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Readers say transportation should top city’s agenda: Growing traffic delays, struggling IndyGo system, possible rapid transit system among issues facing planners

January 3, 2005

The average Indianapolis motorist sits in traffic delays more than nine times longer than he or she did 20 years ago: 37 hours a year vs. just four hours in 1982, according to a recent study by the Texas Transportation Institute. Growing delays have not only brought inconvenience and lost productivity, but also have earned the metro area “nonattainment” with federal air-quality standards. That raises the specter of expensive vehicle-emissions testing. IBJ Daily readers ranked solving congestion/public transportation issues as…

Federal grants are flying to Indiana airports: Record money a boon for capital improvements

January 3, 2005

Indiana airports landed record federal grants of $61.9 million in fiscal 2004 for everything from building taxiways to extending runways to transmitting weather data to pilots. The $17 million, or 38 percent, increase from 2003 could bode well for economic development in cities with growing airports, such as Columbus. “About 65 percent of our traffic here is business during the week. The more accessible we become, it’s bound to have an impact,” said Rod Blasdel, manager of Columbus Municipal Airport….

EYE ON THE PIE: Let’s explore options to finance stadium

January 3, 2005

Phinneas Phogghorn, Indiana’s third U.S. senator, was home for the holidays and in fine voice at the Dixie Donut Shoppe. “Rubbish,” the jewel of Jeffersonville intoned to his assembled admirers. “Unadulterated rubbish is all I can say about the view held by too many Hoosiers that a stadium for the Indianapolis Colts is not for the benefit of all the people of Indiana. The Colts are more than a mere symbolic representation of the state in the minds of football…

JOHN KETZENBERGER Commentary: A line on city’s stadium plan

January 31, 2005

Don’t bet on gambling revenue as the source of money that nearly doubles the size of the Indiana Convention Center and builds a new stadium just across the railroad tracks. The smart money rides on the notion Sen. Luke Kenley, R-Noblesville, will take up Mayor Bart Peterson’s invitation to find another source of revenue to back the bonds for the $900 million project. The chairman of the newly created Senate Tax and Fiscal Policy Committee isn’t being coy by revealing…

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…

EYE ON THE PIE: Income tax surcharge to hit only 1 in 20

January 31, 2005

Gov. Mitch Daniels in his Jan. 18 State of the State address called for many changes. He sought to put aside partisan differences and private calls for privilege. Immediately he was abandoned by many in his own party. The idea that drew the most attention was the governor’s request for a one-year, 1-percent surcharge in taxes on those with income above $100,000. There might be some confusion about what the governor meant. Are we going to tax that part of…

Struggling IndyGo pays big for technology expertise: At $94 an hour, IT director raises some eyebrows

March 28, 2005

Financially struggling IndyGo is paying a handsome sum to its information technology director, hired to help turn around a city bus system that began 2004 with a $4 million budget deficit. Dale Meyers would earn about $188,000 if he worked 40 hours a week, based on a $94-an-hour employment agreement inked last July. Meyers’ pay would dwarf the $120,000 annual salary of Indy-Go CEO Gilbert Holmes. It’s also salty compared to others’ in his field. The median pay for an…

Special Report: Flawed funding: Years of guaranteed increases set stage for school crisis

April 18, 2005

Indiana’s decades-long effort to protect shrinking school corporations from drastic cutbacks may well backfire on the very districts that most depend on it-including Indianapolis Public Schools. Critics say the promise of more money regardless of enrollment has allowed some school systems to bloat their budgets, and now state legislators are poised to let the air out. School funding already represents more than one-third of Indiana’s $24 billion, twoyear budget, and lawmakers want to rein in expenses and eliminate a projected…

Experts see improving market: Higher occupancy rates, more construction projects mean good news for landlords, developers

April 25, 2005

IBJ: Is your sector of the construction or real estate industry better or worse off than a year ago and why? BURK: Overall, I think the Indianapolis office market is better off than it was a year ago. The occupancy rate for the 29-million-plus square feet of multitenant office properties in the market increased by about 2 percent last year, to 82.5 percent. There was positive net absorption of about 600,000 square feet, most of which occurred in the suburbs….

