It Still Doesn't Feel Right: RIP Bush Stadium 1931-1996

I don't remember what the reason was that I was on 16th street a few days ago, but it was the first time I had driven by the former Bush Stadium and I couldn't still see the stands, the old field, and all that still made it seem like a baseball stadium. Yes, a stadium that had long past its heyday, but a stadium nonetheless.

And this is probably the first time I've been visibly forced to confront the reality: Bush Stadium is no longer going to be Bush Stadium, the former home of the Indianapolis Indians. It isn't going to be revitalized into an athletic venue for other uses. It isn't going to be rebuilt into a memorial museum that'll show the rich history baseball and sports has with this city.

It isn't going to be any of those things that might be a proper spiritual successor of Bush Stadiums.

It is going to a be a bunch of apartments.

And I'm sure the people developing the apartments are good folks and are respecting the history and whatnot.

And I know that, considering the facts at hand, apartments are probably the best bet for this part of town at this point of time. The area has businesses, it is close to downtown. But there isn't a whole lot of properties up for rent, and this provides an avenue for people to move to the west side and be close to downtown without having to pay downtown prices. 

But as a long-time resident of the northwest side of town, this still doesn't feel right.

As a kid, I was never really into sports, probably to my dad's and grandfather's disappointment. To this day, I still can't even tell you what constitutes a first down. The fact that I used a word like "constitutes" when talking about football probably tells you how much I know about sports in general. And whenever my dad or grandfather did take me to any type of sport events, they'd ask me questions like "Do you know who is winning?" and I'd NEVER know the answer.

But I did like food. Specifically, I liked the food at Bush Stadium during Indians' games. The hot dogs, the pizza, the huge sodas (remember when 32oz sodas were the large size and not small????). And during the warmer months, we got to see a fireworks show. And it was always a really big one on the 4th of July.

I remember one year, my dad and I tried to get into the 4th of July game but they were sold out. So we drove to one of the parking lots surrounding the stadium, and parked near a food-stand. I don't remember if we listened in on the radio, or if it was on television, or if we just sat outside for an hour and listened to the crowd cheered.

But what I do remember is seeing the fireworks just as well, maybe even better, as those in the stadium. In fact, quite a bit better, because I remember some of the sparks actually landing in the parking lot themselves!

As a kid, I thought that was the coolest thing ever.

And now, as an adult who has some type of grasp on what makes this community and this city tick...wow, a stadium on the west side of town sounds like the coolest idea ever.

A sports stadium outside of downtown? Without a bunch of bars for people to go get drunk at before/during/after the game? Without a bunch of hotels around? And could you imagine come Carmelites having to drive through the west side, and if they wanted to enjoy a post-game drink, the nearest bar is The Recovery Room and not some swanky expensive thing connected to the JW Marriott?

But outside of that, I started to think about the benefits of having Bush Stadium. What if it had stayed? Maybe if it got some of the same push that "The Fieldhouse" (I seriously do hate that new name) and Lucas Oil got, we'd see some of the success downtown has gotten and it'd be helping out those outside of the Mile Square. Maybe promotions could've been done to drive up use of the nearby White River Trail and that could drive up use of the Trail. Maybe that would mean resources would be diverted to the Trail and making it a bit better and more usable rather than always by-default dumping beautification projects onto The Monon?

There's a lot of What If's that surround the end of Bush Stadium. But if the Powers-That-Be want to develop the entire community, and not just one or two sections of it, we need to think big. Bush Stadium, back in the 1930s, was a big idea. Maybe we need something else like it today.

And maybe you could put it in an area that could really use the development.

Indy Pride: What You Need to Know

The Indianapolis Star has provided a handy list of the major events organized by Circle City IN Pride. Like many of the festivals and parades held in Indianapolis every year, Pride has expanded beyond just a parade and has several days of all types of events planned for people to attend and have fun.

You can see the list of events via the Star's article here or go to Pride's official site for a full list of events.

Congratulations, Indy! We've made headlines across the nation!

