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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Putting construction, engineering into laymen’s terms

Sometimes those of us in the construction industry-like many other professions-forget we have our own technical vocabulary that many laymen simply don’t understand. Like some of my colleagues, I have occasionally started tossing around the lingo of our industry before business and civic leaders from other fields and have seen the confused look that comes over their faces. I have to stop and define my terms. With that situation in mind, I thought it might be helpful to put together…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: It’s high time for us to seek alternative energy sources

The Ghawar oil field is the jewel of the Saudi treasure chest. Sometimes called “The King” because of its oil production, this field has yielded more than 55 billion barrels of oil since the early 1950s-more than half of all Saudi oil exports. Today, it still produces about 5 million barrels of oil each day, or about 6 percent of the world’s daily supply of petroleum. But all’s not well at Ghawar. In August, The New York Times Magazine featured…

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Museum deemed Monumental: Expansion project earns two design firms top award

Indianapolis-based firms Fink Roberts & Petrie Inc. and Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects won the Monumental Award for their work on the Indianapolis Museum of Art expansion project. The 28th annual A Monumental Affair was set to take place Nov. 3 at the Indiana Roof Ballroom. The awards recognize excellence among those who have contributed to the enhancement and beautification of Marion County through the built and natural environment. Local non-profit organization Keep Indianapolis Beautiful Inc. leads the Monumental Affair…

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PLAN OF ATTACK: Anderson’s leaders are working to exorcise the ghosts of GM

Four miles and decades of history separate the Anderson exits along Interstate 69 northeast of Indianapolis. Empty General Motors Corp. plants-as much a thing of the past as single-class basketball-cast ominous shadows at Exit 26, once Anderson’s front door. To the west, closer to Indianapolis, is Exit 22 and the trappings of the future: millions of dollars in new infrastructure, a new business park, and the state’s largest business incubator-tools Anderson officials think they need to turn this rust-belt poster…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: State’s economy humming, so why do we feel gloomy?

The days are shorter, the temperatures are colder, and the leaves are falling off the trees. For most normal people, that means it’s time to start carving pumpkins, planning for holidays, or even watching the World Series. But for economists, it means something else entirely. It is the beginning of forecasting season. It’s a time when organizations of all kinds are thinking about what they can expect in the coming year. For most of us, the state of the economy…

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INVESTING: Good riddance, Greenspan, and your heavy-handed ways

A centrally planned economy. A few guys in a back room making unaccountable decisions. Men obtaining supreme power through unelected means. Americans fought wars to avoid living under the Soviet-style government I just described above. The problem is I am not describing the Soviet Union. I am talking about or own country! The Federal Reserve Bank of America is run like a dictatorship. It is insane that we give so much lip service to the power of democracy and the…

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Industry: Let’s build minority business: Construction consortium working on diversity

A consortium of some of central Indiana’s biggest players in construction has set its sights on improving minority involvement in the $8-billion-a-year industry. The Indiana Construction Roundtable, an organization made up of some of the biggest users and providers of construction services, on Oct. 12 approved a diversity outreach initiative. The ambitious plan aims to increase minority participation in the construction industry by rewarding contractors who support education and training, employ minorities and women, and mentor small minority- and women-owned…

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Public markets are sometimes a double-edged sword: Many companies enjoy access to capital, but others complain regulatory compliance costs are just too high

For young and growing companies, initial public offerings are a bit like climbing a mountain: a long, harsh toil to reach a distant summit. But planting a flag at the peak isn’t enough. To make the journey worthwhile, companies must stay there. The payoff can be enormous, in the form of ready access to capital. But operating at such a high altitude requires careful footing. And the effort costs more than some can afford. “It’s a double-edged sword,” said George…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Time to realign taxes with services

Many folks want to get rid of property taxes. They think property taxes are o l d – fa s h i o n e d , although most who think so have not thought through the issue. These property-tax abolitionists want to use income or sales taxes, which they contend are more “fair,” whatever that means. They forget that one aspect of “fairness” is to relate taxes to services received. This is called beneficiary taxation. An example of beneficiary…

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Kipps Brothers still evolving after 125 years

Walk through the Kipp Brothers showroom and you’ll find the makings of one heck of a birthday celebration: gag gifts galore, endless sugary treats and headgear that puts the traditional party hat to shame.

