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NOTIONS: Modest proposal to make regional officials heroes

January 31, 2005

TO: Elected officials in Boone, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Madison, Morgan and Shelby counties FROM: Bruce Hetrick, Marion County Center Township peon Years ago, I wrote an advertisement for my boss. Under the headline “A different drummer,” it began: “One way to lead is to find a parade and step before it. A better way is to start the parade and keep it going.” Well, my friends, as stewards of central Indiana’s suburban communities, you face an unprecedented opportunity to…

SUSAN WILLIAMS Commentary: Keep Statehouse free of ‘March Madness’

March 7, 2005

Commentary Keep Statehouse free of ‘March Madness’ “March Madness” is upon us. Downtown will play host to 37 basketball games in 37 days. Visitors from all over the state and the nation will flock to our city and be dazzled by the ambiance and excitement we have refined over many years of hosting major events. Even the most profoundly addicted hoops fans should get their cravings satisfied. As we enjoy the month’s activities, we must be mindful not to take…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Frick, master of megadeals, ready to dial back intensity

June 20, 2005

Attorney David Frick says Anthem Inc.’s $20.8 billion purchase of Well-Point Health Networks was the toughest deal he ever negotiated-and that’s saying something. This is the same guy who helped broker the 1983 deal selling the Indiana Pacers to Mel and Herb Simon, eliminating the risk the franchise would go elsewhere. The same guy who served as the city’s chief negotiator in the deal that brought the Baltimore Colts to Indianapolis in 1984. Anthem-WellPoint was even tougher, Frick says, in…

SPORTS: A history lesson for 21st century stadium critics

July 25, 2005

It is Oct. 20, 1971. I am standing near Market and Alabama streets, where the groundbreaking has taken place for a venue to be called Market Square Arena. The price tag is a salty $23 million, and the project has attracted critics and naysayers who wonder about the city’s priorities, especially since our mayor, Richard Lugar, is using federal revenuesharing funds to help pay for the arena. Plus, Lugar has this wacky idea about using the arena as a catalyst…

City’s mall gamble paid off: After 10 years, Circle Centre at core of rejuvenated downtown

September 5, 2005

In February, Goldsmith suspended construction while he and advisers analyzed options. Within months, he gave Circle Centre the green light, and construction resumed-but not because he was convinced the project would succeed. “In the end, we decided job creation in the urban core and the psychological survival of the city were dependent on some development occurring downtown,” recalled Goldsmith, now a professor at Harvard University. “We went forward with the mall with great anxiety.” Today, 10 years after the September…

SPORTS: New stadium part of strategy born here decades ago

September 26, 2005

The circumstance finally gave way to pomp last week. And as the silver shovels glistened in a setting sun at the Indiana Stadium ground breaking, a new day dawned for Indianapolis and central Indiana. Similarly, the multipurpose stadium-sorry, but I refuse to call it the “Colts Stadium” when its benefits will be so vast and its uses so varied-represents both an end and a beginning. In some ways, it is the final piece of a puzzle that began to be…

Sometimes hot growth is not a good thing: Study to explore how to cut cooling expenses

November 7, 2005

The definition of an “urban heat island” in Indianapolis would be incomplete if limited to, say, the hot air emanating from the Statehouse during the session. To Qihao Weng, an urban heat island refers to how an entire city remains up to 10 degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside. The Indiana State University associate professor of geography has launched a study to learn just how Indianapolis’ concrete jungle heats up in warm-weather months and by how much. His study funded…

TOM HARTON Commentary: On defense, Republicans get divisive

January 2, 2006

After Republicans Scott Keller and Lance Langsford broke party ranks at the Dec.19 City-County Council meeting and voted for cop consolidation and an expanded human-rights ordinance, fellow Republican Jim Bradford e-mailed them and questioned whether they were true Republicans. Lately, it’s Bradford and other Republican hard-liners who don’t seem like the Indianapolis Republicans of old. Republicans mayors Richard Lugar, William Hudnut and Steve Goldsmith provided pragmatic, progressive leadership here in the 1970s and ’80s and ’90s. Lugar and longtime Council…

First-class parking: Airport freebie list includes former politicians, other VIPs

May 1, 2006

Scott Jones could probably afford to buy the 1,800-space parking garage at Indianapolis International Airport, as one who’s earned millions of dollars in patent income from voice mail technology he invented. But why buy the garage? The Indianapolis multimillionaire shows up on a list of nearly 400 politicians and other VIPs entitled to free parking at the airport, a review of airport records shows. Begun as a courtesy to a handful of elected officials decades ago, the free parking list…

New Nordstrom an obstacle for fragile downtown mall

December 18, 2006

When Nordstrom in 1992 signed its lease to open in Circle Centre, mall developers extracted an unusual commitment. The Seattle company agreed not to open another Indianapolis-area store for at least five years. So when Nordstrom last month announced it will launch a second location here, in The Fashion Mall at Keystone, it caught the attention of Herman Renfro, a former Simon Property Group Inc. development executive who oversaw Circle Centre.

