July 28, 2025 • 10 mins
Ethan Hatcher joins the show to talk about the "tent city" that has popped up in Foutain Square. Catch Ethan on Saturday's Saturday Night on the Circle
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, My name is Nigel Jason Hammer right over there
with a very special in studio guests.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
He is the host of Saturday Night on the Circle
here at ninety three WIBC, and he's kind of our
Fountain Square correspondent Ethan Hatcher joins us. Now there may
be somebody listening for the first time here, Ethan. Our
show grows every day, the station grows every day. Remind
everybody what's going on on your side of town. Fountain
(00:29):
Square with the homeless.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Fountain Square has been going downhill for a while now.
Right there on Leonard Street off of Virginia Avenue, we've
got what's essentially Indianapolis skid row going on. I mean,
I'm talking about dozens of tents they've wore down the grass.
It's right off the highway, and most importantly, it's next
to a residential neighborhood, and the neighbors haven't been too
happy about that.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
This looks like something you would see from San Francisco
or La.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yep, right out of Los Angeles, and this.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Is new to the Fountain Square area.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's happened in the last few months from what I
was aware of. I only saw it after it had
been established within the last few weeks. I've done a
few drive by and of course Indie Reporter has done
a fantastic job of covering the development of that.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
That's the demographic, the makeup of these people. Are these
people that don't have the ability to own a home
or maintain a job. Are they mentally ill? I mean,
like I'm asking you to maybe generalize here. Maybe you
shouldn't do that. I don't know, but like, who are
these people?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I don't know all these people personally, but I'm going
to say it's a mix of all of the above.
You've got mental illness, you've got physical disability, you've got
drug abuse, You've got yeah, lots of problems, lots of
problems going on. And it's a mix of everyone. It's men,
it's women, it's black, it's white. I mean, it's a
diversity fest over there.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Now, keep in mind your district, not necessarily you, but
the people that live in Fountain Square. It's a very
left leaning, very super liberal leaning area that voted for
a socialist to be part of the city County council.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, you get what you vote for, for sure.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Okay, So is there any feeling of that is there
any voter remorse, if you will, from the people that
you've talked to in your neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Absolutely not. Of course, they're going to continue to vote
for Democrats. They're dissatisfied with the state of the city,
but they don't want to make the electoral changes to
bring that about to an end.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So what is the representative saying?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Socialist City Council member Jesse Brown says, the reason why
these people aren't availing themselves of the shelters is because
there are too many sexual assaults that are taking place
in these homeless shelters. And when I asked the representative
had maybe any prosecutions resulted from these numerous sexual assaults,
he went radio silence. So I'm going to say probably not.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Okay, So there's a lot to unpacked there. Hold on
one second.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
So Jesse Brown, Socialist member of the City County Council,
has been on the show. We've had him on the
show before, and I've said before I've actually got more
in common with Jesse Brown than I do some of
these other Democrats because at least he hates Joe hawk
Set too. It's the one thing, like I don't have
anything in common with Bob Ostley. I don't have anything
in common with Frank Mascari, but I do with Jesse
(03:14):
Brown Ethan.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Jesse Brown is such an interesting case because he comes
out with these wacky ideas like, oh, well, you can't
put the homeless and homeless shelters because there are too
many sexual assaults. But at the same time he doesn't
want to prosecute these because he believes in bringing about
an end to the police. And then also he does
good work around the neighborhood, like honestly, I attended a
alley cleaning town hall that he hosted just a few
(03:35):
weeks ago, and he is listening to constituent concerns about
the state of the alleyways and trying to make change.
So it's a mixed bag when it comes to the
socialist city council member. He's a strange bird.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
But is he like the what kind of socialist is he?
What's the socialism overseas like Greenland and Sweden?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I mean he's a full on commune to still tell
you that in person, he is a student of Marx.
He believes in bringing about an end to capitalism and
transferring the means of the production, seizing the means of production.
