The often-bipartisan Indianapolis City-County Council cast a rare politically divided vote Monday night on a proposal that would, among other things, spend nearly $850,000 to buy new vehicles for city employees.
The city has approved a scooter license for Spin, which was acquired in November by Ford for upwards of $100 million and is planning to launch in 100 other cities.
The council voted 19-6 to approve Lilly’s request, which is tied to the firm’s pledge to spend $91 million on a building at its Lilly Technology Center that will house the company’s biosynthetic human insulin production operations
The council’s Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee voted unanimously to approve the creation of the two new tax-increment financing districts.
The proposed tax abatement is related to a $91 million investment the company is making in a building at the Lilly Technology Center on Kentucky Avenue.
The funds will allow the city to start a pilot job program for would-be panhandlers, offering work on projects like graffiti abatement, downtown cleanup or beautification.
The ordinance as originally proposed included a controversial provision that would have reversed the city’s ban on digital billboards, but the provision was removed earlier this month.
The ordinance, if passed Monday night, will make several big business-sign changes that some residents say have been flying under the radar throughout the approval process.
Critics of Indianapolis’ 2010 decision to turn over operations of its parking meters to a private consortium have been counting down the years until their first opportunity to exit the deal.
The move was a big victory for neighborhood leaders who had been fighting to keep in place the city’s ban on digital billboards.
A nearly $38 million project to transform much of the abandoned P.R. Mallory site on East Washington Street into the home of Purdue Polytechnic High School and other tenants is finally moving forward.
At issue is that counties determine party affiliation in municipal elections by using candidates’ past primary votes—and neither ever has voted in a primary election.
Republican and Democratic leaders of the City-County Council say they want the opportunity to fully debate a bill that would funnel state and local tax revenue to an 18,000-seat stadium that would be part of a larger mixed-use development.
Some council members voted for the measure in spite of previously expressed frustration that the measure transfers $300,000 out of the city’s parking meter fund to eventually pay for initiatives that seek to curb homelessness and panhandling.
Democrats were not planning to endorse him at their upcoming pre-primary convention as their preferred candidate for District 13, which is on the northeast side.
Jose Evans has decided to not to run for mayor and has thrown his support behind State Sen. Jim Merritt. And City-County Council member Jefferson Shreve, who replaced Jeff Miller last year, won’t seek a return to the council after his current term ends.
Council Vice President Zach Adamson said “we all have received lots of calls” on the proposal and said postponing the matter would “allow additional conversation” on whether or not to amend the proposal or accept it as written.
The new ordinance is expected to generate an additional $800,000 in parking meter fees annually—about $200,000 less than council members initially sought in a more extensive proposal.
The council’s Public Works Committee unanimously approved a proposal to standardize hours at all 4,000 parking-meter locations across the city.
Digital billboards seem poised to make an official entrance in Marion County soon—but almost no one, including the sign industry, is happy about it.
