Muncie mayor candidates outline plans to prevent mass shootings
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The two candidates for mayor of Muncie said preventing another mass shooting in their east central Indiana city will take a community effort.
One person was killed and at least 17 more were wounded after a dispute led to a mass shooting at a block party in Muncie at the end of July. Two suspects have since been arrested. Both mayoral candidates said it will take more than law enforcement to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again.
Republican Dan Ridenour is running for a second four-year term. He faces a challenge from Democrat Jeff Robinson, currently the president of the Muncie City Council.
Jeff Robinson
Robinson said crime drives most of the violence and hardship in Muncie, including the July shooting. He said the city would invest more heavily in community policing and focusing on crime hot spots under his leadership. In addition, he said city officials need to involve Muncie’s youth since much of the crime involves them. Robinson said he also blames the state’s permitless carry law for allowing too many people to carry guns and use them.
Robinson has called for repaiving 82 miles of city streets and adding curb cuts to assist people with disabilities. He told News 8 the funding would come from a $25 million bond, paid for with economic development income tax, or EDIT, funds.
“What we have now is an embarassment and we have to make it a priority,” he said. “That is largely the number one issue of most doorsteps that we talk to folks at.”
Robinson has criticized the current administration for what he calls slow progress on Southway Plaza and Tillpond Urban Park. He said much of the promised development in those locations has not materialized and an autism center at Southway Plaza had to close during the summer due to lack of air conditioning. He said the city council should rescind the tax abatements given to those projects.
Dan Ridenour
Ridenour said he has convened a task force composed of law enforcement, clergy, homeowners’ associations, judges and others to develop a comprehensive violence-reduction plan. He said there’s only so much that can be done legislatively, so community leaders will look for ways to, among other things, ways to encourage healthier communication among families in the home. He also wants the public to weigh in on violence, its causes and solutions before the task force issues its recommendations sometime next year.
Ridenour said he’s proud of his work so far in redeveloping Muncie’s south side. He said Southway Plaza is already home to new tenants including a Gillman’s hardware store and a software developer. As for the Tillpond Urban Park project, he said the city can’t proceed until a federal grant gets approved. Meanwhile, he said he’s working to bring in more affordable, workforce and market-rate housing, in part by taking possession of abandoned, city-owned properties and tearing them down to make room for projects funded in part by income-based housing tax credits.
“We do have some momentum now,” he said. “We have a lot of people reaching out so we may be able to taper that down a little bit and use those resources in another area.”
Indiana’s deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 7 elections is Tuesday. Early voting begins Wednesday.
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