Meet the candidate for City-County Council District 10

One candidate is running unopposed for Indianapolis City-County Council District 10: Democratic incumbent Alison “Ali” Brown.  

Brown, 38, is a current City-County Councilor, having represented the Lawrence area for the past four years.   

Brown is the Executive Director of the Propylaeum Historic Foundation, Inc. and founder of the Indy Autism Project. 

The Indianapolis Recorder and WFYI sent Brown six questions to help voters learn more. Brown’s responses to the survey are below.   

Editors’ note: Responses were edited for style and grammar, and any numbers used were checked for accuracy. When a statement required more clarification or could not be independently verified, WFYI and the Indianapolis Recorder reached out to candidates before publication. Those instances, and those candidate responses, are noted throughout in editors’ notes, marked by an * and presented in italics.

Early voting opened Oct. 11. Election Day is Nov. 7. 

ALISON “ALI” BROWN

What are the top concerns that your district’s constituents have shared with you, and what are the issues that you foresee affecting them most in the next 2-3 years?

It has been an honor to serve the Lawrence area for the past four years, and I look forward to doing so again. The issues remain similar to those of four years ago, public safety, good paying jobs and inclusive economic growth that lifts up every part of our community. We have worked hard on these issues including adding more unarmed public safety officers to aid with nonviolent emergencies, prioritizing community based anti violence programs that can help eliminate the friction that can lead to violence. We have also focused on good paying jobs – I will not approve or pass a tax break for a business that does not pay a living wage. We will continue to grow, but we must do it responsibly and in a way that works best for our current residents.

Affordable housing is a major issue in Indianapolis. What measures should the council take to address this?

As one of the very few renters who serves on the Indianapolis Council, I feel this issue personally. Our rent has increased every year, but salaries have not kept up with that increase. We must increase the number of affordable units below market rate on all projects seeking tax breaks from the city, lobby the state to crack down on predatory home buyers, and protect our vulnerable homeowners from out of state groups trying to purchase their homes. We must take a proactive role in this issue.

What is your top concern regarding public safety in Indianapolis? What steps will you take as a council member to address it?

We need to ensure that police officers are not asked to do things that they are not trained to do and have the proper resources to do their jobs. I have worked hard with the administration to build out a fourth branch of public safety focusing on mental health emergencies. We need qualified people to do the jobs they are hired to do, that will keep our city safe.

What specific steps will you take to address environmental concerns in your district that affect your constituents’ quality of life and life expectancy?

I am very lucky to have a state park in my district. 

What specific steps will you take to connect minority-owned businesses in Indianapolis with contracts for city projects? How else will you support growth opportunities for minority-owned businesses?

I am proud to sit on both Metro and Municorps committees that address this issue along with being sponsor on the resolution that requires certain levels of XBE participation. We have put in requirements for all city subsidized or tax break receiving projects. We are holding developers accountable, but we also need to grow minority-owned businesses by fostering growth and connections. 

What would you like to see happen for K-12 education in Indianapolis, and how would you work as a city-county councilor to achieve that? 

I wish the City-County Council had more oversight over K12 education, however we barely have any. I am a champion for public schools. They should be fully funded because they are supposed to be a guarantee to our children that they will have a good shot in life. Our schools are being woefully underfunded by the State, being targeted by out of state entities that want to create for profit schools and steal our taxpayer dollars, and our teachers are being made into boogeymen by talking heads that want to deny history and destroy our libraries. I will continue to stand up for teachers and public schools in every way I can.