MCANA Meeting on January 21, 2025: Neighborhood Advocacy and City Resources
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Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations First Meeting of 2025 - January 21, 2025
Kathy Burton, president of the Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations (MCANA), opened the first meeting of 2025 at 9:00 a.m. at North United Methodist Church (38th and Meridian). The meeting featured a presentation by Brittany Crone, Director of Community Outreach for the Mayor's Office, on the roles of Mayor's Neighborhood Advocates (MAs) and the Mayor's Action Center (MAC). The meeting also included announcements about state legislation, digital billboards, and neighborhood resources.
Consent Calendar
- No consent calendar items were presented.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Jim (representing NESCO) raised concerns about the alley behind the post office on Sherman Drive, noting years of illegal dumping, poor conditions, and its use as a connector to the post office and library. He also asked about how repeat reports are tracked and whether the system prioritizes them. He later noted that NESCO will present on ACELA at Neighborhood Power Day on March 8.
- Alma reported a recurring problem with illegal dumping and high weeds on a vacant lot between 37th and 38th Streets on Keystone Avenue, near Dollar General. She sought guidance on how to report the issue when there is no clear address.
- Jacqueline asked about the difference between a neighborhood association and a homeowners association, which was explained by Kathy Burton and Brittany Crone.
- Another attendee asked about the authority of the MA to be an advocate for neighbors versus a neutral facilitator; Brittany clarified that MAs are a two-way link, not decision-makers.
Discussion Items
Opening Remarks and Announcements
- Kathy Burton noted MCANA has met since 1990 (monthly on third Saturdays, except December) and welcomed attendees. She emphasized that meetings are open to the public and that MCANA is a 501(c)(3) supporting neighborhood organizations.
- State Legislature: Kathy highlighted that 2025 is a budget year. She mentioned bills requiring HOAs to erect 4-foot fences around retention ponds and a bill that could disband public school systems where more than half of students attend charter schools (affecting IPS). She encouraged attendees to monitor legislation.
- Digital Billboards: Kathy reported that the City-County Council upheld the current sign ordinance to keep digital billboards out of Marion County, thanking neighborhoods for their advocacy.
- Upcoming Events: The Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center's (INRC) Neighborhood Power Day will be held on March 8, 2025. The next MCANA meeting is February 15, 2025, with a speaker to be announced.
Presentation on Mayor's Neighborhood Advocates and Action Center
- Brittany Crone presented on her role and teams. She noted that Indianapolis has almost 900,000 residents and over 450 registered neighborhood organizations. The city has 10 MA districts, each covering a township or area of Center Township. Each MA attends an average of 22 neighborhood meetings per month.
- MAs serve as a link to city-county resources, helping with code enforcement, zoning, funding opportunities, and neighborhood initiatives. They aim to be creative problem-solvers and take an asset-based approach.
- The Mayor's Action Center (MAC) has 15 staff and handles hundreds of calls daily (Monday–Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., closed for staff meeting Thursdays 2–3 p.m.). Residents can also use the Request Indy app or web portal (24/7) to report issues like potholes, missed trash, and street repairs.
- The city is working on improvements: language access (translated website/Request Indy), hiring bilingual CSRs, clarifying case statuses in Request Indy, and better referral processes between agencies.
- ACELA (citizen access portal) can be used to look up property information, enforcement cases, and owner details, though it is clunky.
Q&A and Discussion
- Residents raised concerns about after-hours reporting (especially for zoning violations), the need for a heat map of repeat problem areas, and the difficulty of using Request Indy when reports involve private property or require anonymity.
- Brittany acknowledged gaps and committed to exploring solutions, including better interagency communication and potential expansion of services.
- A live demonstration showed how to use Map Indy and ACELA to identify property owners and enforcement history for a vacant lot near Keystone Avenue. The lot was linked to an out-of-state owner (Lorenzo Sound LLC).
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes were taken.
- Follow-up Actions: Brittany will check whether the Sherman Drive alley is on the city's list for alley improvements through the BNS/DPW program and will communicate with Carrington (MA for that area). She will also investigate the issue with photo attachments in Request Indy and explore adding case status links.
- Next Meeting: February 15, 2025, at 9:00 a.m., North United Methodist Church. Speaker to be determined; updates will be posted on MCANA's Facebook page and email list.
- Call to Action: Attendees were reminded to check on neighbors during the upcoming cold snap, bring pets inside, and schedule neighborhood cleanups with Keep Indianapolis Beautiful early.
