The city has unveiled a dramatic plan for new housing and retail development to revitalize the old Market Square Arena site.
Despite some shortcomings, the project deserves a chance to give the stagnant area a boost.
A $65 million public-private plan for the redevelopment of a vacant downtown office building is raising eyebrows for its unusual
approach and potential risk to taxpayers. The plan calls for a private developer to acquire the former Bank One operations
center, surface parking lots and an adjacent
parking garage from a private owner for $18.5 million, then sell the 1,680-space garage to the city for $18.5 million.
Local leaders and, soon, a national team of experts, are quietly developing a strategy to revitalize Marion County’s biggest
concentration of brownfield sites and impoverished urban neighborhoods, centered at East 22nd Street and the Monon Trail.
The Arts Council of Indianapolis faces the unenviable task of divvying up less than $1 million in city grants for the arts, compared with $2.15 million that was awarded last year.
While the Marian College cycling team has been off this month hunting national championships in Colorado, a plan by school officials to manage the Major Taylor Velodrome has not yet won support from Indy Parks.
Indianapolis still looks like a city with momentum, despite the dismal economy. But appearances can be deceiving.
City officials want to raise money by selling sponsorships, advertising and possibly even naming-rights deals for city-owned
properties as they attempt to chip away at a projected $23 million deficit in the municipal budget.
Saving money may be the bottom-line reason for reforming local government, but that’s only one of the benefits.
The McKinney Family Foundation has created a fund to support initiatives of Mayor Greg Ballard’s 3-month-old Office of Sustainability, an environmental initiative that promotes projects ranging from energy-efficient city buildings to bicycle paths.
Here are six recommendations to help Mayor Greg Ballard clarify his vision for Indianapolis as the city begins its second
year under his leadership.
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard has notified the City Market that the financially strapped city is phasing out its subsidies
to the historic downtown fixture, which account for one-quarter of the market’s nearly $1 million budget.
The Arts Council of Indianapolis is leading talks with city councilors, Deputy Mayor Nick Weber and the chiefs of top cultural
organizations about how to create a bigger pot of revenue for the arts.
A quick turnaround from city official to high-paid land-use lobbyist raises questions for some critics of revolving-door
government.
If Indianapolis is going to be a first-class city, it needs to have a comprehensive smoke-free workplace law.
Anti-smoking advocates are organizing a new attempt to strengthen Indianapolis’ ban against smoking in the workplace.
During the coming weeks, a number of Indiana cities and counties will be coming to terms with their new budget realities.
The city should organize a public-private partnership to create a multi-modal distribution community at the site of the former
Indianapolis Airport terminal.
Mayor Greg Ballard worries his predecessor, Bart Peterson, may have overreached with his ambitious tax-increment-financing
district for the last phase of Fall Creek Place. That phase of the renewed urban neighborhood isn’t producing enough revenue
to support its $6.2 million in outstanding bonds. And Ballard is not sure all of Marion County’s 37 other TIF district are
necessary, either.
Cities and counties are looking for alternatives to asphalt as the price soars for the oil-based material and threatens
to bring paving projects and contractors skidding to a halt. The city of Indianapolis may have just found
one viable alternative that goes down like asphalt: roller-compacted concrete, or "rollcrete."
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.
