NFL Combine, Ice smash records
It was a big weekend in Indianapolis. A record 420 credentialed media poured into town to report on the NFL Scouting Combine at the RCA Dome, while a 2007-08 league-high 12,575 fans…
Economic Development
Articles
Indy to host Urban Forum: Group that helps revitalize properties to showcase city’s projects
Visitors in Indianapolis for the Urban Forum in April might patronize Jockamo Upper Crust Pizza in Irvington not only to sample the food but also the success of a neighborhood business district revitalization program. The pizzeria benefited from an effort called Fostering Commercial Urban Strategies, or FOCUS, through a $16,000 facade grant from the Indianapolis chapter of the Local Initiatives Support Corp. Indianapolis is one of 30 cities boasting LISC chapters. Nationally, they invested more than $1 billion in low-income…
Streetcars work in Portland, but viability here uncertain
If the introduction of modern streetcars to one West Coast city can be replicated here, Indianapolis would see new, higher-density
housing and related retail and restaurants shadowing the line. Fallow areas crossed by the tracks would become fertile for
new investment. At least that was the case in Portland, Ore., a city mesmerizing to Indianapolis civic leaders, who last month
formed Downtown Indianapolis Streetcar Corp. They risk being run out of town on a rail: a streetcar line will cost…
Commentary: Ice Miller finds gem in ag hire
Indianapolis law firm Ice Miller recently announced the formation of an Agricultural Law Initiative and named Beth Bechdol as its director of agribusiness strategies. The group includes more than a dozen attorneys and industry specialists. The recruitment of Bechdol is a brilliant move that was ultimately possible because of a family tragedy. Bechdol is a farm girl from just outside of Auburn who graduated from Georgetown University in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in foreign service and visions of becoming…
VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Protestors shouldn’t control community development
N e i g h b o r h o o d activists in Pittsburgh are fighting a development that would bring a grocery store, job training center, youth programs and other social services to the area of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ $290 million arena. The Pittsburgh group was planning a march in protest. Is retail and commercial development next to a sports arena a bad idea? A Cambridge, Mass., neighborhood group was opposed to the development of three townhomes, arguing…
NFL Combine happy in Indy
With all that’s happening on the local sports scene, it’s easy to forget about the NFL Scouting Combine, which begins today in the RCA Dome. The Combine, which was first held in Indianapolis in 1987, is an event that has…
Irsay remains key to Super Bowl bid
While Mayor Greg Ballard and his team plan to announce today their intent to bid for the 2012 Super Bowl, sources within the league said Indianapolis Colts’ owner Jim Irsay will be the determining factor.
“They could be the Emerald City,…
Uphill battle ahead: State poses tough test for new enviro leader
By the time Jesse Kharbanda earned a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford, the University of Chicago student already knew he wanted to advocate environmental policies in the developing world, someday. Eight years later, some might say Kharbanda has landed in the developing world, all right-Indiana, insofar as it’s considered the backwater of environmental stewardship. One might recall the state’s 49thplace ranking in a 2007 review of “greenest” states by Forbes magazine. Only West Virginia-a national leader in illiteracy-scored worse….
Pan Am Plaza building exodus
IBJ reported Jan. 21 that USA Diving, USA Gymnastics, USA Track & Field and U.S. Synchronized Swimming were considering relocating to the Disciples of Christ building on East Washington Street. None of the officials for those sports-sanctioning bodies would confirm…
Will taxpayers support Super Bowl?
Arizona residents’ willingness to pay higher taxes may have a strong impact on Indianapolis’ effort to land the 2012 Super Bowl. Funding from Arizona’s corporate community paid for 80 percent of the host city’s Super Bowl bill this year. But…
Major League Winners
Author and former IUPUI dean Mark Rosentraub is writing another book.
