Winona Hospital once again caught my attention as I was driving by it. As I went down Illinois Street, I could've sworn I saw an opening. It looks like someone jammed a crowbar into the wooden board that boarded up the entrance. I didn't get much closer, but I did see a few tools near by. Some of the boardings seem to be pretty solid, while others might've had some work done on by squatters or homeless in the area. I made a call to 911 to alert them, but it was already reported. I'll be making a phone call to the Mayor's Action Center to inform them as well.
The Indianapolis Business Journal reported that a recent effort to sell the site has failed. The city of Indianapolis will try again and make the deal more attractive by writing off the tax bill attached to it.
Winona is just one of many eye sores in this city, but this has an easily reachable owner. The city. I asked Mayor Greg Ballard earlier in the week who to contact to advocate for some of the utility sale money to be used to spruce the place up, but he said that the building is a part of some long term plan. Since the city has owned it, it has practically ignored it. I hope his plan for the former hospital site has something instore for it, and soon. We can't have these blights with the Superbowl or other big-ticket items in town.
UPDATE: I drove by the site on my way to a meeting and it appears the door has been shut and locked this time around. Let's hope it stays that way. Kudos to whoever got out there to secure the building. If you don't want it to happen again, squatters and the homeless know law enforcement generally don't waste time patrolling neglected and abandoned properties until neighbors start complaining. Get more of a presence in the neighborhood, and Winona will stay safe.
Showing posts with label Winona Hospital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winona Hospital. Show all posts
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Re-cap on Maggie Lewis' Open Forum on the Utility Sale
I attended a public forum hosted by my council representative, Maggie Lewis, last night. José Evans, Monroe Gray, Doris Minton-McNeill, and a number of other council representatives were all in attendance, and Evans seemed to be emceeing the event. Chris Cotterill, Chief of Staff to Mayor Greg Ballard, and Jean Richcreek, Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer for Citizens Energy Group, led the presentation and answered the bulk of questions. Citizens Energy Group also had at least one employee in the audience that fielded a few questions about how Citizens negotiates payments with customers. Ballard came in, unexpectedly, about 30 minutes into the presentation and stayed for 30 minutes, said his bit, and answered questions from council representatives and members of the public. He came in with three other people, one of which was his wife, Winnie Ballard. As you may have noticed, public officials vastly outnumbered the half a dozen or so non-elected/appointed citizens at this meeting.
Nevertheless, Cotterill, Evans, Ballard, and Richcreek ran a tight ship. They got in all questions anyone in the audience had, did so respectfully, and the Power Point presentation wasn't relied on as a script.
Minton-McNeill was grandstanding when Ballard was there and kept going afterward, and I thought it was absolutely shameful. She said that she is still trying to gather information on the utility sale. But these public forums and various hearings have been going on for months. Her comments and questions at the forum made it seem like she hasn't done any research at all. And as I commented during the meeting, it isn't part of my job description to be there, but I did my best to get to these meetings, research, and read. She and any other council representative should do the same, so that the most frequently asked questions don't get asked repeatedly. For example, one of her questions was what if Citizens decides to sell the utilities. According to state law (I'm still researching on a citation for this, so I'm taking others at their word), public trusts can't sell their utilities, and the only way a city can repossess the utilities is if the services aren't being provided.
Fortunately, that wasn't how most council representatives acted. Most were respectful, or at least silent.
I asked Cotterill and the council representatives how exactly the utility sale and the influx of money will be handled in City-County proposals. The answer I got was much different than the definitive answer I got from At-Large Councilor Angela Rivera. Cotterill seemed to be saying that the Council can modify the proposal, but that the vote on the MOU that Prposal 131-2010 is right now will be the only vote. He also said that the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission does not have the ability to modify line-by-line the utility sale, but can just approve it or not approve it.
This was an informative meeting, but I still have a few more questions to ask. I can't quite support this just yet, especially since the process seems to be so uncertain.
Nevertheless, Cotterill, Evans, Ballard, and Richcreek ran a tight ship. They got in all questions anyone in the audience had, did so respectfully, and the Power Point presentation wasn't relied on as a script.
Minton-McNeill was grandstanding when Ballard was there and kept going afterward, and I thought it was absolutely shameful. She said that she is still trying to gather information on the utility sale. But these public forums and various hearings have been going on for months. Her comments and questions at the forum made it seem like she hasn't done any research at all. And as I commented during the meeting, it isn't part of my job description to be there, but I did my best to get to these meetings, research, and read. She and any other council representative should do the same, so that the most frequently asked questions don't get asked repeatedly. For example, one of her questions was what if Citizens decides to sell the utilities. According to state law (I'm still researching on a citation for this, so I'm taking others at their word), public trusts can't sell their utilities, and the only way a city can repossess the utilities is if the services aren't being provided.
Fortunately, that wasn't how most council representatives acted. Most were respectful, or at least silent.
I asked Cotterill and the council representatives how exactly the utility sale and the influx of money will be handled in City-County proposals. The answer I got was much different than the definitive answer I got from At-Large Councilor Angela Rivera. Cotterill seemed to be saying that the Council can modify the proposal, but that the vote on the MOU that Prposal 131-2010 is right now will be the only vote. He also said that the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission does not have the ability to modify line-by-line the utility sale, but can just approve it or not approve it.