So I mean he's a communist in the classical sense
of the term.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
He seems harmless.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
He's our little Mandammi right from New York City.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
But the reason we're having this conversation is that there
is a story from WISH TV that there are multiple
shelters that have availability. Now some are full, but there
are multiple other shelters that are available for these people
to move into. There's a roof over their head. They're
going to get some sort of meal, a shower, some rehabilitation.
(04:37):
But yet Jesse Brown and the people on skid Row
and Fountain Square, they'd rather stay right where they're at.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
The dirty little secret is that these people, many of them,
I shouldn't say all, but many of them do not
want to follow the rules. Of course, Ryan Hedrick has
been doing good work. He's been interviewing some of these
individuals in the homeless camps. One of them, by the
name of Ashley, swears up and down that it has
nothing to do with drug abuse in the community. That's
just a negative stereotype. But I would bet money if
(05:05):
you offered them shelter at a drugs free offered them
shelter in a drugs free homeless shelter.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Then they wouldn't go, can't follow the rules. Well, now,
the city.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
They put out these little flyers, some of them were
like posted on the actual tents themselves, saying August eleventh
is the deadline. You have to be out of this area,
no more tent city by August eleventh. You lived there,
then the chances of this happening.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Are what probably slim.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
They're going to be half to drug out, kicking and screaming,
if I had to guess, they'll probably move the deadline.
They've offered to store these personal goods for up to
sixty days to facilitate moving these individuals. The city has, Yes,
the city has up to sixty days to facilitate their
movement away from this encampment. Now, I've also heard tail
but I haven't verified it myself, that a new encampment
(05:56):
may be forming on South Minnesota Street on the ass
end of the International Airport underneath the I four sixty
five overpass.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
So that might be the new area.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And because it's not near a residential part, folks might
leave them alone there.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
All things considered, it might be a workable middle ground
because you're never going to fully eliminate the problem. But
if they're not causing trouble for the community and just
these industrial businesses that surrounded, I guess it's more manageable.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Well, they are causing trouble. There was an article I
saw there was a dead body. Yes, of course there's
ethan they it's it's a violent place. It's it's a
scary place. It's not like like some sort of nineteen
sixty nine hippie sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
It is neither compassionate nor is it safe for these
individuals to be living on the streets. But as long
as it is tolerated by the community, then what are
you going to do?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
And I know we've been talking about you know, your
side of town here, but if you'll go over at
Luger Plaza.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
It's not real clean over there right now either. Now.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
It looked nice when the WNBA All Star Game was
here and whenever there are major conventions in Indie. It's
amazing how the homeless get magically shipped away to various
hotels around Central Indiana. But Luger Plaza doesn't look real
good either.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
All that, Joe Hogg said, is committed to doing to
address the issue right now. Is essentially playing musical chairs
with the homeless community. You had another large encampment that
was right underneath the I sixty five overpass at Washington Street,
next to the Hardy's there on the east side, and
that got cleared out for the All Star game, but
you know where, it moved right around the corner to
the I sixty five on ramp, so literally just yards
(07:44):
away from where they already were, and they set up
another campsite. So we're just playing musical chairs here.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Do you have, man? I have sympathy. I have an
empathy for some of these people, I really do. Do
you living amongst like where you live? Do you have sure?
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Sorry?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Just yeah? I do? I feel sorry for sure, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
But on the same token, there's a reason why they're
on the street. People like to pretend that, oh, you're
just one paycheck away from living on the street yourself,
But that's a damned lie because if something happened to
you Jason, or if something happened to you Nige, you
have friends, you have family, you have people that would
be willing to step up and give you a couch.
And there's a reason why many of these individuals have
(08:30):
had that cut off they have abused the generosity of others.
