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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: New architecture contracts bring interesting changes

Change. While it is a buzz word that some political candidates throw around like candy, the construction industry is bracing for an important and imminent change of their own. The American Institute of Architects has produced standard contract forms for the construction industry for more than 100 years. Regardless of your perspective on such forms, the AIA forms still are the most commonly used standard forms in the industry. The AIA released their updated and revised set of contract forms…

Property-tax reform may force cutbacks in urban school districts

Many Indiana school districts say they have no choice but to brace for cutbacks in areas like school repairs, computers and
transportation thanks to the property tax reform measure approved by the General Assembly and signed by Gov.Mitch Daniels.

THE TRAVELING LIFE: Not for the night life: On tour in Saudi Arabia

Shortly after arriving in Jeddah, it became clear that you don’t go to Saudi Arabia for its night life. With very little interaction of the sexes, a virtual ban on flirtation, a total prohibition on alcohol, smoking, dancing and movies, there was not much for our little tour group to do after dinner each evening. As for the days, well, they were different than anything you could experience here in the U.S. … particularly for the women in our group….

Commentary: Daniels, IEDC burning things up

My friends at Crain’s Chicago Business have published several stories about the state of Indiana’s economic development efforts since Gov. Mitch Daniels took office and launched the Indiana Economic Development Corp. in 2005. They never used to write much about Indiana. In June that year, an Illinois economic development official was quoted in Crain’s saying, “It seems like every time I turn around on a project along Interstate 80, there’s Indiana breathing down my neck.” A year later, a guest…

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Building a business case for what the city needs next

With the deflation of the RCA Dome, Lucas Oil Stadium will become the home of the Colts, the NCAA Final Four and, hopefully, the 2012 Super Bowl. In late October, the new Indianapolis Airport will become the remarkable new gateway to our city. Yes, 2008 should be an amazing year. Then what? Expansion of the Indiana Convention Center and construction of the JW Marriott complex will soon be under way. As we bike around downtown on the Indianapolis Cultural Trail,…

BEHIND THE NEWS: 2 tech firms planning IPOs get curveball from markets

Aprimo Inc. and ExactTarget Inc. haven’t had to weather the recent stock-market turmoil. Not directly, at least. But the two Indianapolis software companies-which filed plans for IPOs last fall, when markets were comparatively serene-surely would have made their public debuts by now if conditions had remained favorable. Lately, they’ve been anything but. The tech-heavy NASDAQ Composite is off 12 percent in the year. And the volatility of the Dow Jones industrial average is enough to make anyone queasy. One day,…

Goldberg contest counts on business: Companies find recruits, marketing opportunities

In terms of advertising revenue, the Final Four it ain’t. But the national Rube Goldberg Machine Contest at Purdue University is attracting more corporate sponsorships than ever before. Named for the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist, the annual event scheduled for April 5 is a testament to his drawings that lampooned government policies by using complicated contraptions to complete trivial tasks. This year’s assignment is to assemble a hamburger consisting of at least one patty, two vegetables and two condiments between buns….

A&E: DK’s French program accented by Pratt piece

Yes, we are still early in the calendar. But it would be unfair of me to expect to see anything on stage in Indy this year that is more beautiful, more h e a r t – w r e n c h i n g , more exquisitely executed, and more complete than the third movement of “Tangled Web,” offered March 20-23 by Dance Kaleidoscope as part of its “The French Connection” program. I try to refrain from loading…

VIEWPOINT: Get on board with transit, or miss the bus

The Crossroads of America is at a crossroads-a transportation crossroads. And the direction we choose will affect our area’s competitiveness and economy for decades. It’s imperative that we embrace mass transit. Mass transit matters because it correlates to a key concern for companies planning to move or expand: access to a qualified work force. In choosing a community, companies assess obvious factors such as site acquisition costs and taxation, but even those typically take a back seat to work-force access….

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Talk of corporate greed falls flat with this economist

It is an election year again, and talk of corporate greed, that stalwart in the lexicon of electioneering, once again fills the airwaves. An economics columnist usually wouldn’t write about matters of sin. But attacks on greed always seem to have a policy message attached, and that is a big problem for all of us. Formally, corporations cannot be greedy. Corporations, not being human, cannot feel the weight of sin and so do not exhibit greed any more than they…

Monarch eyes vacant Lawrence drive-in for HQ

The state’s largest beer and wine distributor is considering a long-abandoned drive-in theater in Lawrence for a new headquarters.
Monarch Beverage Co. has outgrown its home along Interstate 465 just east of the airport and has been looking for a place
to move for a year.

