As national retail giants seek to dramatically shrink the local property taxes they pay, they put at risk the budgets of schools, libraries and other local units of government that already struggle to make ends meet.
That won’t be a panacea. Users must have a driver’s license and a credit card—two things often absent in low-income homes—to access the program. But BlueIndy creates one more option in a city with too few.
Even small-fry public companies like Ameriana Bancorp and Noble Roman's Inc. have caught the attention of investment firms that specialize in stirring the pot in hopes of scoring a quick profit.
Developers need a vision that is anchored in terms like: Local. Independent. High-quality products. Interesting. Supportive. Small. Dense. Creative.
Democrat Jim Schellinger’s appointment to head the state’s job-creating agency creates a bipartisan opportunity for a renewed and necessary push for higher quality jobs, not just a higher quantity of jobs.
Headquarters house a company’s best and brightest, including executives with authority to make final decisions. The corner office is more likely than an outpost to back a risky or expensive project to improve a city.
What could benefit human-services agencies and their clients more than to bring those clients into the goods-and-services-producing, wage-paying work force?
The executive suite and boardroom of today’s Anthem do not have the deep Hoosier roots that were present in Frick’s day. But we hope they respect that legacy and are equally reticent to bargain away a headquarters.
In the case of Pulliam Square, Indianapolis must be extraordinarily vigilant. The city’s own design guidelines call for special scrutiny of buildings that face the five-block stretch of parks and memorials.
The organization's bold plan would turn several vacant homes into artist residences and transform two commercial buildings into exhibition spaces, a radio station and an artist-curated record store.
The city has a chance to once again become known for innovation. But only if it can avoid serious missteps like the one we saw earlier this year with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
That’s the message city officials seem to be sending of late, and it’s a troubling trend for a county tax base that struggles to fund basic services.
It would be easy for some of the leading politicians in the wealthy northern suburbs to interpret their handy wins in the May 5 primary elections as resounding mandates to take on more debt in the interest of spurring additional private development.
The city of Indianapolis needs to craft a thoughtful strategy for how to spend millions of dollars in anticipated surplus downtown TIF funds over the next three years, and that strategy should include input from stakeholders outside the mayor’s circle.
Opponents of the controversial justice complex proposal pushed by Mayor Greg Ballard might have killed the project when the City-County Council’s Rules and Public Policy Committee voted against it April 14, but that victory shouldn’t be confused with solving the problem. The city is still burdened with inefficient, unsafe jails and courtrooms.
Lawmakers should pass legislation to tax services ranging from legal fees to hair cuts in addition to the cars, shoes and other items the state has taxed for decades.
Let’s hope Indiana’s Republican leadership has learned a valuable lesson about hubris from the imbroglio they created over the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Indiana’s Republican-led General Assembly—refusing to cede a losing battle against the tide of history—has sullied Indiana’s reputation again, sending one more message of divisiveness.
St. John United Church of Christ should be allowed to exercise its right to sell the property it owns even if the buyer plans to tear it down.
Prohibition died 82 years ago. Indiana’s maddening blue laws live on.
