Comments on Advance Indiana™: Ballard Picks GM Stamping Plant As Preferred Location For Criminal Justice Center

Perhaps MikeC just thinks that the rich and snooty...

2014-05-14T00:09:50.968-05:00

Perhaps MikeC just thinks that the rich and snooty who would maybe buy luxury downtown condos if they don't see criminals being released from our jail through a revolving justice system.

All some of the rich/elite need to to see some cri...

2014-03-14T11:57:42.858-05:00

All some of the rich/elite need to to see some criminals in person is to look in the mirror. Don't have to look outside at all.

Well, I prefer the GM stamping site to the Hendric...

2014-03-14T06:16:43.363-05:00

Well, I prefer the GM stamping site to the Hendricks...er Airport site if a new center HAS to be built. I don't mind the lease arrangement, either, because the LAST thing Indy needs is another G/O bond issue: If things like the new Wishard or justice center are so great, then revenue bonds - which do not burden the public as a whole - should suffice. Of course, I want to see what the details of the lease will be first.

MikeC, first off state your employer. Are you emp...

2014-03-14T05:17:59.308-05:00

MikeC, first off state your employer. Are you employed by a communications or public relations firm hired by The Mayor's Reelection Committee or Indy Connect?

I agree with Paul, you are a spokesman for the city or the mayor's campaign.

There is an old credo about leadership that the leader addresses the problem, he doesn't move it to someone else (pass the buck). You suggest to "move the criminal industry out of downtown." The people of Indy do not want crime to be moved around from neighborhood to neighborhood. We want it addressed and eliminated.

The idea of moving the jail, courts, prosecutor office, public defender office, probation department, clerk's office from the current location to far away is a waste of TAX money. The most efficient use would be to put a Criminal Justice Complex with walkways to the jail & CCB where MSA was.

The ideas you have brought show you are financially irresponsible, believe in reckless TAXING AND SPENDING.

Many law firms are located walking distance of the CCB, because they frequently access the clerk's office, courtrooms, police headquarters, etc. Those who moved to Keystone Xing, are not trial lawyers. The jail and courts need to be located with the other government offices that work together with them. People want the central business district to be just that, not a place for snooty rich people to have luxury condos!

You seem angry and miserable. I've notice that you have been quick to throw the race card on another thread today and used insult in this thread. Lighten up. Few, if any, taxpayers agree with you...and that is a good thing. Lighten up, realize your ideas are not our ideas, and that if you can't get your point across without throwing the race card and insults, you have proven to have a defective position per se.

There is unproductive dead space in the downtown office buildings that should be encouraged. People want the better parking spaces and access to amenities that are outside of downtown. Times are changing. Take a class in Public Affairs and you'll learn that Central Cities are much different today than they used to be.

Bad things have been going on in this city involving government officials. They center around real estate transactions. At this time the City Council Investigatory Committee has issued subpoena and found improprieties, quick transfer, a bad lease signed without Corporation Counsel review, and some under-the-table action. There is a Grand Jury looking into that matter as well. There has been a call for the DOJ to send in its Public Integrity section.

Financial disclosure forms are in question about those Council members involved in the ROC. The change from honesty into corruption and paybacks is bad for the city and could have a long-lasting trickle-down effect.

Indianapolis it seems is spending recklessly in major real estate deals: New Wishard, Regional Operations Center, now the Criminal Justice Center, the Indy Connect system and a new terminal across from the CCB, and the new traffic court. Add it all up and how many billion of our tax dollars are involved? Can we afford it all at once? Is it fiscally responsible? -NO!

Paul I am not an employee of the city. or county....

2014-03-13T22:06:03.466-05:00

Paul I am not an employee of the city. or county. I just like the way things are going. Indpls is being reorganized , it seems, to accommodate the continued redevelopment of the urban core. And then jail, as I understand it, is moving west as well. The whole criminal justice enterprise. There is too much unproductive dead space east of the CCB, probably because of the jails, etc. Many law firms have relocated to Keystone Xing and the northside, me included. No one wants jails near where they work and live, or near where development needs to occur.

Exciting things are starting to happen downtown. The high-rise, moving the jails and such to a vacant industrial area that is dormant, the transit hub, improved transit, more residential development near the MSA parking lot, rising demand for areas near the cultural trail, etc etc.

