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Mayor’s Action Center might be privatized to cure chronic woes

Maybe it’s a stray dog rooting through your garbage. Perhaps someone has abandoned a car amid the potholes riddling your
street. Either way, Indianapolis offers a one-stop shop for irate residents to complain. Just dial the Mayor’s
Action Center at 327-4MAC. Then get ready to wait. And wait. So long, in fact, that close to half of the
MAC’s callers hang up in frustration.

SPORTS: Games are-or should be-all about the athletes

At the same time, those same athletes, thrust into the spotlight, will find their failures magnified along with their successes. Media who normally shun gymnastics, or aquatic sports, or track and field, or cycling, or rowing, or even Taekwondo, will suddenly become instant experts, lifting up the victors and damning the vanquished. How well I know. It was my good fortune to cover three Olympics for the local daily: Seoul in 1988, Barcelona in 1992, and Atlanta in 1996. The…

INVESTING: Candid e-mails chip away at Wall Street’s credibility

E-mail, today’s ubiquitous form of communication, is proving to be the smoking gun in a number of recent financial fiascos. The Securities and Exchange Commission recently released a draft of its investigation into the behavior of bond-rating firms during the subprime-mortgage-securitization craze. The report highlighted e-mails expressing the sentiment of the authors during the period-a sentiment in conflict with the Wall Street sales pitch being used to sell these securities to investors. One e-mail a Standard & Poor’s analyst sent…

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Genetic info act will do more than stop discrimination

The promise of personalized medicine-genetic tests that allow more informed and individualized health care decisions-has been blocked in recent times as patients struggle with the fear that those same genetic test results could bring genetic discrimination in the form of cancelled health insurance coverage or even the catastrophe of job loss. In 1997, Indiana enacted a state law protecting genetic screening or testing and prohibiting health insurers from considering any information obtained from such testing in a manner adverse to…

Stadium’s flexibility should help attract extra events: But some experts say stadiums are still a hard sell

Lucas Oil Stadium can be a jack of all trades. Hang rigging from its ceiling, lower built-in sound-absorbing curtains over most of the seats, and it can host a fairly intimate 20,000-seat concert. Roll out the temporary floor to cover the turf, part and pack away one side of the bleachers, and it can stretch to be a convention hall, boasting 183,000 square feet of contiguous exhibition space plus 12 meeting rooms, a welcome plaza and party deck. But the…

Commentary: Let’s invest in criminal justice

Indianapolis has spent more than $2 billion on worthy civic projects such as the new airport terminal, Lucas Oil Stadium, and a new Central Library. The same sense of civic pride must be mobilized for funding improved criminal justice. Strong, coherent mayoral leadership is required to address the causes of increased criminal activity here, but a lasting solution requires a community-wide effort. Criminal activity is not simply the result of an individual’s motivation to offend. For crime to occur, the…

$720 million stadium will open with big operating deficit

Cleaning crews are wiping construction dust from the 63,000 seats in Lucas Oil Stadium, prepping for the public’s first peek at the $720 million venue Aug. 16. But the hard work is only beginning for the city’s Capital Improvement Board, the entity charged with operating the stadium. The fumbling point: CIB is anticipating a $20 million operating deficit for Lucas Oil Stadium in 2009.

NOTIONS: Blessings and benefits of bestowing that first break

Dear Win: I’m writing to say thank you. I’m not sure I’ve ever adequately done that. I’m not sure I ever can. I’m also not sure I ever quite grasped the gamble you took on me when I was a not-even-graduated college senior 28 years ago-not until the resumes and referral requests started filling my inbox and the risks of hiring rookies sank in. But this isn’t just between you and me. I hope this letter will prompt others to…

Commentary: Energy woes need quick, lasting fix

Last month, the front page of The Wall Street Journal featured 25-yearold Saeed Khouri, who paid at auction the equivalent of $14 million of our increasingly worthless American dollars for a license plate bearing “1.” His cousin, Talal Khouri, threw in $9 million in pocket change for tag “5” to tool around Abu Dhabi in his Rolls Royce. Get this, the Khouris declined to be interviewed because they didn’t want to be the center of attention. I am not particularly…

