It’s Amazing What a Little Blog Can Do
I’ve managed to cause quite a bit of stir today with my earlier post about Marion County residents facing an estimated $170 million in new taxes later this year because of government budget issues. The Mayor’s office has told me I have my facts wrong so I’ve invited them to come on the show tomorrow and tell me why. Deputy Mayor Steve Campbell will join us from 8:10 to 8:30 tomorrow on WXNT. It is nice to know people are listening and reading.
June 8th, 2005 at 12:00 am
Why isn’t any part of the $85 million going for more police officers ? Even sheriff Anderson said he needed 250 or more deputies 2 years ago.
From the
INDIANAPOLIS-MARION COUNTY LAW ENFORCEMENT CONSOLIDATION COMMITTEE.
http://tinyurl.com/2wenkn
“Councillor McWhirter asked Chief Spears if IPD has an adequately staffed police department. Chief Spears answered that currently IPD is able to provide safety for the public.
Councillor McWhirter asked if Chief Spears anticipates IPD officers being moved to the townships. Chief Spears said that he does not anticipate the strength of one of the current patrol districts affected. He said that what might occur is officers that may become available for re-assignment who might be able to fill different rolls in the newer department. A consolidation would more effectively meet the geographic needs relative to the calls of service.
Councillor McWhirter said that Sheriff Anderson has requested over the last few years 250 more sheriff deputies out on the street. She asked where these police officers would come from if IPD is currently adequately staffed. Chief Spears stated there would be a need to start somewhere and some offices would become available for re-assignment that would help out.”
The whole pdf is an interesting read.
June 12th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
I hope you will let the public call in and talk directly to the Deputy Mayor. Hopefully, they’ll demand answers to tough questions about funding public safety BEFORE funding stadiums.
Why isn’t Bart coming on the air too?
June 12th, 2007 at 2:55 pm
I hope you will let the public call in and talk directly to the Deputy Mayor. Hopefully, they’ll demand answers to tough questions about funding public safety BEFORE funding stadiums.
Why isn’t Bart coming on the air too?
June 12th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
When you ask him about tax increases be sure to ask about why we are rationing water every summer while we get significantly increased water and sewer bills.
Obviously the bureaucrats did not invest enough in infrastructure to support growth after Bart Peterson bought the water company.
Wonder what the bureaucrats will do with the new Indianapolis Airport now that they have removed BAA from management.
June 12th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Sorry Abdul, but you are getting the second runner up with the Steve Campbell coming on and not Fart himself. Too bad he is so late on in the morning, I am already at work so please give us a full list of what he said, and oh yeah, wear your hip boots.
June 12th, 2007 at 7:23 pm
Perhaps you might recognize that your listeners are concerned about more issues than just crime.
June 12th, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Anon,
Name me another issue that affects the quality of life in this community more than crime and I’ll gladly talk about it.
June 12th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
Abdul,
Can you ask Deputy Mayor Steve Campbell how many police beats go uncovered each day ? It is not just a question of are we 9 officers short or 120 officers short or that 75 to 100 officers are expected to retire this year.
A question has to be asked of Deputy Mayor Steve Campbell are the cadets and those in training or those that need to have other officers ride with them mean that beats are going uncovered. And that the day all of those cadets and those in training become full fledged officers and you factor in how many more have retired during that time frame how many officers will we be down and how many beats go uncovered ?
Thanks for getting the Mayors office to come and try to explain this away.
June 13th, 2007 at 5:59 am
And still nothing in the Rag, I mean the Star…
June 13th, 2007 at 6:26 am
I heard COuncillor Brown’s explanations on your show yesterday morning.
You never asked him the obvious question:
“Aren’t you a city employee, Councillor? Aren’t you personally enriched by this tax increase?”
Why does the press let these folks off so easy?
June 13th, 2007 at 7:16 am
Abdul, in an election year, Mayor Peterson needs to be held accountable and is avoiding key issues head-on with the public.
