Ask The Mayor

In this week’s elections in Tippecanoe County, Democrats fielded a candidate in just two of the seven countywide races. It’s the continuation of a trend of apathy from the party in recent years.

This week on WBAA’s Ask The Mayor, we talk with the highest-ranking Democrat in the county – Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski – about what that dearth of participation means for his party – especially in a year where Democrats were supposed to be energized.

West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis is in a unique position to comment on an increasingly chippy Tippecanoe County sheriff’s race. He’s served on a police force with incumbent Barry Richard and is currently the boss of Richard’s leading challenger, Jason Dombkowski.

Credit Crawfordsville residents for trying to improve safety in a number of ways – even if there may be pushback.

In the wake of recent mass shootings, the city’s police department will oversee a church gun buyback event this weekend. But is the city prepared for possible protests?

The reconstituted human rights commission has begun to meet, but what issues are they addressing first?

And, like Lafayette, the city has established a bicycle and pedestrian committee to focus on the safety of those not in cars.  But how to balance who rules the road?

As development along Interstate 65 becomes a topic in Clinton County elections this year, Frankfort Mayor Chris McBarnes finds himself between a highway and a hard place.

On the one hand, he had to forego his plan to annex land from the city limits out to I-65. On the other, he watched county officials begin to develop land near the State Road 28 interchange and now hears county commissioner candidates ask his city to extend its utilities westward to serve those new investments.

If there’s one thing we here at WBAA want you to know about Ask The Mayor, it’s this: when you have a question, ask it!

On this week’s conversation with Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski, one of our youngest question-askers ever – just 12 years old – engages the mayor on a public policy question that the cities of Lafayette and West Lafayette have decided differently.

It’s been about eight months since West Lafayette’s State Street reopened to traffic. And some drivers feel like they’ve spent the majority of that time either waiting in gridlock or watching walk signals cater to non-existent pedestrians.

This week on WBAA’s Ask The Mayor, a couple listeners want to know what the city is doing to make traffic move more smoothly, and they have a few suggestions for Mayor John Dennis.

The City of Crawfordsville, like many smaller Indiana municipalities, struggles to provide a comprehensive set of medical services. But anticipated investment in an autism treatment center for kids could help to lessen the number of families who have to seek treatment elsewhere.

This week on WBAA’s Ask The Mayor, we chat with Crawfordsville Mayor Todd Barton about how much his push to recruit young professionals is impacted by becoming a one-stop shop for amenities people expect in the 21st Century – and whether such a thing is even possible in a town of 16,000 people.

The City of Frankfort recently received half-a-million dollars in donations for a park that Mayor Chris McBarnes hopes will revitalize downtown and bring new, long-term investment to the area.

But some detractors at a recent meeting say it’s as though the mayor is trying to buy a new car at a steep price when he could have fixed up the existing vehicle – the city’s other parks that some see as run-down – for far less money.

State lawmakers recently passed a bill allowing municipalities to regulate room rentals on websites like AirBnb.

That came after the City of Lafayette passed an ordinance with very similar language making people who rent their rooms on such sites pay a registration fee.

This week on WBAA’s Ask The Mayor, we’ll find out from Lafayette Mayor Tony Roswarski how many people have already registered and how the city plans to track down those who don’t pay the fee.

West Lafayette Mayor John Dennis – who had seemed ready to step away from the mayor’s office after this term, now says he’s leaning toward running again in next year’s election.

However, he might differ on a major topic of conversation from from one of his key allies, who’s running for election this year.

This week on WBAA’s Ask The Mayor, Mayor Dennis talks about the need to better regulate guns – a topic current police chief and sheriff candidate Jason Dombkowski has spoken somewhat differently about.