The mayor reacts to Charlottesville and whether Indiana will push for hate crime laws. One year ago an EF3 tornado ripped through Kokomo leveling a Starbucks and damaging more than 100 homes. And the mayor talks about Kokomo's worst kept secret, a possible convention center.
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 your take on the violent clashes in Charlottesville, it's been a week, but still on the minds of people as more events unfold from peace rallies to demonstrations. How important is it that Indiana pass a Hate Crimes Law?
Goodnight: The car that went into the crowd at a high rate of speed, if this was anyplace else they would call it a terrorist act. That could have been avoided, I think the situation could have been controlled much better. It doesn't help when you have the president out making flamboyant statements, whether it be attacks on the opposition side, attacks on his own party, attacks on the media, attacks on certain demographic groups. It's not good for the country, individual states or individual communities.
Hate crime legislation would be helpful, but in reality it would be really helpful to have adult conversations on the challenges we're facing. It's okay to disagree on how we improve our healthcare system, it's okay to disagree on those tough subjects on budget priorities or national security. But these simple divisive statements and that tone, is not helpful.
Hren: One year ago, Kokomo was hit by a tornado – what do you remember the most about that day?
Goodnight: To be honest, it's somewhat surreal when you're in that situation. I was speaking that day in Indianapolis on climate change and the tornado that came through our city in November of 2013. Then on the way back as I'm talking to staff they tell me it's coming through. So I try to meander through the city and do a quick assessment of the damage. So there's the immediate prioritization of - do you have gas leaks, do you have electrical lines down, are there people trapped. The next phase is getting thorough-fares open.
Having gone through it twice, I wouldn't wish this upon my worst enemy.
Hren: I see the city partnered with a developer to begin an urban infill program bringing new single homes to Kokomo. How did that partnership come about?
Goodnight: This is city led. We're going to take some of our economic development income tax dollars and do some urban infilling in some of the established neighborhoods. So we've already put the bids out, you'll have to bid on the homes to build them and then the realtors will list them and sell them, then we'll take that money the city makes and invest it back into the program.
We have a housing shortage in Kokomo and we want to help every demographic find housing. But anytime you do an infilling program, it's less expensive long term for taxpayers. We're already plowing those streets, we're already patrolling those streets, the underground infrastructure is already in place and it increases the value of the places in the surrounding areas.
Hren: I haven't seen any formal announcement on a possible convention center that we've talked about in the past. I did see though, there is talk here about how it would be funded. Some are concerned about using certain tax allotments on a convention center over a long span of time...
Goodnight: Right now we are pushing the paperwork back and forth in trying to reach an agreement. I'm very optimistic that this will happen. As I joke, this is probably the worst kept secret in Kokomo.
Some of the people that are against things, they've been against everything any time. All I can go by is the numbers, the occupancy rates, the business community that has trouble booking rooms, so this is something we need to address.
