The Indianapolis Star and their adherents in our local news media jumped with joy over news that a $75 million federal grant was going to be dropped in Indianapolis' lap to begin the first of what would be more than a $1 billion expansion of mass transit in the Indianapolis metropolitan region. The cheerleaders in the media told us that the federal grant would be enough to develop the first leg of the so-called Red Line that would run down College Street to downtown and further south to the University of Indianapolis. Eventually, the plan is to have a bus rapid transit line run from as far north as Westfield to as far south as Greenwood. The money was already spent before it got delivered.
As it turns out, the generous $75 million grant hinges on the adoption of a new $10 a barrel tax on oil. Congressional Republicans declared that proposal "dead on arrival" The Star is now reporting. The Star's report by John Tuohy is written from the perspective that it's a given that the expanded mass transit plan is sound, good and something we all want. He laments the "grueling and time-consuming process that large public works projects like the Red Line must endure." "Indianapolis planners have worked for more than a decade to improve mass transit in the Central Indiana," Touhy said, demonstrating his belief that only the opinions of these so-called "planners," most of whom have a vested financial interest in the outcome really matter. The people who live along the proposed Red Line who have expressed vocal opposition to the disruption the proposed line would have along the College Street corridor, in particular, doesn't matter as far as The Star is concerned.
The Star has also already decided a referendum that it wants on the November ballot to raise our local income taxes yet again right after they were hiked another 10% this year for public safety to pay for this mass transit expansion is going to happen. Suburban counties like Hamilton, which have yet to spend a dime on any form of permanent mass transit, are still mum about their intentions. Yet Indianapolis taxpayers, who have paid billions in property taxes over the past several decades to support IndyGo, are expected to dig deeper into their wallets and pay even more taxes for a transit system intended to help shuttle low-paid workers living in Indianapolis to jobs in the suburban counties their residents don't want. The business community, which backed the individual income tax source to fund it, specifically got the legislature to exempt corporate income taxpayers from the financial scheme. The "Stadium-Palladium" Red Line's route seems to have been chosen by the "planners" because it's the preferred party bus route for the occasional rider who would use it only to travel from Carmel to downtown Indianapolis to attend a Colts or Pacers game where they could get as drunk as they wanted without fear of getting pulled over for drunk driving. These "planners" won't even choose a route that will best serve the low-paid workers who might rely on it for reliable, affordable transportation.
Fellow blogger Fred McCarthy has more on this topic at Indy Tax Dollars.
8 comments:
Though spelled differently, Tuohy has a Randian villain quality; that of a parasite feeding on the organic competence of others. This idea is corrupt from top to bottom & destined to result in custom tailored & off the shelf lawsuits...
What about all this Carrier/United Technologies bull***, taking our State money and then moving 1400 jobs, plus another 700 in Huntington, to Mexico. And where the hell is Mike Pence's righteous indignation. He's quick to open his big mouth and weigh in on national issues but what's he going to do when jobs are under attack in his own backyard. He ought to be on tv nonstop, and he ought to call the United Technology big shots into his office to change their minds in front of the press. If Pence doesn't fix this he can forget about reelection
The next tax will be for "Transit Police" riding the "RED" line. Just more unintended consequences of financing debt with more debt and higher taxes!
Is this a great country or what? Welcome to Car-Mel style, financial wizardry.
My point is that Indianapolis is already carrying the freight on a mass transit system and has been for decades. The bus rapid system is primarily intended to connect the suburban communities to Indianapolis. They're poaching our businesses by offering them tax breaks to move across the county. Many of our residents are leaving, further eroding our tax base. Then they want those left behind in Indianapolis to finance a nicer rapid bus transit for their convenience, not our's. Raising taxes only provides another incentive for people to move out of Marion County. The suburban communities aren't going to invest a dime in local mass transit systems to connect to the bus rapid system so it's getting built on our dime at a large expense for very limited additional use by people who already have a bus system to ride if that's their choice of transportation.
Given recent political history is it not fair to ascribe to this complete Republican Pigpen to the Republican Party of Marion County and, to some lesser degree, Hamilton County?(Seems a lot of Republicans active in Marion County actually reside up there). One view, partially embraced by Gary, is that moving people about is hardly the concern of this new class of parasites. It is only a pretext for looting in which certain legal aspects of theft are brought to the forefront by oh so ethical law firms, "economic" developers, pay to play sorts, and hangers on. The moving fingers, having moved along, will pocket the gleanings and leave Indianapolis looking a lot like Detroit. Or, "the region" gives good example of what Democrat policies can deliver.
Tuohy's article states that Andre Carson is going try to somehow obtain financing elsewhere. I'm wondering if Rep. Carson is aware that Red Line turns west at 38th Street and then proceeds south on Meridian, thus disenfranchising the majority of current College Avenue bus riders?
Also, Rep. Carson says that Red Line is wonderful because it will connect riders to jobs, education, shopping and health care. Keystone, which had been the original north-south route, is the location of hundreds, if not thousands of jobs and shopping destinations because it has multiple big-box stores, Woodfield at the Crossing, Keystone at the Crossing, several pharmacies, grocery stores and 2 health clinics at Glendale: I.U. Health and Eskenazi. Where are the shopping, jobs and health care clinics along College from 66th to 38th, or along Meridian Street? There is no justification for putting the line down College Avenue if the reason for a BRT is to transport people to jobs, shopping and health care.
Truth is, the line was moved to College Avenue because developers have big plans for apartment buildings all along College, using Red Line, and the density requirements attached to the federal grant, as the excuse. Development opportunities are less attractive on Keystone, and, let's face it, the Downtown apartment and condo market has dried up, despite what developers and city planners say. They can't go to Carmel, so they are focusing on Meridian-Kessler. They think they can appeal to the Broad Ripple bar patrons, except maybe they don't know that business in Broad Ripple isn't what it used to be, either. The project proposed for College & Kessler calls for 151 mostly studio and 1-bedroom units, crammed onto a small lot.
You don't have to be an urban planner to know who the likely tenants will be. This building would add almost as many households as all of Forest Hills, plus have inadequate parking, so tenants will park on side streets and cut through yards. The building would be so tall that it would shadow adjacent properties, which would lose their privacy because tenants could see into their windows and yards. This would be the first of what developers hope will be many such projects. IndyGo even has as a "goal" to tear down the 1-story commercial buildings on the west side of College at 54th Street, and replace them with an apartment building with little shops below. This type of development goal is the real agenda of Red Line. See IndyGo's TOD Library Boards, TOD Typologies, illustration for 54th & College.
If $100 million is going to be spent on improving transportation in Indianapolis, then put the money to use where it can do the most good: where people who depend on public transportation actually live.
This project is one of DeCeption; The Red Lie.
But the metrosexual urban hipster lumberjacks argue that there were streetcars on College back in horse and buggy days so the Red Line is just what Indianapolis needs to take us hill jacks back to the future. Of course there was a reason those streetcars stopped running which I suppose was the fact that the companies that owned them went broke due to folks finding the auto to be a much more efficient mode of travel.
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