Editorials

Even before the pandemic, there were efforts afoot, such as TechPoint’s partnership with TMap, to identify people with an Indiana connection who work outside the state but might be willing to return. We’ve used this space before to encourage such programs, but now there’s a new urgency to making such appeals, and not just to people who already have local ties.

Population projections indicate a substantial drop in the number of high school graduates is coming in the next few years, which means fewer incoming college freshmen to attract.

Gov. Eric Holcomb and Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett this week each made crucial announcements—the first about racial-equality efforts and the second about downtown safety—that we wholeheartedly welcome, even as we’re disappointed they didn’t come sooner.

In Indianapolis, we now have 100 million reasons to hope positive change is possible, that the civil unrest of 2020 will lead to lasting improvements in the lives and livelihoods of Black residents and the community at large.

In a pandemic, we don’t want people waiting in line to cast votes in person—just like we don’t want them crowded together anyplace else.

The project still faces hurdles—including that Kite must line up financing. But we’re pleased that such a splashy project with so much potential upside is off the drawing board and on its way toward becoming reality.

So far, however, Myers’ campaign hasn’t generated much excitement. He hasn’t connected with Black voters, who are crucial to his chances of winning.

Wearing a mask is not giving in to the pandemic. It is just the opposite. It is the way we push forward with our personal and professional lives without spreading a disease that—if left unchecked—will continue to wreak havoc on our economy.

In the first year of his second term, the mayor has an opportunity to make rebuilding downtown in a way that’s economically inclusive his signature achievement in office.

Opening opportunities for Black Americans and other groups means rethinking not just how we do things but why we do them the way we do. And then amending or even ripping those systems apart and rebuilding them.

Any industrial uses permitted by city should be in sync with grand vision of creating an office, residential hub.

We support a community conversation about the way IMPD and police officers do their jobs. We support changes in use-of-force policies, police oversight and additional bias training.

The business community has a huge role to play. The last time the city reinvented itself, turning a blighted downtown into a magnet for housing, retail, conventions and high-profile sporting events, the momentum came from business leaders who worked hand-in-hand with city government to transform the city.

For as much as government has been chided in some business circles for shutting down the economy—and that certainly has happened—officials have in other ways worked quickly to clear the path for business to innovate and adjust.

The Indianapolis International Airport’s journey back from the coronavirus crisis won’t be complete—and the city and state won’t be made whole—without the return of nonstop service overseas.

Indiana has the 12th-highest COVID-19 death rate in the United States, but its share of federal money intended to help states battle the pandemic isn’t nearly so high. And that’s a problem. Not just for Indiana but for every state fighting to keep from being overwhelmed by the virus but receiving a disproportionately small share […]

A better target for attack would be Congress, for crafting a program that let so many larger businesses in the door.

No one quite knows how this reopening of the economy will go—or, frankly, the best way to make it happen. So business owners must plan carefully, always with an eye to balancing the safety of workers and customers with the need for our economy to get moving again.