This evening was advertised for public hearing on our proposed budgets for 2026 of the combined city and county government departments and agencies, as well as those budgets proposed for the five municipal corporations.

We will take testimony on each proposal from anyone in the public who wishes to speak.

Just a reminder that public comment will be limited to two minutes per person so that everyone has an opportunity to speak.

Madam Clerk.

Thank you.

Proposal number 256, 2025 approves the tax levy and rate for the police special service district for 2026.

Proposal number 257, 2025 approves the tax levy and rate for the fire special service districts for 2005.

Proposal number 258 2025 approves the tax levy and rate for the silent waste collection special service district for 2026.

Proposal number 259-2025 adopts the annual budget for the City of Indianapolis in Marion County for 2026.

Mr.

President, these are the combined budgets of the city and county departments and agencies.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Is there anyone in the audience who would like to offer public comment regarding proposals 259 through I'm sorry, 256 through 259 2025?

Councillors Clark Collow reside in the Council Barst District 7.

Um I support urban forest acquisition and I like the arts.

But I have a concern of the overreaching budget proposal from the Arts Council of Indianapolis.

At the recent Parks Committee meeting, Councillor Boots asked the public art about the public art portion of the proposed increase of 106,000 dollars and 25 to 200 to 700,000 for next year.

The private tax exempt arts council of Indianapolis has apparently been receiving public support for its programs for 35 years.

Here's an idea.

Urban forests have been a well-documented community need for at least 35 years, but are staunchly resisted by every city administration over the period, including uh Mayor Joe Hogsett's.

Relatedly, the variance board recently approved a privately funded statute in the most congested intersection of Broaderville, despite the public safety objections of neighbors.

The decision showed how anti-public and inequitable the public art review program has become.

Hi, I'm Connie Zabel Schmucker, advocacy director for bicycle garage Indy.

I'm commenting on the 2026 budget and lack of funding to address traffic violence.

In 2024, Vision Zero ordinance was passed.

No money was put in the 2025 budget other than hiring a vision zero administrator.

Traffic safety advocates were told to wait until a vision zero action plan was done prior to the 2026 budget.

Here we are with no vision zero action plan, no money in the 2026 budget to implement a forthcoming vision zero action plan.

So now are we to wait until 2027?

We can't wait.

People are getting injured and killed and hit an increasingly higher rates on our roads.

Last weekend there was horrific gun violence.

There are media stories and statements from the mayor and the chief of police.

Also, in the past week, motorists hit 23 people riding bikes or walking.

That doesn't even include the number of motorists injured in traffic violence.

That is more than three a day, five on Tuesday, five on Saturday.

There was no coverage, no comments from elected officials.

It is morally and fiscally irresponsible to allow this to continue.

We know where crashes occur.

We know how to fix the 15% of the roads where 60% of the crashes happen.

Allocate $35 million annually to address traffic violence starting this year in 2026.

$8 million for quick build changes to immediate immediately after crashes, $25 million for high crash areas, $2 million to implement other vision zero plans.

You have the power to significantly decrease traffic violence.

It's a solvable problem.

What is needed are resources and political will to do so.

Thank you.

Good evening, counselors.

My name is Carrie Steiner, and I'm here this evening on behalf of myself and my neighbors to request a one-quarter mile round trip be added to the current street sweeping schedule for zone nine.

According to the website, our street sweepers are tasked with removing debris from various neighborhoods as well as major thoroughfares, which by definition includes Southeastern Avenue.

As you know, Southeastern Avenue is a continuation of I-74 and is heavily trafficked.

In fact, according to the INDOT website, approximately 8,000 vehicles travel Southeastern Avenue every single day, and many of those are commercial trucks as well as visitors to our city.

The parking lanes on either side of Southeastern Avenue have become a collection pool of screws and nails.

I've been driving since 1974, and I never had a flat tire until I moved into my home five years ago.

I've since had four flat tires, two of them within four days of each other, with a total replacement cost of almost 1,000, not to mention lost work time.

My neighbor had to transfer to a new insurance company because she had maxed out her allotted number of service calls for flat tires.

Her letter of support is included in the packet I provided to you in advance of tonight's meeting.

The current route for zone nine stops at the intersection of Southeastern and Emerson Avenues, and we are asking for a one-quarter mile southeasterly extension that covers up to the 5300 block.

A map outlining the requested route was also provided along with photos of the debris I've collected on a regular basis over the last several years.

Bags and bags of screws and nails.

Your support of this request would be greatly appreciated by all of us who live along this stretch of road.

Thank you for your time and consideration, and a special thank you to Councilman Michael Paul Hart for his support and guidance over the last several months.

Mr.

President, members of the council, my name is Larry Kane.

I speak on behalf of Urban Force as a member of the Board of Directors of the Indiana Forest Alliance.

So I'm speaking to proposal 259.

We're deeply saddened by the fact that the city's 2026 budget includes no funds for acquisition of urban forests.

In 2021, the NFOs Alliance released a report, Forced for Indy, which included a comprehensive inventory of the urban forests of Marion County along with their estimated value to the citizenry.

This research, based on 2014 imaging found in Marion County was down to 32% canopy cover.

We have continued to lose forests since 2014.

Tonight, the Indiana Forest Alliance wants to highlight just some of the urban forests which we have lost in recent years.

My colleague Jonathan Monroe will be showing photos of these.

One of them had even been largely a wetland in the past.

These losses are very disturbing.

It's also disturbing that a not for profit entity like IFA must identify the loss of this vital green infrastructure rather than the city.

Surely Marion County has no shortage of cleared land on proximity to the interstate so that urban forests must not be cleared for the purpose of creating parking lots for semi-truck trailers.

