Neighborhood Funding
We simply have more aging infrastructure (streets, curbs, alleys, sidewalks) than we have the money to fix. The solution needs to be a combination of solutions, an “all of the above” approach. One piece that I’ve been working on is State funding, specifically the Community Crossing Grant. In talking with several other City Councils throughout the State, I know there is interest in forming a coalition to petition the State Legislature to administer this program in a way that would help cities more. Presently, Community Crossings provides approximately $100 million of road funding per year, but it is capped at distributing only $1 million per City or County. This helps rural areas but hurts cities and a large county like Allen County. The bottom line is that for every $1 contributed to Community Crossings by a Fort Wayne taxpayer, only $0.15 of it is returned to our streets. The uneven distribution of the fund will only hurt cities worse as EV vehicles proliferate. The next step remains forming a formal alliance of cities with a coordinated legislative strategy. I will not stop fighting for our fair share and look forward to continuing to work on this issue..
Neighborhood Code Enforcement
Some people choose to be a constant nuisance and play games with Neighborhood Code Enforcement. This hurts neighborhoods’ property values and the morale of neighborhood associations. I have been working with the Council Attorney to draft the legislation, and I look forward to working with the City Administration, Council, and Neighborhood Code to pass the “three strikes” ordinance that will short circuit the game chronic neighborhood code violators play.