Steve Campbell is not the elected Mayor. I only want to hear from Peterson directly on key issues. Delegating his spokesperson to speak on tax increases for him is a sham. Peterson needs to spend more time explaining his decisions for the city over the past seven years and how he plans to improve the condition of the city before we vote in November.
Steve Campbell is the fall guy. If he reports erroneous information to the public, the mayor can blame him for misquotes after the public reacts to them.
Leadership, Peterson has earned the grade of “F”.
He assumes no responsiblity for the lack of police patrols on the street, lack of working radio equipment, automobiles,and the increased crime rate. What would it cost the city to open sub-stations in high crime areas? At least temporarily to drive down the crime rate.
He assumes no responsibility for not having a progrssive recruitment program to fill vacancies over the past 7 years to maintain adequate staffing in the police department to keep up with the expansion of the city’s population growth.
He assumes no responsibiity for raising taxes after granting huge tax abatements to his wealthy developer friends and major corporations with cost overruns. {corporate welfare) Any profits earned will be paid into the TIF account[tax increment financing] which is controlled by the Capital Improvement Board. The city of Indianapolis is bankrupt, but the CIB has millions sitting in its bank account which the Council can not use or appropriate for city services by law.
He assumes no responsibility for costs overruns for each new construction project. Which developer is paid the additional funds on these projects? or, Is this money a coverup for political kickbacks to his contributors?
He assumes no responsibilty for the lack of summer job opportunities for our youth.
He assumes no responsibility for the lack of recreatiion centers around the city for our children where none exist.
He asummes no responsibilty for having low income and senior citizens in this community carry the increased tax burden for the wealthy who can afford to move out of the county but earn their money in the city.
He assumes no responsiblity for not having an itemized budget to justify increased spending and to show how the tax dollars have been spent.
He does assume the responsibility for courting millioniares and their investments which will not benefit average local resident taxpayers.
Explain to me why he should be reelected in November.
June 13th, 2007 at 8:03 am
I am an IMPD Reserve officer and this week I worked two shifts, just to help out, when I queried the on duty Sgt. on where he wanted me to work, both times I was placed in a beat where there was no else in it. If I hadn’t worked the beat would have been empty. I only worked twice this week, so I wonder who covered the beat the other 5 days?
June 13th, 2007 at 8:06 am
I also wonder why 30 of us are detailed to IMS infield qualifications this Saturday, when IMS already has a million “yellow shirts” taking care of track issues. Couldn’t we better utilized on the street?
June 13th, 2007 at 9:20 am
“Its Amazing What a Little Blog Can Do”
No, Abdul, when you tell a lie, a frequent guest of the show, someone you have termed a friend, calls you to correct it.
This isn’t an accomplishment. The director of communications for the city of Indianapolis was doing his job.
How’s having no measurable listeners?
June 13th, 2007 at 10:10 am
lets see…..
the mayor wants $85 million in new taxes to help pay for the justice system, right?
how much did we give to the Mariott and to the colts?
June 13th, 2007 at 10:10 am
Reserve, can you please tell me (because I really don’t know) do you make $5 a year? Why do you do it? Do you want to be a full time LEO or are you just giving back to the community? I am curious because I would think in Indy today, it is a pretty dangerous place for $5 a year.
June 13th, 2007 at 10:27 am
Anon 920
First, please point out where Steve said I was wrong. Second our audience is the most influential people in Indy, hell even the guy who own WIBC listens. You really should read more than 12+ numbers. And if we were so insignificant, why do we get newsmakers on a regular basis on our program? I’ll small, rich and powerful over poor and plentiful.
June 13th, 2007 at 10:52 am
Abdul,
Do you know if the 85 million is a ONE time thing to fix / catch up on the pension oblicgations or will we be spending 85 Mill per year for who knows how long ?