To lose all the multitude of benefits of these forests and their value in exchange for parking lots is a failure for which the residents will be poor.

Joni Mitchell aptly described this situation with the following lyrics.

Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got till it's gone?

They pave paradise and put up a parking lot.

Thank you.

Good evening, counselors.

My name is Jonathan Munro, and I'm speaking on behalf of Forest for Indy this evening, also speaking in request for more money for uh urban forests.

So picture yourself in the city on a warm day.

Okay, go ahead.

Picture the scene.

Are you in a lush park somewhere or enjoying green space?

No such luck.

Instead, what probably comes to mind are the baking paved expanses by the canal or the downtown streets or the scorching concrete encircling Lucasoil Stadium.

We hosted the Super Bowl one time, but we will be a heat bowl forevermore.

Now the bad news that urban heat island is spreading and it's coming to your neighborhood.

Satellite imagery confirms that our canopy level keeps falling.

And for many of you on this council, and certainly for the mayor's tenure, you oversaw a crossover point of having more concrete than canopy.

So while canopy coverage has fallen to approximately 27%, impervious surfaces such as roads and buildings have climbed to approximately 31% of the surface area of the county.

And the trajectory is clear, okay.

Our canopy losses continue.

Concrete opolous, here we come.

Trees have a flawed business model.

They might be vital for our survival, but they can't write checks.

And we can't rely on conscientious landowners to hold on to forests for the sake of the common good at their own expense.

There's a reason we don't leave other infrastructure planning to chance or city conscience.

Without investment from the city, forests vital to us all will remain near worthless to owners, and we will continue to lose this vital grain infrastructure to development.

So leaders create our future, okay, by inaction or action.

And we asked tonight, the city council and mayor to please show leadership to ensure a livable future for our city by including $3 million for urban forests in the 2026 budget and by making further investments which will change our trajectory from concrete to canopy.

The time to act is now.

Thank you so much.

Evening, my name is Elliot Berger, a district two resident and a member of the Forest Alliance.

For the past decade, I've chaired my neighborhood grounds committee.

Mature trees ask little, but give us much.

What brings me here tonight is immediate and local.

A three-acre stand of dense woods and marsh at the southeast corner of 86 the Meridian was cleared for development.

The few trees left along that frontage died within a year from compaction and poor site care.

We're a living canopy once cooled and soaked up rain.

We now have asphalt, concrete, and an extra burden on the city's stormwater system.

Similar clearings for housing and commercial products projects are happening all around my neighborhood.

Protecting urban forests is a smart investment.

Preserved canopy cuts stormwater and infrastructure costs, lowers summer temperatures and energy use, supports wildlife habitat, helps maintain property values, and improves public health.

Mature forest patches deliver benefits immediately and cost effectively in ways that newly planted saplings cannot.

This proposal matches requests from local conservation groups that have advanced to secure at risk sites.

Timing is critical.

Once a forest is cleared, the canopy and the ecosystem it provides are effectively lost for generations.

We cannot rely on someday tearing up pavement and starting over.

The ecological and fiscal cost would be enormous.

We must act now.

Thank you.

Good evening.

My name is Elizabeth Mahoney, board president of both the Indiana Forest Alliance and the River Park Club Neighborhood Association located in the floodplain of the White River.

I've spent nearly 30 years fighting for forests and floodplain preservation.

I've seen the impacts of irresponsible development firsthand, decisions overturned for the benefit of politically connected developers, leaving cleared forest land sit empty.

These experiences have taught me one thing: that the only way to protect forests is to take them off the market permanently.

Developers have money, citizens and neighborhoods do not.

Our heritage tree ordinance offers zero protection.

The mayor's Thrive and White River Vision Plan talk about climate resilience and preservation, but without funding and action, their words, they're just words.

It's time to invest in what we claim to value.

We're asking for a small $3 million investment, less than 0.2% of your $1.79 billion budget to create a non-reverting urban forest fund.

This fund would pay the city back in stormwater control, cleaner air and water, a cooler city, and improve public health in perpetuity.

Meanwhile, forests continue to be destroyed while vacant malls, office buildings, and brownfields sit unused.

This is not sustainable and it's irresponsible.

As the federal government and our own state scales back and halts environmental protections, it's more important than ever for cities like ours to lead.

So I ask you, Mayor Hogg said, and this city council, please create the urban forest fund with three million dollars this year and next.

Let's stop fooling around talking about plans.

Let's start funding them before we lose it all.

What did John Lennon say?

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.

Let's plan to do the right thing for our city.

Please.

Thank you truly for your consideration and time this evening.

Well, I'm Jeff Stant and uh Irvington resident and a consultant of the Forest for All Project of the Tim Carpenter Institute and uh lifelong member of Indiana Forest Alliance.

I'm asking you to appropriate three million additional dollars to the three million you've already appropriated last year.

Hold on to that money and build on it to make the four to purchase the four forests that we outlined to you two years ago that they're all for sale and need to be uh uh purchased that the owners want to make them into the park into parks.

We're being told that there's no room in this budget for forest acquisition dollars.

This has been the emphatic position of city leaders for many years.

It explains why at least six greenways have been planned for more than 20 years by the city without a nickel ever being appropriated for them, and why it will be increasingly improbable that the city will ever uh be able to establish them.

This year's budget book indicates the city's budget is actually increasing.

The revenues for property taxes and income taxes are modestly higher.

Last year we were told it was the city's labor contracts that were to blame.

This year it's a state restriction of 43 million in property taxes that is to blame for why nothing can be appropriated for forests in any of the 1.7 billion dollar plus budget.

Next year it'll be something else.

When you're continually finding room for other priorities, we are left to conclude what is really missing is your political will to preserve to make the preservation of nature a priority in Indianapolis.

