Message from Mayor Ballard

I’m honored to serve as Mayor of our great city. Every day I work to represent all the citizens of Marion County to ensure that no community, no neighborhood is left behind. My goal is to make Indianapolis the most livable big city in America – and a destination city for people and companies, tourists and educators.

Public safety is job #1 in local government. We brought the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department back under the control and responsibility of the Mayor’s office. Our priority is to arm police and fire personnel with the resources they need to make our streets and neighborhoods safer – and encourage community involvement to increase our success. As a result, crime rates are down.

Our unemployment rate is lower than the state and national average and the health of our city depends on our workers, our amenities and our economic development efforts. That includes finding creative and fiscally responsible ways to tackle our infrastructure needs. We strive to create a climate that is attractive to businesses so they choose to retain, create or relocate jobs here. And in an effort to prepare our workforce for the future, we are expanding charter school efforts to increase educational opportunities for our children.

We must be a city that honors and embraces our diversity. We must be a city that strives to create a quality of life for all, which includes partnering to invest in our neighborhoods, city parks and the arts – and promoting common-sense green initiatives that brighten our landscape and our future.

Finally, we do all this with the taxpayers, and future taxpayers, in mind. We have passed two consecutive honestly balanced budgets and we make responsible decisions that are not only good for taxpayers today but for years to come.

There is still much work to be done but working together, we will continue to strengthen the future of our great city.

Thank you,

Gregory A. Ballard
Mayor of Indianapolis