As incumbent Mayor Greg Ballard prepares to leave office, I think it’s only appropriate to reflect upon his time in office, particularly the impact on the African-American community. I know there are some hardcore partisans out there who accused the mayor of being insensitive to the Blacks, but if they could take a deep breath and take a close looks at the facts, they can easily see Ballard has been very good for the community, because he’s been good for Indianapolis.
Take a look at what the mayor has done in these areas…
Crime
Ballard’s plan will put 280 new officers on the street by 2018, and thanks to efficiencies in public safety, more officers have been moved from behind a desk to back on patrol.
His administration under former public safety director and soon-to-be police chief Troy Riggs used data to address the crime in the city’s six “hot zones,” taking a comprehensive approach to crime by also addressing mental health, code enforcement, etc.
The outgoing mayor has been a strong advocate of sentencing reform to keep the worst of violent offenders behind bars by pushing for mandatory minimum sentences. The data shows more than 85 percent of the suspects and victims have serious adult felonies, and if they had been compelled to serve at least 10 years of their time behind bars, Indy’s murder rate would have been cut by 25 percent.
Neighborhoods
Despite the perception that Ballard has only focused on developing the downtown area, the outgoing mayor has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in streets and sidewalks with Rebuild Indy, much of that in neighborhoods that had been ignored for years.
In addition, the outgoing mayor also mitigated millions in wastewater and sewer fees with the Environmental Protection Agency, which would have hit a lot of people in all communities in the pocketbook.
The mayor led the charge on projects like 16 Tech, transforming the Avondale Meadows area, the redevelopment of MLK Drive, revamping the Keystone Towers and investing $40 million in parks, all of which have gone a long way to bring life back into a lot of areas outside of downtown.
Job creation
Under the Ballard administration, the city has attracted commitments for more than 31,000 new jobs and $3.5 billion in capital investment. The average new job commitment pays $21 an hour, and in 2014 the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis ranked Indy seventh in the nation for economic growth. And this was all with the worst economy since the Great Depression in the middle of everything.
Also the Mayor’s Office of Minority and Women Business Development has made sure minority, women and veteran-owned businesses had opportunities to compete for city contracts. The most recent available numbers show nearly $300 million in business opportunities on major projects.
Education
Ballard not only tripled the number of students taking advantage of school choice, but he also closed underperforming charter schools, maintained local control of IPS turnaround academies, was the architect of a pre-K program that will serve hundreds of at-risk kids when fully funded, and led the charge with “Your Life Matters” to address, long-term, the serious issues facing urban youth, particularly the dropout rate.
The mayor has also worked with Indianapolis Public Schools to increase the quality of education.
I could go into a lot of other areas where Blacks have benefited from Ballard’s leadership. Efforts to make the city more sustainable and energy-efficient, as well as speaking out against the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and keeping the city financially stable, have all impacted the bottom line regarding city finances, meaning you keep more of your money in your pocket.
So even though it may be hard for some of you to think that a Republican would care about Black folks, it’s really easy, especially when you care about the wellbeing of all citizens.
Abdul-Hakim Shabazz is an attorney, political commentator and publisher of IndyPolitics.org. You can email comments to him at abdul@indypolitics.org.