Hilbert defeated on life policies: Conseco had purchased $87.5M in coverage in ’98

May 2, 2005

Seven years ago, Conseco Inc. purchased $87.5 million in life insurance coverage for company founder Stephen Hilbert and his wife, a move that seemed to assure vast wealth would pass on to the Hilbert family after their deaths. But in a new ruling, Chicago bankruptcy Judge Carol Doyle said Conseco’s obligation to provide coverage terminated when the company filed for Chapter 11 protection in December 2002. As a result, she ruled, Hilbert family trusts, which had filed millions of dollars…

Anderson incubator represents ‘beginning’: Officials hope new center will help revive economy

May 30, 2005

Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems LTD is the type of high-tech company Anderson officials are coveting for their new small-business incubator, the Flagship Enterprise Center. Founded in 2002 by Pete Bitar, XADS has a contract with the U.S. Marine Corps to develop a long-range, wireless stun gun, known as the StunStrike system. The patent-pending technology delivers a non-lethal electrical current to disable a human target. The prototypes include a rifle that can fire up to 15 feet and a vehiclemounted unit…

Phone-system expert answers entrepreneurial call: Via savvy marketing, she turned her knowledge of telecommunications into a thriving consulting business

June 13, 2005

When Barb Grothe said goodbye to her paycheck and job security 19 years ago, she was just a little scared and wondered, “Now what do I do?” She had office space for her new telecommunications consulting company, Telecom Resources, and 15 years of experience, but no clients. So she went about making herself known: she wrote articles for magazines, newspapers and journals (including IBJ) and scheduled speaking engagements. Almost each venture produced new clients, and Grothe was on her way….

SPORTS: ‘Our’ future extends beyond Marion County line

June 13, 2005

NOBLESVILLE-That Gov. Mitch Daniels, aboard his RV-1, was caught in the daily late-afternoon I-69, State Road 37 traffic snarl and was a half-hour late for his Hamilton County town meeting here last week represented a theme of his presentation. We are no longer a city, but a region. With that in mind, Our Man Mitch has been venturing to the counties contiguous to Marion, pitching the pending 1-percent food and beverage tax that will supply a small-emphasis on small, an…

Historic battle settled: Prairie pact lays out plans without judging past practices

July 11, 2005

But whatever Earlham College puts in the 41-year history of credits and debits, it will have no bearing on the resolution of a decades-long dispute over control of the Hamilton County attraction. That deal is largely done. Carter and Earlham board Chairman Mark B. Myers ended nearly two years of negotiation July 5, putting quill-topped ballpoint to paper in front of a cheering crowd in the museum’s Welcome Center. The agreement-which frees Conner Prairie from Earlham’s control and calls for…

Counties, cities welcome food/beverage tax: Suburbs see extra funds as way to balance budgets

August 1, 2005

Several suburban cities and counties that have approved new food and beverage taxes view the windfall as a panacea for their budget woes. Six of the seven counties surrounding Marion County, excluding Morgan, have OK’d the 1-percent surcharge to help fund a new stadium for the Indianapolis Colts and Indiana Convention Center expansion. Morgan County councilors turned down the measure at a June meeting. The legislation, approved during the past session, directs counties to contribute half the food and beverage…

Rising star in GOP recasts job agency: New chief uses secret shoppers, dress code to shake up state’s work force development

August 8, 2005

Indiana Department of Workforce Development Commissioner Ronald Stiver says the world is flat, with the United States no longer having mountainous advantages over other nations. And Stiver knows Hoosiers must prepare for it to get even flatter. “You’re talking to the converted,” Stiver said. “I believe in the 21st century, the major lever for economic development will be work-force development.” Stiver, 31, is reorganizing DWD with the new flat world in mind. He envisions an agency that moves beyond doling…