This one, titled “Major League Winners,” focuses on the five U.S. cities he thinks have most successfully used sports as an economic…
Technology park could boost area’s biomedical efforts: First phase of Purdue project, featuring accelerator building for up to 25 startups, should be finished this year
The park is expected to be a major amenity for the area’s growing biomedical economic development efforts. Purdue Research Foundation paid $2.5 million in June to purchase a half-interest in 78 acres at AmeriPlex industrial park. The university ultimately anticipates filling it with as many as 75 businesses and 1,500 jobs. AmeriPlex owner Holladay Properties, a South Bend developer of industrial parks, owns the other half of the site. Dubbed Purdue Accelerator Park at AmeriPlex-Indianapolis, the project is intended to…
Report sees jackpot with BioCrossroads, but expert sees obstacles
Three months after launching an initiative to boost drug-development firms in Indiana, officials at BioCrossroads have written
a report that attempts to show in detail the vast market opportunity they see.
STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Legislators avoiding games as they tackle tax reform
People outside the legislative process finally are understanding that there is no perfect solution to the property tax reform dilemma, that it is not a zero-sum game, that there will be winners and losers, and that this is not a Democrat vs. Republican issue. What they still do not realize is how hard legislators are working to accommodate the legitimate concerns of homeowners, governmental units and schools, businesses, and agricultural interests, and how difficult it is to assemble a package…
City emerging as drug distribution hub: Medco Health Solutions deal latest boon to growing subsector in Indiana’s life sciences development efforts
Thanks to a series of major economic development wins, Indianapolis is enjoying a pharmaceutical distribution business hot streak. Life sciences industry leaders hope to keep the sizzle burning in 2008 and beyond. “It’s not something we’re hoping we can do someday. It’s something we’re already doing now,” said BioCrossroads CEO David Johnson. “We’re simply trying to expand the footprint of what we’re doing.” Pharmaceutical logistics has become a big business. According to the Arlington, Va.-based Healthcare Distribution Management Association, U.S….
Bills would require utilities to reduce reliance on coal
Two bills in the Indiana Legislature would require utilities that operate here to supply up to 25 percent of their electricity from renewable resources such as wind, landfill gas, and plant and animal waste. Backers say utilities need more incentive to diversify from coal-based power generation.
Westfield hopes to draw business farther north: New development could reduce residential tax rates
Back when they arrived in 1996, there were lots of open spaces and taxes were low, Jones said. “Overall, it was a good place to live,” he said. Jones said he still loves living in Westfield, which is 20 miles north of Indianapolis. But he admits things are changing, which is a double-edged sword. Eight years ago, according to the U.S. census, Westfield had just 9,300 people. Now, it’s a rapidly growing city with a population of 24,000, an increase…
Commentary: 2007 columns sparked debate
Each January, I like to reflect on a few of the prior year’s topics. I am always curious about the people I have written about over the course of the year. I hope you are, too. In the May 21 issue, I wrote about the plight of Amy Sorrell. Sorrell was an English and journalism teacher at Woodlan Junior-Senior High School in Allen County near Fort Wayne who also advised the school newspaper, The Tomahawk. The Jan. 19, 2007, issue…
EYE ON THE PIE: Change economy to raise incomes
My holiday gift was the latest quarterly data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. Santa put them in my e-mail box and I played with them when not attending to ritual family matters. Yes, personalincome numbers for all the states right up to the third quarter of 2007. Oh, joy; oh, ecstasy-feeding my lascivious quantitative desires. And what did I find? Over the past year, the third quarter of 2006 to the same quarter of 2007, Indiana has ranked…
STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Agendas vary widely as tax-reform efforts heat up
How did it all seem so simple back in September? The reality of reform is sinking in for lawmakers and interest groups. Hoosiers who demanded serious property tax reform in November-and expected their wishes to be fulfilled-now see indications that the road to reform may be bumpier than foreseen. The property tax reform plan detailed in late October by Gov. Mitch Daniels was initially largely well-received by voters and lawmakers, but after it rattled around for a while and the…