Eleven weeks after the dawn of the second Ballard administration, America’s 11th largest city is in a cash crisis.
All during last year’s mayor’s race, Mayor Greg Ballard, in his ads and through campaign surrogates, repeatedly declared that Indianapolis had had four years of “honestly balanced budgets.”
A Republican-majority City-County Council approved Ballard’s fourth “honestly balanced budget” back in October; proclaiming that the city could meet its obligations.
Now, 75 days after that budget took effect, two of the mayor’s top aides publicly declared those rosy advertising slogans to be – I won’t mince words – a boldfaced lie!
City Controller Jeffrey Spaulding told local TV stations that Indianapolis could run a deficit in the range of $50 to $75 million just for this year.
Public Safety Director Frank Straub told a meeting last week of the Criminal Justice Planning Council that, “We’ll be turning off the lights and electricity at our districts, probably by the end of the month. We’ll be cutting services pretty drastically when we shut down our districts.”
Marion County Sheriff John Layton was the only city official to speak with Black media about the looming fiscal crisis. Speaking on our WTLC-AM (1310) “Afternoons with Amos,” Layton said the Ballard administration arbitrarily cut nearly $15 million from the sheriff’s budget.
The mayor and his minions have forced city/county departments run by Democrats to bear the brunt of the so-called fiscal crisis.
During the 2012 budget process, Mayor Ballard and Controller Spaulding put the squeeze so bad on Democratic run county agencies that the prosecutor, clerk, auditor and assessor, along with the sheriff, publicly cried foul; accusing the mayor of deliberately cash starving their agencies.
Meanwhile, spending in the Department of Public Safety has escalated beyond all reason. From a public safety leadership team that used to number just two; employment has skyrocketed with scores of high ranking and highly paid staffers, costing millions.
At the same time, the city has borrowed from special taxing districts to fund two private development projects, one at the old Bush Stadium, the other just south of the downtown Bankers Life Fieldhouse; projects banks refused to fund.
Maybe it’s time for the bumper stickers to appear. Ones that say “Don’t blame me. I voted for Melina.”
That’s what some may be thinking who attended a community meeting last week.
Imagine a major American city whose mayor arrives at a prestigious church to find more than 1,200 persons – Black, brown, white – gathered to deal with the pressing issues of jobs, crime and economic justice.
Many there are waiting to hear their mayor speak; as advertised and scheduled.
But instead of speaking to the throng; this mayor loiters in the lobby and departs. Attending instead an artsy event with 150 at a nightclub/restaurant.
It happened in Indianapolis, when Mayor Ballard dissed the first meeting of Indy Can, a coalition of Protestant, Catholic and Jewish congregations gathered for community renewal and reform.
Sources tell me Ballard had committed to Indy Can organizers that he’d attend and speak. Their March 6 date had been cleared by the mayor’s staff and schedulers.
The mayor, though, arrived, worked the lobby for a few minutes and rejected Indy Can organizers’ attempts to revise their program so the mayor could speak at the start of their event.
The mayor then left. Preferring I guess to speak to a small crowd saluting Wes Montgomery’s birthday.
Would other mayors be so dismissive of their communities and pass up thousands for a small, elite group? I don’t think New York’s Michael Bloomberg, Chicago’s Rahm Emanuel, Houston’s Annise Parker, San Antonio’s Julian Castro, Philadelphia’s Michael Nutter or San Diego’s Jerry Sanders would be so cavalier. But Indy’s Ballard was.
Break out those bumper stickers.
What I’m hearing
in the streets
Like Peyton Manning, there comes a time when an employee decides it’s time to leave their employer.
That’s what happened last week when we learned Indianapolis Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Eugene White is applying for superintendent in Mobile, Ala., and Greenville, S.C.
To White, the opportunities must look attractive. Both districts are southern; no pesky winters. Both districts are county school systems. Mobile’s a district with a total population of 412,992 and 65,000 students; Greenville’s got a total population of 421,225 and 69,802 students.
Both districts have elected school boards. With a countywide system, there’s no calls for mayoral control or meddling state superintendents or school reformers.
But, the announcement’s troubling in a school board election year. With four seats up in November, it takes just electing two additional opponents of Dr. White to effectively end his tenure.
There’s no guarantee White will be selected by Mobile or Greenville, but make no mistake, Dr. White, with his decision, has mentally checked out of the job here. And his decision and his “dedication” to IPS will become an issue in November’s school board elections.
* * * * *
In his final minutes in his last legislative session, Rep. Bill Crawford, D-Indianapolis, stood up for his beliefs and principles.
Indianapolis Star political reporter Mary Beth Schneider tweeted on Twitter that Crawford voted against the final bill the House considered, HB 1376. That bill dealt with full day kindergarten, something Crawford’s sought for years; but he voted “no” not because he disagreed with the merits, but out of “disappointment with the process.”
Crawford complained that Republicans, at the last minute, added other items to the bill and denied Crawford a chance to examine the contents.
According to Schneider, Crawford’s “no” vote was because he “doesn’t know all that is in the bill” and that there wasn’t a “need to have this big issue rushed like this.”
Crawford’s fellow Democrats stood and soundly applauded his seasoned stand – the kind of stands of principle that marked his 40 years of legislative service.
See ‘ya next week.
You can email comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
