Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations Monthly Meeting - October 21, 2024
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Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations Monthly Meeting
Kathy Burton, president, opened the meeting on October 21, 2024, at North United Methodist Church. The meeting was recorded for Channel 16 and 28. Candidates for U.S. Congress District 7 and IPS School Board District 1 spoke, followed by a discussion on neighborhood issues and strategies. The meeting concluded with plans for a letter about an alley condition and identification of core issues for advocacy.
Public Comments & Testimony
- John Schmitz, Republican candidate for U.S. Congress District 7, described his background as a concrete and masonry contractor. He said he was motivated by his experience renovating a building in Mars Hill, which involved city permitting problems. He cited 628 houses in the Mars Hill floodplain requiring FEMA flood insurance as a key concern. He proposed improving the permitting process and increasing civic engagement. He stated, "I'm running for you, not against Andre Carson," and criticized the lack of support from current elected officials.
- Alan Schoff, independent candidate for IPS School Board District 1, spoke about the negative impacts of school disruptions on children. He said that over 12 years, 12,000 students had been shifted, and alleged that charter and innovation schools lack accountability, as superintendents have no authority over them. He advocated for stable learning environments and support for teachers, referencing that low-income children comprise 80% of the district. He highlighted his campaign's local funding, being outspent 20 to 1.
Discussion Items
- Alley Conditions and Permitting Issues: A resident of Martin Dale Brightwood cited a persistent problem with an unpaved alley behind the post office between 27th and 30th Streets on Sherman. The group agreed to send a letter to the mayor's office, DPW Director Brandon Hergett, and Public Works Director Bob Hosley. A resident reported a house at 3811 North Tacoma violating a 24-hour turnaround variance by blocking the alley with cars and trailers. Kathleen Blackham, a city planner, was recommended as a point of contact for obtaining the variance. The group discussed code enforcement being slow.
- Illegal Semi-Truck Parking: Kathy raised the issue of semi-trucks parking illegally. Attendees shared that trucks park on residential streets, and it may be a citywide concern. Suggestions included reporting to the company, getting license plate numbers, and involving media. A prior ordinance limits truck parking facilities within 500 feet of protected districts, but enforcement remains difficult.
- Health and Safety: Dana, from the health department, reported no current data on a COVID-19 spike but recommended getting new COVID, flu, and RSV vaccines. She encouraged continued vigilance.
- Roadside Litter Cleanups: Kathy raised the issue of unsafe roadside litter areas. Members suggested using special event permits (e.g., for parades) or coordinating with agencies like Citizens Gas to close roads temporarily. A successful example was an urban tactical project on 10th Street that used barricades and painting.
- Wetlands Preservation: Kathy mentioned a task force working with the Hoosier Environmental Council to save wetlands in Franklin Township through an initiative called "Wetlands, Not Warehouses." They hope to buy the wetlands privately and use this as a framework for other communities.
- Community Contacts: Jackie offered to research an IMPD community relations contact for reporting street issues. The next meeting on November 16 will feature Brittany Cohn from the mayor's office.
Key Outcomes
- Approved sending a letter to city officials urging repaving of the alley behind the post office in Martin Dale Brightwood. The correspondence will include details from residents and potentially photos. Vicki Driver's Oxford Neighborhood Association will also be involved.
- Advised the resident to contact Kathleen Blackham (Kathleen.Blackham@IndyGov.org) to obtain the variance for the property at 3811 North Tacoma and pursue enforcement.
- Encouraged reporting issues with semi-truck parking to trucking companies and media outlets; attendees will gather license plate numbers.
- Planned to research and provide an IMPD community relations contact for citywide enforcement questions.
- Next meeting scheduled for November 16, 2024, from 9 to 11 a.m., featuring Brittany Cohn from the mayor's office.