This was an informative meeting, but I still have a few more questions to ask. I can't quite support this just yet, especially since the process seems to be so uncertain.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Superbowl 2012: My concerns
When I spoke out at the City-County Council meeting on February 1st, I briefly mentioned that I was concerned about how Indianapolis may look with the world's eye on it in 2012 due to the Superbowl.
Take a look at downtown Indianapolis. Not too far from the city-county building, there's an apparently abandoned building that looks like it was in the middle of construction or renovation. Right across the street from the Central library, there's a church that is just sitting there, locked and not in use. It's slowly turning from a parking lot with an ugly building by it to an eye sore. A similar church can be seen just off of Massachusetts Avenue, except this one is boarded up. And then of course, just a few blocks away from the Children's Museum, is the former site of Winona Hospital.
While the city's Indy Land Bank has taken possession of the site and cleaned it up and boarded the broken windows and unlocked doors, the fact remains that the city owned the site for over a year and allowed it to fall into an asbestos infected site, probably destroying the building's viability as a possible hospital for the neighborhood. While the city let it go to pot, squatters broke in and used it as their living space. It's only a matter of time before the city forgets about it again and this saga repeats itself.
One of my initial projects I wanted to start when this blog launched was a series on abandoned buildings. I was inspired, partially, by The Indianapolis Star's Star Watch column. This column publishes information about abandoned and neglected buildings, such as who owns it. However, the Star mislead readers on who owned the Winona Hospital site as I documented in this blog entry.
So this is one of my concerns. That when the world is watching us in 2012 hosting the Superbowl, some young journalist will walk a few blocks outside of the main activities and see the abandoned and neglected buildings that dot the areas around and just outside of downtown Indianapolis. I often hear about how to make this a "world class city", but before we get there, we have to take care of the basics first. Throughout the next few weeks, I'll be highlighting information on abandoned and neglected sites that I see in my daily travels. The challenge will be to get public records on who owns the properties, which may cause a delay in publishing these stories. It will also offer me additional insight as to how township government, which maintains property records, deals with public records requests.
Take a look at downtown Indianapolis. Not too far from the city-county building, there's an apparently abandoned building that looks like it was in the middle of construction or renovation. Right across the street from the Central library, there's a church that is just sitting there, locked and not in use. It's slowly turning from a parking lot with an ugly building by it to an eye sore. A similar church can be seen just off of Massachusetts Avenue, except this one is boarded up. And then of course, just a few blocks away from the Children's Museum, is the former site of Winona Hospital.
While the city's Indy Land Bank has taken possession of the site and cleaned it up and boarded the broken windows and unlocked doors, the fact remains that the city owned the site for over a year and allowed it to fall into an asbestos infected site, probably destroying the building's viability as a possible hospital for the neighborhood. While the city let it go to pot, squatters broke in and used it as their living space. It's only a matter of time before the city forgets about it again and this saga repeats itself.
One of my initial projects I wanted to start when this blog launched was a series on abandoned buildings. I was inspired, partially, by The Indianapolis Star's Star Watch column. This column publishes information about abandoned and neglected buildings, such as who owns it. However, the Star mislead readers on who owned the Winona Hospital site as I documented in this blog entry.
So this is one of my concerns. That when the world is watching us in 2012 hosting the Superbowl, some young journalist will walk a few blocks outside of the main activities and see the abandoned and neglected buildings that dot the areas around and just outside of downtown Indianapolis. I often hear about how to make this a "world class city", but before we get there, we have to take care of the basics first. Throughout the next few weeks, I'll be highlighting information on abandoned and neglected sites that I see in my daily travels. The challenge will be to get public records on who owns the properties, which may cause a delay in publishing these stories. It will also offer me additional insight as to how township government, which maintains property records, deals with public records requests.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Kudos to Mayor Ballard and the Indy Land Bank
Kudos to Mayor Greg Ballard in a rare display of transparency. As reported by The Indianapolis Star via the Indiana Law Blog:
In another note, I've written multiple entries about the former Winona Hospital site and the neglate it has suffered since the city took ownership. A couple months ago, the Indy Land Bank took ownership of it. I stopped by the day before they took ownership and noted the condition it was in. I drove by a couple weeks later and it looked much better. Not only did they take care of most of the graffiti, but even cut down the overgrown bushes which basically reached the first story windows. It's still an eyesore, but at least it won't be as attractive to squatters and gangs.
Public access television cameras will be invited back into Animal Control Board meetings after Mayor Greg Ballard on Wednesday overruled an attempt to keep the monthly meetings off the air.
"If I have to carry a camera in there myself and televise it, we'll do that," said Chris Cotterill, the mayor's chief of staff. "That's how strongly the mayor believes in transparency."
In another note, I've written multiple entries about the former Winona Hospital site and the neglate it has suffered since the city took ownership. A couple months ago, the Indy Land Bank took ownership of it. I stopped by the day before they took ownership and noted the condition it was in. I drove by a couple weeks later and it looked much better. Not only did they take care of most of the graffiti, but even cut down the overgrown bushes which basically reached the first story windows. It's still an eyesore, but at least it won't be as attractive to squatters and gangs.
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