Downtown merchants want parking plan revoked
About 80 downtown business owners and employees have signed a petition urging Republican Mayor Greg Ballard’s administration to nix major plans to revamp metered parking in Indianapolis.
About 80 downtown business owners and employees have signed a petition urging Republican Mayor Greg Ballard’s administration to nix major plans to revamp metered parking in Indianapolis.
Neurosciences center and administrative building would employ workers with annual salaries ranging from $27,000 for clerical staff to as high as $104,000 for management.
The pitch from Mayor Greg Ballard’s administration to privatize the city’s parking meters is compelling, but the proposal
to sell the meters to Dallas-based Affiliated Computer Services Inc. has the city giving up more in the long run than is immediately
apparent.
City leaders expect to select a manager to oversee parking operations within the next week.
Jam-packed with expensive equipment, data centers represent huge capital investments in a relatively small footprint. That
can mean steep property tax bills, though Indiana allows communities to exempt a portion of that tax. Jobs-hungry Indiana
is eager to attract more of these climate-controlled computing fortresses.
Will the latest ambitious downtown development proposal finally master the formula for transforming a downtown surface parking
lot?
Deals for both Nordstrom and Carson Pirie Scott are up for renewal in the coming months.
Mayor Greg Ballard has put privatization of Indianapolis’ stadium and convention center management on indefinite hold.
The Arts Council of Indianapolis soon will move its office from Monument Circle to a smaller space on Pennsylvania
Street with an adjacent gallery. The move is symbolic of the council’s ongoing reinvention, as well as the financial
reality driving that effort.
Testimony filed in Indianapolis Water Co.’s rate case shows the city in 2007 agreed to take on millions of dollars in costs
from the private firm it hired to operate the utility, including $48 million in retiree medical plan obligations.
UAW official says General Motors and prospective buyer are working on a “real aggressive” schedule to have the acquisition
completed by the end of June.
City and union officials say General Motors has found a potential buyer for an Indianapolis stamping plant that it has planned
to shut down: JD Norman Industries of suburban Chicago.
Citizens Energy should have completed the majority of its due diligence of the city’s water and sewer utilities, which
it plans to acquire, by the end of this month.
So far, in discussing his plan to sell the city’s water and sewer utilities, Mayor Greg Ballard has
emphasized the impact on utility rates, the $1.5 billion in city debt Citizens would assume, and the chance
to improve streets and sidewalks. But Ballard also has another key objective: business attraction and
expansion.
A $1.9 billion proposal to sell the city’s water and sewer utilities splashed into public view last month, but some
financial details settling at the bottom line could make the deal harder to swallow.
Former Junior Achievement CEO Jeff Miller says Mayor Greg Ballard was about to hire him as a senior policy adviser, but comments
by Central Indiana Community Foundation President Brian Payne and current CEO Jennifer Burk ruined the offer.
Deputy mayor, city Bond Bank director resign to take jobs in the private sector.
Records show Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi directed lucrative work for the Prosecutor’s Office to his friend, business
partner and political contributor John Bales.
Citizens Energy Group’s plan to buy the city’s water and sewer systems will require the utility to raise $262 million in new
bond debt and inherit $1.5 billion in debt. Yet Citizens executives maintain the financial load should not impair the bond
ratings of its principal utilities, Citizens Gas and Citizens Thermal.