The facts are that toll increases are strictly limited
in the contract and cars using electronic tolling have had no increase and are still paying the $4.65 toll rate set in
1985, one of the lowest per-mile tolls in the nation.
Americans are uncomfortable when responsibilities between the public and private sectors shift.
For a city feverishly growing its technology and life sciences sectors, it seemed a bit anticlimactic last January when
Purdue University dedicated its new technology center with only one tenant. But the lone tenant in the $12.8
million complex, FlamencoNets, a high-tech telecommunications firm, is about to get some company.
Clark talks to IBJ about how the airport can increase revenue by diversifying its sources of income. The airport can’t rely
on higher passenger counts to boost its bottom line.
The City-County Council voted 15-14 last night to approve raising the local hotel tax from 9 percent to 10 percent in a move
intended to help the cash-strapped Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board close a $47 million operating deficit.
The beleaguered Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board has whittled its anticipated 2010 deficit of $47 million to only $5 million. But how it slashed $7 million since the end of the Legislative special session and how it proposes to close the final gap are a mystery.
Federal stimulus funds and greenhouse-gas legislation have the potential to spark a green version of the Gold Rush. Many Indiana
firms are retooling to sell products or services that are or might soon be in demand.
The Hamilton County Alliance economic development group has spun off its Entrepreneurship Advancement Center, which serves
fast-growing startup businesses in Carmel, Fishers, Noblesville, Westfield and the rest of Hamilton County.
Quest Information Systems does the kind of contracting where any screw-ups—even those not necessarily of its own
doing—can bring an unflattering public spotlight. The Indianapolis custom software developer works for politicians
and bureaucrats, a group many businesses seek to avoid.
More emerging life science companies have found life in the form of federal
Small Business Innovation Research grants.
The federal “Cash for Clunkers” program has opened a floodgate of car sales that President Obama
says is a much-needed boost for the economy. But retailers may feel the negative effects of America’s collective investment
in new cars, predicts a Purdue Retail Institute researcher.
EnerDel, an Indianapolis-based producer of automotive lithium-ion batteries, will receive $118.5 million in a matching grant
from the federal government.
Gov. Mitch Daniels expected his unprecedented $3.8 billion Indiana Toll Road lease to last 75 years. It may be tested after
just three.
Carmel-based Dormir LLC’s announcement July 29 of $12 million in venture financing was the second local life sciences
deal announced in July. It could suggest a turnaround from a woeful second-quarter performance, when Indiana life
sciences firms announced zero venture capital deals.
Gov. Mitch Daniels failed to get the legislature to bite on his plan to lease out the Hoosier
Lottery in order to pay for two-year college scholarships. So he’s now he’s using $31 million in federal stimulus funds
to create a similar program for about 9,000 Hoosiers.
Destinations throughout Indiana no longer can count on a state marketing campaign to help drive summer crowds. Lawmakers who
passed a budget during the special session at the end of June sliced the state’s annual contribution
to the Indiana Office of Tourism Management in half—from $4.8 million to $2.4 million.
Cost management was the operative phrase in the introduction this month of a highway executive to manage the Interstate
69 extension to Evansville.
Hotel sales and marketing executive Michelle Travis is joining the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association
as vice president of sales.
A growing number of Indianapolis residents are making the most of their public library system. The Indianapolis-Marion
County Public Library system says it’s on pace for a record year in terms of use by patrons and items circulated.
Economic development officials like the stability of the food business, though wages typically are mediocre.
