Monday, April 07, 2014

Democrats Blast Ballard's Partisan Street And Sidewalk Repair Spending Plan

Mayor Greg Ballard's administration has proposed $8 million in street and sidewalk repair spending to deal with this past winter's harsh weather. Democratic council members are blasting the spending plan because it favors spending in districts represented by Republican council members over districts represented by Democratic council members. Average spending in the council's 25 districts for the $8 million in street and sidewalk repairs is $438,729 for Republican districts, while average spending in Democratic districts is less than half of that amount, or $212,732.

The biggest winners are Districts 21 (Ben Hunter-R), 3 (Will Gooden-R), 16 (Brian Mahern-D), 17 (Mary Moriarty Adams) and 6 (Janice McHenry-R) in that order. Spending in Rep. Hunter's district on the east side is proposed at $1,650,000. Gooden's district on the city's far north central side would receive $892,200. By contrast, several Democratic districts would receive nothing, including Angela Mansfield's District 2, Bill Oliver's District 10, Vernon Brown's District 18 and Frank Mascari's District 20. Democrats claim that figures show that the Ballard administration's ReBuild Indy spending favored projects in Republican districts by more than $6 million. Democratic council members said they intended to address these inequities before acting on Proposal 90, which would authorize the new spending.

1 comment:

Guest said...

Democrats, quit the partisan bickering we play the victim card tactics, as I live in Meridian Kessler and it is a hodgepodge of repair-54th from Central to College is practically disintegrated -the last time the road on Central Ave.- 57th on south saw an attempt at repair was a blacktop strip down the middle, during Barts' tenure, and the sidewalks are broken and crumbling. This was before the bad winter. There are more examples. I am so sick of politics running every decision which results in nothing getting done.