Unfortunately, most of the headlines have been bad. Glenn Beck used the allegedly staged fighting incident at Municipal Gardens in one of his segments to rant about...whatever he rants about. Gary Welsh of Advance Indiana noted that the recent shooting that left two dead and six in the hospital made headlines in cable news and at the Associated Press. Similar headlines were also made during the shooting that occurred during the final Saturday of Black Expo. Many of these stories also made it onto The Drudge Report as well.

This isn't something an awesome PR campaign from the likes of Indianapolis Downtown Inc can cure, and shoveling money to professional sports won't do anything to help fight and reduce crime. Real or perceived, you can't overlook these stories and what it makes our city look like to outsiders. It makes one wonder if there is perhaps something better we could be spending tax dollars on rather than professional sports

Preview Post

I've got several stories somewhere between "think of something to write about" and "write the damn thing already." My professional obligations are winding down, and my academic work seems to be getting into a flow that is somewhat manageable, so more time for blogging. Here's a summary of what will be posted really, really soon:

• My interview with former Mayor of Indianapolis, Bill Hudnut, will be posted soon. The cassette tape is sitting on my desk and I just got to sit down and learn how to transfer the audio from the cassette to my computer. I'm still debating on to if I should just post the raw audio, or post the raw audio and write an article as well.
• On that note, Mayor Hudnut will be speaking to the Marion County Republican Party. You can read about his appearance, as well as how to attend, here.
• I've filed a public records request with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. The white signs that restrict parking due to an "EMERGENCY ORDER" site a specific code in the lower right hand corner. I'll be posting pictures, and type up my original letter and what I received from City Legal late last week. You can read the sample letter that I used to base mine on over here. And for additional "fun", you can read the relevant Indiana Code over here.
• I'm also trying to get down to the General Assembly to track legislation that I'm interested in, but I'm having the worst luck in getting down there in between my professional and academic obligations. It only happens at the beginning of the year, so I really want to start covering it as soon as possible. Senate Joint Resolution 7 (Marriage Amendment to the IN Constitution) passed in the Senate but is DOA in the House, and Senate Bill 192 (Domestic Partnerships and their rights) seems to be getting no traction in either legislative body.
• I've also been "re-tweeting" or linking to several articles worth reading about the NFL and/or Superbowl. So go check out my Twitter page
  

And in news from other blogs:

• The Indiana Law Blog reports that there is no Roll Call log on the votes for Senate Joint Resolution 7. The roll call is listed as Roll Call 67, but Roll Call 67 is not even in the log of all the Roll Calls.
• Advance Indiana, IPOPA, and Ogden On Politics are all reporting on the 26 (of 29) City-Council reps who took the Colts up on the offer of purchasing two tickets to the Superbowl at $800 per ticket. At the time of this posting, Christine Scales (R) and Ed Coleman (L) have come out as two of the three council reps who did NOT purchase the tickets. As I speculated over at iPOPA, I believe Doris Minton-McNeil is the third since she is inactive at the council due to recovering from an illness. Paul Ogden also brings up that most of the council reps are of a fairly modest background and even being able to afford $1,600 for the tickets, it'd be a challenge to afford the associated travel costs. He's speculating that they are being sold to brokers. I'd also speculate they might be buying them on behalf of friends or family who can afford them.
• The homicide rate jumped quite a bit in the last few days of January. Bart Lies has the number at 14. Let's pray for better (or in this case, slightly less worse) news in the future.
• Finally, Abdul Hakim-Shabazz over at Indiana Barrister and Pat Andrews at Had Enough Indy? have been doing bang-up coverage of Indianapolis Public Schools and Decatur Township Schools respectively.
  

Let's do this more often!

UPDATE: Advance Indiana and iPOPA are now reporting all three council members who turned down the Colts. They are Edward Coleman (L-At Large), Christine Scales (R-4th) and Angela Mansfield (D-2nd). Angela Mansfield also said that all council members who purchased tickets had to sign an agreement saying they wouldn't re-sell the tickets at more than face value. Ms. Mansfield also said that it was disrespectful to assume the worst of intentions of council members. But to that, I ask Ms. Mansfield to look around at her company, who all too often skirt around ethical issues about lobbying and conflicts of interest.