They have alienated themselves from family, from friends. And this
is the circumstance you find yourself in when you have
severely anti social behavior for a variety of reasons. It
could be drug abuse, it could be mental illness, it
could be a number of things, but it all ends
(08:51):
up in the same place.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
And whether it's.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Luger Plaza or whether it's over at Fountain Square, these
tent areas or encampments, whatever you want to call them,
there are places that are hiring nearby. Right, how many
times have we seen somebody with a sign hungry help
me camping out outside of a business that's got a
help wanted sign in the window.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Well there again. One of the interviews that Ryan Hendrick
here had done with a member of the homeless community,
I believe her name was Tanya, said that as soon
as these individuals turn in an application, when the employer
sees that they don't have a stable address or there's
no address, then the application just goes stable circular file.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
But you can do that if you go to the
mission or you go to one of these places that
try to help you. Right, I'm sure if you are
a homeless person and you go to the wheeler mission
and go, this is.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
My last resort. I'm at rock bottom. I'm on skid
row right now.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Can you help me get a shower, get a suit,
and try to have a po box for a job.
They would help you in a heartbeat.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
For the individuals that want it, there is definitely opportunity
for a hand up, But the reality you want it
well situation is that most of them don't, and that's
why they're there.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
What's coming up on your show this weekend.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
We're gonna be talking about the news, talking about apparently
the CEO of Astronomer is now trying to sue Coldplay
for for that on the jumbo trunk.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
There is that is real.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
He would he would have more success if he tried
to sue Astronomer for wrongful termination. Now he was dating
the HR girl, so I doubt that would go anywhere either,
but I feel he probably got a strong Does.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Astronomer bring in Gwyneth Paltrow to be their spokeswoman?
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Yeah? Because I think that's brilliant.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah, because that's the exit the cold Play lead singer,
right right.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
They are taking advantage of earned media attention, right, now
where can we follow you at? You can follow me
on my Twitter at Ethan Hatcher E t h A
n h A t c h E R. And you
can listen to me filling in this Thursday on The
Kendall and Casey Show from nine to noon.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Ethan, thanks man, Thank you, buddy,
Hello, My name is Nigel Jason Hammer right over there
with a very special in studio guests.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
He is the host of Saturday Night on the Circle
here at ninety three WIBC, and he's kind of our
Fountain Square correspondent Ethan Hatcher joins us. Now there may
be somebody listening for the first time here, Ethan. Our
show grows every day, the station grows every day. Remind
everybody what's going on on your side of town. Fountain
(00:29):
Square with the homeless.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
Fountain Square has been going downhill for a while now.
Right there on Leonard Street off of Virginia Avenue, we've
got what's essentially Indianapolis skid row going on. I mean,
I'm talking about dozens of tents they've wore down the grass.
It's right off the highway, and most importantly, it's next
to a residential neighborhood, and the neighbors haven't been too
happy about that.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
This looks like something you would see from San Francisco
or La.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yep, right out of Los Angeles, and this.
Speaker 4 (00:59):
Is new to the Fountain Square area.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
It's happened in the last few months from what I
was aware of. I only saw it after it had
been established within the last few weeks. I've done a
few drive by and of course Indie Reporter has done
a fantastic job of covering the development of that.
Speaker 1 (01:14):
That's the demographic, the makeup of these people. Are these
people that don't have the ability to own a home
or maintain a job. Are they mentally ill? I mean,
like I'm asking you to maybe generalize here. Maybe you
shouldn't do that. I don't know, but like, who are
these people?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
I don't know all these people personally, but I'm going
to say it's a mix of all of the above.
You've got mental illness, you've got physical disability, you've got
drug abuse, You've got yeah, lots of problems, lots of
problems going on. And it's a mix of everyone. It's men,
it's women, it's black, it's white. I mean, it's a
diversity fest over there.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Now, keep in mind your district, not necessarily you, but
the people that live in Fountain Square. It's a very
left leaning, very super liberal leaning area that voted for
a socialist to be part of the city County council.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yeah, you get what you vote for, for sure.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
Okay, So is there any feeling of that is there
any voter remorse, if you will, from the people that
you've talked to in your neighborhood.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Absolutely not. Of course, they're going to continue to vote
for Democrats. They're dissatisfied with the state of the city,
but they don't want to make the electoral changes to
bring that about to an end.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
So what is the representative saying?
