2/27/2007
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2007 State of the City Address
Mayor Bart Peterson
Wheeler-Dowe Boys & Girls Club, February 27, 2007 It's hard to remember a time when we all felt so much pride in our city. The Colts' Super Bowl championship united us in a joyous cause, not just for one night, but for weeks before and who knows how long afterwards. The Super Bowl run was the latest in a string of successes in the arts, jobs and the economy, downtown development and other aspects of life in Indianapolis. It did not and it cannot, however, obscure the many challenges we face. Being a big city brings with it the challenges of urban America that we all are familiar with – increasing crime, deterioration in some of our neighborhoods, failure in school for too many of our young people. I won't deny the pleasure of attending a victory rally or cutting a ribbon, but what gets me out of bed with a fire in my belly every morning is what lies ahead of us. 2007 is a year of opportunity for our city!
The war against crime, the rebirth of neighborhoods, fighting the high school dropout crisis, bringing more jobs to our city, building a modern public transportation system, advancing the arts, committing to an environmentally sustainable quality of life, bidding for the 2011 Super Bowl, and establishing a strong financial foundation for the future of city and county government – these are the opportunities for 2007. This is our work. But first, let's take a look back at a remarkable year in Indianapolis.
2006 ushered in an increase in violent crime across the nation unlike anything we have seen in a decade or more. Headlines such as "Startling New Stats Show Cross-Country Crime Spike," and "Cities See Crime Surge as Threat to Their Revival," highlight the new reality. Homicides were up 25% here in Indianapolis. The tragedy is undeniable, but out of pain and frustration came progress in overhauling a criminal justice system in Marion County that had been under funded and largely neglected for decades. Night court, probation violation court, new jail beds, additional prosecutors, and much more. Working together, working in a bipartisan way, we succeeded in reducing jail overcrowding. Dangerous criminals are being held in jail and held accountable. There has not been an early release from the Marion County jail since August 6th of 2006!
Decades of accepting the discharge of raw sewage into our rivers and creeks after heavy rains came to an end when we signed an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency approving our long-term sewer reconstruction plan. The day when we can take pride in our wonderful water resources and look at them realistically as places for recreation is not far down the road.
ISTEP test scores and other objective measures of performance again showed the success of Indianapolis's charter schools. Collaboration among charter schools and our traditional district schools is unmatched anywhere in the United States. Our city's charter schools system received the highest award offered nationally for government programs, Harvard University's Innovations in American Government Award.
The Great Indy Neighborhoods program was kicked off in 2006 with our partners at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation and the Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center. It's about community building, developing human capital, planning at the street level, neighbors and neighborhoods taking their fate into their own hands. And, it's about money. We are committed to helping neighborhoods achieve their dreams through innovative financing for street resurfacing, new sidewalks, street lights, neighborhood parks, drainage, and the removal or renovation of abandoned houses and buildings.
The news on our city's economy was impressive. Major new job announcements from FedEx, Rolls Royce and Wellpoint mean nearly 3,000 high quality jobs in Indianapolis from those companies alone. Thousands more have been committed by smaller companies some of whom may be the household names of tomorrow.
2006 was a year that further advanced Indianapolis's reputation for extraordinary cultural events. The quadrennial International Violin Competition of Indianapolis was once again a globally recognized success. The Julian Opie public art exhibition – "Signs" – has captivated the people of our city and gained us national and international attention. And 2006 witnessed the amazing inauguration of The Indianapolis Prize. This unprecedented award for animal conservation puts our city prominently on the map among those across the world working to save threatened animal species.
In sports, it wasn't all football. We successfully competed with Chicago for the right to host the men's and women's Big Ten basketball tournaments for the next five years. And let's not forget we hosted another hugely successful NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in March and April. The gathering was universally praised by our out-of-town visitors. And did I mention that the Indianapolis Colts are World Champions?!
Now, that was fun. But it was yesterday. What matters now is tomorrow. As we look forward to the remainder of 2007, our clear priority is the war against crime. In January I announced my legislative proposals for this session. They included the need for an additional $85 million a year for public safety. $35 million is to pay for all the changes we have already made to fix our broken and neglected criminal justice system here in Marion County. Another $35 million is the annual cost of paying for pensions for our retired police officers and firefighters. And $15 million is for additional measures in the war against crime. All this is to be done without raising property taxes.
If the legislature approves our proposals, I want to reserve up to $5 million a year to fund initiatives like those recommended in the Community Crime Prevention Task Force Report released last month. This would be an unprecedented commitment of new money by city government for crime prevention and for our youth every year!
The Task Force recognized that we cannot win this war simply through enforcement. As important as that is, if we do not make a stronger commitment to fighting the causes of crime, we will continue to lose ground and the future of our city will be at risk. That's why I chose to come today to the Wheeler-Dowe Boys and Girls Club. Programs like those provided by Boys and Girls Clubs help kids avoid the deadly pull of the Street. After-school programs, mentoring programs, arts, sports – these are just some examples of what is provided here at Wheeler-Dowe. Yet these extraordinary community organizations struggle constantly. Dependent primarily on funding from not-for-profit sources who face incredible demand for limited dollars, they are more often than not scaling back their programs rather than expanding them to meet the huge need.
It is time for us, all the people of Indianapolis, to step up and help. Not only for a brighter future for our young people, but to help reduce the crime that directly or indirectly impacts all of our lives.
