Kokomo Mayor Greg Goodnight (Alex Eady, WFIU/WTIU News)
IU Kokomo continues to grow, school safety is still on the minds of community leaders, Diversity in the Park hosts their first drag show and conference center funding is still being worked out.
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.
Reporter Alex Eady fills in for Joe Hren today. This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Eady: IU Kokomo move-in day was late last week, school is in session with the growth of the IUK campus and more housing is Kokomo feeling the return of students here?
Goodnight: Yes, over the last few years Indiana University Kokomo has been the fastest growing campus in the IU network and that has resonated a few years ago private dorms were built and they were successful. Directly to the east of campus we have another private developer building dorms as we speak.
It's a smaller campus, so more personal attention. It's easy to access, affordability, our housing costs here in Kokomo are much more affordable. And the growth and opportunities, you get the same degree. I think it makes it a really nice choice as opposed to a really large campus environment.
A new 125-bed student housing development near IU Kokomo should open by next school year. (City of Kokomo)
Eady: Something that you can’t miss in the news, school safety. As our state officials allocate more resources for schools – how safe do you feel Kokomo schools are?
Goodnight: I have a good relationship with the superintendent. I have a daughter that attends Kokomo High School and I have three sons that went to Kokomo schools and I feel very comfortable with the level of safety and the attention that they give them. We have a contract with the school where we provide liason officers to Kokomo High Schools, the three junior high schools and they filter to the elementary schools.
We usually don't disclose new details on what we're doing because if someone has bad intentions, that only gives them more knowledge of the situation.
Eady: Kokomo Pride hosted their annual Diversity in the Park recently – including for the first time, a drag show at Highland Park. The Kokomo Tribune had a quote from an organizer “we’ve been putting off having a drag show, because we didn’t know if Kokomo was ready for this.” Is Kokomo ready for more Pride events?
Goodnight: I went to the event and read a proclamation. It was a pretty big turn-out. Different ages, a diverse group. We had parents, we had grandparents, we had family members and I personally wasn't at the drag show, but I think anything that is tastefully done is fine. And I've heard no complaints and maybe one or two people didn't appreciate it, and the ones I did hear from weren't in attendance.
Through my personal and policy here in the city on civil rights, we want to be an open and welcoming community that encourages people to be who they are. We can't grow our community and say we don't want gay people in our community. We can't grow our community and say we don't want Muslim people in our community and start being selective on who we want in our community.
I'm very proud to say we're a very charitable group, we're a very loving group and we're a very open minded group.
Eady: Let’s talk conference center funding, we’ve been told it’s a $26 million, do you know how much is coming from private hotel developer yet? There’s $1.5 million saved from the county’s 5 percent innkeeper’s tax, how does the city plan to fund the rest?
Goodnight: Over 50 percent is coming from the developer, keep in mind those are estimates, we haven't started the process and receiving bids on some of those things. There are always uncertainties. The second biggest funding will come from the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the third biggest funding will come from the city and then the county government is also participating.
Once it begins, time frame will be closer to 14 months.