Indianapolis seems to be priming for another era of growth and development. I'm sorry you folks are too curmudgeonly to enjoy it.

Maybe y'all are the type of people who aren't happy unless you're angry and miserable.

So lighten up and at least try to see the good stuff going on. Change is good. Embrace it.

Mike C. is obviously a spokesman for the City. Nob...

2014-03-13T21:19:39.401-05:00

Mike C. is obviously a spokesman for the City. Nobody else would utter such a line as this:

"I like the direction things seem to be headed. It appears that the movers and shakers realize that Indianapolis needs to grow to survive and are putting into place the infrastructure changes to make it happen."

Nobody who isn't on Ballard's payroll believes that. Actually those on Ballard's payroll don't believe it either, but they say it because they're getting paid.

So MikeC wants to "get the crime industry out...

2014-03-13T18:44:04.041-05:00

So MikeC wants to "get the crime industry out of downtown." Well, most murders in our violent city are already outside of downtown!

Perhaps MikeC just thinks that the rich and snooty who would maybe buy luxury downtown condos if they don't see criminals being released from our jail through a revolving justice system.

Detroit knows how to handle the crime industry: D...

2014-03-13T18:40:30.712-05:00

Detroit knows how to handle the crime industry:

Detroit Mom Fights Back!

Detroit Residents End Crime Industry one step at a time.

You exposed their hand, MikeC. The driving force b...

2014-03-13T18:06:50.028-05:00

You exposed their hand, MikeC. The driving force behind moving the criminal courts and jail outside of the mile square is the planned transit hub adjacent to the existing city-county building. Anyone who ventures over to the central bus stops on Ohio between Meridian and Pennsylvania encounters the people working their way through the "criminal industry" as you describe it that the downtown elites want to see banished from the mile square. Across the river is far enough to keep them out of sight and out of mind. That way when they build their multi-million dollar, new mass transit hub where they expect a light rail line to eventually connect downtown with Hamilton County, the undesirables won't be loitering about and scaring off the people they mistakenly believe are going to ditch their cars for a train ride downtown.

MikeC wants to "criminal industry out of down...

2014-03-13T18:02:37.212-05:00

MikeC wants to "criminal industry out of downtown. Most of us want more police to get the criminal industry out of our city!

MikeC: Telling us to "move the criminal indu...

2014-03-13T18:01:20.629-05:00

MikeC: Telling us to "move the criminal industry out of downtown." -More rhetoric from The Communications guy!

The best use of the Market Square Arena location is for a new Criminal Justice Complex that connects to the jail and CCB. MikeC has a grandiose vision that the rich people in the Flaherty & Collins luxury condos on that property won't want to see the scum of the earth being released from jail....it might offend the rich to actually see the criminals in person.

Putting the Criminal Justice Complex on the MSA site would also save money with reduced redundancies and increase efficiency.

I don't like the multi-million dollar use of our tax money and giving away our prime real estate for the benefit of the elite.

Also, from looking at the City Council's Investigation into the Regional Operations Center with subpoenas coming out, we are seeing the true motivation for this construction. I have no doubt that some of that same motivation is involved here.

Getting the criminal industry out of downtown is e...

2014-03-13T17:32:00.270-05:00

Getting the criminal industry out of downtown is essential to downtown residential/commercial development. Expanded bus service on Route 8 makes it work. This is a good use of a large vacant space. The city will also save money with reduced redundancies. This is a good call. And an easy one.

I like the direction things seem to be headed. It appears that the movers and shakers realize that Indianapolis needs to grow to survive and are putting into place the infrastructure changes to make it happen.

The former RCA Tennis Center would not work for a ...

2014-03-13T14:53:27.039-05:00

The former RCA Tennis Center would not work for a new soccer/concert facility. Look at Google earth. The site is too small, doesn't have sufficient parking, is tucked behind the Herron School of Art building, & lacks site lines & access to a major street.

He needs to simply cancel the luxury high-rise on ...

2014-03-13T13:50:00.637-05:00

He needs to simply cancel the luxury high-rise on the Market Square Arena site and build the Criminal Justice Center with skyway to jail and CCB. It is the only logical thing to do, and gives the greatest benefit.