Indy councilors each have a $1M allocation to make improvements in their districts

Each Indianapolis city-county councilor represents about 40,000 constituents, which makes picking one problem to address in their district a difficult task.

But for Democrat Crista Carlino, the District 11 councilor, picking a project for a $1 million investment was easy. The answer was obvious, she said.

The 48-acre Robey Park on the city’s west side will get $1 million in upgrades next year.

Allowing each councilor to choose a $1 million improvement project is part of an initiative by Mayor Joe Hogsett’s administration to invest in roads, parks and dangerous intersections throughout Marion County.

For 2025, councilors can choose how to spend their district’s $1 million: Would the money best go toward a park, road repaving, sidewalks or improving a dangerous intersection?

The councilors IBJ talked with say they’re using the funds to meet community needs where the typical city budget leaves gaps, particularly where constituents have been especially concerned or vocal.

For example, advocates from the Indiana Forest Alliance came out in droves to the City-County Building this year to ask that $6 million of Indy’s $1.6 billion budget be put toward preserving urban forests. The budget approved by the City-County Council does not include that appropriation.

Carlino has committed to spending her district’s funds on Robey Park partly due to the countywide call to take care of urban forests.

“When we invest in those parks and facilities adjacent to those urban forests, we have a better chance of saving those and keeping those pristine for generations to come,” Carlino said.

The park is in Clermont, which looks across the county line into Brownsburg and is one of Indianapolis’ 16 included towns. Robey Park had been largely forgotten and was being reclaimed by nature, according to the website of a group called Friends of Robey Park that now manages the park’s upkeep. The group began meeting in 2017 and officially became a nonprofit in 2023.

Carlino said she knew when the plan was announced to give councilors control of the $1 million distribution that she would use hers to support the park and the nonprofit’s work.

“It’s been entirely too long since we’ve gotten some new equipment and improvements out there. Tennis courts don’t get used too much. Playground needs repair. There’s not a comfort station or even a place to refill your water bottle,” she told IBJ.

Infrastructure focus

She’s one of just six councilors who plan to invest in parks with their allotted funds. The other 19 are choosing a Department of Public Works project—be it resurfacing roads, adding sidewalks, implementing stormwater projects or improving safety at intersections.

Democratic Councilor Jared Evans, whose west-side district runs along Washington Street, told IBJ he plans to use the bulk of his $1 million on residential street repair, with some on land acquisition to preserve urban forests and potentially create a trail.

John Barth, a Democrat who represents an area from 38th Street to Broad Ripple, between the White River and Keystone Avenue, held a community meeting during which he identified the ideas he was considering for the investment and asked constituents to weigh in.

Meanwhile, Republican Michael-Paul Hart, who represents portions of Warren Township on the southeast side, plans to go with residential street repaving. He told IBJ that constituent feedback is overwhelmingly related to roads and that the few parks within his district are in great shape.

Democrat Jesse Brown said he discussed the funding at neighborhood meetings and emailed constituents for input before deciding to fund sidewalks and stormwater improvements in the northwest section of his district, which runs from Delaware Street to Emerson Avenue and from Washington Street to Fall Creek. Specific blocks are still being worked out, Brown said, but the focus is the areas near JTV Hill Park and south of Frederick Douglass Park. He said these neighborhoods are “historically underprivileged” and weren’t on DPW’s short list for infrastructure investments.

Derek Cahill, a Republican representing portions of Perry Township on the south side, plans to implement safety improvements at Madison Avenue and Stop 11 Road. It’s the deadliest intersection in his district for pedestrians, according to an analysis from DPW.

Cahill wants to install pedestrian signals, specifically high-intensity activated crosswalk signals, near the Greentree Apartments on Madison Avenue and between two shopping centers west of the Southport Indy Public Library. That type of signal requires pedestrians to press a button to activate it and typically hangs over the road like a streetlight. When a pedestrian presses the button, drivers are given a yellow and then red light to give pedestrians a chance to cross the street.

Indianapolis’ departments of Public Works and of Parks and Recreation provided councilors with a “menu” or “shopping list” of options for the funds. Councilor Dan Boots told IBJ the list included detailed cost estimates for asphalt and concrete, intersection improvements and ramps.

“People would be shocked at the cost,” Boots said.

Two signals for a crosswalk, for example, were listed at $25,000.

Asphalt for street resurfacing is listed at $65 per foot per lane. A new sidewalk costs $140 per linear foot, while the cost to rehabilitate an existing sidewalk is $115. Those estimates are only for materials. They don’t include external costs like design and utilities.

But the provided estimates are just that—estimates—because improvement costs “vary based on location,” DPW administrator Nathan Sheets told the council.

Councilors submitted their projects to either Indy Parks or DPW earlier this month, but hurdles to implementation might arise when the real costs of their proposals are tallied up. Next spring, both departments will work with consultants and councilors to begin designing the projects to determine what can be accomplished within the $1 million budget.

Sara Hindi, chief communications officer for the council, called this “a crucial step before any project moves forward with next steps.”

Maximizing investment

The financial constraints and uncertainty have led some councilors to create ranked-choice wish lists. Councilor Andy Nielsen, a Democrat representing Irvington and other areas of the east side, said his No. 1 priority is to build a sidewalk in the area of Ellenberger Park for pedestrian and cyclist safety. That’s closely followed by fixing a problematic intersection at Pleasant Run Parkway and Ritter Avenue. If any funds remain, those will go toward strip patching or resurfacing roads in the same area.

The current sidewalk along Pleasant Run Parkway North Drive stops abruptly about a quarter mile from the intersection of Pleasant Run and Ritter Avenue. The planned additional sidewalk would give neighbors at North Audubon Road and Graham Avenue a safe walking path west to the park.

Nielsen said the councilor-led initiative allows councilors to tackle problems that don’t otherwise receive a lot of funding in the city budget—like sidewalks and pedestrian-safety improvements.

“There are a number of quality-of-life issues that we hear a lot about as councilors that are on the city’s radar, but are farther out,” he said.

For example, no pedestrians or cyclists have been injured by a car along the road near Ellenberger Park, but many of Nielsen’s constituents are concerned about not having a sidewalk there, especially when pushing a stroller or using a wheelchair.

“We talk a lot about how there aren’t a lot of dollars for sidewalks in our city, but this is, again, a high-traffic area for pedestrians,” Nielsen said. “They’re using it a lot. They want sidewalks in this area, and this is an opportunity to be responsive in that way.”

Similarly, Boots, who represents the northeast side north of Fall Creek, plans to use his district’s funds to improve a crossing through Fall Creek Parkway that leads to Skiles Test Nature Park. The pocket park includes a portion of Fall Creek Trail that eventually connects to the Nickel Plate Trail, so Boots said it’s important that cyclists and pedestrians don’t have to dodge traffic in the busy thoroughfare when entering and leaving the park.

At the same time, he wants to use a portion of the funds to improve crossings in the heart of Binford Village. The specific crossings include East 71st Street and Binford Boulevard, Binford and Graham Road, and East 71st and Graham Road. The roads form a triangle in an area where Boots says speeds are “unacceptably high.” People seldom cross Binford Avenue, he said, creating a geographic barrier between the east and west neighborhoods.•