Tattoo artist inks reputation for detail

Away from the job, Monte Agee is like any other family man. But in his 12 years as a tattoo artist, he has inked everything
from pop-culture icons such as the Powerpuff Girls to Renaissance-style portraits of biblical figures and full-color scenes
straight out of the children’s book “Where the Wild Things Are.”

Polishing the pitch: Business-plan competitions give student entrepreneurs experience, exposure

College entrepreneurs in Indiana are sharpening their business plans and practicing their pitches in hopes of convincing experts-the possibly funders-that they’ve come up with the next big idea. The venue: the increasingly highstakes competitions that universities here and elsewhere sponsor to give them practice selling themselves and their ideas. Success can come with more than bragging rights, since judges often include venture capitalists who can help transform finalists’ dreams into reality. “I can’t imagine a better way to train for…

Charities are feeling pain of gas price spike: Groups scrambling for volunteers, dollars to beef up transportation

With gas prices on the rise-and expected to reach $4 a gallon this summer-local not-for-profits are losing volunteers and throwing money at skyrocketing transportation budgets. Indianapolis Meals on Wheels Inc. Executive Director Barb Morris is used to fielding calls from reporters whenever gas prices fluctuate. In the past, she quashed their theory that high prices at the pump drove away volunteers. Not now, though. “If you’d asked me four or five months ago, I would have said, ‘Absolutely not,'” Morris…

RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Business isn’t losing any sleep over new technology

I’ve been looking over some business polls from 2007 and 2008, and I have to tell you I’m disappointed. As a technology columnist, I’d hoped that companies would be perpetually lathered over all sorts of thorny technical issues that only new purchases could solve and that I could critique. Silly me. But still, I went into the exercise with high hopes. After all, isn’t every aspect of a business permeated by breakable, worrisome technology of all kinds? And doesn’t every…

Free-lancing turns into big-time marketing: Mom-and-pop ExaroMed now growing fat with large drug and device clients from across the country

Most free-lance writers eke out a living. The most fortunate live comfortable lives. But Mindy Mascaro turned her freelance writing business into a thriving company. Carmel-based ExaroMed LLC is now producing sales and marketing content for the like of Roche Diagnostics, Eli Lilly and Co. and Amgen Inc. It has also served smaller life sciences companies such as Indigo BioSciences Inc. and Cheetah Medical Inc. The company has zoomed from six employees to 20 in the last year. It’s already…

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Security takes on new importance in building design

The growing threat of terrorism-both foreign and domestic -has alerted building owners to be much more concerned about security these days in the design of new and remodeled buildings. The recent murderous university rampages at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois, for example, have become troubling reminders that developers and other building managers must carefully examine whether their structures make it easy or hard for would-be killers. It’s impossible to design a building that is completely safe under any and all…

Real-world experience-for real: IUPUI’s Global Design Studio lets students tackle projects around the planet

New Orleans and Indonesia are worlds apart, yet linked by devastation from catastrophic floodwaters and by the outpouring of empathy that has ensued. An effort launched four years ago on the campus of IUPUI to involve design students in actual construction projects is responsible for a portion of the good will. The Global Design Studio is helping to rebuild areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina and, to a lesser extent, the tsunami. Its projects also include renovating a boarding house in…

SPORTS: Anyone glad to see Walsh go has a short memory

Twenty wins in 1982-1983. Twenty-six wins in ’83-’84. Twenty-two wins in ’84-’85. Twenty-six wins in ’85-’86. You think the Pacers are having a tough time putting butts in seats today? Today’s problems aren’t even close to those curtained-off Market Square Arena days of the early ’80s when the average crowds dipped to as low as 4,800 in the ’82-’83 season. It began to rebound only after Walsh took a chance on a marketing whiz-and exsportswriter-named Ray Compton and adeptly began…

EYE ON THE PIE: Many Hoosier counties losing people

The phone rang. It was Bella Coase, outraged again. She said, “The Census Bureau’s county population estimates were mistreated by most Hoosier newspapers. They emphasized their counties as if population change were a sporting event. “They didn’t bother to examine the larger view,” Bella went on. “Only 56 of Indiana’s 92 counties grew in population between 2006 and 2007. Spencer County had no change and the remaining 35 lost population. Doesn’t it trouble you that nearly 40 percent of Hoosier…