June 13th, 2007 at 11:14 am
9:20, evidently he must have some following if you don’t have anything positive to say and you still listen to the show :) Sorry I missed you this morning Abdul, if you get this in time could you please at least rebroadcast some highlights tonight?
What I’ve noticed is that people are using subjective terms such as ‘adequate coverage,’ and ‘suitable manpower.’ By whose definitions are we working here? If there was ever a critical incident in this city we would be woefully unprepared. This spit and rubber bands operation is going to come back to bite us in the butt, if it hasn’t already with the spike in crime.
I talk to former IPD guys all the time who are working in old county beats. All the NRO units were obviously old IPD and they’re working county-wide. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing, if there are problems in the county that need to be addressed then that’s where the manpower needs to go. However, it’s a blatant lie for people to say that IPD officers aren’t working on county beats. The county beats need to be covered anyway, and if the mayor had just said he was robbing Peter to pay Paul in the first place at least he wouldn’t be lying about moving people from the old city limits.
June 13th, 2007 at 11:36 am
Okay, let’s look at “influential” and “powerful” radio personalities in Indianapolis:
Amos Brown: hall-of-fame broadcaster, longtime fixture in Indianapolis, popular radio program which routinely books top-tier guests in-studio.
Bob and Tom: nationally syndicated, humor-based talk radio, good commitment to Indianapolis and long-running exceedingly popular radio show.
Abdul: wannabe journalist, wannabe comedian, wannabe attorney (seriously, which job is it?). Listening audience so small it doesn’t register. Books city-county councilors and spokespeople for phone interviews. Has so little commitment to Indianapolis that he refuses to live in the city, register his vehicle or his vote.
June 13th, 2007 at 11:52 am
11:36…Are you saying via your anonymous soapbox that Abdul is telling us lies? And if so, please tell his listeners specific facts that he is wrong about and give his listeners correct information and tell us where we can fact check the information.
Better yet, if you have a differing opinion, I bet he would even have you on as a guest. But then, since you are anonymous, he cannot invite you.
I’m not sure how small his audience is as he says, but I work for a decent sized company and people here talk about the show often and more and more people tune in all the time.
I noticed the morning show now plays at night, I love this. Now I can catch the news I miss when I’m at work in the morning. I get more indepth local news from Abdul’s show than I do from the Indy Star and all the TV stations combined.
And I don’t feel the need to post on here anonymously …but then I am no coward. Why do you post anonymously? What are you afraid of?
June 13th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
Some more info from 12/18/2000 about the fund shortgage.
Mayor makes police, fire pension relief city’s top legislative priority
Indianapolis – Mayor Bart Peterson today called police and firefighter pension relief his “number one priority” in the 2001 legislative session and called for a united effort by the City-County Council, Marion County legislators and other local officials to push for a solution.
In 1992, Indianapolis city officials stopped adding money to a special city fund used to cover the shortfall, as the number of pre-1977 retirees increased. The 2000 budget depleted the fund’s last $8 million, leaving a $13.2 million shortfall in 2001. The shortfall will increase by about $3 million per year.
I will try to dig up the 2006 budget and see how much the city paid into the pension fund.
June 13th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
11:36, are you serious? Amos Brown is in a broadcasting hall-of-fame? I have never listened to a more bigoted radio host.
Every time I tune in his show in the hopes he’s going to say something intelligent he goes on a racial rant. He says businesses are racist because they go where the money is. He says the police are racist because they enforced the law on people acting like fools during the so-called ‘Expo incident’ a few years ago. I have never seen a radio personality give more free passes on so many issues in all the time I’ve been listening to talk radio.
The guy doesn’t even mention the names on the air of people who don’t bother coming onto his show. When people call in complaining about their Democratic CC Councilman he tells them that there might be a challenger in the primary. If Amos has influence, maybe that’s what’s wrong with this city. Oh! I forgot the best one! When black people disagree with his racist/separatist viewpoints, he calls them the ‘black people who hate black people!’ What a joke! Granted, he’s much better than the guy that came before him. I’ll give him that.
