City taps downtown TIF funds for bridge repairs
The city is bidding work to repair concrete and add a green roof to the Meridian Street Bridge adjacent to downtown Union Station.
The city is bidding work to repair concrete and add a green roof to the Meridian Street Bridge adjacent to downtown Union Station.
The city’s decision to entice a developer to build a parking garage in Broad Ripple is entirely appropriate—we just wish there were more transparency about the deal that will involve more than $6 million of city money.
A drop in local income-tax revenue could put Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard between a familiar political rock and hard place as he faces re-election. Next year’s budgets must be approved in October, when Ballard’s race with Democratic challenger Melina Kennedy will be in the home stretch.
City officials and the developer of a proposed parking garage in Broad Ripple have refused to share financial projections for the project, describing the documents as a “trade secret” exempt from public disclosure.
Titan Wrecking & Environmental bid about $255,000 less than the winning proposal to demolish Keystone Towers, but was rejected because of missing paperwork. The company owner says the city could have overlooked the omissions to save taxpayers money.
A 10-member commission told city leaders to turn the defunct 115-acre General Motors metal stamping plant site into a hip, funky neighborhood with an eye-catching bridge across the White River for easy access to downtown.
Indianapolis is in the early stages of expanding the practice of land banks, which allow government agencies and not-for-profits to take over tax-foreclosed properties and put them back into productive use,. Land banks have shown positive results in states such as Michigan and Ohio.
The city plans to tap a taxing district downtown to help pay for the Bush Stadium renovation, rekindling concern among some elected officials and taxing experts that the Mayor’s Office is using the massive district to fund whatever special city needs crop up.
The city of Indianapolis released bids soliciting contractors to repaint, clean and add lighting underneath the overpasses at Meridian, Pennsylvania and Illinois streets and College and Capitol avenues downtown, and on 10th Street east of the Monon Trail.
The plaintiffs claim the city violated the bid process by awarding contracts to companies that didn’t meet the requirements. They’re asking for an injunction to prevent the contracts from taking effect.
Quotes came in way below city’s $2 million budget.
Indianapolis leaders are hoping a new plan launched by Mayor Greg Ballard’s administration to transform the area northwest of downtown into a high-tech job and life-sciences research magnet will turn the long-discussed idea into a reality.
Officials on Thursday shared details of a long-term plan to redevelop an industrial stretch northwest of downtown with the goal of attracting hundreds of residents and dozens of high-tech companies to the area.
Posters highlighting the top 12 proposals will be on display in Monument Circle storefronts until June 26 so members of the public can vote for their favorite. The ideas could be used by planners plotting the future of the downtown space.
The structure planned for the southwest corner of Broad Ripple and College avenues also would include first-floor retail space and a police substation. Construction is set to begin this summer and be complete by mid-2012.
Three years after Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard launched a city office designed to help ex-offenders avoid a repeat prison visit, some of those original supporters say the city’s Office of Re-Entry Initiatives not only has fallen short of that goal but has accomplished little else.
Among Melina Kennedy’s priorities is educating residents and businesses about recycling and making it more convenient.
Indianapolis’ Community Crime Prevention Board awarded a total of $1.7 million in grants, down from $4 million last year, due to the city budget crunch.
The city’s mounting legal bills to cover lawsuits involving Indianapolis City Market are adding to the taxpayer cost of subsidizing the venue and making it tougher for the market to become self-sufficient.
A dormant plan to redevelop the 150-acre former Central State Hospital campus is starting to get momentum. Developers anticipate spending $100 million to $150 million to revamp the site. With online photo gallery