Mayor Ballard's State of the City: My View

Honestly, it was good, average, nothing out of the ordinary. You can go read Abdul's blog if you want the speech summarized for you, because it wasn't anything you weren't expecting.

Now, what you did not hear in this speech that will surely be debated among citizens and, hopefully, the City-County Council in the coming months:

• Fee increases: As originally reported at The Indianapolis Times, a number of fees are being pushed for increases. None of them have made to the Council, yet. And the justification for pushing these fees so high, so quickly, in the worst recession since The Great Depression, is just not there.
• Privatized Parking: This wasn't even mentioned in the vaguest terms. You can read about it over at Paul Ogden's blog, which includes a link to the Wish-TV article and an older Indianapolis Business Journal article.
• Other taxes: The council made Peterson's temporary COIT tax increase into a permanent tax increase. This is certainly different from the guy who pledged no new taxes.

Now, that all being said, I don't think Mayor Ballard is horrible at this job. Yes, he's improved pot hole filling times and the MAC, but just because previous mayor's blundered that doesn't mean that should be the standard. Mayor Ballard has yet to set himself from the pack, and honestly, I don't see much of a difference between his administration and Peterson's.