SPORTS: AFC title game is a big event in a land of big events

January 22, 2007

There is conjecture that the hosting of the AFC Championship game between the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots is the biggest/greatest/most significant-choose your superlative-sports-related event in the city’s history. That got me to thinking. Is it greater than the 1911 Indianapolis 500, which led to the other 88 500s that, in their current form, generate far more annual economic impact than even a Super Bowl? Is it greater than the 1946 Indianapolis 500, when Tony Hulman took ownership of…

SPORTS: Dome’s days are numbered, but memories linger

June 18, 2007

You know you’re getting old when you outlive buildings. First, it was Market Square Arena. I covered the first and last games there. Now, it’s the RCA Dome. In the summer of 1983, I went along with my then-boss, Indianapolis Star Sports Editor Bob Collins, to the roof of an old warehouse on South Capitol Avenue. From that vantage point, we watched-in awe-as the roof of the Hoosier Dome slowly inflated. While some might have hoped, no one knew for…

Plans for Central State’s rebirth taking shape: Mixed-use 150-acre project vast in scope, challenging

August 13, 2007

Touring the expansive grounds of the former Central State Hospital west of downtown is like taking a trip back in time-evident by the crumbling buildings that are as dated as the site’s original Hospital for the Insane name. But a redevelopment in the final stages of city approval could breathe new life into a 150-acre parcel surrounded by blighted neighborhoods to the east and north and Hispanic storefronts to the south along West Washington Street. The proposal features a mix…

Power broker Miles calling shots again in city

August 20, 2007

In the less than two years since Mark Miles, 53, took over the CEO-driven Central Indiana Corporate Partnership in 2006, he’s
transformed it into an economic development powerhouse for life sciences, information technology and advanced manufacturing.
How so fast? He started networking with Indiana’s political heavyweights more than 30 years ago. And he never stopped.

Commentary: WIB-see moves to the FM dial

October 15, 2007

I noted the passing of WIBC-AM with more than just a little interest. Yes, my little interest-I don’t listen to commercial radio-was coupled with a heavy dose of nostalgia. This is the end of an era, for crying out loud. WIBC, which in my youth we referred to more often as “WIB-see,” was my parents’ favorite station in the morning. I equate the sound of Gary Todd’s voice with the smell of bacon and eggs on school days. I also…

Will business like Ballard?

November 7, 2007

Dating at least to the â??60s, when Richard Lugar was mayor of Indianapolis, the cityâ??s comeback has been
driven by nationally renowned cooperation between government and business.

Business interests came out of the woodwork to support Lugar, and subsequent mayors William…

New mayor, now what?

November 7, 2007

Real estate developers today are trying to sort out the implications of a major upset in the mayor’s race. The mayor-elect, Republican Greg Ballard (pictured), didn’t reveal much about his philosophy on…

EDITORIAL: Stunning victory a call to change: But Ballard shouldn’t forget past

November 12, 2007

Stunning victory a call to change But Ballard shouldn’t forget past The shock has faded and reality is starting to set in. Indianapolis really will have a new mayor in 2008. Republican Greg Ballard’s victory over two-time incumbent Mayor Bart Peterson was more than an election stunner of historic proportions-it was a rare case of voters turning over a city to someone they knew little about. Ballard, under-funded and under-supported by his own party, pulled off his epic upset for…

Ballard’s sketchy agenda fuels unease

November 12, 2007

The afternoon after Greg Ballard’s shocking victory at the polls, the mood was sober at Marion County Republican headquarters.
Jubilation had given way to reality. Although mayor-elect Ballard described himself “as tired as a guy could get,” he has
no time for a break. And what the former U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel will do is largely a mystery.

Critics fear tax reform will favor suburbs

December 10, 2007

As legislators prepare to overhaul the state’s property-tax system, Marion County’s future hangs in the balance. Indianapolis
residents–particularly in the city’s older, urban core–already pay far higher taxes than their suburban counterparts. And
arguably get less bang for their buck. Changes on the table could make Marion County an even tougher sell.

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Articles

NOTIONS: Modest proposal to make regional officials heroes

SUSAN WILLIAMS Commentary: Keep Statehouse free of ‘March Madness’

BEHIND THE NEWS: Frick, master of megadeals, ready to dial back intensity

SPORTS: A history lesson for 21st century stadium critics

City’s mall gamble paid off: After 10 years, Circle Centre at core of rejuvenated downtown

SPORTS: New stadium part of strategy born here decades ago

Sometimes hot growth is not a good thing: Study to explore how to cut cooling expenses

TOM HARTON Commentary: On defense, Republicans get divisive

First-class parking: Airport freebie list includes former politicians, other VIPs

New Nordstrom an obstacle for fragile downtown mall

SPORTS: AFC title game is a big event in a land of big events

SPORTS: Dome’s days are numbered, but memories linger

Plans for Central State’s rebirth taking shape: Mixed-use 150-acre project vast in scope, challenging

Power broker Miles calling shots again in city

Commentary: WIB-see moves to the FM dial

Will business like Ballard?

New mayor, now what?

EDITORIAL: Stunning victory a call to change: But Ballard shouldn’t forget past

Ballard’s sketchy agenda fuels unease

Critics fear tax reform will favor suburbs