Meeting Transcript
So we are going to get started. I want to welcome everybody to the monthly meeting of the Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations. I know our crowd is small this morning. There are lots of events going on in the in the county that neighborhoods are interested in. So we want to welcome those of you who are present in person and those of you who will be watching us on channels 16 and 28. My name is Kathy Burton, and I'm the current president for the Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations. We are, for those of you who may not be familiar with us who are watching on Channel 16, although I know all the rooms, the faces in the room here are familiar. We are not for profit 501 C3 Association of Marion County Neighborhood Associations and Homeowners' Associations from all over Marion County. We were founded in 1990, and our goal is to connect neighborhoods from all over the county with each other and look at those issues that are common throughout our neighborhoods as well as helping provide support for specific issues that may be coming up in our neighborhoods so that neighbors can share their experiences, what worked, what didn't work, and try and help find resolutions to some of those issues that especially the ones that we share countywide. We meet on the third Saturday of every month, except in December. We do not have a meeting, so please don't show up here at the church in December. I'm sure there will be things going on, but we will not be one of them. At those meetings, we have a speaker or speakers that come to talk about issues that are important to neighborhoods, and as we are going to do this morning, we also have an opportunity for neighbors to talk with each other and try and look at some of those issues that are coming up and how we might kind of strategize to get things accomplished for our neighborhoods in the coming year. We want to thank North United Methodist Church for being generous with their meeting space, and we invite people who attend to bring a non-perishable food item or items to contribute to the church's food bank to help complement their community outreach efforts. And we also want to take thank Channel 16 who come and they come in. I don't know whether it's taping or live streaming or what the current technological phrasing is, but they record our meetings and then air them throughout the month on channels 16 and 28 so that we have an opportunity for neighborhoods to know what's going on around the county, even when they're not able to participate in person. We really appreciate that opportunity. It's something that many communities across the country do not have, but it does allow us to stay up to date and connected with each other, even we're not able to attend meetings in person. And I know that that gets to be more and more of a challenge. So I again I want to thank everybody. I do want to tell everybody that our meet our speaker next month, our next meeting is on November the 16th. Um our speaker will be Brittany Cohn, who's the director of Crone, who is the director of community outreach for the mayor's office in the city of Indianapolis, and that's who supervises the mayor's neighborhood advocates. So if you need to make a connection with your mayor's neighborhood advocate, have a message that you'd like to have taken directly to the mayor's office or an issue that you want to have highlight, November would be an excellent meeting for you to come and try and get that accomplished. And then our following meeting will be in January. Um and I believe the Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center will be our speaker then. I'm still firming that up. But like I said, next next month's meeting is on November the 16th. Um with that, we do have one of my candidates' practices is that candidates who are on the ballot have the opportunity to come and address neighbors to talk about their candidacy, their qualifications, the issues that they believe are important to the community, and what some of their solutions might be for some of the challenges that are facing our communities, as well as how to expand those programs that have been successful for our communities. This morning, if I have my information correct, and if I do not, please please do so. We do have one candidate for a congressional district. Is that correct? District 7, and then um two candidates for Indianapolis School Board. Um so I am going without without much further ado. Pardon. I'm sorry, the only oh I'm sorry. It's only it's only Allen. We have one candidate for the Indian Apple School Board. So with that, I'm going to invite John Schmidt. If you'd like to come up, you're welcome to sit or stand, however, you are most comfortable. One of the things we ask the candidates to do is to start and end again with um whichever um which whatever office you're running for, and then and with your contact information. Okay. So with that, if you'd like to introduce yourself, what you're running for, what you hope to do for us. Okay. My name's John Schmitz. I'm running for U.S. Congress District 7, which is right here on the top two-thirds of Marion County. A little bit of my background is uh I grew up on the South Side, went to Perry Meridian High School, uh, graduated, went to Vincent for a couple years, uh, and then went to Ball State. Uh, ran track all four years, lettered, uh, and then later in life I got a master's degree in psychology. My undergrad was graphic design and interior design, and then I have a master's in psychology. I like to tell people I'm a creative therapist.
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