Indiana

Wynns of Change

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

Indianapolis Parks Director Joe Wynns is stepping down.  Wynns tended his resignation yesterday and his last day will be September 12.  In an interview Wynns said it was time to move on and had nothing to do with his public criticism of park budget cuts. 

In a public statement the Mayor’s office said, “Joe Wynns has served the citizens of Indianapolis for over 38 years and that kind of service deserves our thanks and our admiration. I thank Joe for his dedicated service and wish him luck in his future endeavors.”

Although Wynns departure appears mutual on the surface, there are also a couple other dynamics going on here.  First, Wynns has always had a loose cannon streak.  I recall a conversation I had with him about enforcing the city’s then ban on sex offenders in city parks.  Wynns said he had no intent of enforcing the ordinance because he didn’t have the manpower.  He later denied he made the statements.  The ban was overturned.

Second, there had always been issues with Wynns’ leaderships in the Parks however, the Ballard administration decided to keep him on.  This was a mistake.  The administration should have let him go and appointed an interim Parks director.  By keeping him around for as long as they did, administration officials have set themselves for charges of being retaliatory (due to Wynns comments on the budget) and, unfortunately, the tired charge of being insensitive to Blacks. 

Speaking of racism, I can already hear the crying from the whining class.  Because of the Mayor’s conflict with the Sheriff over the budget and now the resgination of Wynns, the whning class is going to start stirring up their less-informed constituency and try to stri up trouble.  In the words of Public Enemy, don’t believe the hype.  With the work the administration is doing for ex-offenders, minority business development, tackling crime and abandoned housing, the last thing you can call them is racist.

If the Ballard administration is guilty of something, it’s bad timing.  If Wynns was going to leave, this should have been worked out a long time ago.   But such is change and how it blows.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on August 14, 2008 (boomark / email).