From my experience when people don’t let you make a talking point and bang on their desk, it’s because they know their wrong and they’re flustered. He’s nothing more than Indianapolis’ version of Al Sharpton. Oh, and I had a run-in a few years ago with someone claiming to be his wife. She’s not much better. Maybe that’s where he got it from.
June 13th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
Amos Brown Named to Indiana Broadcasters Hall of Fame
http://www.takingdownwords.com/taking_down_words/2007/05/on_the_air_radi.html
June 13th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
If Amos is such a truth-teller, then maybe he should fess up about some of his ‘relationships’ that some of his listeners may find a little… I don’t know… shocking?
Dude above sounds like he works for that FM talk station that’s getting it’s rear handed to them by WXNT.
June 13th, 2007 at 4:25 pm
To anon.
It used to be true that we made $5 a year. The 5 dollar check had to be cashed to activate our insurance coverage. Since the merger we no longer get paid the $5. I have no aspirations to do the job full time. Law enforcement always interested me, but my full time job pays more, and I a have worked there a long time. There are plenty of Reserves who wish to go full time, and there are those like me who enjoy proffessional careers outside of law enforcement. I do it as community service, I have strong feelings that people need to enact change themselves. Working as police officer even in a Reserve capacity makes me feel like I am part of the solution and not the problem with this city. The MCSD Reserve Academy was very tough, and the job itself and the political BS that even weasels it’s way into the Reserve division, are tougher, but for me there is a sense of pride, of going out for a few hours and trying to do some good.
Hope that answers your questions.
June 13th, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Reserve, thank you for your answers.
Abdul, I see you got Amos, or one of his minions, all worked up. Like the Dems Amos loves, they try to change to topic to avoid the truth that you, and others, point out about the bad job our local government is doing. Did everyone note where the Hall of Fame announcement came from? TDW. Ha! They walk hand in hand with the ACLU.
To all of this I say, ABDUL KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK!
June 13th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Abdul,
I posted facts to your “little blog” and you censured them. Why?? They were facts!!!!! You no better than the rest of them.
Good luck.
June 13th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
Yes, we get $5 a year to do what we do. Or at least those of us who came from the Sheriff’s department do. Or did. I don’t know if that will still be the case post-merger.
Many of the Reserves would like to be full-time LEOs, however the great majority can’t afford to take the pay-cut from their full-time civilian jobs.
Being a Reserve gives you great training and experience. However in the hiring process, that counts for nothing. In order to get hired, a Reserve, even though a sworn member of the department has to go through the exact same steps as someone who has never been in law enforcement before.
Other agencies both inside and outside of Marion County (although the majority are outside) love to hire our Reserves. But that means you have to move….
Why do we do it? Love of the job, plain and simple.
June 13th, 2007 at 5:50 pm
Sorry amazing,
What “facts” did you post? I don’t censor unless it libelous. The joy of being an attorney. Maybe you should buy a real computer and try again. Or you can e-mail them at abdul@newstalk1430.com and I’ll gladly post them.
June 13th, 2007 at 8:06 pm
Abdul,
Here are the budget numbers for the police and Fire departments over the last few years. I can not tell HOW they were funded or where the money came from. The actual and proposed budget numbers and actual numbers spent end up being pretty close. Listed below are the actual or proposed budget numbers I could find. In most years 2/3rds of each budget line is for PRE 1997 plans and 1/3 for post 1977 plans.
2001 budget ( in millions of dollars )
P – 30
F – 23
2002 budget ( in millions of dollars )
P – 33
F – 28
2003 budget
P – 34
F – 28
2004
P – 35
F – 29
2005
P – 38
F – 35
2006
P – 42
F – 37
My questions is for the last 4 or 5 years the city has found they money to pay for 50 to 80 million dollars. Now if they get the 85 mill in new taxes the money that WAS being spent to cover the pension where does that go ? Did we LOSE 85 mill in revenue or are we spending 85 mill MORE in other areas ?
