night. But I’ve still had a productive week and avoided getting sick, so I’m counting my blessings.

Today’s email focuses on two major issues. First: how we should spend a million dollars in the district?. Second: how can you make good use of your time between now and November 5th to help us win a state government that lets Indianapolis thrive?

The million dollar question

This year, the Mayor proposed, and the Council passed, a fiscal appropriations amendment that gave each Councilor $1 million to spend to address top concerns in the district, with some caveats on how it’s spent. The general rule is that it can be spent on DPW projects within a well-defined contiguous area, or on Parks Department projects similarly within one area. This could include purchasing land to become parks, as well.

This blog format does not allow me to easily post photos showing the overview of the program, as well as some supplementary details including a ball-park price for various DPW infrastructure improvements, a list of the top fatal and serious injury accident intersections in the district,
and some unfunded ideas Parks had within the district. If you’re reading this, shoot me an email at jesse@jesseforindy.com and I’m happy to provide those documents for you.

Within the parameters above, we have lots of flexibility. I’ll share the general guidelines I’m personally keeping in mind while evaluating potential projects, and then share a list of projects that other constituents have brought to me as potentials for the funding.

Here are questions I’m asking myself when thinking through projects:

-Harms from the status quo: are people dying or getting injured in the area? Are people not taking the road due to danger or other problems?

-History of neglect: has this area been passed over for upgrades and maintenance for years or decades?

-Equity concerns: does this area have more low-income folks, more people of color, more disabled people, etc, than the rest of the district?

-Future benefits: what new things could occur as a result of this investment? Could the area be better activated? Could this benefit public safety?

With those in mind, I wanted to present for your consideration some of the ideas that your neighbors have come up with:

1. Drainage, sidewalks, and infrastructure in the underserved areas in the North of the district.

This could include areas of Hillside, the areas south of Frederick Douglass Park, and neighboring areas. Residents have long complained about their horrible drainage, lack of functional sidewalks, and general lack of investment from the city. These are also majority-Black areas, which are still dealing with the legacy of redlining, I-70 expansion through neighborhoods, and underdevelopment.

2. Repairing drainage and totally repaving and improving the intersection of Jefferson and North Brookside Avenue.

The neighbor who made this suggestion stated that he had lived a block north of this area since 1979, and the street had never been repaved in that whole time period. Thanks to the recent upgrades of Brookside Avenue SOUTH drive, the drainage, potholes, and disrepair of North Drive are even more apparent, and this would be a way to again take a majority-Black part of the district and invest in it, in a way that helps keep neighborhoods desirable and livable.

3. Alley repairs near Washington Street, New York Street, and Michigan Street.

This idea would be to help repair as many impassible alleys as possible near these major transit corridors. Currently, neighbors in these areas had been relying upon street parking, but a large amount of street parking is going away as part of the two-way conversions on Michigan and New York and the Blue Line construction about to start on Washington. By repairing alleys, we would help neighbors be able to park their cars behind their houses, as was intended when the neighborhoods were first designed. This could also allow for future traffic calming and street upgrades without impacting neighbors’ parking and thus their ability to get to and from their houses.

4. Safety upgrades on Emerson Avenue, especially from 16th to 21st.

The data that DPW has collected shows that these intersections have seen the most fatalities and severe injuries in the district. As a caveat, though these intersections are VERY close to my own house, they are at the very border of the district. And though all lives are precious and deserve protection, I think that the number of district constituents being injured at these intersections is likely comparatively low.

5. Enhancements to the Monon Trail where it travels through the district.

The specific idea brought by a constituent was to add a trailhead / connection to the Monon at around 13th and Lewis. This would not spend all of the money, so we could likely also improve safety and accessibility where the Monon connects to 10th street, as there is currently a blind corner and 10th and Lewis is a frequent site of near-misses and crashes.

6. Safety Upgrades to the 16th and College area.

This intersection was tied for second-highest frequency of severely disabling/fatal crashes in the district. The intersections nearby are also difficult for pedestrians to cross safely and I have received several requests to help improve the area.

7. Park upgrades.

You can see in the photo above that there is no shortage of worthwhile, productive work that needs to be done but does not currently have a funding source within parks in the district. I’ve received the most requests and complaints about the Martin Luther King, Jr. Park but all have need of some love.

8 *Potential wildcard option: Fix up former Women’s Prison site.

I haven’t yet received a confirmation that we would be authorized to use the funds in this way. However, the amazing news that the former Women’s Prison site is confirmed to be transferred from the State of Indiana’s ownership to the City of Indianapolis’s is sparking excellent discussion about the future use of the site. I thought that whether it was repairing and improving nearby infrastructure and alleys, or helping with demolition of buildings, the money might be well-used to help make sure the eventual use of the site has an easier path to completion.

I’m meeting with leaders within the administration to vet some of these ideas within the next two weeks. If you have other ideas, or if you’d like to weigh in on which of these would be most worth spending money on, please connect with me as soon as possible. The City has asked that we have our selections finalized by the beginning of November, so we don’t have a huge amount of time to deliberate. That said, I’d like the decision to be as democratic as possible - so please forward this email to neighbors and friends in the district so that everyone can weigh in.

Fighting for our City

One of the things that I’m most proud of so far as a Councilor is that constituents from across the political spectrum have felt secure in coming to me to discuss local concerns. I happily meet with libertarians, Trump supporters, Republicans, “Blue Dog” Democrats, anarchists, and democratic socialists like myself. Though I don’t bite my tongue politically, I also happily hear out and listen to people with very different ideas - I think that’s an absolute requirement for a free and democratic society. Diversity is strength, and that includes diversity of ideas and perspectives.

So please take that into context when evaluating the partisan statements I’m about to make.

Our state has been ruled by a single party for decades, and this has led to the immense corruption of Jamey Noel, a declining standard of living and life expectancy, and a Statehouse where sexual harassment and abuse run rampant and unchecked. Even worse for those of us in Indianapolis, the current leaders of our state guarantee that our streets fall into disrepair, do not respect our autonomy or ability to make local decisions, and prevent us from holding slumlords accountable.

We need change. And with a few exceptions, the long-standing leaders of the Democratic Party in this state do not seem like the ones who can bring it to us.

Luckily, we have a rare opportunity this year. Jennifer McCormick and Destiny Wells have experience campaigning statewide, have built fighting organizations that are working hard to change hearts and minds and activate the base, and are not tied to the old guard. Valerie McCray is even more of an outsider, and is boldly fighting for universal healthcare and calling out the genocide going on in Palestine. I’m extremely supportive of all three of these badass women and am doing everything I can to help them win office.

We have amazing folks running for office at the statehouse as well. All over Central Indiana, there are candidates running for office who are deeply rooted in their communities and would represent a break with the old school of politics in Indiana.

My favorite one is, of course, Katrina Owens.

TONIGHT - FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20th - I am helping to co-host a fundraiser for Katrina from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm at Tha Daiquiri Factory. Come out, meet Katrina, get brain freeze from a virgin or full-octane daiquiri, and share how excited you are to defeat Senator Aaron Freeman and get a new state senator who will fight for ALL people’s rights.

Tomorrow, come canvass with me as we knock doors for Katrina!

And tomorrow night, come ride bikes with fellow Katrina Owens supporters!

There are tons of ways to get involved. If you have any questions at all or just want an accountability buddy, reply to this email and I’ll talk you through how you can help!


In love and solidarity,
Jesse

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