Welcome

Welcome to the Greg Ballard for Mayor blog. I will use this space to communicate what I feel are the important issues surrounding Indianapolis and also to convey my thoughts and feelings about the Mayor’s race as it develops heading into the November election.

I have had a few people tell me the last couple of years that I should consider public office and frankly, with twenty-three years in the Marine Corps, all should understand that at heart, I am a public servant. Some friends believed I had the particular skill set to be the Mayor and wanted me to seriously consider running. Due to a peculiar set of circumstances, the nomination to be the Republican candidate for Mayor of Indianapolis fell to me. I am happy that it did, and trust me, I’m up to the challenge.

The most common question I receive is “Why do I want to be Mayor?” Sometimes this is presented as just a straightforward question; other times it is tendered as something like “Why would want you want to put yourself through this?” No matter the nuance, I answer the same way.

I want to be the Mayor of Indianapolis because our city is heading in the wrong direction. When I look out ten to twenty years, I don’t see a thriving, vibrant city. Due to our crime rate that is well above the national average and still growing, the overall poor education of our children, and a lack of emphasis on serious, long term economic development, Indianapolis, two decades out, has the potential to be a blighted, dangerous city with a few pockets of success stories. The trend is already one of many middle class families moving to the doughnut counties to be in a lower crime area and nearer to better schools. Soon, Indianapolis could be a city that accepts only the very rich and the desperate poor. That is a recipe for social and economic disaster.

It is sometimes difficult for a city to look forward, but we must do so now. I believe government officials should always act in the best long-term interest of the community, but too many times, our government officials have looked to a short term, politically acceptable solution.

This will be an overriding theme of this blog. I feel compelled to run for Mayor because I want to make the difficult decisions to put the city on the right path. If these decisions cost me reelection, so be it. I only want to do what’s right for Indianapolis.