Ask The Mayor

The 2019 lawmaking session has just a couple more weeks before legislators pass a new budget and put the finishing touches on a spate of other laws – some of which could affect Greater Lafayette.

For instance: if sports betting is again legalized in Indiana, what does that mean for locals who pay close attention to Purdue?

And what happens if teachers walk off the job because a plan to raise their salaries turns into a net loss for some?

Earlier this month, WBAA conducted a survey and presented the results at a community forum in Frankfort. There were some interesting findings, and a few universal truths seemed to emerge.

First, most everyone wants Frankfort to grow, at least a little. But there’s also near-universal agreement that people aren’t using the amenities Frankfort already has enough. And if that’s the case, why would investors spend their money in that type of environment?

Perhaps the most decorated Democrat ever to serve Indiana in Congress – Birch Bayh – has passed away.

He left a legacy for other Democrats – including Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski – to follow, but is that sort of progressivism waning? Mayor Roswarski describes himself as a conservative Democrat, and he doesn’t have a challenger as he pursues a fifth term in office in this year’s race, which would seem to indicate popularity.

We inquire about the way forward for Democrats in Indiana this week on WBAA’s Ask The Mayor.

One of the main reasons Frankfort city councilman Lewis Wheeler is running against incumbent Chris McBarnes in this year’s Republican mayoral primary is a difference of opinion in how the city spends its money on the way toward possible economic development.

This week on WBAA’s Ask The Mayor, we quiz Mayor McBarnes about why he’s hired a new Community Development Director, and how her job might be different than what the Chamber of Commerce has already been doing.

It’s not surprising that Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski is, again, without a challenger in this year’s mayoral race. In fact, there’s only one contested race in this year’s primary in Tippecanoe County. This week on WBAA’s Ask The Mayor, we attempt to suss out what that means.

A visit by former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who’s thinking of running for president, has been the talk of West Lafayette this week -- so much so that we had to pre-record our monthly conversation with Mayor John Dennis.

It could be the first of several visits by presidential hopefuls to the city in the next 18 months, but what kind of impact does that have on a city’s finances, law enforcement and other services. We put that question to Mayor Dennis this week on WBAA’s Ask The Mayor.

In his State of the City address this week, Crawfordsville Mayor Todd Barton declared it was, in his words, “time for us to quit kicking the can down the road and start to fix things.” That’s a big statement, which always comes with an undertone suggesting past leaders have been somewhat derelict in their duties. This week on WBAA’s Ask The Mayor, we quiz Mayor Barton on exactly what he meant and how he plans to do things differently.

This week on WBAA’s Ask The Mayor, construction is officially underway on Frankfort’s Washington Avenue—one of several new projects in the city’s pipeline. How are residents responding to all the changes slated for the coming year?

This week in our talk with Frankfort Mayor Chris McBarnes, we’ll talk about how communities spread information through social media, and how to handle the consequences when citizens dispute fact versus fiction. Set the record straight, or stay out of it?

As we were preparing for this week’s Ask The Mayor conversation with Lafayette’s Tony Roswarski, a surprise announcement came from Governor Eric Holcomb’s budget wonks: the state plans to drop its support for the Hoosier State Line.

It’s a new year on WBAA’s Ask The Mayor, but we spend a good portion of our first show updating topics that were on people’s minds in 2018.

West Lafayette Police Chief Jason Dombkowski has stepped down, so we ask Mayor John Dennis how he plans to pick a replacement, and whether his former chief’s new job poses any concerns.

Also, the city plans to close its recycling center, and that’s got a number of city residents who want more recycling, not less, up in arms. We dig into the financials of the situation and ask what the replacement might be.