South-side exit finally sparking development: Wal-Mart might by key to I-65/County Line interchange meeting expectations

October 10, 2005

An interchange linking Interstate 65 and County Line Road completed six years ago is finally helping attract large commercial development to a busy Johnson County corridor. While Greenwood city officials are pleased by the amount of activity occurring there, they question why it took so long. “We thought it would take off much sooner than it did,” said Ed Ferguson, Greenwood’s director of planning, zoning and economic development. “We still have several hundred acres available in what we call the…

PLAN OF ATTACK: Anderson’s leaders are working to exorcise the ghosts of GM

October 31, 2005

Four miles and decades of history separate the Anderson exits along Interstate 69 northeast of Indianapolis. Empty General Motors Corp. plants-as much a thing of the past as single-class basketball-cast ominous shadows at Exit 26, once Anderson’s front door. To the west, closer to Indianapolis, is Exit 22 and the trappings of the future: millions of dollars in new infrastructure, a new business park, and the state’s largest business incubator-tools Anderson officials think they need to turn this rust-belt poster…

ABDUL-HAKIM SHABAZZ: Why not consider ‘intelligent designers’?

November 7, 2005

I should fully disclose my religious beliefs before going any further. I was raised Islamic, but have become more agnostic in my older age. So I guess that means I still pray five times a day, but I’m not quite sure when to do it or what direction to face. I find it necessary to bring this up because I am about to tread into the waters of religion and politics, in other words, into “intelligent design.” Intelligent design is…

Crown Hill’s land in play: Cemetery negotiating 66-acre property sale with local developer

November 14, 2005

Carmel-based Brenwick Development Co., known for luxury residential developments in Hamilton County, has struck a deal to buy 66 acres of land at the north end of Crown Hill Cemetery. Brenwick has signed a letter of intent to purchase the wooded land, cemetery President Keith Norwalk confirmed. Negotiations between Brenwick and Crown Hill are in the early stages, Norwalk stressed. He said there won’t be a closing of the transaction anytime soon. “There will be significant negotiation before it’s a…

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Articles

Readers say transportation should top city’s agenda: Growing traffic delays, struggling IndyGo system, possible rapid transit system among issues facing planners

Federal grants are flying to Indiana airports: Record money a boon for capital improvements

EYE ON THE PIE: Let’s explore options to finance stadium

JOHN KETZENBERGER Commentary: A line on city’s stadium plan

NOTIONS: Modest proposal to make regional officials heroes

EYE ON THE PIE: Income tax surcharge to hit only 1 in 20

Struggling IndyGo pays big for technology expertise: At $94 an hour, IT director raises some eyebrows

Special Report: Flawed funding: Years of guaranteed increases set stage for school crisis

Experts see improving market: Higher occupancy rates, more construction projects mean good news for landlords, developers

Hilbert defeated on life policies: Conseco had purchased $87.5M in coverage in ’98

Anderson incubator represents ‘beginning’: Officials hope new center will help revive economy

Phone-system expert answers entrepreneurial call: Via savvy marketing, she turned her knowledge of telecommunications into a thriving consulting business

SPORTS: ‘Our’ future extends beyond Marion County line

Historic battle settled: Prairie pact lays out plans without judging past practices

Counties, cities welcome food/beverage tax: Suburbs see extra funds as way to balance budgets

Rising star in GOP recasts job agency: New chief uses secret shoppers, dress code to shake up state’s work force development

South-side exit finally sparking development: Wal-Mart might by key to I-65/County Line interchange meeting expectations

PLAN OF ATTACK: Anderson’s leaders are working to exorcise the ghosts of GM

ABDUL-HAKIM SHABAZZ: Why not consider ‘intelligent designers’?

Crown Hill’s land in play: Cemetery negotiating 66-acre property sale with local developer