3/2/2005
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2005 State of the City Address
Mayor Bart Peterson
Charles A. Tindley Accelerated School, March 2, 2005 It is with pleasure and a great deal of personal satisfaction that I give my annual State of the City address at the Charles A. Tindley Accelerated School. Just a year ago, I was present at the kick-off of the renovation of this vacant Cub Foods building in the heart of The Meadows. I reflected then on the potential of this school to rejuvenate a neighborhood and to rejuvenate the lives of some of our most vulnerable young people. Today, we can see that it is well on its way to succeeding on both scores.
The building is beautiful, and is helping create momentum for the kind of investment in The Meadows area many of us have dreamed of for decades. The school within the building is, simply put, changing lives - creating an environment where high achievement is not only deemed possible, but is expected. The small classes and opportunity for extra academic support are designed to prepare each student for success in college and beyond.
Each of us has our own life story - a personal narrative of our unique journey. Perhaps, some of you include in your narrative a moment, a specific event, a person who helped change you, a distinct sense of a bad "before" and a good "after." The Tindley School strives to make precisely that kind of profound difference in the lives of all its students. And with the continued commitment of its board, its administration, its faculty, its students and their parents, it will succeed.
A public school like this needs three things working in its favor to achieve its high ambition: a clear, compelling and credible vision; great leadership and teaching; and a supportive governmental environment. That's what the charter school movement is all about. Giving extraordinary people the freedom to pursue their vision for new ways to educate our children. Providing the conditions for leadership and creativity to flourish. Whether it is in business, science, government or education, stifling bureaucracy and excessive centralized control will crush innovation.
It is in this spirit that I have sought from the Indiana General Assembly the freedom for us in Indianapolis to restructure our local government in accordance with our own locally determined needs.
Indianapolis Works was born of necessity - the need to cut $35 million a year from the cost of city and county government to avoid property tax increases and cuts in essential government services.
Indianapolis Works has been portrayed as a radical departure from the way we have done business in this State. In the minds of some, trusting local elected officials to determine the best way to deliver services to their people is heresy. They seem to think it's better for the state legislature to dictate the size and shape of the police beats our officers patrol. They would lead you to believe they can better protect the people of Marion County by enshrining in state law the precise location of all our fire stations.
Fortunately, this same attitude didn't prevail when the Indiana charter school law was written. Otherwise I, as the sponsor of the Tindley School, would be responsible for hiring teachers, buying paper towels, and selecting the school's colors!
Everyone who has looked at Indianapolis Works objectively has said the same thing - it's a no-brainer. A plan to reduce government bureaucracy and deliver better city services is appealing to most people. When the plan also avoids property tax increases and layoffs of police officers, sheriff's deputies and firefighters, and avoids the need to close parks and eliminate such essential city services as street sweeping and dead animal pickup, it's pretty hard to argue against. And when all this can be accomplished without any cost to the state treasury, you have to wonder why it didn't pass the state legislature the first day!
But Indianapolis Works didn't pass the first day. It has been the victim of partisan squabbling every step of the way. If Indianapolis Works is, as charged, a radical departure from the way we have done business in this state, I say it's about time we did business in this state a new way! Passing Indianapolis Works will be a test of statesmanship in the General Assembly. An opportunity for Democrats and Republicans to work together in a bipartisan way for smaller, smarter government. A chance to heal some of the divisions so apparent in our state government. From the smoldering ashes of the first half of this legislative session, a new progressive vision for serving our people can emerge.
I happen to believe that our state legislature is capable of rising to the occasion and inspiring the people of Indiana. I have seen it several times in the last five years. For myself, I pledge to you right here, right now, that I will fight for Indianapolis Works until I've expended my last ounce of energy and my last drop of idealism! I cannot stand on the sidelines and watch this city I love turned into another Pittsburgh or Cleveland or Detroit, where taxes are raised at the same time parks are closed, police officers are laid off and people are leaving in droves.
We are at a school tonight. The young people here are just now forming their view of the world - and of their own community. I want to show them why they can be proud to be Hoosiers. Why this is the place they want to live for the rest of their lives. For their sake, for our sake, let us recommit together to rise above partisanship, pettiness and politics to build a brighter future for our city and the great state of Indiana!
Indianapolis Works is an idea whose time has come. Not next year or the year after, but NOW!
As much attention as has been paid to Indianapolis Works, it pales in comparison to that given to the expansion of the convention center and the new stadium.
