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?

When the Indiana Supreme Court – headed by former Tippecanoe County judge and now Chief Justice Loretta Rush – decided all cities must follow the same rules for rental fees, it took a large amount of money out of the city of West Lafayette’s budget. The city had been planning to monetize all the new apartments going up near State Street, so where will the cash come from now – and will there be enough people to inspect all the new bedrooms if more people can’t be hired?

This week on WBAA’s Ask The Mayor, spring has sprung. Farmers markets are preparing to open for the season in just a few weeks, and that includes in Crawfordsville, where the market will move to the city’s new Pike Place Park. Is the new venue ready for new events?

This week in our talk with Crawfordsville Mayor Todd Barton, we’ll discuss the final draft of the Montgomery County Comprehensive Plan, and where Crawfordsville fits in. How does the city align with the county’s goals—and where does it differ?  

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.

As expected, the city of West Lafayette is going to charge scooter companies tens – and perhaps hundreds – of thousands of dollars a year for the right to reach a college audience that couldn’t get enough of them last fall. But the price might be so high that it’s no longer financially viable for those companies to operate in West Lafayette. But was that the whole point of the ordinance?

We put that question to West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis today on WBAA’s Ask The Mayor.

Last year, Crawfordsville’s Human Rights Commission changed city ordinances to ensure they could not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.

But when the Indiana Senate passed a hate crimes bill this week, it did not include any such language. That angers one listener to WBAA’s Ask The Mayor, who wants to know what Crawfordsville’s Todd Barton plans to do about it when he next talks to State Senator Phil Boots, who voted for the stripped-down bill.

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.