- Resources Shared: How to find an MA: call the MAC (317-327-4622) or the mayor's office front desk (317-327-3601), or use the 'Find My MA' page on Indy.gov. Monthly MA newsletters are available via email.
Meeting Transcript
Okay. I would like to welcome everybody to the first meeting for the Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations. For this year, we have been meeting since 1980, or excuse me, 1990. So we've been having this annual this monthly meeting for a while, but this is our first meeting for 2025. I appreciate those of you who came out in the weather. And I would like to start by saying, My name is Kathy Burton. I am the current president for the Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations. And for those of you who may be joining us for the first time or who are watching us on the government channels, either 16 or 28. We were having a brief discussion before the recording started about how people can access the meetings. So I want to make sure I get all my bases covered. But for those of you that may not be familiar with McCana, we were founded in 1990 as a not-for-profit 501 C3 that encompasses any neighborhood organization, HOA or other neighborhood-based organization, to participate in McCana, to have a voice in what's going on in our neighborhoods to find out about what current issues may be, to bring to the table issues where your neighborhood may want some additional assistance either from government agencies from other neighborhoods or just to raise awareness of the public. If you've got an event that's coming up, an issue that you've been trying to address, or you could use some extra mental elbow grease to try and get support. So these meetings are open to the public. Anyone in the public is welcome to contact McCannna if you have a neighborhood issue that you want to address, whether you are a member of a formal organization or not. Our meetings are held once a month on the third Saturday of every month, except we do not meet in December. And in the winter months, we have, I believe, since 1990, we've had to cancel twice because of winter weather, but we want you to be aware of that, especially for people who are bus riding, that you want to kind of keep an eye on things. We meet at North United Methodist Church, which is at 38th and Meridian, and we meet from 9 until 11 a.m. Um, those are our formal meetings, but throughout the month, we're communicating with each other. The neighborhoods are communicating with each other about ongoing issues that are happening, um, if there's a specific topic that we're working or issue that we're working on. Um we do some communication by email sometimes. It requires in-person meetings, but we try and um set up arrangements so that everyone can participate and get information. Um if you would like to contact McCannna, you can call me again. My name is Kathy Burton. My phone number is 317 847 9959. My email address is CB7801 at AOL.com. Um I will tell you that if that I carry a flip phone, so if you send me a text with a link in it, I'm not going to be able to access it. Just warning you. Um as we were discussing, sometimes I don't respond immediately. I have an old community computer system, so if you don't, if I don't if you don't get a response in the first couple of hours, do not dismay. I will get back with you. Um we would also like to, and at ever at our meetings every month, we have a speaker or speakers that can come and talk about issues that are of importance to neighborhoods. So if you know of someone that you would like to or that you would like to have come in and speak with us, or there's a topic that you would like to have addressed, please reach us. Um we would like to thank North United Methodist Church who has provided us with meeting space since we were founded. Um we are on the city bus lines, although I am not a bus user. For those of you that do rely on the buses, we we are we do have access to public transportation, so you can use that to get here. Um and we do um tell you that if you would like to help support North United Methodist Church's community outreach services, we ask you to bring a non-perishable food item or items with you. Um, you can just leave them at the front desk when you come in at the church. We also would like to thank um, I can't, it's not just channel 16, but the government channel, is that the proper phrase, um, for airing our meetings for us. I understand that they are now you can now view them not only on channel 16 and channel 28, but they are live, they are streaming, so you can access them at any time you happen to be awake. Um, for many neighborhood leaders that is in the middle of the night. Um, if you look at the timestamp on the on the emails, you'll see that. Um, but we appreciate that. That allows us to reach people who may not be able to attend our meetings in person but do who do still have an interest in neighborhood issues. So we want to thank them for their continued support for that. I also want to say a thank you that I don't do often enough to the Marion County Health Department who sends representatives to meet with at our meetings every month so that they are able to, neighbors are able to connect with them directly about issues that the health department might be able to help them address, and that is not just where do you get your shots, but it's also things like you know what do you do if you have uh a neighbor who think you think may need to be checked on for health reasons, or you have a property whose condition is you want somebody to follow up on. So I encourage you to look at the Marion County web Marion County Health Department's website and find out all of the services that they can offer. Um our next meeting will be on February the 15th. I'm still working on the speaker for that meeting. Um so please keep an eye. We do have an active Facebook page where um we can we will post who our speakers are and when our meetings are.
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