Whether our city and state remain in the NFL is a matter worthy of the focus it has received. The convention center, as one of the prime economic engines of our entire region, deserves to be the center of attention. But tonight, I'd like to direct a much-needed spotlight on some other important challenges and opportunities in Indianapolis.
At this moment in our history, more important than the future of the Colts, more important than tens of thousands of jobs in the convention industry, more important than completing Uni-Gov, is fixing our broken criminal justice system and keeping criminals off the street! I have fought hard to improve public safety in our city and our successes have been notable. For example, violent crime in the Indianapolis Police Department service territory is much lower than when I took office, and in 2004 was at its lowest level in 16 years. But non-violent crime has been trending steadily upward.
Why is this? Crime statistics are notoriously hard to interpret and predict, but I think there is a plausible explanation. For lesser crimes, the fear of being arrested has been slowly evaporating in Indianapolis. With our jail overcrowding crisis, those committing less serious, non-violent crimes simply know they won't stay in jail long, and an under-resourced criminal justice system will not punish them severely, if at all, for failing to appear again to answer charges after they have been released. Word is out - there is no price to pay in our city for lower-level crimes. That is going to change . . . right now!
The reasons we cannot tolerate this are numerous and mostly obvious. First of all, these quote "minor crimes" are often traumatic to their victims. Someone breaking into your house and stealing your things may seem like a lesser crime to those who compile statistics and focus on the murder rate, but it leaves you feeling violated, insecure, and afraid, not to mention leaving you without your property. Second, passive acceptance of even nuisance crimes, not to mention more serious non-violent offences, creates an environment of lawlessness in which purveyors of violent crime thrive. And third, some of those released early without having committed a violent crime do, after their release, commit violent crimes. Just in recent years, four of those let out because of jail overcrowding have been convicted of a murder committed while they were on release. And a fifth has been charged with murder and awaits trial.
Justice delayed is truly justice denied. In Marion County, it's time to get back to basic principles following arrests: those who are innocent should be released as soon as they can be to get on with their lives. Those who are guilty must move through the system as rapidly as possible and be shipped off to prison to serve their time.
This means all of us working together to build new jail beds, add prosecutors and court resources, change court procedures, and fund alternatives to jail for those who don't need to be locked up. No local elected official can be missing in action! No more excuses! It's time to end the crisis of early release of criminals!
As we spend money to protect the good people in our community from the bad, we must never forget that many among us who work hard and play by the rules still find difficulty affording some of the most basic of human needs. Housing is a responsibility of city government that always gets talked about. It's one of those areas where when all is said and done, a lot more is said than done. So I'm pleased to observe this year that we are turning the corner on the systematic development of more decent, safe and affordable housing for those who need our help in Indianapolis.
In the past several months, the Colonial Park project to provide supportive housing for the homeless and near-homeless has been completed. The size and scope of this project, with its ambitious human service component, is nationally significant. The site of Brokenburr Trails, a public housing project that came to symbolize all that was wrong with the old public housing model, is now a massive construction project. A mixed income, mixed use development that will provide a substantial infusion of new low-income housing units. It has the potential to be as transforming for its southeast side area as Fall Creek Place was to the near north. And practically next door here in the Meadows, the Parkwoods Apartments are being reborn, with rehabbed and new units providing an attractive and safe place to live.
Far more is on the horizon. New funding for the Indianapolis Housing Trust Fund. And now we are requiring that new housing developments in which the city is involved make meaningful contributions to our efforts to develop more low income housing and to complete the Blueprint to End Homelessness. Good examples of this are the new Market Square development, and the pairing of the market-rate Blacherne building with the low-income Link-Savoy, both downtown along Vermont Street.
Our city's door is wide open for those interested in developing low and mixed income housing. We continue to have the commitment and nnow we are better equipped to bridge the financial gaps to help make these often-complex developments happen.
Closely related to housing, supportive housing and the Blueprint to End Homelessness is a topic that needs to rise higher on our public policy agenda - mental health. This past summer, the issue of untreated mental illness in our community thrust itself before us in a most cruel way. Two brave, young police officers were gunned down in separate incidents by men who reportedly suffered from serious mental illnesses and weren't being treated at the time. Following an analysis by our office of corporation counsel of the deficiencies in the law regarding the return of weapons to people like the killer of Officer Jake Laird, the state legislature is making important changes to the law this session.
