Friday, May 30, 2014

Indianapolis Cancels National Cricket Championship At Mayor's New Cricket Park

It was supposed to debut the opening of Mayor Greg Ballard's multi-million dollar sports on the City's east side--the hosting of National Cricket Championship. As often occurs, bad news gets delivered late in the day on a Friday before the start of the weekend when the mouthpieces believe the story will get buried amidst other stories already put to bed before reporters begin their weekend, particularly on a day when a new round of violence has left five dead and one police officer shot in the last 24 hours. The parks department is blaming "lack of communications" with USACA, the sanctioning organization, following the recent departure of its chief executive, Darren Beazley, and to provide the necessary assistance in lining up sponsors for the event. The Dubai-based International Cricket Association will vote next month on whether to suspend its relationship with USACA.

Ballard first unveiled plans to host the national championship event during one of his overseas junkets to India last year. Ballard has been heavily criticized for blowing millions of dollars on a new cricket park at a time the City claims a fiscal inability to properly fund basic city services, such as maintaining existing parks, fixing streets and sidewalks and hiring a sufficient number of police officers. Ballard and fiscally irresponsible members of the Indianapolis City-County Council are now pushing the enactment of another increase in the local income tax rate to fund public safety as it continues to fund private real estate projects being developed by their campaign contributors by the millions and tens of millions at a time. A 65% increase in the income tax rate in 2007 similarly promised new police officers but wound up getting spent elsewhere. The TIF slush funds that fund so-called economic development projects now consume nearly $120 million annually in local property tax revenues, starving other units of government of much-needed revenues.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

While I don't agree with you on social issues, you are spot on about everything else. Indianapolis needs someone like you to run for mayor. We are sick of the crony capitalism of both the Democrats and Republicans.

Anonymous said...

I'm thinking it was cancelled for lack of interest. Who cares about cricket?

Anonymous said...

Wrong advisors and city did not reach out right people with cricket knowledge in USA nor they did re-search before they spent money on this matter. There is no known state level Indiana soccer, rugby, Cricket or Lacrosee group is involved with the city or world sport park. Indy Eleven support this sport and city for this project as they need stadium in city as next project

Anonymous said...

This is for Anonymous 1-3 of 3.
Americans are getting tired of crony Capitalist Democrats and Republicans, and so is Europe, In England the UKIP party kicked butt in the last election.Independent voters are taking to the polls by storm to vote the Crony's out!
American voters are too stupid to realize what's actually going on with our political process!

local landlord said...

We lurch forward and back trying to build this city into an international destination while also padding the pockets of everyone involved. The problem is that there was no “extra” money involved. The cricket park deal is essentially a parks project. Unlike the Super Bowl, there were no institutional donors and welcoming committees and contracts to let and reputations to build. So we didn’t really get the job done. If hosting the National Cricket Championship is meant to be, then we’ll compete in the rotation for the event for another year after we have the plan under control. Maybe teaching a few people how to play cricket would get the ball rolling. I think the east side is desperate for these types of destination events. Good development is always welcome here. Its too bad we can’t seem to build out these projects without money to pad everyone’s pockets. But as parks projects go I think the east side is still happy to accommodate Mayor Ballards vision of a competitive cricket destination. We truly need more development over here; we have some really great commercial properties being underused, from factories on Brookville to strip malls on East Washington just begging for redevelopment. I just wish we could get some federal grant money to help Carroll build out the old Eastgate Mall into the type of Regional Operations Center we deserve. I know there are ongoing disputes and allegations flying and some of it is in Court. But there is a larger picture. A neighborhood ripe for development. Desperate for jobs. With an infrastructure lying in wait. We keep sending Andre Carson back to Congress. How come he isn’t bringing home any federal money to the east side for the Regional Operations Center. That building is supposed to house FBI, Homeland Security, Bureau of Alcohol and Tobacco and a half dozen other federal agencies in addition to Indiana and County police. Before they start spreading money around for the new west side justice center, how about proving we can finish what we started at the east side ROC.

Anonymous said...

http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21578396-mismanagement-indian-cricket-reveals-indias-wider-failings-lessons-cricket

Pete Boggs said...

Local landlord: Real world development is a private sector reality; not crony capped leveraging of the public treasury for extra-Constitutional adventuring- that's fascism (look it up).

Government's limited role (read Constitutional) does not place it in the way of legitimate development- making it therefore possible. Talent & capital go where they're welcomed & remain where well treated- it's that simple. That means government doesn't illegitimately compete with the private interests their sworn to protect (including role as referee, oversight), or stand as an obstacle to progress (punitive regulations & gatekeeping, fascism). If government regulations were the answer; who needs insurance companies?

How invited or well treated is non-cronied, private investment on the east or any side of town (no ring kissing or coercion contrived "partnering")?