Dome souvenirs & Babe Denny

March 20, 2008
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This week brought potential resolution for a couple of disputes in the neighborhoods surrounding Lucas Oil Stadium:


Board limits RCA Dome souvenir proceeds to $200KRCA Dome
The Capital Improvement Board today agreed to rework an agreement involving the sale of seats, signs and other souvenirs from the RCA Dome in response to outcry over who should get the revenue. The Indiana Sports Corp. and the Colts Foundation have been organizing the auction of Dome memorabilia, most of which was bought with taxpayer dollars. In the new agreement, the Sports Corp. would be entitled to a fee of up to $200,000 to conduct the auction, with remaining proceeds going to the CIB. A local attorney sued the CIB earlier this month, arguing auction proceeds should help pay down debt on the RCA Dome. Should the lawsuit be dropped?


Neighborhood celebrates victory in zoning fight; company may appealBabe Denny
Residents of the Babe Denny neighborhood south of downtown are celebrating after the Metropolitan Development Commission denied a zoning variance request for Indianapolis Welding Supply, one of the city's most frequently cited code violators. The company had hoped to rezone several plots and vacate some alleys so it could continue to store gas cylinders and semi-trailers on plots spread out over the neighborhood. Code enforcement officers have cited IWS more than 60 times in recent years. The company, which also is facing a lawsuit in environmental court over the violations, is considering an appeal of the zoning decision, said J. Murray Clark, an attorney for the owner.

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  • ChrisMarch 21, 2008 2:25 AM
    It would seem to me that Indianapolis Welding Supply would be better served to move its operations to a different (lower cost and with less government oversight) site, market its property to capitalize on its proximity to Lucas Oil Stadium and the rebirth of the area and avoid the mounting legal costs that it is likely running up ( It cannot be cheap to go through a zoning appeal and defend a lawsuit in the environmental court). J. Murray Clark is a well respected attorney and his services surely cannot come cheap.

    Especially, in light of the fact that it appears that the change in the city administration has not changed the enforcement outcomes with respect to this area.
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  • George OrwellMarch 21, 2008 11:23 AM
    Just as the meandering rail freight that passes by the convention center creates a plausible health hazard to potentially thousands of people any day or time of the week, the storage of potentially hazardous gas tanks in such close proximity to Lucas, and now hotel visitors, is utterly mad! These matters should have been corrected thru, if nothing else, eminent domain statutes regarding the civil liability and general health and welfare of a rezoned district. 'Babe Denny' should have little to do with it. As far as I'm concerned those properties probably need to be flattened and the owners compensated. If that sounds ridiculous, well, Kingans and Stark & Wetzel used to process meat near there,..dropping carcass waste into White River not all that long ago. Things change. Sometimes for the better.
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  • HMPPeaceHouseMarch 21, 2008 12:04 PM
    Okay, if they will give the proceeds back to the CIB, does that mean they will also reduce the restraunt tax by the 1% it was raised to build the dome in the first place? We've been paying that extra 1% ever since it was introduced, it was never repealed and we still pay it today.
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  • brick by brickMarch 21, 2008 2:47 PM
    Good for Babe Denny. The company there should move out of the city limits. It has voilated many laws. Plus all they do is flatten houses and replace them with gas tanks. Way to contribute to our city. Their place there won't last. As development booms in that part of town most of the industry will be pushed out. Hopefully we can prevent the company from going into some other old neighborhood and flattening it down because no one wants to build a warehouse out of the city.
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  1. these guys only skill was to steal from other's hard earned savings.

  2. I voted for him last time and it WAS the LAST time. He needed to to quit running around the world on useless trips, and giving our $$ away to sports teams. I'll vote for anyone but Ballard next time. BTW...we gave $40M to the Pacers and cannot even watch the games on TV.

  3. For the people concerned about traffic, you should know that mixed-use projects (like the one being proposed), actually allows for and encourages more people to walk and bike, thereby mitigating additional automobile traffic. If we continue to design and build suburban-type projects in the City (i.e. automobile-oriented projects), we are not offering anything different from what the suburbs offer, which means we will continue to lose jobs/people to the suburbs. The reason Broad Ripple is somewhat successful today is that people want to live in a place that offers the convenience of being able to walk/bike to restaurants, retail, nightlife, the Monon, etc. Why would you not want to support a project that is complimentary to what already makes the area desirable? The real argument with this project should be its lack-luster design and layout, not the density.

  4. It is unfortunate that there is a perception that celebrities validate an event. The Indy 500 stands on its own, especially for those coming in from out of town. It was always so disturbing to read the gushing descriptions of Ashley Judd threaded throughout the local coverage. Very happy that era is at an end.

  5. Good ole' Obamacare. Thanks liberals and those who didn't bother to vote.

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