Please prove us wrong.

Start implementing the acquisitions in the city's parks plan.

Start buying the forests, the lands in the outer greenway in the Greenways Plan and the White River Greenway and the White River Vision Plan.

Now, unlike the concrete infrastructure you're funding, our city's dwindling forests are appreciating in value, which is exactly why you have to buy them today because they won't be here tomorrow.

Please don't approve it.

Thank you.

My name is Sarah Bowers.

I live in Andy Nielsen's district.

I'm here today seeking continued support for urban forestry in the amount of three million dollars.

I've been at City County Council meetings this year, and I've been pleased at the support that I believe is on this council for slowing the loss of the Indianapolis canopy.

And by the way, we are losing one square mile each year.

Saving the Eastside Flatwoods is incredibly important.

This would be a buffer to the warehouse development that's already in this area and will continue.

It comes up to a school and community, and this forest absolutely has to be preserved.

As counselors, you are charged with the enormous and at times thankless task of weighing all concerns that need funding.

I ask that tonight you think on a long-term basis and not on a short-term basis.

Each year, the Indiana Forest Alliance is told that there's no more money.

But at some point, the benefits of urban forests have to be acknowledged.

Trees clean our air, our water, provide green spaces for physical activity, cool summer heat, and increase home values.

And all of these benefits are more likely to be realized with forests rather than isolated trees here and there.

I ask that you make a commitment to forest conservation and provide funding to purchase the three priority forests identified by the Indiana Forest Alliance.

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Barbara Smith.

And are you shocked to see me here?

Because I am public speaking.

I'm here again this year despite despite my absolute aversion to public speaking to advocate for money to be budgeted for the acquisition of the remaining urban forests in Marion County.

It is great that your constant it's a great win for your constant constituents that you allocated money for Haversteck Creek, but this purchase needs to be completed.

And that's only a starting point.

The other at-risk properties, such as the Eastside Flatwoods, the I-70 woods, the Goose Creek Woods, need to be purchased to preserve these beautiful forests.

They sequester carbon, they drop the overall temperature of the surroundings, they provide safe haven for wildlife and not of least importance, measurably improve the mental health of human visitors.

In this supremely divisive time in our country, we need to assure the humans who inhabit this city that they have a place they can go to unwind, to de-stress, to forest bathe, as the Japanese say.

These lands, if lost, are gone.

Forests don't grow overnight, and we need to preserve what we still have.

Please allocate money to save the remaining remaining urban forests.

Thank you for your time and your sincere consideration.

Hi, my name's Eric Manweiler.

I'm in Nick Roberts district.

Because last year, Mud Creek Conservancy opened the 25-acre Sgt.

Road Nature Park right in our district.

My wife and I have been huge fans of this project ever since we heard about it in 2019.

And for us, the park used to mean Fort Harrison.

But now we have a new park right on our doorstep.

And you know, places with natural features have built-in activities.

You live near a beach, you want to go walk in the sand, swim, surf.

You live near mountains, you want to climb, hike, bike.

Our forests can be that natural feature for our communities.

Dawn to dusk every day.

People go enjoy that park for all kinds of reasons.

Families going for a stroll, people going for exercise, hikers, nature nerds, you name it.

Our property values are up because of our proximity to a public park.

We're getting health benefits from all those outdoor activities, and we have a space to bring the community together.

And for a tiny fraction of a drop in the bucket of our city's budget set aside to acquire urban forests, you can bring those same values to your communities.

But we can't just do it once.

We have to keep investing in this, or the benefits of your community's future park will be turned to concrete and lost forever.

I want to leave everyone with something to consider.

Humans can see more shades of green than any other color.

Why do you think that is?

Thank you.

Hello, my name's Brian.

I'm a homeowner, a taxpayer, a small business owner, and I've been up here talking about the Forest for Indy a couple different times, and specifically the Eastside Flatwoods.

I grew up playing in those 50 years ago.

My dad used to take me there.

I've taken my nieces and nephews there, you know, 20, 30 years ago, and I still take my great nieces and nephews there.

And I'd hope that it would stay there for others to be able to do the same thing.

And also, it's the largest untouched canopy in Marion County.

And it'd be a shame to lose that.

And when we say untouched, we're not just talking about tall trees, we're talking about untouched where there's an ecosystem that's been in place that would take centuries and centuries and centuries to replace.

There's all kinds of benefits.

I can't tell you anything more than everybody else has.

I just wanted to give you a personal experience that I loved it.

I know I'm not the only one.

But also, I live on a well.

I live across the street in that neighborhood.

And there's so many benefits for even people who live on a well with clean our water.

Also, the soil runoff, things along that line, there's just so many that you've already heard.

I just plead that you do consider this because we're not talking lots of money compared to the total budget, but every little bit helps, and it can make a difference, and it can attract people to our city and keep the people that are here.

My name is Marguerite Topping, and like my Eastside neighbor, Brian, I also am a taxpayer and a homeowner.

However, I am a recent immigrant to Indianapolis.

It took me only one day to take a look at the water and the trees in January of 2017 to realize I want to live here.

I grew up in Southern California, where before I moved here, you started to get regular 90-degree days from April 1st through the beginning to the end of November.

It was too hot for me.

There are days that was life-threatening not to have an air conditioning unit in your home.

This was not the way I grew up.

Climate change is real, yo.

So I came to Indy.

I was so impressed by the beautiful burnish that had taken place for the uh for the big football game fairly recently, and the electric indie cars that were able to be rented, and since then, I found some cracks in that burgess facade.

And it's in those very water ways and forests that drew me here.

I'm I was shocked and horrified to realize how much depredation of that environment was willingly undertaken by Indianapolis and Indiana corporations and residents and businesses.

