As I was looking for something to talk about during the first hour of my morning radio show,  I had a person call in who identified themselves as an IPS school teacher. He told me that during their first general meeting of the semester, Dr. Eugene White berated the teachers and told them the reason […]

Now that the Indianapolis City-County Council has passed the one-percent hotel tax increase,  I’m in the process of gauging the fallout from the bi-partisan 15-14 vote.   And I can report so far my political geiger counter is not picking up very much. There’s been some chatter in the blogosphere, but there have been no […]

The one percent increase in the city’s hotel tax made it through tonight’s city-county council with just enough support to make it bi-partisan. All but one Republican voted “yes” and all but one Democrat voted “no.” Republican Christine Scales voted against the proposal, Jackie Nytes voted in favor. Libertarian Ed Coleman joined the Democrats. Nytes […]

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard had a short presser tonight after his budget address.  An angry voter showed up and interrupted the event.   You can hear the whole thing here. Mayor and angry voter I can understand voter frustration, but listening to him reminds me how little people understand about how government is financed and […]

The Capital Improvement Board approved a budget resolution today that eliminates most of its budget deficit, grant funding for Black Expo, the Arts and the Sports Corporation and includes no money for taking over the operation of Conseco Field House from the Indiana Pacers. However, that budget includes funding that depends on the City-County Council […]

There are two important events this afternoon with the Capital Improvement Board. First, the CIB meets this afternoon.  If my memory serves me correct they will go over their budget.  There has been some questions about how they have narrowed their funding gap down to $5 million.   From what I was able to gather over […]

For the second year in a row, the Ballard administration says it will present the taxpayers with a budget Monday night that is balanced, increases funding for public safety, takes advantage of available federal stimulus dollars and leaves the city with a $50 million surplus in 2012. In a briefing with media this afternoon, City […]

For the people in denial that panhandling is not a problem in Indianapolis, I may want to point you to some recent data I’ve come across. According to IMPD, there were a total of 139 panhandling arrests in Indianapolis in 2008.    So far, in 2009, that number is 124. In 2008, most of the panhandling […]

I get to spend today working on wedding stuff (less than 30 days away) as well as try to grade 300 pages worth of MBA Business Law final exams so I bring you another day of tidbits for you to discuss. Big Ten After spending a week or so making calls and doing some checking […]

I’m not really in a blogging mood today, but still feel a need to post.   So I’ll just open it up to you guys today to chat about whatever is on your minds; the President’s visit to Indiana, the upcoming Council vote on the CIB, the Wishard referendum, the city’s response to flooding, etc. […]