Ballard Says No New Cops
After all his hullabaloo on the campaign trail about public safety, Mayor Greg Ballard is now saying the city doesn’t have enough money to put 100 more police officers on the streets. Instead, his first-ever plan to do anything includes 40 civilian public assistance officers, whose job will basically be to push paper.
I can just see the criminals quaking in their boots. Taxpayers have every right to be furious with Ballard.
Not surprisingly, he’s is still trying to blame the previous administration for his own shortfalls in innovation and fiscal planning. IUPUI poli sci prof Brian Vargus has this to say about that:
“Ballard may be able to say with some legitimacy that we have a shortfall and the past administration is at fault,” Vargus said. “But the public’s attitude is: ‘It’s your job to fix it.’”
Fix it? You mean you want Ballard to actually do something? Yeah, good luck with that.
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How many cops can we buy with $1.5 million? That’s the arts budget.
Or let’s see…how many cops can we buy if we get rid of the president and VP of the arts council who earn $143k plus benefits and $98k plus benefits, respectively.
It’s not Ballard’s fault that Peterson went to the bond bank to BORROW day-to-day operating expenses when he allowed people on the arts council to make more than the governor and mayor.
Ah, but the fact is that 1.5 million doesn’t pay salaries and benefits. It’s used for outreach and cultural education. You know, those programs that keep kids off the street so we don’t need cops to watch after them.
I am confused. Candidate Ballard claimed he could eliminate $70 million in fluff from the budget. Now he needs to sell parks, cut funding for the arts, the jail and 100 police officers to balance his budget. Huh? What happened to all that money he saved when the state took over the police and fire pensions? He needs to show some leadship and start keeping his promises. How do you impeach a Mayor?