I also have long-standing concerns about the effect of the pervasive culture of violence in video games and the popular media. In my year as President of the National League of Cities, I have chosen as my theme Media Violence and its Impact on Children. On April 17th, I will be hosting, in conjunction with the National League of Cities, a national conference on media violence here in Indianapolis. All viewpoints will be represented, and I hope some new light will be shed on the question.
Neighborhood revitalization has an impact on crime as well. But it also has a higher purpose – to improve the overall quality of life in the place most important to each of us, the place where we live. The Great Indy Neighborhoods Initiative has started in six neighborhoods. Some small scale early-action projects have already begun in these neighborhoods such as a small new park on the Westside and a farmers' market in the 71st and Binford area.
The near Eastside is the first neighborhood to use tax increment financing as a funding source. The neighborhood has already received alley improvements, and an engineer is now in the field helping prioritize infrastructure needs. Construction will begin as soon as the winter weather is over. The near Eastside has suffered from its share of challenges, but because of dedicated neighbors and city government working together, a brighter future is on the horizon. Great Indy Neighborhoods is creating more than just tangible change in our city, it is creating hope!
Now, hope is a commodity in short supply among many school children in our city. They are the ones dropping out. It is no exaggeration to say we face a dropout crisis in Indianapolis. In this we are no different than almost any other big city. Where we may differ is that we will come together – in the Indianapolis way – and we will dramatically reduce the number of dropouts from our schools!
The network of mayor-sponsored charter schools in Indianapolis is one key to the solution. Schools like Hope Academy and Goodwill's charter schools are focused on ensuring at-risk students complete high school. We will continue to grow the charter schools network in a way that attracts only the highest quality schools with the most effective educational models.
Several community leaders came together last year to form a new not-for-profit organization called The Mind Trust. The Mind Trust is led by David Harris and Corrie Heneghan, the former director and deputy director of my charter school office. Its mission is to bring cutting-edge education ideas and talent to Indianapolis. In December it helped launch The New Teacher Project in IPS, which will bring in 150 highly talented new teachers to take difficult-to-fill positions in math, science, Spanish and special education. The Mind Trust is also working on helping to bring to high schools throughout our city the most successful programs aimed at serving students at risk of dropping out. Another of its projects is focused on instilling a college-going culture in our schools and giving teachers and counselors the tools needed to dramatically increase college-going rates among low income students. The Mind Trust will be one of our most important weapons in the fighting the dropout crisis.
Economic development will, as always, be a priority in the coming year. Recent reports from the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank and the Brookings Institution highlighting our leading position in job growth compared to our peer cities, along with a recent report from the Battelle Memorial Institute ranking us ninth in the nation in the total number of "biosciences" jobs, suggest we are beating the competition. We will support and participate in new initiatives such as the Fairbanks Institute, a remarkable new organization that holds enormous promise for improving health and saving lives while also creating opportunities for new businesses in our city. Our involvement as a founding partner in BioCrossroads helps make this kind of innovative economic development possible.
While we seek new businesses and the expansion of existing ones, and while we want to see our population grow and our community progress, it is becoming ever more clear that our city and our country must act now to ensure that our future is sustainable. Recently I joined with more than 400 other mayors in all fifty states by signing the U.S. Mayors' Climate Protection Agreement. Signing this agreement is just the beginning of our local efforts to decrease energy demands, improve air quality, protect the natural environment, minimize waste, consider more people-oriented development standards, and educate our neighbors about how they can make a difference. In the next couple months I will be announcing a number of measures the City of Indianapolis will take to honor that agreement and to lead on the issue of sustainability.
A good public transportation system is an element of sustainability. Growth supported solely by new roads and highways will cause us to choke in our own congestion and fumes. Unfortunately, that is where we are headed. IndyGo has never received the support it needs. We have done sophisticated planning for a rail-based rapid transit system for years without making a decision. The time has come for us to decide as a region whether we will move forward to modernize our public transportation system or not. We have all the information we need.
2007 may also be known as the year Indianapolis Works finally passed the state legislature and we were able to proceed with merging all the township fire departments with the Indianapolis Fire Department. The first fire merger – between Washington Township and IFD – has been an unqualified success. The residents of Washington Township are the beneficiaries of more complete and more advanced fire protection and they have avoided the property tax increases that residents of so many other townships have been getting in order to repay operating deficit loans.
And finally, 2007 will see an aggressive bid by Indianapolis to host Super Bowl XLV in 2011. We know a few things. First, no one can host major national and international sporting events like Indianapolis. Second, the projected economic impact of $262 million justifies the time and effort involved. Third, it will not rain inside Lucas Oil Stadium! I know everyone in our city is anxious to come together to support our bid and give us the best chance possible. We'll know before the end of May whether we have succeeded.
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If this seems like an ambitious agenda, that's because it is. Some have suggested to me that because crime has increased, and because its effects can be so devastating to a city, I should only work on the war against crime, only talk about crime, only think about crime. Well, nothing affects me as viscerally as the recent rise in crime. Crime often means tragedy for people. It can affect the morale of a city. So crime will always be the top priority for me and my administration. But a great city cannot afford to only deal with one challenge or opportunity at a time. Just as we were plowing one of the worst snows in a decade within hours after celebrating the Colts' Super Bowl victory, so we must continue to fight for more jobs, revitalize our neighborhoods and improve our environment even as we wage war against crime.
I look forward to the many exciting changes 2007 will bring. I am ready to work with all the members of our City-County Council, with community leaders and with all the great people of Indianapolis to make 2007 one of the very best years in our city's history!
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