Olio...

...is a word that appears fairly frequently in crossword puzzles with the definition/clue being mixture or medley.  That’s pretty much what this post will be.

It now appears that Georgia Street - at least three blocks of it - is under the management of a non-profit organization, partially funded by taxpayers, known as Indianapolis Downtown, Inc. (IDI).  This alone - putting a public street in the hands of a private organization - would seem to be worthy of comment.  But we’ll pass on that, at least for the moment.

In collusion with the media, the city apparently will now engage in a massive effort to sell that area as an entertainment center.  Public reports indicate IDI already gets $600,000 a year of TIF property tax funds. So far there have been no report as to whether this promotion will also be funded with these monies being diverted from libraries, IndyGo, etc..

An ensuing announcement tells us that the IDI is now prepared to offer individual businesses here monetary grants up to $10,000 to make their buildings more attractive.  No indication of the source of these funds, but we’d have to guess that the TIF slush fund will take the hit.  Of course there is a precedent here.  Some of the same thing was done around the fieldhouse when it opened so that patrons would not have to walk past ugly storefronts.

It seems appropriate to point out one further "aim" of the effort.  The CEO of IDI expects to use this whole project to "...build Georgia Street’s reputation throughout the Midwest."  Some years ago, we were hearing this same ambition about a place called Union Station.  The last public report we remember seeing about that fiasco was someone from the Bond Bank bragging that the annual loss on Union Station had been brought down to $300,000.

At the risk of being labeled a red-necked Hoosier hick, we’ll make a brief comment on the Cultural Trail. The executive director of that $63 million project is saying she hoped visitors for The Football Game would "...go back to their city and talk about how great it was to walk around Indianapolis, and the role the trail played in that."

Considering the fact that the Mass Ave district is a prime part of the commercial possibilities of the trail, that we had weather in which walking around was a very realistic option, and that retail operations in that specific area generally fell far short of economic expectations for the weekend, it would appear that despite the attraction of our Cultural Trail, very few folks left the area of zip lines and free music.

This morning’s paper tells us of a Manning - Irsay confrontation.  Facing some kind of monetary problem, apparently Irsay is demanding that Manning accept a re-negotiation of his contract.  It brought to mind a similar situation a fairly short time ago when the CIB had a financial problem and the question of the Colts contract for use of the football field came up. Our recollection is that Irsay’s reaction was pretty much, "Stick it in your ear, folks. I’ve got a contract."

Taking into consideration the fact that the recently re-negotiated TV contract for NFL will mean hundreds of millions of dollars more revenue for the Colts, and Irsay’s attitude toward reopening Manning’s contract, wouldn’t this be a good time to suggest the Colts be given the responsibility to operate and maintain their billion dollar playpen?

Comments

[Pat]

Excellent post. Your point about Irsay and renegotiating the Colts contract for LOS is fantastic.

[Nick]

great comments

[Leslie Baker]

Past...present....can we hope it will ever change?

[Karen]

Agreed on all points. Very good point about Irsay and his attitudes about contract renegotiation. It goes along with his complaining about Manning being a "politician" for talking with the media, and then using the media to wage his own campaign.

[Vox Populi]

In this town a deal isn't a deal when the team owners want a bigger piece of the pie, case in point the 33.5 millions dollars paid to the Pacer's owners the last few years. The multi billionare owners cried and pleaded that their team lost money for the last zillion years and they needed more financial assistance to survive or just maybe the team may move elsewhere. So our benevolent CIB caved and coughed up money to the Pacers. Of course no was allowed to review the Pacer's books to prove or disprove that the team was losing money. And no one at the CIB actually understands or chooses to understand the penalities the Pacers would incur if they did leave town, and no one from the press chose to mention the fact either. Of course the taxpayers are left scratching their heads as to how a succcessful businessman would keep a team that was such a determent to their finances or how they can lose money on a free building from which they receive 100% of all the revenue that passes through their doors regardless of the event pass free maintenance.

The latest news about Geogia St.is just the same old same old for this city. The taxpayers build a facility and then give it away to an independent agency without any oversight by the city. Do some Google searches about the salaries of the ICVA employees and you quickly see just how efficient that organization is with taxpayer dollars, hint the retiring CEO makes about 200k per year in salaries and benefits.

Earlier this year the city council approved the Broad Ripple garage. A garage that will cost two to three times the price for a current garage of it size and number of cars. And once again we will fund the garage and then surprise, surprise give it away to a private entity.

How about the Pan-Am Plaza, the city gives it away regardless of the original contract language to a private entity.

Or the Simons free use of the Indianapolis parking garage or the free rent on the Circle City Center or the free land for their new offices.

Or the millions of dollars the city would receive for the super bowl that somehow resulted in CIB losing 800k.

And the list goes on and on, a 50 year parking agreement where the vendor receives 70+% of the proceeds.

If my phone didn't have GPS I'd swear this was Chicago or New York where anyone can get a deal if they are connected except the poor rubes will pay the bills.