Fellow blogger Joh Padgett has a very candid, recorded interview with GOP mayoral candidate Greg Ballard. You will hear how Ballard favors doing away with the property tax in favor of a combination of income and sales taxation as a replacement. With respect to the current debacle in Marion Co., he blames Peterson and local leaders for failing to plan for the elimination of the business inventory tax, which they had known about for several years. In response to the enactment of the 65% income tax increase this week, he calls for fiscal sanity, noting that each year for the past several years has presented yet another financial crisis which resulted in higher taxes and the problems just keep getting worse, not better.
Ballard was uncommitted on whether police and firefighters should be barred from serving on the city-county council. He said he needed more time to study the issue, although he wanted to emphasize that at least a couple of police officers on the council, including Lincoln Plowman (R) and Sherron Franklin (D) voted against the tax increase. Ballard expressed concern about the flight of the middle class out of Marion County. In addition to holding down taxes, a better public school system is critical to stemming the out-migration of the middle class.
On his own election chances, he sees taxes having a big impact on election outcomes countywide this year, along with crime. To reduce crime, he wants operational control of the police department put back under the mayor to improve accountability, re-institution of the Front Porch Alliance, placement of more officers patrolling our streets and working on the little things like cleaning up neighborhoods plagued by abandoned properties.
If you want to read more about what Greg Ballard thinks, check out his blog here.
8 comments:
I was astounded to see Steve Goldsmith's creaky "Front Porch Alliance" included. I recall a big press conference Mayor Goldsmith held praising 8 churches for helping eight families. Exactly sort of things churches should be doing but helping eight families is only about 2 hours work by the Center Township Trustees Office.
The old Front Porch Alliance was one of those faith-based political schemes... how close is Ballard to the Eric Miller wing of the GOP???
Which 8 families does the Center Township Trustee help.
1.Drummer Family
2.Duncan Family
3.McAtee Family
4.Peterson Family
5.Talley-Sanders Family
6.Gray Family
7.Brown Family
8.Spears Family.
Like Wilson says, thats just the first 2 hours of every day. Give to the rich and steal from the poor.
Sounds like a Democrat is in the Center Twsp. Trustees office.
Wilson, as Ballard explained his intent with the Front Porch Alliance" to me it is his intent to work closely with the existing network of neighborhood associations, which comprise MCANA. A feeble attempt on your part to use this as an excuse to link Ballard to Eric Miller
A mayoral candidate promising to work with existing community groups? WOW!!! Is he for God, motherhood and apple-pie too?
(Of course, the Right-to-Life crowd may have detailed questions about the motherhood part...)
McANA has long toiled in the vineyards of zoning and Comprehensive Plan. It's rough work, but they put in the thousands of hours required each year.
No thanks to the Judy Conleys of the world.
The 5:19 post is a scream. I laughed out loud and scared the dog.
And the Front Porch Alliance was a boondoggle. The spirit was there, and it almost worked, but in the end, it was an abject failure. It was Goldy's attempt to inject religion as subtly as possible into city government.
Odd for a man who ran from his religion for years.
But I digress...
Wilson: I FINALLY get it! All this time I've been taking you seriously. I FINALLY got the joke: You're playing the part of a brain-numbed partisan kook who spent his entire life sucking off the public teat and can't generate an original thought due to the loss of all those brain cells in the '60's. Very funny!! You should appear on the Daily Show with this character.
In basic economics one learns of Gresham's Law whereby bad money drives out good. The anonymous nattering nabobs of negativity with personal attacks on other commenters drive out the good folk who dont conceal themselves cravenly behind the deceitful label of "anonymous". Blogs are thus reduced to mendacious nonentities exchanging insults unchecked by reason or civility. Pitiful...
OOOOO..it got a rise out of her. Excellent....
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