OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

McCannna Monthly Meeting Summary - October 20, 2025

Other Meetings (J-Z) — Monday, October 20, 2025
BodyIndianapolis, Indiana
SessionOther Meetings (J-Z)
DateMonday, October 20, 2025
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 2:02:33

Transcript — Verbatim
0:09

My name is Kathy Burton and I am the current president for that for McCannna.

0:14

Before we start, I want to tell you I will get a sign-up sheet out here in just a minute.

0:18

I do want to delay getting in any longer.

0:20

So be on your way out, if you would like to uh sign in on the sign-up sheet, you can do that.

0:27

Um, our regular monthly meeting is held on this on the first Saturday as every month, except in December.

0:33

So our next meeting will be on November 15th, and Mary County Prosecutor Ryan Mears will be our guest speaker at that meeting.

0:41

For those of you who may not have been to McCannna before, um, and for those who are watching on channel 16 or 28 for the first time, I want to tell you a little bit about McCannna.

0:50

We were founded in 1990 as in 501 C3, and we invite neighborhoods from all over Marion County, and we have attracted some from just outside of Marion County as well, to come together to support each other, to share issues, um, to try and lend our strength to each other, and that's going to be a topic that we're going to tackle later in the agenda about what we can start doing to support each other.

1:13

But we want to share knowledge about information and issues that are going on in Marion County that impact um the neighborhoods and help lend a collective voice to those neighborhoods to identify the issues that we believe are important to our neighborhoods, not just generally across the county, but right down to what is the place across the alley that is still not behaving itself the way it should.

1:35

Um, and we believe that sharing knowledge about our successes and our challenges will help build each other up so that we will know what has worked for other people, what has not worked for other people, um, and get that information out there.

1:47

And anybody this um our meetings are always open to the public.

1:51

You do not have to be a member to attend, um, although we do invite you to attend McCannna, and our dues are $20 every year.

1:59

Um we meet at North United Methodist Church, as I said, on the third Saturday of every month from 9 to 11 a.m.

2:05

unless the um chair happens to be late mental after night.

2:10

Um, and at those meetings, we have a speaker or speakers that are going to address topics that are of interest to neighborhoods.

2:15

And our speaker this morning um is uh it's very timely, Sam Carpenter, who is the director of the Hoosier Environmental Council.

2:22

As we know, um we are facing a lot of environmental challenges locally, you know, statewide, globally, um, and governmental regulations and funding and how those are handled are shifting constantly.

2:36

Um and it's certainly become a necessity for neighborhoods right now on the grassroots level to step up and help protect our environmental resources, which are finite.

2:46

Um, and like many people may believe, they're not always renewable and replaceable.

2:51

Um, but there are many other issues that we try to address to that.

2:54

And so, if there is ever a topic where you would like to have a speaker come in, please let us know.

2:59

Um, we are working to get someone from the coalition for homeless intervention prevention in to talk about the homeless situation in Marion County and how that is being addressed.

3:09

Um, we do want to thank North United Methodist Church who has been very generous with their meeting space for many years, um allowing us to meet in a central location in the county, but it's also accessible by the bus line.

3:20

So hopefully everybody can get to us easily.

3:23

And we also want to check thank channel 16 for coming in to I don't know what the current proper term is tape, stream, record, but our messages are aired on channel 16 throughout the month so that people who are not able to be here in person can still watch what's going on in the neighborhoods here from other people and learn how to connect with each other.

3:46

Um we are very fortunate in Marion County to have that channel with us because everybody's schedules are very busy, um, and it is difficult sometimes to get to meetings in person, and so that provides us a platform to try and get that information out.

4:01

Before our speaker comes up this morning, um, I would like to ask if there's anybody that has an event coming up in their community that they would like to make known to the public to get people to come out and participate.

4:14

Um, if not, I'd like to have one.

4:15

I hail from Franklin Township, and we have Christmas in Wanamaker coming up, which is December the 6th.

4:21

Um, it is from, I believe it's from 10 to 3.

4:24

Um, it is on the main, it is on located along Southeastern Avenue, which is the main street through Franklin Township.

