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| ..... The opinions expressed in these articles and features are those of their author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of McANA or the opinion of its Directors or Officers. |
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Appearance of Conflict Handling land use and zoning matters can be one of the most emotionally charged direct interactions between public officials and neighborhoods. This shouldn’t be surprising considering the long term financial, social, environmental, and quality of life issues that occur as a result of those matters. In the heat of the moment, while a case is going on, we always want the officials to rule in the favor of neighborhoods automatically. But in reality, we will take impartial, thoughtful decisions based on well-informed, compassionate, carefully analyzed fact gathering. The Marion County Alliance of Neighborhood Associations, in reflection of our broader mission and the more localized interests of neighborhoods, closely monitors and frequently participates in zoning and land use matters and policies as they are reviewed and administered in Indianapolis. Neighborhoods are appreciative of the encouragement received in recent years to engage in those land use petitions that affect so many aspects of their quality of life. However, as with any system that has such personal and momentous short and long term impacts on our City, MCANA continuously seeks and advocates for improvements in those areas of land use and zoning that continue to place residents and neighborhoods at a disadvantage when it comes to public process, policy setting, and decision making. An issue that has been an ongoing concern is the appointment of, and subsequent execution of duties by, individuals to the Metropolitan Development Commission and the Boards of Zoning Appeal. We lobby constantly to have individuals seated on these bodies who have a true long-term dedication to creating and sustaining a community with quality neighborhoods, a protected environment, and a viable economy. One of the most critical qualities to execute these duties responsibly is impartiality and a commitment to serve, not as a political right of passage or garnering of influence, but as a representative of all interests in the County. I do not believe this is possible when the positions are filled by those who simultaneously hold positions of significant political leadership; most specifically, we refer to the chairpersons and officers of any local, city, or state political parties. While there is no doubt that persons who may hold such positions within the political party system have a sincere and vested interest in their communities, in both their public representative and private citizen roles, it establishes poor public policy that reflects badly on the City’s administration and governing powers, to have them serve in a position that leads to such widespread speculation about their impartiality. At the very least, appointing individuals who hold such positions leads to an enormous amount of speculation about conflict of interest because of party fund-raising responsibilities that require association with the petitioners that are among the development community and the attorneys that represent them in zoning matters. At worst, it leads to speculation about political favoritism and pay backs and is viewed as a clear conflict of interest in and erosion of a land use decision-making system that is intended to be apolitical and unbiased. Cathy Burton send comments
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2004