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Socialist City Council member Jesse Brown says, the reason why
these people aren't availing themselves of the shelters is because
there are too many sexual assaults that are taking place
in these homeless shelters. And when I asked the representative
had maybe any prosecutions resulted from these numerous sexual assaults,
he went radio silence. So I'm going to say probably not.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
Okay, So there's a lot to unpacked there. Hold on
one second.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
So Jesse Brown, Socialist member of the City County Council,
has been on the show. We've had him on the
show before, and I've said before I've actually got more
in common with Jesse Brown than I do some of
these other Democrats because at least he hates Joe hawk
Set too. It's the one thing, like I don't have
anything in common with Bob Ostley. I don't have anything
in common with Frank Mascari, but I do with Jesse
(03:14):
Brown Ethan.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Jesse Brown is such an interesting case because he comes
out with these wacky ideas like, oh, well, you can't
put the homeless and homeless shelters because there are too
many sexual assaults. But at the same time he doesn't
want to prosecute these because he believes in bringing about
an end to the police. And then also he does
good work around the neighborhood, like honestly, I attended a
alley cleaning town hall that he hosted just a few
(03:35):
weeks ago, and he is listening to constituent concerns about
the state of the alleyways and trying to make change.
So it's a mixed bag when it comes to the
socialist city council member. He's a strange bird.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
But is he like the what kind of socialist is he?
What's the socialism overseas like Greenland and Sweden?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I mean he's a full on commune to still tell
you that in person, he is a student of Marx.
He believes in bringing about an end to capitalism and
transferring the means of the production, seizing the means of production.
So I mean he's a communist in the classical sense
of the term.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
He seems harmless.
Speaker 4 (04:13):
He's our little Mandammi right from New York City.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
But the reason we're having this conversation is that there
is a story from WISH TV that there are multiple
shelters that have availability. Now some are full, but there
are multiple other shelters that are available for these people
to move into. There's a roof over their head. They're
going to get some sort of meal, a shower, some rehabilitation.
(04:37):
But yet Jesse Brown and the people on skid Row
and Fountain Square, they'd rather stay right where they're at.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
The dirty little secret is that these people, many of them,
I shouldn't say all, but many of them do not
want to follow the rules. Of course, Ryan Hedrick has
been doing good work. He's been interviewing some of these
individuals in the homeless camps. One of them, by the
name of Ashley, swears up and down that it has
nothing to do with drug abuse in the community. That's
just a negative stereotype. But I would bet money if
(05:05):
you offered them shelter at a drugs free offered them
shelter in a drugs free homeless shelter.
Speaker 1 (05:10):
Then they wouldn't go, can't follow the rules. Well, now,
the city.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
They put out these little flyers, some of them were
like posted on the actual tents themselves, saying August eleventh
is the deadline. You have to be out of this area,
no more tent city by August eleventh. You lived there,
then the chances of this happening.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
Are what probably slim.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
They're going to be half to drug out, kicking and screaming,
if I had to guess, they'll probably move the deadline.
They've offered to store these personal goods for up to
sixty days to facilitate moving these individuals. The city has, Yes,
the city has up to sixty days to facilitate their
movement away from this encampment. Now, I've also heard tail
but I haven't verified it myself, that a new encampment
(05:56):
may be forming on South Minnesota Street on the ass
end of the International Airport underneath the I four sixty
five overpass.
Speaker 4 (06:03):
So that might be the new area.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
And because it's not near a residential part, folks might
leave them alone there.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
All things considered, it might be a workable middle ground
because you're never going to fully eliminate the problem. But
if they're not causing trouble for the community and just
these industrial businesses that surrounded, I guess it's more manageable.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Well, they are causing trouble. There was an article I
saw there was a dead body. Yes, of course there's
ethan they it's it's a violent place. It's it's a
scary place. It's not like like some sort of nineteen
sixty nine hippie sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (06:44):
It is neither compassionate nor is it safe for these
individuals to be living on the streets. But as long
as it is tolerated by the community, then what are
you going to do?
