Maggie Lewis can Block Flock
Friends and Constituents,
I hope you’re all well. Did you know that TOMORROW, Monday October 5th at 7:00 pm, is the main opportunity the public has to weigh in about the budget that Joe Hogsett proposed?
I’ve made my opinions clear about the $1.9 billion budget:
I don’t want the Mayor’s Office to have a dime in its slush fund, after the last two years he used it to pay a donor $40,000 a month to kill IPS, to lobby the Statehouse to kill IPS, and to staff a board full of pro-charter school apparatchiks.
As a city, we shouldn’t be demanding our police officers do $40 million worth of overtime and should instead use that money to fix public safety problems upstream. Just a few examples:
We shouldn’t ask for people accused of a crime to pay for their own ankle monitors while waiting for their day in court (especially when the ankle monitoring company, Track Group, is owned by a criminal court judge’s husband!)
MESA (the organization that runs the 9-1-1 dispatch call center) is horrifically short staffed and needs more funding
We need to drastically increase funding to plug the hole in our housing ecosystem: the Indianapolis Housing Agency. IHA continues to struggle with broken elevators, non-existent security systems, ancient and compromised technology. As a result, they are not handing out housing vouchers like they need to, contributing massively to homelessness.
I don’t want IMPD to have a dime to spend on Flock and other Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology, especially after five IMPD officers (so far) are being charged criminally for abuse of this technology.
That last point is the topic of this week’s video. Give it a watch and keep reading!
(By the way, some platforms took down the longer video - which has even cringier dancing. Watch it here if you missed it)
Indianapolis municipal code requires the Council attorney to either draft a resolution or give a timeline for finishing that work within five days of submission.
I submitted my request for an Indianapolis version of the TRUST Act on June 17, 2026. It still isn’t drafted.
I have politely but insistently followed up multiple times, issuing a public letter on August 13.
This letter was ignored. Eventually, I did my best with volunteer outside legal assistance to draft the localized version myself and released it to my peers and the public on September 12th.
President Lewis has the sole power to issue instructions to the Council attorney, and in her role as President is violating the law by continuing to block the introduction of this proposal.
Her stated rationale for disrespecting my constituents’ urgent request is because of an arbitrary and unwritten set of personal preferences involving the introduction of new proposals during budget season. Council staff told me in writing that my proposal was not subject to this pause, and then President Lewis overrode them to continue blocking this.
Meanwhile, the draft agenda for Monday’s meeting shows that twelve proposals are being introduced - just not this substantial and urgent one.
I understand the President’s preference; Council meetings are long and frequent already during budget season. Many of my colleagues would prefer not to add even more substantive conversations right now.
But this is the job we all signed up for. When there is urgent city policy to discuss, we shouldn’t let our constituents suffer so that we can get home early or attend a Bruno Mars concert. If Councilors don’t have time to actually fight to improve their constituents’ lives, I invite them to consider another line of work.
So this week, I have three action items for you all:
Write to President Lewis to ask her to put the TRUST Ordinance on the agenda for tomorrow night’s Council meeting. Her email address is maggie.lewis@indy.gov.
Share the new page of my website to your friends and family. There, I give a one-page summary of the ask and the reasons behind it.
Come to the Council meeting in the Public Assembly Room of the City-County Building at 7:00 pm on October 5th to give public testimony about what you think our city’s budget priorities should be. You don’t need to be familiar with every word of the 178-page budget book; the Council’s job is to interpret your requests and translate them. Just come and speak from the heart about where you want our funding to go.
As usual, I’ll be passing out agendas and talking to anyone and everyone in the Public Assembly Room starting an hour before the meeting on Monday.
Come talk to me in person about where you agree or disagree with the budget!
Or review the annotated agenda and full meeting packet online as soon as I have them available here.
In love and solidarity,
Jesse
MONTHLY LOG!
