Monday, April 20, 2015

Council Repudiates Ballard, Votes 28-1 To Override Veto Of $4.7 Million In Public Safety Spending

The Indianapolis City-County Council voted 28-1 to override Mayor Greg Ballard's veto of $4.7 million in public safety spending to replace police cars and renovate IMPD facilities. Despite complaints by police officers of an aging fleet with hundreds of cars with in excess of 100,000 miles that were becoming costly to maintain, Ballard insisted there was no money in the budget for the expenditures. His administration, instead, wanted to use the money to put money from the public safety income tax increase that went into effect in January into the fiscal stability fund to repay borrowed money from the fund. The best comment in support of the override came from Councilor Christine Scales, who complained that Ballard was using city tax dollars this year to fund pre-K education and enter into a $32 million, 7-year lease for a fleet of 425 electric vehicles that was never included in the original budget, funds which could have been used to repay the fiscal stability fund if that was as important as he claimed it was. The lone vote against the override was cast by Minority Leader Mike McQuillen. Republicans are also not calling for a vote on the P3 criminal justice center project, which the Rules & Public Policy Committee voted down last week along party lines. The word is the administration lacked the 15 votes necessary to get the proposal before the council for a full vote.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thank you CCC for doing what had to be done.

Ballard - IN YOUR FACE!!! The People of Indianapolis hold you in the same light as Bart Peterson.

Anonymous said...

Paying $800+/month for those stupid electric cars on the lease they signed would have bought a ton of real police cars. It's embarrassing to have police officers driving cars that prevent them from acting like the police. Housing Authority, Building Authority, Contracts, Weights and Measures could be using them. They are useless to cops. We cannot even carry the required equipment in them since the trunk is full of batteries. The largest police department in the state and it's run by tree hugging clowns.

Anonymous said...

Ballard wanted the money to cover his many misplaced priorities and crony contracts. Classic bait and switch. As Scales alludes the money that is supposed to be going to public safety is being spent elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

Gary, will the P3-POS injustice center deal be brought up at the next CCC meeting?

If the deal doesn't go through Ballard and friends won't get to go to shiny new downtown resort prison when they finally get taken down for corruption. Ballard is pretty good at golf - did Wells sell them enough land for 18 holes inside those prison walls?

Anonymous said...

I saw a vacant parking space on Washington ST, but it was reserved for those STUPID electric rental car displays....

WASTE! BALLARD-PETERSON! LIES! CORRUPTION (The Regional Operations Center).

All police should be in real police vehicles. Most need SUV's like the other big cities have already recognized.

BALLARD IS A FAILURE!


Anonymous said...

Greg Ballard: I fart in your general direction! You are WORSE than Bart Peterson. You sold this city to contractors....and then there is one thing worse: Frank G. Straub!

-We'll be paying for the things you allowed him to do to this city for many years to come.

Anonymous said...

$800 a month?!?!

Anonymous said...

Greg Ballard is a wretched failure in a job he never measured up to in the first place. Ballard is a proved pathological liar and wholly deserves this hard slap in his face by almost all the City Councilors .... except for the foppish McQuillen who is so desperate politically any sinking ship in a storm will do.

Anonymous said...

The Bond Bank FBI Investigation.

The Regional Operations Center scandal....with shredded documents and Ballard's refusal to cooperate with the investigation.

The P3 scandal....

The Ballard will not support Public Safety campaign...

The Ballard VETO OF PUBLIC SAFETY!

The Over-Ride of the Ballard Veto of Public Safety.

Corruption is as Corruption Does, Greg Ballard, Mayor of Indianapolis.

Anonymous said...

Impeach Mike McQuillen!

Anonymous said...

Greg Ballard has turned his back on Public Safety.

He won his election on the premise that "Public Safety is Job #1." He has show he doesn't care about anything more than his own wallet.

So sad.

Anonymous said...

9:24 said it best!

Anonymous said...

Greg Ballard - Bart Peterson...what a perfect match!

Anonymous said...

There are plenty of cars at the Sheriff's Office. After the merger, their responsibilities that required cars diminished, yet their fleet just keeps growing, and growing, and growing.

Anonymous said...

Annon:8:26 Frank G. Straub

Was a political favor from no other than Debby Daniels, sister of Mitch Daniels and Stephen Goldsmith, former Indy Mayor, and at the time Deputy Mayor of NYC.
The markers were called in for that appointment!
Straub worked with Daniels in Maryland for a project, and the anti-gun Bloomberg Mayor knew Straub and asked for a political favor.

Anonymous said...

A profound rebuking of Ballard on the national stage that has officially converted him to irrelevant and a lame duck.

Nobody will listen to Ballard as Mayor, from this moment, forward.

He's been abandoned.

Anonymous said...

10:51:

Public safety means making the public safer. "Public Safety" is not code for "Giving more pay, benefits and perks to police."

What plans have the police brought to the city that they will stake their jobs on reducing crime?

To the extent that police promise to reduce crime, just what are the police doing to earn their salaries? What solutions to crime are they promising to deliver?

As police management was hired to lead by providing new solutions to increase the effectiveness of their business unit, we need to see accountability in the police department. We need to task large groups in the police to bring plans before the Council for x resources and strategies to provide y reduction in property crime over 12 months.

In 12 months, look at the crime figures. If y reductions haven't occurred, the business plan was a failure, so fire all the officers on the proposal team and bring in people who have the minds and the training to provide solutions.

Doing the same thing, every year, but having a bigger car to do it in is not the kind of results or accountability the private sector would accept and not the sort of lazy business plan we should be paying for.

Public safety should be funded, but as with all initiatives an organization funds, performance metrics and a demand to see year-over-year improvement come with funding.

Anonymous said...

Our feckless Democrat and Republican Councilors FINALLY do the right thing for county residents and we Marion County taxpayers are expected to sing hosannas and acclamations for elected politicians doing what elected politicians should do in the first place. NOW these Councilors get a back-bone?

Except for Councilor Christine Scales who has always done the right thing for the people, the majority of these Council members from Zach Adamson to Jeff Miller to Ben Hunter to Vop Osili to Maggie Lewis (not enough political ens and ems to name them all) are a huge disappointment to the truly civic minded.

Anonymous said...

Police do not need to be in SUVs. Such excess wastes tax dollars.

Cops need to be in the smallest possible gasoline-powered car.

A Honda Civic would be a perfectly good police car.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XV9qj9hVduU/maxresdefault.jpg

A Prius would make a great police car.

This article talks about Dodge Darts.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/driveon/2012/11/20/police-cars-ford-crown-victoria/1716141/

European police get on fine with Citroens.

http://s460.photobucket.com/user/nerdlydood/media/foe_toez/Spain/policianaclbluemadrid.jpg.html

A Smart Car is a very credible option.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2226320.stm

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:49 - That won't work here because of Fed Requirements that madate they have Hazardous Materials response kits, Riot Equipment, Riot Shields, CBNR gear. As well as long guns in the violence prone city. They also need room to safely transport prisoners.

Remember the days of transport shields in police cars? The cars are too small for those now. They need SUV's.

Anonymous said...

Anon 9:49 is just out-of-touch with the reality of big city policing. A Smart Car? (laugh)

The London force polices the streets of London's square mile where traffic moves at an average speed of 17mph.

Not quite the speed of Indianapolis traffic, now is it?