Indiana

State of the City

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard delivered a “bricks and mortar” speech in his third State of the City address to the citizens of Indianapolis.

The speech, delivered at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, focused on the Mayor’s accomplishments in addressing city needs for the past two years and also spelled out where he wanted to take Indianapolis in 2010.

Ballard’s vision for Indianapolis; the livable big city in Indianapolis.   The following is a breakdown of the Mayor’s speech…

Public Safety

• The Mayor talked about public safety touting crime being down overall, by five percent since he took office and the number of criminal homicides in city limits proper being the lowest since 1993.
• He congratulated the efforts of former Public Safety Director Scott Newman and introduced the city to his current nominee Dr. Frank Straub.
• The Mayor talked about the city issuing out more than $3 million in crime prevention grants and reintroducing community policing.

Government Efficiency

• Ballard touted what he called an “honestly” balanced budget where the city and county is spending less than it is taking in in taxes.   And for the first time in Indianapolis history, the Mayor said the city has a rainy day fund.
• The Mayor pointed to several public-private partnerships which helped addressed city services such as the $7.3 million Lilly endowment grant for Indy parks.
• Abandoned calls to the Mayor’s Action Center were down 87 percent and the Mayor said the MAC line is actually returning phone calls; up to 30,000 by the end of last year.
• Ballard also called for the elimination of township government and the merger of township fire departments with IFD.

Economic Development

• Ballard said the city is using it’s legal authority to take back more than $5 million in abatements from Navistar for failing to create jobs as promised.
• He pointed to figures showing that Indianapolis had the 2nd lowest unemployment rate of the 13 largest metropolitan areas in the nation.
• Ballard states city receivied commitments to retain or bring more than 11,000 jobs to Indianapolis in 2009; the second highest in nine years.
• Tax abatements were less than 20 percent of the $157 million in incentives used to bring business to Indy.
• For the past two years for $1 in tax abatement the city has issued it received $17 in private investment; the strongest amount of return since stats were first kept in 2001.
• $1.5 million will go towards for the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association to attract more conventions and events to the city.

Education

• The Mayor’s Charter School Office is being turned into  the Office of Education Innovation to help improve charter schools.

“Urban” Issues

• The mayor says the city has spent millions fixing leaking pools in Center Township.
• The City of  Indianapolis partnering with Andre Carson’s Office to make sure the 2010 census is complete.
• The city has cleared a 200-case backlog of discrimination complaints.
• The promised the revitalization of City Market.

Sustainability & Infrastructure

• Ballard says the city has created more than 20 miles of bike lanes and will soon begin retrofitting 70 city-owned properties to make them more energy efficient.
• The Mayor alluded to a deal for the water company that would generate millions in revenue for the city, but said it must be in the best interest of the taxpayers.
• The Mayor stated the city needs to improve its mass transit, but that was not necessarily adding bus lines, but an overall plan which will improve the health of the local economy as well as make Indianapolis more economically competitive.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on January 13, 2010 (boomark / email).