Tuesday 9/1: IMPD downtown district status call. Opposed an out-of-state short-term rental developer’s variance at the Board of Zoning Appeals. Caught up on correspondence. Participated in a HoosLeft panel about socialism.
Wednesday 9/2: Talked with Davanta Scruggs about Dalys Jett. Low-key picnic date with my wife. Therapy. Answered a large volume of constituent concerns about ICE raids. Pushed Council leadership and IMPD to take action (they didn’t). Attended the Indiana Senate Democrats’ listening session at P30.
Thursday 9/3: Chatted with a strange bedfellow on Flock and surveillance tech (a wall street fund investor who is bullish on data centers) about where we agreed and disagreed. Drove up to Anderson to participate in the Teamsters’ picket line for the Coca-Cola strike. Talked with a constituent trying to open a new business and struggling with unclear regulations. Joined a protest against ICE at the hotel where agents were staying.
Friday 9/4: Therapy. Physical therapy. Continued research and organizing around ICE.
Saturday 9/5: Met a non-Democrat, non-Republican Christian man for coffee to discuss what it’s like to run for office as an independent and offer tips and support. Met up with a bunch of my heroes at Labor Fest downtown.
Sunday 9/6: Drove to Lafayette to canvass for Ben Davis. Weekly newsletter and video. Picked up groceries to bring to a tenants’ association Labor Day cookout at Minnie Hartman.
Monday 9/7: Cleaned up the house a bit. Labor Day cookout at Minnie Hartman. Went to my mother-in-law’s for a family cookout.
Tuesday 9/8: Chatted with a tenant organizer from Richmond to discuss the ways that city government could assist in organizing and winning demands for tenants. Worked on a long-stalled painting project in the front room of my house. Central Committee meeting.
Wednesday 9/9: Coffee with comrades. Paid my respects at my friend Vernon Compton’s funeral. Got coffee with a longterm lefty Dem who is refusing to vote for Bayh and shares many of my concerns about the future of the party. Did research to prepare for the Public Safety Committee meeting. Attended the protest for Dalys Jett and sat for over four hours unpaid as a guest Councilor at the despicably awful Public Safety Committee meeting.
Thursday 9/10: Tried to have coffee with a Zionist that had asked me to meet; she no-call, no-showed to the meeting she scheduled and confirmed, and has never followed up! Missed several other meetings as I was deeply shaken by the public safety committee meeting the night before and wanted to work with community on next steps. Parks and Rec committee budget hearing.
Friday 9/11: Therapy. Physical therapy. Afternoon hangout and nap with my wife in lieu of date night this week. Attended the IEDI virtual community meeting about the Sabey data center tax breaks.
Saturday 9/12: Caught up on some personal errands and household chores from the week. Played a role-playing game (MOTHERSHIP) at a friend’s house.
Sunday 9/13: Newsletter and video! Laundry. Prep for the full Council meeting.
Monday 9/14: Met with a young activist to encourage her to consider getting involved in running for office. Internship meeting. Wrote some letters of support for variances and rezone requests. Had a support/mentorship call with Ben Davis. Full Council meeting.
Tuesday 9/15: Met with a friend who considers himself a Zionist for coffee to discuss where we agree and disagree on that issue. IMPD downtown district status call. Toured the Volumod facility with a few other Indy Community Land Trust board members. Chatted with the founder of the Parking Reform Network with my colleague Nick Roberts to discuss our parking minimum abolition proposal. Got coffee with a pissed-off wetlands scientist to discuss how our regulatory framework is failing in Indiana. Education Committee budget hearing. Little Flower Neighborhood Association meeting to discuss the proposed gas station at 16th and Emerson.
Wednesday 9/16: Slept in a bit after a long day. Took the bus to the jail to observe a pre-trial diversion docket for a problem solving court to better understand what the State just defunded. Continued working with the constituent dealing with regulations. Municipal Corporations Committee budget hearing.
