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The state did not have $15,000,000 for the White River expansion due to budget issues but had hundreds of millions for the Chicago Bears project. Half of the expansion cost was being paid for by Lilly Endowment. What is the state’s $5 billion dollar surplus supposed to be used for if not the betterment of its citizens? Looks like more anti-Indianapolis, Central Indiana shenanigans from the statehouse.
Spot on all your points!
+1
Exactly
The Indy Eleven owner still owns the Diamond Chain site across the river. Any improvements here “might” increase that property value, or god forbid, land us a major league soccer team, so of course the state is going to abandon this project!
Dan M – yes indeed
This is UNACCEPTABLE. The City of Indianapolis invested tens of millions of dollars in infrastructure for Elanco and White River State Park. The State has broken its promises and outright lied to the residents of Indianapolis and screwed the City when they tore down Crane Bay and now they’re doing again.
DISGUSTING. SHAME on the State and IEDC!
This is what happens when you embrace and celebrate tax cuts for the sake of, well, tax cuts. Basic services get reduced or eliminated, and amenities that make a city a better place to live get cancelled. Mike Braun and his MAGA allies in the state legislature have been the worst things to ever happen not only for Indianapolis, but for the state of Indiana.
Brent, tell me more about these tax cuts. To my knowledge, the state has not cut income tax, property tax, or the gas tax. What taxes were cut? I agree, the state should follow through on projects like this before promising $ for sports stadiums, corporate welfare, etc. That said, I don’t think this decision can be blamed on the tax cut bogeyman.
We just cut property taxes at Braun’s instance last year and have been cutting income taxes for years now.
Wade D.: Indiana income tax rate changes since 2021, when it was 3.23%:
2022: Reduced to 3.15%
2024: Reduced to 3.05%
2025: Reduced to 3.0%
2026: Reduced to 2.95%
2027: Will drop to 2.9%
And before all that it was 4% for several decades.
Braun is wholly unfit for dity.
This has to be an all time development underachievement when you compare what was promised vs why actually got delivered. Shame on all involved.
The only thing that gets our leaders excited is sports related projects that we as tax payers fund to build stadiums for billionaires and the elite few who can afford to attend events in these spaces. Not funding a park on White River shows a tremendous lack of pride in our city, vision by our state leaders, and a lack of respect for the citizens they are supposed to be serving. I will be pulling a straight democratic ticket this November. We need to rid our state of the super majority which has done nothing but move our state backwards for the last ten + years.
Absolutely foolish move.
Short-sighted and small-minded on the part of the Statehouse, and yes, I think it’s some sort of punishment for Indianapolis…which I might remind lawmakers and the Governor, is the real driver of the state’s economy. You try to diminish Indianapolis, and you do the same to Marion County, Hamilton, Shelby, Hancock, Hendricks, Boone, Johnson, Morgan, Madison and Putnam Counties — all in the Indy metro and all of them feed off of or into the state’s capitol city. I will never understand — outside of red v. blue dynamics, why lawmakers and Braun contorted themselves in that ludicrous and over-hyped fantasy to help build a stadium for the Chicago Bears, for example, but have tried to derail prospects for a MLS team and stadium in — INDIANAPOLIS! Is it the same small-minded small-town thinking that allows the vast inequity in gas tax sharing that is so unfair to the counties mentioned above? I don’t get it, I fear it’s for purely political purposes. I’m no shill for the Dems, but voters in these counties should really question the quality and motives of their lawmakers. Whether it’s the Statehouse or Indianapolis City-County Council, same old gets you same old — and entrenched machine more interested in power than progress. Frustrating!
So short-sighted. Once this property is gone, it’s gone.
White River is one of the greatest unrealized opportunities in Indianapolis. Places like San Antonio, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Oklahoma City have transformed their riverfronts into great civic assets. Parks, promenades, and cultural spaces along the water there are magnets for residents, visitors, and investment. Indy has the same opportunity, but projects along the river repeatedly stall, shrink, or disappear altogether – no beauty and no ambition. It is impossible to take claims of fiscal necessity seriously when state leaders can mobilize hundreds of millions for sports facilities used for ten games a year, but won’t honor a $15 million commitment to improve one of the most important public spaces in Indiana’s capital city that residents would use everyday. The White River should be one of the great waterfronts of the Midwest, but until state leaders show the vision and seriousness they only ensure the city and the whole state will continue to underperform their potential.