4:30

Um, we have a Christmas parade.

4:32

There are opportunities for picture with Santa Pictures with Santa.

4:35

Businesses up and down that the uh in Franklin Township come out, open their doors to people.

4:40

We have craft vendors that are there for people to support to participate in.

4:45

It's a really nice community event, especially if it snows a little bit, that's always nice, although we don't want to be too cold.

4:51

Um so we invite everybody out to Franklin Township, which is way far out in the southeast corner of the town of the county.

4:57

If you throw a rock, you'll be in Shelby County.

5:00

So we invite you to come out for that.

5:03

Do we have a mayor's name advocate with us this morning?

5:06

Yes, sir.

5:07

I don't believe we have met before.

5:08

Charles also there.

5:10

Hi, how are you, Charles?

5:11

I'm good.

5:11

How are you?

5:12

I'm good.

5:13

This is your opportunity to stand up and tell us what's going on in Indianapolis.

5:17

Gotcha.

5:18

You can either sit stand or come up here with a microphone if you do what's comfortable for you.

5:22

Good morning, everyone.

5:25

I would say one of the biggest things that we have going on in Indianapolis is our new trash vendor.

5:32

And so there's been a lot of commotion with that.

5:35

We started on October 6th, going out and delivering trash cans.

5:41

They are your standard DPW trash cans, and our new provider is LRS.

5:48

I also would like to make sure that we do have some friends from DW.

5:54

Todd and Mark and the team.

6:01

But LRS is our new trash vendor.

6:04

And so if you're already in a DPW district, you won't be getting a new trash can.

6:11

You'll keep your same grade trash can.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Environmental Protection█████████████████17%
Engineering And Infrastructure████████████████16%
Waste Management█████████████13%
Community Engagement██████████10%
Data Center Regulation█████████9%
Public Works█████████9%
Transportation Safety███████7%
Traffic Calming███████7%
Water And Wastewater Management███3%
Summary of Proceedings

McCannna Monthly Meeting Summary - October 20, 2025

The Marion County Neighborhood Association (McCannna) held its regular monthly meeting on October 20, 2025, featuring presentations from Indianapolis Department of Public Works (DPW) leadership and the Hoosier Environmental Council. The meeting focused on critical updates regarding the city's trash vendor transition, data center development impacts in Martinsville-Brightwood, stormwater management, and a new initiative called "Neighborhood SOS" designed to foster collective advocacy for local infrastructure issues.

Consent Calendar

  • No formal consent calendar items were presented; administrative announcements and meeting logistics were handled during the introduction and closing.

Public Comments & Testimony

  • Resident from Brightwood: Expressed strong opposition to the new trash collection protocol regarding carts left on sidewalks. The speaker argued that requiring residents to move carts up flights of stairs for hillside homes creates safety hazards and blocks sidewalks, noting that existing pickup locations (alleys) should be maintained as the new trucks are allegedly too large for alleys. The speaker requested legal clarity regarding sidewalk obstructions and ADA compliance.
  • Resident from Franklin Township: Expressed concern regarding traffic engineering standards for new developments. The speaker argued that current accident-data-based thresholds are reactive rather than proactive, urging residents to challenge developers and officials to implement preventative traffic controls (like roundabouts or stop signs) before intersections reach a "failure" point due to rapid suburbanization and narrow roadways.
  • Resident from Martinsville (via inquiry): Expressed concern that low-profile cement medians on Ransom Street near Fall Creek are difficult to see, leading to accidents where drivers fail to realize no-left-turn restrictions are in place, and requested that the medians be painted for better visibility.
  • General Public: Raised questions regarding the clarity of responsibilities between Citizens Energy Group and DPW for water/sewer issues, expressed confusion over recycling bin removals and illegal dumping near bins, and sought clarity on property owner responsibilities for roadside ditch maintenance.

