Last week’s State of the City speech by Mayor Greg Ballard accentuated the priorities of Indianapolis’ minority – white middle class and upper class residents of Indianapolis and suburbs; while devaluing the priorities of Indianapolis’ majority – middle and lower income residents and minorities. Plus some outright lies and false information.
The longest segment of the mayor’s 4,004 word, 29- minute speech, one which received the least applause, was Ballard’s continuing quixotic obsession of trying to reduce American dependence on Middle East oil.
The mayor spent 690 words talking about his plan to buy all hybrids, electric and natural gas fueled vehicles for Indianapolis.
In a city with continuing budget woes and 8.9 percent local unemployment, Ballard’s effort on this issue is frankly weird. So is his justification.
In his speech, the mayor said, “Being held hostage to foreign oil means we have less leverage when facing those hostile to our national interests.”
Though Ballard admitted 40 percent of American oil is imported, his speech left the impression that most American oil imports come from the Mideast.
Here’s some facts Ballard left out of his speech from the Federal Energy Information Agency (EIA).
Through November 2012, 52.4 percent of America’s imported oil came from the Americas – Canada, Mexico and Latin America. Another 9.5 percent came from African nations and 6.1 percent from Europe. Only 20.4 percent of America’s imported oil last year came from the Middle East.
So why the mayor’s oil obsession?
Mayor Ballard spent 666 words explaining that we need mass transit, not so much to get Indy residents to the jobs Ballard’s job developers are increasingly luring to Indianapolis’ suburbs. Instead, Mayor Ballard says we need mass transit because 18-34-year-old young professionals say it’s important.
The mayor has no stats to back up that brag!
Violent crime is up 4.4 percent already this year in Indianapolis; with homicides up nearly 30 percent. So what heinous crime did the mayor speak out against? He used 357 words decrying the odious crime of panhandling while ignoring the growing problem of teen boredom which exploded the night after his speech with fights in Castleton.
In January 2009, Mayor Ballard unveiled what he then called UniGov 2.0; a plan for additional consolidation of power to the mayor’s office.
Now, four years later, our mayor is silent as a church mouse about efforts by Republican legislators to curb the power of the Democratic controlled City-County Council by sharply increasing Ballard’s mayoral powers.
The mayor said nothing in his speech about those Republican attempts to radically reshape UniGov; including stripping our right to vote for at-large council persons.
His failure to either endorse or reject these Republican UniGov schemes epitomizes Ballard’s inept leadership.
The mayor spent 640 words trying to explain his deputy mayor for education’s controversial Neighborhoods of Educational Opportunity (NEO) education plan. In his speech he talked about working with community groups and neighborhoods at improving education. But Republican legislators plans to strip the council, read Democrats from any oversight over the mayor’s charter schools negate Ballard’s hollow words of working with groups in our community on education.
Also, the mayor bragged that “82 percent of mayor sponsored charter schools received an A, B or C in the state’s grading model. We don’t have any F graded schools.”
That was a flat lie!
The Excel Center and Damar Academy, mayor sponsored charters, received F grades in Tony Bennett’s discredited grading system. And of the 18 mayor charters earning grades, 13 earned A, B or C grades. That’s 72.2 percent; not 82 percent! Obviously Mayor Ballard’s staff flunked basic math or calculator use.
What I’m hearing
in the streets
Because Indiana is such a partisan political state, very few elected officials have switched parties. And party switches in general by African-American politicians are rarer. That’s why the City-County Councilman Jose Evans’ switch from Democratic to Republican touches a nerve.
Interviewed on our WTLC-AM (1310) “Afternoons with Amos” program, a nervous Evans wouldn’t explicitly say why he made the switch; but in the same breath talked about a “lack of respect” from Democrats.
It’s no secret that Evans was miffed that he didn’t get better party support in his effort to run for mayor in 2011. But in recent months, there was a perception (and perhaps a reality) among Democratic politicians and officials that Evans had been playing footsie with Republicans for some time. That Republicans’ had targeted him as a candidate to switch, preying upon Evans’ vanity, insecurity and sense of self-importance.
Privately, I talked to many Democrats last week – Blacks and whites, elected officials and activists. All told me, “Glad he’s (Jose) gone!”
Local Republican officials portrayed Evans’ switch as evidence of the party’s new commitment to reach out to Blacks and Hispanics in Indianapolis. Jose did his part playing up his Hispanic heritage as much as his Black heritage in our interview.
But Republicans blew it by their continued disrespectful treatment of Black media; failing to provide a heads-up of Evans’ switch to Indy’s Black newspapers and electronic media.
Usually when whites really think it’s important to tell our Black community something, they’ll go out of their way to alert Black media. Instead local Republican press operatives informed bloggers of the news; while cutting out Black media.
Note: Indianapolis NAACP President Crystal Radcliffe tells me the NAACP hasn’t endorsed nor OKd the mayor’s NEO education plan. Correction noted and made.
See ‘ya next week.
You can email comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
