for a change. (Proving I am not averse to giving them bouquets when deserved.)
No good reason to build this bar
Our position: Plans to open a bar at the Center Township government center should be halted.
There’s plenty about the proposed bar at the Julia Carson Government Center that is offensive to the cause of good government.
Start with the effort by Center Township Trustee Carl Drummer (with the acquiescence of Indy Parks Director Joe Wynns) to turn part of Al E. Polin Park into a parking lot for the bar, a move since aborted amid public pressure. However, playground equipment, used by a daycare center, already has been removed and slated for relocation. As a result, a haven has been lost for the mostly poor families residing in nearby neighborhoods.
Drummer cannot give a good excuse for advocating the elimination of park space designated for residents he was elected to serve. Especially for the benefit of a private business.
Given that surrounding neighborhoods such as Fall Creek have long been plagued by drug- and alcohol-related crime, adding another bar would contribute to, not help, the area’s problems.
As the landlord, Drummer shouldn’t have allowed the bar’s ownership to build out the space and construct an outdoor deck without obtaining the proper permits from the Department of Metropolitan Development. It shouldn’t have required an anonymous complaint, filed in June, along with an inspector’s stop-work order, to cease construction.
Given his relationship with the club’s owners, which include longtime powerbroker Lacy Johnson and his son, Drummer shouldn’t have been so closely involved in the deal. The fact that the bar’s clientele was originally intended to be Center Township employees and their guests — essentially making it a club for Drummer and his allies — adds to the perception of cronyism.
The blame doesn’t belong to Drummer alone. No one, from Judith Hawley Conley (who approved the partial demolition of Polin Park) to the City-County Council, was looking out for residents’ best interests. If not for community activist Clarke Kahlo, no hard questions would have been asked about the propriety of opening the bar.
No good reason exists to open a bar in the Carson Center. Drummer should reverse course and kill the lease.
Amen to that. This whole thing is despicable. Drummer should not only kill the lease, he should resign as soon as he does so.
Don’t miss the accompanying Varvel cartoon. Simply inspired.