I don't want to see it continue because one way or another, the world comes to Indy, and what it finds there is in your hands.

At the start of the council meeting, the the uh they invoked a prayer naming us as stewards.

Well, we're stewards also of the Indianapolis environment.

Please go to Carthagine.

Hello, I'm Dan Foley.

I I'm here because I'm a volunteer for the IFA and Forest for Indy, but also because I also live next to the East Side Flatwoods.

My wife and I have lived there for the past 20 years, and we look out of our back patio and we see the forest, and we see the field that's between us and the forest.

And I got involved with this because the field had been rezoned, and we could be looking at warehouses.

But my focus today is on the forest.

Um we really need to save that forest.

And like some of the others said, it's an old growth forest, it's never been plowed.

Uh it was here before we were a state.

There are 200-year-old trees in there, and it provides an ecosystem for uh wildlife that we see that I've seen in the time that I've lived there, deer and coyotes and fox, and we have deer that come in our backyard to eat the apples, and without the forest, it would be completely different and for all the residents.

Um of us in our group have canvassed the neighborhood, and we have found unequivocally that everyone would have to support us, even though some of those who say they're not really environmentalists, but for the neighborhood, they're on board.

Um the owner of the property there is desiring to sell it to the city.

The city needs to provide the money to do that.

She would like to see it become a nature preserve, and dedicate it to her late husband.

Um I want to thank you for providing the money for 2025.

And we really need you for 2026.

Thank you very much.

Mayor, council, esteemed fellow citizens.

My name is John Fisher.

I'm a resident of Indianapolis.

Um, you've heard from more eloquent speakers than I tonight, and more uh better informed speakers too.

But I I want to say uh as an example, I live in a neighborhood in North Indianapolis that is uh wonderful place to be, and one of the reasons it is such a wonderful place to be is that there's a lot of green space in the neighborhood.

A neighborhood was planned with eight to ten houses built around a common area court, if you will, and um that's made a whole lot of difference in in the neighborhood and in property values, etc.

Green space is important.

Um the reason we have this green space today, nearly 60 years later, after the the area was uh area was developed, is that the developers looked ahead, and we're not talking about just today, tomorrow, next month, next year.

Um we're talking about 60 120 years from now.

Is these areas need to be preserved now so that they're here for the future.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Deborah Bonte, and I live in Indianapolis as well.

Uh, and I'm talking today about forests as well.

In this day and age of city living and more and more high rises and the way the city is developing, these forests and these parks are more important than they ever have been.

It's what makes an area like that feel like home.

It's a place to get away from the concrete or from your balcony and out to meet other people and get away from all that and get into beautiful forests.

Um I think it's getting more and more important.

Um, Indianapolis is second to bottom in number of parks compared to a hundred other cities.

Think of I lived in Denver years ago without a car, and I could walk to three city parks right off, and it's made it was a big reason why I liked living there, and I think it really increases property values and stabilizes areas and makes them much more a place that people want to live here in Indianapolis.

As far as the timing, I know that $3 million was already set aside to be in the budget for acquisition, but was not secured permanently, and the forest preservation fund would dedicate that and make that happen.

Don't let it go away.

This is land that will not be there if we don't take it now, and this is the opportunity to take it now.

So I please urge you to do it.

Thank you.

Good evening, counselors.

My name is Jocelyn Mapis, and I thank you for the opportunity to allow us to state our public comments.

Earlier this year on the south side of Indianapolis, we faced the loss of urban forests.

During that hearing, I remember comments from this council saying if only we had allocated a little more funding, maybe this could have been saved.

That moment stayed with me because I was part of the effort to preserve that forest, and I saw firsthand how quickly we can lose green spaces when the funding isn't there.

I want to thank you for allocating three million dollars last year towards urban urban forest preservation.

That was a significant step forward.

However, this year's budget does not include that.

And without it, we risk losing four specific forests that groups like the Indiana Forest Alliance and the Forests for All have identified as priorities.

As a project manager, I know the foundation of any successful project is a good budget that anticipates future needs.

A good budget makes long-term goals achievable and prevents costly regrets later.

As counselors, you are stewards of the city.

The forests aren't just trees, they're natural infrastructure that keep our neighborhoods cooler, reduce flooding, clean water, improve air quality, and give both families and wildlife a safe place to live.

Just as we wouldn't build a bridge without planning future maintenance, we shouldn't plan a city without investing in the forest that sustain it.

Tonight's decision is more than just numbers, it's stewardship.

It's the difference between having the next generation live on more concrete, as I grew up in Southern California, or a living canopy that benefits us all.

I urge you to allocate the additional funding needed to ensure that these four forests and more forests have a real chance to be saved because once we lose them, we lose them forever.

Thank you.

And so if you remember that, that was a resolution to protect urban forests in Indiana, Indianapolis.

And thank you for your time.

Hi, I'm Marie Hitsey, and I'm a resident in District 14.

Um got a couple of things, and I'm very concerned, and I'm asking your priorities, and they are questionable at best, in my opinion, based on what we're putting in our budget.

Um there's very little accountability.

Uh you're allocating 23.5% of the city's budget to IMPD.

IMPD, the recruits start out at $75,000 salary, which is almost double our medium mean median income within the city.

In addition to that, you're spending 43 to 52,000 per recruit to train them when only 30% are still on the job in five years.

I would ask that you would allocate some of that IMPD funding to term to determine why we are not hiring or getting better recruits that will stay on the job so we can improve that retention that we keep hearing that IMPD is complaining about, as well as not wasting our funds recruiting and training individuals that will not benefit our city.

We need to do something.

So either we cut the budget and we don't house them, or we force the state to pay us back.