Discussion Items

  • Trash Vendor Transition (LRS):
    • Natalie Van Dogen (City Community Outreach Director) explained that door hangers and instructions were placed on the new carts rather than sent via mailers to ensure visibility. She clarified that residents should place old carts at the street on their next pickup day for collection by the new vendor, LRS. Subscription recycling carts remain with the current provider (Republic) until a switch in December 2025, when LRS will assume that service. A curbside recycling model is planned for 2028.
    • DPW Staff: Confirmed that 60,000+ carts have been delivered since October 6 and reiterated that leaf recycling collection begins November 10, 2025, utilizing plastic bags to prevent water damage.
  • Data Center Development (Hoosier Environmental Council):
    • Sam Carpenter (Executive Director, Hoosier Environmental Council) outlined the environmental and economic challenges of rapid data center expansion, specifically in the Martinsville-Brightwood area.
    • Position on Incentives: Expressed the position that tax abatements and sales tax exemptions for data centers are unnecessary as companies are already in a "race" to build facilities without them, and that these incentives reduce community revenue.
    • Position on Transparency: Stated that communities have significant leverage during the rezoning process to demand transparency regarding electricity usage, water consumption, and grid costs before approvals are granted, rather than negotiating after the fact.
    • Environmental Impact: Highlighted concerns regarding high electricity usage (potentially 10% of state usage for a single facility), water consumption, and diesel generator emissions. The speaker noted that 80% of new generation costs are covered by large load customers, but communities still bear 20% plus transmission costs.
  • Department of Public Works (DPW) Operations:
    • Todd Wilson (DPW Director) presented the 2026 budget and capital plan.
    • Roadway Funding: Expressed confidence in the capital program, citing $16 million allocated for strip patching, $3.6 million for neighborhood resurfacing, and $16 million for residential resurfacing in 2026. He noted that alleys are excluded from the capital program due to lack of gas tax funding.
    • Traffic Calming: Explained the "Community-Powered Infrastructure" program (tactical urbanism), noting that temporary installations like flower pots are used to test hypotheses regarding speed reduction before permanent infrastructure is built. He acknowledged that projects take years to complete and temporary measures may be removed during winter.
    • Two-Way Conversions: Addressed concerns about parking impacts on 29th/30th Streets and the Capitol/Indiana conversion. Stated that parking impacts are minimal on wider roads but acknowledged the need for parking studies in downtown one-way pairs to minimize disruption. He confirmed engagement with neighborhoods is ongoing but noted that final designs were in early planning phases.
    • Emergency Response: Clarified that pothole filling and snow removal are performed by union staff and that the new solid waste facility is under construction.
  • Neighborhood SOS Initiative:
    • Kathy Burton (McCannna President) introduced "Neighborhood SOS," a strategy to mobilize cross-townsupport for specific local issues (e.g., alley maintenance, sidewalk obstructions). The initiative plans to designate two days per month per township to aggregate resident complaints and collectively contact officials to address recurring infrastructure failures.

Key Outcomes

  • Trash Cart Collection Protocol Established: Residents are instructed to leave old carts at the street on regular pickup days for LRS collection; pickup locations (alley vs. street) remain unchanged for residents.
  • Leaf Recycling Confirmed: DPW confirmed leaf collection begins November 10, 2025, with a preference for plastic bags over paper.
  • Data Center Policy Recommendations: The Hoosier Environmental Council recommended that municipalities demand full transparency regarding data center energy/water usage and grid costs prior to rezoning, rather than accepting tax abatements.
  • Traffic Signal Inquiry Actioned: DPW agreed to review the traffic signal at College and Washington Street to determine if it should be disconnected or modified to reduce backups caused by construction.
  • Two-Way Conversion Scheduling: DPW confirmed meetings regarding the 29th/30th Street conversions are scheduled for November, with community engagement continuing during the 30% plan phase.
  • Neighborhood SOS Launch: McCannna will distribute sign-up forms to collect specific neighborhood issues for the new collective advocacy campaign, with the goal of coordinating cross-towns support.
  • Upcoming Events: Next meeting scheduled for November 15, 2025, featuring Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears as the guest speaker.