Ms. Mansfield is an honorable representative of the people. She was the lone Democrat who showed up at a committee meeting on the Capital Improvement Board bailout and voted against it, and did the same during the full council vote. Other council members would be wise to learn a few lessons from her.

Explaining the Privatization of Government Services

Over at Indy's Painfully Objective Political Analysis comments' section, I shared my thoughts on privatization of public parking meters and lots in Indianapolis. You can read about what the current city plan over at this WTHR story. I'd like to expand on what I posted over at IPOPA, and my thoughts on privatization as a whole.

First is to identify the goal of privatization of government services. The goal is to instill market value levels of cost in the service. The government doesn't have that incentive since most services are paid by taxes. Handing the service over to private companies, who have the goal of making a profit, have a built-in incentive to keep costs down. And the way you instill market values in a service is by competition. So not only does privatization mean private companies take over government services, but the government gets out of the service and opens up a level field for all interested in providing said service.

The last part is most important. When a government service is handed to a private contractor and they get a 10 year, 20 year, or 75 year contract, that is NOT privatizing the service, because it fails at both goals. With an extended decade plus long contract, the company has no incentive to keep it's costs low. They can raise rates regardless of market value because they have little to no fear of losing the government contract. Finally, government is still involved in the service, because all they're doing is handing their control of a service over to a private company, thus giving the company a government approved monopoly of said service. This shuts out any other company for the length of the contract who might be able to provide it at a cheaper price.

One really has to think hard before attempting to privatize something like the Family and Social Services Administration, because not a lot of private companies are in the business of providing welfare, probably because a lot of government services aren't meant to make a profit. And you have to wonder, when a private company is running a welfare service or running a jail and making a profit, are they doing it on the backs of the people they're supposed to serve?

So, working on my theory that many government services can't be privatized because there's just no profit to be made, there are a few left where a private company could make a profit. Trash pickup, road maintenance, and in the example I'll be talking about, public parking meters and parking lots.

Let's just work, with the theory, that government runs this service inefficiently and for too much money. I personally find that claim complete bull. 75 cents to park downtown for an hour with a two hour limit sounds reasonable to me (iPOPA says a lot of meters have changed to a one hour limit, but I'll save that for another time). The only problem with public parking is the lack of it, especially around government centers people might need to use.

Now, how to privatize parking in Indianapolis? As established, giving one company a 10, 20, or 75 year contract as happened in Chicago is just asking for the rates to be jacked up right away. Let's get that idea out of our heads.

First, we need to evaluate how much each parking meter or public lot is worth. Let's be honest: A parking meter right on Massachusetts Avenue or in the main strip of Broad Ripple is going to be worth more than a meter in the middle of Delaware, New York St, or Vermont St. Even more so if a big event is happening in Broad Ripple, Mass Ave, or places such as Conseco Fieldhouse or Lucas Oil Stadium.

So before any bid is even submitted, the city of Indianapolis needs to go out and evaluate how each meter (or really, neighborhood of meters) and public parking lots are worth. After that is done, we open up the bidding.

But instead of only letting Dennison Parking and it's competitors bid, let anyone who can afford it put in an offer. If a group of businesses that line Mass Ave want to manage some spots that are located in front of their businesses, and they make the best offer for that area, let them do that. If a church wants to use a lot near their church for their members, take them up on the offer. And if Dennson wants to get the city owned garage, then they get that. Any "neighborhood"/street of meters that don't get sold in the initial bidding can be retained by the city government. I would imagine these areas would probably be the meters that aren't right in the middle of downtown or in other areas of commerce in Marion County.

And then after these bids are put in, let them BUY (not lease, not rent, BUY) these meters and let them do what they want with them. This means no more law enforcement writing parking tickets, no more contracts for Dennison Parking, no more Parking "Court", and so on. If any area jacks up their rates beyond market value, then someone who is a block or two away can lower their prices.

There is a concern that various rates could be confusing, especially to tourists, but I don't think there's much to worry about. The several parking lots rented out in Broad Ripple all charge pretty much the same. They know that if they charge too much, they'll lose business.

If anyone from the City-County Council or the 25th floor wants to have a talk so this privatized parking can be a true form of privatization, and not just a government approved monopoly, I'm happy to sit down and have a chat.