Speaker 2 (06:55):
And I know we've been talking about you know, your
side of town here, but if you'll go over at
Luger Plaza.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
It's not real clean over there right now either. Now.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
It looked nice when the WNBA All Star Game was
here and whenever there are major conventions in Indie. It's
amazing how the homeless get magically shipped away to various
hotels around Central Indiana. But Luger Plaza doesn't look real
good either.
Speaker 3 (07:21):
All that, Joe Hogg said, is committed to doing to
address the issue right now. Is essentially playing musical chairs
with the homeless community. You had another large encampment that
was right underneath the I sixty five overpass at Washington Street,
next to the Hardy's there on the east side, and
that got cleared out for the All Star game, but
you know where, it moved right around the corner to
the I sixty five on ramp, so literally just yards
(07:44):
away from where they already were, and they set up
another campsite. So we're just playing musical chairs here.
Speaker 1 (07:49):
Do you have, man? I have sympathy. I have an
empathy for some of these people, I really do. Do
you living amongst like where you live? Do you have sure?
Speaker 4 (08:04):
Sorry?
Speaker 1 (08:04):
Just yeah? I do? I feel sorry for sure, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (08:08):
But on the same token, there's a reason why they're
on the street. People like to pretend that, oh, you're
just one paycheck away from living on the street yourself,
But that's a damned lie because if something happened to
you Jason, or if something happened to you Nige, you
have friends, you have family, you have people that would
be willing to step up and give you a couch.
And there's a reason why many of these individuals have
(08:30):
had that cut off they have abused the generosity of others.
They have alienated themselves from family, from friends. And this
is the circumstance you find yourself in when you have
severely anti social behavior for a variety of reasons. It
could be drug abuse, it could be mental illness, it
could be a number of things, but it all ends
(08:51):
up in the same place.
Speaker 4 (08:52):
And whether it's.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Luger Plaza or whether it's over at Fountain Square, these
tent areas or encampments, whatever you want to call them,
there are places that are hiring nearby. Right, how many
times have we seen somebody with a sign hungry help
me camping out outside of a business that's got a
help wanted sign in the window.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
Well there again. One of the interviews that Ryan Hendrick
here had done with a member of the homeless community,
I believe her name was Tanya, said that as soon
as these individuals turn in an application, when the employer
sees that they don't have a stable address or there's
no address, then the application just goes stable circular file.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
But you can do that if you go to the
mission or you go to one of these places that
try to help you. Right, I'm sure if you are
a homeless person and you go to the wheeler mission
and go, this is.
Speaker 4 (09:41):
My last resort. I'm at rock bottom. I'm on skid
row right now.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
Can you help me get a shower, get a suit,
and try to have a po box for a job.
They would help you in a heartbeat.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
For the individuals that want it, there is definitely opportunity
for a hand up, But the reality you want it
well situation is that most of them don't, and that's
why they're there.
Speaker 1 (10:03):
What's coming up on your show this weekend.
Speaker 3 (10:06):
We're gonna be talking about the news, talking about apparently
the CEO of Astronomer is now trying to sue Coldplay
for for that on the jumbo trunk.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
There is that is real.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
He would he would have more success if he tried
to sue Astronomer for wrongful termination. Now he was dating
the HR girl, so I doubt that would go anywhere either,
but I feel he probably got a strong Does.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
Astronomer bring in Gwyneth Paltrow to be their spokeswoman?
Speaker 4 (10:36):
Yeah? Because I think that's brilliant.
Speaker 2 (10:37):
Yeah, because that's the exit the cold Play lead singer,
right right.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
They are taking advantage of earned media attention, right, now
where can we follow you at? You can follow me
on my Twitter at Ethan Hatcher E t h A
n h A t c h E R. And you
can listen to me filling in this Thursday on The
Kendall and Casey Show from nine to noon.
Speaker 4 (10:55):
Ethan, thanks man, Thank you, buddy,
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