City considers major street closures to expand outdoor dining
Marion County’s reopening plan allows restaurants to open at 50% capacity on Friday—but only if diners eat outside.
Marion County’s reopening plan allows restaurants to open at 50% capacity on Friday—but only if diners eat outside.
The Indianapolis City-County Council voted unanimously Friday morning to provide Indy Chamber with $25 million that will enable the business-advocacy group to quickly offer forgivable loans to small businesses in Marion County backed by the federal Paycheck Protection Program.
Mailing absentee ballot applications to Marion County’s nearly 650,000 registered voters is expected to cost $550,000 for the primary. The council also allocated $550,000 for the fall, in case social distancing is still being encouraged at that time.
The governor’s decision to block the bill from becoming law allows tenant protections the city of Indianapolis recently put in place to remain in force.
The council committed to addressing the problem throughout city-county government by passing a special resolution outlining steps that will be taken to move the needle on the issue.
The resolution, co-sponsored by all 25 council members, calls for creating a steering committee tasked with developing a strategy to end racial disparities, with its first task identifying where disparities exist in city policies.
The Public Safety and Criminal Justice Committee on Wednesday night voted along party lines to reject the Republican proposal, hours before a shooting on the far-east side left four people dead.
The proposal comes after police investigated 154 criminal homicides in 2019—five lower than the record set in 2018—and an increase in the number of non-fatal shooting victims.
A City-County Council proposal introduced Friday calls for the creation of a year-long commission to take stock of climate-change effects and make recommendations to address them.
Indianapolis’ part-time city-county councilors are paid significantly less than officials with the same positions in comparable cities across the nation
Republicans will be forced to work with Democrats to see any GOP proposals take flight. And new, young Republican councilors say they’re eager to work across the aisle.
The proposal aims to relax several long-standing regulations that put taxi companies at an unfair advantage compared with ride-sharing companies Uber and Lift, which don’t have to comply with the same standards.
Members of the Indianapolis City-County Council’s Rules and Public Policy Committee voted along party lines Tuesday to approve a 110% pay increase for council members.
Indianapolis City-County Council Democrats have introduced a proposal that would more than double the base pay of councilors in 2020—a proposal Mayor Joe Hogsett said he would veto if passed.
Elected to a second term on Tuesday, Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett said he’ll continue to look for common ground between parties on the City-County Council, although Democrats will outnumber Republicans about 4-to-1.
Democrats picked up at least five seats—and possibly six, depending on the outcome of a race with a razor-thin margin. Republican leader Mike McQuillen was among the GOP casualties.
The 2020 spending plan—which passed 22-2—is projected to spend about $171,500 less than the city will receive in revenue. Officials say that makes it the city’s third consecutive balanced budget since Hogsett—who is seeking re-election—took office in 2016.
The Indianapolis City-County Council on Monday night approved nearly $10 million in financial incentives for a Denver-based developer that is planning a 13-story apartment, retail and office project across the street from the Indiana War Memorial.
The council’s Metropolitan and Economic Development Committee voted 6-5 to send two proposals concerning Charles Street Investment Partners’ mixed-use project at 421 N. Pennsylvania St. to the full City-County Council.
The move pushes forward the Capital Improvement Board’s deal with the Pacers, which calls for more than $360 million in renovations to Bankers Life Fieldhouse.