Hope Russu is the Mayor’s Neighborhood Advocate assigned to HMP. As the HMP Neighborhood Advocate for HMP, Hope attends most Board meetings and offers helpful information.
According the City of Indianapolis’s website, a Neighborhood Advocate is the city’s attempt to reach out to neighborhoods, community groups and businesses across Indianapolis. Some may remember them by their previous title of Township Administrators and Neighborhood Liaisons. The primary responsibility of the Neighborhood Advocate is to act as a bridge between citizens and city government and providing a communication link between neighborhoods and the city. The city outlines the types of services provided by the Neighborhood Advocate as:
Neighborhood Assistance:
- Assistance in establishing new neighborhood organizations.
- Bring community groups together which may benefit from combining forces in addressing common issues.
- Attend community meetings to hear citizen and business concerns first hand and address them with the appropriate government officials.
- Educate the public on zoning ordinance interpretation and land use issues and how they can participate in the zoning process.
- Provide the general public with applicable zoning ordinances, re-zoning variance procedures and information about permitting issues.
Business Assistance
- Attend community meetings to hear citizen and business concerns first hand and address them with the appropriate government officials.
- Educate the public on zoning ordinance interpretation and land use issues and how they can participate in the zoning process.
- Provide businesses with applicable zoning ordinances, re-zoning variance procedures and information about permitting issues.
- Assist merchants in business expansion or relocation of operations focusing on the economic needs of the community.
- Assist in locating vacant properties and buildings.
As the HMP Neighborhood Advocate, Hope Russu can be contacted at the Mapleton-Fall Creek Development Corporation located at 3190 N. Meridian daily from 2:00 to 4:00 PM. She may also be reached by phone at 317.327.5115, cell at 317.429.7806, or email at Hope.Russu@indy.gov.