Also, there's no real increase in road funding.

I understand that we are facing a shortfall, but please plan three to five years out.

I would much rather pay a $25 or $30 wheel tax for the next five years to ensure we get the $50 million in road funding that is going to be provided by the state.

Hello, good evening.

My name is Kelly Trimble.

I live in Nora area with Councillor Delaney.

And I applaud your stance trying to protect the Haverstreet Creek Woods.

I'm here on behalf of the forests that remain in the city.

All I'm going to say is please, please allocate the funding.

Protect our forests for your children, for my children, and for the state's sustainable future of the city.

Thank you very much.

Good evening.

My name is Ryan Zeller.

I live on the Southeast Side at 6715 Mimosa Lane in Mr.

Mowry's district.

But I grew up at 42nd and Post Road in the government subsidized housing.

Number of others.

And there was a little wooded area behind the village pantry.

It was about an acre that I would go and play in every day.

First time, didn't know what to do with it.

My mom put Vaseline on it.

The nurse was horrified.

But I had a place to go and it it drove my love for forests.

And kids at 42nd Post Road don't have that exposure.

Why do the kids in Carmel and Westfield have beautiful parks and and woods?

Because they preserve it.

We need to do the same for our kids for the disadvantaged, which is what I was.

Now I am blessed to live on 16 acres, and one acre of my 16 acres is remnant forest.

And my neighbors have some of the other acres that are part of that force that was there before Indianapolis was a city.

My neighbors, some of them will do the same.

Some of them will need to be compensated.

But let's do it.

I'll do my part.

Let's do our part because this is something that once, as everybody has said, is gone, it can't be replaced.

Thank you very much.

Good evening, counselors.

I'm an indigenous native to this land.

And I stand with the forests.

But when you lose forest, you you know, you lose, you know, a very inter integral part of the land.

And I think that's um one of the things that's you know that isn't accountable with these forests is to actually bring a lot more value than than developers will.

Um, you know, forests will stay, they bring air, they bring uh water retention, you know, there's a lot that they actually bring forward that you know that maybe we don't actually account for.

So I think that you know, everyone else has spoken very you know well and uh about what you know a lot of the things already, but I think that um we can you know is it this isn't something we we you all have to do alone.

You know, this is something that as a citizens, I think we you know, we all would like to have this you know these this land, you know, in these trees um for one thing, there's so much that they actually do that for example the uh you know they they're very good with worry about the the heat index of the city, you know, it's just gonna keep rising as we go.

There's gonna be so much more heat in the city, you know.

Of course, we all talk about the um the the pollution, you know, force they purify, you know.

Uh we have a lot of empty lots that we could re repurpose with this kind of you know, this kind of uh as well.

I mean, there's the forests um that's um, you know, once they're gone, there's it takes decades, decades and decades for them to come back.

You know, working with groups like Forest for All, um Forest Alliance, uh Wilder Garden, you know, they've they've taken their time out of their way to convert their land back into the these kind of uh ecosystems.

And you know, it's three million dollars for the budget, and I think that's um, you know, it's it's it's not a lot to ask for a 1.7 billion dollar budget.

Thank you.

Good evening, and thank you for this opportunity.

Uh we all expect to have it, and it's good to happen.

Uh Mary Boopwall, they live on the east side, but not always there.

Um grew up in the school on the north side and had all kinds of lovely privileges, and I'm very grateful for them all.

But uh here we have an opportunity.

Um there are neighborhoods that don't have these, and um I just want to thank Councillor Graves for the past work he's done on the east side in that uh that swimming or that fishing lake, and we have an opportunity here now to do those I 70 woods, and I look forward to working with that.

I was so pleased that you were telling me how much these words mattered.

Uh, the last time it was it was wonderful, and all of you know very well what these are worth.

And uh Council Barth is um uh just like Clark was saying, um, art is great.

Uh but uh if we look at how many snow plows we need, how much art we really need, public art, how much uh everyone has been more eloquent than I say what the worth, the value, what is our vision uh of these things, and we forget who paddled these rivers before we ever got here.

Uh it was the Delaware, the Miami, uh Shawnee, and we have nothing uh to show for it if we don't respect them now.

And so I I do sincerely wish that uh we could persuade the mayor to stop um dismissing their value, and uh we need to do that, sir, and all of us.

So thank you very much, and I look forward to that support.

Six million dollars, that is okay, the total, okay.

Not that don't get don't get cheesy on us, okay.

No cheesy.

All right, thank you.

All right, Mary.

Good evening, my name is Colleen Donahoe.

I grew up in Zionsville on Holiday Road.

It was um a hundred plus acres of woods and farmland owned by uh Steve Holiday, who donated the land that is now Holiday Park in Indianapolis.

When he died, his daughter sold that land to a developer, and now it is a golf course.

Um, but because I grew up on that road, I studied wildlife and forestry at Purdue because I had that deep connection with that land.

I am now an environmental advocate, and we know there are environmentalists and scientists who have measured and quantified the ecological value of forests, they far exceed the budget that you could even come up with to perform those services that the forests are doing.

So to allocate three million dollars to buy those forests actually saves the city money from having to process the water that the forests are processing to run cooling centers during the summer time for all of the residents to have to run their air conditioning for making public transit, walking and biking so much safer.

And we also know it's very well documented that people in certain zip codes have a longer lifespan than people in other zip codes, and that's largely related to their access to green space, the quality of air and water because of those forests.

So thinking of that, three million dollars is really not a lot to ask when we know that the services provided by those forests are worth way more.

And so it makes sense that you would include that in your budget and perhaps cut a little bit from IMPD, maybe.

Uh you can find that money somewhere, but we need to prioritize the health of our babies from birth rather than condemning them to a shorter lifespan and a lower quality of life and then funding the police instead.