But this new law will not bring back Jake Laird or Officer James Davis, nor will it get at the underlying problem of untreated mental illness. We tend to think of mental health as a discreet "issue." Perhaps a better way to look at it is to consider some of the intractable societal problems we face: child abuse, domestic violence, substance abuse, homelessness. Just as a quote "normal" person does not kill his mother then pick up assault weapons and start shooting at police officers, someone wwithout deep problems does not molest a child or beat, intimidate and isolate his wife over a period of years. Even when the consequences of serious illness are not this dramatic, the toll on individuals and families is enormous and widespread.
Stunning progress has been made in recent decades in the scientific treatment of the most serious mental illnesses: depression, schizophrenia and bi-polar disease. Lives that were unsalvageable just a few years ago are being turned around. We can help people reconstruct their lives and fulfill their potentials if we help them find and receive treatment. But the system for delivering and monitoring this treatment is barely functional.
We need more resources from the federal and state governments, but take a look at some of the good things started in Indianapolis recently. Community partners came together to create "Our Town," a mental health services program unique to Indiana that supports young adults from 18 to 25 with serious mental illnesses. The Crisis Intervention Team program provides training to law enforcement officials who might come in contact with those with mental illnesses. The training allows officers to avert potentially deadly confrontations and to keep those more in need of mental health treatment than jail time out of the criminal justice system. The PAIR program is focused on diversion to treatment from the criminal justice system after arrest in cases of minor offenses. And, the primary tool in the Blueprint to End Homelessness - supportive housing - is helping 40 men and women with mental illnesses and addictions in The Threshold Project.
These are examples of creative work that is making a difference in Indianapolis today. But we need to do more. We will work this year to replicate the PAIR diversion concept in other parts of the criminal justice system -- probation, for example. We will seek even earlier intervention within the system, such as at the Arrestee Processing Center. And, most importantly, we will fight for more resources for the treatment of serious mental illness. With these steps, we will improve the chances for a decent future for many people in our city, we will reduce jail overcrowding, and we will offer a broad ray of hope to the thousands of people in Indianapolis whose lives are touched by mental illness.
Mental illness is a health issue. So is obesity. The more nutritional information we print on food containers, the more data that comes out about all the diseases caused or made worse by obesity, the more we treat "carb" as a four-letter word, the heavier we get. The human consequences of this are, of course, the most important reason for us to care, but we should not ignore that dramatically rising health care costs threaten to consume all other budget priorities at all levels of government, and that American business is increasingly faced with a choice between keeping the company alive and providing adequate health care benefits to employees. More and more
working Americans will become uninsured or underinsured.
Our responsibility is to make Indianapolis a healthier place. Many people are not aware that Indy Parks offers many low-cost health and fitness resources throughout Indianapolis. These include sports facilities and family centers that provide year-round recreation opportunities, including walking programs, aerobics, swimming, the greenways, and so much more. It's more fun and motivating to get in shape with other people! We have the pieces in place to help the people of our city move toward healthier lifestyles. This year, I am going to play my part to raise awareness about what resources are available and what you can do to improve your health, that of your family and of your friends and neighbors. They publish a list of the healthiest cities in America. I want Indianapolis on that list!
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I stand here before you tonight as positive about the State of our city as I have ever been. We now have in place the resources and the will to fix the broken criminal justice system. Housing is now the priority in our city it needs to be. Tragedy has proven to be a catalyst to focus on our community's mental health needs. We are going to shape up together in Indianapolis and live longer, better lives! And, we have the right plan to get our fiscal house in order and complete the vision of Uni-Gov. Add to this the tower cranes sprouting across the city; economic success stories, including becoming the home of America's largest health benefits company - Wellpoint; the 2005 cultural convergence that has elevated our arts and culture; and you have one of this country's most dynamic cities refusing to rest on its laurels.
I have enjoyed my relationship with the members of the City-County Council. They are incredibly dedicated people who receive few tangible rewards for their long hours of service. They know, as I do, that beneath the headlines about the mega-deals and the blockbuster initiatives there is a more subtle, complex and ever-changing tapestry of big-city challenges and opportunities. I look forward to working with President Talley, the members of our City-County Council and the people of Indianapolis to influence the design of that tapestry. To make our city better. To leave this generation's mark on the Indianapolis success story.
Thank you and God bless you.
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