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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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Building boom out of hand?: Critics say hospital construction boosting health care costs

The network has launched a growth spurt that will take it into new markets, boost technology and strengthen Riley Hospital for Children all over the next few years. This construction also will pile on to the cost of health care, according to several researchers and health care experts. How that trickles down to the average patient bill, or if it does, remains to be seen. Consultant Edmund Abel has to think back more than 20 years to recall a capital…

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FAMILY BUSINESS: Are you protecting your business from potential disasters?

The recent news from New Orleans and Mississippi points out the need for family businesses to have disasterrecovery plans. Fortunately, we have little in Indiana to worry about from hurricanes, but other disasters are not uncommon. Consider the possi ble catastrophes that might strike your business. What have you done to protect the business against the consequences? Business-continuation and other insurance can mitigate the consequences of a wholesale destruction of your business facilities after a tornado or other natural disaster….

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Debtors hurry to file bankruptcy: Law that takes effect Oct. 17 makes filing harder, requires more to make restitution

Consumers who have been contemplating bankruptcy are now flocking to file before more stringent regulations take effect Oct. 17. Federal lawmakers passed a bankruptcy reform measure in March to make it harder for people to wipe away unsecured debt while keeping some protected assets. The aim is to curb perceived abuses of the system by shepherding more filers through Chapter 13-instead of Chapter 7-which requires consumers to at least repay some debt. Indiana already has a high bankruptcy rate. The…

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Givers should be smart as well as generous, experts say: Do your homework before donating to any cause

Charitable giving often is a spur-of-themoment thing, particularly if it’s a response to a disaster. Still, charitable groups, relief agencies and financial advisers say a little thought before making a donation is a good idea. Giant disasters such as Hurricane Katrina jolt many people into trying to help, often with no particular idea beyond simply doing something. However, some types of help are more helpful than others. Properly following the rules of charitable giving can provide a tax benefit. It…

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Network takes aim at digital surplus: Firm to sell programs for unused TV channels

Multicast Networks Group LLC plans to launch the network in 2006, said industry veteran Michael Ruggiero, who heads the 22-year-old ALL TV Services communications consulting firm. “We know the industry needs more content. Broadcast groups we’ve talked with are very excited about the concept,” said Ruggiero, chairman of Multicast. Ruggiero also is vice president of distribution for The Tube Music Network, developed by MTV co-founder Les Garland. Ruggiero recently helped broker a deal to run The Tube on digital channels…

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SPORTS: IU getting it right where tailgating is concerned

My alma mater, Indiana University, has taken its share of licks in recent times. In fact, I’ve used this space to throw some of the punches. But its recent decision-coinciding with the start of football season-to try to oust the party animals from the jungle just south of Memorial Stadium on game days was prudent, correct and too long in coming. This, folks, has been a human and legal calamity waiting to happen. The “jungle” is a park-like area across…

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Katrina could complicate sale of Emmis TV station: Undaunted, New Orleans WVUE begins to rebuild

WVUE-TV Channel 8 in New Orleans has no transmitter, no offices, little functional equipment and a skeleton staff. The station owned by Indianapolis-based Emmis Communications Corp. also has no paying advertisers and a depleted audience, thanks to Hurricane Katrina. The devastation wrought by one of the nation’s worst natural disasters puts plans to sell the station on hold as WVUE officials survey the millions of dollars in damage to their facilities and equipment and fight to get back on the…

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United Way campaign facing dual challenges this year: Onetime gifts, charitable response to Katrina devastation complicates already-complex fund drive

It’s never easy for United Way of Central Indiana-raising money seldom is. But this year, organizers went into the annual fund-raising drive with an additional challenge: replacing $1.5 million in one-time donations that helped get the 2004 campaign to its $36.6 million goal. Their task is complicated by the fact that this year’s effort started just as the philanthropic response to Hurricane Katrina kicked into high gear. Americans have given nearly $1 billion to disaster relief already, and the impact…

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Attorney: Heiress opposed big gifts: Deposition says Lilly upset when arts groups got $185M

Ruth Lilly garnered headlines around the globe in 2002 after an Indianapolis judge approved a new estate plan for the heiress that earmarked an estimated $185 million for two tiny arts organizations, the Chicago-based Poetry Foundation and Washington, D.C.-based Americans for the Arts. Now, in a newly public deposition, Lilly’s personal attorney, Tom Ewbank, charges his client was opposed to the large bequests and instead had wanted to funnel more of her billion-dollar estate into her own foundation, for the…

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Interest high for soon-to-be-shuttered foundry: Size, location make redevelopment promising

When the workers at DaimlerChrysler Corp.’s Indianapolis Foundry clock out for the last time at the end of the month, they’ll leave behind 756,000 square feet of factory space, tons of equipment, and more than 52 acres of industrial land on the city’s west side. Rather than becoming a rusting industrial relic along Interstate 70, however, the buildings will be razed and real estate experts expect the land will soon find a new use, albeit likely not for a factory….

