… or he thinks WE are.

Ryan, I just watched your performance on FOX59 news tonight, where you said:

The City of Indianapolis is not borrowing mony to sell our assets. Citizen’s Gas will upfront the money to purchase the assets from us and that will net us $450 million dollars. That is what we’ll use to improve our streest and sidewalks. That is a pile of paper obligations that they make the commitment to repay. And now that obligation to repay which was the City’s is now Citizen’s. It’s on the backs of the ratepayers. The ratepayers fund utilities. Well, not all ratepayers are taxpayers in the city of Indianapolis. About 85%. And what we’re doing is takng th cost of running the utility and capitalizing on the asset we have and taking $450 million from that asset to make improvements to our streets and sidewalks. Which, as you know, we have a deficit in excess of a billion dollars at the MOST any mayor has done in the last 15 years is $7 million prior to this Mayor who recently budgeted $29 million forthis problem. So we’re taking a substantial leap forward in addressing those broken promises of years’ past as ir relates to neighborhood organizations and community groups that all need and want these improvements

Ryan, you can’t be serious. We’re supposed to swallow that crap and believe it?

In your own words this $425 million is a pile of paper obligations, it consists of ‘up-fronted’ money from Citizen’s Gas, transferred from the City to Citizen’s Gas, put on the back of the ratepayer, and money is to be taken from the asset and funneled into street and sidewalk repair.

Really? You should listen to the videotape of yourself saying these things. It sounds complete crazy.

In your written introductory remarks, posted on FOX59.com, you said:

The Council should approve the sale of the water and waste water utilities to Citizen’s Energy Group.

Two of the largest problems restricting economic development and facing the citizens of Indianapolis are the projected 400% increases in utility cost and a 1.3 Billion dollar deferred maintenance/replacement of our streets and sidewalks. The Mayor’s visionary proposal is a holistic approach aimed at improving Indianapolis’s future as it relates to each of these issues. The proposed sale will empower a proven, efficient and responsible utility company to manage our utilities free from political influence but for the expressed benefit of the citizens of Indianapolis. Citizen’s is committed to realizing efficiencies that mitigate future rate increases by at least 25%.

Additionally, the 1.9 billion dollar sale of the utilities will realize approximately 445 million dollars for infrastructure improvements. This structure has multiple benefits. First, the city will eliminate the 900 million dollars of debt on an asset we purchased for 550 million just a few years back. Second, the city will be the only city in the country with a funded infrastructure improvement plan over the next 4-5 years. Third, we will have gone nearly half way to addressing years of ignored and underfunded improvements to our streets and sidewalks. Fourth, we will have the capacity to fund infrastructure improvements needed to attract and retain businesses seeking a stable, predictable and reliable place to do business. Last and certainly not least, years of broken promises to neighborhood associations, community groups and small business can finally be addressed with much needed and now funded improvements.

So, we already have a 400% rate hike looming, the transfer to Citizen’s will ‘realize’ $445 million (can’t you settle on one number and at least be consistent?) which is not magic money materialized out of thin air, it’s money the ratepayers must bay back ostensibly through still MORE rate hikes. But the City will realize $450 million. By ‘realize’ you mean what, exactly, ‘materialize out of thin air?’

And you have the audacity to imply a $900 million debt is ‘eliminated.’ No, Ryan, it is transferred to Citizen’s Gas, and thus to its ratepayers. It hasn’t been eliminated at all. It has been moved and renamed and you pretend it is gone. This is much like the debt on both Market Square Arena and the RCO Dome, whose debts were moved and renamed, but ultimately only shifted to new borrowing arrangements. That debt never went away, either.

And by this ‘funny money’ gambit, you fix up ‘broken promises.’ What promises, to whom, by whom and when?

And to top it off you drag out the tired old cliche about attracting and retaining businesses. Uh, Ryan, that’s what the Lucas Oil Stadium, Conseco Fieldhouse and tens of millions of dollars in tax abatements, TIFs and grant money to companies that move here, expand into larger facilities or hire more people is supposed to do. Now we can’t attract and retain them without fixing potholes and sidewalks?

Really?

Ryan, from here it sounds like you are completely off your rocker. If you do this deal we are SO screwed.

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