Calling Lewis Carroll !

Mr. Carroll, the rabbit hole apparently has reappeared and it seems the mayor's office has fallen into Wonderland.  Tell Alice to be watchful for further strange happenings!

The Capital Improvement Board (CIB) has disbursed 3.1 million tax dollars annually to a variety of private civic organizations - the arts, Black Expo, etc..  How this fits into their primary mission we don't know, but we do think the elimination of these items would have been, in current conditions, an early and easy decision.

(We continue to believe, if these are indeed appropriate uses of public funds, that each such item ought to show up in the city budget, to be approved in the light of day by elected officials.)

Now that the Colts have told the city to get lost with reference to any contribution by them toward the solution of the CIB financial dilemma, the mayor's chief of staff has come up with a truly imaginative suggestion for easing the situation.

He's quoted in this morning's paper (4/28/09) as saying, "If the Colts found it intriguing to help fund the arts or cultural tourism or Black Expo, that could be one way to move forward."  Our first question is whether he is intimating that failure of intrigue by the Colts will mean continuance of this CIB generosity?

We've heard a lot about what great citizens the Colts are in Indianapolis.  If so, wouldn't it be likely that they are already making substantial contributions to these and other organizations?

Frankly, it looks to us like the Colts are "intrigued" only by maintaining every dollar "negotiated" with the CIB.  And it seems the relationship between the two organizations is very similar to our "negotiations" with our children when they are asked, "What would you like for Christmas?"  Except, of course, we do have very real dollar limits on what we are able to give!

We fail to see how contributions to various civic charities by the football team is, in any way, a real "move forward" toward solution of a municipal agency's fiscal problems which have been years in the making.

Mr. Carroll, please tell us how to wake up the mayor's office as you did with Alice to bring her back from Wonderland!

Comments

[Leslie Baker]

I found that a very interesting - to put it nicely - development of a "plan." But it follows a certain Bizarro logic. The next step is that we ask the IRT, Black Expo, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art to finance fixing our streets, right?

[Vox Populi]

This isn't a plan, just as the former mayor's plan for a casino downtown wasn't a plan. It's more misdirection to divert our attention elsewhere other than the Pacers, Colts and the CIB.

[Paul K. Ogden]

"We continue to believe, if these are indeed appropriate uses of public funds, that each such item ought to show up in the city budget, to be approved in the light of day by elected officials."

Absolutely. The General Assembly needs to remove some of the language in the statute by which these expenditures by the CIB are made.

[Vox Populi]

Mr. Ogden is entirely correct in that CIB expenditures need to be tracked. CIB expenditures and revenue also needs to have a formal audit by the State Board of Accounts, the same as state or governmental agency.