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Trying to strike oil in public markets: Indianapolis-based Calumet Specialty Products files for IPO, hopes to raise $140 million

An Indianapolis-based oil company with ties to a wealthy local family plans to go public in what analysts describe as a hot-butvolatile market. Calumet Specialty Products Partners LP wants to raise $140 million by selling 6.4 million units at an expected price of $22 each, according to papers filed this month with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Calumet has been part of the private business empire of the Fehsenfeld family, which 35 years ago founded Heritage Environmental Services, a…

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TOM HARTON Commentary: Luring people with bricks, mortar

A parking garage is about to rise on a vacant lot at 120 E. Washington St. It’s ironic that a block or so west of the site, a group of architects, city planners, real estate developers and leaders of the city’s arts movement meet on a regular basis to plot against such garages. The garage in the works isn’t just any garage. In its current design, which is yet to be approved, it’s only a garage. No ground-floor retail. Just…

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Backing home again: CID changes out-of-state course, invests $50M in Indiana

Indiana’s flagship venture capital firm has changed direction. Often criticized for not investing frequently enough within state lines, CID Equity Partners over the last five years has quietly put nearly $50 million to work in 10 Indiana companies. In the decade before, CID invested in just a half-dozen local deals. And after struggling to weather the 2001 recession, CID’s managers believe the wind is finally at their back. Three years ago, massive losses threatened to sink the firm. Since then,…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Economy likely to purr on despite hurricane mayhem

Did your company miss its earnings targets last period? Or did your household spend a little too much on your last vacation? Or maybe you’ve just added a few extra pounds on your waistline recently. Then you should do what just about everyone else is doing-blame it on Katrina. It seems as if every disappointing result in the economy is being blamed on the big storms that have rolled in from the Gulf of Mexico in the last six weeks….

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EYE ON THE PIE: Is our child care ‘industry’ up to snuff?

Recently, I have been part of a study for the Indiana Child Care Fund. It has been a learning experience. The first thing I learned is that virtually nothing is known about child care. We do not really know how many child care facilities exist in Indiana. Data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census suggest there are more than 16,000. However, fewer than 5,800 are licensed or recognized by the state. In addition, there are informal child care arrangements…

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Are you prepared for DISASTER?: Despite warnings, many businesses fail to plan for the worst

Are you prepared for Despite warnings, many businesses fail to plan for the worst Frank Hancock didn’t have a disasterrecovery plan when a tornado tore past his east-side printing company two years ago, causing $5 million in damage. Severe wind gusts from the Sept. 20, 2003, storm shredded Sport Graphics Inc.’s 5-month-old warehouse and manufacturing facility and tore 13 1,800-pound air-conditioning units from the roof, dumping them on the parking lot below. One was never recovered. Amid the mayhem that…

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TAWN PARENT Commentary: Big hankering for the Big Easy

Once you’ve lived in New Orleans, you never really leave. A part of you stays on. You don’t feel quite whole again except when you return. Then it’s like regaining an appendage you had learned to live without, but suddenly realize how much you have missed. Transfixed by events there over the past month, I have been missing that part of me I left behind in 1996 when I drove a U-Haul north after three years as a reporter and…

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RETURN ON TECHNOLOGY: Logic puzzles not best way to grade techies

All my life, wellmeaning people have tried to get me interested in chess. It’s not like I don’t know the game; I do. It’s just that it bores me. I tell them I’ll take up chess when the rules are changed to allow the queen to conspire with the bishops to have the knights assassinate the king. Most such games bore me. Card games, even poker, seem insipid. There’s nothing at stake but money, after all. Logic puzzles leave me…

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City Market plans raising concerns: Coming renovations worry some tenants

Renovation plans for City Market intended to boost sales at the downtown landmark have some tenants concerned about what it will cost them. In early January, the market’s management expects to begin work on $350,000 worth of lighting and flooring improvements in the historic main hall. Tenants will be permanently moved, with preparedfood stands along the perimeter of the building and retail stands in the center. And stands will sport a uniform look. Individual tenants will bear most, if not…

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Private high school set: Cristo Rey to open downtown with 46 companies behind it

A private high school that relies on business participation, the first of its kind in Indiana, is set to open downtown in the fall of 2006. A work-study program designed to help lowincome students pay for tuition and give them corporate work experience is what will set Providence Cristo Rey High School apart from its private and public counterparts throughout the state. Corporate sponsors said it will also give promising students a local business connection, which could help keep them…

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