INDIANAPOLIS— For the first time, Mayor Joe Hogsett is responding to a WRTV Investigation into what some call “forgotten parks” in Indianapolis.
Our investigation, which aired last month, showed you high weeds, trash, and broken playground equipment at some Indy Parks.
WRTV received a huge response and taxpayers made it clear that they want to hear from Mayor Joe Hogsett on the issue.
For a month, we’ve been asking the mayor’s office to speak with Joe Hogsett about the condition of our parks.
His office would not set up an interview, so WRTV Investigates Kara Kenney showed up to a public event on October 9.
- WRTV Investigates: We want to talk to you about Indy Parks. We recently aired an investigation where we found some parks in disrepair. Is that acceptable to you as the mayor?
- Mayor Hogsett: No, of course it’s not. We always work very diligently to improve the park experience for our kids, for our kids. We have 216 parks which is a lot to maintain over a pretty wide geographic area.
- WRTV Investigates: Are parks a priority for the city?
- Mayor Hogsett: Absolutely.
A retired 16-year Indy Parks employee, Pete Wenzel, says the mayor needs to do something.
“Until Mayor Hogsett decides to make a change, we will continue to see parks like this,” said Wenzel. “This is years of neglect we are seeing here.”
WRTV met Wenzel on the city’s west side at Ridenour Park— a park plagued with high weeds, graffiti, trash, a bent sign, and a burned trash can.
“This is an embarrassment. This is years of neglect we are seeing here,” said Wenzel. “Parks are not a priority for the people of Indianapolis.”
Wenzel, who retired from the city in 2022, continues to document the condition of Indy Parks.
He’s taken hundreds of photos.
In fact, before he retired in October 2022 he sent 21 Power Point presentations and a memo to Indy Parks leadership including Director Phyllis Boyd, Deputy Director Don Colvin and CFO Angie Clark.
READ HIS MEMO BELOW:
“Several of our parks are in rough shape, unacceptably bad in many cases,” Wenzel wrote in his October 2022 memo. “Folks, our kids deserve better.”
One of his Power Point presentations showed concern about Bowman Park on the city’s west side and its bullet-riddled sign.
Despite Wenzel’s pleas for help, Wenzel says not much has changed.
WRTV Investigates met Wenzel at Bowman Park.
“I see a sign with bullet holes in it, and that was the exact same photo I took two years ago,” said Wenzel. “I feel bad for the kids coming to this park. It screams the city doesn’t care.”
Currently, Indy Parks & Recreation can address things like broken playground equipment and bathrooms.
But another city agency, the Indianapolis Department of Public Works (DPW), is responsible for trash, mowing and weed removal.
DPW does some of the work themselves, but it also contracts with 5 companies to do the work.
WRTV Investigates filed a records request and learned the city paid the 5 contractors $641,288 in 2023.
Ridenour Park is DPW’s responsibility, not a contractor’s park to maintain.
Wenzel said the condition of Ridenour Park highlights how the city’s maintenance structure is broken.
“The city has divided up the maintenance of parks into so many small areas that it really doesn't get the attention that it needs,” said Wenzel. “It's just a maze of management that really goes to no one person and that's the biggest problem. The face of Indy Parks maintenance is nobody."
Even though Wenzel was a contract manager at Indy Parks, he said he was powerless to change how the city structures maintenance.
He’s urging the mayor to create an administrator of parks maintenance.
The city is investing a historic $142 million in parks over several years, thanks to funding from:
PREVIOUS | City using $80M Lilly Endowment Grant for parks
Dozens of parks are on the list to be renovated, including a new playground for Ridenour Park.
A spokesperson for Indy Parks says Bowman doesn’t have planned improvements under the Lilly Endowment Grant, but they are looking at options for future improvements there.
But Wenzel said renovation can’t be the only solution.
“Their periodic maintenance is to let parks get to such a terrible condition that they can't maintain them and they have to renovate them,” said Wenzel. “It’s a horrible use of taxpayer dollars.”
WRTV Investigates shared Wenzel’s concerns with Mayor Joe Hogsett.
- WRTV Investigates: Some say the city has wasted taxpayer money by allowing parks to fall into disrepair to the point that they have to be renovated. What’s your response to that?
- Mayor Hogsett: Well, upkeep is always necessary. If you allow things to stand alone, they’re going to show their age and they’re going to show wear and tear. They should. We want them to be utilized by people. But that does not excuse the city from doing everything within its fiscal power to make sure the parks are maintained appropriately, and we take that very seriously.
- WRTV Investigates: Did that memo or those Power Points ever make it to your office?
- Mayor Hogsett: They didn't make it to my office. I do on frequent occasion meet with parks senior staff and that will be a question I will ask.
An Indy Parks spokesperson said Wenzel’s presentations “helped inform Parks leadership on what needed to be improved in discussions with DPW, Councilors, the Mayor and other stakeholders.”
The budget for Indy Parks has increased substantially over the last decade.
In 2015, the parks budget was $17 million and in 2021 it was $39.6 million.
The Indianapolis City County Council just approved a 16 percent budget increase for Indy Parks, bringing them from $45 million in 2024 to $53.8 million in 2025.
“The parks budget passed which will include additional project manager positions for the specific purpose of construction and maintenance,” said Hogsett. “Perhaps we have not prioritized those areas as much as they should be. But we have acknowledged that and are moving to remedy the situation."
Hogsett said he’s willing to look at restructuring park maintenance including the creation of an administrator position to oversee it.
“I’m certainly open to any better, newer, more efficient ideas,” said Hogsett. “I’d be happy to sit down with (Wenzel) to talk about some of the experiences that he’s specifically referencing.”
Wenzel said he has not yet heard from the mayor.
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Please send us pictures and questions about your local parks to Kara.Kenney@wrtv.com.
