ABOUT THIS EPISODE
Indianapolis cut pothole repair times from 11 days to two or three, Greg Ballard says. The fix started with a call to Eli Lilly. The city's former two-term mayor explains how Six Sigma changed basic services, including response times for broken garbage cans he says fell from six months to two days.
Ballard recalls his 2007 upset over Bart Peterson, an election night without a prepared victory speech and the 200 people who helped with his transition. He credits first chief of staff Paul Okeson with teaching him how to be mayor and explains why he hired Democrats as well as Republicans.
He also describes challenging the Environmental Protection Agency over sewer improvements, crediting public works director Dave Sherman with a redesign he says saved ratepayers more than $1 billion. Ballard explains how transferring water and wastewater utilities to Citizens Energy Group helped fund RebuildIndy, including roads, sidewalks, trails and 14 miles of alleys.
The conversation covers police performance evaluations, changes to promotions and Ballard's insistence that someone be directly responsible for public safety. He closes with the Super Bowl bid, the work of host committee chairman Mark Miles and CEO Allison Melangton, and the $150 million in Near Eastside investment tied to the game's legacy project. For Ballard, hosting the game had to leave something behind for the city.
