Mayor Goodnight says he's pleased with the new parking garage and traffic flow as well as the progress of the city's curbside recycling program.
On this week's installment of Ask The Mayor, 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.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Hren: A new term for Mayor Goodnight starts in just a couple weeks, any new staff or changes to being the new year and new term?
Goodnight: No big changes coming, we feel the voters had a clear choice after eight years of how we operate city government compared to the choice they had.
Hren: Also we're saying good-bye to mayors at least on this show who decided not to run again. Since you're the president of the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, does this change the dynamic of mayors across the state?
Goodnight: It does change a little bit. A big part is when we go down to the statehouse when legislation is proposed. We rely on the expertise of veteran mayors as much as possible. We have to figure out who experienced these things and can go down there and tell that story in the legislature.
Hren: I see you met with the mayor-elect of Richmond. What's it like for these new mayors coming into office?
Goodnight: It is so much coming at you so quickly and I can't say I did a great job looking back eight years ago, I don't know if I did a great job on prioritizing and trying to get people to understand that you still have to become very overwhelmed with people knocking at your door and sending you e-mails.
Hren: YMCA looks great, how is the fundraising coming along on construction of the new building?
Goodnight: Still have a gap to fill, but we're going to have a couple of large announcements at the first of the year. We've had some people in the community step back up with some new totals, so we feel good about how the fundraising is going.
Hren: Holiday message as we wrap up our last program of the year?
Goodnight: I hope everyone has a safe and happy holidays, we're very grateful with great family and the kids and enjoy getting out and I'm very happy with the weather right now. I look at snow as a cost to the city so we've been lucky this December, so happy holidays.
