City ahead of schedule fixing up homes around Indianapolis

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Mayor Joe Hogsett made a pledge in 2017 to have the city help fix up 2,000 properties in Indianapolis by December 2018.

The city is ahead of schedule.

A new website indicated Thursday the city has helped fix up more than 1,600 properties. People can check the website to learn the locations of the properties and when and how the city helped.

Tammy Beatty said she keeps a close eye on her grandchildren as they play in their yard on the west side of Indianapolis.

“They don’t like to be kept up in a house and they shouldn’t have to be,” she said, referring to their home on the 200 block of South Holmes Avenue.

One property a few doors down was a particular problem. It sat vacant. It brought in homeless and rats.

“It makes me mad,” she said.

There were also several police calls about issues at the property.

“They like to get on their bicycles and ride up and down the sidewalks I shouldn’t have to worry about someone in that lot,” Beatty said, referring to her grandchildren.

But, in the last year, the home was demolished by the city of Indianapolis.

The city has provided funding to bring in new buildings, conducted demolitions and issued orders to bring buildings up to code.

Some of the city’s work helped bring in the Vue, a couple hundred-apartment complex on the cusp of downtown. The influx of new residents could have a trickle-down effect to better business.

“We’re hoping it’s going to pull first off a lot of clients and a lot of customers who have not even heard of us,” said Kyla Rae England, a bartender at Metazoa Brewing Co., a bar across the street from the complex.

But more work lies ahead. The Beattys said a body was found in an empty home down the block recently. Just a block away, another home sits vacant.

When the Beatty family wheels around the young kids they don’t let them out of their wagon. Needles often litter the front yard of the vacant home.

“The house is not even boarded-up,” she said, frustrated.

Beatty said she appreciates the city’s efforts but added her neighborhood has changed too much over 30 years.

“I got 22 more payments on my home until it’s paid off. I’ll put my house up for sale and I’m going to get out of here,” she said.