Meeting Transcript

My name is Kathy Burton and I am the current president for that for McCannna. Before we start, I want to tell you I will get a sign-up sheet out here in just a minute. I do want to delay getting in any longer. So be on your way out, if you would like to uh sign in on the sign-up sheet, you can do that. Um, our regular monthly meeting is held on this on the first Saturday as every month, except in December. So our next meeting will be on November 15th, and Mary County Prosecutor Ryan Mears will be our guest speaker at that meeting. For those of you who may not have been to McCannna before, um, and for those who are watching on channel 16 or 28 for the first time, I want to tell you a little bit about McCannna. We were founded in 1990 as in 501 C3, and we invite neighborhoods from all over Marion County, and we have attracted some from just outside of Marion County as well, to come together to support each other, to share issues, um, to try and lend our strength to each other, and that's going to be a topic that we're going to tackle later in the agenda about what we can start doing to support each other. But we want to share knowledge about information and issues that are going on in Marion County that impact um the neighborhoods and help lend a collective voice to those neighborhoods to identify the issues that we believe are important to our neighborhoods, not just generally across the county, but right down to what is the place across the alley that is still not behaving itself the way it should. Um, and we believe that sharing knowledge about our successes and our challenges will help build each other up so that we will know what has worked for other people, what has not worked for other people, um, and get that information out there. And anybody this um our meetings are always open to the public. You do not have to be a member to attend, um, although we do invite you to attend McCannna, and our dues are $20 every year. Um we meet at North United Methodist Church, as I said, on the third Saturday of every month from 9 to 11 a.m. unless the um chair happens to be late mental after night. Um, and at those meetings, we have a speaker or speakers that are going to address topics that are of interest to neighborhoods. And our speaker this morning um is uh it's very timely, Sam Carpenter, who is the director of the Hoosier Environmental Council. As we know, um we are facing a lot of environmental challenges locally, you know, statewide, globally, um, and governmental regulations and funding and how those are handled are shifting constantly. Um and it's certainly become a necessity for neighborhoods right now on the grassroots level to step up and help protect our environmental resources, which are finite. Um, and like many people may believe, they're not always renewable and replaceable. Um, but there are many other issues that we try to address to that. And so, if there is ever a topic where you would like to have a speaker come in, please let us know. Um, we are working to get someone from the coalition for homeless intervention prevention in to talk about the homeless situation in Marion County and how that is being addressed. Um, we do want to thank North United Methodist Church who has been very generous with their meeting space for many years, um allowing us to meet in a central location in the county, but it's also accessible by the bus line. So hopefully everybody can get to us easily. And we also want to check thank channel 16 for coming in to I don't know what the current proper term is tape, stream, record, but our messages are aired on channel 16 throughout the month so that people who are not able to be here in person can still watch what's going on in the neighborhoods here from other people and learn how to connect with each other. Um we are very fortunate in Marion County to have that channel with us because everybody's schedules are very busy, um, and it is difficult sometimes to get to meetings in person, and so that provides us a platform to try and get that information out. Before our speaker comes up this morning, um, I would like to ask if there's anybody that has an event coming up in their community that they would like to make known to the public to get people to come out and participate. Um, if not, I'd like to have one. I hail from Franklin Township, and we have Christmas in Wanamaker coming up, which is December the 6th. Um, it is from, I believe it's from 10 to 3. Um, it is on the main, it is on located along Southeastern Avenue, which is the main street through Franklin Township. Um, we have a Christmas parade. There are opportunities for picture with Santa Pictures with Santa. Businesses up and down that the uh in Franklin Township come out, open their doors to people. We have craft vendors that are there for people to support to participate in. It's a really nice community event, especially if it snows a little bit, that's always nice, although we don't want to be too cold. Um so we invite everybody out to Franklin Township, which is way far out in the southeast corner of the town of the county. If you throw a rock, you'll be in Shelby County. So we invite you to come out for that. Do we have a mayor's name advocate with us this morning? Yes, sir. I don't believe we have met before. Charles also there. Hi, how are you, Charles? I'm good. How are you? I'm good. This is your opportunity to stand up and tell us what's going on in Indianapolis. Gotcha. You can either sit stand or come up here with a microphone if you do what's comfortable for you.

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