Thank you, Mr.

President and Council members for this opportunity to listen to the public and your constituents.

I take my hat off with order in forestry because I've been working with them for quite a while.

But the one thing I did want to talk to you about is fair wage.

This council, and most of the most of the members of the council was here in 2019 when you passed a fair wage.

When you passed a fair wage, that fair wage was $19 an hour.

We have a union contract in this city right now with employees that pays $14 an hour.

That's $5 less on the hour.

Now I'm not a mathematician, but those numbers don't add up.

Correct?

$19 an hour.

That was six years ago.

So they're now working that that $19 an hour is 24% less than what it should be.

This budget that you just passed has no commitment to a fair wage.

How can you expect employees of this city to work for less than a fair wage?

You don't.

You proved that last year.

When you gave yourself a 250% increase in your own salary.

This is all that I ask for is a fair wage that this council passed was $19 an hour.

I ask that you consider a commitment for the 2026 budget a fair wage.

Thank you.

Antoine Finch put down for the budget earlier.

I was gonna give a comment about uh sort of the manufacturing of consent uh that I sort of seen around the city.

So I came up here a few months ago, and I laid out how you could afford to make uh make buses free in the city for about four million dollars.

So that's about one one for uh one out of one fourth hundredth, or one out, you know, it's uh fraction of a fraction of a percent uh to make public transit free in the city immediately after they hype the prices, and then uh and to justify that they hold these public comments, they hold these public comments that uh you know spread apart the city, not here, spread apart the city.

When I asked uh the representative there who is you know a consultant working out of Salesforce building, you know, why uh you know what's going on here?

And she said, well, no one's showing up.

I said, how are they gonna get here if they can't afford to travel?

You know, those people will never find people never find those meetings.

And uh, you know, and that's that's sort of a way that the city manufacturers consent to do what it wants to do.

And you know, and that was I was gonna give a spiel like that.

Uh and now I'm sort of way more aggravated in that somehow you have all these cameras, and yeah, this is the only fee.

I don't I don't understand.

Like it's you know, when that when the crowds get big, uh the representatives, or I guess the city as a whole suddenly disappears.

You know, it wasn't the it wasn't the uh it wasn't you guys that pulled out of the data center deal.

It was a data center people themselves.

They got more shook by by this stuff than the own representatives of the city.

So I guess that's my that's my comment.

On the budget, please.

You know, I've been looking at it online, and this city is being worked over by tramp corporations that come in here, uh, they build their buildings, they uh don't even contribute to the labor market because just like I said, when all this building boom began, we are risking the credit of this city and bond issues to fund these big monstrosities, which are only digging us a deeper pit and making us more of a patsy.

So, and we're not even using local labor.

I was surprised of an incident where uh some union workers were working on a job and uh they only were there for show pieces, and they were absolutely uh laid off when they got the contract labor lined up.

So, all these hotels and so far that are being built around the city, no thought for the local labor market.

The only thing you have to offer them is homelessness and despair, which is what they're getting, and you can see that as evidence on every uh homeless camp here in this city, which you move from place to place to devalue devalue people's real estate.

But uh, I was been coming from this uh in front of this council many times to say that we should have industrial schools set up to train these young men to train a labor force, but you disregard that.

You don't even care.

You make it as if you want the crime to continue.

If you don't work, you will kill.

If you don't give these young men some liable work to do so that they can uh have something to uh to be proud of and to have something to boost their attitudes and so forth, they're gonna kill.

They're doing it right now.

And uh I just think it's a shame that we don't have industrial schools set up in this city to train a workforce because of all the money, all the work that we have, all the building that's gonna go on even into the next decade in this city.

We need to seriously think about that.

Hi, I'm Bill, and I'm here to speak about a variety of things, including the budget.

I do it all in poetry, as you might know.

So after the budget hearing, where they refuse to fund more forests for Indy, my daughter and I walk down the streets of Indy.

Not a tree in sight, nothing left but blight.

And my grandchildren play in the rough concrete that used to be an urban forest.

Then they turn to me and ask, where what went wrong?

Where did our clean air go?

Where did our clean water go?

And I think about 50 years ago, the tax breaks, the broken promises replaced by sky high electric bills, empty promises that my grandchildren is still paying for today.

So the data center's gone today, vanishing into the mists where it could have left the city that was a shell of what it could have been.

Now I have to wonder what it might become.

Thus, I will ask that we consider our city budgets for our grandchildren's sake, and that is a vision of Indianapolis.

I don't want to see come true.

Thank you.

Um every day I wake up and I pass by the Pleasant Run Parkway, and it is overrun with trash, filth, and degeneracy.

Uh just it's rampant.

There is camps everywhere.

There is trash littering the creek that I used to play in.

I used to go down in the creek where there's now needles just littering the riverbed and uh everything, not the riverbed, but like the bank.

I don't I don't know what to call it.

But uh it's just really bad.

I thought uh you guys had some sort of order in the budget.

I guess there's no uh sense in this council, and uh you guys really need to think of how to solve all the problems that everybody has presented to you today.

Uh I don't really know how to articulate any further than that.

Just please uh clean up the creeks and uh clean up the forest and stuff, clean up the city if you care about it.

Hi, my name is Rye Steinhart.

I didn't think I'd get the chance to speak, but talking about the forest, there are lots of health benefits, and I think Indianapolis has a lot of health problems that we could use some help with, and force are a cheaper way to kind of help that out with some of the budget cuts.

Um, there's also a lot of people I keep in Indianapolis beautiful that are trying to do the work and are missing out on funding from the federal funding.

