Residents hoped to speak with mayor at neighborhood city hall
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Mayor Joe Hogsett was on the city’s west side Wednesday for his second neighborhood city hall meeting.
It’s a part of a new initiative to revamp the way the community can voice concerns.
“Tonight is an effort to fulfill yet another commitment to bring the city hall back into the neighborhoods,” Hogsett said while speaking from a stage.
In April’s State of the City address, the Democrat mayor outlined a new effort called Indy 3.0 to re-imagine local government in the 21st century and modernize city services and make them more efficient and accessible to residents. As part of this initiative, Hogsett hosted the first in a series of neighborhood city halls that very week.
But, residents at Wednesday’s meeting expressed more frustration than anything.
Dozens packed into the gym at Chapel Rock Christian Church, 2020 N. Girls School Road, for the meeting.
Many people said they like the idea of what the meeting represents, but some with hopes of getting answers on violent crime were left empty-handed.
One person said the meetings are “nothing more than smoke and mirrors.”
The meeting brought people face-to-face with first responders and city service workers to make them more accessible to residents with questions and concerns.
“We want to regain trust,” said David Hampton, deputy mayor of neighborhood engagement. “We know the trust is broken to some extent. So, to the extent we can regain that and build confidence with our community, we want to do just that.”
“It brings the awareness,” said Lorenzo Lewis, Northwest District commander with Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. “It also gives people access to us in a more laid-back environment where they can get to know us and ask us questions that they wouldn’t normally feel comfortable asking. That’s real important to gain that trust in the community because it takes the community to allow us to do the jobs we need to do.”
But, the one person people said they had questions for, the city’s leader, the mayor himself, was not as accessible.
Hogsett took no public questions and only spoke from a prepared speech on the stage.
“I’m very exasperated because it was a waste of my time,” said resident Maya Wagle. “I was looking forward to asking questions as to how citizens could contribute to the evolution of progress in our city, and we didn’t have an opportunity.”
Asked why the mayor did not take questions and comments from the people at the event and did not address the rise in violent crime, a spokesperson for the mayor issued a statement after the meeting about the purpose of the neighborhood city hall. The statement did not address the reason Hogsett would not interact with people at the meeting.
“These meetings are geared toward bringing services directly into our neighborhoods and allowing residents to have conversations with city departments and learn more about programs the city offers.”
The spokesperson added that if residents have questions, they are encouraged to call the Mayor’s Action Center at 317-327-4622.
The mayor spoke on a variety of topics ranging from the city’s new streetlight program and his administration’s home rehab initiative. All of those were topics his office had said he would discuss.
But, with Indianapolis already at 82 criminal homicides in 2018 compared to 70 this time last year, some people say the elephant in the room was not addressed.
“Man, he’s got his hands full because the violence is terrible,” said resident Billy Tew.
“I’m totally disappointed,” Wagle said. “If you call this a (neighborhood city hall) meeting, there should be an opportunity for people who are involved in the city to voice their questions, their opinions, and ask questions. If you want participation, that’s what a meeting is for.”
The meeting came after Hogsett introduced the first two people to be named Indy Peacemakers on Wednesday afternoon during the monthly Public Safety Walk in IMPD’s Northwest District.
Under the guidance of Shonna Majors, the city’s first director of community violence reduction, the Indy Peacemakers will provide operational and capacity-building assistance to community groups engaged in violence prevention. The hiring of the Indy Peacemakers followed the rollout of the mayor’s violence reduction strategy last December.