City railroad overpass project continues, funding the riverfront development will be a challenge, the mayor reacts to Greg Pence running for Congress and the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center is being demolished.
On this week's installment of Ask The Mayor, Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop 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 came across an article on how Indiana cities can fine trains if they stop traffic for more than 10 minutes. It's $200 a ticket. Is this something Columbus has followed up on?
Lienhoop: It's the first I heard of that. $200 isn't going to speed the railroad up. It's not going to make much of a difference. But that's not really the answer we're looking for. We're not about trying to collect fines, we're about trying to get over the track, around the track or under. That's the reason for the overpass, we'll pursue that.
Hren: The $8.6 million riverfront development plan moved forward with some renderings on how the project would look, but the issue is cost. What's the next step to keep this moving?
Lienhoop: The next step is to understand the funding model. What we thought we'd be able to do is get a trail by the pump house and water. We're able to do that, but the number we were given was just under $2 million. The problem is we're going to have to do a number of other things we didn't anticipate in order to be able to do that. So the number goes up to $8.5 million. So we just don't have answers yet to how to fund this so that will occupy a good portion of 2018.
Hren: There's a proposal on the table about a committee that the mayor appoints that is called upon for a police investigation appeal. Two members would be eliminated. What's the reasoning behind that?
Lienhoop: The question is who polices the police. I've very satisfied with the quality of our police force. So we want to have an avenue for people with a complaint to have it reviewed. So there's a committee I appoint that hears appeals. We're just trying to work through what the composition of that board should be and how that process ought to work. We hope to have an answer by March, when we get done.
Hren: Part of what I read though, is it's about diversity of that panel. Two of the members that would be eliminated are from the African-American community, so is there an issue about diversity of who is on that panel?
Lienhoop: I don't think so. At the end of the day, what you're trying to do is come up with people who will reflect the community so there has to be diversity with respect to that. At the same time, we'd like to have people that have an understanding of what law enforcement is about. The whole notion is to be able to do both of those and that's not the easiest combination to come up with.
