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CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Partisanship: The nemesis of progress

Like Mayor Bart Peterson’s Indianapolis Works legislation last year, Gov. Mitch Daniels’ Major Moves bill has become the political football of this legislative season. The rhetoric and posturing associated with the highway funding bill has been as partisan and irrational as it comes. It’s as if the Democrats who oppose Major Moves are trying to compensate for their party’s inability to produce a solution to our state’s highways needs during the previous 16 years of Democratic leadership under governors Bayh,…

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Limo company races into Indy: Most revenue to come from sponsorships, not passenger fares

Central Indiana’s newest limousine company plans to make only 10 percent of its revenue from passenger fees. Indy Racing Limos’ three principals expect to generate 85 percent from sponsors and the other 5 percent from use of their unique racer-like cars in corporate displays and business promotions. The company is the first limo firm in Indiana attempting to generate the bulk of its revenue from corporate sponsors plastering their names and logos on vehicles. Even so, founders Roy K. Ward,…

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STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Senate doesn’t hesitate to check House, governor

Why do we have a bicameral legislature, with four-year terms for senators and two-year terms for House members? Because, as George Washington reputedly told Thomas Jefferson, the framers created the Senate to “cool” House legislation, just as a saucer was used to cool hot tea. We’ve just seen evidence of this, and also of another important phenomenon, one that reminds us of just how separate our branches of government truly are. We recently mentioned how the “adults” in the Senate…

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BULLS & BEARS: Indiana’s in biofuel game; now it should strive to win

Over the past few months, Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar has been vocal in touting the benefits of renewable fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel. It would be wise for the state’s government and business leaders to heed his message. The renewable fuel industry is gathering momentum and has a high probability of growing into a substantial industry. The energy bill President Bush signed into law last summer mandates the use of 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol each year by 2012,…

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Emerging India: Passage to Bangalore: Hoosiers seek outsourcing and investment opportunities

Passage to Bangalore Hoosiers seek outsourcing and investment opportunities BANGALORE, India-The deal was falling apart. Despite a week of flirtation and friendly negotiations, the two young Indian entrepreneurs rejected the offer from the group of Hoosier investors. Frustrated, the investors walked out of the hotel conference room. The chance to speculate on an Indian software startup called Picsquare.comhad fizzled. But none of the six Indiana business leaders was demoralized. After all, they’d crossed the globe to pursue business opportunities in…

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Duke’s Earth Services Inc.: Environmental services firm cleaning up on spills Haz-mat niche paying off; business expected to double

When a truck carrying a load of frozen chicken crashed on Interstate 74 near Batesville last month-mixing the meat with less-than-appetizing ingredients like diesel fuel and coolant-Duke’s Earth Services was high on the invite list for the impromptu barbecue. The Mooresville-based environmental services company specializes in such unpleasant jobs: cleaning hazardous materials spills, removing underground storage tanks, and checking construction sites for contaminated soil. And business is good. Duke’s posted revenue of $3.5 million in 2005, and leaders expect to…

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Development plans percolating in five urban corridors: East 10th Street, Fountain Square lead FOCUS pack

DataSmith Technologies owner James Smith started looking almost two years ago for a building to house his business, his home and possibly a revenue-generating tenant. What he ended up with was a dilapidated former bar on a struggling section of East 10th Street that had become a haven for vagrants. Smith took a chance on the building at 2032 E. 10th St., most recently home to Mustang Sally’s tavern, largely because of the involvement of the East 10th Street Civic…

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Industrial park land sends towns into annexation battle: Avon, Plainfield both want 882-acre distribution site

A valuable piece of Hendricks County property slated for a mammoth warehouse and industrial park is pitting the neighboring towns of Avon and Plainfield against each other. The two municipalities once were cooperating to annex the 882 acres together and share the tax dollars generated by the $700 million investment that could attract 6,000 jobs. They stopped negotiating last fall and now are employing separate tactics to claim the unincorporated land. Locally based Browning Investments Inc. wants to build CentraLogistics…

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City’s cultural districts take artful approach: Five areas use $250,000 in grants on original public art projects

Two wall-size murals now welcome people to Massachusetts Avenue. An abstract sculpture that looks like an Alexander Calder tribute sits on a bridge in the Canal District. A towering blue and green obelisk marks the north end of Broad Ripple on College Avenue. The works aren’t part of an elaborate conspiracy by a renegade public artist. They’re the result of two years of careful planning by the city’s Cultural Development Commission. In 2003, the commission designated five areas of the…

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STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Major Moves displays short-session political mastery

A combination of arm-twisting, dealmaking and the sheer brute force of the Office of the Governor came together the last week of January in a way Hoosiers seldom see. All the pressure was enough to keep Republican House members in line at just the right time in the legislative process to keep the governor’s Major Moves transportation plan moving. There was a lot of deep exhaling at week’s end, some from those in the Governor’s Office doing the heavy lifting…

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IPOs take minor dip in 2005: Analysts stay optimistic; 3 Indiana companies set to go public in early ’06

Three Indiana companies took the plunge to go public last year, two less than the number that did so in 2004. The state’s slight dip in initial public offerings mirrors the slump in activity nationally. But Indiana appears to be off to a fast start for 2006. Three other Hoosier companies filed to go public late last year, but had yet to complete their IPOs by year’s end. Overall, the number of companies that went public on the major U.S….