Paul M
+ 1
Even Ft. Wayne, South Bend, Elkhart,
and Mishawaka are developing their downtown river fronts with incredible results.
So why can’t Indianapolis develop its downtown river front??? This is SAD!!
+1000
Anyone remember the plans for a pedestrian tower in White River Park when it was first being developed in 1980’s? What a cool civic asset that would have been. Looks like this is another example taking plans for a public amenity and trashing them in order to save a couple dollars. And this would have been paid 80+% by non public funds!!
Braun seems to be getting a whole lot wrong lately! This plus the “tolls for I-70” bs will get him primaried! The expansion of the park would have been truly an investment. This is penny wise and pound foolish. If he goes ahead with the tax on drivers (We have the 5th highest gas sales taxes in the country…taxes Braun voted for while in the legislature) I will vote for whomever opposes him in the primary!
If I-70 is expanded to six lanes….and it should be….there’s surplus state funds and his buddy at the DOT in DC can pony up as well.
Indiana hasn’t been investing in the future for decades. To use a farming analogy, we’ve been eating seed corn for some time.
But hey, low tax state!
Ditto on all the great comments! Time for the people to make changes in our political leadership!
I have no inside knowledge but it seems that when the Crane Bay was demolished the overall plan lost support. The good news is that the riverfront is not going anywhere and can still be developed in the future. In a way the state was creating a amenity that would most likely be used mostly by Elanco employees.
Along with the City’s new “bridge to nowhere” on Henry St.
Well, at least Elanco can monetize their parking lots and surplus land for Colts games and other big events at Lucas Oil since it’s just a short walk away after the bridge opens.
The largest park downtown that is walking distance to almost 50,000 people plus office workers there during the day was only going to be used by people within 100 yards of it?
Solid corn fed take here
Braun and his super majority must go. The constant pandering to DT is beyond comprehension.
The hatred for Indianapolis (the driving economic engine) in the legislature against absent Mayor Joe is evident and the citizens of Indy and surrounding doughnut counties pay for it.
Braun will be a 1-term governor.
We got to get rid of Braun and all these jokers.
And BTW…..quit trying to jam “Turning Point” down everyone’s throats. Gheeesh It reminds me of cult mentality!
Republicans have ran on “BBBBUT the DEMOCRATS” for close to 3 decades in this state and have had a supermajority. Sure, taxes have gone down, but quality of life in this state and by almost every metric, our state is failing. The ONLY solution to anything these people seem to have is to further erode any revenue we bring it and squander it. They have NO plans for our crumbling infrastructure – they seem hell bent on destroying libraries, public parks, public transportation, poor relief, ANYTHING to do with the public good. They will not be complete until we’ve sold off all public land, privatized all schools, and drive on dirt roads. I’m hopeful the public finally wakes up and collectively replaces this ineffectual “leaders” and start fresh with ACTUAL ideas on how to IMPROVE life for Hoosiers instead of the constant march towards failure.
Not to mention that Hoosier median household income once ranked 17th among the states and now is closer to the bottom (37th IIRC). It’s been falling since Evan Bayh moved out of the Governor’s Mansion.
Indianapolis still had a sizable industrial base that has shrunk dramatically since the early 80’s.
Like most other Midwest industrial cities, our industrial base has been hollowed out.
After all the free drug needles there wasn’t any money left
Actually Indiana state law prohibits the use of state funds to purchase needles or syringes so the state spend $0 on drug needles. Also Indiana maintains an annual budget surplus of over $600 million and has a $2.5 billion rainy day fund. There is no reason at all that they couldn’t afford to finish this project as promised. A project that beyond being an improvement for residents was also used to attract businesses like Elanco to the city.
R W.
+1
The state absolutely should help see White River State fully developed.
Not only for downtown workers and local residents, but for all the out of towners coming in for conventions and special events.
IU and Purdue Indianapolis are both going to expand as well as our convention business downtown. Developing White River State Park ( to its fullest potential ), and developing a solid downtown entertainment district probably would go a long way towards people and businesses committing to downtown Indianapolis.
The potential benefits to downtown are enormous if we develop White River State Park and a downtown entertainment district.
Keith B
+1