When it wants to solve difficult problems, Indianapolis can be creative.
Thirteen years ago, then Mayor Steve Goldsmith used creativity to help a major Indianapolis institution survive and thrive. Goldsmith got government involved to help, but not at the property taxpayers’ expense.
In 1995, Goldsmith knew the Indiana Pacers needed more revenue to compete with escalating NBA salaries and expenses. Goldsmith and city leaders knew the Pacers and professional sports were important to the city’s image and economic development.
So, Goldsmith’s solution was unique and creative. He allocated 50 cents monthly, $6 yearly, from every city/county cable customer to support the Pacers.
The money came from the Cable Franchise Fee levied on 5 percent of basic revenues from the city’s cable companies. The Pacers’ levy lasted five years and helped the Pacers stabilize and thrive.
Goldsmith’s solution must be replicated to solve the dilemma of funding small and medium sized Indianapolis arts organization.
Cable Franchise Fees are mandated by the FCC and go to local municipalities. In 2007, the city/county pocketed $7.5 million from the fees, which went straight into the county’s general fund.
There are some 180,000 cable customers of Bright House, Comcast and AT&T in Indianapolis/Marion County. At $6 bucks a year, that’d bring in roughly $1.08 million. Make it eight bucks and change a year and you’d generate the $1.5 million the city currently provides arts organizations.
City/county government has provided financial assistance to sports franchises. So that same government should provide assistance to the arts. However, I don’t believe city/county tax dollars should go to arts groups like the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Indianapolis Museum of Art, which get millions from their endowments, corporations and donors. Public funding for the arts should go to the small and medium sized arts organizations that provide grassroots arts and culture to youth and to our neighborhoods, especially poor and working class ones. This includes African-American arts organizations that don’t have access to the millions the big arts groups can tap.
Past Republican mayors did Indianapolis a disservice by spending millions on sports and nothing on arts. Compared to other major cities our size (Columbus, Ohio, Baltimore, San Jose, Jacksonville, San Antonio), Indianapolis government support for the arts is abysmal and embarrassing.
Former Mayor Bart Peterson’s support for the arts was visible and strong. Mayor Greg Ballard’s arts support has been paltry and embarrassing. Ballard’s response to the outcry in arts funding shows the mayor’s lack of vision, insight and leadership.
The arts can be an integral part to help Mayor Ballard achieve his objective (obsession) with public safety. This summer Los Angeles, where street crime is an everyday epidemic, created a program called Summer Night Lights. It integrated aggressive law enforcement in six high crime neighborhoods, with programs in city parks, including movies and family and youth oriented events in those neighborhoods.
The Los Angeles Times reported that violent crime in those neighborhoods with the program was down 17 percent. Homicides down a stunning 86 percent. Because of the program, Los Angeles had their lowest summertime homicides in 40 years.
Meanwhile Indianapolis, without imagination and coordination of police, parks and the arts, had one of its highest summertime violence rates.
If we had a mayor with imagination, vision and guts, the solution to arts funding would be clear. Use the cable fee cash, not property tax cash.
I’ve suggested this common sense solution to the leaders of Indianapolis’ arts organization. Unfortunately their political naivete seems to keep them from pushing this obvious plan. A plan with precedence.
We used cable cash to help the Pacers. We can use cable cash to help the arts.
Come on Mayor Ballard. Don’t imitate the governor of Alaska’s uncreativity. Get creative. Use the cable cash for the arts. And help public safety too.
What I’m hearing in the streets
In terms of racial diversity and inclusion of Indiana’s largest minority, the Indiana Debate Commission, which sponsors three gubernatorial debates, deeply disappointed. They scheduled debates in towns with small Black populations. No African-American was selected as a debate moderator. The commission’s outreach to Black media and Black communities throughout the state was spotty at best.
Let’s hope future commission efforts are more racially inclusionary.
The proposed elimination of a UniGov department should involve a major civic debate, right? Not to the Neanderthals and know-nothings in the Mayor’s Office. With virtually no public debate, Ballard’s Brood is eliminating the Department of Administration, dividing its duties between the City Controller and the Corporation Counsel. But neither the mayor, nor his mouthpieces have ever issued any public statement, press release or commented to the media on why this major change.
Under Ballard’s plan, detailed in City-County Council Proposal 371, the city’s HR functions would be placed under the controller. The mayor’s Office of Minority-Owned and Women-Owned Business Enterprises would be made a permanent agency of city/county government.
The radical part of the mayor’s plan is placing the city/county’s Office of Equal Opportunity under the Corporation Counsel, the city’s chief lawyer. The Office of Equal Opportunity would be stripped of its oversight of minority contracting. (That goes to the new office on Minority and Women Business Enterprises).
This change means that the investigation of bias complaints by the Office of Equal Opportunity will be handled by an office under the control of attorneys who would defend city/county government against possible bias complaints against government.
That’s a patent conflict of interest that’s possibly illegal.
Mayoral spokesman Marcus Barlow whined to the Sunday Star that local media didn’t cover a positive press conference the mayor attended last week. Maybe the reason there wasn’t media coverage was Barlow’s failure to inform the media of the mayor’s public appearances.
Big city mayors regularly make numerous public appearances and hold press conferences each week. But last week, Mayor Ballard had none. Why? Because Barlow didn’t inform the media of any.
Public figures routinely distribute their public appearance schedules to media. Only once this year has this mayor’s office distributed a week’s worth of mayoral public appearances.
Marcus, your lack of diligence, not media ineptitude, is why there wasn’t coverage of that press conference.
See ‘ya next week.
Amos Brown’s opinions are not necessarily those of the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. You can contact him at (317) 221-0915 or by e-mail at ACBROWN@AOL.COM.
