Mayor Greg Ballard and the scheming self-dealers pushing a multi-billion dollar metropolitan mass transit boondoggle for Naptown could care less how much taxes will have to be raised in the future after their initial 20% increase in local income taxes proves insufficient to pay debt service, let alone operate the system. They're only concerned about the big money to be made by the pay-to-play contractors and consultants waiting in line to cash in and provide kickbacks to the corrupt pols for the fleecing of the area's taxpayers. Assuming there are a few honest lawmakers left in the Indiana General Assembly, although I'm frankly hitting a lot of dry holes, they should take a look at our neighbors to the southeast in Cincinnati, who have experienced one financial disaster after another when it comes to funding mass transit in the Queen City.
Cincinnati's latest foray into mass transit is a plan to construct a street car tracks and stations running from the downtown riverfront to Over-the-Rhine. When city officials were joined by Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood for a ground-breaking ceremony for the new street car route, the anticipated budget for the project was suppose to cost $110 million, but bid results have pushed the tab to at least $130 million and could reach as high as $145 million. That's just for the first phase to build a 3.6 mile long track! The proponents of Indianapolis' mass transit system claim they can build a 23-mile light rail system that stretches from downtown Indianapolis to Noblesville for a meager $650 million on what they describe as a fiscally-conservative overall budget of $1.3 billion that includes expanded bus service as well. Fat chance. Red-faced officials in Cincinnati are now discussing options to cut the costs, including tossing all the bids and rebidding the project and altering the proposal.
You have to check out this feel good video city officials put out touting how Phase 1 of this street car plan was going to generate $1.4 billion in economic development for Cincinnati. The talking points being used by the same people here in Indianapolis who are being paid with our federal tax dollars to sell Indiana lawmakers on a new mass transit system are nearly identical to what the clowns in Cincinnati used. Listen to Mayor Mark Mallory assure his city's taxpayers that nobody's taxes will have to be raised to finance the city's mass transit plan. Like Obama, he thinks money just falls from the sky and that any money spent by government is really just a small investment upon which there will always be a far greater return. Obviously their city's leadership hasn't progressed much from the days when Jerry Springer served as the city's mayor before his prostitution bust led him to a career in daytime trash television.
UPDATE: Here's an interview with Indianapolis' idiot Mayor Greg Ballard with WISH-TV where he claims all the 20-something year olds no longer want to drive a car so we have to spend billions on mass transit to accommodate them. Ballard is also accepting free trips around the world for he and his wife Winnie, shopping sprees and whatever else you have of value to offer him and his family. He's got lots of public tax dollars he's just itching to pass out. If you've got something for him and his wife, he's got plenty he's willing to hand over to you. To our friends in Chicago, come on down to Indy where our public officials will hand you hundreds of millions of dollars as long as you're stuffing money in their pockets and where you don't have to worry about a pesky prosecutor looking over your shoulders. It's all kosher here. Better yet, the news media here will pat you on the back for plying your corrupt trade as long as you're putting money in their pockets as well. Hat tip to the readers who pointed this classic interview of our corrupt mayor.
Actually Springer was busted when he was a city councilor. He wrote two checks for services at a Kentucky massage parlor that was busted by police. Springer resigned from the council and local media pronounced his career over.
ReplyDeleteA few years later he confessed his sins and ran for the council and won in a landslide. He was later selected by fellow councilors to serve as Mayor of Cincinnati which back then was merely a ceremonial position.
I like this video where mayor lielard stubble's through a explanation why we need this for our up and comming young professionals. http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/video/video-ballard-talks-safety-transit
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting video where the mayor stubble's through an explanation on who would use these amenities. http://www.wishtv.com/dpp/video/video-ballard-talks-safety-transit
ReplyDeleteIt certainly was cheaper to live in Indpls. when it was Naptown.
ReplyDeleteIndianapolis has gotten the mayor that the Republican Party wanted it to have, a very expensive one.
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