So if we could work with people in the community who are already doing the work and have that infrastructure set up, I think we could really make this happen and kind of a uh civilian coalition, the the urban forest alliance.

I think we have people who want to do the work, but we don't know how to get those people to where they need to be to get that work done.

So thank you very much.

Thank you all.

Madam Clerk, would you uh please please proceed?

Proposal number 282, 2025 adopts the operating and maintenance budgets and tax levies of the Indianapolis Airport Authority and establishes appropriations for said municipal corporation for 2026.

Thank you.

Very good.

Is there anyone in the audience who would like to offer a public comment regarding proposal 282?

Right seemed done.

Uh Madam Clerk, please proceed.

Thank you.

Proposal number 283, 2025 adopts the operating and maintenance budgets and tax levies of the Capital Improvement Board of Managers and establishes appropriations for said municipal corporations for 2026.

Thank you.

Uh is there anyone in the audience who would like to offer public comment regarding proposal uh 283.

Good evening, council.

My name is David Craig Starkey.

I'm the general director and the CEO of the Indianapolis Arts Council, Indianapolis Opera.

50 years plus, this institution has been part of the culture and the fabric of this instant of the city.

Opera represents the top of the arts food chain.

If you don't have an opera company, that means that the other resources, culture, dynamics of your city are not as elevated as you hope they would be.

As one of these testimonies that you've said, we are on charge of the people from around the world that come to Indianapolis.

They pass through here for conventions, for sporting events, for band competitions, for FFA, for Gen Con, for every single thing that we can possibly try and attract people to Indianapolis for.

Since 2005, that has been the same.

Let's not make the mistake again.

Thank you.

Very good, Madam Clerk.

Would you please proceed?

Thank you.

Proposal number 284 adopts the operating and maintenance budgets and tax levies of the Health and Hospital Corporation and establishes appropriations for said municipal corporation for 2026.

Is there anyone in the audience who would like to offer public comment regarding proposal 284?

Good evening.

Hi, my name is uh Mike Olness, and I wouldn't have been here earlier talking about the forest tonight because this city council, when it does the progressive activist thing, it does great things.

So please listen to their forest fighters.

But on Health and Hospital Corporation, I'm just deeply worried that this uh budget and this this Health Hospital Corporation is wasting our money on long-term care lawsuits.

I sort of you know I was my name's Mike Rollers.

I'm the the chief of staff of Progressive Democrats of America a couple years ago.

There's a Supreme Court case told Vesky Forces Health and Hospital Corporation.

My guess is that the Health Hospital Corporation has spent millions and millions of dollars fighting this lawsuit.

It's still not settled, even though it wins in the Supreme Court.

I don't know why this safety and health the safety of the health care system is not protecting our patients better.

So I don't know if people know this, but look it up.

Linard versus Health and Hospital Corporation, Forset versus Health and Hospital Corporation, Pennell versus Health and Hospital Corporation, Penny versus Health Hospital Corporation, Godri and Wilder versus Health and Hospital Corporation.

These are lawsuits right now in our system about the lack of uh of good care and the hospital system that we own as Indianapolis residents and and and voters.

So I would say uh as we think about these budgets going forward, please hold the Board of Health and Hospital Corporation and the Stadionship accountable.

There are multiple lawsuits coming up, and they need to be ready to be on top of this.

I know it's a money-making uh scheme uh for a lot of that uh not part of uh our our system, but uh we can do good job, we can do good, provide health care, and have safe nursing homes for our elders, and also fight for more urban forests.

And also fight for more urban forests.

Thank you so much.

Thank you very much.

Madam Clerk, would you please proceed?

Thank you again for allowing comments on this particular budget.

Michael Hart brought it to my attention.

He's my councilman.

Brought it to my attention a couple weeks ago.

And I was I was floored at the amount of money that's going through this board.

My mother-in-law is with us, and we moved to Indianapolis so we could be closer to doctors and hospitals because she needs care.

Yesterday she was thrown out of a nursing home because she's past her pay period.

She's got to go home.

She's got dementia.

She has Alzheimer's.

She's diabetic.

That nursing home for 90 days refused to give her therapy.

When she went in, she went in walking.

She's now in a wheelchair and can't even get up out of the chair.

In two days, she fell in my home.

Because the hospital and the doctors in the nurses in the nursing homes say you got to take her home.

If not, we need $3,800 by Monday from a woman that worked for 48 years as a hairdresser in her own home and paid taxes.

But yet I have a sister-in-law over here, who's never worked a day in her life, and has been through probably 15 surgeries in five years for free.

And I don't think the public gets the picture.

And then when I hear this budget, why was my mother-in-law thrown out of a nursing home that needs care?

She needs care.

Why was she thrown out?

And then more or less just held for ransom.

Give us three, we need 300, we need 3,800 today, or she's gonna be out on the street.

You guys need to get a hold of that board.

Thank you.

Hi, my name is Brandy.

I would just like to ask you, please, Counseling Samuel and anyone else who speaks to speak loudly into your microphone.

It's hard to hear you.

Thanks.

All right, thank you very much, Madam Clerk.

Uh, please proceed.

Thank you.

Proposal number 285, 2025 adopts the operating and maintenance budgets and tax levies of the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library and establishes appropriations for said municipal corporations for 2026.

Is there anyone in the audience who would like to offer public comment regarding proposal 285?

All right, seeing no one uh Madam Clerk, uh please proceed.

Proposal number 286, 2025 adopts the operating and maintenance budgets and tax levies of the Indianapolis Public Transportation Corporation Indigo and establishes a appropriations for said municipal corporation for 2026.

Is there anyone in the audience who would like to offer public comment on uh proposal 286?

All right.

Uh this concludes public hearing portion on the budget proposals uh this evening's agenda.

