Indy Mayoral Debate Part IV

This debate originally took place Monday night on WIBC, but it was only aired on the radio. WXIN Channel 59 is televising the debate tonight however. Sir Hailstone of the Digital Farmers blog was able to pry himself away from the Colts pre-game show just long enough to live blog the debate as it happened. Here is his commentary from Monday night’s debate. It does start a little late into the debate, but you should be able to follow along if you watch the debate and read the breakdown.

All Three candidates for Mayor are debating.

19:13 - Greg Ballard is giving his response on employment. Greg goes on the Crime angle.

19:14 - Question on police consolidation and whether its a success. Fred Peterson - No. Greg Ballard - Not so far. Greg is coming across well this time. Advocates for the Front Porch Alliance. Mayor Peterson - Yes, of course. “other violent crimes” are down? WRONG MAYOR BART! Claims “early releases” are over - no you’ve lowered bonds to zero. Don’t feed us this bullshit Bart!

19:18 - Homeless help question - Greg Ballard - I gathered lots of information from the homeless. Facilities are there to help the homeless, we need some “tough love” towards the homeless. Get them help to shake the issues causing their homelessness. Mayor Bart Peterson - We have a 10 year plan for homelessness. Addresses the panhandlers downtown. Fred Peterson - A better economy with more jobs would help alleviate homelessness.

19:21 - Personal motive for being a candidate - Mayor Peterson - “I love this city, I want to make it a better place”. Fred Peterson - “Change a direction of local government”. Greg Ballard - “Public Service, I served my country for 23 years”, “I want to change the direction of local government”

(Read the rest of the commentary and leave your comments below the fold)

19:23 - Immigration - Fred Peterson - “All are welcome, as long as they are legal and learn English”, Greg Ballard - “We are a welcoming city, over time this will be solved”, Mayor Peterson - “We see the real enrichment for the community”.

19:27 - African-American community and racial tensions - Mayor Peterson - “We as a city must make sure we avoid problems of other cities and celebrates diversity”. Greg Ballard - I am comfortable with bringing together people of all ethnicities. When I am elected mayor you will have the first “first lady” being one of color. Fred Peterson - Racism is a cancer.

19:30 - Reducing spending - Mayor Peterson - “We’ve already done it” there is nothing left to cut. Imposed a hiring freeze (so why is there listings on County and City HR?). Fred Peterson - “The Mayor wants smaller government, but he’s only increased the size of government”. Greg Ballard - We talk about cutting spending, we should also cut taxes. Line item 390 - $68 million dollars “Other charges”. Will cut 10% from the non-public safety budget or will not run for reelection

19:33 - Mass Transit system - Fred Peterson - needs more tweaking of the bus system. Would switch to fuel cell based vehicles. Greg Ballard - We could use mass transit and light rail, but we can’t afford it right now. Expand IndyGo routes. Mayor Peterson - Wants to expand IndyGo, we need more taxes to pay for expanding IndyGo. We try to get federal government grants (you know if we had good representation in Washington DC ….)

19:37 - How will you get rid of partisan politics - Greg Ballard - humorous answer - “Indianapolis has a great history of working together. I’d be in favor of term limits”. Mayor Peterson - Goes back to Bill Hudnut. Doesn’t care whether the Mayor is term limited or not. “I always run positive campaigns” .. they might be positive, but they aren’t totally honest. Fred Peterson - Goes after Monroe Gray, and blames the Democrats for supporting Gray.

19:40 - The former MSA site and what to do with it - Mayor Peterson - I still want condos on the MSA site. Never mind its failed 4 times or more. Does not want a government building there. Fred Peterson - Make it into a park. Greg Ballard - If we were to make it a government building, make it revenue neutral.

19:43 - Amos Brown - Problem of rental properties - Fred Peterson - File lawsuits against absentee landlords. Stricter code enforcement. Greg Ballard - Take care of the abandoned homes, quickly. Mayor Peterson - “I have a plan to take care of this problem”.

19:46 - Property Taxes and should taxpayers pay for projects like Lucas Oil Stadium - Greg Ballard - I’m in favor of expanding the convention center, to bring in more conventions and bring in more revenue. Lucas Oil Stadium is a part of that package. Mayor Peterson - Blames the state. Fred Peterson - Because of the taxes going to the Lucas Oil Stadium, other taxes have gone up.

19:49 - How do you define “World Class City”? - Mayor Peterson - That’s what we call Indianapolis. Education reform, increasing graduation rates. Fred Peterson - We must have excellent schools, clean air, good streets and sidewalks, and clean water. Greg Ballard - We will not achieve this until we take care of crime and taxes. We need to welcome companies to Indianapolis, we’re getting jobs but losing them at the same rate.

Closing Statements:

Fred Peterson: I’m running for mayor on NO MONEY. I’m running on principle. A construction company in Arizona gave $20,000 to the Mayor.

Mayor Peterson: Being mayor requires leadership. You must have a positive outlook. We’re positively changing our economy.

Greg Ballard: I am optimistic, Optimism without action is useless. I have plans for crime, government reform, we are not being welcoming to companies as we only have a net gain of about 150 jobs. The mayor has had 8 years, and we’re going in the wrong direction. “How’s that workin’ for ya?”

19:56 - Debate concludes.

I didn’t watch the live streaming, I just listened to the audio. All have their salient points. Fred Peterson is confirming his position as conservative on fiscal policy but more liberal on more social issues. Greg Ballard is reinforcing his points of government reform and cutting spending and finding efficiencies. Mayor Peterson wants more of the same of the past 8 years for the next 4 years.