June 13th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Anon 1136 is probably from the Mayor’s office. They probably refer to Abdul as the n-word behind closed doors.
June 14th, 2007 at 12:23 am
3:22, believe it or not if you take your fate into your own hands you’d be amazed what you’re capable of achieving. Don’t listen to Amos, he’s like an anchor holding down a boat trying to shove off. From what I’ve heard he loves to provide excuses for why people can’t achieve things in life, when the real reason they aren’t achieving anything is because they don’t care.
June 14th, 2007 at 7:27 am
Abdul;
Mayor Peterson calls in on your show which is a buffer from your listeners. He doesn’t have to answer questions from angry citizens.
On the Amos Brown show, he sits in the studio and takes calls because Amos has all calls screened or blocked from angry citizens. The same is done when he has Sen. Bayh, or Julia Carson, or any other Democrat on the his show to answer question only from friendly callers.
He will cut off opposing opinions or talk over the caller while they are on the air.
The Amos Brown Show is a fraud. When a Republican officeholder is on his show, he allows certain angry callers to argue and attack them on the air, along with his own negative comments.
Being nominated for the Media Hall of Fame is probably his payoff for supporting all of the incompotent Democrat officeholders on his show.
June 14th, 2007 at 7:36 am
Abdul;
Mayor Peterson sits in the studio with Amos Brown and answers questions from friendly callers, but he calls in on your show and uses the phone as a buffer between him and your not too agreeable listeners.
Did you know, Amos has his producer screen and block callers who they determine will attack Mayor Peterson, Sen. Bayh or Rep. Carson on issues. They do not answer any tough questions.
When a Republican officeholders are on his show, they are usually attacked and ridiculed by callers and by him.
Amos Brown’s nomination into the Media Hall of Fame is more than likely his payoff for protecting and supporting incompotent Democrat officeholders daily on his raido show.
June 14th, 2007 at 7:37 am
Abdul;
Mayor Peterson sits in the studio with Amos Brown and answers questions from friendly callers, but he calls in on your show and uses the phone as a buffer between him and your not too agreeable listeners.
Did you know, Amos has his producer screen and block callers who they determine will attack Mayor Peterson, Sen. Bayh or Rep. Carson on issues. They do not answer any tough questions.
When a Republican officeholders are on his show, they are usually attacked and ridiculed by callers and by him.
Amos Brown’s nomination into the Media Hall of Fame is more than likely his payoff for protecting and supporting incompotent Democrat officeholders daily on his raido show.
June 14th, 2007 at 12:42 pm
“One Who Knows” is incompetent about spelling English. She obviously knows very little!
June 14th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Isn’t it hard to be so perfect Wilson? Oh yeah, that’s right, your little fingers have hit the wrong keys too!
“I ain’t got no nickel in that dime.”
-Julia Carson
What about her command of the English language? Watch were you point your finger boy.
June 14th, 2007 at 1:33 pm
Hey Abdul,
I heard your going to have a former Reserve Wagon Driver on your show next week. I just wanted to point out to you that Reserve Wagon Drivers are not Reserve Officers. There is a difference. Reserve Wagon Drivers are special deputy’s that do not go through the same training or school that we do.
June 14th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
With all due respect to the job they do, the Reserve Wagon Drivers are also not certified to work the road as sworn police officers. That is why you no longer see the wagon’s with red/blue lights…. Too many people getting themselves into situations that they weren’t trained to handle.
Again, I respect all the wagon drivers for what they do, especially the ones who aren’t getting paid for it. I sure as heck wouldn’t want to do that job.
June 16th, 2007 at 9:54 am
I support you Steve… long time friend Daryl C. Kennedy
June 16th, 2007 at 9:55 am
I support you Steve… long time friend Daryl C. Kennedy