Uh proposal uh 306 is a rezoning certified for approval by the Metropolitan Development Commission, September the 8th, 2025.

Rezoning case uh 2025 CZN 814 is located at 3043, 3051, 3511 and 3801 South Post Road, uh 9405, 9609, 9611, and 90 9931 East Troy Avenue.

3430, 3440, and 3610 Davis Road, and 9500 Vander Griff Road in Franklin Township, Council District 20.

The rezoning proposes to rezone 467.66 acres for a data center uh campus development along with associated uses section 151-79 of the code clearly outlines the process uh for public hearings for rezoning cases certified by the Metropolitan Development Commission.

I believe that Mr.

Calderon has a statement.

Thank you, President Osley, uh members uh the city council, Joe Calderon 11 South Meridian here in Indianapolis.

I represent the petitioner in this matter, and I'd like to announce uh our intention to withdraw this proposal.

Thank you.

Uh thank you.

I have no further comment.

Thank you.

All right, um counsel.

All right, madam counsel, if you will give us um advice on uh next steps on this.

Yeah, we'll postpone the hearing on this until our next we'll postpone the hearing on this until our next meeting on the 6th.

And we're you can't hear it at all.

Okay.

Can you hear me now?

Okay.

Sorry about that.

Okay.

Thank you.

Okay.

So what'll happen now is that we will work with uh Mr.

Calderon to get the adequate documentation from the MPC with by their next meeting on October 1st, and we'll bring back confirmation of that at our next meeting on October 6th.

So the public the hearing will be postponed until we get that documentation.

So as far as that's all we need to do today.

Yeah, I just gotta I just want to confirm that I it was kind of hard to hear, uh, Councillor Pierce, and I just want to confirm that the next step is that uh the petitioning attorney, Mr.

Calderon will take this uh withdrawal to the MDC, and then we will postpone this hearing until October 6th in the event that they do not withdraw, then we will have this hearing then.

October.

Yes, October 6th.

Yes, that that is correct.

That's correct.

All right, thank you.

So that's all right.

Let us proceed.

There is no business then under uh special orders, unfinished business.

So let us now proceed to special orders, final adoption.

Mr.

Can I clarify a question?

Please.

On this matter, we're just resolving with Franklin Township.

That's gonna be is that postponed automatically because of this, or do we have to take action?

No, he has withdrawn the petition.

So we don't have to take action to delay it to the next meeting.

No, we can just we'll just postpone it just to make sure because if he doesn't actually do it, then we'll have the public hearing.

Okay, thank you.

Very good.

All right, um, as I was saying, there's no business under special orders, unfinished business, so let us proceed now to special orders final adoption and this next item on our agenda is opposed to number two seven six referred to public safety and criminal justice committee.

Chairman Robinson.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

Um proposal two seventy-six twenty twenty-five directs to the office of public health and safety provided report to the city county council regarding the point appropriations of the round three elevation grant program to the Annapolis Foundation.

Uh Mr.

Mr.

President heard that on 910 2025.

Report was received.

There was no vote on that um on that proposal, Mr.

President.

Chairman, I believe that motion was um is properly moved and seconded.

Mr.

President, there was no vote.

So we received the report and there was no vote at the committee.

There's no holding to the I'm sorry.

Yes.

Thank you.

I know I appreciate it.

Thank you very much.

So the report is accepted as submitted.

No further action is needed.

Proposal number 280.

Referred to municipal corporations committee.

Chairman Evans.

Thank you, Mr.

President.

With consent, I'd like to take proposals 280 and 281 together.

Unanimous consent has been heard.

Proposal number 280 approves the issuance of the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library General Obligation Bonds in an original aggregate principal amount not to exceed 15 million dollars.

That proposal passed with a due pass recommendation 11 to 0.

Proposals 281 approves the appropriation of the proceeds and investment earnings of the Indianapolis Marion County Public Library General Obligation Bonds and an original aggregate principal amount not to exceed $15 million for the purpose of financing all or any portion of the 2025-26 multi-facility long-term capital maintenance and equipment update.

Much of this money was used or is to be used for West Indianapolis Library Branch.

Mr.

President, I so moved.

Second.

All right.

That motion is improvedly moved and seconded.

All right, seeing none, let us proceed to the board for our vote.

As a technical technical correction, proposal number 275 2025, which proposes an ordinance of the Marion County Local Income Tax Council to 1.2, modify the allocation of the previously imposed expenditure rate.

And three to cast the vote of the City County Council on such ordinance was advertised for public hearing at this evening's council meeting.

However, due to the schedule of meetings, the proposal has not yet been heard in committee or referred to the council with a recommendation for a final vote.

Therefore, uh, do I have consent of this body to continue the public hearing of proposal 275 2025 until our October 6th meeting?

Very good.

Thank you.

So the next item on our agenda is announcements and adjournment.

Mr.

President.

Chair recognizes Councilor Maori.

Mr.

President, I've been asked to offer the following motion for adjournment by Councillor Roberts in memory of Clorina Lewis and Jean Brook.

By Councillor Lewis in memory of Joseph Worden, by Councillor Mascarry in memory of Anthony Lloyd Howell and Vin Solomon.

By Councillor McCormick in memory of Myra Grisley Perrin.

Mr.

President, I would like to move the adjournment of the meeting of the Indianapolis City County Council in recognition of and respect for the life and contributions of those persons I have here specifically named.

I respectfully ask the support of fellow counselors.

I further request that the motion be made part of the permanent records of this body and that a letter bearing the council seal and the signature of the president be sent to the family of each person advising of this action.

Thank you, Councilor Maury.

Hearing no objections, the motion is received, and the request is so ordered.

Hearing no further motions were adjourned.

Thank you.