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INVESTING: Price controls are not the answer to fuel woes

The cries for rationing are getting louder. About 4 percent of America’s daily oil consumption was taken out by Hurricane Katrina. It will take months to get this supply back, and gas prices at the pump showed immediate reactions. Now with gas over $3 a gallon almost everywhere in the country, some politicians are telling the government to establish price controls and actually take control of the supply chain. The horrors we put ourselves through during the Nixon administration when…

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IPS seeks property swap: School district will trade prime Mass Ave land if deal is right

But an unusual component of the soon-to-be-released request for proposals by Indianapolis Public Schools, the property’s owner, has many wondering if anyone has what it will take to win the coveted piece of real estate. What it’ll take is the offering of a replacement facility where IPS can move its central transportation facility and other school district operations. “That’s the general concept,” said SteveYoung, chief of facilities management for IPS. “We’re not looking to sell it. We would have to…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Façade of confidence saves us from anarchy

You may not know this, but every banker and policymaker does. If every one of us got out of bed tomorrow morning, drove to our banks or financial institutions, and tried to withdraw our money, the system that seems so solid today would suffer a complete collapse. The same thing would happen to the electrical grid if every device that could draw power were switched on at once. In fact, if every one of us decided today to fill up…

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Storm’s local impact mixed: Katrina’s aftermath will take toll on business, but rebuilding efforts might offer opportunities

Hurricane Katrina will be both a curse and a blessing to Indiana companies, which will cope with higher fuel costs and shipping problems but find themselves awash in opportunities to sell materials and machinery for rebuilding Gulf cities. Besides weathering the immediate impact of higher fuel prices, Hoosier firms will pay more for a range of goods, because of the trickle-down effect of higher shipping costs. “Our biggest concern continues to be on the ever-increasing cost of fuel. That’s s…

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SPORTS: Championship contenders bring out Mr. Softee

My friend, the young radio sports talk show host, tells me I’ve become Mister Softee. He says I have lost my edge. He wonders why I don’t rattle cages like I used to. He says the Indianapolis Colts have to win the Super Bowl this year, and anything less should be considered an abject failure. And I say, poppycock. He says winning a championship is the only measurement of success in professional sports. And I say, baloney. He says if…

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INVESTING: Strong stocks in strong industries have greatest promise

Let’s get ready to make some money. I know the cocktail party talk is still centered around the crazy real estate world, but nothing beats the stock market if you know where to go. A lot of investors bought into the media hype about selling in May and going away. This easy-to-remember phrase has resonance because, over the last 50 years, stock market performance has been better from November through April than May through October. As an investing strategy, however,…

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Contractors work to resurrect historic church: Buggs Temple being rebuilt from inside out into entertainment venue

When a team of developers took on the renovation of downtown’s Buggs Temple in fall 2003, most windows in the historic church were missing, the roof was riddled with holes, and much of the sanctuary floor was in the basement. Almost two years later, it’s difficult to gauge the progress of the project by sight. The floor is entirely gone, as are the balcony, the doors and the few windows that remained. In that time, however, the building on West…

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VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Proper stormwater management saves money in long run Property owners should consider alternative methods for site development

To save themselves from unforeseen trouble down the road, buyers of site-development and buildingdesign services would be wise to consider the joint efforts of an experienced architectural firm working in tandem with an environmental consultant. The reason is fairly simple: Architects are trained to have knowledge in so many diverse and ever-changing subjects that the singular expertise of an environmental consultant can provide significant support in an area still quite new to many designers. While working with restrictive rules and…

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City’s mall gamble paid off: After 10 years, Circle Centre at core of rejuvenated downtown

In February, Goldsmith suspended construction while he and advisers analyzed options. Within months, he gave Circle Centre the green light, and construction resumed-but not because he was convinced the project would succeed. “In the end, we decided job creation in the urban core and the psychological survival of the city were dependent on some development occurring downtown,” recalled Goldsmith, now a professor at Harvard University. “We went forward with the mall with great anxiety.” Today, 10 years after the September…

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