Council trio: Two pegs (one is round) a bad fit for tall, square Lightner building
Updating the debate over the proposed Clarence E. Lighner Public Safety Center since our Indy story 12 days ago. That the proposal’s rollout was bungled is now a given; but the question remains, who bungled it? Was it City Manager Russell Allen’s fault? Or Mayor Charles Meeker’s? Or both?
It was Allen’s job to shepherd the Lightner plan through the bureaucracy. But it was Meeker, along with Allen, who decided the plan ready for the City Council’s rubber stamp of approval when clearly it wasn’t.
Since the rollout, a trio of City Council members has pushed back against the Meeker-Allen combo and their hurry-up-and-vote approach, raising a series of questions that go not just to the details of the building (e.g., the fitness center, the circular stairway) but also to its basic premises — i.e., its scale, function(s) and location.
Councilors Crowder, Gaylord and Stephenson are asking why this ought to be a single, 17-story tower when it appears that it contains two quite different functions, one of which (emergency operations and technology) requires a very expensive, “hardened” building while the other (police and fire deparment administration) doesn’t.
Moreover, the police/fire administrative part of the building is envisioned as a public-friendly space, with easy access — and a cafe — for anyone who wants to enter. That’s exactly the opposite of what’s described for the other, emergency-center portion of the building, which is that it’s supposed to be secure — i.e., difficult to enter or attack.
So, the councilors observe, while the public-friendly space should certainly be located on an accessible downtown site, the secure-from-attack space should probably be somewhere else.
Good point. Continue reading »