Repairs slated for crumbling 39th Street bridge: Federal funding could draw criticism from watchdogs

Each year, the 30,000 people who ride the Fishers fair train disembark at a depot east of Fall Creek and shuffle 228 feet across the historic 39th Street bridge, which leads to Gate 6 of the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Few likely give much thought to the crumbling condition of the bridge, other than noticing that a large block of stone railing has broken off at the west end. But, below, stones also have fallen off the sides of an arch…

Stadium scores Colts 30-percent sponsorship increase: Entertainment in 14 themed areas starts four hours before kick-off; strategy gains notice from other NFL teams

The Indianapolis Colts will score almost $18 million annually through their new stadium’s title sponsorship and deals with 14 founding sponsors, each of which has its own themed area of the stadium’s interior. Including sponsor agreements for two massive video boards at each end of the stadium, a narrower video board circling the upper reaches of the lower bowl, and other in-stadium deals, the Colts should bring in $20 million, 30 percent more than in the RCA Dome, according to…

BEHIND THE NEWS: Software maker off target with timing for $86M IPO

When it came to timing its initial public offering, ExactTarget Inc. didn’t exactly hit a bull’s-eye. The Indianapolis-based maker of e-mail marketing software filed to go public in mid-December, well into the market swoon that began before Halloween. Since then, the market’s only gotten spookier. The S&P 500 has shed another 13 percent, leaving the bellwether index 18 percent off its October high. Not surprisingly, ExactTarget is stuck at the starting gate. It hasn’t moved forward with launching its $86…

Alternative-energy company eyes Indiana for 4 wind farms

Alternative-energy giant Horizon Wind Energy is opening an Indianapolis office focused on developing up to four new wind
farms in Indiana at a cost of more than $2 billion. The Houston-based company is renovating space on the
top floor of the 12-story J.F. Wild Building at 129 E. Market St., where it plans to manage development
of new wind farms in Indiana and Ohio.

American Sentry Guard shuts down

American Sentry Guard, a Greenwood company named to last year’s Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies, has closed. Officials with the maker of high-tech surveillance systems could not be reached for comment, and doors at its offices in a former Stokely Van Camp tomato cannery were locked yesterday. A representative of property owner Revel […]

Swedish auto parts maker closing plant

Trelleborg Automotive, an auto parts maker headquartered in Sweden, plans to close its 200-worker plant in the north-central Indiana city of Peru at the end of the year. The plant makes rubber parts. Trelleborg blamed rising costs, a downturn in the auto market and “overall medium-term prospects” for the North American market.

Zing, L’ex and Eddie Merlot

A couple of restaurant updates today:
Workers are adding a wraparound balcony to Zing, a new small-plate restaurant in the old Payton’s Place at 543 Indiana Ave. Restaurateurs…

Frenzel leaves Baldwin & Lyons board

Baldwin & Lyons Inc., an Indianapolis property and casualty insurer specializing in trucking firms, said yesterday that Otto N. Frenzel III, 77, has retired as a director. Frenzel, a former chairman of National City Bank of Indiana and Merchants National Corp., held the post since 1979. He has been replaced at Baldwin by his son, […]

Kite results stagnate as costs increase

Kite Realty Group Trust late yesterday reported $11.6 million in funds from operations in the second quarter, down slightly from a year earlier. The Indianapolis-based real estate investment trust, which focuses on neighborhood shopping centers, scaled back guidance for its funds from operations for the year, citing higher interest rates and sluggish market conditions. Stifel […]

Biglari becomes CEO of Steak n Shake

Sardar Biglari, the rebel Steak n Shake Co. shareholder who in June persuaded fellow directors to name him chairman, now is taking on the additional post of CEO. He replaces interim CEO Wayne Kelley, who will retain his board seat, the company announced late yesterday. Kelley was named to the interim post in March, replacing […]