Thursday 9/17: Felt under the weather and took it a bit easy. Ate some cinnamon rolls from a tube. (To this day I am terrified of the way they pop when you press a spoon to the seal). Did some cooking and housework.
Friday 9/18: Therapy. Physical therapy. Took a walk with my wife and my genius friend Will. Met with a few friends to design digital ads for Ben Davis. Took the bus to and from the live Black Briefing show at P30 about the Dalys Jett case, the travesty of a Public Safety Committee meeting, and Indianapolis leadership generally.
Saturday 9/19: Caught up on some correspondence, listening to committee meetings for committees on which I don’t serve, did some laundry, and raised some money for Ben Davis.
Sunday 9/20: Weekly newsletter and video. More committee meeting catchup. Raised money for Ben. TV night with my wife.
Monday 9/21: Met with a young man interested in running for office to give him tips and advice. Cleaned my office (badly needed it). Metropolitan Economic Development Committee budget hearing.
Tuesday 9/22: Met with a constituent who will be our next Attorney General for coffee. Walked with a constituent and a Parks Department leader to address a tragic site of dumping in Brookside Park. Personal finances meeting. NESCO board meeting. Central Committee meeting. Videogames with friends in the evening.
Wednesday 9/23: Coffee with Comrades. Met with leaders from BNS and ALJ John Krause to discuss how we could better handle illegal dumping issues across the city. Met with a constituent to discuss politics generally and his proposed recording studio in an old church specifically. Met with Jay Mateti, currently running for County Council in Johnson County, to share advice and give support. Municipal Corporations Committee budget hearing.
Thursday 9/24: Caught up on correspondence. Moved the painting project along a bit. Met with leaders from Love, Broad Ripple to discuss an awesome alley activation and beautification project they’re working on. Hung out unexpectedly with the legendary Michael Zarick, who appears by magic wherever third spaces are mentioned. Met with an attorney leading the fight against data centers and big tech surveillance across the country via Local Progress. NESCO Environmental town hall.
Friday 9/25: Chatted with a few journalists about ongoing city issues. Discussed legal options for suing over violation of municipal code due to refusal to introduce the TRUST Act. Caught up on constituent voicemails, texts, social media DMs. (Please please just email me!)
Saturday 9/26: Met with a constituent having issues with the new IFD station and a fence in her back yard to try to find a mutually agreeable path forward. Party business call. Chatted with the Council attorney to get and provide clarification on some unintended friction and frustration. Date night: Garfield Park’s art and music fest.
Sunday 9/27: Mentorship / planning meeting with Ben. Recorded the What’s Your Job gameshow video with friends (and don’t worry, we recorded enough for many more episodes). Edited and created the music for that video. TV night with the wife.
Monday 9/28: Chatted with an attorney about an issue his client (my constituent) is working on with parking availability due to the City changing a road format and a nearby developer removing a previous access point for parking behind the house. Internship chat. Therapy. Drove to Muncie and spoke on a panel about data centers. Got a chance to see a few of my favorite Muncie heroes (Jackson and Julian).
Tuesday 9/29: IMPD Downtown District status call. Physical therapy. Funeral mass for my godson’s grandfather. Meeting with BNS leaders about holding contractors and utilities accountable, especially for their right-of-way work. Chatted on the phone with a candidate for Ali Brown’s Council seat. Metropolitan Economic Development Committee budget meeting.
Wednesday 9/30: Met with Chelsea Haring-Cozzi from CHIP to talk about Streets to Home, homelessness policy more broadly, and how I can avoid shooting the messenger in my desire to move faster. Therapy. Met with a group of artists at the Stutz to talk about arts funding in Indianapolis and provide recommendations. Public Safety Committee review and analysis meeting. Watched some TV while folding laundry.
As a reminder, I send these updates about how I spend my time to you because you pay my salary. I appreciate any and all feedback you have! What am I not doing enough of? What do you want to see more focus on? How can I better serve you?