Howard County's unemployment rate goes up, Kokomo residents are not immune from the opioid addiction crises, the mayor defends road diet measures and the city's 15 year comprehensive plan moves forward.
On this week's installment of Ask The Mayor, Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight addresses these issues and more. Listen to the full conversation with Indiana Newsdesk anchor Joe Hren by clicking on the play button above, or read some of the questions and answers below. A portion of this segment airs 6:45 and 8:45 a.m. Wednesday on WFIU.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: I wanted to start with something a little more general – opioid abuse, an epidemic not only in Indiana but across the country. The governor's task force worked on this and five new treatment centers across the state will be formed which local city leaders appreciate since the state is funding this because cities can't usually afford something like this, how's the situation here in Kokomo?
Goodnight: We have a problem like every other community in the state and nationwide. The state has started to take steps in the right direction. At the national level, I'm concerned. Currently Obamacare does cover treatment for people dealing with addictions. The current republican bill that passed the U.S. Congress does not and would set us back as a country.
We are not going to be able to arrest ourselves out of this, it's going to take a change in culture, a change in behavior and a lot of support, not just from government, but family and friend support to work our way out of this.
Hren: I noticed a few comments on the city's twitter account on road diet construction, the narrowing of roads to add bike lanes and grass islands which also means less maintenance… but some residents aren't happy that taxpayer money is going to fix something that they say doesn't need fixed?
Goodnight: If I could think of one thing I can do to help our community it would be fixing our infrastructure and making it more conducive with today's driving and residential patterns. Some of our roads in Kokomo were built when you had heavy semi-truck traffic. We feel it is extremely expensive to maintain these big roads. It also means to think of pedestrians and bicyclists as well.
No one wants to walk in a 40 to 50 MPH area, it's not safe. When people do get out and walk and become more healthy, that helps us with economic development. Businesses look at communities and they look at education, age, training and the health of a community.
Hren: Kokomo is moving ahead on a new 15 year comprehensive plan. I've seen these with other cities as well. It seems like such a daunting task and I always think, how do you plan a city for 15 years with so many changing conditions… what's the main goal though of a city comprehensive plan?
Goodnight: It's really to look at what we've done right, what we could've done better, where we've exceeded expectations to grow as a city, a lot of it is a guesstimate on population shifts and what needs will need to be met.
There are some things that are very clear, as a country the workforce is aging. We have a lot of baby boomers that are looking at retiring. So it's things like transitional housing for a family that had three or four kids and they've moved out, people downsize. What will they need as assisted living. Infrastructure long term needs ... and sprawl. As neighborhoods age, where do we need to reinvest. It's a way to guide us, but we're able to adjust and adapt to that 15 year plan.
Hren: The Kokomo Tribune reports the city is moving forward on relocating the transit center. What's the need for a new transit center?
Goodnight: We moved our traffic department to the street department to better coordinate with each other, so we'll move the transit center over here (near City Hall) to set that one area up for redevelopment downtown catty-corner from city hall.
