Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard passed up an invitation from President Barack Obama to go to the White House last Friday so he could practice his second State of the City speech. He should’ve gone to Washington instead.
State of the City (SOTC) speeches started as the highlight of Indianapolis Rotary Club luncheons. Then Steve Goldsmith and Bart Peterson gave their SOTC speeches at different locations. Those speeches, mostly weekday evenings, were roughly half hour recitations of what they’d accomplished and what they’d do in the coming year.
Mayor Ballard’s 2009 SOTC broke several traditions and precedents.
It was the first on a weekend afternoon. More convenient for some, but poor for garnering maximum media coverage.
It missed some basic touches, including the lack of an invocation and Pledge of Allegiance.
Ballard gave the longest State of the City speech ever; twenty-three double-spaced pages, taking nearly 45 minutes to deliver. The mayor’s public speaking style improved. He got professional coaching and used a TelePrompTer for the first time. As an oratorical pro, I give the mayor a “B” for improved presentation. But his actual speech gets a gentleman’s “D.”
The Mayor has been roundly knocked for lacking a vision for Indianapolis. In his speech he tried to outline one, saying that he’s “working now to make Indianapolis America’s most livable big city.”
Well, for African-Americans, Indianapolis is far from being Ballard’s “livable” city.
The mayor claimed credit for creating scores of jobs. But today, Black unemployment is in the 13-15 percent range and growing.
The mayor cited stats showing crime decreasing. Yet crime is steady or growing in many Black neighborhoods, inner and outer city. Ballard’s policy of refusing to make race a factor in police hiring and promotions makes Indy a less livable city for minorities.
Because the speech was at a charter school (Cristel House Academy) 10.5 percent of the speech bragged about charters, while ignoring the city/county’s other public school accomplishments.
Having livable neighborhoods is a major concern of our African-American community. But Ballard just devoted more of his speech to the environment (6 percent) than to neighborhoods (4 percent). He said virtually nothing about stabilizing neighborhoods suffering from increasing numbers of foreclosed and abandoned homes.
Major topics of deep concern to Blacks got short shift in Ballard’s speech. Minority business efforts just 13 words, and Ballard’s ex-offender employment efforts just 58 words in a 5,555-word speech.
A livable city? Indianapolis? Tell that to Black-majority neighborhoods where sidewalks are broken or non-existent. Streets in third world countries are in better shape than Indy’s streets. Our major streets are dark because streetlights don’t work. Indianapolis looks more dirty and dingy than ever. There’s even unsightly graffiti downtown that’s not cleaned away.
In his speech, Mayor Ballard said “Indianapolis is on the cusp of a potential fiscal crisis unlike any in our lifetime” and that “we face what threatens to become a budget crisis this year.”
Ballard still refuses to be open with Indianapolis about the coming fiscal train wreck, remaining silent on how we’ll solve the Capital Improvement Board funding crisis or explaining the coming draconian cuts in city/county services.
Ballard’s brood knows what’s coming. Two of his top aides admitted after the speech that the coming property tax caps will effectively choke off revenue to local government. “It will cripple townships’ ability to handle fire and ambulance service,” they warned me. What they didn’t say is that the caps will also cripple city/county government services.
Instead of pressing neighborhood and infrastructure needs, Ballard wants to use stimulus money on frills — millions fixing up Monument Circle and building more artsy bike trails.
Instead of confronting our crises, the mayor’s got a new committee to advise him on turning city land and assets into cash. A committee that includes George W. Bush’s former top economic advisor. That won’t inspire confidence in our community.
Mayor Ballard says “the state of our city is strong.” For nearly a third of our city it isn’t. And until the mayor understands and recognizes that, we’ll never be the livable city he and all of us desires!
What I’m Hearing in the Streets
It was a bad week for the Daniels/Kernan/Shepard forces as their agenda was shredded in the Republican dominated state senate.
Mayor Ballard’s UniGov 2.0 scheme was decimated in a Senate committee after arguments that fully merging city/county fire departments would drastically reduce the percentage of Black and minority firefighters.
Oh, the hypocrisy of those demanding government reform. It’s good to eliminate townships and county elected officials, but bad to have a one-year state budget.
Ask any company CEO to project a two-year budget in these perilous economic times and they’ll say you’re crazy. So why does Governor Daniels and GOP lawmakers cling to normal budgeting in abnormal times.
State Representative Bill Crawford’s one-year budget plan makes fiscal sense in these insane fiscal times.
It’s not just opposition to his plans from Democrats and the Black community that Mayor Ballard must worry about. He now faces growing opposition in his own party.
The defection of City-County Councilman Ed Coleman to the Libertarian Party should shake Ballard. As should the Council’s two Black Republicans, especially Councilwoman Barbara Malone, increasingly voting with the Democratic minority.
Coleman’s defection gives the GOP a narrow two-vote margin. Ballard could be faced with a council narrowly aligned against him.
See ‘ya next week!
Amos Brown’s opinions are not necessarily those of the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. You can contact him at (317) 221-0915 or by e-mail at ACBROWN@AOL.COM.
