What happened here is that Indianapolis just announced that it cannot be trusted

Last night the City-County Council approved the 2nd tax district for Mayor Hogsett’s MLS proposal:

City-County Council Approves 2nd Tax District For Mayor’s MLS Proposal (wibc.com)

By approving “Proposal 175” by a vote of 16-8, with one abstention, the city will submit a proposal to the state budget committee to create a special tax district to support the construction of a soccer-specific stadium where the current Indianapolis Heliport is located.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because the city did the same thing last year for the proposed Eleven Park project at the site of the now demolished Diamond Chain building, which the city backed away from in the previous few months citing several reasons from concerns about the impact on taxpayers to the question of what to do with human remains buried at the Eleven Park construction site from what used to be the Greenlawn Cemetery. ~ WIBC News

The story here is not the push for Major League Soccer. The story here is how we did it and how absolutely, yes, unethical but untrustworthy the city of Indianapolis is. They claim this about Keystone, they lie about Major League Soccer not playing there. They’ve never provided any proof and we don’t even know who the new ownership group is because it’ll be a different owner.

If you want to know what a rubber stamp looks like, it looks like this City County Council.

vector illustration red symbol stamp approved text watermark

Source: sebastian coll / Getty

City-County Councilor Dan Boots keeps on stating that no MLS team will play at the Diamond Chain location. (Boots video at 1:20 in)

Tony Katz:

I’m calling Dan Boots a liar until he shows the proof. Show where the Major League Soccer said they wouldn’t play at Diamond Chain. That’s just a lie until you show the proof it’s a lie. This is the kind of commentary that took place. Last night. Over and over and over again. This kind of nonsense. The MLS will not grant a franchise to an MLS team that will play on the Diamond site because of the cemetery issue. No proof of this whatsoever, by the way. The city of Indianapolis engaging in a lot of duplicity here because there’s still a bridge being built. There’s still a bridge that connects the West side. That’s being built. So, they don’t really care about. The bodies there. There used to be a cemetery. No, no, they’re fine with that. But now because they want to change the ownership group and change whatever inside deal is taking place, now it’s an issue. It’s disgusting. As we said from the beginning, this issue regarding bodies, this is a ruse.

Tony Katz

You cannot trust a deal with the city of Indianapolis. Not because I said so. As a matter of fact, I was the guy cautioning against it. They said so. If you think that the city of Indy didn’t have a deal with the Indy Eleven you’re not paying attention. You’re right, not every T was crossed or I dotted. Nothing was finalized. They were working on it, but that was the entire plan, obviously, when Hogsett was there at the groundbreaking, smiling away. And then someone waved a check in front of him. And Hogsett came runnin’. Hogsett has proven and Dan Parker has proven that anywhere they can get a little extra scratch they’ll go. Now am I saying that they got something particular for them in their bank accounts? Absolutely not. I would have zero proof of such of thing, nor am I making any allegation remotely close to that. I am saying for a little bit of glory seeking they screwed over a guy who has helped rebuild the skyline of Indianapolis. They screwed over a deal, a business partner, a relationship. And that has ramifications. Massive ramifications. And Indianapolis will suffer because of it.

Listen to the discussion in full:

ICYMI:

Why are so many people so incurious about Joe Hogsett going rogue? – WIBC 93.1 FM

The mayor of Indianapolis, Joe Hogsett and the deputy mayor, Dan Parker are duplicitous terrible people. – WIBC 93.1 FM

The Hogsett administration has acted in a despicable manner, engaging in some horrific and unethical tactics damaging the reputation of Indianapolis – WIBC 93.1 FM

Hogsett and the City of Indianapolis Want to Buy Former Diamond Chain Site because of the human remains being found there? No…that’s a ruse. – WIBC 93.1 FM

Joe Hogsett has found his guy – WIBC 93.1 FM

Joe Hogsett Doesn’t Have the Brains or the Courage to Act Alone – WIBC 93.1 FM

Owner of Indy Eleven Ersal Ozdemir Responds – WIBC 93.1 FM

Listen to the Show in Full here:

See the full rundown from today’s show here:

Tony Katz + The Morning News Archives – WIBC 93.1 FM