Urban Indy

HB1073 (Public Mass Transit) was dealt a heavy blow today when it went down 10-11 in the House Ways & Means committee this morning. Partisan bickering erupted early on with Representative Crawford singling out the labor language in the bill. Jeff Espich, committee Chairman, pointed out that he had stripped half of the labor related language out but it appeared the Democrats on the committee were not going to budge and continued to vote no. To … Read entire article »

I don’t think that it is a secret to any Urban Indy writer or reader that I have invested A LOT of personal (and family) time over the last 3 years taking photos, writing, travelling to various cities with better transit systems including Portland, DC, Charlotte and Chicago and dragging my family along the way for “another one of dad’s transit trips!”. Full disclosure, my family has also had the privilege of hosting regional transit officials of the highest order over delicious meals prepared by my wife which include but are not limited to lasagna, pasta and with plenty of red wine, and local beer. I would like to think that the Urban Indy group has had a pretty good say in what has become Indy Connect. While we are not 100% … Read entire article »

This was sent to us from the leaders of the transition coalition: Thank for you for signing the petition to support transit funding in Indiana.  The House Ways and Means Committee is considering HB 1073 which would: 1.       A method for the public to express their support for transit funding through a referendum; 2.       Local Home Rule, the role of local government to make decisions in the best interests of the people it serves; 3.       A method to partially fund mass transit through the flexibility to increase a local option income tax to become a dedicated funding source. We contacted you in November to let you know there will be calls to act and contact Indiana legislators.  This is our first call to action!  We need your help NOW! There are two preferred ways … Read entire article »