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Landing ad revenue: Airport charged up over sponsorship of electrical outlets

Advertisements for mutual funds, watches and kolaches. Now as you wait at the gate for your flight, you’ll even see ads on electrical outlets. The Indianapolis Airport Authority on Jan. 20 was expected to approve a $65,000 marketing partnership with Chase in what is the latest and certainly the most electrifying of all advertising schemes at Indianapolis International Airport. These are desperate times for marketers. Too many ads are getting lost in the shuffle. And barraged consumers have figured out…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Let’s revisit the State of the State

Quite appropriately, Gov. Mitch Daniels did not make any claims about “a revitalized Indiana economy” in his recent State of the State speech. He stuck to the theme that we are on track to turning the economy around rather than proclaiming any victory. This restraint was well-warranted. Indiana ranked 45th among the 50 states in its rate of employment growth for the past year (November-to-November figures). The nation added jobs at a 1.5-percent rate. Our 0.3-percent increase beat out only…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Let’s revisit the State of the State

Quite appropriately, Gov. Mitch Daniels did not make any claims about “a revitalized Indiana economy” in his recent State of the State speech. He stuck to the theme that we are on track to turning the economy around rather than proclaiming any victory. This restraint was well-warranted. Indiana ranked 45th among the 50 states in its rate of employment growth for the past year (November-to-November figures). The nation added jobs at a 1.5-percent rate. Our 0.3-percent increase beat out only…

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IPOs take minor dip in 2005: Analysts stay optimistic; 3 Indiana companies set to go public in early ’06

Three Indiana companies took the plunge to go public last year, two less than the number that did so in 2004. The state’s slight dip in initial public offerings mirrors the slump in activity nationally. But Indiana appears to be off to a fast start for 2006. Three other Hoosier companies filed to go public late last year, but had yet to complete their IPOs by year’s end. Overall, the number of companies that went public on the major U.S….

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Landing ad revenue: Airport charged up over sponsorship of electrical outlets

Advertisements for mutual funds, watches and kolaches. Now as you wait at the gate for your flight, you’ll even see ads on electrical outlets. The Indianapolis Airport Authority on Jan. 20 was expected to approve a $65,000 marketing partnership with Chase in what is the latest and certainly the most electrifying of all advertising schemes at Indianapolis International Airport. These are desperate times for marketers. Too many ads are getting lost in the shuffle. And barraged consumers have figured out…

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Celadon says inland port would be economic boon to state: Putting customs clearing here would speed crossings

Celadon Trucking plans by the end of April to install global positioning satellite devices on 1,350 of its trailers, an application of technology that could pave the way for an inland cargo port in central Indiana. Tom Glaser, president of one of the largest trucking lines hauling goods between the United States, Mexico and Canada, plans to urge state economic development officials to build a multimodal port in Indiana that would include Mexican and Canadian customs-clearing facilities. Officials would inspect,…

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ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: The new economic reality: It’s all about the work force

Since these words usually find their way out onto the Internet, I thought I’d work in the following phrase to get the hit counters for the new year off to a good start: Evolution vs. intelligent design. Ah, that should do it. I can hear the sounds of computer mouse clicks already. And, believe it or not, there’s an economic angle to that debate. Not literally, of course. Economics is pretty important, but I will concede that the creation of…

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STATEHOUSE DISPATCH: Daniels may not wield as much influence this session

We’ve only made it through the first few days of activity, but already we can get a feel for what this session of the Indiana General Assembly will focus on. Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels made it clear in his Jan. 11 State of the State Address that he believes lawmakers should devote the bulk of their attention to a legislative agenda revolving around highway construction, education, and local government reform and flexibility. House Republicans last week unveiled a broad series…

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EYE ON THE PIE: Making money by neutering history

I drove north last week from the Caesar’s gambling facility in Harrison County. Instead of taking the usual roads, I twisted up the cliffside overlooking the Ohio River via Doolittle Road. Then I went through New Middleton to Corydon before I joined the state highway system. It was a delightful drive that I never would have known about from anything on the state’s tourism Web site. Yes, I can hear the usual lament: “Wait, we’re working on improving our materials….

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